USGamer

As a follow-up to Z.H.P., I found it disappointing, as if the creators could not see why their last game was so brilliant, and discarded its heart and soul to start anew with different criteria for success. So for me, this is the real paradox of Guided Fate Paradox. On its own, it is a fine game. Heartily recommended, even. But in light of its predecessor, it is a crushing disappointment.

While this particular outing for the goddamned Batman could certainly stand to be better (especially on the technical side of things), it still manages to combine a beloved license with bog-standard triple-A game design tropes in an entertaining way -- something that happens far less frequently than most publishers would like it to. At the very least, it's a good enough introduction to the Arkham universe to make me want to finally go back and play the previous chapters of the series.

While not a huge leap up from Battlefield 3's already strong graphics, the Frostbite 3 engine still manages to impress with spectacles like collapsing dams and skyscrapers. At max settings, it's one of this year's richest and best-looking games. Battlefield 4's below average campaign is once again disappoints, but the excellent Conquest mode and large-scale combat is enough to carry the series for another year. Pretty much status quo for EA's top multiplayer shooter.

More of a game for your younger sister than you, Hometown Story pales in comparison to the many 'life simulation' games already in the market. In many ways, it's a bare-bones version of Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale, stripped of all its zaniness and sly negotiations. Hometown Story isn't necessarily bad but given the price tag that it commands, I'm unwilling to recommend it. More deserving games are waiting for your money.

Many of the environments are bland, but deliberately so; delightful hidden details show their faces everywhere if you're willing to look, however. By turns hilarious, disturbing, witty and poignant, The Stanley Parable is a successful experiment in the video game medium's inherent interactivity and how this can affect an author's story -- for good and for ill.

If the idea of pop music was a game, it'd be Just Dance 2014. Ubisoft has made sure that the game is bright, shiny, and fun. Shake your way through today's hits and a couple of classics, but the experience will be so much better with friends and family.

The Wolf Among Us is a worthy follow-up to the legacy began by the Fables comic book series. It's a sharply written, sharply dressed blend of urban fantasy and detective noir, the kind that Disney would have been appalled to see but the Brothers Grimm would have shot thumbs up at. If you've never read the comic books, that's okay. You won't be alienated; this universe will still delight. If you're a fan, be advised that may be a few cursory plot holes but, by and large, much of what you loved is intact and made better through the glory of animation.

Quantic Dream has come a long way since Indigo Prophecy, but some things haven't changed. The presentation has gotten much better, but Cage's writing is still not up to snuff. There are definite highs in Beyond, but not all of the elements of the game or the story work as a cohesive whole.

If you're the kind of player who can't stop chasing high scores, there's potentially limitless fun with this one -- and with the prospect of more add-on content in the future, Namco can potentially keep this fresh for a long time. A nigh-perfect example of how to modernize a classic, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+ deserves a place in every gamer's collection. The only thing missing now is a portable version.

It'll take most people quite a while to work through both Kingdom Hearts and the Chain of Memories remake, and even then there's a good amount of bonus content on top of that. Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX is, without question, the best version of Kingdom Hearts to date. But it also serves as an excellent reminder that the things we love aren't always built to last.