Andrei Dobra
Gemini: Heroes Reborn is a pretty compelling first-person adventure that manages to borrow from bigger titles like BioShock, Mirror's Edge, or PsiOps to deliver a mix that can delight gamers in general, not just fans of the Heroes universe. Its adventure isn't the lengthiest, and the replayability factor isn't all that great, but you'll certainly enjoy bending time and flinging objects with your mind in this title.
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen for the PC delivers a compelling RPG experience with great combat mechanics and a varied world to explore. It can be quite tough if you're trying to speed through the main quest, but patient players who complete side quests and gear up their character, as well as their Pawns, will find plenty of things to enjoy in Capcom's RPG.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India is a good but still not great entry in the Chronicles trilogy. While it does manage to make a few improvements over China, the initial entry, it's still weighed down by problems like the clunky combat, the somewhat erratic AI, or sections that require a lot of trial and error to complete in the best way possible.
Kaiju Panic is a fun action strategy experience that can provide hours of entertainment. Great colors and design, not to mention varied stages and often hilarious moments keep things lighthearted. Unfortunately, the emphasis on trial-and-error until you find the correct strategy, as well as on replaying stages to get all the resources, weigh it down a fair amount.
Sublevel Zero is a really good take on the genre pioneered by Descent. The roguelike mechanics are a bit punishing, but the gorgeous visuals and the procedurally generated levels manage to keep things fresh and get you to come back.
Ninja Pizza Girl is a great experience due in equal parts to its great story and its good gameplay mechanics that encourage replayability and offer enough incentives to explore the pretty big levels. Some moments might not be up to par, but for the most part, you'll have a blast blazing across the rooftops and delivering pizza to others.
Tango Fiesta is a blast to play, both solo as well as with friends. The tongue-in-cheek tone, plus the slick mechanics make for an enjoyable time, while the procedurally-generated level layouts ensure that coming back to it is never dull. It does take a while to get used to its twin-stick shooting, as well as its enemies that get quite aggressive as you progress through the movies.
Skyshine's Bedlam is a pretty good mix of turn-based strategy and rogue-like mechanics. However, the sheer difficulty at the beginning of a campaign and the randomized unit placement does make it very tough for players to survive their journey into the Wasteland. Already some patches are in development to solve some of these things, so the future of the game is looking relatively good.
Destiny: The Taken King is a worthy investment for any fan of the original game and a pretty good one for those who weren't exactly thrilled with the initial experience. Sure, there are some downsides, but more or less, the expansion manages to show that Destiny can provide a great time for a huge number of players.
Cross of the Dutchman is a fun history lesson that not only attracts through its source material and the alluring visuals but also through the simple yet entertaining combat. You'll have fun learning about the story of Pier Dosia while rampaging through Saxon soldiers in medieval Frisia.
Armello shows a lot of promise and its mechanics work well in a virtual environment while still keeping their tabletop feel. However, the lengthy AI turns, not to mention the sometimes-unfair RNG and erratic AI behavior, weigh it down.
While overall Mad Max borrows from past titles like Batman when it comes to combat, or Far Cry when it comes to the design of its open world and its activities, it still manages to stand out through its car combat. The story is also pretty compelling and manages to keep you invested even if some of the missions get repetitive after a while.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain makes good on its word and delivers a great experience that's more than worthy of the saga's heritage. However, it's not exactly perfect, as the story requires a lot of pre-established knowledge, not to mention cassette-listening to make sense. The mechanics are polished in the campaign, but the FOB multiplayer does feel a bit pay-to-win with its microtransactions.
Party Hard blends a novel concept with a great mix of gameplay mechanics. Throw in the random behavior of NPCs and the tongue-in-cheek style, and shutting down parties feels quite good. Gameplay might become repetitive in some situations, but overall, you'll have a nice time with it.
Shadowrun: Hong Kong is a solid experience both for veteran "chummers" but also for newcomers. Harebrained Schemes has managed to once again impress by adding a few, but only a few, good improvements to the recipe, while delivering a very interesting setting and some imaginative missions. However, it might not feel like a whole new experience, just "more of the same."
There are still a few quirks, such as camera angles or some complex platforming sequences, but overall it's still a blast to play through the new title, both for veterans and newcomers.
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 4: Escape Plan Bravo manages to provide a great mix of hilarious situations, intense adventures, and emotional moments. While it may not please everyone and might even cause anger amongst longtime Borderlands fans due to a pretty big moment, it tells a great story and manages to set up the final chapter in a solid way.
Airscape: The Fall of Gravity is a tough but entertaining platformer experience that throws in quite a few interesting concepts and mechanics and makes them work quite well. There is plenty of trial and error, and sometimes the cute octopus might not seem so loveable, but you'll have a pretty great time with it either way.
The Reckoning DLC for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare offers a decent experience. While not all of the maps manage to live up to expectations, those that do offer a great time and are certainly going to keep fans busy until Black Ops 3 rolls out in November.
King's Quest Chapter I: A Knight to Remember manages to deliver a pretty good entry in the series. Not only does it respect the huge legacy but it also brings the franchise to the present day. It offers a lot of content, and while it's generally enjoyable, there are some sequences that might leave players frustrated.