Mario Party Star Rush gets rid of a few bad ideas from the previous games in the series, but it just doesn’t have the staying power to keep players come back for more week after week.
Clockwork Empires has a lot of promise but numerous technical issues and a baffling UI, not to mention disappointing use of the steampunk aesthetic, make the game a frustrating and tedious experience.
Seraph has a very solid foundation but lacks the level variation and art variety to get truly addictive. That said, the combat is thrilling and the scaling difficulty is creative. If you can get this one on sale, I’d definitely pull the trigger.
Zombie Night Terror mixes the tired undead genre with the puzzle gameplay of the Lemming series, oddly enough. It works for the most part but the game is too difficult and obtuse for its own good. There is an enjoyable puzzler here, just expect to deal with some trial and error frustration along the way.
An addictive mix of strategy, RPG, exploration and storytelling, Halcyon 6 is slow to start but should satisfy anyone craving a deep, retro-affectionate science fiction adventure.
Shadow Warrior 2 is a smart evolution of the solid framework established in the first game. Bigger guns, nastier enemies, grander levels and more friends means more Wang for everybody.
Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice is a satisfying and appropriately crazy end to the second trilogy of Ace Attorney games. It retains a few of the persistent annoyances I have with the series, but the story is just as insane as ever and the cases are tough, lengthy and fittingly absurd turnabouts.
Telltale’s first Batman episode is marred by technical issues, but the writing, gameplay and presentation are superb as always. Maybe hold off for a couple weeks while it gets patched, but after that, Batman fans should definitely take the plunge.
Umbrella Corps has no clue what it wants to be, and that translates into a frustrating, confounding experience. Tiny maps, wildly unbalanced gameplay and a general lack of polish and focus makes this one Resident Evil entry that you’re better off avoiding.
Trials of the Blood Dragon is a confused concoction. The Trials gameplay is as solid as ever—RedLynx know their craft—but the side-scrolling levels are clunky and out of place. The whole thing feels like a waste of the Blood Dragon IP.
Kirby Planet Robobot continues the excellence and consistent fun and variety of the Kirby series from the past few years. It tightens up established mechanics and adds some great new ideas, which all comes together into one of the most enjoyable and genuinely friendly games I’ve played all year.
As a joke Omnibus might be fun for a few hours, but playing it through legitimately, level by level, is an exercise in diminishing patience.
Petroglyph, the modern maestros of RTS, have created a fun, accessible new entry that is a great way to get into the genre. There isn’t a lot of complexity here but the friendly art style and generous difficulty curve make 8-Bit Armies the perfect RTS for beginners.
There can be no dispute that DOOM is back. The campaign brings the glory of the '90s screaming back with heavy metal, blood and guts. But the multiplayer mode feels confused and the Snapmap level editor needs to add some serious content for modders to play with. Regardless, DOOM's campaign is reason enough to dive back into Hell.
Enter the Gungeon is one of those "your mileage may vary" indie games. The pixel art is deliciously good and the gameplay mechanics are rock solid, but trying to mix a brutally hard roguelike with a loot-chaser collectathon seems counter-intuitive. If you can stomach the game's unforgiving challenge then there is a lot to love here, but expect to tear your hair out when the game kills you and you lose your meticulously sorted gun collection.
Hyrule Warriors Legends is a pretty amazing achievement on the 3DS hardware, but that same hardware imposes some rather glaring limitations. It’s almost feature-complete compared to the Wii U game but a smaller screen and lower resolution hamper the overall experience. What’s more, most of its new content will be coming to the Wii U version as DLC, so unless you really want to play Hyrule Warriors on a portable it’s hard to wholeheartedly recommend Legends.
Mario and Luigi Paper Jam successfully mixes the two long-running Mario RPG series, but outside of a few new Paper-based gameplay surprises it's the same solid, self-aware role playing experience you'd expect from the Mario and Luigi series.
Ten years later, Twilight Princess is still a tale masterfully told and designed. The gameplay and story hold up remarkably well, and the HD visuals, updated textures, and a handful of improved mechanics make the HD version the definitive edition of the game. In a word, it is a masterpiece, then and now.
Dinocide isn't a bad game but it isn't particularly noteworthy either. It has a couple good idea but the platforming is fairly rudimentary and very derivative. With a few content updates it might become something better, but as it stands Dinocide feels like it's still stuck in early access.
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is an intriguing walk down memory lane, and Night Dive Studios have done their usual good job of optimizing it for modern hardware. That said Turok hasn't aged very well at all, and there are some inherent flaws that keep the original from being as fun as the sequels.