Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture really is a walking simulator, and possesses all the traits associated.

Activision chose overwhelming mediocrity.

It’s the kind of game that believes plonking players in a brightly lit space is enough audience engagement to satisfy.

It was already a steal before the extras, but the Snapshot mode and the videos, not to mention the classy production values overall, make this a must-have for those both old and new to Rare’s extensive library. If you’ve got an Xbox One, this is a shoo-in.

Messy, dirty, and downright smutty, Onechanbara: Z2: Chaos is the very epitome of a guilty pleasure.

If you love sports, cars, or neither, Rocket League is your cup of tea!

Journey’s interactive, visual, and aural elements work together, rather than fight with each other, in order to provide a flowing, seamless, influential, and utterly exhilarating experience.

It has its moments, and it’s still as enjoyable a romp as any TellTale game, but it’s an average outing at a time where things should be at a near fever pitch.

Due to poor funding or a bankruptcy of talent, GODZILLA is a sad excuse for a game desperately attempting to be a worthy adaptation of the beloved monster series. Cheap, bumbling, and interminably boring, it’s a bargain basement budget release with the unbelievable gall to present itself as a major “AAA” release.

It runs beautifully – I encountered one glitch across the eight-hour experience, and nothing deal-breaking – looks fantastic, and delivers that shameless, gratuitous action without feeling aged or tired.

It uses the limitations and opportunities of touchscreen controls almost perfectly, it’s easy to get into but increasingly challenging, and its genius in-game economy keeps one coming back for more.

The only worthwhile thing to say about TAKEN is that its name is quite meaningful indeed – it’s taken peoples’ money, and it’s done nothing to earn it...Oh, and the “scary” little girl looks shit.

Knee Deep, Act One: Wonderland at least has me hooked for the second installment, so it’s doing plenty right. Despite its missed opportunities, it still manages to entertain, and I’m eager to find out more about Cypress Knee’s sinister secrets. Hell, I dig it a lot more than Life Is Strange, I can say that much.

The game regularly untethers itself long enough to provide some gratifying portable fun – not enough for me to encourage anybody to immediately obtain it, but it’s a decent enough timewaster to be worth checking out at some point in time.

I don’t like it, okay? Stop it, Sonic Runners, stop doing everything you’re doing. Well, except that part where you allow yourself to be a game, buried under mountains of distasteful gibberish...Also, the loading times are crap.

While it’s still playable, and even enjoyable in a fair few instances, its baseline problems combined with the PC’s unique setbacks make Arkham Knight fit for the price drop list.

Tales From The Borderlands Episode Three is easily the best installment so far in Telltale’s trip to Pandora, and it’s cemented the entire series as my favorite Telltale production to date.

Thanks to the improvements made – and maybe the lack of anything like it outside of maybe Bayonetta 2 – it was a true pleasure to return to Capcom’s world of jacked up angels, plant dragons, and Dante hamming up every single delicious scene he’s in. Truly, it’s good to be back. It’s better to be back than it ever was.

It’s a fantastic example of how to do a free-to-play game correctly, and the fact it’s made so much money already through the carrot rather than the stick only goes to show what happens when you don’t treat your audience like cattle.

Her Story is a surprisingly rewarding experiment in game design. Perfectly presented, and with a beautiful soundtrack that creeps in at key moments of the investigation, this Sam Barlow presentation is most certainly memorable, and more attention grabbing than its passive nature might lead one to believe...It needs something extra to it to really stand as something special, but Her Story still kept me hooked long enough to dig out its secrets, and that’s definitely a success.

Alone in the Dark: Illumination is ugly in every sense of the word, not just visually – though it is about as attractive as an anus in an eye socket. Hideous both inside and out, it’s the consummate fraud that hides behind a recognizable name to deliver interactive poison.

An incomplete, creatively bankrupt vacuum. If we’re so starved for nonviolent experiences that this is what we champion, the industry’s in worse shape than I thought.

I’m thrilled it’s on PC, and I’m delighted we’ll finally get to see the series continued – this prologue and two full-fledged episodes are great, but I really need to know what happens next!

A grim part of me actually looked forward to this. Good or bad, I thought we’d get something provocative or remarkable in some way, shape, or form. Instead, we got a prosaic and outmoded little pile of cynicism. Perhaps worse than that – we got a damn boring game.

Despite a simple idea and a handful of maps, this eccentric shooter does – as the game’s irritating in-universe TV hosts declare – “stay fresh.” It balances strategy with anarchy in a riveting way, and nails the balance between instant gratification and heartbreak as players obsessively cover their world with color and have to watch as their hard work is consistently overwritten in a way that only makes one more desperate to hit back.

The plot’s driving forth at an effective pace, the characters are each growing in their own unique ways, and things end in a way that promises a lot of huge things for episode five. If you’ve been following along with the series up to this point, you’ll definitely be gripped by this one.

A truly great game that rises its head above its own hot water to proudly present a prosperous experience that only the most deliriously expectant could feel shortchanged by.

Feeling both nostalgic and fresh at once, it’s an entertaining slaughterfest with a strange sense of humor, a gleeful celebration of comic butchery that takes some fairly dark material and makes light of it effectively.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood continues MachineGames’ commitment to offering classic ultraviolence with some sensible modern concessions and a deeply buried philosophical side.

I love State of Decay, and that needs to be communicated with all the sincerity in the world. I love that bloody videogame...State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition is a cynical rehash that needed to be much, much more.

It’s disgusting on almost every level, and the fact Topware is selling it for $54.99 is unforgivable.

It’s clear that China took the best bits of its larger siblings and added its own flavor – I feel the big budget work of Ubisoft Montpelier would be served well by returning the gesture.

Those who felt turned off by the critically maligned Dungeons would do well to give Dungeons 2 a look. It evolves the dungeon management subgenre in a number of clever ways, and the hands-on strategy elements make for a fantastic compliment.

As an early foray into free-to-play games, it shows that Nintendo at least isn’t willing to fleece customers with a kind of reckless abandon showcased by the locusts of the mobile game world – but it’s going to have to do far better than this to justify its monetary desires.

While not a thoroughly outstanding game, BOXBOY! is an eminently pleasant, breezy little puzzle-platformer that offers some moderate challenge and focuses more on just having a nice time. A fuss-free, no-pressure adventure that takes a plain gimmick and showcases just how versatile it can be.

The game is still as great as it always ways, and despite the graphical downstep, it’s no less enjoyable on a smaller screen. I relished the excuse to play it once more, and have been having a blast as I once again alter futures, smash up robots, and indulge in a little private Reyn time.

War For The Overworld is a fixer-upper, and I wish I could lavish it with more praise, but the blemishes it’s launching with are undeniable and numerous. That said, it’s also a damn fine game with a ton of heart, one that’s done more for the good name of Dungeon Keeper than any official source has in years.

It’s still as derivative as it ever was in terms of premise, but with a more convenient controller, worthwhile gameplay tweaks, a stack of extra stuff and a stable, populated online mode, Omega Force has turned it from an “okay” game into a pretty good one.

The Sword in the Darkness sees Telltale’s Game of Thrones start to really hit its stride.

Bloodborne is something truly special – a barbaric horror RPG that will giveth and taketh away in perfect measure, wrapped up in a perverse world that will refuse to let you go.

However, it does do its absolute best, and in trying still manages to be a fairly enjoyable, if somewhat frustrated, production. At the very least, it’s “more Battlefield“, which is by no means a bad thing – yet – and at its highest points, it’s a bit of silly, Vice-inspired fun.

The episodes have frequently quoted Franz Kafka to serve as a running theme for its ineffectual storyline. I’d like to end my review of this episode – and the game overall – with a Kafka quote of my own. “Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.” If Capcom had done that, maybe Resident Evil Revelations 2 would have been good.

Atlas Mugged is pretty good stuff all around – not as explosive or hilarious as last time, but consistently entertaining nonetheless, with a handful of slick action sequences to keep things spicy. As far as the bigger picture goes, Tales From The Borderlands currently runs the risk of becoming my favorite Telltale game series.

It’s a great game. One I almost hate. One I find spiteful and cruel and perhaps even somewhat abhorrent. A game that’s beautiful as well as hideous, that makes me feel queasy while keeping me thoroughly fascinated.

At this point, the whole game is in desperate need of something big.

DmC is a beautiful, bold, and supremely enjoyable videogame in its own right. It deserves to be praised...That’s what I said back then, and I’m sticking with it.

Aside from some problematic resource balancing and some unavoidable repetition, Hand of Fate is a clever game of risks and rewards that is well worth getting dealt into.

It works extremely well on the New 3DS, with the system’s rubber clit working surprisingly well in manipulating the camera.

Rather than feel like an episodic release, Revelations 2 currently feels like a full game that keeps getting rudely interrupted, and it’s hard to maintain a sense of investment this way.

With its sledgehammer humor and clever blend of stealth and action, Helldivers is a lot smarter than a passing glance might have you believe. It’s a game in which life is cheap but the deaths aren’t, where carelessness gets you turned into kibble, and sustained battle will leave you with an empty gun and a horde of pissed off monsters.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is everything a Dynasty Warriors hater thinks about the series made real. It’s a contemptuously assembled recycling project, and I’m sick of it.

Its episodic nature comes off as arbitrary to begin with, the DLC slinging is flagrant, and overall it looks and plays like something either very old, or a budget game punching above its weight. Raid Mode offers some longevity, and nothing the game does is particularly awful, but not even the return of Barry Burton makes this debut episode more remarkable than it is.

Minor annoyances aside, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse continue’s Kirby’s hot streak of lovable, imaginative, joyful adventures. As shrewd as it is straightforward, HAL’s latest effort provides an afternoon of unassuming fun for a fair price, and no matter how much I try, I just can’t ever over how damn wondrous it looks!

When it allows itself to focus on action, it can provide a stimulating round of pop-and-fire combat, at least before it allows itself to drown in common distractions and intellectually insulting button prompts. While clearly assured in itself as a concept, it doesn’t extend that same faith to the player, so eager it is to hold its audience’s collective hands and guide them through corridors of patronizing tutorials and arbitrary gates to progression.

As an overall game, it offers a basic shooter with a nice gimmick, and I do think you can gather some friends together to get an afternoon’s worth of laughs out of it. I don’t believe there’s enough mileage to have those laughs regularly, though, and certainly not enough to where I’d recommend rushing out and getting it so soon after launch.

While its intoxicated physics can lead to occasional despair, the overwhelming joy of the whole experience is a strong tonic, over the handful of hours it takes to get through, I couldn’t help maintaining a smile.

I’m still waiting for things to kick into high gear and truly take hold of me, but chapter two of House Forrester’s tale leaves me in no doubt that such a moment is coming.

Quite a strange little item. Its dialog makes me wince, but I will confess to being more amused by the awfulness than upset by it, at least half the time. It’s embarrassing and hella lame for totes, but there’s something almost charming about it. Still, I don’t quite think that’s what Dontnod had intended.

Dying Light desperately tries to be all of the videogames in a bid to impress everybody. If only it had tried as hard to be its own thing, we’d have had an amazing horror game on our hands. Instead, we just have another indistinct jack-of-all-trades to throw on top of the ever growing pile.

This ReREmake preserves everything that made the original remake great, and what a world we live in where “original remake” can be a valid term. In fact, I’m going to tell you right now that this is one of the most pointless reviews in existence – everybody should know already where they stand on this one. Either you squared the money away the day this was announced, or you’ll never play it.

This expansion is pretty enjoyable, but not essential. It’s got some great new weapons and provides an easy excuse to dip back into a world of shameless comic violence – it’s also a fairly disposable adventure that doesn’t offer much in the way of essential material. You do get to shoot Satan in the face, however, so at least Volition is true to its word.

It’s the Watership Down of videogames, and I can only mean that as twisted compliment.

There’s enough to satisfy those looking for either puzzles or an interesting story, but if you’re searching for both, then The Talos Principle is going to be something very, very special for you.

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris is a fun distraction that, while not exactly gripping, will provide several hours of enjoyable loot n’ shoot adventuring.

Assassin’s Creed Unity is a beautiful game that’s fun to play with friends. It’s also an outmoded mess that incenses with its dated controls and shoves Ubisoft’s executive-minded priorities directly in the player’s face.

Something ugly to the point of actively affecting gameplay, something that requires multiple reloading of saves to fix glitched doors, something that crashes when given a chance and boasts a user interface that actively fights the player. That this saw a release and expects to sell for real human money is lunacy. Then again, that’s this game all over – sheer, unbelievable lunacy.

Iron From Ice is a strong start to the series, with some promising narrative setups, a believable atmosphere, and one particularly shocking moment that made my jaw drop... I do hope we see the playable characters get a bit of a personality injection, but I think we’ve got a favorable introduction that lays out its pieces in such a way that Episode Two is only going to be fascinating.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker isn’t going to blow minds with its humble presentation and laid back puzzling, but it’s still got plenty of imagination and some really sagacious architecture in its level structure.

You’ll be dropped into a blighted world and be left to figure out your own path, making fatal mistakes and incurring tragic losses before coming to the conclusion that precious few videogames have ever had the nerve to draw… War is hell.

Tales from the Borderlands Episode One: Zer0 Sum is a great start to the series. It brings Borderlands to life in promising new ways, it’s genuinely funny, and it has a terrific cast.

For all its visual appeal, however, Far Cry 4 remains a shallow experience. It has loads of things in it, but having a lot of things is not the same thing as having depth. With a vapid story, activities that rely more on regurgitation than anything else, and a campaign that is exciting only for as long as you can ignore how insincere it all is, this is a game that affects a meaningful experience, rather than manage to be one.

One thing I’m sure of is that Sega ought to be embarrassed for pouring so much hype, so much marketing money, into this project, only to have a sad, miserable little dog’s dinner of a product to show for it. I guess it doesn’t matter, though. It’s an idiotic baby’s game for children, and it exists to sell toys. It also thinks you’re all dumb, and it wears its contempt for you on its sleeve. A sleeve covered in bandages.

A beautifully polished, impeccably tight game. While I’d have liked more 3DS integration, and the much-touted Amiibo inclusion isn’t anything to go crazy over, the game remains an absolutely stellar fighting game that I’m finding very difficult to tear myself away from.

I loved it back then, and I love it now. Its attempts at clever humor can be embarrassingly misjudged, its content is often alarming, and I think those who point out the game’s problematic elements are perfectly within their right to do so, and they’re very rarely wrong. Still, I can accept that the game is troubling while still enjoying it, and the extensive augmentations found within the PS4/Xbox One version makes it all the more pleasant.