If Double Fine had taken the effort to make Grim Fandango playable without changing the atmosphere of the game: made navigation faster, fixed the inventory, added autosaves and stopped it crashing, then it may have been a worthwhile effort. Instead it is only possible to recommend this to those truly looking for that nostalgia hit.
When wrestled away from its uncompromising difficulty Gods Will Be Watching becomes a different and wholly original beast. It is rather unlike any game before it. Scant few dare to explore such dark and dubious moral grounds, and the way it hammers such choices home with such brutal and stylish pixelated visuals is quite shocking.
Quest for Infamy is an extremely rough diamond, buried under one too many layers of mess. If one can dig it out they will find a real gem, and it shows promise for future offerings from this team.
Whether or not The Elder Scrolls Online is for you depends on what you are looking for. It is not a conversion of the single player series that many might have hoped for. You can finally trot around Tamriel with your friends, slaying goblins and daedra, but the experience is hindered by uninspiring combat mechanics and far more restrictive exploration options resulting in a less immersive world.
The Reaper of Souls expansion provides a great amount of content, changes and balancing that significantly improves and extends the original Diablo III experience. The maps feel more focused, the bosses refined and the Crusader class is a joy to play. There is however one little sting in the tail: the cost.
By very slightly opening up the experience, Dark Souls II has risked unravelling this success, particularly for the hardcore fanbase. But in actuality the minor changes do not hugely alter the overall gameplay. It is still wonderfully mysterious and horrendously punishing, all backed up by a unique battle and skill system that is so gloriously balanced it feels like a real talent to master.
There is certainly potential beneath the many unrefined and unpolished layers, but Blackguards does not feel worth playing in its current state. Outside of the combat the game fails to impress in any way and often frustration at the user interface, the loading times or the embarrassingly jerky cutscenes drive the player away.
Some will see Continue?9876543210 as a success, masterfully drawing sentiment from poignant (though sometimes clumsy) words, moodily lit pixels and brooding, bubbling music. Others will find a game with simplistic mechanics and frustrating repetition. In truth, both sides have a point.
Speedball 2 HD is a purchase for those who want to rekindle the early 90s, the glory days of gaming, the Amiga, the Master System, the Atari... however the resultant fire will barely light the soul, sizzling out all too quickly.
XCOM: Enemy Within should be an essential purchase for fans of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, or even those who have not experienced this brilliant remake. With its many additions and changes it provides fans with a revitalised campaign filled with clever nuances and potentially increasing the game's lifetime by several magnitudes. It is not without its blunders, however.
Call of Duty: Ghosts does not tamper with the formula, fans will receive what they expect yet, with the world moving on to the next generation of consoles, many could perhaps be wanting more and Call of Duty: Ghosts is too formulaic to offer this. It is a victim of its own institution in a world that is quickly moving forwards.