The meager number of additions here—including the useless 3D gimmick—aren’t enough to make this worth picking up if you played Donkey Kong Country Returns the first time around on the Wii in 2010. If it’s your first time, though, and you’re still curious about checking out Donkey Kong’s latest adventure, this is a solid port.

While it doesn't have as extensive of a roster of modes as some of its earlier siblings, Lumines: Electronic Symphony is just utterly fantastic in what it does do-most evident in its stellar soundtrack, which returns to the same thematic roots as the original Lumines. Electonic Symphomy must be some sort of alien-technology time machine-turn it on, and suddenly you'll realize it's now hours later.

The actual gameplay is leaps and bounds ahead of NHL 13's predecessors, but the GM AI has taken a couple steps backward in noticeable-and discouraging-ways.

Gravity Rush isn't just the best game to grace the Vita-it's also one of the best games I've played in some time, no matter the system. In so many ways, it shines with a beauty that so many games can never achieve, and it's an experience you'll absolutely not want to miss.

Rhythm Heaven Fever is fun, it's quirky, it's lovable, it's charming-and it's a perfect example of the care and consideration Nintendo puts into all of their gaming projects, big and small.

Sleeping Dogs represents a marked step forward for open-world action games, offering surprisingly deep gameplay and an almost meticulous attention to detail.

Hitman: Absolution features plenty of smart new features and tweaks that modernize the franchise without abandoning the essence of what made it great-but the new save system is awful enough to undo a lot of that good.

A refreshing experience, one that reminds us of why people make games-and why we, in turn, play them. Combining quaint, charming elements with highly executed gameplay, Dust would be an impressive adventure even without the fascinating story behind its development.

The changes freshen up the long-running series while also making for a better experience for new players.

If Minecraft on the PC is the video game equivelent of LEGO, then Minecraft on XBLA is Duplo. It's a perfect introduction to the game and its experience-but it won't take long for you to outgrow it and want the real thing.

It's an amazing piece of gaming history, to be certain, but a purchase decision still comes down to this: If you're a fan of the series who loved or missed the original, it's a no-brainer. This is one of the best pieces of fanservice our industry has ever produced, and you need to go buy it. On the other hand, if you're an FPS fanatic trying to decide between this or Rage or Deus Ex, you may want to think twice before dropping 40 bones on a shooter that doesn't quite stack up to the competition.

Is Racing Transformed perfect? Not by a long shot. But it's every bit as engrossing and addictive as many of the Sega classics it mines for inspiration, and that's a phenomenal accomplishment in itself.

Not all of the games in this classic collection stand the full test of time, but for die-hard Kirby fans, the entire package is more than worth the price tag.

The Walking Dead: Episode 4: Around Every Corner continues the landmark storytelling of the first three episodes as the situation takes a drastic turn in order to ramp up for the final episode. Fans will not be disappointed.

Only the limited multiplayer options keep this one from reaching the upper echelon of sports games. With glass-smooth controls, outstanding visuals and a jammin' soundtrack, this is a reboot worth giving a shot.

Some new movie-based motifs added nice variety to the levels, but an unusually steep difficulty curve had a part of me pining for the original. Still, if you love Joe Danger, this new chapter is more than worthy of a look.

One of the best all-around fighting experiences you’re likely to find—and fans of both DC Comics and Mortal Kombat-style fighters will be blown away by this high-quality brawler of epic proportions.

The content MGS: HD Collection offers is some of the finest of the last decade. But it's also frustrating that this collection could have-and should have-offered so much more.

South Korean developer Pentavision brings their latest DJMax title to North American, giving rhythm game fans-and Vita owners in general-a superb product that excels in style, substance, and sound.

Sega's budget price and DLC structure make Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown an extremely attractive offer, especially if you didn't play the original. Hopefully, the netcode improves, though, as playing worldwide opponents right now is an outright chore.

Objectivity is an illusion. Perceptions and subjectivity prevail, powerfully influenced by expectations both personal and cultural. Culturally, we want the Great Gaming Renaissance, and we look to indie games to bring it to us. I want to love Skulls of the Shogun for all that I see it can be, but I have to like Skulls for all that it is. Part of that includes being boring.

As a game, I think Terraria shares a lot of personality traits with the worlds it randomly generates. Sometimes they aren’t pretty, sometimes they’re rough, and sometimes they aren’t the friendliest places to be, but once you dig in your heels and dig under the surface of what you’re given, there’s a whole world of wonderment just waiting for you to explore.

I've cursed the name of more than one ex-girlfriend for uttering these words, but here they are, nonetheless: I loved Amalur, but I'm not sure I'm in love with it. It's a beautifully realized game with a lot of solid features, but it falls just short of blowing me away. That it came so close is both its blessing and its curse, but I'd still say it's worth a playthrough if you're even the slightest bit curious.

It's clear the team at Tiburon took a hard look at ways to bring the franchise back to its former glory. Some annoying bugs persist here and there, but overall, Madden NFL 13 stands as one of my favorite football experiences of this generation.

Ezio's tale wraps up beautifully in this final chapter of his trilogy, but elements like a tower-defense minigame seem out of place.

A story worthy of the franchise, Uncharted: Golden Abyss falls short in terms of pacing and controls, as the touchscreen gimmick takes the experience down a big notch.

If you expected some hefty gameplay changes to match Blood Dragon’s turbo-rad ’80s makeover, you’ll be sorely disappointed. This standalone expansion is essentially a pared-down version of the Far Cry 3 formula with a few minor innovations, but its hysterical take on the decade of excess is well worth the price of admission.

Better A.I. and combat mechanics than the first Darkness, gorgeously painted environments, and the same ol' omnipotent snake-headed dark force makes for one heck of a game play combination.