The RPG elements of this game are really well done - exploring the galaxy, meeting and interacting with other races, finding random items and trading them, or showing them to alien races in an attempt to discover what they do.

But the lander mini-game to harvest resources to repair and refuel your ship is more of a nuisance than a pleasure. It's fairly challenging to get right at first, but once you get used to it there are still planets where you come in way too hot and get unavoidably damaged due to the gravity or terrain. And even once you're good at it, it isn't enjoyable, just a chore.

So while a segment of the game is good, there's far too much of the rote lander upkeep missions to make the entire experience appealing to me.

I want to like this game, but while the graphics are gorgeous and the flying feels good, the content is lacking and inconsistent. The difficulty curve is polar opposites most of the time, either you're dominating the enemy or dying very quickly, and there's little to do besides pick up resources and shoot enemies.

The EVERSPACE - Encounters DLC pack sounds like it adds some actual mission content, but I haven't played that so I don't know if it's actually satisfying, and it's silly to be charged extra for what should have been part of the base game. Granted the game+dlc is $40, not $60 like AAA titles, but it also has a lot less content than one too.

I give them credit for the weapon design and feel though - each of the main ones is unique and feels powerful if used correctly. And although there are only three ship types they each play completely differently. It's just too bad they didn't add a decent variety of gameplay to go with them.

This franchise reboot was very satisfying, an appropriate start for the character we know Lara Croft will turn into eventually.

The best choose your own adventure I've played - the choices feel important and engaging, and there are enough features that it doesn't feel like a book

A really enjoyable first-person puzzle game, with unique challenges and an attractive environment.

You may need a game guide now and then, because the island is expansive, but the majority of the puzzles can be solved by logic rather than guesswork. The exceptions are ones where you may not realize a game mechanic is possible.

Slow but solid gameplay, though there are some major balance/difficulty issues - and to counteract those you need to grind quite a bit. The graphics are similar to a space RTS, though you have far less units than a normal RTS.

Much nicer looking than Far Cry, but it suffers from a tutorial that doesn't let you visit locations out of sequence. After this it is a bit too open and free. On par with BioShock game wise, but not in story.

While this is a much cleaner game than And Yet It Moves, I am left wishing for better control granularity. In certain areas a mouse control scheme would reduce the number of deaths immensely. Luckily the checkpoints are frequent and lives unlimited

Minecraft in 2D, but with good combat and bosses. You can make a large variety of weapons and potions, and there are sky islands, dungeons, and the underworld to explore. The 1.1 update adds tons of content and improves the game considerably.

Something for everyone - a sandbox with over the top violence and stunts, plenty of collectables, challenges, and a story line that appears just often enough to keep you interested in the missions. Steal helicopters and parachute from planes...

The character creation sequence is creepy and combat is painful compared to real FPS. It suffers from lack of direction after you leave the vault, much like the The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion series. The world is nicely detailed - but this can't rescue the game

The controls on this underwater side-scroller are decent, though I wish there was a way to bind songs to a hotkey. A way to quick-save instead of save points within the game would be nice as well.

This is a fun but easy Diablo style dungeon crawler. It features quick travel via portals and spells, as well as a pet to sell items while you continue killing. Additionally there is a shared chest to transfer valuable items between characters