Genres

Disney and Final Fantasy characters fighting alongside each other, a story about hearts and key blades, real-time button mashing combat, and a main character with hair that defies gravity; Kingdom Hearts hit the industry with originality, bravery, and charm back in 2002. Fast-forward 11 years and we have a well made HD remastering of the original classic and its direct sequels.

Those buxom beauties are back, along with Ryu from Ninja Gaiden and some other guys whose names you don't remember! Dead or Alive has been the subject of some controversy. Is it ok to build a game around the idea of looking at pretty ladies? As any Dead or Alive fan will tell you though, the gameplay goes far deeper than that, and it boasts a roster of characters to equal nearly any other fighting game franchise.

I'm sure there was a lot of scoffing when they announced the original LEGO Star Wars. Taking a toy license that was based off of a movie license and digitizing it must have seemed like the worst idea in the world, spawning a shoddy mess for children who have no idea what a good game is. Funnily enough, the exact opposite occurred and a gaming phenomenon was born. Now there have been approximately a billion LEGO games since then, all as fun and addictive as the last, and LEGO Lord of the Rings is the latest game in Traveller's Tales quite literal blockbuster series.

Girl Fight is almost exactly what it sounds like - a game in which a bunch of girls beat each other up. Oh, and the girls don't wear very much. On some levels it manages to be much more than this, on others it falls well short. What you're left with is an interesting idea, a degree of eye candy and occasional disappointment.

The Bureau is a fresh take on the traditional XCOM games with an emphasis on real time strategy and third person shooter elements. However, there are several flaws that tarnish what could have been a great game. It also lacks a multiplayer aspect, which could have helped increases this title's longevity and value.

While EA has cornered the market on NFL games (by default, really), 2K has appeared to do the same with NBA sports simulations. While publisher Take-Two Interactive has been accused of just releasing roster updates with these annual releases, their series has been known to take risks and tweak major gameplay elements on occasion. NBA 2K14 continues this tradition to a degree, but it's not as crafted and accessible as it should be.

It's a bit odd that the Resident Evil games have become synonymous with Survival Horror. After all, they're about heavily-armed police officers who kill zombies by the hundreds. Real fear comes from facing an army of unstoppable monsters and not having any means to fight them off. Outlast locks players inside an abandoned mental institution, arms them with just a camcorder, then leaves them to creep around in the darkness, thus combining a horror storyline with stealth gaming mechanics for a genuinely terrifying experience.

There aren't enough sim games on the PlayStation 3, especially when it comes to sim games with RPG elements. It's a niche within a niche - if there were demand for this sort of thing on consoles, no doubt someone would be chugging them out yearly, and yet when they do come out, as with Port Royale 3 Gold Edition, it never feels like you're getting the most bang for your buck.

Lost Planet 3 is quite different from its predecessors. Opting to take a more Western approach to the series, Capcom turned to the American developers over at Spark Unlimited in an attempt to make this third installment more appealing. The franchise doesn't have a great track record, receiving low marks from both critics and gamers, so it's no surprise this game hasn't been getting much attention. It's a shame, really, since it has some pretty good stuff to offer.

Atlus has always been known to deliver niche JRPG experiences; games that don’t sell well but are critical darlings. They have plenty of exceptional titles under their belt such as Catherine and Shin Megami Tensei IV, but Persona 4 is quite possibly their finest work yet. The fourth entry in the Persona series originally made its debut on the PS2 back in 2008. The game was met with immense critical reception, so it was only natural for Atlus to port the game over to the PS Vita. What follows is a fantastic video game that has aged quite well and has shown to ...