Genres

What happens when you take a beloved cult series and bastardize it until it suits mass appeal? What happens when you add just enough reference to the original series that fans are interested enough to check it out, so interested that some might even open their wallet to see what surprises are hiding behind a paywall? These are no longer questions that need answering: in releasing Dungeon Keeper for iOS, EA have done us all a favour, showing exactly how not to revive something so well-loved.

Knack perhaps got more attention that almost all the other PlayStation 4 launch titles put together. It was directed by PS4 lead architect Mark Cerny and is Sony's big non-shooter push for the launch window. Although there have been many things said about Knack - that it's "kiddy," too simple - it definitely has its good points. It's just a shame you'll see most of them in the first ten minutes.

Tearaway is, simply put, a creative gem. It’s a game solely created to showcase the power of Vita’s hardware, and just how pleasant of an experience a videogame can be.

Mice like cheese and anybody who's seen an episode of Tom and Jerry knows the lengths they'll go to get some. They don't mind disfiguring cats, using the dark arts, blackmailing relatives... so long as their bellies are full at the end of a long day, they odn't mind who they have to step on to get at them. World of Cheese is a puzzle game, spliced with a lot of hidden object for good measure. The only objective: get that cheese!

Assassin's Creed Liberation HD might have been a good idea six months ago. Take a popular, critically successful Vita game and port it to consoles and PC. Why not? There are a lot of people that wanted to see this chunk of the story but weren't willing to by a handheld for it. Sure, six months ago it would have gone down a treat, and would have nicely bridged the gap between Assassin's Creed III and IV. With Black Flag on the market though, Liberation HD feels like a leap of faith gone wrong.

Yearly franchises rarely manage to surprise, but this year Assassin's Creed did just that. The franchise that originally had you climbing up rectangular buildings in the Middle East has now taken to the waves, adding ships, exploration and naval combat aplenty. It wasn't a change that happened over night, but Black Flag shows how far the franchise has come, and, as our view at the top our pirate ship attests, it has come an awfully long way.

The annual release of sport games for EA continues with the latest entry in the commercially successful Fifa franchise, Fifa 14. The sports title, developed by EA Canada, continues the series’ habit of providing solid, and addicting virtual soccer experiences that offer the closest thing to actually attending, or participating in a real live match. The franchise has ensconced itself pretty comfortably as the go-to sports video game for the majority of consumers. With Konami’s PES franchise lacking significant licensing prowess and marketing appeal, Fifa has ...

Assassins Creed IV Black Flag is Ubisoft’s latest attempt at reinvigorating their flagship franchise. With the disappointment that was Assassins Creed 3, especially considering the massive marketing campaign associated with the title, many questioned whether or not the series can still stay relevant. This new sequel is a direct result of Ubisoft’s awareness with the problems plaguing Assassins Creed 3. AC IV: Black Flag is a stunning and lighthearted action-adventure feast that offers up a gargantuan amount of content.

The developers behind Deadly 30 absolutely have to be zombie game fans. It's a cunning combination of Call of Duty's Zombies, Left 4 Dead and a dozen other supernatural franchises that have defined the last few years of undead-erific fun. It's not a complicated idea: survive. But that's not quite as easy as it sounds, and it'll take every second of your 30 day "holiday" to really make it out alive.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance sent up some red flags when it was announced; it didn't have Snake as a playable character, it wasn't part of the main Metal Gear storyline, and it was an action game with very little of Metal Gear's genre-defining stealth gameplay. However it was developed by Platinum Games, the studio behind Bayonetta, so it wasn't such a surprise that Revengeance turned out to among the best action games of 2013. Alas, it was only available for consoles, leaving PC Gamers out of the loop until now.