Gears of War: Ultimate Edition does a fine job of remastering the original, but a new coat of paint and some minor upgrades can’t disguise the fact that the gameplay experience hasn’t aged particularly well.

Disney Infinity 3.0: Star Wars Edition adds another massive and massively popular property to the series’ roster. Both the Star Wars and Inside Out Play Sets are well done and the new Toy Box is much better organized. Since toys-to-life games are all about breathing life into your favorite characters, Disney has an advantage (at least now that they’re past the Lone Ranger). They leverage that here and the result is fantastic.

Lara Croft remains a poor choice that never fit for the GO-style that was established with Hitman GO last year, even if you can find a bit of fun in the short, simple puzzles.

In a time of movie-scale video games with photorealistic graphics, downloadable content, post-launch patches, and 50+ hours of game play, Mega Man Legacy Collection reminds us all of the perfection demanded from both developers and gamers in the 8-bit era of gaming.

New gameplay mechanics and the new Draft Champions mode mean Madden NFL 16 finally delivers a complete football experience that both casual and hardcore fans should be able to enjoy right from the start.

Until Dawn doesn’t always live up to the potential Supermassive Games envisioned for its ambitious PS4 project, but the game succeeds in enough ways to make it a fascinating and engrossing twist on the horror genre.

Big Boss’ supposedly final outing puts players in the middle of the most ambitious entry in the series yet, and it delivers on almost everything it promises. If this is Hideo Kojima’s final game, then he is stepping out at the top floor of the industry.

World of Tanks offers enough tense action and team-based strategy that can be enjoyable even for those who aren’t usually into war-themed games—all for the unbeatable price of free. Unfortunately, the experience is marred at times by a level of unfriendliness for new players, and a long grind at higher levels for those not willing to shell out major cash.

Like The Chinese Room’s previous work, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture will no doubt prove an acquired taste, but the game is bolstered by strong, character-driven writing and a desire to experiment with boundaries no other developer, indie or established, is willing to engage.

A great collection of classic games. Whether you’ve been a fan of Rare for three years or for thirty, there’s something here for everyone, with plenty of gems waiting to be discovered for the first time.

Despite a few camera issues and lack of modes, Rocket League is a fun, addicting experience that will keep players engaged for a long time.

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour plays better in many ways than when Tiger Woods graced the cover, but the removal of so many modes and continuous shortcomings with the short game make this a disappointing debut on new-gen hardware.

Whispering Willows offers up some interesting gameplay ideas behind its tale of a young girl communicating with spirits as she desperately searches for her father. It’s unfortunate, then, that Night Light Interactive wasn’t able to flesh out most of them, leaving its side-scrolling adventure feeling unfinished for most of the way through.

The main story is a convoluted mess, and the Batmobile gameplay is a serious detractor on the fun factor—especially since the Dark Knight is forced to use this clunky vehicle far too often. The combat outside of the car is better than ever, though, so exploring the game’s bountiful side content remains a bright spot in an overall disappointing conclusion to the Arkham franchise.

A retro platformer that sets itself apart with the protagonist’s transformation from a single pixel into 8- and 16-bit incarnations. Tic Toc Games’ impressive pedigree at WayForward is on full display in Adventures of Pip—one of the only problems is that it’s not quite as feature-rich as you’d like.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is far more than a fantasy role-playing game. It’s an amazingly fleshed-out world that rewards careful, thoughtful exploration. CD Projekt RED didn’t just deliver on their promise to craft an open world worthy of author Andrzej Sapkowski’s lore—they greatly exceeded it.

A few interesting puzzles can’t save Nero from being an overwritten, mawkish plod that runs so poorly on the Xbox One it’s tough to play without feeling sick.

A bundle that embodies the worst grinding elements of popular RPGs with a lackluster match-three gameplay mechanic. This version of Puzzle & Dragons tries to use the gold standard that Super Mario Bros. represents in order to bolster the façade that this is an interesting, worthwhile gaming experience. It’s not.

Nintendo’s newest cast of characters leaves their mark on the third-person shooter genre in Splatoon, one of the freshest and most exciting competitive multiplayer experiences so far this year. It’s just a shame that we’ll need to wait a few more months for some of the game’s basic functions to be fully implemented.

If Slightly Mad Studios wanted to prove they could build an engine to compete with the likes of Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport, Project CARS is a definite success, with driving that feels as realistic as anything else out there. If they wanted to compete with the polish and robustness of those bigger titles, though, they’ve come up slightly short.

The New Order’s returning gameplay carries the day here. The Old Blood’s story spends too much time trying to be a tribute to an old game instead of its own adventure—and prevents this standalone expansion from being as deep or enjoyable as the main game.

While Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker isn’t the full 3DS remake some might hope, it’s still a bigger, better version of what was already a fantastic, engrossing strategy-RPG twist on Atlus’ beloved demon-summoning series.

While it never truly feels like it reaches its full potential or the promise Undead Lab’s ideas hold for the genre, State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition is still a fun, fascinating take on the tradition of zombie-apocalypse games that’s worth playing for hardcore fans.

In its finished form, Broken Age is every bit the modern point-and-click classic its strong first act implied it would be. With an entertaining story and clever puzzles wrapped in a modern sensibility and impressive production values, Tim Schafer’s return to the genre that made him lives up to the high standard of his earlier work.

Assassins Creed Chronicles: China offers some solid building blocks for this spin-off series, including beautiful art and decent stealth gameplay. The poor combat and sad attempt at storytelling, however, both leave far too much to be desired.

If you’re measuring with the typical genre yardstick, Affordable Space Adventures isn’t a particularly great or noteworthy puzzle game, but as an exercise in designing to the Wii U’s strengths and delivering an entertaining, one-of-a-kind co-op experience, it’s a pretty solid success.

When it comes to the gameplay, Mortal Kombat X is a solid fighting game, but a small roster and shoddy story hold it back from being a complete experience.

Sony San Diego’s hardball sim only sees incremental changes this year, but several of them—particularly directional hitting—are welcome. The core game remains solid and even spectacular in places, but online remains a total joke.