The Drowning’s unique controls can’t save a boring game (review)

The Drowning offers a new way to play first-person shooters with a touchscreen, but it’s an exercise in repetition.

GamesBeat weekly roundup: Fez II cancelled, Nintendo reports profit despite poor Wii U sales

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

Dragon’s Crown’s action outpunches its controversial art (review)

Dragon’s Crown is a side-scrolling beat-em-up full of epic quests, loot, and clever pop-culture references. Hopefully, you can look beyond the controversial art style.

Shadowrun Returns needs to curtail its nostalgia (review)

Shadowrun Returns blends pen-and-paper role-playing mechanics into a dark, cyberpunk fantasy. It’s the first RPG installment in the series since the Super Nintendo, and the series’ age is showing.

GamesBeat weekly roundup: Apple mulls buying Kinect sensor provider, The Last of Us rules June game sales

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

GamesBeat weekly roundup: Ex-Windows boss takes over Xbox, Shigeru Miyamoto teases new project

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

Deus Ex: The Fall is shockingly not dumbed down for iOS (review)

Deus Ex: The Fall faithfully brings the FPS/RPG melding gameplay of Human Revolution to iOS devices.

This ain’t Pokémon: Shin Megami Tensei IV’s demonic dedication to the old school will kill you (review)

Death isn’t the end for you in Shin Megami Tensei IV, but more a right of passage. If you can accept that challenge then you’re prepared to tacklethe most complex and satisfying role-playing games on 3DS.

NCAA Football 14′s tired playbook leaves it short of the end zone (review)

EA Sports’ latest NCAA title plays a better game of college football, but it doesn’t bring enough distinct new features.

Civilization V’s Brave New World expansion again fails to make an interesting strategy game (review)

Like the core game, the Brave New World expansion quickly devolves into the same cycle of rote resource accumulation of filling culture, gold, science, tourism, faith, and happiness buckets.

GamesBeat weekly roundup: Don Mattrick leaves Microsoft for Zynga, Ubisoft’s uPlay service hacked

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

Threeview: The Last of Us reviewed by a critic, an analyst, and an academic

The postapocalyptic action-survival game has been a hit with reviewers and consumers. But what does an analyst and a professor of game design think of it?

GamesBeat weekly roundup: Hey, you got your Clash of Clans in my Puzzle & Dragons, and Ouya slowly ships

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

Company of Heroes 2 reestablishes the series as one of the best strategy experiences (review)

Company of Heroes 2 adds new mechanics with interesting gameplay ramifications but does a poor job of easing new players into the rules systems.

Deadpool hilariously hacks and shoots his way to gaming greatness (review)

What Deadpool lacks in creativity it makes up for with self-referential humor.

Game and Wario justifies the Wii U’s tablet better than Nintendo Land does (review)

Game and Wario is creative collection of minigames for Nintendo’s starved Wii U.

Neverwinter is a (mostly) accessible MMO with social-class problems (review)

Something’s off about this fun new MMO, and it has to do with three familiar words.