Though the campaign might feel a bit short to RTS die-hards, it's a strong and enjoyable effort for the console audience. The clear paths to victory make it more manageable in short bursts too. The multiplayer offerings give Halo Wars 2 plenty of replayability, but Blitz mode needs more maps soon to make more of a lasting impression.

Resident Evil 7 Biohazard is the best thing to happen to this series in more than a decade, and shows that you don't always have to follow the same drummer as everyone else to make something special.

With Yakuza 0, Sega's managed to give the long-running series a shot in the arm, re-invigorating it for longtime players, and making it accessible to anyone that was turned off by jumping in so late in the series before.

Gravity Rush 2 seems to offer mind-bending action with an unique set of powers via its heroine Kat, but the major fault of the game lies in a story that’s unclear and features outside of gravity powers that aren’t anything new or complex.

With wry humor, just the right amount of challenge, and accessibility to all comers, I Expect You to Die sets a precedent for being one of the best virtual reality experiences available for PlayStation right now. It's not always perfect, but Schell Games has done so much else right, it's easy to overlook the few flaws that persist throughout the experience.

The Last Guardian is an interesting and frustrating game that can’t decide if it wants to be modern or retro, and that constant argument brings the entire experience down a notch. While I was willing to deal with the limits of the previous era to enjoy the perks of the current one, I can understand where others might grow weary of the experience.

As a re-introduction into Telltale's Walking Dead world, A New Frontier does just about everything right. The new characters offer some much needed change in perspective, and the narrative is a tight story that lays the groundwork for an exciting and different season.

Camera issues notwithstanding, Final Fantasy XV was worth every second of that 10 year wait. The story pulled me in despite not giving me all of the backstory I craved, the four heroes were charming, witty, and fun to pal around with, the locales were gorgeous and a delight to look at, and the battle system was fast and frenetic.

Dead Rising 4 sees the franchise's original hero forced back into action in a sequel that's bigger than any entry in the series before, yet feels more empty and bereft of excitement than its predecessors.

These new games take things previously thought to be untouchable elements of the Pokemon experience and turns them on their heads, delivering a completely unique experience from its predecessors.

These new games take things previously thought to be untouchable elements of the Pokemon experience and turns them on their heads, delivering a completely unique experience from its predecessors.

Dishonored 2 doesn't veer from the path established by the first game too severely, but given how strong the world and gameplay were it doesn't really have to either. The new locales and villains make for some strong additions to the series, as do the new powers unleashed by Emily Kaldwin. Even with a passable story and ineffective acting, the foundation and gameplay are strong enough to make Dishonored 2 one of the year's best.

I could not be happier with the direction Ubisoft took with Watch Dogs 2, casting off the serious tone of the first game and replacing it with bright colors, fun characters, and light humor. Combat is pretty boring, but the multiple hacking options almost making shooting obsolete in the right hands.

The Sims 4: City Living is an excellent addition to the core, and possibly the best apartment-themed expansion in series history. It’s also the best add-on The Sims 4 has produced yet. Many of its ideas are recycled from previous iterations, but what’s new takes the series forward in interesting ways.

For all it accomplishes, and with very few drawbacks, Infinite Warfare feels like a full and diverse package that does the Call of Duty name proud.

Titanfall 2 is one of the most joyful gaming experiences of the year. There are lots of games with heart and excitement, but Titanfall 2 manages to combine almost everything that was a strength for the first entry and build on it with loads more personality.

An amazing platform experience from top to bottom. From the gameplay to the art to its style of wit and storytelling, Owlboy takes notes from the long history of its genre and combines them into a stellar journey.

Of course, the concept of mods and the freedom that comes with them is a given. In a game like Skyrim however, it let us fill the empty space with our own creativity and lets us immerse ourselves however we want in an already immersive game. Turns out Skyrim is even more fun the second time around.

This map put everything I’ve learned playing Hitman to the test. That, and the surprisingly well-done cliffhanger ending, are what made this episode my favorite of the season. The level of detail and density of each map, and the continually deepening narrative, kept me coming back for each new content release, whether it was new elusive targets or new challenges.

Superhypercube is a terrific puzzle game in and of itself, let alone as a launch title for the PlayStation VR. It checks all the boxes for a rewarding and exciting VR experience, with the only real drawback being its singular mode.

Despite being themed around a holiday, Hide and Shriek is surprisingly fun and offers some amusing layers. Jump scares and shock horror aside, it’s really the runes that make this game much more fun than it first appears. They add various depths of strategy to the game to make it sort of like a weird game of Halloween cat and mouse. That said, the shrieks most definitely do their job.

This is the best Battlefield has been in a while, and Battlefield 1 has set a new bar for what we should expect from not just this series, but contemporaries as well.

World of Final Fantasy is light and fun and offers tons to do. With a fun world to explore, gorgeous aesthetics, this is a nostalgic adventure built around the history of one of video games’ most iconic franchises.

WWE 2K17 should be marking a new era for WWE video games, but unfortunately it dredges up old problems from the past just as much as it improves with new content. The massive roster, excellent control scheme save for reversals, and extensive creation suite all impressed me, but the little technical nuances just kept annoying me to no end.

When you get down to it, the game doesn’t offer any variety. All the action takes place in a single screen with a gradually increasing number of bubbles moving at gradually increasing speeds, with the only long term goals being new high scores and new swag at the item shop. You can drop some coins to challenge Hyper Mode, but that’s just a higher risk, higher reward version of the same gameplay. That core action is fun, but it won’t keep you coming back for more than a handful of hours.

Fans that haven't yet experienced the Arkham series might not get quite as much out of the story as those who've invested years into Rocksteady's version of the Bat-universe, but this is still one of the first "can't miss" titles of PlayStation's foray into virtual reality.

Mafia III as a narrative alone is a commendable effort, and is unlikely to be forgotten for that very reason. It takes a hard look at a life many of us have never led, and challenges players with an experience most could never truly know. Ultimately though, even the strongest of stories can't save Mafia III from falling prey to genre conventions, and too many at that.

Rivals gives Rock Band 4 some new life that injects the core game with modes fans have been begging for, and a new story mode that longtime fans and newcomers alike can get behind.