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.