A powerful, poignant story that utilizes a brilliantly crafted world and movement mechanic to help get its symbolism across. Its short length and lack of gameplay depth hold the experience as a whole back, however.

A clever game that taps into your inner perfectionist, Overcooked is a delicious treat that plays great and is low on carbs.

I Am Setsuna is a mixture of beautiful, heartfelt, and depressing moments, one whose depth is unfortunately overshadowed by its over-abundant moments of shallowness. The worth in Setsuna may end up being not in what it did on its own, but the groundwork it provides for future projects.

There’s some strong core gameplay to Hyper Light Drifter, but not much else. Unfortunately, no amount of nostalgia is going to make up for that.

A riot of color, emotion, and sea life wrapped up in a stellar soundtrack and stunning visuals; Abzû walks a fine line between being a game and being a near-spiritual experience.

Headlander is a great metroidvania whose retro-future style, humorous story, and tremendous exploration come together in one of the summer’s most complete experiences.

Ghostbusters is a bloated, boring piece of trash that forcibly lengthened an already miserable experience to try to justify a ridiculous price tag. We can only hope to return it forthwith to its place of origin—or the nearest parallel dimension.

Song of the Deep isn’t a bad metroidvania; it’s just very basic. It doesn’t do anything particularly well, outside of maybe its endearing story, but it isn’t absolutely unplayable either.

While it gets bogged down by story and character elements that I found to be the opposite of fun far too often, 7th Dragon III Code: VFD offers up a stellar RPG experience that’s stuffed full of enjoyable gameplay mechanics and ideas.

It’s sad that Fru came out so long after the Kinect was a viable gaming peripheral. Had it released closer to the Xbox One’s launch, we might’ve been able to laud it as a reason to own a Kinect. As is, it’s a solid little puzzle-platformer that might be worth a look if you haven’t packed your Kinect away—assuming you ever got one in the first place.

Monster Hunter Generations is a game that caters heavily to fans of the series, but sometimes leaves new players in the dust. Yet, a deep armory of gear and an engaging multiplayer experience deliver a game that offers hours of gameplay for those who don’t mind the grind.

Furi excels in some areas, serving as an audio/visual treat as you work your way through the game’s world. Its narrative and gameplay could use more depth, but both provide more than enough value to make this a worthwhile experience if you love action or boss rush games.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE promises spectacle, and boy does it deliver—but all the flashy scenes, Fire Emblem cameos, and J-Pop in the world can’t cover up cramped world design and loads and loads of loading.

Inside is a brilliantly crafted game that will keep you talking about it long after you’ve finished playing. Its moody, atmospheric world and terrific puzzle-platforming are simply the hooks to first draw you in.

Umbrella Corps’ intentions are clear, but this target was missed due to an apparent disregard for the game’s core feature.

As the final chapter of the Zero Escape trilogy, Zero Time Dilemma is a dramatic journey through the strengths and weaknesses of the human spirit, one that longtime fans and newcomers can both enjoy and appreciate.

Mighty No. 9 has a strong gameplay core that isn’t better or worse than Mega Man—it’s just different. The further the game deviates from that core, however, the worse it becomes.

Just Cause 3: Mech Land Assault is a fun little add-on for Avalanche Studios’ latest sandbox adventure, but considering the overall lack of content and its relatively steep price point, you might need to be really desperate to get back into Just Cause 3 if you’re using this as your excuse. Still, what is here is enjoyable, and much better balanced than what we saw in Sky Fortress, showing Avalanche Studios is at least moving in the right direction with this post-launch content—and giving me hope for the final chapter in the three-part DLC season pass.

Though there are many parts of Mirror’s Edge Catalyst that fail, when it manages to fire on all cylinders, the game works quite well. However, those moments are separated by dull stretches, frustrating bits that detract from the game’s greatest assets in order to focus on fighting and story conflicts, neither of which I cared about. I’ve dreamed about the many possibilities a next-gen, open-world Mirror’s Edge title could bring since Catalyst was announced back in 2015, but I never thought the end result would be so limiting.

It’s probably one of the pink puffball’s shorter adventures, but the new mech gimmick provides a fun and fresh take on Kirby’s action-platforming core that I couldn’t get enough of.

Another misstep with the TMNT franchise leaves me wondering if anyone will ever make a good Turtles game again. As is, Mutants in Manhattan works, but it’s just terribly boring.

With a focus on exquisite gameplay, Overwatch has asserted itself as the new standard not only in team-based shooters, but esports as a whole.

There was potential here, but it is lost in a sea of technical issues that are nearly impossible to look past.

Doom was crafted by a team that clearly loves the series, delivering chainsaws, explosions, and demon-slaying heavy metal all sealed with a kiss.

Battleborn is like a one-man band—there’s a whole lot going on, but the final product suffers due to spread resources. While lack of maps and missions may be resolved with DLC, the launch product comes off a bit shallow.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is a true work of art, and the only time the slightest apprehension may surface is when one compares it to the titanic installments that came before.

Superhot executes the ideas at its core without flaw, but doesn’t step very far outside of those bounds. If you’re looking for something to shake up your view of what can be done in a shooter, this is the game for you.

While many reviewers will point to The Banner Saga 2’s breathtaking art, or mention the sophisticated elevation of a turn-based strategy/RPG, the game’s largest success is that it makes you feel like a true leader.

DrinkBox Studios pushes the boundaries on the Vita’s unique hardware once again. Although from a technical perspective it occasionally lets them down, Severed’s unique combat system and beautiful art style carry the day on what is a fun, if not short-lived, dungeon crawler.

Sega 3D Classics Collection is a hard release to judge. On one hand, it’s a mixed selection of M2’s fantastic library of classic Sega games reworked for the 3DS. On the other, it offers up stellar versions of every one of those games, which fans will especially appreciate.

Every time Star Fox tries to do something out of its space-combat comfort zone it fails. Star Fox Guard sadly continues this tradition of games that make you go “meh” when Fox and the gang step away from their Arwing cockpits.

Star Fox Zero’s status as a love-letter to the past is solidified. While it does a good job channeling a lot of what was great about Star Fox 64, it fails to really build on it in new and exciting ways, and stumbles because of the Wii U Gamepad.

If, deep in your soul, you love optimizing characters, power-gaming, and creating incredibly broken move combos while still being challenged by enemies, then Bravely Second provides the perfect playground. Fans of the original may find their return to Luxendarc a little too familiar, and the story may be a bit cheesy, but the combat system alone is worth it.

While it’s still impossible on a personal level for me to admit that any of Dark Souls’ siblings could better it, when taken as a whole, complete experience, Dark Souls III may be the best chapter of the Souls series that From Software has crafted. A fitting way to end, if that will indeed be the fate of the franchise.

Solid action-RPG gameplay is elevated by the meta-puzzle that is the game’s branching storylines. The entertaining trial and error of trying to find the one “good” ending channels Choose Your Own Adventure books, and lends itself to a story that you’ll love playing again and again.

Ratchet & Clank is a return to form for the series, but anyone looking for something more than that may be disappointed. The game tugs on many of the original’s addictive strings, but is also bogged down by a few slower, more passive segments.

Enter the Gungeon is one of the most polished games I’ve ever played, especially considering the multitude of items that are available. Just when I thought that the rogue-like genre had been done to death, this game comes along and completely turns me around. I’m not sure I’ll ever master the Gungeon, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever want to leave, either.

Quantum Break is a intriguing science-fiction tale told across two media platforms. While the action and exploration in the video game portions shine, the live-action episodes create a disconnect that is hard to recover from.

MLB The Show 16 continues to find innovative ways to push the series forward by adding new features and improving on old ones. Some new problems have arisen, however, and old ones—most notably the horrendous stability of online play—continue to persist and hold the series back.

Adr1ft is a game in love with space. It finds seduction in the void, and inside the debris of a botched reach for the unknown. I’ve never before seen space above Earth portrayed by such convincing beauty in a game. Alas, it is at the service of an unbefitting journey mired by clumsy movement and contrivances more heavy-handed than the story behind the disaster.

République’s transition from mobile to console is a mostly smooth one, but does feature some control hiccups along the way. The star of the show is the modern Orwellian tale crafted here, though, allowing you to look past a fair amount of technical issues.

For me, TrackMania Turbo just didn’t earn the checkered flag. If you love time-trials, however, this is the racing game you’ve been waiting for.

Any excuse to return to the world of Just Cause 3 is welcome, but by the time you just start getting warmed up and comfortable with the new weapons, gear, and enemies, this new chapter is already over and you’re left asking where the rest of it is.

New franchises are always risky business, but Tom Clancy’s The Division delivered on everything it promised and more, with only the occasional hiccup.

Pokkén Tournament was a brave experiment, and it succeeds in many areas. However, it fails in some others—whether from lack of depth or outright poor design—that keeps it from reaching that upper-tier of the fighting game genre’s elite entries.

EA Sports UFC 2 delivers the grandeur of MMA in a remarkable and brutal presentation. A traditional fighting game this is not, and the genuine attempts at simulating a dense sport result in clumsy combat that only on occasion captures the drama and nuance of human chess.

At times, the HD upgrade looks fantastic. At other times, the HD upgrade looks terrible. But underneath it all, the game is still Twilight Princess, and that means that it’s a great game.

I love difficult games, but The Flame in the Flood didn’t test my resolve—it tested my patience. A stellar look and an awesome soundtrack made me want to love The Molasses Flood’s first release, but with so many technical setbacks, I could hardly even stomach my time with it. I won’t be returning to the flood.

Whether new to the franchise or a long-time fan, there’s something for everyone in Fire Emblem Fates’ three games. Unfortunately, when you find what you’re looking for in one, you might be disappointed when it’s then not present in the other titles.

Far Cry Primal really wants you to know that there are tons of things you can do in its prehistoric, open world. Unfortunately, you may not want to do any of them.

This strategy RPG is a clever way to let fans of the Sega, Capcom, and Bandai Namco library jump into their favorite worlds with ease since the events have little to no bearing in the canonical continuity. The cast is pure fun but is soon overwhelming, where normally standout characters can hardly get a word in on the already impenetrable narrative.

Garden Warfare 2 is a simple and approachable team-based shooter that may be lacking on game types, but isn’t lacking in content. There are plenty of reasons to stay in Zomburbia once you sink your teeth in.

Street Fighter V paves the way for the future of Capcom’s legendary fighting game series—but it’s also a release that’s relying on near-future updates in order to feel like a finished product. Once they come, however, this should really be something special.

Through the grounded reality it portrays and simple jobs players are tasked with, Firewatch sneaks up and surprises you when it zeroes in on a powerful message about the human condition.

Is it possible that the fourth version of a fighting game built on a simple control scheme could still be worth visiting? Yes, and the developer’s devotion to the series gives current fans and those who may get bit by the Naruto bug down the line a good reason to start the game up with friends again and again.

Shortcomings that haunt the entire series remain here, but more gameplay choices and a compelling narrative make Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia the strongest of the three Chronicles titles.

It might be tempting to write off Unravel as another indie-made platformer, but you’d be denying yourself a surprisingly deep puzzler with an unmeasurable amount of charm. There might not be much replay value, but you’ll be glad you took the time to see it to the end.

The explosion-happy, pixel-art world of Not a Hero can be fun for short bursts. However, its inability to take anything seriously—paired with an intense objective system—leaves it somewhere in the middle.

XCOM 2 is a generally solid experience, but it is definitely one of those titles that may not be for everyone due to its punishing game style and occasional unpredictably of success.

Take a haphazard trip through the Marvel Cinematic Universe with all of your favorite Avengers—as well as a whole host of B-level Marvel characters you may or may not have ever heard of. Gameplay is fun, and individual levels all play great, but LEGO Marvel’s Avengers fails to come together in as cohesive a fashion as the material deserves.

Playing Bombshell is like a horrible online date. They had a great profile and pictures, but as soon as you sit down with them, you realize that there’s nothing beneath the surface except crazy.

Even though all of its individual pieces did their job, there wasn’t much that made me want to keep playing Final Fantasy Explorers. Even scenic landscapes and potent sentimentality can’t save the game from bland combat and repetitive missions.

One of the best Vita games becomes one of Sony’s best PlayStation 4 offerings. While its portable origins mean the game never truly pushes the console on a technical level, Bluepoint has refreshed and reworked the original Gravity Rush with the care it deserved for its debut in high definition.

The Witness is the rare game that boils down to a question of faith. No video, screenshot, or review can really explain why it’s such a worthwhile use of your time without spoiling the experience, so you’ll have to trust me when I tell you it’s worth every second—provided you have a bit of patience and are up for an intellectual challenge.

This amusing crossover of Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario adds another solid title to the Mario RPG lineup. Though the recurring minigames and the length of some battles can get a little tedious, combat is generally immersive and fun, and a good sense of humor breathes life into the well worn Bowser-captures-the-princess plot.

Cleverly designed combat may make up for the general content deficiency and lackluster story, but those interested should definitely do their research before diving in.

Resident Evil Zero HD sees the return of a weird chapter in the Resident Evil saga, one that feels clunky and frustrating in its low points, but which also shows some uniqueness from the legacy it helped bring to a close.

Like a good roller coaster, Oxenfree starts with nervous laughter, escalating to an event that leaves the character white-knuckled and wishing they had stayed home.

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India learned from the missteps of its predecessor, as gameplay is more varied and its colorful, vibrant levels are both pleasing to the eye and fun to interact with in most cases. Open combat is to be avoided at all costs, however, limiting how you play the game—and some of the puzzle-platforming levels drag in term of pacing.

Striking fear into Evie’s enemies may be a bit overpowered, and Jack may not be the formidable bad guy we hoped he would be, but this DLC is still a fun adventure that serves as a nice excuse to return to Assassin’s Creed’s take on Victorian-Era London.

What Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege lacks in content it makes up for in intense, fast-paced, heart-pounding action and tight gameplay. If tactical multiplayer is your thing, there may be none better. If not, though, you’ll likely find the experience to be a bit bare bones.

Just Cause 3 may not trump its predecessor in every way, but it does excel beyond Just Cause 2 in its sheer creative freedom. The new tools and tweaks to old ones work great, it’s just up to gamers to discover how best to use them. Having so many choices you lose track of them is one of the best things any game can offer, and Just Cause 3 does so in spades.

Xenoblade Chronicles X has a hard time providing a tale suitable for the massive world and complex systems that occupy it, but even the most fairweather RPG fans will need little convincing to pick up this Japanese addition to the open-world genre.

The Star Wars Battlefront name is holding strong, but if this is set to reboot the franchise, they could have packed a little more meat on its bones.

If you’re hungry for more Game of Thrones content and can’t wait until the next season or book, then Telltale’s Game of Thrones is the perfect game to pass the time. It weaves an interesting narrative that intersects with the franchise’s main plot while still poking into unexplored corners. Unfortunately, there’s a distinct lack of any real choice, and a hugely disappointing ending leaves the story hanging on a sour note.

Horrid visuals and unintuitive gameplay make Rodea the Sky Soldier one of the worst action games I’ve played in a long time.

Whether you’re in the mood for stealth or all-out action, Rise of the Tomb Raider has got you covered, but when it comes time to put down the guns and start talking, the game screeches to a halt. Even so, it’s hard to deny what a blast it is to slip into Lara’s shoes once more.

Yo-Kai Watch is a kid-oriented, lighthearted game packed with quirky characters, secret areas to explore, and bizarre Yo-Kai to befriend. The unwieldy process of recruiting Yo-Kai to your team and an incredibly unhelpful map bog the side content down a bit, but the battling system is unique and fun and there’s always more to discover.

A (mega)ton of adventure awaits those who have the hours to fully experience Fallout 4’s beautifully devastated wasteland. Best of all, players will be able to experience it however they wish thanks to near infinite gameplay options.

Black Ops III is the deepest Call of Duty experience to date. With not one, but two campaigns, new multiplayer modes and more robust customization, and a Zombies mode that will suck in even the most casual of players, Treyarch has once again found a way to raise the bar.

You’d be hard pressed to find an automaker willing to take an extra year to reset their car line much like Ghost Games did here with their second run on Need for Speed. What we get is a more focused and competent racer but one seemingly unwilling to risk standing out from the crowd.

A big step forward for the series, WWE 2K16 is still some polishing and a new submission system away from being Hall of Fame material, but should make a nice living as a stop gap in your library before hopefully bridging the gap to a bigger and better game next year.

Though its graphics are a bit dated and it’s not going to revolutionize the genre any time soon, Tales of Zestiria is a solid, anime-inspired RPG with a new twist on battling, a fun story, and a great central idea that pushes the Tales franchise forward.

From its opening moment until its final scene plays, Life is Strange is a wonderful, beautiful, captivating, touching adventure built upon the undying friendship of two girls trying to find their place in the world.

A fair amount of bugs and lack of a present-day scenario detract from what is otherwise a strong return to form for Assassin’s Creed. Syndicate touts not one, but two great protagonists, strong gameplay, and Victorian Era London is neck and neck with Renaissance Italy as the best place the series has been to.

Longtime fans will certainly love the fanservice and visuals, but even those new to Dragon Quest may find a lot to like here.

The continuation of a new Master Chief saga, the refinement and additions to multiplayer for casual and pros alike, plus a gorgeous presentation made possible by current generation technology—all add up to the makings of a FPS worthy of the Halo series’ best iterations.

As a farewell to the characters and settings of the original Corpse Party, Corpse Party: Blood Drive is a flawed, frustrating adventure that strays too far from what made its predecessor so beloved. And yet, at times, it still shows signs of brilliance—enough that at least hardcore fans of the franchise can find joy amongst the relentless torture.

Rebel Galaxy is a robust trek through the stars, even if it is bogged down by a heavy reliance on repetition and a weak narrative. A host of systems that are all built to generate organic emergent moments, no matter what your play style, make Rebel Galaxy one of this year’s biggest surprises.

Tri Force Heroes is a Zelda game in name only. When you dig just past the surface, poor gameplay mechanics and key missing elements for a Zelda title tarnish what is otherwise a serviceable adventure game.

World of Warships starts out well. The game is fast, it looks good, and it’s fun. Progress soon comes to a crawl, however, and the repetitive grinding, off-set only by a convoluted Free-to-Play system, dampens the experience in ways that the superb graphics and quick multiplayer matchmaking do little to offset.

LEGO Dimensions moves the toys-to-life genre in a new direction by introducing the need to build (and rebuild) your toys, and manipulate them during the game. This combined with the brilliant mash-up of different properties makes for a LEGO game fans of the series won’t want to miss.

Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash takes Nintendo’s adorable mini helper robot and throws him into a mediocre side-scrolling platformer that’s too easy, too frustrating, and too below the standards of either its hero or its publisher. There’s some good here, but it’s not enough to raise this one above being an average experience.

Yoshi’s Woolly World brings an astounding amount of features to an aesthetically impressive title. It stands as one of the best Wii U titles this season, constantly delivering creative twists on what the platformer genre that Nintendo has been tapping for so long. It’s an absolute must buy for fans of the Yoshi series.

The Legend of Legacy has nice character designs, beautiful backgrounds, good music, and some inventive mechanics. Unfortunately, the actual gameplay is repetitive and extremely shallow, the combat system is a slog with little character progression, and simple tasks like saving the game and walking from place to place are needlessly tedious. Without a good story or developed world to keep it interesting and no real way to improve your skills, there’s no reason to fight through to the end.

Harmonix bills Rock Band 4 as a platform that will grow and improve with the future, but for now, the new game offers little reason to upgrade from Rock Band 3, with a weaker soundtrack, fewer modes, and more promises of exciting features than actual, demonstrable ones.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 does a disservice to returning fans and newcomers alike by removing most of what gave the original games flare while being simultaneously riddled with glitches.

Marvel at NBA 2K16’s drive for excellence and all they’ve put into making this year’s sim incredible. Year by year 2K has learned to make a more solid sports title, and now it’s not just a highlight-reel player, but an accomplished All-Star video game.