With a lengthy campaign and a multiplayer full of leveling and unlocking Max Payne 3 is a title that will hold your attention for a while and show you one hell of a ride in the process. With only a few minor hiccups keeping it from being a perfect game, Max Payne 3 is unquestionably a must have.

A much more upbeat entry chock full of streamlining that lets its new ideas really shine, Pokemon Sun and Moon are the most friendly and modern-feeling games the series has put forth in a long time. Though it shifts away from the exploratory aspects I've loved in past games to focus more on a main quest, S&M have some of the most memorable parts I've seen in the series in a while. It feels like Game Freak finally took cruise control off and are willing to try something new, and I just hope they expand on some of the more offbeat ideas in the future.

In the day and age where every other game is a first person shooter, Heavy Rain comes to us with a fresh and original experience that is really unlike any other game on the market today. It is not perfect but its originality to me makes it a must have for any Playstation 3 owner.

Just an average stealth game on the PS2. It suffers from frame rate problems and just doesn't offer as much as we all would have hoped.

Guacamelee 2 is a fun, lighthearted game that incorporates intense platforming and fast-paced Luchador fights. The sequel doesn’t bring many new ideas to the table, and veterans of the original may want to hold off for a while unless they’re craving more of the Mexiverse. Otherwise, if you’re looking for a tight Metroidvania with vibrant colors and a great sense of humor, then it’s an easy recommendation to dip your chips into Guacamelee 2.

Sony's other stealth-actioner favorite debuts on the PSP with an impressive story and gameplay mechanics, backed by a solid control scheme and plenty of game modes.

If you’re coming for the puzzles then you’ll have a great time, if you want a story that makes you question your beliefs then you may find what you’re looking for and if you just want to sit in awe at the clay world then that’s fine too.

Everything about this game seems to flow perfectly together. It's light, yet heavy. It's fun, yet serious. It has the style and feel of Guilty Gear, the craziness and fluidity of Marvel vs. Capcom, and the familiarity of Dragon Ball. All of these things blend together very nicely in order to create a game that can truly be enjoyed by everyone. I can play FighterZ any time with anyone and have an absolute blast with it. Whether you're a hardcore fan of the genre or not, this really is the fighting game you've been looking for.

While it isn’t technically a new game, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening looks and feels as fresh and inviting as any new game released on the Switch. It preserves all the strange, playful fun of the original while utterly transforming it visually and mechanically, and preserves everything that made Link’s Awakening a classic. Whether you’re playing it for the first time or revisiting a longtime favorite, you won’t be disappointed.

Unlike Arkham Origins, which felt like the Arkham story’s unwelcomed little brother, Arkham Knight earns its position as the end of this triolgy. It goes out hard and fast, carrying one of comics most iconic characters into an unknown twilight, and leaving us with Rocksteady’s undisputed triumph over the licensed game space.

The game plays much better then last year's game, and overall ha[s] a great look and feel to it that most people are just going to love.

Undead Nightmare is an amazing experience that when you factor in the low price truly raises the bar over anything I have seen in terms of DLC packs in the last couple of years. Keep the zombies coming!

While it has a few missteps and lacks the semi tongue in cheek humor of the original games, I found that the experience of Max's journey to be far more engrossing than I initially expected.

There are not enough words to describe how beautiful the game looks, or how despite the huge number of alternate costumes you have access too, nothing feels as right as the new suit Insomniac created. I could spin webs about the excellent boss fights that liter the back half of the game, and how they manage to test your skills without resorting to just packing the screen full of enemies and story-wise. I could do all these things, but I won’t because you need to play this and experience it for yourself. Again, with no qualifiers, Marvel’s Spider-Man is the best game you will play this year. It most certainly has been the best one I have.

Not a single thing about Ōkami is outdated. The ambitious creative design gives it away, though. No one really makes games like this anymore, taking wild risks while at it. The gamble didn’t pay off with the original release. Dissatisfied with the poor sales, Capcom decided to stall Clover Studio and merge it with in-house teams. The key personnel escaped the merger and went on to form PlatinumGames. As they say, the rest is history. Now that 2017 saw Japanese games taking back the respect they deserve, I hope Ōkami HD too will find its audience. After all these years after the original game’s release, I have no qualms in awarding Ōkami HD a perfect score. If only I had given it a chance back then… Don’t make the same mistake!

A much more upbeat entry chock full of streamlining that lets its new ideas really shine, Pokemon Sun and Moon are the most friendly and modern-feeling games the series has put forth in a long time. Though it shifts away from the exploratory aspects I've loved in past games to focus more on a main quest, S&M have some of the most memorable parts I've seen in the series in a while. It feels like Game Freak finally took cruise control off and are willing to try something new, and I just hope they expand on some of the more offbeat ideas in the future.

Despite stepping away from the tone and play style of its forbears, Tomb Raider is an entertaining adventure and a great jumping off point for the new direction Crystal Dynamics wants to take.

For fans of the genre, Hollow Knight is a game you simply can’t miss. It takes what people expect in a metroidvania and polishes them up to shine radiantly. The art and animation in a game like this, no matter how beautiful, can only go so far if the backtracking and general metroidvania tropes aren’t handled well. While the backtracking can be tedious and the exploration can be maddening, Hollow Knight is still worth a look to anyone looking for a great action platformer. Hollow Knight wears its inspirations on its sleeve and reminds the world that sometimes you don’t need to create completely new mechanics, sometimes you just need to make those old mechanics shine again.

For those that are hoping for just a massive and bloody brawl, you're not going to find it in Bully. It's a game that almost everyone can identify with, and getting your character through school is a complex yet simple experience, made fun by the pacing and the sheer amount of things that you can do.

Although Call of Duty: Black Ops may have a lot familiar to fans of the series, Treyarch has pushed a lot of the right buttons and has made the best Call of Duty game to date.

This is a remarkable game, and there isn’t a Vita owner in the world that should pass it by. It’s a sublime experience and, especially at its budget retail price, is dense with gameplay mechanics that involve you as the player directly into Tearaway’s loveable little dimension.

Konami has been spot on, with an engaging storyline and revolutionary new gameplay features.

MLB 13: The Show is admittedly a small step forward. It has cleaned up some of the rougher edges in both the Franchise and the Road to the Show mode while maintaining its near-perfect on the field action. What else can I say, MLB 13: The Show remains one of the pinnacle sports franchises in the business today.

FIFA 14 exudes polish from every pore. It’s a great all-rounder, able to entertain players of all abilities. Until Battlefield fixes its problems, there isn’t a better multiplayer game on PS4 either. Sports fan or no, there aren’t many more complete games you can pick up this launch window.

Hitman 3 doesn’t bring any substantial changes to the tried and true mechanics of the trilogy, but instead offers the most complete, refined version of Agent 47 we’ve seen to date. Despite a lackluster story, IO Interactive has otherwise done an outstanding job over the years with this trilogy and Hitman 3 represents the culmination of all those efforts.

Each level in Hotline Miami begins with a choice – which rubber animal mask will you wear? Pixelated, haunting renditions of a variety of animals are represented. Dog, insects, donkeys. Which would you prefer? It’s a powerful and completely cosmetic decision that blends simple, fast action mechanics and surrealist narrative to an incredible accumulation.

Although its multiplayer is a little underpowered, Doom Eternal’s challenging campaign is a reminder — as was its 2016 sibling — that old school mayhem fueled by adrenaline and alien guts still packs a wallop of fun. The game’s story is a bit too convoluted and portentous and its platforming is over-exacting sometimes to the point of momentum-halting frustration, but it’s hard not to recommend Doom Eternal to fans of shooters from any era.

This is the game that should have come out two years ago, and while it’s sad that we didn’t have it then, it’s great to enjoy right now.