Joystiq

As a palate cleanser, A World of Keflings certainly does the trick, though you may feel your sanity begin to ebb after extended sessions. At the end of my game, for example, I created a roving band of lumberjacks and began felling every single tree in the kingdom. It's not that I needed the wood; I was just tired of looking at the trees. Nearly eight straight hours of kingdom building can do that to you.

Push through its uneven beginning and you'll be rewarded with clever level layouts that stretch a solid mechanical framework to its limits. Getting to that point may be more frustrating than you'd like, though, thanks to its sharp difficulty curve. Kalimba's maddening co-op mode can also be worthwhile, though your partner will need to be at an even skill level and temperament if you're to remain friends afterward.

For all its good looks, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- is ultimately disappointing. What the game does, it does very well, but the sum total feels lacking. Had Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- been released 10 years ago, its shortfalls could have been ignored in the face of tight gameplay mechanics and lovely graphics, but in 2014 the game just seems antiquated.

What's remarkable about it all is that Xeodrifter crams this much into only a few hours. My time with the game topped out somewhere between three and four hours, and that includes fishing out hidden rooms and tracking down a few remaining health and gun upgrades after beating it the first time. Yes, that's brief, but the pacing feels just right, giving you enough time to master the game's mechanics without those mechanics becoming stale.

If the Xfinity-branded hypercar race a few hours in is anything to go by, The Crew is an overt attempt to capitalize on the popularity of modern car culture, and it would seem entirely cynical if not for a few redeeming design decisions. In the world of modern racing games that's just not enough to earn a victory lap.

Respect for the Iñupiat, respect for nature and animals, respect for the things we can't control, and respect for those who try to change their community for the better. Never Alone respects not only these ideas, but it holds video games in the same regard, as demonstrated by the care clearly put into the mechanics, story and flow of the game. Never Alone is a glimpse into the real lives of Alaska Natives, and it's a peek at a different kind of fairy tale.

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris's temples and puzzles are fantastic, but I found myself wishing for several more hours of gameplay. This is, I suspect, where Isis and Horus' promises that "Set will return" are going to translate into copious DLC, bringing more challenge tombs or perhaps even more story. What's there is great, especially if you have a friend to raid alongside you, but by the time Lara closes her journal on this adventure, you'll just be getting warmed up.

I'd initially judged Treasure Tracker as a pleasant but temporary distraction, but I continued playing even after I'd completed every level, and I'm still working on rounding up the collectibles I missed the first time around. Treasure Tracker may be small in stature, but it's packed with depth and detail. It's not unlike Toad himself, really. He's a little guy, but he'll surprise you. After all, he's the best.

It's not exactly what came before, but Geometry Wars 3 earns its name, riffing, mixing and adding enough to satiate a thirst for intoxicating shoot-em-up. The more progress-focused Adventure definitely loses some of that competitive edge in translation, and that's certainly a shame, but it still has that instant, stimulating, rip-roaring flavor that puts the shots into shoot-em-up. It's quick, hot, and even though it kills your thumbs you come back for more.

2K's first crack at wrestling in the new generation of consoles is a severe disappointment. The chain wrestling mechanic is tiresome, and online play is a chore. A dearth of customization options across the board tear away at what made the series special. ...As an entry in an annual series, WWE 2K15 is worth skipping this year, and I can't help but wonder if 2K Sports itself might have been better served taking a year off from the ring.