Polygon

Gravity Rush is a game about creepy monsters, superheroes and the ability to fly, superficially speaking. But it's also a game about exploring, whether it is the city, the people, or one's take on reality. I guess Gravity Rush is like an '80s comedy after all: Brazil. It can be repetitive, obtuse and occasionally difficult to control, but it's one thing above all else: Joyful. And for that reason, Gravity Rush is the most interesting thing happening on the PlayStation Vita.

If you're able to relish all the subtle nods and cameos from established characters, you may, may be able to find the energy to push yourself through the rest of Game of Thrones' blandness. And even then, it's a little like licking a ceiling clean of mayonnaise to reveal the trompe l'oeil underneath. Yeah, sure, it's pretty, but how's your tummy doing? Because you look terrible, and we're all really worried about you.

Resistance: Burning Skies doesn't quite deliver a console-quality experience, but it effectively proves that first-person shooters are possible on the Vita. The interaction that has eluded all other handheld shooters actually works here, though Burning Skies doesn't just work as a proof of concept. The pitch-perfect controls and delightfully old-school multiplayer mode justify this game's existence beyond novelty.

Bringing a more casual racing audience into your franchise by blending arcade and simulation elements is a fine goal, but when it's done with a jackhammer instead of a scalpel, bad things happen. Dirt Showdown still contains the brilliant driving mechanics of its ancestors, but it's hampered by half-baked design decisions at every turn. Better luck next year.

What little content is here doesn't reach the heights that it should. I can't remember the last time an otherwise superb game was betrayed so completely by a single mechanic. Instead of making the whole of Mario Tennis Open about strategically countering your opponent's volleys â?? a system which is fully and brilliantly implemented â?? Camelot has made it an afterthought. It's something you do to stay alive while you wait for the stars to align.

Dragon's Dogma never stopped surprising me. Like many of the Western RPGs that influenced it, Dragon's Dogma is an uneven experience, but it's one that rewards patience and perseverance, and it's a bold argument for why Japanese developers should continue making RPGs, with or without the inspiration from this side of the Pacific.

It's a game with so much baggage that I'm stunned that it's come together so well. This is the first time Rockstar has made a game that excels best as just that, supported and expertly augmented by the production values and attention to small details that its games have always been known for. It is uncompromisingly excellent, with a sense of focus that has secured Max Payne's legacy once again.

This XBLA version of Minecraft is not that exercise in hard-won discovery. All other aspects of the game experience having been ported over intact, this one absence will be felt most deeply in long run, in how little true devotion it will inspire among gamers hopping in over Xbox Live to build their block-shaped dongs. And while that may be the right tool (so to speak) for the right task, it nevertheless lets some of the air out of the tires.

Fable Heroes is an abject failure in how it represents what Fable is about, the epic stories, the self-determination and perils that presents, your character's impact on the world. It's undeserving of the name. I love that Lionhead is the sort of developer playful enough to figure out the Frankenstein-like machinations required to turn its action RPG into a brawler. It's just a shame that we had to be subject to the results of the experiment.

As I watched the credits and the tendons in my hand began to relax, I saw the consequences of my actions taking shape in the trailer for the following episode. I know retention is a big problem for episodic games, but I wouldn't miss seeing how my story plays out for anything, and I suspect you'll feel the same way.