Yes, Max Payne 3 may be a thrilling game, but the most shocking, slickly-produced, well-written cut-scenes in the world can't get a player to fully humanize a character who can magically heal from the same bullet wounds that explode his enemies into red mist.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a tour-de-force. It is scary, disturbing, thrilling, heartbreaking, and intensely satisfying. Played on a television, it’s an exceptionally high-quality first-person horror game. Played in VR, it’s a whole new world of survival horror. This is the best game I’ve played in ages, the strongest argument for purchasing a PSVR, and an exciting new direction for one of gaming’s premier franchises. Rating: Standard version, 9 out of 10. PSVR version, 10 out of 10.

Unfortunately for those sticking to the main route, Rise is a repeat of the 2013 title with less character development and several years' worth of mounting standards.

Despite how many technical and design issues it has now, and regardless of however irrelevant it may be in a few years, PUBG is revelatory, and will always hold a special place in my heart.

With a huge map, hundreds of cars, and countless racetrack possibilities, Forza Horizon 2 is a stellar open world racing game.

As far as deckbuilders go, Monster Train is fantastic. The general strategy and the quirks of fighting on a multi-leveled train make it stand out as its own sort of unique puzzle that rewards players for cleverness. The runs are fast, it’s easy to learn, and the challenge modes give it plenty of depth and replay. Get on board before it leaves the station!

This is the friendliest, most approachable tactics game I've seen in a while, and it's a credit to the 3DS.

Xcom: Enemy Within is a decent expansion to a slightly flawed original.

Xenotilt is a fantastic sequel that improves on its predecessor, and a game that begs to be played over and over again.

I could mention the razor-sharp graphics, cleanly minimalist design and absolutely phenomenal soundtrack, but there's really no point... Shatter is easily one of the best offerings available on the PSNetwork even without taking any of those things into account.

Despite these issues, Psychonauts is a wonderfully strange platformer. The idea of perception being a reality in itself is the kind of thing I'd like to see future games explore further.

While the oversexualization is disappointing and even distracts from the story at points, I’ll still sing the praises of AI: The Somnium Files because it respects the player’s time, offers interesting characters, and the Somnium sections are great to explore. It’s recommended with a slight caveat, but it’s still recommended.

People who aren’t interested in classic JRPGs may not find anything here to pull them back in, but for everyone else, Dragon Quest XI is guaranteed to scratch that particular itch for quite some time. Not bad, Square Enix, not bad at all.

As an overall package, though, Code: Realize is professionally presented and stands out as one of the best otome games available in English. In fact, if I could only recommend one otome game released in English this year, this would be it. With a strong female protagonist, exciting story, and likeable male characters, it's an exemplary title in the genre.

Whether the story pays off is up to personal interpretation (for me, it did not) but putting that aside, Returnal’s general lack of persistence, enthusiasm for negative items, and heavy focus on twitch skill without options for self-regulating difficulty results in an experience that caters to a very, very specific type of player and coldly shrugs off the rest. With some rebalancing and a few tweaks, it’s not hard to imagine Returnal as one of the year’s best thanks to its fantastic controls, intuitive physics and beautiful graphics. But as it stands? My guess is that most people will abandon Selene to her inhospitable time loop long before the credits roll.

Guilty Gear Rev 2 is a fine update to Revelator that takes an already superb base game, adds some great characters into the mix and refines the fighting engine even further. It still has certain accessibility issues that any game this complex is bound to have , but there’s still nothing quite like Guilty Gear on the market when it comes to delivering high speed battles mixed with awesome visuals and great music.

I appreciate what Witch Beam Games has attempted to do with Assault Android Cactus+ – they’ve created a game that’s accessible to almost anyone while simultaneously delivering a solid, twin-stick arcade shooter.

It truly bothers me that I had to spend half this review talking about loot crates and in-game economics. I would’ve much rather spent this space talking about the fantastic driving experience, the way the game can be tailored to any desired skill level with the bevy of options, the incredible car customization (when applicable), the beautiful graphics, the astounding attention to detail in the car models, and the sheer, unrelenting car-porn that Forza 7 provides. On the other hand, anyone who’s paid attention to this series already knows this — not much has changed, and the stuff that has changed like the VIP support, currency manipulation and the homologated career mode will leave longtime fans perplexed why this route was taken. Forza 7 is a fantastic driving title that can’t stop tripping over itself, and its majestic driving experience is overshadowed by a lack of new ideas and suspicious economic decisions.

This game is a perfect blend of well-rounded, bite-sized action that can be picked up and put down comfortably, yet was challenging enough to make me late for work while I had to try just one more level.

Not only was I treated to a fine fighting game worth playing, but I got the chance to spend more time with beloved characters who I never guessed I'd ever be revisiting. My compliments to both Atlus and Arc System Works for producing a superb game that far exceeded my expectations.

While reaching Kami’s peak is neither simple nor easy, Cairn’s ability to synthesize technicality and intuition results in a deceptively emotional journey grounded in humanity. Every inch of progress in Cairn is a victory, and the overwhelming relief I felt as credits began to roll was matched only by my burgeoning regret at the thought of Aava’s quest concluding.

While I could make small critiques on the loading times, that the animation’s a little on the heavy side, or that many of the combo links have a strange stop/start quality to them, it’s just too easy to keep waxing lyrical about how great Injustice 2 is. On nearly every level it shines – the combat’s fast-paced, satisfying to play and looks incredible. There’s tons to do, the roster’s chock-full of fan favorites and niche crowd pleasers alike, and it’s a solid offering for solo players as well as those who are itching to take the game online. From nearly every angle, this one’s a winner.

For me, personally, too much of Generations is repeat content and it breaks my heart to see another installment on hardware that doesn’t do it justice. I still love the series and I’m looking forward to an all-new Monster Hunter on a better system in the future. In the meantime? I’m cutting this hunt short.

While JRPGs continue to flounder on the home consoles, games like this one prove that the genre is alive and well on handhelds.

Overall, Inscryption probably feels more like a traditional videogame than his previous works, but it’s a more difficult experience, with much relying on one’s luck and the RNG. While I believe deckbuilder fans could be interested, this is likely of more interest to connoisseurs of weird or strange narratives. I’ll leave it at that since saying more would likely spoil the trick, and like any good magician, I’m guessing that Mullins is loath to have his secrets revealed so easily.

Maybe it’s a slow burn and I need more time with it, but Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop is so unrelenting in its first act, it left me hanging my head in defeat. It’s a title with a lot of potential, but ultimately, the punishing, repetitive foundation it sits on isn’t enough for me to support continued playthroughs.

Between getting all the aesthetics right and offering stellar gameplay, NHL 08 has an awful lot going for it, and I'm sure it will please longtime fans of the series.

In a certain sense, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch seems to be exactly as advertised. The quality of the artwork is unimpeachable, just as one might expect from the studio that created it. Unfortunately, the beauty of Ghibli has been painted onto the unimaginative and poorly-executed design of Level-5. As a result, Ni No Kuni turns out as blandly as its name suggests.