The inclusion of the cutman mini-game between rounds is a great addition, and the Haymaker provides a phenomenal sense of drama with punches that can knock boxers out at any time. I personally can't wait to see next year's version.

The 3DS incarnation of this classic adventure is in some ways, the definitive entry and yet falls short in others. Visually, this feels more like what the game was intended to look like - but it doesn't look as good as it seemingly could given the character models still looking like something between the N64 and GC. Still, it is the biggest single adventure available on the 3DS. But, given that it's available on other platforms, including the GC and Wii via Virtual Console, it's tough to recommend this as a full-price purchase if you already have it. If you don't and have never played it, then definitely give it a shot.

With a tighter emphasis on control, the racing experience and addressing the timeless online issue of newcomers versus veteran players, MotoGP 3 is the best racer of the series.

Overall, Valkyria Revolution does many things differently than Valkyria Chronicles and will be quite divisive. As a fan of Chronicles, I found that game to be better overall and yet the faster pace of Revolution makes this more fun to play – the story just doesn’t hold up as well and the graphics are less impressive here than Chronicles. The action RPG shift works at keeping things interesting on the battlefield at all times and keeps you on your toes too. It does suffer from some iffy textures, but the game is greater as a whole than the sum of its parts. It’s a fantastic gateway game for the franchise for newcomers and offers veterans a completely new gameplay experience in many ways while also keeping some elements similar enough to make for a smooth transition.

Overall, Battletoads succeeds far more than I ever could have imagined going in. It’s a great time for beat ‘em up revivals with both Streets of Rage 4 and now Battletoads bringing the goods. Battletoads is packed with even more variety than the original series and features smoother action, with a couple of small caveats that hurt the gameplay slightly. Still, it’s a gorgeous-looking and sounding game with top-shelf voice work and a surprisingly successful turn to a comedy-heavy story that works far better than prior, more serious tales. The revival of the Battletoads is a huge success when it comes to offering up a high-quality experience, and it’s a fitting entry in a beloved series that winds up being one of the best brawlers ever.

Dark Souls is a twisted, depraved, unforgiving bundle of death, hopelessness, and despair, and I mean that in the best way possible because if you can overcome the many, many obstacles it will throw at you over the 20+ hours it takes to complete, you will come away with a sense of accomplishment that few other games can match.

Its open- ended nature lets you mold the game into whatever you want it to be.

Dark Souls is a twisted, depraved, unforgiving bundle of death, hopelessness, and despair, and I mean that in the best way possible because if you can overcome the many, many obstacles it will throw at you over the 20+ hours it takes to complete, you will come away with a sense of accomplishment that few other games can match.

Overall, I've got to say that once again Firaxis has proven itself to be a house of very smart game developers. They've grabbed a great franchise that has lay dormant a very long time, and done an excellent job modernizing it while staying true to the original vision. Whether or not modern audiences flock to a game of this kind of difficulty level of course remains to be seen.

With brisk, action-packed deathmatches online, easily controlled game hosting and clan setup, SOCOM is one of those games that the online experience was tailor-made for.

The bottom line here is that as true hybrid games go, Borderlands is as great a success as there has ever been.

Madden 2005 takes player emotions into account on just about everything. Akin to the emotional meters found in EA’s MVP Baseball (but much more in-depth), the members of your team react to everything from the size of their paycheck and the chemistry of the team to the lack of playing time and number of losses you’ve accrued.

Saints Row 2 retains everything that made the original a great addition to the sandbox-city crime genre, and tweaks it even further.

Monster Tale is a must-have for anyone who loves either the 2D Mega Man, Metroid, and "MetroidVania" games.

Anyone who has wanted a new fighting game to play should give it a shot – especially if your PS3 is filled up with them, as you’ll find a lot to enjoy here thanks to its combination of a fairly robust roster and tight gameplay.

The inclusion of the cutman mini-game between rounds is a great addition, and the Haymaker provides a phenomenal sense of drama with punches that can knock boxers out at any time. I personally can't wait to see next year's version.

If Jeanne d'Arc was a PS2 game, it'd be one of the last great games on the system. As a PSP game, it's definitely a reason to own the system, although it has a surprising difficulty curve that may frustrate some players.

I wouldn't complain if they'd given us a little more, though, but this is definitely a stellar start.

You can't really play this game without thinking of the dark, sweat-filled arcades that're now long gone, or of those plastic-sheathed sitdown machines you still sometimes see in bars. Midway Arcade Treasures is like a time capsule, buried back when games were simple, and no less fun because of that.

Starhawk simply is a blast to play. The campaign is negligible, and serves as training for the multiplayer action, so it needs to be said that this is an experience you get for online play – period. The second disclaimer is that this is not a casual game. You will need to spend some time and commit to learning how to build and work within a team, as well as utilize the vehicles to your team's advantage. All that said, if you're all about a strategic yet fast-paced online shooter with innovative building mechanics, this game is a must-have.

A riveting action piece from start to finish.

Overall, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition is a must-buy for any huge fans of the series craving the latest incarnation on the go. More casual players might be better off either renting it or sticking with any other portable SF game they have because they might not get $40 worth of value out of it, but anyone who plans on playing it with any regularity will have no trouble doing that. This is probably the best overall game on the 3DS right now, and easily its best-looking.

While the inclusion of the Race for the Heisman mode was an incredibly ambitious move, along with some of the other tweaks made to the game, NCAA Football 06 manages to carry them off rather well.

Yakuza 3, in short, is worth every penny. It contains a compelling story, intense beat-em-up action and more fun than most games dream of providing.

A superb Downloadable Content, that reminded us the great days of Knothole Island. Traitor's Keep takes our Hero to a number of very interesting new locations with many new quests to complete.

It tells a compelling story, and so few RPGs have done that recently that it makes this game shine ever brighter.

Damn, this is an incredibly addictive game, if for no other reason that an extremely accessible and well made peripheral and a memorable song list that just about everyone into rock and roll likes.

There's a lot to do here. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando is perched weirdly on the boundary between 3D platformer and third-person shooter; it's not entirely comfortable, but it's still a lot of fun.

If you’re a fan of older adventure games, like Syberia or Still Life, The Medium was made almost specifically for you. If you’re an old-school survival horror fan who doesn’t think the genre’s done better than Silent Hill 2 in 20 years, The Medium is very much in your wheelhouse. If you’re not in either of those categories, I’m not sure if you’d get past the first 20 minutes. For me, it’s a 90%, because I’ll be thinking about this one for a while, but I can’t give it more than an extremely qualified recommendation.

Succeeded beyond my wildest dreams to create a fast-paced indoors arena sport that is easy to learn and fun to play; the two most important elements when you deal with fantasy sports.

It’s a great-looking and sounding game, but one that definitely needs some fine-tuning with the loading and quality of life issues that hamper the experience. Still, the good far outweighs the bad, and Marvel’s Avengers ends up being one of the best superhero experiences ever put in a video game.

It kicks some serious ass. We’re talking impressive graphics, great story, excellent atmosphere, great music, hilarious (though sometimes forced) one-liners, great puns on games/movies, you name it, it’s there.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale delivers some great fighting and hilarious comedy at the same time. It's a must-have for anyone who loves the fast-paced style of fighting popularized by Smash Bros. While it would be easy to dismiss the game for being a copycat, doing so would be a mistake as the game does quite a few things differently that help it stand on its own. It's a very well put-together game regardless of its inspiration and is worthy of at least a rental for skeptics.

As a whole, VF 5: Final Showdown is one of those games that I think of as top-shelf, but all the secondary factors like DLC and available options for it put an asterisk next to that when it comes to recommending it to others. If you love the series, you'll get whatever amount of money you spend on it back in sheer enjoyment. If you don't, then at least try the free PSN version or XBLA demo and see if it changes your mind.

This is one of those Game Boy Advance titles where the developers are producing with the ethic and quality of a GameCube title. That's a rare feat on this platform.

Quite easy to learn, but incredibly difficult to master. Perhaps it's just me who needs to do a little adjusting, but I think newcomers to the city-building games are going to be in for a rough time.

The audio design is superb in its relentless ferocity, yet quite detailed and subtle at times as well. Naturally, everything in this title is about the smashing, crashing, and exploding, so those of you with subwoofers will find them getting quite a workout.

The improvements to the game are just phenomenal. It's very hard to take an already impressive game and improve it, but Barking Dog has done a superb job of taking Homeworld further.

Unfortunately, some of the upgrades also winds up diluting the strength of the game just a bit. Revenge will still fulfill your need for speed.

Overall, Burnout Paradise Remastered is the best way to experience the game. While it does have some rough edges caused by time moving forward and work not being done to better-modernize it, the game is still a riot. It’s a must-own for anyone who likes fast racing action, and hopefully leads to more Burnout games getting re-released on modern platforms so more players can enjoy them.

I’m completely and totally immersed in this world, but at the same time kind of wondering about the “gameness” of what I’m doing, which is often less about thrilling adventure and more about Zen and the art of horseback riding, which makes it kind of a unique experience, and for me one worth having.

In the end, crisp visuals, superb sound and an engrossing solo campaign all help Brothers in Arms stand out from an overcrowded crop of World War II shooters.

The game controls perfectly, delivers satisfying platforming and shooting experiences while also featuring underwater stages that are actually fun.

The gameplay is extremely solid, the managerial mode is surprisingly deep and the additional features make FIFA 06 a great sports addition for fans of the sport.

The game controls perfectly, delivers satisfying platforming and shooting experiences while also featuring underwater stages that are actually fun.

Tomb Raider’s whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and everything combines to make this the best reboot game on the market today.

Overall, Battlezone is an excellent reboot for this long-suffering franchise. No modernization of the original concept has worked nearly as well as this does, and it is a perfect showcase for VR technology.

By doing what they do best Criterion has made Burnout Paradise one of the most accessible and wildly entertaining arcade racers ever created.

Mirror of Fate manages to make the once well-worn Metroidvania formula new again by using this reboot-based version of the franchise, and is a must-play for any fans of the series.

The lack of fast travel is the game’s lone big flaw. The graphics, audio, and control work marvelously – anyone who grew up with Metroid should give Axiom Verge a shot.

Overall, Need For Speed: Shift is a welcome change of pace in the long-running series, and a welcome addition to the sim racing genre as well.

There is so much new and complicated stuff going on in this iteration of the series. To be blunt, I’m not sure how I feel about Civilization VI which, and I’m sure some will disagree with this assessment, is less approachable than others in the past.

343 Industries had some very big Spartan boots to fill when took over the reigns of the Halo franchise from Bungie. All things considered they've done a tremendous job. Where they come up a little short is the campaign, which feels all too familiar gameplay wise to previous Halo installments. They played it safe and it shows.

In the end, crisp visuals, superb sound and an engrossing solo campaign all help Brothers in Arms stand out from an overcrowded crop of World War II shooters.

The bottom line here is that as true hybrid games go, Borderlands is as great a success as there has ever been.

About as good as we could've wished for. It maintains the Prince of Persia feel of daring-do, while improving or adding variety in some areas, and discarding mistakes like excessive combat and marketing-spun attitude.

Trine is an extremely well-balanced and clever game. A little combat, a little platforming action, some very well-designed puzzling – the overall effect resulting in a quite enticing game.

Overall, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered may very well be the best Need For Speed game on modern hardware. There’s something about the more focused menu-centric system in place here that makes it more fun to go back and forth between racing and police action, and the retooled graphics and sound do a lot to help make the game more intense than ever before. If you enjoyed the game the first time around, it’s better now and feels more modern than one would expect for something that isn’t a ground-up remake. For anyone who missed it, you can now enjoy a better-looking, better-sounding, and better-playing version of one of the best racing games of the past decade.

This has to be one of the best titles that’s come out for every console this year.

Still, when RiME is good, it’s very good. I’m consistently impressed, as I play it, with how much thought must have gone into it. It suggests paths without forcing you down them; it teaches you how to play it so subtly that you might not notice it’s doing it; and it’s got a strong, consistent sense of design. RiME isn’t long, but it’ll stick with you for a while.

Case Zero throws on a fresh coat of paint, brings survivors you don't want to strangle, and lets you murder zombies with a pitchfork strapped to a shotgun. It's a lot of fun.

In Fallout 3 Bethesda has made a very good thing, though it is somewhat hampered by the lack of variable scenery and a VATS that plays less than perfectly.

Killzone 3 will not disappoint fans of the series.

No matter if you’re a fan of strategy, combat, really angry guys with spears or some mixture of all of the above, Rome: Total War will definitely please.

Minor gripes aside, welcome to basketball in the new millennium. Ballers is the title for basketball fanatics and sports fiends alike.

The camera is the root of my problems with the game. Everything else adds up to a fun ride and a nice homage to the film. It isn't perfect, but it is an enjoyable game, and it even pushes the sandbox genre forward a bit by moving the focus away from just mayhem.

Uprising is a must for any 3DS owner, especially fans of either the series or rail shooters.

The Bastion is an absolute must-own for anyone who has enjoyed action RPGs in the past.

To be honest, this is really the sequel to the original "SOCOM" that players have long been waiting for. Expanded multiplayer, larger mission maps and a dedicated single player story makes SOCOM III stand out above the infuriating missteps of its predecessor.

Fixes were made for things that needed it, like the camera, while the graphical upgrades are going to be huge for fans going from the PS2-era games to these – they won’t dazzle anyone who already enjoyed them on the PS3. If you missed that generation, but love the series, then you should absolutely get this alongside 2.8 and experience the entire story from the beginning until Kingdom Hearts 3 comes out. If you own them on the PS3, then re-buying is tougher to recommend – although the slight bump up in graphical fidelity, as well as better optimization for modern 4K TVs, means that it might be worth buying again if you have a 4K TV and want to see the series look its absolute best.

You can't really play this game without thinking of the dark, sweat-filled arcades that're now long gone, or of those plastic-sheathed sitdown machines you still sometimes see in bars. Midway Arcade Treasures is like a time capsule, buried back when games were simple, and no less fun because of that.

UMvC 3 is an outstanding game and an absolute must-buy for those who love the series but didn't buy MvC 3 for whatever reason. If you did buy it, then I would recommend waiting for a price drop unless you absolutely MUST recreate your favorite Strider Hiryu moments from MvC 2 - $40 is a fantastic price for those without MvC 3, but isn't so attractive if you already spent $60 on MvC 3.

The worst thing I can say about the first episode of Tales is that the opening section, as noted above, drags on a bit. It’s an irritatingly long time before you actually do anything, and it’s way more interactive movie than game.

UMvC 3 is an outstanding game and an absolute must-buy for those who love the series but didn't buy MvC 3 for whatever reason. If you did buy it, then I would recommend waiting for a price drop unless you absolutely MUST recreate your favorite Strider Hiryu moments from MvC 2 - $40 is a fantastic price for those without MvC 3, but isn't so attractive if you already spent $60 on MvC 3.

Graphically gorgeous, audibly impressive (except in a few places where the music and sound design decisions are absolutely confounding) and totally immersive sums up Final Fantasy XV in one sentence. Is it a perfect entry into the series? Hell no. There’s some serious downtime and the car mechanics needed a lot more time to bake, but all in all the entire experience is worthy of its place and, most of all, worthy of your time and money.

Child of Eden is about as perfect a follow-up to Rez as one could expect - minus the annoying star system. If you loved Rez, or on-rail shooters in general, you'll definitely want to buy this ASAP. The $50 price tag may seem a bit high given that there aren't a ton of levels available. However, what's here is high-quality stuff, so if you enjoyed Rez, you'll easily get $50 worth out of it - especially if you own the Kinect since that gives you two distinct, but very different ways to play the game.

Saints Row 2 retains everything that made the original a great addition to the sandbox-city crime genre, and tweaks it even further.

When I think of expansion packs (despite that fact that this one can be installed independently) this is more or less exactly what I envision. It adds a significant helping of additional single player action and new playable factions that are far more than just cosmetically different from existing factions already in the game.

With an improved story mode, loads of additional features and easy to learn controls, TimeSplitters 2 moves you past the trouble of having to learn complex rules and gets you right to the heart of the matter: fragging your enemies.

I don’t dislike BioShock Infinite (as my score attests) but Rapture was a more thoughtful, engrossing, and better assembled experience.

One of the best games I've played this year, and belongs in any former arcade rat's game library.

A much deeper, more involving story, packed with lots of secrets and more combat, Wayward is a sequel than many games should look up to as the right way to follow up a successful title.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition is a must-buy for any fans of beat ‘em ups who missed it the first time around. With the game hitting all consoles and PC via the Epic Games Store, it is now going to be archived for a much longer period of time and its reach won’t be as limited as it was before. The gameplay is satisfying and it remains one of the best brawlers ever – with a top-tier combo system and soundtrack that is as fun to listen to now as it was a decade ago. The included DLC from the original game’s release adds extra value as well, and gives the game an even longer shelf life.

If you’re late to this particular party, the Definitive Edition is a good way to get caught up on one of the strongest action-adventure games of the decade, right in time for its sequel to come out in 2016.

A phenomenal title that you will want. With an improved story mode, loads of additional features and easy to learn controls, TimeSplitters 2 moves you past the trouble of having to learn complex rules and gets you right to the heart of the matter: fragging your enemies.

The entire package does a fantastic job of delivering all the fun, brain-teasing puzzles and hilarity for which the series is known.

The entire package does a fantastic job of delivering all the fun, brain-teasing puzzles and hilarity for which the series is known.

The entire package does a fantastic job of delivering all the fun, brain-teasing puzzles and hilarity for which the series is known.

TimeGate Studios have wrapped the entire title in a scintillating storyline.

Potential players on the fence should give the demo a shot – it lets you enjoy a good mix of action and platforming, as well as displaying some dazzling graphics too. $60 may seem like a high price to pay for an action-platformer, but you've got a variety of difficulties to play through it with as well as numerous remixed versions that change things up fairly radically.

It goes without saying that the God of War Origins Collection is a must-have for any fan of the series.

Kingdom Hearts 3 ends the current era of the series wonderfully. It ties many once-confusing parts of the narrative together. The story still has a few cumbersome points, but a lot of effort has gone into making the obtuse narrative easier to follow. The end result is the finest entry in the series in many ways, with stunning graphics and whimsical sound design. Kingdom Hearts 3 takes many elements from the first game’s structure and is better for it, with a greater emphasis on the Disney side of things that has been seen in over a decade, and some nice gameplay improvements.

Yakuza 0 is everything fans of the series want it to be. It contains its trademark style, enhanced graphics, smooth framerate and an excellent story. By design, it is also a throwback to older gameplay styles and tropes and is not only proud of the fact, it’s downright smug about it. It is a game to be enjoyed, savored and explored, warts and all, for as many hours as possible. While not perfect, it is definitely an instant classic and worthy of your time and money (which you can always earn back by stomping on street toughs in Kamurocho).

It proves that placing more attention into the gameplay and taking these few characters on a massive journey can still be appealing to both the hardcore RPG fan and the mainstream gamer, and could spark a flash of imports as players seek out older Dragon Quest titles to play.

I would have liked to see the game have a few more levels but there is enough there to keep me entertained.

Minor gripes aside, welcome to basketball in the new millennium. Ballers is the title for basketball fanatics and sports fiends alike.

Even ignoring the common complaint that the developers moved away from the scares to a more action driven experience (something I don’t completely agree with), Dead Space 3 is still thrilling, terrifying, intense, and completely worth your time.

By all means, if you’ve got a couple of thousand hours you’re looking to burn, Empire: Total War is fine way to do it.