In today’s oversaturated market, finding a video game that offers a playing experience unlike any other is surely a plus, but does that fact alone warrant a purchase? Published by Capcom and developed by CyberConnect2, ASURA’S WRATH is essentially an ultraviolent sci-fi anime series rooted in Hindu mythology, disguised as a video game whose unique interactive aspects deliver a story that’s always engulfing and often visually spectacular. But it’s also this lack of synergy that may leave some gamers yearning for more.

The late aughts and the early twenty-teens have really been the “age of the zombie” on video game consoles. Be it the shit-your-pants shock and awe of RESIDENT EVIL or LEFT 4 DEAD, or the lovable camp of DEAD RISING and PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES, the representation for the undead populous has been on high, overshadowing vampires, ghosts, mummies, liche, and any other fabled spectre or monster that hasn’t been sucked up by Hollywood’s next “thing” machine.

DEAD RISING 2: OFF THE RECORD is a transformation of last year’s hit that stars original DEAD RISING protagonist Frank West. This new concoction from Capcom and Blue Castle Games (available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC) reinvents a world where Chuck Greene, hero of DEAD RISING 2, never saved Fortune City. Your fate can be sealed with one bite from the undead—that is, unless you take a daily dose of Zombrex.

DEAD ISLAND was one of the most anticipated zombie games to date. Techland and Deep Silver started a new phenomenon with this title, which offers players a new type of survival horror that adds in RPG and melee combat mechanics unlike any that have ever been attempted before.

Back when modern gaming was young and groundbreaking games like Resident Evil first game out, there were problems. The primary one being that the game’s user interface was, well… wonky. Oftentimes, when one least expected it, players would be left standing in one spot, spinning uncontrollably, while the undead hordes closed in. It was frustrating. It was pointless. And it made for a very unsatisfying gaming experience, to say the least. Well, games have come a long way since then and now, with Xbox’s Kinect technology, we collectively find ourselves back at that place with a new user interface being introduced and, sadly, the same problems seem to be rearing their unwanted head once again. 

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: NEVER DIE ALONE places four heroes on a zombie-infested locale called Halfaux Island in Canada. The group is made up of a priest with questionable ethics, a brilliant loner, a self-conscious rapper and an enthusiastic—but annoying—gamer. These four will have to escape the island by any means necessary while rescuing all the survivors they can find.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: RAGE is set in a postapocalyptic wasteland where towns and supplies are limited, but bandits, mutants and side quests are plentiful. The storyline of id Software/Bethesda Softworks’ first-person shooter for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC is very much clichéd, but it could have been acceptable if the rest of the game was executed properly.