Super Smash Bros. for Wii U offers the most modes, fighters, and stages in the history of the franchise, with a surprisingly high level of polish across the board. Whether you prefer multiplayer or toughing it out against CPU fighters, you’ll find hours of excellent fun throwing down with your favorite Nintendo characters.

The perfect Assassin’s Creed swan song on last-gen, Rogue offers perhaps the best protagonist the series has ever seen—even if the gameplay will be too familiar for the liking of some.

Whether you just want to play or want to prove you’re a top-notch designer, LittleBigPlanet 3 should have what you’re looking for.

New features like DexNav and the soar ability add just enough new gameplay elements to the classic Pokémon formula to help make this decade-old adventure feel new again.

An interesting side-story twist on Deep Silver’s first-person horror franchise, Escape Dead Island takes the franchise’s mythos in some unique new directions, resulting in an entertaining adventure that can be enjoyed by both fans and newcomers alike.

While Natsume seems to have some legitimately good ideas for where they want to take their spin on the Harvest Moon series, too much of what’s been put into The Lost Valley feels awkward, underdeveloped, or unnecessary. While series fans will be able to find fun in some of what it offers up, you can’t help but wish that the development team had focused on the quality of the features they implemented, not the quantity.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection‘s multiplayer launch problems are an unfortunate blight on what would otherwise be an exciting way to experience the franchise’s evolution—online and off—in one smartly executed package.

Dragon Age: Inquisition gives fans exactly what they’ve been clamoring for: an enormous adventure across a multitude of sprawling environments, but still laced with the series’ signature blend of political intrigue and character-driven emotional undercurrents. And just as with past installments, its strict interrogation of the human condition through believable, engaging characters is what truly defines Dragon Age above all, allowing it to rise above the rest of the fantasy fluff crowding the genre.

Unity follows in the original Assassin’s Creed’s footsteps in many ways as the first game in the series developed exclusively for the new generation of consoles. And, much like its ancestor, for every good thing Unity does, it adds something else that just leaves you scratching your head—giving the whole experience a hit-or-miss feel that we haven’t seen from the series in a long time.

This entry features some of the best storytelling, characterization, and pacing in the franchise—though the combat doesn’t make the smoothest of transitions from the DS version. Those who never played the original Japanese release won’t know what they’re missing, of course, but it’s frustrating that this undeniably excellent game isn’t quite all it could’ve been on the PS Vita.

There’s no denying that Lords of the Fallen has taken a huge amount of inspiration from From Software’s series of Souls titles, but it does so while also growing into a game that players can enjoy on its own terms. While faults both technical and creative keep it from being as enjoyable as it could have been, this is still an adventure that may be worth taking for those who love a real sense of challenge.

If Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s storytelling ambitions disappoint, the same can’t be said of the upgrades to gameplay. In both campaign and single-player, the exoskeleton and other futuristic gadgetry breathe new life into a franchise that seemed increasingly trapped in the shadow of the original Modern Warfare.

NBA Live has had a tough time escaping the shadow of NBA 2K—and that trend continues with NBA Live 15, which doesn’t deliver believable player movement, shooting, or gameplay flow. The “Big Moments” mode shows the potential that the series might be able to execute in the coming years, but right now, it’s like a .500 team trying to compete with a playoff juggernaut.

Taking the playstyle from Civilization V and launching it into space, Civilization: Beyond Earth introduces a number of interesting concepts into the series’ tried-and-true strategy formula. While the gameplay remains addictive, the learning curve here is steep, with lots of small details that demand your attention. What you make of it depends on your patience and ability to adapt to the cruelties of space.

I went into Sunset Overdrive thinking that it’d be a fun, interesting smaller adventure in between the big blockbuster releases; now, it’s probably the most enjoyable game I’ve played so far this generation.

The Evil Within feels like a project shackled by the desire to relive past survival-horror glories instead of pioneering brave new ones. Sometimes, it seems, giving fans what they think they want isn’t really the proper course of action.

The Legend of Korra is a more-than-competent stylish action game and a fine example of Platinum’s pedigree, but as far as an authentic Avatar experience in game form? Not so much. Putting a premium on combat, not characters and story, waters down what makes this Nickelodeon series so special.

Waving your arms in front of your TV like you’re conducting some kind of cosmic orchestra is a surprising amount of fun, but the lack of content leaves the experience feeling a bit bare.

Filled with amazingly tuned combat, countless larger-than-life moments, copious amounts of legitimately challenging boss battles, interesting locations, lovable characters, and one of gaming’s most unforgettable heroines, Bayonetta 2 retains the crown as the standard for which all other stylish action games should strive to achieve.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a worthwhile entry in the series that will provide more of what fans expect while fleshing out some of the narrative gaps between the first two titles. And while the addition of low gravity and a few new guns might not change things forever, their presence is far from a hindrance and fits into the Borderlands formula fine, although unremarkably.

NBA 2K15 delivers a solid core basketball experience, particularly with MyCareer mode, which features real-life NBA player voices. But the game ties too much of the experience to its shoddy online component, which sabotages the experience—and even makes the game literally unplayable at times.

Driveclub’s social features help elevate an otherwise unexceptional racer, but the dearth of content and some curious design choices keep it from rising too high.

Fun puzzles, inventive murders, and new crime-solving features help make up for a morality system that needed far more fleshing out to be effective.

While its refreshing combat offers a different kind of strategy-RPG challenge, some ridiculously punitive design decisions sabotage a good deal of the potential fun in Natural Doctrine. Considering the experienced pedigree of the developers involved—they count Patapon among their previous works—that’s simply inexcusable.

Alien: Isolation might not deliver the scary, intimate experience players expected for its entire running time, but smart design, good pacing, and a ton of gameplay variety more than make up for the lack of chills.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS manages to feel like a complete and worthwhile step forward for the franchise, even though you might occasionally wish for the precision of a real controller.

The landscapes and exploration elements might not be on the level of some of its open-world brethren, but Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor delivers one of the best games to feature the intricate lore of J.R.R. Tolkien—and its innovative, addictive Nemesis system could redefine the way developers design enemy encounters in the future.

Bigger doesn’t always equate to better. Forza Horizon 2 definitely delivers a gameplay experience a step above its predecessor, but gutting story mode leaves the single- player soulless and more akin to a grind.