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.