Fortunately, the main characters and the central plot are interesting enough to carry the action along, and the way it bridges the story to the original VP will leave fans very pleased. [oct. 2006, p.98]

At its best, Warhawk delivers constant thrills through exciting team-based action that'll have you coming back for more if only to rank up to the next level in your leaderboard standings. At its worst, Warhawk will disappoint because you'll never really get a good context or sense of the world around you, since there really aren't any plot or characters to deliver those elements.

The Binding of Isaac is an exceptionally weird game with a list of caveats longer than I'd like, but when McMillen's vision shines through, it's as compulsory of an indie title as Castle Crashers or Everyday Shooter. Even if you get bitten by a save or achievement bug, I have a hard time believing you'll regret dropping five bucks here.

Changing Madden's modes isn't the priority this year, but you shouldn't skip this year's game. After years of fitful progress, Madden 16 finally puts its gameplay pieces together and delivers a truly dynamic on-the-field experience.

Looking past such a calculating diagnostic, losing yourself in this game is still easy. The kinds of shots players get off are varied due to how they strike the ball (and with which foot), and the controls hit a sweet spot of being easy to pull off and capable of letting you engineer some incisive attacks. These aspects are not to be underestimated, as they give you confidence going forward and the ability to score from some new areas.

After playing through New Super Mario Bros. 2 on 3DS a few months ago, I was concerned that the "New" series had run its course. The levels didn't feel as fresh and the coin collection gimmick didn't make much of an impact. I feared this dip in quality signaled stormy skies for New Super Mario Bros. U on Nintendo's next home console, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

Even if you don't look up to J.R.R. Tolkien as a literary god, Return of the King is one hell of a play. [Dec 2003, p.173]

The most interesting of the mechanic additions is the implementation of red focus – a souped up version of a regular focus attack. Red focus cancels moves that you normally could not, creating more aggressive playstyles. Additionally, you can absorb more attacks, giving characters a defensive boost.

The game's wealth of combos and grapples are made even more impressive by Undisputed's nearly flawless collision detection and animation. [June 2009, p.83]

Virtue's Last Reward kept me addicted, challenged, and constantly guessing. As the sequel to 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, it lives up to its legacy and invigorates the graphic adventure genre. Don't let this one pass you by; VLR is one of my favorite games this year.

Telling Lies is especially interesting in how its themes connect to real-world politics and ethics surrounding privacy when in the hands of a government bureau.

I love the rebalancing of specific abilities (in particular, the heroes' special spells are much more fair across the board now) and the multiplayer implementation, but I wish that some of my other problems with Clash of Heroes had been addressed in this port. Nonetheless, you can do much worse for your puzzle fix.

Despite all the good parts, the finale is underwhelming, which sums my feelings about the overall season. It has amazing moments, but the missteps along the way make them harder to enjoy.

Though brief, Child of Eden offers one of the most unique Kinect experiences to date. It's unfortunate our time in Eden's gorgeous confines ends too soon.

Shift 2 defines the franchise in a way that the first one didn't. Although the cars can feel like they swivel on a center axis, the racing is pretty good, and the overall experience gets a boost from the graphics and the erratic nature of the AI racers. It doesn't blow by the competition, but by improving its lap times, Shift 2 is on its way. [May 2011, p.85]

Ape Out gloriously celebrates its simple, splattery premise with creative gameplay that I can’t wait to return to in the near future.

Despite making players run the same levels multiple times, The End Is Nigh is a worthy successor to Super Meat Boy. It offers the same ludicrously hard and satisfying approach to level design and spices it up with some substantial changes. Its interlocked world introduces some fun exploration, even if it can be a pain to backtrack through brutal gauntlets time and again. But if you’ve found the platform genre a little too lenient in recent years, The End is Nigh will give the fix you’ve been looking for.

For Civ players, Warlords will be a great addition. [Sept. 2006, p.99]

Agent 47’s ultimate skill has always been patience, and the newest Hitman demands the same from the player more than ever before. Some may enjoy devoting hours to planning and pulling off the perfect hit, but the supersized levels have made 47’s latest adventure an overly drawn-out affair, above and beyond the initial episodic release schedule.

Surprisingly, there is very little graphical degradation that I could detect, and the control scheme has been shunted over to the Xbox controller with a decent amount of effectiveness. [Dec 2002, p.141]

Last year's Thunder was a great game, but 2003 leaves it in its dust. [Nov 2002, p.144]

The control is tight, but the movement icon and camera need work. [July 2004, p.119]

The updated visuals aren't mind-blowing, but they present the best way to return to this already stellar game. If you somehow missed out on Resident Evil 4 when it turned heads on the GameCube, this is the perfect time to give it a download and see what all the fuss is about.

To the Moon may be light on gameplay, but it is a storytelling powerhouse that explores the themes of love and regret.

Despite a few drawn-out battles near the end, Control is a complete rush. With the power at Jesse’s fingertips, I walked into every room ready for an amazing fight. When I walked out, it often looked like a tornado and torn through the building. The Federal Bureau of Control is a fascinating place to explore, and I loved every bizarre encounter inside its creaking hallways.

FIFA 16 isn't going to blow you away with any single feature. Instead, it falls back on its strong gameplay to provide a fresh experience.

With this remake, Capcom has greatly improved one of my least-loved entries in the series. Resident Evil 3’s greater focus on action affords you fewer opportunities to stop and think, but Jill's adventure is an incredible thrill ride. From the first moment that Nemesis burst through the wall and reached out with one of his tendrils, I felt my heart begin to race. I don’t think it slowed down again until the credits rolled.

The visual style immediately stoked my interest. It’s arresting and stylistic, accented by interesting and appropriate movements of the camera. The graphics’ clean lines are still expressive and often a fundamental part of the puzzles, instructive in how players can move about the world and interact with it. With that also comes enriching aural flourishes that further pull you in and changes of color that help express the protagonists’ progression.