Well, to keep this brief -- Tomb Raider (2013) got me legit interested in the franchise, but my foray into Lara's previous reboot wasn't quite as pleasant. While I was pretty impressed with Tomb Raider: Legend's visual polish - particularly some forward-thinking settings that allow modern PCs to make it look far better than a game from 2006 should - the play mechanics of clambering up ledges, and targeting and shooting bad things, are old and clunky.

It's surprisingly not-bad, but still not good enough to compete with current action/adventure sensibilities.

Progress: Climbed some stuff, shot some dudes.

I didn't expect much from Sniper: Ghost Warrior, and that's basically what I got. I was a little surprised - although in retrospect, I really shouldn't have been - that the game feels less like a day in the life of a sniper, and more like a budget FPS with most of the weapons removed. Actually, you do still get a combat rifle and some throwing knives, for more intimate combat situations (which helps work around the shoddy stealth mechanics). Anyway; you're really better off just playing any other shooter, and using a sniper rifle in it.

Progress: Got midway through the first mission.

Coming back to Magicka after so long, it's refreshing to hurl fire lasers and explode lightning shields out at goblins again. But being one-shotted by an overpowered enemy is no less aggravating than it used to be, even with the one-free-revive fairy that The Stars are Left comes with.

It's not that my wizard's swift, grisly death is itself a frustration; actually, this is one of the things that makes Magicka so cool. But as in the original adventure, death takes a significant toll on game progress -- if not with far-removed checkpoints, then with magic-sponge enemies (in my case, a boss) that simply have way too many health points. Having to fight for minutes at a time, when a single mistake can kill you and force you to restart, isn't that fun.

Okay, so with the fairy, it's two mistakes. Still.

Progress: Failed to kill Parker, the giant spider.

This wasn't the first time The Internet tricked me into trying to make Just Cause 2 fun, but hopefully it'll be the last. I need to remember this time. I need to remember...

I know that people love this game, and I've come to accept that. I know that the game is capable of some really, actually awesome shit, and I'm OK with that. And I know that the story is supposed to be completely stupid, or, it isn't supposed to but it doesn't matter, and I think I understand that. But Just Cause 2 just isn't good enough! Its controls are a mess. Its world map is borderline unnavigable. Just the simplest acts, of shooting, of driving, of walking, all feel wrong.

Really, I'm jealous of the extreme physics stunts that JC2 is capable of; I wish that Grand Theft Auto had fuller and more-modern aerobatics (which GTA5 should), or that Saints Row had a more terrestrially-interesting landscape (which SR4 ... probably won't). Maybe Mad Max's themes will play better to Avalanche's style, but I'm not getting my hopes up yet.

Progress: Did a rebel mission.

Sure, strategy games get a lot of their flavor from complexity -- especially turn-based games, which tend toward throwing huge piles of mechanics at the player. This is exactly what I find appealing about Civilization V: the balance between technological progress, army strength, ally diplomacy, trade agreements, and everything else the game has going on. But everyone has their limit, and Crusader Kings II is way, way beyond mine. The in-game tutorial is really more of a PowerPoint presentation, clicking through pop-up information windows and tooltips, describing the seemingly endless amount of information that makes up - what appears to be - the game's "gameplay." I know I frequently claim that I don't have the patience to wait for a game to get good, but this time, I don't have the patience to learn what the hell the game is.

When a PC Gamer editor says, "I was still finding out about core mechanics I had completely overlooked at 200, 210, 220 hours in ..." -- yeah. No thanks.

Progress: Didn't even make it through the tutorial.

As Traveller's Tales' first open-world LEGO game, LEGO Batman 2 has its share of ingenuity, but also plenty of room for improvement -- especially when compared to later iterations. There's a fair amount of diversity in hero selection, but not until the very end, when the Justice League actually shows up; the costume system grants access to some cool powers, but starts to stagnate mid-game. Superman's (and later Green Lantern's and Wonder Woman's) flying power is cool in missions, but goddamn impossible to control effectively in open-world mode. Actually, open-world transportation in general is pretty lacking, with a confusing map and difficult-to-find vehicle stations. Missions are short, which is just as well because the story doesn't really have legs, centering on a fairly simple plot and underutilizing the DC hero/villain cast available to it.

It's fun, of course, particularly if you have a friend to play co-op with. But open-world LEGO adventures have gotten better, and it shows.

Better than: my expectations of earlier LEGO games, I guess. Hard to pick a good comparison.
Not as good as: LEGO City Undercover, LEGO The Lord of the Rings (Android, iOS, Mac, PC, PS3, Wii, X360), Batman: Arkham Asylum
Now to wait for LEGO Marvel Super Heroes: hopefully they use a real story for that one.

Progress: Finished the campaign, 17.7%.

The end of the game drags on - just a little - but it also features some joyously technical level-design puzzles, and a satisfying final boss. Ultimately I still feel a bit disappointed in Anodyne's movement and control-precision issues, which really only get smoothed over by a large health bar to compensate for mistakes; but it's a fun trip, and a remarkable achievement for its two-man team.

Better than: LostWinds
Not as good as: Fez
Maybe equitably good as: 1000 Amps, but spread out over a lengthier game.

Progress: Finished, 37 cards.

The Last Guardian was already on the edge of the knife when Ueda went rogue, but whatever hope it had left is sure gone now, with Sony using the magic words that mean we'll probably never see it again. If I was a betting man, I'd put money on Team Ico falling back to a pocket-sized Vita project, before fading into legend forever.

Mechanically, Anodyne certainly owes a lot to Link's Awakening, and isn't afraid to show it. The protagonist walks around and hits things from a top-down perspective, in screen-sized rooms that may have exits to the North, South, East, or West. A small mini-map shows the screens immediately surrounding you, and a larger map in the pause screen shows the entire area you're in. You'll defeat enemies to open gates, collect keys to unlock doors, and get a new health slot when you defeat a boss. Anodyne doesn't have all the complexity of a Zelda - there aren't that many pieces of collectible equipment, and as a result, the ways in which you can interact with the world are slightly limited - but as a subset of a solid formula, it works extremely well.

Aesthetically, it's a little different. Anodyne embraces its offbeat design from the very beginning, with environments in random, floating space, and under a blood-red sea; with NPCs that talk like they're in EarthBound; and, well, your weapon is a broom. Some level and enemy designs seem to invoke the touch of Edmund McMillen -- so, weird. The color palette and the overall tone of the soundtrack convey a general sense of unease, which is distinct, but also more than a little uncomfortable. Unfortunately, this feeling makes it difficult to stay with the game for extended sittings.

For an indie game - not to mention, for two developers - Anodyne has an impressively large game world, and a matching length; after two and a half hours, I seem to be about two-thirds of the way through it. And although a fair number of screens only serve as window dressing, the majority actually make up well-designed dungeons and overworld regions, frequently turning the act of exploration into a satisfying puzzle.

Anodyne is fun, but sometimes feels let down by technical issues. Certain mechanics, particularly those that involve precise movement or placement, are prone to errors which are awkward to recover from. And there are more than a few screens that have to be reset if you make certain mistakes, which becomes frustrating when you can't reset the room (e.g. get to an exit) without falling down a pit, or dying, or warping out of the dungeon. Anyway -- yeah, it is fun. Despite how unsettling it can be, I'm looking forward to unraveling the rest of its wacky story.

Progress: Finished four dungeons, 24 cards.

As if I wasn't already sold on it, the Watch Dogs footage from Sony's E3 presentation definitely has me interested. Although I must admit some apprehensive curiosity regarding - what appears to be - an online gameplay link to a phone/tablet companion app. Fingers crossed that I won't have to rely on some random mobile player to get me out of a jam.