Murdered: Soul Suspect is what you get when you create a point-and-click adventure game through the lens of a modern console game. It's not perfect, but it's a mystery worth solving.
Thimbleweed Park is like the HD remaster of a lost LucasArts adventure from the '80s, with all the hilarious, self-aware dialogue and sometimes frustrating design of the era brought forward into the 21st century.
Xenoblade Chronicles X offers a resplendent world, fantastic combat, and transforming mechs, but figuring out how everything fits together isn't always easy.
Splatoon is a brilliant and unique shooter sorely lacking in maps and modes, and it desperately needs a refill.
It may be incomplete, narratively speaking, but Lego The Hobbit is just as content-packed as any other game in the series, and is a great experience for Lego and Middle-earth diehards alike.
Bravely Default’s combat combines the best things that old-school JRPGs had to offer with some new and welcome additions, and its social features are incredibly forward-thinking. However, its sluggish pacing and over-reliance on repetition and genre conventions holds it back from being the Final Fantasy replacement we all wanted it to be.
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.
Skylanders Trap Team's biggest surprises lie not in its gameplay, but in how it uses sound to completely sell its gimmick. It'll bleed you dry, but somehow, that doesn't seem so bad.
Unity's predictable narrative and constant technical quibbles mar what would otherwise be a solid entry in the Assassin's Creed franchise. Come for the side-content and co-op, but don't expect any important revelations here.
Mario Golf: World Tour offers little in the way of surprises, but it's still an entertaining and accessible golf game for the masses, with a decent amount of content for the price.
Tomodachi Life is more toy than game, but it's an intriguing, colorful, and consistently surprising one.
If you're looking for a whimsical and accessible racing game to play with your friends and family, Mario Kart 8 is one of the best. Just don't expect any additional content outside of the most basic modes.
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.
Westerado: Double Barreled has its issues, but it provides a grand adventure on a small scale and lets you find something new each time you play.
It's certainly not perfect, but Hyrule Warriors' combat and treatment of the typically sterile Zelda franchise is just big, dumb, loud fun.
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.
Infamous: Second Son is a solid entry in the franchise, but doesn't do a whole lot to move the series forward other than presenting a new, far more likeable protagonist capable of harnessing multiple powers in a gorgeous representation of Seattle. It may look and sound next-gen, but its gameplay takes a few too many cues from the last.
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 the narrative is a bit disconnected, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments uses the short story framework to its benefit, keeping each of its cases focused on pure, thrilling detective work.
The Zodiac Age allows Final Fantasy 12 to realize its full potential, thanks to a wealth of graphical enhancements, a soaring soundtrack, and the addition of the Zodiac Job System.