In 2006, Dead Rising's clever assembly of ideas rampaged against comfort and cohesion. Time has been kind to Dead Rising's sharp edge of nonconformity, though some of its quirks feel frustrating after two (and a half) sequels provided a better defense of its thesis.

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.

Thunder Lotus has done a tremendous job with Jotun leaving very little in the 'con' column of the equation.

NHL 17 is a game that overwhelms you with variety of play as well as feedback aimed at making you a better, happier player. Outside of a collection of new game modes including Draft Champions, Franchise Mode and the World Cup of Hockey, everything here is largely the same. The game still looks great. Still feels great. And most importantly, it still plays great. Little refinements throughout yield small but noticeable improvements on the experience.

Spirit of Justice has an even balance of good writing, new gameplay design and fantastic presentation. Bringing back familiar faces to push the story and containing a healthy dose of difficulty, which is what most fans of the series adore, only helps its overall case. Definitely a worthy addition to the Phoenix Wright family.

Another wonderful feature of the Tobii tech is the ability to look around and move the camera in any direction to reveal more of the screen. I know, I know, that sounds like a simple thing, but it does provide a bit more visual girth to the already big world. I’m the type of gamer that doesn’t like to feel claustrophobic when it comes to visuals. I like seeing a big bulky world around me, so this option is good and it doesn’t get in the way of things.

Its impact can not be understated. With that said, the lack of tweaking and adaption with the controls made the 2016 experience on the PlayStation 4 a bit tough to love. It’s not a deal breaker, but it’s tough to recapture RE4’s magic when you’re fighting with the controls. In the end, a classic is still a classic, despite its flaws in this generation.

Hue presents an accessible, familiar, yet unique-enough experience that is absolutely worth checking out if you're a fan of this genre. I would even suggest that if you got burned out by similar games that got too hard too fast to give Hue a chance.

Alone With You sometimes suffers inside of its medium, an understandable impedance of a small project that simply can't be good at everything. Its eagerness to sidestep conventional challenges with singular objectives, however, will last longer than some of its prosaic mechanics. Valuable science fiction maintains a crucial element of humanity, a facet of storytelling Alone With You embraces with, of all possibilities, relatable human beings.

It may not be the Metroid Prime sequel you were looking for, but if you keep an open mind and give it a shot, you're likely to be pleasantly surprised overall, especially if you have some friends to play co-op with.

Annual franchises can be tough to get excited about and to differentiate, but Codemasters has made some great decisions with F1 2016 to make it a clearly superior version to last year's, and quite possibly the best version in the franchise to date.

A strong release for 2D fighting fans and an overall successful return for one of the genre's most legendary franchises.

The developers seemed focused on bringing the best Madden NFL title in the last 10 years and they have very much accomplished that feat. This is a must-have, folks.

A stellar sequel and an outstanding game in its own right, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a AAA experience worth your attention.

Unto the Evil is a bit expensive, but offers some pretty good additional content for the multiplayer component of DOOM. If you're a fan of that, Unto the Evil is required to keep pace with the community, but otherwise it may be best to save your efforts for the next DLC which should cater to the more popular campaign mode.

Battleship is exactly what you'd expect it to be and whilst Clash at Sea provides a bit more to the game than just playing straight up classic it falls short due to it being, well, rather boring.

It brings a relaxing gameplay design that is geared more towards exploration, rather than sci-fi action. In addition to exploration, it has a healthy crafting system, an interesting monetary structure that adds extra motivation, and an endless amount of adventures and secrets to uncover along the way.

Scouring Abzu's marine paradise opens an argument for emotive communication and softened storytelling. Too often, however, Abzu is less a defense of its beliefs and more a negotiation out of a cornered medium.

Not unlike a poorly done Blu-ray release of a classic film, the Marvel Ultimate Alliance release on current-gen is just disappointing. The games are still great and fun, but this new release is off the mark in several major ways.

Quadrilateral Cowboy's fascination with precision is only matched by its fondness for personalized anarchy. Imagine the empowerment of executing a line of effective and largely improvised code combined with the ignorance that you're just moments away from shooting yourself in the head. At its best, Quadrilateral Cowboy is all of the fun and experimentation of retro-future cyber heists without all of the existential horror that comes with most definitions of mortality.

Headlander doesn't spend all of its time building a monument to Super Metroid, opting instead for a dangerous medley of absurdity that's nevertheless stable and, once you really start to look at it, kind of marvelous in its ability to stand upright and qualify as evidence of meaningful dissent.

Winning Putt is an interesting title that isn't perfect, as some gameplay elements need some re-thinking, but it's good fun as whole. Certainly an interesting spin on a typical golf game experience.

Sacrificed (somewhere) were elements of surprise and spontaneity, locking Tokyo Mirage Sessions to a rigid course, but its overall performance leaves little doubt of its capability; Nintendo and Atlus saved one of the best for last.

10 Second Ninja X is a wonderful test of strategy, emotions and patience. The game will last as long as your anger skills, so prepare yourself if you ninja your way into this.

The game offers everything that I personally enjoy in traditional JRPGs, however, I did realize that a lot of the content seemed “recycled” from other JRPGs (story, battle system, etc). While it may not be a bad thing for some, I am Setsuna delivers with a well-crafted soundtrack, great visuals, and even revived traditional RPG elements that we enjoy, such as crafting and tech combos.

Rhythm Heaven Megamix proves that there’s still room in the market for a well-made minigame collection—provided they’re unique enough. The series is still just as fun as it was back in 2006, and honestly, this is the best implementation of the concept to date.

Song of the Deep is a meandering lesson that not every reflection of Metroidvania has to be a grand odyssey. By that measure it's a serviceable decent into the great unknown with a handful of neat ideas. It's also too oblivious of its own limitations to leave a distinct impression in a crowded field.

LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens isn’t simply another movie licensed turned into a LEGO game. It’s a beautiful opus for the LEGO series that shows that Tt Games isn’t resting on its laurels enjoying the money rolling in. The developers have put a lot of love into the presentation, gameplay depth and overall experience to bring a top-tier game that should entertain both adults and kids. Kudos to them for keeping the series fresh.