The story is nonsense, but it's just a vector to dump the art down your throat. Longest Day alone isn't worth the $40 asking price though, so if you're buying it, pick it up for the entire Short Peace package.

While it has a few rough patches and may prove too slow and drawn-out for some players, Isolation does an amazing job of capturing the essence of a classic film and recasting it as a video game. It can be a little too easy to see the man behind the curtain at times, but this is nevertheless one of the finest film-to-game adaptations ever... and a fantastic stealth adventure in its own right.

A great multiplayer racer, but quite dreary as a single-player game, DriveClub feels like it needed more time in development to polish out its dings and flaws.

It features the same focus on new experiences and terrifying boss fights as the past two Crown installments, tucked into a setting that's atypical for a Souls game. Once you tie the bow on Dark Souls 2, the only thing left to do is start counting down the days until Bloodborne.

FIFA 15's improvements don't jump out right away, but they rapidly manifest themselves in smarter teammates, livelier stadiums, and more tactical gameplay.

The game isn't perfect - resurrecting foes can be frustrating - but those issues won't hold you back from enjoying yourself.

A meticulously crafted, marvelous-looking and superbly designed racer that dishes up an absolute feast of automotive madness and mayhem. Sheer brilliance through and through.

It is a bit too complex at times, with dozens of different systems at your fingertips, but the developer has added some training wheels for new players. If you're a big Persona fan or hunting for a new 2D fighter, Ultimax is for you.

At its core, Super Smash Bros. is both a loving tribute to Nintendo and a surprisingly deep fighter, and though it hasn't changed much over the years, its appeal is strong as ever on the Nintendo 3DS. The solo experience is admittedly lacking, but as a multiplayer game, it remains a delight.

Rocksmith 2014 is a very impressive guitar learning experience. Its comprehensive suite of lessons and practice formats, fun mini-games and hugely entertaining Session Mode make it suitable for anyone, from novices who've never picked up a guitar to competent players looking to improve their technique.

Though it's extremely brief and perhaps a bit undercooked, Murasaki Baby is a thoughtful adventure with some clever mechanics. It's primarily buoyed by its superb art and sound direction, which expertly toe the line between creepy and cute. While some deeper puzzles would have been nice, Murasaki Baby is ultimately a nice addition to the Vita's library.

Hyrule Warriors is basically a one-note experience, but it hits that note with perfect pitch. The Zelda universe works better as a musou button-masher than you might expect, and much of that success is down to Tecmo's obvious love for the subject matter.

Destiny feels like it wasn't ready, but it was shipped anyway. It tantalizes with glimpses of brilliance, but then confounds with clunky design decisions and baffling oversights.

Curtain Call could be a better game, but its music makes up for the fairly straightforward rhythm action on display. If you've been a stranger to the series until now and want to jump in, Curtain Call offers hundreds of Final Fantasy songs, from the mainline series to the obscure spinoffs.

With a bit more time in development, Dead Rising 3 for PC could have been the definitive version. Unfortunately, an above-average game is hamstrung by a port that runs poorly on stronger PC hardware. Crashes and framerate issues abound. If you really want to play Dead Rising 3, your best bet is to wait or pick up the Xbox One version.

While it doesn't have quite the impact as the series' debut, Danganronpa 2 continues the tradition of elaborate murder mysteries featuring appealing characters, and won't let you put it down until the bloody end.

NHL 15 is right to focus on improvements to the gameplay and the presentation, but they aren't nearly good enough to justify the cuts made elsewhere. It dazzles out of the box, but it doesn't take long for the upgrades to feel shallow in comparison to what's missing. Ultimately, NHL 15 feels like a major misstep.

The new generation of Sims begins with what feels like a bare-bones starter kit. It packs top-of-the-line Sims creation and house building tools, but styling options and activities are distinctly lacking. Add the contents of its first expansion, and Sims 4 will probably feel like the game it should be right now.

Hatoful Boyfriend is a straightforward dating simulator where all of your suitors just happen to be birds. If you're not drawn to your potential boyfriends, the early game can be a bit of a drag. While the second half of the game is worth the price of admission, many players will have a problem getting there. Proceed with caution.

It's one of the best bite-sized 3DS downloadable titles to date, and loads of fun for fans of classic games.

Azure Striker Gunvolt looked like a second coming of Mega Man Zero. It's not, and that's no bad thing; it works on its own terms. However, between a lack of variety and some wild variances in difficulty, you get the impression that IntiCreates needed considerably more time and budget to invest in Gunvolt.

What could've been a simple cash-grab is a great mash-up of two great franchises. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright does its best to bring both sides together in a brand-new setting. More importantly, the game feels like it stays true to the core of both series while also setting a new high bar in presentation. The game favors Wright more than Layton, but fans of both will find something fun here.

If you're on board for another round of Dark Souls DLC, you know what you're in for: A few interesting twists here and there, and a revival of certain elements from the last game, but nothing revolutionary. If you simply want more Dark Souls 2, Old Iron King delivers just that, and with all the thoughtfulness you'd expect from its developers.

It focuses the best power set from the previous game and cuts out all the extras. The Neon-powered Fetch is a charismatic character, but her story is a standard tale of loss and revenge. If you really want more Second Son, it's worth a go; if not, you can skip it.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment does its best to provide a comprehensive experience, featuring online-style combat and dating sim aspects. Unfortunately, while it does a decent job of presenting the Sword Art Online world, the game itself is only good, not great. Sword Art Online fans will probably have fun though.

Madden NFL 15 is an enjoyable football game on the surface, but its dragged down by a thousand little issues, including a poor interface, odd glitches, the inability to skip certain cutscenes, and more. As nice as it is to see it take a step forward in terms of accessibility, it still has a ways to go before catching up with the likes of FIFA and NBA 2K.

It's a 20-hour game in a 50-hour package, bloated to hell and back by a design engineered to recycle content. If you're interested in playing an installment of the Tales series, you deserve much better than this.

Hohokum is a different kind of game that prizes aimless interaction and exploration above completing specific objectives. It's a title that brings together a cute, minimal art style and a great soundtrack to create a zen experience. It's worth a play, but not everyone will appreciate its strengths.

Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited crams one of the best Disgaea games ever into a tiny package. The entire PlayStation 3 game comes along for the ride, with all of the levels, all of the graphics, and all of the content. There's some framerate issues here and there, but nothing that completely ruins the experience. A must-have for Disgaea fans who own a Vita.

Perhaps the definitive version of Diablo 3, Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition is streamlined, buttoned-down and an absolute joy to play - especially so when you start adding friends.

Metrico is beautiful puzzle-platformer with a great minimal, infographic-inspired aesthetic complemented by an awesome soundtrack. Unfortunately, the game gets in its own way by focusing on gimmicky Vita controls. It has moments of greatness, but ends up just being "good".

If you need to know why gamers collectively turned up their noses at adventure games in the late '90s, look no further than AR-K: It contains every design flaw we washed our hands of 15 years ago. It's hard to tell if Gato Salvaje has played an adventure game since this fabled era, but if they want to save Episode 2 of AR-K, they'd better start.

Instead of a heavy narrative, the game is more of a resource management sim, with the resource being the other characters. When taken like that, it's a solid puzzle game with some rough, repetitive edges.

Wondering what this whole "roguelike" thing is all about? Then Abyss Odyssey could be the game for you: It's a fine introduction to the rules of the genre, with some helpful training wheels to prevent newcomers from being discouraged. If you've suffered the scars of past roguelikes, though, you'll find Abyss Odyssey's lack of challenge a significant downside.

Fun but flawed, Rogue Legacy falls somewhat short of its lofty aspirations. But you can't fault the developers for aiming high.

Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty is what the original game always wanted to be: a truly cinematic platformer. It looks fantastic, sounds brilliant and is great fun to play, despite its occasionally clumsy controls.

Wii Sports always felt more like a starting point than an endpoint, so it's kind of funny to be playing it again on the Wii U more than a decade later.

There's not really enough distance between the PS3 version of The Last of Us and this new Remaster to make it worth double-dipping, unless you're simply that fixated on counting lines of resolution. If you missed out the first time around, though, you really shouldn't let it slip past again.

From Software went above and beyond with their Crown of the Sunken King DLC: invest in its tiny asking price, and you may find yourself getting just as much time out of it as you would a $60 game.

It's slow to start, but when WildStar finally kicks into high gear it throws a ton of content at you.

It's tough to recommend Civilization: Revolution 2 in its current state. It makes few meaningful improvements to the original game, and in some ways its even takes a step back. Depending on your taste for 2D art, I would actually recommend the original Civilization: Revolution over this version. This sequel that feels like a missed opportunity to improve on a good idea.

You probably know what you're getting into if you're picking up Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn. Any resemblance it might have to depth is purely superficial.

XBlaze would be thoroughly unremarkable if not for its utter—and possibly record-breaking—contempt for the player. If you're interested in visual novels as a genre, the Vita has a handful of titles significantly better than this one. And if you're somehow compelled to explore the rich back story of the BlazBlue universe, there's always fan fiction.

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma is a great package if you love the series. New characters, streamlined mechanics, and the same animated fighting action you've been playing since 2008. DLC brings things down a bit, but if you want to play a console fighting game on the go, BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma is a perfect candidate.

As fun in this beefed-up incarnation as in its original release, Guacamelee Super Turbo Champion Edition offers one of the best-designed and most original takes on the well-worn metroidvania phenomenon you'll ever find.

GRID Autosport combines interesting cars, entertaining tracks, excellent AI, and a quality handling engine to deliver a terrific racing experience. Unfortunately its career mode lacks depth and isn't particularly engaging.

Shovel Knight is a loving homage to an era we left behind long ago. The graphics, gameplay, and soundtrack are all pitch-perfect for an NES game... all you're missing is the original cartridge. Yacht Club Games has crafted an amazing experience from beginning to end.

Valiant Hearts works from a novel concept, and is loaded with brilliant ideas — hell, it's great just to see a war from the perspective of a country other than America—but Ubisoft's lack of self-control ultimately makes it less impactful than it should have been. It's still a worthwhile experience, though it could have been so much better if Valiant Hearts left us wanting more.

For Atelier veterans, Rorona Plus deftly addresses pretty much every criticism that could be levelled at the original Rorona while providing plenty of new content to enjoy. For Atelier newcomers, this is a solid, enjoyable and charming game that marks an ideal entry point into the broader series as a whole.

A genuinely disturbing and terrifying game that'll have you jumping out of your seat in fright. It's a little short at around six or so hours, but the experience Outlast delivers is well worth the price of admission.

An example of the format done right: It harnesses that old-school look for a reason and focuses in on a single design concept with obsessive clarity. Developer 8bit Fanatics really gets what made the best classic games great, and manages to make a hateful, hurtful game into addictive fun.

While light on what we'd traditionally call "gameplay" and aimed at an even more specific audience than your typical modern Japanese games, Producing Perfection is a solid, character-driven experience that is a lot of fun.

Pure Chess looks gorgeous, and offers an excellent single-player experience. But while playing the AI opponent is fun, the game's woefully underdeveloped online mode makes playing against humans decidedly not.

I really wanted to like Murdered: Soul Suspect, but -- like L.A. Noire -- it's a detective game that manages to gets its most essential quality absolutely wrong. The backdrop of Salem lends a lot to its central mystery, but at no point will Soul Suspect ever put your deductive skills to work. That's fine if you're indulging in an episode of CSI, but I like my thinky games to require more than just passive interest.

The latest of Nintendo's experiments to create games with appeal beyond the usual clichés of the medium, Tomodachi Life may actually be the most humanistic creation the company has ever put together. While it could (somewhat notoriously) stand to be more inclusive, its focus on the concrete personalities and tangible interactions of tiny digital people make it one of the most addictive and fascinating life sims ever made.

Stunning to look at, slick and fluid to play as well as being a satisfying -- but never insurmountable -- challenge, Astebreed is a top-quality game that everyone with even a passing interest in shoot 'em ups should have in their collection.

Even if this sort of short-burst action feels more at home on a portable system, there's no denying Pushmo World is one of the best games you can download for the Wii U — and we all know that console is in desperate need of your downloads.

An unashamedly old-school game, but one which, surprisingly, captures the feeling of wrestling with the controls of a lumbering, hulking chunk of walking metal better than pretty much any other title in recent memory.

Sacrific[es] a lot of what made the original game so memorable in its quest to fit on the mobile platform. It's playable, but only just. It certainly does not come recommended.

With 44 total characters, a host of balance tweaks, new fighting options, and native YouTube uploading, Ultra Street Fighter IV is a release that's worth picking up for hardcore Street Fighter fans or returning casual players.

Watch_Dogs combines an astonishingly detailed world, a gripping storyline, creative game mechanics, a myriad of missions and activities, and improvisational tactical sandbox gameplay to create a truly next-generation open world game. Phenomenal. No other word for it.

Drakengard 3 is rough, to say the least. Fundamentally, I like the focus on action, and the battle system is competently executed. However, it's all buried beneath a poorly optimized engine, terrible camera, and a story that's alternately infantile and gross. I've played a lot worse; but by an large, Drakengard 3 is a pretty bad game.

Great combat mechanics and excellent writing help Transistor transcend the familiarity of its individual components. A gorgeous, intriguing, and ultimately moving tale, Supergiant's sophomore effort builds on the strengths that made Bastion so memorable without feeling like a mere retread.

A sprawling epic that sometimes doesn't quite hit the ridiculously high bar it sets for itself, but nevertheless delivers an absolutely spectacular, supremely gory, utterly compelling experience.

An excellent run-and-gun shooter that plays beautifully on both PC and mobile; the only sticking point for some players will be its relatively short length.

Mario Kart 8 is not the best in the series, but it does stand near the top.

Borderlands 2 for the Vita is a case study in how a great game can get lost in a really bad port. There's just no getting around this version's raft of technical issues, nor the fact that the Vita doesn't have enough buttons to make it really work. Given more time, Iron Galaxy might have made it work. But as it is, even hardcore fans of the series should stay far away.

Capybara has designed a devastatingly complex game that manages to feel wholly intuitive and approachable in practice; I just wish it explored more of its potential. If ever a game begged for a sequel to fully realize a great concept, Super T.I.M.E. Force is it.

A solid arcade hack-and-slash with easy-to-understand, hard-to-master mechanics.

Bound By Flame is a number of good ideas poorly crafted into a final product. The story itself is rather generic, with poor dialog and voice acting preventing you from getting emotionally invested in the world. The core combat is good, but once it meets with the larger game, it begins to break down. Even an excellent crafting system can't save Bound By Flame from being a budget RPG.

A swing and a miss. The developer has improved the web-swinging mechanic and getting around Spider-Man's Manhattan has never been better. Unfortunately, the rest of the game drags it down. A schizophrenic story, a lifeless New York, and boring villains are what you can expect for the price of entry. The game's Hero/Menace system even takes all the fun out of just randomly swinging around the city.

The game stumbles when you add in the micro-transactions found in the online-only Campaign Mode and the $2 price tag for each of the 14 DLC characters. Hardcore JoJo fans also need to watch out for the dodgy name localizations of the music-themed cast.

Mario Golf: World Tour's single-player experience challenges you to perfect your game. It's a dry process that moves slowly while committing impressive attention to detail, though the inclusion of RPG elements could have made it more interesting. Versus mode lets you cut loose a bit and offers good times with friends.

Even if you tend not to care much about Kirby games – understandably, given how toothless they can be – Triple Deluxe merits attention. Smart level design and a remarkable level of detail make this portable platformer one of Kirby's greatest adventures to date.

An interesting attempt to channel the feeling of '90s shooters that is successful in some ways but lacking in others. Fun for a while, but then the flaws start to show. Stick with it and there's a surprising amount of depth to discover.

A shining example of a mobile adaptation done right, Hitman Go's creators clearly understand both the essence of the franchise and the limitations of the platform. The resulting synthesis is nothing less than brilliant.

Demon Gaze is an enjoyable and enormously addictive title that strikes a good balance between endearing JRPG-style narrative and compelling dungeon-crawling exploration, let down only slightly by somewhat repetitive combat.

On PlayStation 4, the game looks absolutely amazing, especially in the cutscenes and major battles when it matters most. Unfortunately, the source material lets down TT Games here; the dwarves just aren't very distinct when compared to the cast of Lego Marvel and The Lego Movie. All told, Lego The Hobbit is very good, but it doesn't reach the best of those previous titles.

Visually, the game is consistent, but that consistency is boring and drab. The game itself is punctuated with exciting moments, but overall it's just above average and I have a hard time recommending that in a subscription MMO. If you're a big Elder Scrolls fan, give it a try. If not, there are better choices out there.

The fundamental premise of NES Remix 2 remains sound, but the shift in focus to more complex source material crimps its style somewhat. Thankfully, the bonus modes go a long way toward restoring some of the shine to its star. It's not quite as essential a play as its predecessor, but it offers an amusing, self-referential distraction nevertheless.

Don't let Disney Magical World's slow start and over-friendliness fool you. There's a lot to do in this neighborly kingdom, even for older fans of Mickey.

While the massive amount of DLC is disappointing, and the story may be a little difficult to understand for anyone not familiar with series lore, fighting fans will find a lot to like here.

Making excellent use of the visual novel medium to tell its story, Steins;Gate is a beautifully crafted piece of interactive fiction that blends character drama, sci-fi and critique of popular culture into a compelling and memorable whole.

Hearthstone is easy to play, yet it delivers an astonishing breadth and depth of strategy. If you're looking for a fascinating, involving and highly addictive cerebral gaming experience, there are few finer than this.

A Crooked Mile is a great follow-up to what's come before in Telltale's exploration of Fabletown. The stakes are raised emotionally and physically, and there's the great debut of a new villain for Bigby to contend with.

A gorgeous-looking, wonderful-sounding puzzle game that provides an all-too-brief, but utterly memorable gaming experience. Brilliant.

Personally, after enjoying this installment immensely, I'm very much looking forward to seeing what's next, and sincerely hope that between this title and the impending Gabriel Knight remake that we can well and truly see Jensen getting back to doing what she does best on a more regular basis.

Though lightweight, the selection of games in Rusty's Real Deal Baseball are solidly fun. Wrap them up in a compelling (if weird) story, and we have an example that Nintendo knows how to do free games right, despite being a newcomer to the system.

As challenging as it is strange, Yumi's Odd Odyssey seems doomed to obscurity thanks both to its aesthetics and its quiet release onto eShop. It deserves notice, though. It's the first U.S. release of a long-running cult series from Japan, and – more importantly – it's loads of challenging fun.

Despite looking and playing like a 90's throwback, Mercenary Kings adds character and weapons customization options, and a novel mission structure to create a game that feels contemporary. Its content can feel somewhat repetitive, but by the time it does, most players will have already got their money's worth.

The game has lost some of the wonderful trap creation of the earlier titles and replaced it with a dose of fanservice. The challenge swings between simply walking the dumb AI into your elaborate traps, or outright exploiting it so that the cheap bosses don't kill you easily. But it's still Deception, and you're not going to find another game quite like it. If that's your jam, you'll still find a fun time here.

A novel exploration of the underpinnings of game graphics, Fez at once pays tribute to classic 2D platformers while revealing the shenanigans that went into their design. Borderline inscrutable at times, Fez is a puzzle on many levels. Yet its mysteries, clever as they are, deserve to be unravelled.

If the purpose of an expansion is to not only introduce new content, but also extend the life of its core game, Reaper of Souls delivers. Act V might seem a little light, but Reaper of Souls' new features and Adventure Mode make it an essential purchase for anyone with even a passing interest in Diablo III.

While far from Nippon Ichi's best game, The Witch and the Hundred Knight's interesting interlocking game systems and unconventional, dark narrative make it an enjoyable affair well worth spending some time with, assuming you have the patience to deal with its quirks along the way.

Infamous: Second Son is the first real reason to jump completely into the next-generation of consoles. If you wanted to show someone what next-gen can do, this is the game to show them, with great image quality and amazing lighting/particle effects on display.

Vlambeer improves on one of its smaller, free releases with Luftrausers, expanding an excellent dogfighting game with a ton of customization and a great soundtrack. Short play sessions means it's the perfect game to play on the bus, between classes, or even during your boring meetings. Just don't scream out loud and pump your fist in the sky when you finally beat your high score. That's rude.

Though it does a handful of things right, Ninja Gaiden Z is overshadowed by a litany of awful design decisions. There's just no getting around the fact that it's a wretchedly bad action game. Even the most dedicated Ninja Gaiden fans should avoid this one.

Ground Zeroes is definitely fun while it lasts, and it offers an interesting taste of what is to come in Phantom Pain. As appetizers go, it's terrific. Just don't expect a full meal.