Portal 2 has an enormous warmth that makes it easy to adore, even when you're up against its many frustrating brainteasers. An amazing gameplay experience merged with a very unique, engrossing concept. Truly an exceptional experience that almost any gamer should give at least one go.

There was a lot of hype leading up to the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and for the most part the sequel lives up to it’s billing.

God of War has a far grander scale than either Horizon Zero Dawn or The Last of Us and tugs on different emotional heartstrings while still making you care about the cast. This is the best incarnation of Kratos yet and one of the finest experiences on the PlayStation 4.

Seldom do games combine top notch single player and multiplayer experiences, but truly Call of Duty 4 has done just that.

Batman: Arkham City is an absolute must for anyone who loved Arkham Asylum. If you didn't play that, then do that first because the storylines tie into each other.

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.

Very near the perfect game. It’s engrossing, has a speedy learning curve, and is packed with action. You can play for just an hour, or be sucked in for hours on end.

It's short, at about 8 hours in length, and the last level and a half seems abrupt. I still feel like there’s a rail sequence missing when the squad tears away from the mansion in the APC... It also doesn't necessarily take the third-person shooter to new heights. What it does, however, is present one of the best looking and sounding games whose gameplay is as polished as it gets, with intense shootouts, exciting boss battles, and sleep-depriving online play.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion takes everything that was great about its predecessors and improves upon it while delivering its own brand of RPG style and substance on a new console with all the power and beauty you would expect.

No battlefield is ever the same, because the permutations of capabilities across all the players in a given game are just astronomical, and making choices that fit your play style is crucial.

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

It simply combines the best parts of Halo (wide-open, diverse environments) and Halo 2 (dual wielding weaponry), and throws a few new weapons, vehicles and enemies to the mix. The result is a thrilling and ultimately satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

It will go down in gaming history as a classic that defined its generation.

Oblivion is by far the closest I have come to playing D&D Sunday afternoons with my friends (yes, I did that, though I’m on medication now), all wrapped up in a stunning package with tens of thousands of lines of spoken dialog and good music.

Dark Souls fans rejoice! Elden Ring is exactly the game you have been hoping it would be, I think, and it is created in grand style. I feel pretty frustrated that the keyboard controls are either so broken or so poorly laid out that I just couldn’t figure them out, and I spent a lot of time trying to (and where some things lie in the menu system are crazy counterintuitive), and I installed it on two different machines to see if it was a hardware problem (note: didn’t help). Elden Ring actually made me want to go back and play Skyrim again, because it always seemed to me that GUI was very well laid out and just made sense. But for you gamepad guys, sharpen up your sword and get in there. You have blood to spill (a lot of which may be your own).

With this title Lucasarts has completely revolutionized the adventure game genre much like Sierra did when it invented the clickable mouse interface.

On the basis of single-player alone, Chaos Theory earns a high recommendation. If you can conquer Versus or find a buddy for co-op, it could be a Game of the Year contender.

A wild, edge of your seat, white knuckle ride that fulfills any speed freak's cravings. What's more, it's also one of the best games that's been released this entire year.

Considering the product they started with was already a masterpiece, it becomes apparent that the title deserves the ultimate praise, as do those who created it.

There was a lot of hype leading up to the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and for the most part the sequel lives up to it’s billing.

One of the darkest, angriest, most action packed adventure platformer ever. The result is a game that literally turns the stereotypical revenge story upside down, with a complex plot, an expansive setting and an anti-hero that you’ll love and hate at the same time... I can’t even explain how beautiful this game is.

If you're still in the market for an immersive, versatile RPG set in the Star Wars universe, then Knights of the Old Republic is the game you've been waiting for. Just be sure to save frequently, and keep multiple saves, in case the glitches strike.

A wild, edge of your seat, white knuckle ride that fulfills any speed freak’s cravings. What’s more, it’s also one of the best games that’s been released this entire year.

A good game, but not a great game. It’s not the second coming; depending on your personal spin it’s probably not the best RTS ever; it’s not the game that is going to re-energize the RTS genre. I keep coming back in my mind to the phrase “evolutionary not revolutionary” no matter how overused and hackneyed it sounds.

The Last of Us Part II takes everything that made the first game such a sea of change in the industry and amplifies it. We have seen Naughty Dog itself raise the bar and while this is easily their best PS4 game, I think the original game’s narrative ever so slightly tops the sequel even if the scope is larger with a more expansive cast. Part II plays better than the first, with more involved stealth and combat along with many quality of life improvements to make it a more enjoyable experience. In terms of all-time great games, it is right up there with the original and you can flip a coin on which is “better”. The original hooks you more right away, while the sequel is more of a slow burn that builds everything up just a bit more. The Last of Us Part II is Naughty Dog’s finest game yet.

It's not without its flaws--I think multiplayer could do with one more person on each team, given the size of the levels, and singleplayer has that issue with superhuman guards I was talking about--but it's still a pretty good purchase for stealth action gamers.

Most impressive of all is the obvious care and planning put into the maps, which are large without being cavernous, and intricate without being overly confusing (though I’ve got to say that it’s a good thing that they’ve included vehicles, because some maps would involve a lot of long walks if you couldn’t steal a vehicle somewhere).

God of War II begins with a bang louder than a falling Kraken and does not let up for the next dozen or so hours you will spend engrossed in its mythos.