A lot of imagination, work, and care has gone into it, and your best bet is to slow down, explore it, and see what you can find. It's one of the better games this year, and will probably still be discussed ten or twenty years from now.

Forza 4 has its flaws, but they're relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. The latest entry in the series does everything right that prior ones did, but adds some new things that are surprisingly well-executed.

Forza Horizon 2 takes everything that made the original game great, includes it here without removing anything and then adds some new stuff to boot.

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).

The console version is without a doubt the Diablo III you should get, even if you already have it for PC. The controls work brilliantly on the controller and its painterly style still looks as vibrant and gorgeous as ever. Thanks to a few smart changes, Blizzard has managed to remedy essentially every problem I initially had with the game, leaving me to enjoy Diablo III the way it was meant to be played.

Even at this early stage (1 of 5), Tales of Monkey Island earns a full recommendation for adventure fans that are pining for the days when games had a strong mental challenge and the payoff was completely hysterical lunacy.

Overall, Dead or Alive 5 is not only the best entry in the series yet, but my favorite fighting game this generation. It's got the smoothest gameplay of anything out there now and delivers the goods online more often than not. It also raises the bar for graphics in fighters and has some great animation too. The story mode's a blast to play through and provides the right mix of drama and B-movie wackiness to make it fun to get through despite its epic length. If you've ever loved the series before, make this a part of your collection ASAP, and if you've been turned off by it before, at least give it a rental – I'm positive it'll win you over.

If you enjoyed the original LittleBigPlanet, you're going to love LittleBigPlanet 2. Everything's either been polished or seen substantial improvement in the form of easier navigation or welcome additions.

Easily one of the best sports titles that have come along recently. The expansive and highly replayable Street Challenge mode can absorb gamers for months, and the level of customization is truly massive.

Yooka-Laylee: The Impossible Lair manages to outshine the franchise’s debut effort in every major way. The game’s design remains open to an extent, but greatly focuses in on what you need to do – cutting down on a lot of busy work. The fast-paced action feels perfect and manages to out-Donkey Kong Country the Returns series as a result of nailing the pacing that made the original DKC trilogy so addicting on the SNES. The action meshes perfectly with the lush graphics and robust soundtrack to create one of the finest side-scrolling platformers on the market today. The Impossible Lair is a must-buy for any platforming fan.

Easily one of the best sports titles that have come along recently. The expansive and highly replayable Street Challenge mode can absorb gamers for months, and the level of customization is truly massive.

Marvel’s Spider-Man is the best gaming representation of the legendary comic book character to date. Insomniac nailed the smartass tone that has been his calling card better than anyone else and the core action is faster here, with a solid blend of combat and world exploration. It looks great and controls like a dream. Spider-Man has had his troubles in gaming, but Insomniac’s effort checks all the boxes for a top-shelf Spidey experience and delivers a solid storyline that brings its own unique universe to the mix to tell an all-new tale that keeps you engaged and adds some gravitas to everything you do.

Overall, Crash Bandicoot 4 is the best-playing entry in the series and a must-buy for fans – even with some cumbersome jank on its backend. It’s one of the finest platformers of the last decade and manages to seamlessly combine and transition between 2D sidescrolling and 3D platforming better than anything on the market. It plays like a dream and anyone who wanted a new Crash game in the style of the old ones will be happy, as will those hoping that core game design would be taken to the next level.

A must-own for any Switch owner and is worth buying the console for on its own. It combines two franchises together wonderfully and gives Mario fans seeking another console-centric RPG-style game more thrills. Everything about the concept gels together surprisingly well, with the only weakness in the whole package being the story.

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.

Anyone who enjoyed EA UFC should give this a shot because they’ve fine-tuned everything that made it great, while those who missed out should give the series a shot here.

The bottom line here is that Assassin’s Creed 2 is one of the best games of this year or any other, period. The first game was great in its own right and this one is better in almost every way. Even the finale is brilliant in how it provides a satisfying conclusion to this chapter while dropping huge bombshells that demand the series continue. This is a gamer’s game from start to finish, and if you don’t like it you might need to consider a new hobby.

Excellently produced, with intuitive, responsive controls, a deep, engaging storyline and immersive sound.

So if you’re looking to do some playing, creating, and sharing this holiday on your PlayStation 3, I totally recommend picking up LittleBigPlanet.

Dreams is a must-have for anyone who has wanted to create a game but didn’t have the know-how to make all of the elements work together. Dreams does a better job of teaching you about game logic than any toolset I’ve used, and makes it fun. It’s perfect for any age range and can foster creativity in its users for years to come.

As has already been pointed out in many other places by many other people, The Orange Box may be the single greatest value in gaming history.

This is one of those sequels that feels like a mission pack for the original. There’s a distinct feeling, as you go through Dishonored 2, that we’ve been here before, which even the characters themselves remark upon from time to time. That doesn’t make it a bad game, but it’s a slight sour note in what’s otherwise just as dense, manipulable, and customizable an experience as the original Dishonored.

You'll need to bring your A game, as this is unapologetically difficult, but you'll be rewarded for your effort with one of the most polished shooters of this console generation.

Everything, from the brutal police state of the city, to the rundown tenements, to the ugly toxic sludge, to the gleaming sci-fi labs, looks beautiful. The textures are rich and sharp, bricks actually look like bricks and wood looks like wood.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is the PS4’s best exclusive to date, and one of the best reasons yet to own the console.

Gears of War 3 is without a doubt the best installment in the Gears of War franchise.

Titanfall 2 fixes the content-lean issues that plagued the original game while delivering an even more action-packed experience. The addition of a full campaign allows players to finally invest themselves in the Frontier vs. IMC war while new game modes make multiplayer more fun than before. It’s a tougher game with a bit more strategic thinking required than the first, but remains a top-shelf shooter that is a must buy for any fan of the genre.

Somehow where a lot of 4X games fail (I'm looking at you Master of Orion 3), Civilization keeps changing the game without losing the magic.