Destructoid

The only real fault of Tiny Thief is that I wish there was more of it. I was glued to my screen, ready to see what the next area would be, and laughing all the way at the game's effortless charm. If you're a fan of adventure games, this is a no-brainer -- just don't be surprised if you spend an entire afternoon tearing through it, longing for more.

Though the menus are clunky and the game doesn't do much to welcome new players, the core game of Shootmania Storm is so wonderful to play that I can't help but want to always improve. It has a remarkably high skill ceiling, even if the basic controls seem simple at first. I believe the phrase is "easy to understand, difficult to master." Yeah, that fits this game perfectly.

Dynasty Warriors 8 feels, in several ways, like an answer to criticisms fans have had of the series all generation. It contains more involved combat as opposed to Dynasty Warriors 6, over seventy totally unique character moves as opposed to Dynasty Warriors 7, and an overall deeper, more varied, faster paced experience than the series has ever had. The dramatic new additions to combat and three gameplay modes are all complimentary, while the more subtle enhancements alter the game's flow in unsung ways.

Time and Eternity is a wasted opportunity. The premise of a Japanese role-playing game that looks and feels like an interactive anime is a sound one. But this game is anything but sound. A vapid story, obnoxious characters, and heaps of unrealized potential awaits those that fall for Time and Eternity's glossy veneer.

Brave New World brings in all the best parts of Gods & Kings and it makes the game into something complex yet simple to learn. The ways you can play are greatly opened up with the new systems, and you can take very different approaches to each victory type. While it still seems less complicated than Civ IV with all of the expansions, Civ V with Brave New World does have a lot more going on and it's just easier than ever to get to all of it. That's always a good thing.

Shin Megami Tensei IV may have been developed for two little screens, but it's a massive, uncompromising game that feels just as big as any console RPG release. It's as deep and gratifying as you'd expect from Atlus' original key franchise, and now it's fully portable (with a save anywhere function). In fact, the only real problem you're going to have with Shin Megami Tensei IV is keeping your 3DS battery charged up, because it's the best RPG for 3DS to date.

As much as I loved Project X Zone, it's not for everyone. The story is incomprehensible. It can be pretty repetitive. And those lacking a strong attachment to Capcom, Namco Bandai, and Sega's iconic characters might want to stay away. That said, this is a love letter from Japan that just about any RPG fan should seriously consider checking out.

The Walking Dead: 400 Days is a worthwhile, bold narrative experiment. It throws away most of the trappings of the adventure game genre that the first season still hung onto; it's more directed, which perhaps makes it less compelling to play, but just as wonderful to experience. If The Walking Dead is more about dialogue and choices than the occasional puzzle and cupboard searching, then 400 Days is an excellent addition to the series.

NCAA Football 14 is in a weird position and it shows. There are some mild performance issues -- start menus that take an extra few seconds to pop up, slowdown after a turnover, a crash or two -- that feel like the result of the waning console generation. Meanwhile, the series finally has physics, but in its PS3 and 360 swansong, a mere few months before, for many, EA’s Ignite and the next gen come in to wreck up the place.

There's only a handful of levels on offer, but you probably won't have the patience to get through them without throwing in the towel. On top of that that, there's a lack of a special mode such as a multiplayer component, so it doesn't really innovate, even on Doodle Jump terms.