South Park: The Fractured But Whole isn’t an even experience. Some moments are fun and pretty funny, but others feel pretty uninspired. Exploring the town of South Park isn’t as novel this time out, and it largely isn’t as funny. RPG systems like combat, looting and crafting are just involved enough to make them interesting, but the firm emphasis is on the story and humor of the show. With the plot taking a while to develop and with so many jokes just feeling played out, loose on their landings or easy and obvious, it’s tough to really get excited to head back down to South Park.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War addressed nearly every flaw of the original game, and its enormous environments help to make the emergent encounters and Nemesis system even more engaging. While its story stumbles early on, the unique stories you’ll get from pressing against your nemeses will keep you coming back to the game for dozens of hours. Even after killing and enslaving countless orcs, we can’t wait to keep making those stories.

The Evil Within 2 overhauls every aspect of the original to create a surprisingly adept sequel that makes us a hungry for more. Both gunplay and stealth have been refined and lend themselves well to the restrained open world format. Its surprisingly heartfelt narrative and many twist and turns round out the experience.

Project CARS 2 offers an incredible drive in spite of technical issues and broken AI.

While the move away from more customizable cars for competition, may strike a negative chord with longtime fans, Forza 7 is an excellent racing game.

As a standalone story, Death of the Outsider is well worth the price of admission. Although it doesn’t innovate on the gameplay in any meaningful way, it’s as well-designed as anything in the series and fans will enjoy facing new challenges in the streets of Karnaca. We particularly enjoyed the scrappy underdog feeling of playing as Billie, with fewer powers than her protagonist predecessors.

FIFA 18 relies a little too much on back-patting and the illusion of choice during its story mode, but it’s still remarkable how well Electronic Arts managed to tell the tale of Alex Hunter and his family. The soccer on the field more than backs up the writing, with rewarding gameplay that can entertain even those who normally hate the sport. Just make sure that you carve out plenty of time and say farewell to your family members for the foreseeable future, because you’re going to need all the extra time you can get.

NBA 2K18 makes strides in both visuals and gameplay, while introducing an endearing social experience blended within MyCareer. The two story modes don’t impress, but their surrounding parts are so strong that they become an afterthought.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is already one of the most compelling fighters in quite some time, because it addresses the genre’s biggest problems in so many creative ways, while keeping play interesting for returning fans. The gulf between the skilled and the green, has been large enough that the fighting game community has become infamously insular. Infinite proves that basic accessibility need not come at the sacrifice of depth.

NHL 18 bites off more than it can chew in terms of new gameplay moves, although the defensive skill stick is a welcome feature. The arcade game mode NHL Threes delivers fast and lasting fun, but the simulation modes — the series’ most important components — lacks personality in an age when most sports games ooze personality.

From a gameplay standpoint, though, this is the best place to enter Bungie’s shared-world shooter, and the most fun Destiny has ever been.

The core of the gameplay remains largely untouched, but what new additions there are enrich the overall experience. The first classic 2D-style Metroid in 13 years (since the GBA Metroid: Zero Mission, also directed by Sakamoto), Metroid: Samus Returns is the franchise in top form, and makes an excellent case for the old masters.

Everybody's Golf is limited in scope, but makes up for it with pure charm.

Knack 2 silences naysayers with innovative puzzle-platforming, even if its combat can’t keep up.

War of the Chosen has thoroughly sunk its hooks into us, and we anticipate many late nights for months to come as we master its new challenges.

Absolver’s is hyper-focused on its fighting system, and the work Sloclap did there pays off. Its combination of cool systems, like learning fighting moves from enemies and player mentors, creating your own combos, and carefully and strategically using them during fights, makes every battle feel intense and important, especially in multiplayer scenarios. While everything else surrounding that system feels a bit anemic by comparison, the mix of great ideas Absolver brings to its core concept carries the rest, and should inspire plenty of other fighting and action games.

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is not perfect, but most its problems can be ignored because they are relegated to portions of the game you can skip or speed through. The core experience of the game, the battles, are inventive and fun. Though it is still a strategy game, and therefore a niche experience that appeals to a specific type of player, its carefree tone, bright colors, and fast pace make it feel inviting. There’s plenty of nuance to find in Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, so long as you’re willing indulge its playful side.

The artists and designers at Supergiant are so studied that they manage to ground their most interesting ideas in a shell that makes them smooth and accessible. It’s our favorite game of theirs, and that says a lot.

Despite its rough edges, Hellblade is often stunning, and approaches mental illness with a unique blend of traditional storytelling and interactive mechanics. If you’re more interested in a stylish action game, there are certainly better options out there, but one thing is clear: No game will leave you feeling like Hellblade does.

Agents of Mayhem is a generic take on the city open world shooter. A diverse cast of heroes and a few funny one liners save it from being downright bad, but its repetitive missions and bland world firmly solidify its mediocrity.

If you are looking for a fresh new multiplayer arena shooter experience, LawBreakers is great at blazing its own zero-g path, and does so at a $30 “budget” price. That’s if you’re looking. With more open-ended multiplayer shooters available than ever, you may be fine with the shooter you’ve got.

Even without any changes to Franchise mode, Madden NFL 18 is the best entry in the series to date. Realistic visuals, overhauled mechanics, and Longshot mode create a more authentic NFL football experience.

Lost Legacy doesn’t reinvent Uncharted’s underlying Indiana Jones-meets-Prince of Persia conceit, but it tightens up many of its elements, with better gameplay design and a story that’s clear and thoughtful. This is probably the best Uncharted yet.

Developer Rocksteady reinvigorates its Arkham series formula with fresh gameplay features and an expansive open world in Batman: Arkham Knight.

While not without its flaws, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a monumental game.

Splatoon is a beautiful new twist on the shooting genre, but lacks team chat and other modern norms.

A solid shooter standing atop fan service and nostalgia.

A challenging game with a colossal chip on its shoulder.