Perhaps the most frustrating mistake the game makes is in the car combat. When this works, it's one of the game's bright points, as passengers blast away at other cars, shredding metal, blowing out wheels, and slaughtering the occupants, but when it fails, the game is crippled by that failure.

I’m glad that after 20 years, Nintendo can still make something old feel new again.

Even with as many downs as ups, Grand Theft Auto V is still a significant achievement in design. Playing missions from multiple perspectives is a creative spark that will surely light up the next generation, and I'm confident the Housers have even bigger ambitions. They'll keep building upon this template and inch tantalizingly closer to creating their perfect game. GTA5 isn't it, but its flashes of brilliance will endure.

Breath of the Wild is a phenomenal title in and of itself, but it’s particularly special in that it embodies the vision for the series that Miyamoto and Aonuma have never been able to realize until now. It’s a game three decades in the making, and it’s no exaggeration to say that I’ve been waiting my entire life for this. Breath of the Wild is, by any measure except nostalgia, the best Zelda game ever made, and considering how many unbeatable classics this series has already produced, that is a staggering accomplishment.

While I’m slightly disappointed that a game reportedly containing 500,000 unique lines of dialogue still isn’t interested in telling a tight three-act story, RDR2 is without a doubt Rockstar’s best game to date. It offers their strongest cast of characters, their most detailed open world, and an appropriate pace to allow both to coexist. Rockstar more or less invented the modern sandbox game, and it’s a joy to see them finally breaking new ground again.

A shining example of how a classic videogame series can be vividly reborn. While taking an enormous amount of liberties with the original concept, it manages to zero-in on the spirit of the Metroid series and hit a resounding bull's-eye.

The greatest part of GTA3's open-ended nature is the choice to conduct your character as you want. Feeling good? It's possible to complete the game without harming one innocent person. Feeling bad? Hell, my game's body count statistic just passed one thousand.

Aside from those issues and a cooperative mode that seems to exist purely to give a spectator something to do, I had a great time with Odyssey. It doesn’t feel like the massive leap forward that some of Mario’s earlier 3D outings have been, but its polish and spirit make it another must-play in the ever-increasingly impressive Switch library. Leave it to Nintendo to deliver us some blissful escapism in a year when a lot of us really need it.

Halo does suffer from repetitive gameplay, a lack of full exploitation of the ideas and gameplay introduced at the beginning of the game and a disappointing multiplayer mode. But all in all, it is a worthy release for gamer's willing to bet on Microsoft next-generation console.

More than anything else, I suppose, Half-Life 2 is the story of a group of developers in love with their physics engine.

Among Thieves is far and away the best game that I have played this year, and one I will likely come back to time and again.

The game for the first time ever actually has a counterpoint to these [hopeless] moments; the ying to that helpless-and-hopeless yang. That ying is an exhilarating sense of heroic empowerment.

Games have the ability to give players the experience of being a superhero in a very special way that is unique to the medium, and in Batman: Arkham City that experience has been crafted to a near perfection. It's a downright shame that the game has the aforementioned issues, because everything else is absolutely masterful.

Players who can look past the lack of drive, annoying decisions, and a general stripped-down, dumbed-down feeling can (thankfully) still look forward to some truly spectacular moments and unforgettable action before credits roll.

Whether Elden Ring is perfect is beside the point. What matters is that it’s the ultimate expression of a blueprint first laid out in Dark Souls. It’s made my favorite game of all time feel like a practice run.

Because of the game's subtle tributes to the deeper complexities in life, the game is no less compelling than if I were playing it as a child. The difference is that as an adult, I can herald it as a true work of beauty.

So BioShock is not a revolutionary game, or even a particularly innovative one; by the time I reached the end, I felt as though I had played a rather standard and predictable first-person shooter.

In a very Hitchcockian gesture Kojima structures the entire game around a plot twist no one will see coming and many might not even like. This kind of audience-foiling gutsiness is always a delight in my book.

This is arguably the most important videogame this year - yes, even more important than "Halo 2" - not only because it's a superbly crafted videogame, but because it's also a bona fide sociological artifact, one that manages to effectively evoke a specific time and place in American history—in this case, a hot and hazy California during the nascent days of hip-hop culture.

The maturation process of the series, and videogames, remain standstill because of the developer’s refusal to move outside racial and social stereotypes, and staying away from certain taboos of popular art, merely suggesting sex and drug use. Compared to what this game could’ve been, this is still kid’s gloves.

At some point, refinement becomes self-defeating as gamers grow tired of overused concepts. Unfortunately, GT3 simply does not offer anything new or unique. Where will the creative minds of developers take simulators in the future? Despite its strengths, GT3 leaves that question unanswered.

To the untrained eye, the Link To The Past cartridge may well appear to be nothing more than another videogame for kids and others who refuse to grow out of childhood. However, it is much more than that, being as worthy a narrative as many popular books out there can be.

I'd say that the kind of story that The Last of Us wants to tell can't be done in a mainstream video game, but I Am Alive and the Metro series manage just fine. Perhaps it's more accurate to say that it can't be done in the kind of game that's expected to sell three million copies.

Using the wolf's sense to see the Twilight Realm is a ghastly, beautiful effect to be sure, but contributes little to the player's sense of discovery, save for a few holes to dig or making a few jumps that would otherwise be impossible.

This particular port has been remade almost from scratch and gives a new lease on life to a franchise that was wading in stagnation.

All of the new additions and content mean that Persona 5 Royal is a clear upgrade to the original. New players should seek this version without hesitation, although vets may find starting the game over from scratch to be too big an ask. Either way, there’s no doubt that Persona 5 Royal sits proudly on the throne of Peak Persona… or at least it will until Atlus decides they can do even more with it.

So do we need Portal 2? Do I need it? Maybe not, but I'm sure as hell glad it exists. The portal aspect has probably reached its zenith in Portal 2, and given the way the game ends I don't think there's much room for a Portal 3.

In keeping with developer Rockstar's cinematic approach to game aesthetics, Red Dead Redemption succeeds in allowing the player to inhabit, in some measure, the Westerns on which it is based.

When taken in total, it must be admitted that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim does not deviate much from the established Elder Scrolls formula. However, the painstakingly-designed world in combination with the retooled leveling system represents the most polished version of that formula to date. There's something to be said for sticking with what one knows and refining it, and in Skyrim's case, there's a lot to be said for it.

Doesn't offer very much that is new. The game is more than a little formulaic at times, using rehashed bits from other Final Fantasy games and not taking them any further.

It’s ironic that a story about the value of discipline and restraint would feel like it needs more time in the editing room, but that’s the new God of War – promising but aimless. I like the new Kratos, but I hope his next adventure is more focused than this, and I pray that it actually gives him something interesting to do.

A wonderfully immersive adventure, radiating both the creativity and technical expertise of its experienced designers.

Call me a jaded critic, a wet blanket, or anything else, but I'm not going to be dazzled into submission by stunning visuals and overlook a core game design that doesn't impress.

Oblivion is a game people will still be calling a classic a decade from now—and in the fickle world of gaming, that's high praise indeed.

With its polished cinematic presentation, well-paced action, and surprisingly emotional story, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare brilliantly captures the feel of a grand, epic game.

The ads promise an epic tale of tragedy, sacrifice, and heroism that Halo 3 really had no hope in hell of ever delivering. More troubling, however, is the fact that after playing the game, I can suggest with some certainty that they promised a game that Bungie didn't even bother trying to produce.

Oblivion is a game people will still be calling a classic a decade from now—and in the fickle world of gaming, that's high praise indeed.

It's not too often when a series can challenge me to think of the endless possibilities for future installments all because of a sound formula established by its flawed first installment.

Takedown, whether it's making my heart pump or the hair stand up on the back of my neck, not only represents a dramatic step in the right direction for the series, but also for the racing game genre in general.

This is still a very good game, and the volumes of supplemental material have kept me form lowering the score any farther than I have, but it has too many flaws to overlook. Critical flaws that keep it from being anywhere near the perfect game that many were hoping for, and continue to expect from Kojima.

The holiday season is noticeably bare, and Modern Warfare 2 stands tall, with its brilliant, value-packed missions, maps, and promised endless nights of thousand-yard stares and slack-jawed home entertainment

It is an undeniable achievement: Hideo Kojima’s achievement. No other producer could have made this title, for better or for worse

I can't help but think that a little more depth and soul underneath Kratos' untouchable repertoire of fatalities would have lifted the game into true super-stardom.

Several unfortunate technical issues hold[] it back. The item inventory screen is pure hell to navigate.

The game is a gorgeous and perfectly balanced game where no fighter is better than another is. Kumite mode helps define this game as purely skill-driven, but its simplistic controls make it accessible to anybody.

Given that the game already has too much content in its vanilla release, it's more refinement that I'd like to see now—and to be fair, few developers offer post release support like CD Projekt Red do. In this massive adventure the good largely outweighs the bad, but it's a shame that they're so closely intertwined from start to finish.

While the game doesn’t run optimally (some framerate chugging and stutters are quite prevalent, especially in areas with a lot of special effects) the upgraded, enhanced formula that XCOM 2: War of the Chosen offers is absolutely superb. I was fully engaged in this rebellion against humanity’s extraterrestrial overlords, and I’d have no hesitation recommending it to anyone in search of a top-tier tactics experience. And for those, like me, who bounced off of the original XCOM 2? It’s absolutely worth coming back.

I finished The Last Of Us Part II feeling depressed, but not for the reasons the developer might have intended — Naughty Dog is an immensely talented studio with resources that many devs can only dream of, yet their achievements in presentation are held back by a lack of mechanical evolution and uninspired gameplay. The Last Of Us Part II is a journey worth tolerating for the sake of what it gets right, but when it comes down to it, I feel exactly the same way about it as I did about the first one — I wish it was a book.

In sharp contrast to many other games' hackneyed, hastily tossed-together multiplayer, Pandora Tomorrow offers one of the most creative and compelling online games ever made.

Despite the minor flaws, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is an excellent experience.

When all is said and done and everyone has had the chance to play it for themselves, I have no doubt that Alyx will be held in the same lofty regard as the first two Half-Life entries. It really is that good. Of course, I still want Half-Life 3, but it turns out that I wanted this even more and didn’t know it.

I don’t like to be hyperbolic, but Larian’s semi-rebooted Divinity series really does make every other RPG in existence look like child’s play. And while Original Sin II has in no way been dumbed down, it’s a slower enough drip that I’d easily recommend this to first-timers over its predecessor. Its scope and depth may be intimidating, but however many months it may take the average gamer to complete Original Sin II, it’s worth every second.

Fuzzy-headed narrative and thematically irrelevant auxiliary mechanics make Infinite feel sloppy even when it's working. Combat increases in frequency and decreases in impact after the Hall of Heroes, so for most of its length the game sinks towards a deflated ending rather than rising towards a climax. However, that slow descent starts from a great height, so there is still much to value in Infinite even as it drowns in its own shortcomings.

I wanted so much to experience the same sense of exhilaration that the original had given me, but that feeling never arrived. There were moments that came tantalizingly close, such as the opening battle with the Colossus of Rhodes, but it never got all the way there.

I'm sure some players will get a kick out of throwing each other into pits or causing chaos in a cat suit, but 3D World stands squarely in the shadow of other, greater entries in the series.

StarCraft II is not ground-breaking. It will not have the same lasting impact on gaming that its predecessor did. There's no way it ever could. It will, however, be remembered as a worthy sequel to one of the all-time greats.

Load times are also an issue. I spent too much time waiting, whether it's waiting to go through menus or for each level to load and reload.

As much as I found myself groaning through the parts I knew I would dislike-namely, the grinding and overwhelming sense of repetition that emanates from combat and time management-I grew to respect Persona 4: Golden. I can't say I completely enjoyed my time with the game, but I'm not the kind of person who would be interested in buying it. Those who are will find an admirably polished JRPG and a welcome addition to their burgeoning Vita library.

Persona 5 is periodically fascinating, but it’s unable to maintain the required level of interest and energy over such an extended running time. If it were half as long and cut out most of the repetition, it’d be a much tighter, more enjoyable experience. As it stands, adventuring with the Phantom Thieves sags way too often to be a heartfelt recommendation.

It can be oddly frustrating at times, yet it has enough merit to make it one of my favorite games this year. It doesn't necessarily refresh the nostalgia I had when it was SSX two releases ago, but it definitely re-introduces the fun lacking in the gaming slump I've experienced lately.

This is a very linear game, and... one can't but feel it's a wasted opportunity to limit the player's freedom in choosing how to approach a situation.

It creates an experience that truly comes the closest to actual soccer as any other videogame to date.

There's a certain point in gaming where you just stop thinking about semantics of criticism and let a moment take you. It's probably after Nightmare scrapes his hulking sword across a castle wall with sparks nipping at Talim's feet as she runs up the wall ready to slice back at her aggressor. No two-digit number can validate the pure exhilaration of that moment.

My hat is off to them for being able to bring this hugely ambitious project to such a satisfactory conclusion, and I hope the overall quality of this work is indicative of what we can expect from them in the future.

It's kind of insane that the spiritual follow up to Peace Walker and easily the most ambitious Metal Gear title to date somehow winds up as arguably the least interesting entry overall, but there it is.

After finishing the game, I can say that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was not what I expected. I thought it would be a good (but not great) practitioner of the Zelda formula hampered by unnecessary motion controls, much like Twilight Princess was. Instead, I got a game that's cripplingly hamstrung by its controls and even falters when presenting the basic Zelda recipe.

It's an amalgamation of one-trick ponies (cel-shading, time bending, old school nostalgia tickling) to make a fulfilling, satisfying and jaw-dropping experience. Meet the new action game, better than the old action game.

I’ve enjoyed many roguelikes over the years, and yet that label always makes me wary. Repetition may be a core component of the genre, but too many developers seem to believe that this excuses them from having to consistently find new ways to engage players before the credits roll. Hades, in contrast, feels like the apex of what run-based, procedurally-generated games are capable of. It’s a staggering effort and the best title to date from an already decorated studio.

A player shouldn't have to slog through command list after command list before fighting a particularly challenging AI or human opponent. Patience may be a virtue, but it can also mean really stubborn.

If Uncharted 4 played even half as good as it looked, it would be a masterpiece… but it doesn’t. In fact, for all its splendor and all the obvious care taken towards making it look and sound as good as humanly possible, it makes one cardinal sin that’s impossible to forgive—it’s downright boring to play. There are moments when it’s easy to get swept up the visual opulence and bombast, but then the moments pass, and it’s straight back to snarky comments and auto-climbing up mountainsides...But hey—it sure does look nice, doesn’t it?

Its vividly depressing, yet wondrous world proves that Playdead is still the master of atmospheric side-scrolling platformers, and it quickly became one of the best games I’ve played this year.

But there isn't any game that comes closer to giving the feel of soccer and there are few games that come closer to gaming perfection.

Horizon 4 is far and away the most joyous and welcoming racing game I’ve ever played. It’s flexibility in difficulty and customization are laudable, but there’s one word that comes to mind when I think of this game — freeing. Watching the stunning countryside of Britain whiz by in a dream car is just liberating.

The strength of the game's opening sequences and some of the bosses really stuck with me, but some of the later levels just felt kind of...bleh. As far as being the show-stopper that blows the rest of the series away, it falls short.

I have no hesitation in stating that this is without a doubt the best control system of its kind ever created. With impossible grace pulling off complex and fantastic maneuvers and never sacrificing the precision so crucial for true ease of play, this is how it should be done.

Following the hyper-approachable formula used by Apple in the electronics industry, Naughty Dog has crafted another Uncharted game that a majority of players will feel is a welcoming and praiseworthy achievement. However, in comparison to many of its contemporaries, the gameplay ultimately feels stale and doesn't emphasize the more unique and rewarding qualities that separate video games from other media.

In its current state, it feels like it caters too much to the twitch experts, and doesn't bend for the rest of us. A challenge that feels like a learning experience is welcome, but Bloodborne too often felt like it was kicking me in the balls and leaving me helpless to do anything about it.

Certainly WarCraft III has improved exponentially from its predecessor in the areas of story and character development, which in turn results in a game of massive size that, in terms of sheer gameplay hours, will prove as fulfilling as any RPG.

With platforming tough enough to challenge even the most seasoned player, accessibility options making it approachable, and a narrative that delivers on multiple levels, Celeste is a winner from any angle. Don’t be afraid to make this climb – the view from the top is worth it.

Personally, as much as I have been impressed by Forza, I found it to be just a little too much. It's a fantastic game, but one best suited to those willing to invest some serious time into their racing games.

It’s safe to say that Playground Games have delivered something special with Forza Horizon 5 – and as far as I’m concerned, this is currently the best driving game out there.

Just about perfect for what it is: an old-fashioned, action RPG with loads of gameplay, a strong narrative and unparalleled presentation.

Unfortunately, while Advance Wars devotes the entirety of its gameplay toward a military simulation, there is utterly no thought put towards the moral implications of armed combat. To be honest, such an aspect is not to be expected, as the subject is rarely broached in video games.

While it took some time to find its footing, it emerged not just as a great expansion, but as a great entry in the studio’s catalogue, period. It’s a shame that the barrier for entry is so high, because I’m already looking forward to revisiting it.

Quibbles aside, Undertale offers a great story with excellent dialogue, a truly fantastic soundtrack and tons of unique, clever, and occasionally demented twists on RPG genre tropes that aren't just window dressing or subtle winking nudges to the player. It's not a perfect game, but it is a great one.

To say that the camera in this game is atrocious is like saying being kicked in the teeth kinda hurts-it gives the person an idea about how bad it is, but it doesn't even begin to describe the agony in detail.

It was so easy to get into that I was almost fooled into thinking the real-life sport could be that easy.

The research was obviously done for FFX, as religious references from around the world can be found throughout the adventure, whether it be the Crusades from Medieval times or the Church’s determination to have Galileo refute his radically new scientific theories to name a few.

Divinity 2: Original Sin is an excellent RPG that’s packed full of excellent writing, great characters and lengthy adventure filled with inventive and quirky twists on the genre. The combat can be a bit of a slog, there are a few bugs, and the console interface isn’t perfect, but it’s still an absolutely cracking title that will suck up an obscene amount of hours from those who get stuck in. As mentioned at the start of this review, Larian Studios have been making great role-playing games for years and years, and this one stands as one of their very best.

For me, the ultimate success of Guitar Hero II's formula lies in the pick-up-and-play accessibility of its controller, the strong selection of catchy songs, and the game's uncanny ability to make players feel like they're actually rocking out on stage.

If Square Soft wants videogames to be compared equally to other forms of art, then they are going to have to gain that respect by producing a game that is more intellectually and culturally aware and not a game that is essentially a video game screaming for attention and respect.

Rock Band is admittedly a financial investment, but for the gamer with at least one friend who enjoys music, I think it's worth it.

Whether it's seen as an incomplete art object or a transcendent masterpiece, Journey is beautiful from its solemn opening to its masterful ending.

Xenoblade may not be the greatest JRPG ever, but it's certainly one of the best games on the Nintendo Wii.

The developers have taken the theme and backdrop story very seriously and it shows because the WWII iconography in MoH is captured beautifully not only in the costumes of the characters and the design of the architecture, but it also permeates through the detailed movie-like orchestra scores that make up the background music.

The magic of PaRappa will not be easily cloned and we'll probably only get one like it in our lifetime. Sure to transcend cultural differences, PaRappa is special; plain and simple.

There’s also no getting around the Mario Kart series’ continued inability to provide solid single-player offerings, thanks to a dearth of solo modes and the notoriously-cheap AI. The addition of online play has alleviated this to an extent, but since the Switch is designed to be taken to places where an internet connection won’t be available, Deluxe’s appeal is still limited on the go. Nevertheless, this is the definitive version of what was already the best Mario Kart to date, and it seems to finally be getting the audience it’s always deserved. Even after dumping over a hundred hours into the original version, I’m still finding Mario Kart 8 as fantastic as ever.

True, nearly everything in Echoes was also in its predecessor, but the merit in maintaining that game's superb balance whilst still making careful additions (Echoes bears the burden of flawlessly updating the screw attack into 3D with great élan), giving nearly every interface a new lick of paint (dig the sleek new menu design) and imbuing the game with its own uniquely foreboding atmosphere (with a moody synth score that's equal parts John Williams, Kraftwerk and Joy Division) cannot be understated.