Saints Row IV doesn’t play like a sequel so much as an expansion pack, substituting huge quantities of diversions and weaponry for an engaging campaign. With Steelport recycled and the lack of challenge, it doesn’t offer much beyond short-lived thrills through wanton destruction and the occasionally humorous moment wrapped in science fiction tropes.

The awkward touchscreen controls forced upon a 2D platformer cause physical discomfort and turns the difficulty ramp up from a hard incline to near vertical. Instead, a low-key PC release with controller support would have been better suited. It wouldn’t have resolved all issues, a straight port never will, but it would have lowered the hurdles that cause a barrier to entry here.

Where the modern FPS has become bloated with features and alternate gameplay styles, this is focused on delivering a simple experience that’s true to its origins.

Uninspired, dull, and pestering for more money, this fits in nicely with the volume of film tie-ins.

It does something no other medium could accomplish, and while it suffers the occasional misstep along the way, what comes before is an endearing and wholly accomplished adventure that makes Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons a powerful experience recommended to all.

Ill conceived and illogical if following orders, Heavy Squad is the weakest slice of this anthology.

Without reservation, Guacamelee is easily DrinkBox’s finest game to date. It subscribes to the design that made Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night the classics that they are, but it offers its own unique spin on the genre.

Similar to its more experimental bretherin, Proteus and Dear Esther, it’s a triumphantly successful demonstration that narrative doesn’t need to be funnelled down the barrel of a gun, balanced on the edge of a blade or relegated to a background cut scene for the sake of gameplay. Instead Gone Home actively embraces the unique possibilities of interactivity, laying out a breadcrumb trail of fascinating trinkets that leads to its touching crescendo without ever withholding control.

Evil is performed by men in suits, golden pens in their chest pockets, and stamps in their hands. With a single move with their wrists, they sign death warrants, never seeing the consequences of their actions, maybe not even caring about them.

Saints Row 4 does not innovate nor break new ground. What it does do is reinvigorate a simple idea often lost in the race for cinematic showboating: having fun.

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.