Sadly it does miss the mark on this one.
It lacks the charm and wit of Danganronpa, but Zero Time Dilemma, like its prequels, is still valuable, smart, and stimulating. Its presentation really badly hurts it, but once you push past that distaste, what you're left with is an intense, engaging and intelligent narrative with some thoughtful and well-designed puzzle rooms to sort through.
Deemo is a very gentle game. Its minimalist aesthetic aims to connect with players emotionally rather than intellectually or physically, and the end effect is akin to sitting down at a piano and playing a favourite song; but not for the benefit of an audience, and not as an examination or other test of musical skill.
For silly, ridiculous, self-deprecating humour, backed by gorgeous character and environment art, and a fast, fluid, and genuinely entertaining combat system, I've had such a good time with Cyberdimension Neptunia that I can't help but love it.
Culdcept Saga is, with or without dice, absolutely brilliant, and the kind of game I can see myself playing for a very long time into the future. It successfully takes a couple of different approaches to traditional board and card games, and fuses them into something that you can spend a lot of time learning to master, and feeling really good about yourself as you do.
Pokken Tournament isn't really my kind of fighting game, but I do recognise that it's a quality game, and it deserves the fans that it has.
The story at the heart of it all is one of the most moving and heartfelt tales I've ever seen in a game, and that's a huge achievement. The best part is that Mel Kishida is just getting started—if this is his directorial debut, I can't wait to see what the future has in store.
Keep me guessing, Spike Chunsoft, and I'll forever love you for it.
Mary Skelter is sublime. By turns darkly sensual and horrific, it's also beautiful, ravishing, and backed by truly expert level design and a clean, clever combat system. This game is too different to effectively compare to other dungeon crawlers, but I must say, of all the many games in this genre that I've played, this one will sit with me for a very long time into the future.
Taken exclusively as a rhythm game, there is so much to appreciate about Metronomicon.
Mario + Rabbids could have been so much worse than this, but somehow Ubisoft's really done something special with it. And, as one of the rare cases where Nintendo has loaned its most precious property out to a third party, Ubisoft has done something that, I hope, Nintendo itself will be proud of.
Quirky and creative, and so very funny, Rock of Ages 2 is unlike many "comedy" games in that it backs the humour up with quality gameplay, very worthy of respect.
Warriors All-Stars is a delight.
Cities Skylines is a ridiculously clever and enjoyable game, and one that I expect I will spend a lot of time playing down the track. EA looks like it will not be revitalising Sim City as a franchise anytime soon, so I'm so glad that another developer has stepped up to the plate and created the game that the last Sim City should have been… and I am so glad it's finally on PlayStation 4.
It's a masterpiece in building tension and in the way that it plays within the classical approach to horror, without relying on jump scares and endless bloodshed.
SEGA's ... given us all something completely modern and "new" to play, and the entire Yakuza series continues to go from strength to strength.
I like my games to have purpose, and I find The Lost Legacy to be a very purposeless game. It's fun, I enjoyed my time with it. I doubt I'll ever feel inspired to play it again, much less remember it.
With the variety in levels, the large number of missions, and the historical depth, I really enjoyed what Sudden Strike 4 had to offer.
I have a great deal of difficulty putting in words just how much I love Hellblade. It's just that powerful.
Patapon is simple, elegant, and utterly delightful.