Trichrome might not go so far as to make you reconsider the existence of triangles, but it should, at least, give you a strange new perspective on them.

The straightforward progression is perfectly suited for a diet RPG, but the underdeveloped systems and mindless combat bring the breakneck pacing to an exasperating crawl.

Pikmin 3 would be something of a rare gem in any console’s library, never mind the fledgling Wii U’s.

Yes, you could probably sniff up an old Flash game built on roughly the same premise, but it wouldn’t have the same production values as Castlestorm has.

Like all good arcade games, it never reaches for anything deeper than ‘compulsive time-killer’, and this could lead to voices, both internal and external, saying that it’s an empty, flawed experience not worth spending your time or money on.

Even if you’re discounting any additional future content (and the developers are already hinting at follow-up campaigns post-release), this is a game that deserves your attention right now. A.M.F, chummer, see you in the sprawl.

Brave New World makes Civilisation 5 a better game.

Gunslinger feels like a by-the-numbers shooter with a narrative gimmick that, put in the right hands, could’ve made for a truly compelling experience. As it stands, it overall feels like a way to pad out the length (it’s already pretty short at about five hours).

DARK’s main mistake is that it never makes you feel like a terrifying vampire in any way. If it did, some of its many, many flaws could be excused. It’s bug-ridden, badly designed, and plain boring to go through. Add a side-dish of casual misogyny, and you end up with a deeply unenjoyable experience.

Throughout its run-time, which seems like an eternity (though likely isn’t), Star Trek is a consistently underwhelming and frequently frustrating experience; it’s mostly ugly, it plays alright and does little of interest with a great license.

Nearly everything it sets out to do it does remarkably well, and in many ways, Runner2 feels like the pinnacle of the fledgling genre its predecessor helped create.

For a JRPG, having no worthwhile character development or well-written plot is a death sentence, and Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory is guilty on all accounts. Its annoying characters will test even the most ardent of JRPG players and its ho-hum, dungeon-crawling gameplay leaves much to be desired. Even with the excuse of being a niche title, Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory doesn’t meet even the most basic requirements expected of the genre.

Ultimately though, what makes Magrunner a mediocre experience is that it feels padded. Halfway through the game, the magnetism mechanics stop being entertaining, but there’s still half a story to tell.

Contra: Evolution is a fine game. Not a “fine port”, or a “fine remake”, but a fine game.

The Last of Us is a sobering conclusion to Naughty Dog’s relationship with the PlayStation 3. It is the studio’s finest game to date, marrying gameplay and fiction better than any of the Uncharted games. It’s sometimes haunting, sometimes beautiful, but more than anything else it feels real, and both you and Joel are very much vulnerable to it.

After the excellence of Telltale’s The Walking Dead, it’s clear that Survival Instinct is the weaker of this species.

Whatever her motives, 400 Days and indeed The Walking Dead are remarkable achievements simply because they prove that games are capable at spawning thoughts of fundamental debates such as the meaning of life and death.

As with their past work, Genius Sonority has interesting ideas that regularly get in their own way. Denpa Men 2: Beyond the Wave’s no different and the iteration never comes together. It makes only a bit of forward progress with eShop’s limitations putting strain on the potential. They came by wave and so they went.

It’s played safe, and although its jokes might make one playthrough worthwhile even they struggle to maintain the interest of a game severely lacking the nuance and depth of its contemporaries.

Joe Danger 2 feels more coherent and varied than its predecessor. Where the first seemed like a loosely connected set of tracks, this one found the identity the previous game lacked. It’s as immediately fun too.

At its core, Joe Danger has intensely enjoyable gameplay, that can sometimes be held back by superfluous elements. If Hello Games had focused solely on crazy stunts, it could’ve found a stronger identity.

The Knife of Dunwall can be finished quickly, in a couple of hours, but this isn’t how Dishonored is intended to be experienced. Players who take their time and thoroughly investigate each location will find over six hours of enchanting gameplay to sink their blade into.

Its animation, voice acting and polished presentation are exemplary, and fans of anime should find much to appreciate in the storytelling.

The story provides a nice backdrop for the exploration, and your party members feel like actual humans and not disposable toy soldiers.

The game is rewarding, colourful and has enough accoutrements (including, in true RPG fashion, optional bosses) to draw you back for multiple play sessions. Locked within it, though, are the seeds of a much more complex, far more satisfying experience, one that the developers might well consider pursuing in the future.

It does show a couple original ideas, but they’re never fully executed, and it’s full of small, annoying bugs that sour the experience.

As with all the best expansions, The Old Gods doesn’t just give you more of the same. Instead it takes an excellent core system, and adds a set of rules and changes that give you drastically different ways to play.

It’s going to need to become more than a sum of its parts if it wants to compete in this modern gaming era though.

As an ARPG it’s average at best, but its MMO trappings only compound the frustration.

It’s clear that Insomniac have more work to do and with a bit more finesse and a personal approach, there’s enough potential to get this right. For now, there are far worse options for a co-op third person shooter and few better ones.

What it inherits from the original are often its greatest strengths. It’s the inconsistencies that do it harm. They’re so close to something truly special here, and I’m confident that 4A Games’ next will be something to behold.

It’s a shame there isn’t some sort of message integrated in the game, because as it is now, it seems unambitious. A plot of some sort would have helped here.

For a budget price, Gunslinger provides a hugely entertaining experience, distilling the dime-novel heroics of the pulp Western and an excellent, satisfying combat system into one immensely likeable package. Bravo.

It may not be the best possible way to play Terraria, but taken on its own merits the Xbox version is still a triumph.

Being a NetherRealm Studios production, it has a tendency to flirt with the superfluous, but there’s tasty meat to be found in the core combat even if not all of its mechanics mesh perfectly together.

Impossible Road’s fundamentals are so crisply constructed, so itchingly compelling that its lack of iteration doesn’t completely sour the experience.

If you played Resident Evil: Revelations on the 3DS these new features probably aren’t enough to make you want to pick it up again, and they shouldn’t be. This is a game meant for new players, especially those disillusioned with the series’ recent direction.

At first glance the lack of direction appears to be a weakness, but in actuality Legendary Heroes requires you to assist it, to give it the direction it needs.

It’s good and esoteric in an entirely worthwhile way.

Rather than just being a typical add-on, Blood Dragon exists more as a complimentary stand-alone experience to Far Cry 3’s tale of survival and savagery—it’s an insanely fun, ridiculous ode to the bygone era of games that got by on having great action gameplay and a title that sounded cool.

4A Games’ followup to the remarkable Metro 2033 doesn’t quite hit the high watermark of its predecessor. At times the story and experience feel too constricted and too safe in comparison, but 4A eventually hits the perfect balance of action and atmosphere.

Sceptics will have their own reasons for shaking their heads and walking away, but those who make the investment will find a rewarding experience, with oodles of depth, hours of playtime and, yes, an abundance of menus.

It’s definitely more fun than it has any right to be, but its lasting appeal is seriously questionable.

ACE has mostly succeeded in creating an interesting setting – but the joy of exploration is quickly tempered by the game’s reliance on fighting mechanics that are too simple, and too rough to be engaging.

With better pacing and a lot more balancing, Mars: War Logs could have been a fresh, satisfying take on BioWare’s proven formula. Its intriguing premise and characters eventually succumb to its broken systems, creating a fiction you’ll hope sooner to finish than completely understand.

Thomas Was Alone does a stellar job in doing what it sets out to achieve. It uses simplistic visuals and basic gameplay to convey a sense of wonder and tell a very personable, well written and well realised story of isolation and companionship.

The feeling is that Blood Dragon is a straight-to-VHS sequel that occasionally manages to top its blockbuster equivalent due in large part to a sharp wit and an enthusiastic execution on a popular nostalgia.

Some stealth games end up solely being about moving from one shadow to another, but Monaco has a good balance between fast paced action and careful planning. That’s what makes it successful in the end, despite its – at times – confusing and cluttered visuals.

It takes the best parts of MK but refuses to rest on its laurels, building on a solid blueprint to create a fighting game with its own identity and unique fighting system. It remains accessible but manages to retain a hidden depth, making for a complete package that’s fun to play no matter your skill level.

To their credit, Trion Worlds’ support has been admirable so far, and there’s hope for growth, but in its current state Defiance strikes a precarious balancing act between fleeting enjoyment and impeding flaws.

Taken as a whole, Dead Space 3 is far more infuriating than it is bad.

Ultimately, your enjoyment of Slamjet Stadium will depend on your respect for rules - not ‘the’ rules, but the basic notion that games should have them.

If you are in the market for a portable brawler, consider this one of the best options currently available.

Razor’s Edge doesn’t reach the same heights of fast, brutal action that its predecessors did, but it’s a huge step forward and warrants Team Ninja’s flawed sequel one more chance.

While it can’t compare to living with an abusive parent, you do get an insight into what it’s like, and you get to experience a sliver of the emotions the creator went through. And that’s the unique strength games have. You understand those emotions a little better by feeling them yourself.

Evoland is a small game, but if there’s anything it could have learned from the big titles it draws inspiration from is that it should have picked one style of gameplay and fleshed it out. Instead there’s several subpar reflections of olden styles, painted in a fresh coat of nostalgia.

Dead Island: Riptide is simply more of the same dumb fun, and while it still might not be the game it could be, I’ve learned to embrace it for what it is, absurd.

You could come into March of the Eagles expecting a glorified game of Risk and go away quite satisfied. That’s reductive perhaps, but there is a solid if unspectacular base strategy game here that’s deep enough for grand strategy fans to sink their teeth into. There’s just not a lot else to enjoy.

Judgment is a worthy addition to the franchise, but it’s a shame the campaign falls short of the high standard of those that preceded it.

It may lack substance in the long-term, but it provides an experience which is admirably oriented towards pure intuitive fun, presented in a way which is great to look at and humorous in tone.

Fun and frustrating in equal measure, Twisted Dreams blends (rather than borrows) elements from Super Mario Bros., Sonic, and the essentials of many classic platformers that makes the experience feel fresh in an era when the genre has lost its bite.

Guacamelee takes a tried and tested formula, and puts its own sheen onto it, in the process crafting one of the best titles, downloadable or otherwise, available for Playstation Vita.

Most Wanted U holds the status of the best entry and furthers the accessibility of the formula in meaningful ways.

This could have been an amazing basis for combat mechanics, but there’s too much mouse lag and unresponsiveness when playing.

The Banner Saga: Factions’ slower pace and current lack of class variety will be enough to discourage many from trying this particular brand of turn-based strategy. But those who can look past these flaws will find a somewhat deep combat system that necessitates tactical awareness and forethought, and a rewarding experience for those who invest the time needed to learn its intricacies.

There’s also unevenness to the pacing between the high-energy action divided by constant collect-a-thons.

Am I Hero? isn’t morally questionable in the manner of other titles recently reviewed, but this doesn’t excuse the laziness and one hopes that a $49.99 IAP never happens, for I shall make a stand against it. I am hero.

Sporos is an inoffensive and mechanically sturdy puzzle machine.

It’s the incredible world-building details that draw you into the experience of Infinite, not the shooting, which makes its predominance a shame. Irrational have made a Bioshock that is smoother to play, but less fun to play around with; built on grander ideas, but less coherent ones. It isn’t a flawless second coming, but its almost peerless storytelling, imagination and attention to detail make it well worth playing.

The flawed functionality and often obtuse environments are fortunately not detrimental to the claustrophobia, perhaps even strengthening it, and this is Killer Escape’s strongest suit.

Alex Kidd & Co. is a fine, if not uneven addition to Sega’s ongoing Vintage Collections. it finds the return of a couple brands which molded Sega into the company they are today and a retro arcade-centric racing game that’s been broadly overlooked with time.

It’s astonishing just how much content is packed in here.

The plot and combat could’ve been better, but its mode of storytelling demands your attention nonetheless as there’s no other experience like it and, for a good many, that means a lot of return trips to come.

Without the tactile use of a proper analogue stick, or a significantly more forgiving sense of level design, Cling! is a game only suitable for the most dedicated masochists. And, before playing this, I might have included myself in that distinguished fraternity.

On one hand, it’s a fun, colorful, hearty little game that employs throwback platforming and collect-a-thon elements to good effect. On the other hand, it features a jarring mishmash of gameplay styles, lacks challenge and suffers from enthusiasm-sapping load times.

End Game provides a more than fitting conclusion to Battlefield 3. The fifth expansion is on par with, if not surpassing, the other offerings.

All things considered, Mirror of Fate is still a decent game, one that is merely injured by some elements of poor design. It’s a unique approach to rebooting a franchise, one that doesn’t seek to reestablish the rules, but instead utilize them as a guide, thus allowing this new version to travel its own direction.

It may not be a huge leap over last year’s game but its satisfaction is almost endless.

Hearthfire will appeal to the player that has made enough headway to justify buying the add-on but for those constantly on the road or haven’t been burdened yet with too much stuff to carry around, it might seem too superfluous to justify the purchase.

God of War III introduced the scale and spectacle capable on modern hardware with a massive budget, but without the same wads of cash and sense of purpose Ascension feels like a step back. A safe bet that’s simply going through the motions, padding out the end of the PlayStation 3s lifespan with one last hurrah for its angriest protagonist.

The camera does not work well enough to capture everyone on screen at any one time. Much of the game was spent battling with the camera, in open spaces, spinning it around to find where the other unseen opponents were. It gets worse within enclosed spaces, when there’s little room to maneuver.

It’s the depth and flawless execution of this vision, matched only by Capybyra Games’ majestic Superbrothers: Swords and Swocery, that makes Year Walk something of a rare treasure within the realms of iOS gaming. It’s a simple, beautiful, if sometimes confusing puzzler, whose original premise and disturbing atmosphere will linger in your mind long after its brilliantly suggestive end-sequence.

If you can, try not to play this game by yourself. As a single player game Nazi Zombie Army can become horribly monotonous. The crippling condition that makes the experience stale and repetitive is quickly remedied by the presence of buddies.

Traal is a fine example when it all falls into place of the home coding, floppy-disk mentality that once reigned during the Amiga days. Download it, squeeze your phone in frustration and come away surprised. I certainly did.

This is a game that starts on a high note and ends on a high note, and propels Lara with a brisk pace in between, without falling into monotony. It’s an exceptional new start for the Tomb Raider franchise.

If none of this sounds particularly interesting, it’s because it isn’t. There’s nothing inherently wrong with STX, but that everything it does has been done better before. Its slapdash blending of styles reinforces its image as a generic title trying to catch up to the first Gears of War while jumping on the military shooter bandwagon and being cartoony at the same time.

This is a welcome new standard for sports videogames as a whole and with any luck, will generate interest in getting the audio right. There are only so many places left to make it new and NBA 2K13 has crossed another off the list.

By including zombies and guns, Sega have provided something new to its cumbersome, juggernaut of a franchise; but it’s been done much better elsewhere.

What lies beneath is a nostalgic, ornate adventure game, weighed down by a few stifling design decisions, but these alone aren’t egregious enough to detract from how enjoyable its style, setting and stories truly are.

Crysis 3 is a mishmash of Crysis and Crysis 2, which is probably the best thing we could hope for now that the series has to work on aged consoles

Overall the game is a big disappointment - often frustrating, dated and has little in the way of reward or replay value.

Paranormal feels like an alpha build of a final idea, weighted down by the worst horror movie genre nonsense and the current obsession with walking at a snail’s pace to build faux tension.

A mechanically solid, visually luxuriant package and one of the strongest results of Steam Greenlight so far.

This is the very definition of a shameless cash-cow. Anyone of sound mind must steer clear.

It’s not going to set any new standards in the genre, but it’s a fine foray into the third person shooter genre and proves that this type of game can, and should, exist on the PlayStation Vita.

Platinum identified that a world subject to infinite player Ginsu-knifing is a world without obstruction. Revengeance revives its signature sword play as the show stopper it was always meant to be, but does it in a calculated manner. The result is an action game that never overstays its welcome.

Thomas Was Alone’s greatest strengths are in its storytelling and character. In this it fully exceeds, keeping me playing past the point of growing over familiar and dreary of the oft-repeated mechanical themes. But due to this it can be expected that many who start the adventure will never finish it, though, which is certainly a shame.

Dishes out more of the colourful carnage the original was well received for and stuffs plenty of additional content into this gun pie. One ingredient missing, however, is innovation.