FFXII: The Zodiac Age offers some fundamental changes to make a great game even better—even if it could have used one or two more minor improvements.

Rise of the Necromancer offers a new angle of attack on a great, well-supported game, but it's only worth the investment for dedicated players.

Your Crash bias will be reinforced, either way, by this mostly top-notch return to the originals.

Randomness keeps Darkest Dungeon's signature grind in a holding pattern, but new content breathes life into the whole experience.

There’s a good game to be built on the bones of Valkyria Revolution, but the game itself is too one-note and ill-considered to get anywhere near it. Skip it.

Don't let the saccharine looks fool you: Arms is deep, challenging, and an essential purchase for the Nintendo Switch.

Codemasters provided preview code for DiRT 4’s PC version, but we were asked not to review it. The dev promised further graphical optimizations, both in visuals and performance, in a day-one PC patch. We’ll post an update here once we’ve put this PC update to the test. For what it’s worth, DiRT 4’s “unfinished” code got up to 60 FPS performance on our 4K machine (i7-4770k, 1080 Ti, 16GB RAM) with all settings maxed and driving in a rainy, particle-loaded course. [Review in Progress]

Perhaps it's surprising how much I ended up enjoying DiRT 4. After all, Forza Horizon 3 was the last "accessible" spin-off of a racing game I truly loved (Forza Motorsport 6), and I never gelled with that game at all. Perhaps I'm drawn to the closed—as opposed to open—world of this new game, or maybe I like "DiRT 4" because less of the hardcore sim got lost in translation. Either way, if you like your racing to be as sideways as possible, you'll want to try DiRT 4.

Put off by DiRT Rally because it was too hard? This is the game for you. (Fans of DiRT Rally will also have fun.)

[Tekken 7] blows other PC fighting games away in terms of scalability. If you want to play some solid rounds of time-tested 3D fighting, you can now do so on pretty much any modern computer with even the slightest bit of gaming hardware—or you can just as easily crank it up on a mid-high machine and a 4K screen.

Fire Emblem Echoes is a sparkling remake without much variety or strategy to scratch beneath the surface. Try it.

Visually stunning but wholly underwhelming, Tokyo 42 fails to capitalise on its inventive premise.

A high-water mark in the "interactive narrative" genre. If that sounds good to you, buy it.

Injustice 2 continues NetherRealm’s tradition of best-in-class story modes with solid, complex fighting to back it up. Learning the ropes could just be a little more convenient. Buy it.

PSVR owners should try this partially great FPS adventure, but Farpoint alone shouldn't prompt a PSVR purchase. Skip the Aim Controller.

A must-play for FPS addicts of old and a gleeful return to solo FPS action for modern teens who missed the '90s.

I will long remember Statik as an example of immaculate, interactive art. It's as valuable for its mechanics as its sheer experience. Statik is a must-buy game for any PSVR rig, right next to Resident Evil 7.

Prey feels like the mirror image of Bethesda's recent Doom remake. That game let you dance around endless hordes of disposable beasts, making you instantly feel like a super-soldier that could single-handedly take on whatever came at you. In Prey, you constantly feel besieged by unseen horrors that you can barely handle even one-on-one, and you often pray that you can just get by without being seen. Maybe this feeling will go away as I approach the end game, but part of me kind of hopes it doesn't. By limiting your power and resources as you scrounge through its amazing architecture, Prey makes you feel like, well, prey. In a genre that seems more often focused on letting you fulfill your every power fantasy via heavy artillery, it's kind of refreshing so far.

Most important of all is that Oculus had a full year of lead-up time to nail Wilson's Heart... and the company didn't.

A quick, satisfying tale that should appeal to anyone interested in effective video game storytelling.

For all its individually familiar mechanics, the holistic experience of Dawn of War 3 is as different from its predecessors as the second game was from the first. It doesn't feel like either older game as a whole. Instead, approach this as its own self-contained vessel: an RTS with a better-than-average campaign and an approach to multiplayer that has a lot of potential if it can find a community of players that hasn't already dedicated itself to one of the two styles of play it emulates. If, however, you're a longtime fan simply looking for a second lap around for either of the first two games, you'll be sadly disappointed.

If you missed out on Mario Kart 8 the first time around, Deluxe should be on your must-buy list for the Switch. If you already wore out the original version of the game, try out the Battle Mode and the portable play before you decide to reinvest.

Don't spend over $1,000 just to play this, but if you're a Rick and Morty fan, don't just watch a stream, either. Rob a mad scientist's garage if you have to, but find a way to try it.

Thimbleweed Park is an unabashed adventure game throwback with all the good and bad that brings. When it parlays that love of a bygone era into interesting challenges, it borders on great. When it simply emulates the past, it's a real slog.

Yooka-Laylee stays true to its '90s platformer roots, even to its detriment. But there are just enough modern touches and excellent platforming to make it more than just another nostalgia play.

Persona 5 weaves engaging JRPG combat around a thoughtful, exquisitely stylish tale of thieves and the struggle to survive in an unfair society.

Torment's uneven gameplay is pulled to the finish line by its engrossing world and story. Assuming you can get over the introductory hump (and all that text), it's absolutely a story worth reading, if not always playing. Buy it.

If you are a die-hard Mass Effect fan who has a personal Shepard head-cannon, Andromeda is an insta-buy, no questions asked. It's the first Mass Effect game we've gotten in five years and potentially the starting point for a new series. It has many of the same traits that made the original Mass Effect trilogy great, and it feels right. If you’re not a die-hard Mass Effect fan, watch some YouTube videos first to make sure the game will be for you. [Early review in progress]