James Stephanie Sterling
A fantastic dungeon-crawler that is still mercilessly addictive two years after the fact, Diablo III turns out to be a surprisingly good console fit. Most of the content will have been seen before if you have a prior version though, so don't feel pressured to rush out and get it.
Bloated in the mission department, threadbare everywhere else, Risen 3: Titan Lords is cobbled together from rehashed material, and the series' many flaws are enhanced a hundredfold in the process.
Sacred 3 is a mildly fulfilling hack and slash game that, while fun in limited doses, isn't a patch on previous entries, and does very little to stand out within the genre in which it wishes to now be housed.
With its improved detail, better draw distance, and slick 60fps presentation, The Last of Us Remastered is a beautiful update to a beautiful game. It is, however, a rerelease of a game that isn't very old to begin with, and that bears taking into account.
Just as Abe's Oddysee was a classic of the PlayStation era, so too should Oddworld: New n' Tasty be a classic of the modern age. More than just a remake, this is a contemporary puzzle-platformer that charms, exasperates, and delights. This is how you do a reboot.
The most memorable episode since the season premier, Amid The Ruins fleshes out the supporting cast, provides some nasty scenarios, and takes Kenny's personal arc to some very haunting places.
By nature of its very premise, Infinity Runner is an addling game that ought not work. It succeeds far better than it should, however, and surprises in how fun it can be.
It's lucky it has Insecticons, otherwise I'd have been really, really critical.
A fun action platformer that remains incredibly frustrating by taking a few too many cues from Castlevania's jerkiest moments, Shovel Knight is satisfying and infuriating in equal measure. It's also a damn fine callback to the days of yore in a world where callbacks are a dime a dozen, and rarely this well done.
Despite taking shape as a rather unambitious adventure game, Valiant Hearts: The Great War nonetheless tells a beautiful story of loss and companionship with overwhelmingly evocative success.
Tomodachi Life is a promising concept, and its abstract sense of humor can be very charming. It does, however, get old fast, and you'll find yourself making the characters say lewd things to keep yourself amused.
While its skin-deep qualities suggest something artistic and maybe a little philosophical, this middling arcade game packs not enough wallop to be worth more than a bit of a shrug. While not awful, it's certainly not intriguing enough to maintain interest even in spite of a brief running time.
Cute, and sometimes unnerving, Among the Sleep draws the player to an affecting conclusion, but its banal puzzles and shallow storytelling doesn't do a lot to inspire many thrills.
Polished to a mirror sheen, and bursting with content, Watch Dogs is a great looking game with a thriving open world and an empowering premise. It suffers from being an amalgamation of every other major Ubisoft game, to the point where it doesn't feel as fresh as it deserves to, but it's still a varied, rich, thoroughly dense experience.
Wolfenstein: The New Order doesn't make the most of a highly promising premise, but it provides the baseline of gun-toting freedom fighting that fans expect.
Sometimes frustrating in terms of both gameplay and narrative, Transistor manages to be a redolent title with a ton of imagination. While not quite as clever as its presentation suggests, it's a pretty little title that ends on a beautifully bittersweet note.
In Harm's Way is one of the most violent installments TellTale's overall series, if only for the disturbing intimacy of it all. At times, Episode 3 is hard to experience, but it's well worth sticking it out.
Bound By Flame would be an immensely likable game, were it not for just how slipshod it ultimately feels. Its individual components are well crafted, but when brought together, the result is something that just isn't quite right.
Outlast: Whistleblower isn't quite as memorable as its parent game, but nonetheless provides plenty of grisly encounters and tells a more complete story.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is serviceable, and serviceable is as good as it gets. Competent, with admirable attempts at original storytelling, this movie tie-in is the perfect example of a middle-ground title.