It comes without recommendation, and yet there’s persistence from within to keep this installed. Toilet paper has never been so charming, though it remains anything but a source of necessary entertainment. It has absolutely no reason to exist and for that I salute it.

It’s a solid, fun experience that will keep you coming back for one more turn.

This loose fragment of fan-service is priced as a Vita game and designed as a low-end iOS game. Square’s use of IAPs wouldn’t be a good model even if it were free-to-play. With the premium attached, All the Bravest is simply anti-consumer. It’s a big waste of a good opportunity to streamline.

The Wise Monkey is overall a better installment than its predecessor, but it still has its work cut out. Characters and dialogue are once again rather tin-eared and jerky animations can take players out of the experience.

It may not be for hardcore fans of the series who are attuned to a particular playstyle, but for everyone else DmC: Devil May Cry is a highly accomplished character action game with a lot to love. It’s a different type of game than its predecessors but one that’s wholly successful at what it does, bringing relevancy back to the Devil May Cry name.

The overall experience of Adventure Time is just fine if not hampered by its reliance on old design. It’s inoffensive and is a fun one-off novelty at best.

To ignore it for avoiding standard conventions would be a mistake. Put any preconceptions aside and let Ed Key and David Kanaga’s work take you in.

Pantheon is not a game: it's an experiment on the addiction of instant gratification combined with in-app purchases that grant rewards.

Stand it beside Papa Sangre and they make a strong argument for design that begins with the technology first, refusing to force an idea onto it without contemplation - and this makes The Room feel necessary and unique, providing something unavailable elsewhere.

This is one best enjoyed in shorter bursts. Cadenza Interactive's work shows promise and if the name Descent brings fond memories this comes recommended.

The Scorchers is a fine way to re-familiarise yourself and extend the run-time of this under-appreciated throwback shooter.

The game demonstrates a solid understanding of point-and-click fundamentals that work, but don't exactly set the genre on fire, and what players end up with is an adventure title that has the elements it needs to be intriguing but can't quite seem to fit all the pieces together yet.

There's no denying that gamers can walk away from the experience feeling a lasting good impression of the revamp. The new direction of the franchise holds a lot of promising potential and Ninja Theory still comes out showing that the duties of keeping things new and fresh are in capable hands. Here's to new beginnings.

It might look like a daunting game to dive into, but stick with it and you'll find one of the most engaging and addictive strategy experiences available.

Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt isn't an awful expansion, but it is woefully underwhelming when compared to the wealth of content the others have provided.

This is a game that wears out its welcome several hours into the show. Eight hours of the same mindless killing of identical waves of bugs is a tiresome ordeal. Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable is a game with too much filler and not enough ambition, packaged in bargain bin wrappings.

Its narrative is compelling, its writing thoughtful. The mechanics may be little more that a delivery mechanism for its story but Kentucky Route Zero's mysteries leave you wanting more. Fortunately, there's more to come.

Anarchy Reigns may be the first retail release of 2013 but it's a strong contender for dumbest fun of the year.

Exemplary art and music alone willfully justify the purchase. The problem is there's a less satisfactory design there to meet it and the game never proves as interesting or provocative as appearances let on. There is something special about Pid, it just doesn't fully execute on all of its winning ideas.

Although it can't quite sustain an initially interesting premise and refreshingly inventive ideas throughout the full length of its twenty half hour chapters, this is a Devil May Cry enlived with renewed assurance, nestled in more than capable hands.

With no story or true narrative to latch onto, there's no reason for players to care about what's going on. And there's only one thing ever going on in Dear Esther: nothing. Broken up into individual pieces-the graphics, writing, and music clearly show talent and might have led to interesting stories or games-but together they form a dull, lifeless experience that's quickly forgotten.

There's not much of a reason to play it after you've beaten it.

Had care and attention been given to those (not to mention some reworked visuals), it would've made for a far more compelling package instead of two classics saddled with three duds.

Despite being hampered by a well meaning, but ultimately interfering, plot, Far Cry 3 has evolved into a decadent, playful and exciting title. Be it quality programming, dumb luck or a mixture of them both, the game plunges you into a thick, gloopy world of sugary gameplay, shimmering visuals, intoxicating audio as well as a great deal more. It's long, stupid and buckets of fun - just what you need to burn away the winter blues.

It's a massive chunk of more of the same, basically. If that's what you're looking for you'll be more than satisfied, but lapsed players shouldn't expect anything intriguing enough to drag them back in.

For ancient king and Elvish lord, Guardians of Middle-earth is stuck in the Mystical Bog of Latency Irritation. Its system's solidly built and there's the appearance of depth crying to be uncovered. However, those cries aren't being heard. This isn't the first time a multiplayer-only XBLA title has effectively been broken online. It deserved a better fate than this.

The New Super Mario Bros series was never one to defy expectations, but rather build upon years of refined nostalgia. New Super Mario Bros. U is formulaic Mario and is a delightfully fun time for it.

Too easy for older gamers, and a little over the heads of younger gamers, Quantum Conundrum finds itself in a sort of purgatory between the two, and like a younger brother it can't help but live in the shadow of its older sibling's success.