Black Ops 2 is conflicted. It wants to move in bold new directions, but it falls back on safe, but aging, mechanics.

Bleed 2 is a great choice for anyone who loves extremely fast-paced action games that reward skill. Particularly if you've ever wanted to quadruple jump a path through a swarm of gunfire and flaming wreckage, riddle a bunch of enemies with bullets in slow motion, and finish off a hostile helicopter by deflecting one of the dozen missiles it's launched that you back in its freaking face with your sword before touching the ground. It's that kind of game.

Sine Mora puts a cool twist on the shoot 'em up genre with its application of time and interesting storyline.

Once the characters grow up and band together, the plot finds its Focus, and the gameplay takes the training wheels off to let gamers make the most of the stellar combat system, it's an excellent JRPG, just one with severe pacing issues.

MIO: Memories in Orbit is a pretty game, the kind where you can get lost in its world. Unfortunately, MIO: Memories in Orbit is a video game, not a cartoon, and the gameplay is a little too mundane, and its pacing is a bit too all over the place. There are certainly worse Metroidvanias on the market, and MIO: Memories in Orbit can easily be recommended for people looking for something similar to Hollow Knight, but more forgiving. It’s more the Metroidvania diehards who will be wishing that there was more under the hood.

If you're a fan of adventure platforms like Metriod and Castlevania, but you always felt they could be a little more sandbox, Terraria is a must have.

Orcs Must Die 2 continues to build on its predecessor which cleverly matched together two different genres into a fun and quirky title, and the addition of co-op dials the enjoyment up a notch.

While it takes some time to find its own identity, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a solid Gothic action game that is competent in all areas - but never outstanding in any of them.

Sometimes frustrating in terms of both gameplay and narrative, Transistor manages to be a redolent title with a ton of imagination. While not quite as clever as its presentation suggests, it's a pretty little title that ends on a beautifully bittersweet note.

Infamous 2 improves upon the original in nearly every way with a fantastic setting and great mechanics but the story just wasn't quite a home run.

Mortal Kombat X offers the best story mode I've ever personally seen in a fighting game. Its cohesive plot and extended cinematics makes you feel much more like a participant in a film than a player on the couch. The fighting is frantic, fluid, and dynamic, with the glorious goriness of the X-Ray moves often turning the tides of battle.

Another Professor Layton game, another bit of puzzling brilliance. Some of the brain teasers feel a bit recycled - instead of foxes and chickens, you're shuttling dogs and cats across the river, for example - but there's more than enough variety to warrant doggedly tracking down every last one. But if you only solve the ones you need to move the story forward, that's ok, too.

Despite a few control hiccups, Gravity Rush succeeds on the strength of its excellent movement system and endearing protagonist.

Despite a few issues with its end game challenges, Luftrausers is a surprisingly addictive, challenging arcade game that will keep you glued to your Vita for game after game after game.

A brilliantly told story, excellent voice acting, and an atmosphere so unnerving you'll sleep with the lights on for a month. If only it came with a bottle of instant amnesia so that you could play it for the first time more than once.

Broforce is a silly, but sincere love letter to iconic action movies, refined to perfection with rich environments and wonderfully-crafted enemies. Even when you're killed by an out-of-control explosion which you triggered, you'll be having an absolute blast with this game.

Dust: An Elysian Tail is made of straightforward elements built to extraordinarily high standards, and rarely loses sight of its commitment to beauty, craft, and straight-up fun.

If you like Dark Souls it's more new Dark Souls to explore.

MIO: Memories in Orbit is a pretty game, the kind where you can get lost in its world. Unfortunately, MIO: Memories in Orbit is a video game, not a cartoon, and the gameplay is a little too mundane, and its pacing is a bit too all over the place. There are certainly worse Metroidvanias on the market, and MIO: Memories in Orbit can easily be recommended for people looking for something similar to Hollow Knight, but more forgiving. It’s more the Metroidvania diehards who will be wishing that there was more under the hood.

When it comes down to it, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive may follow the same old formula of gameplay seen in previous versions of Counter-Strike, but it's still a well-rounded tactical shooter. It may not try anything drastically different or revolutionize the series by taking it in a new direction, but there's still enough there to appeal to newbies and hardcore fans alike.

As the game goes on, more and more quests are required to be completed to move on and frankly, I’ve found it exhausting. It’s hard to shake the feeling that Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is a game obsessed with making the player eat their vegetables.

Though it fails to innovate in an engaging way, the base on which Tropical Freeze is built is solid as a glacier.

The game perfectly recaptures that time in our lives when we're still too young to know how much we don't know, and still manage to believe that pinning a towel to our shirts makes us a superhero. The time when bravado counts for more than experience and candy can fix just about anything. It's adorable, but not cutesy, oozing with charm and a fantastic sense of humor.

If you're going to try and woo a modern gaming audience with old-fashioned gameplay, you'd better be pretty special. The Book of Unwritten Tales is. It's smart, funny, well-crafted and has tons of heart.

YS: Memories of Celceta is a great action RPG and one of the most entertaining games on the Vita. It perhaps stumbles in a few places but never enough to fully fall.

While its writing can make one cringe now and then, Child of Light is an overall charmer of a game, with a beautiful audiovisual style and clever twists on simple RPG concepts. Lovely stuff!

Though it climbs to impressive heights, it fails to stick the landing.

Superhot is a shining example of how to build a game around a single clever game mechanic. Its story mode is short, but the unlockable Endless and Challenge modes provide plenty of worthwhile reasons to go back for more.