Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a solid, if at times frustrating platformer, but the inclusion of a couple new characters aren't enough to stave off the feeling that we've seen all this before.
Octodad: Dadliest Catch may be a one-joke game, but the team at Young Horses has taken that joke and squeezed as much hilarity out of it as possible. Don't ask questions about the man in the suit — just buy the game.
While other versions of Tomb Raider may be less expensive and offer a similar experience, the Definitive Edition combines the already stellar gameplay with vastly improved graphics, creating what is most certainly the best version of Tomb Raider available.
Nidhogg is the 8-bit Bushido Blade demake we never knew we wanted, offering up a sublime one-on-one fencing experience like no other. I just wish we got more.
Filled with strategic gameplay and impactful decisions, The Banner Saga is a gorgeously epic Norse-inspired adventure whose only real fault is that there isn't more of it. I can't wait for part two.
Continue?9876543210 asks for more than mere rote skill-based challenges. Rather, it forces us to reflect on existence, and explore the dark recesses of inevitability. As a game, it's unpolished, but as a rumination on mortality, it's an interactive poem.
Frustrating and generic gameplay rounds out an otherwise technically impressive package. Killzone: Shadow Fall should have been another solid entry in an above-average franchise, but instead it succumbs to all of the usual launch game pitfalls, and a decent though unimpressive multiplayer suite can't save it from mediocrity.
Knack would have been a passable game twenty years ago, but now it just feels tired and uninspired. It's a bland, boring adventure, made only more frustrating by its sheer difficulty curve and questionable design choices. There's a soul somewhere in this golem, but it's buried under a pile of ancient video game dreck.
Super Motherload may not be the most action-packed or technically impressive game on the PlayStation 4, but what it does offer is surprisingly addictive, especially for a game entirely about digging. Puzzles, strategy, multiplayer, a haunting atmosphere, and a fantastic soundtrack — Super Motherload packs a wealth of material into a small, though somewhat repetitive, package.
On the eve of the next generation of consoles, it's comforting to know Super Mario still has potential to excite and astound with some of the best gameplay found on the Wii U, or any platform. It may be short and easy, but Super Mario 3D World finds a place within the cacophony of this year's whiz-bang shooters and next-gen tech demos. This is exactly what the Wii U needed.