In a certain light The Crown of the Sunken King actually does it better, employing different constraints and driving new ways to explore and appreciate Dark Souls II's finer details.

Although some of the unique elements like the Ooblet collecting and the dance battles may be surface level approaches compared to other games in this genre, I see a great amount of promise in Ooblets’ ability to provide a relaxing yet satisfying experience for players who have enjoyed farming, raising cute creatures, and occasionally deckbuilding. Your life may have been a giant toot before now, but Ooblets will definitely charm you to Elswair and back. Give Ooblets a chance — it’s absolutely worth it!

NBA 2K13 is another high quality entry into a franchise that continues to find ways to improve and get fans excited from year to year.

Axiom Verge is a solid game with very little to complain about. In the case of it arriving on the Wii U, it's definitely a case of better late than never.

If you like Tekken, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 has almost everything you could ask from the series.

Once Upon a KATAMARI is a Katamari game at its best, rolling, rolling, and rolling through time collecting items and constructing new planets. The 10+ year wait has been worth it, as it introduces just enough novelty all the while preserving the best bits of the series. Its uniqueness aside, it’s the most approachable Katamari yet.

Finally, it's here, and I think it was well worth the wait. It's not perfection, but it's a solid effort and an excellent game that 360 owners should be proud to own.

What's important here is that the game has a superb story, excellent characters, and is a hell of a lot of fun. Access Games knocked one out of the park with Deadly Premonition.

The world and art of LOK Digital is the perfect example of what an adaptation should be: true to the source, but enhanced by its medium. The gameplay mechanics and art direction both benefit immensely from the video game form. I very much enjoyed playing LOK, but found that the gameplay loop eventually became repetitive. It’s a short game with a simple premise and isn’t the type of thing you should strive to complete all in one go. I suggest spacing out your time as it prevents some frustration and monotony. As I was playing, I thought LOK Digital would be the perfect game to play on the go (in part because of the daily puzzles). Apparently I was not the only one to have this thought; LOK Digital is coming to Android and iOS on January 23rd. If you’re an avid fan of puzzles, I highly recommend checking this one out.

As a collection of catalog titles, "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy" does everything an audience expects.

In sum, Sniper Elite 5 is another evolution in the right direction of this long-running series. If you enjoyed any of the previous entries, this one should be right up your ally and I would lean towards calling it the best yet. The additions of more traversal mechanics, the workbenches, and Invasion mode, along with even bigger maps (that are also the best looking/designed yet) make this an all-around compelling game. However, some age-old issues still rear their head at times, including some jankiness with AI, bugs, and invisible walls. Some of these are likely to be patched out, and frequent auto-saves also help work-around these issues.

An excellent platforming title with tons of style and polish. While it’s true that it doesn’t explore a lot of new territory, iteration within a genre is only bad to the extent which creativity and permutation are not applied. In other words, if it’s fun and feels fresh enough, it was worth the effort—and Tropical Freeze is every bit as enjoyable as its Wii predecessor.

The Magic Circle is a playable videogame about a broken videogame made by people who aren't good at making videogames.

A great fit in any Vita library that would benefit from an excellent JRPG.

Armored Kill brings some pretty fantastic maps to the BF3 universe. Those maps alone make this worth the price of admission. The addition of Tank Superiority and new vehicles only sweetens the deal. Armored Kill is certainly another well-placed notch in the BF3 belt.

Tuned ever-so-slightly in "race trim" for more consistency doesn't hinder the uproarious, maniacal wild side of free roam. In a vacuum, it plays just as well as the first two.

Technobabylon is loaded with cool ideas and it's a lot of fun to play. The story, multiple playable characters, creative and interesting settings, and challenging but logical puzzles kept me entertained from start to finish.

At the end of 2009, if you were of the mind that twin stick shooters had been done to death, please allow PixelJunk Shooter to quietly defy your expectations.

An excellent fighter and another superb addition to the series, MKX kicks ass.

Fundamentally sound gameplay, revolutionary control scheme, awesome Career experience, and expansive online offerings all make this game one of the best sports games of the year and is neck and neck with UFC Undisputed.

DOOM II is legendary, plain and simple. It's required gaming for any action/FPS gamer, and this XBLA release is extra special in that it has a new nine level episodes created by Nerve Software. Highly recommended.

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja 4 sets new standards for the series. It excels in nearly every aspect, while merely stumbling here and there on minor issues.

The premise of Hacknet and my preexisting interest in the idea of a UNIX-based hacking sim had me going into this excited and hopeful. The quality gameplay and sense of reward from figuring things out kept me playing hours on end, and excited to tell others how cool of a game this was.

The cutting mechanic is smartly embraced as Revengeance's signature rather than its limitation, a crescendo earned by appreciating the profundity of its stylish combat. This is actually expected of Platinum, but the real surprise is their respect and dedication Metal Gear’s established doctrine. By any definition, Revengeance is beautiful symmetry.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter continues to push the high production values of the cartoon mystery series while still providing a slew of enjoyable puzzles along the way.

Persona 3 Reload is not a carbon-copied remaster of Persona 3 Portable or even Persona 3. It’s a refreshed perspective of Persona 3 that removes a good bunch of pain from older RPGs while retaining the charm and character of the original. It feels like many thoughtful decisions were made to better the game’s flow without compromising on its core experience or watering it down. Framerate quibbles of the Switch 2 version aside, owners of 2023’s Persona 3 Portable might feel like there aren’t enough changes to warrant a replay. But, if you haven’t yet experienced its source material, Persona 3 Reload is without a doubt the best version of the game to play.

God of War III is still an excellent game five years later. The Remastered version is the best way to play it, but, it's a somewhat underwhelming release because it is so similar to the PS3's Ultimate Edition. This is not a Definitive Edition technically, but more content and thus value would have been great to see included here.

Ultimately, Block N Load is a ….load of fun (I’m sorry) and will be seeing a lot more playtime on my part moving forward. A highly strategic game that allows you a lot of freedom in what that strategy is. The team with the most innovative plan will likely be the winner, and that key element of innovation can come from anyone and any class.