It's unfortunate that 343 didn't stretch past the standard Halo playbook instead of falling back to so many recognizable gameplay beats (and I do wonder if that was a conscious decision meant to counter the "Will it be Halo?" doubters), but the gameplay itself offsets those issues. The level design is a precision instrument. Above and beyond that, Halo 4 expertly folds an intimate story into an epic scope, taking risks with iconic characters and sticking the landing every time.

Hitman is a world made up entirely of Chekhov's guns, and it's a blast finding out how to get Agent 47 into position to pull the trigger.

Games don’t have to be fun. They can have more value than that. And I’m not saying The Witness can’t be fun, but it’s just as often frustrating.

Overall, I thought the whole game was very well done, balancing history, fun, and personalized stories set within epic battles. The game challenged my own preconceptions about World War I and taught me a few new things. I developed an appreciation for the diversity of the battles and the technological change from the beginning of the war to its end. Overall, I thought it did a wonderful job delivering something fresh. And that’s very hard to do in the shooter genre.

Pokémon X and Y might mark a big visual jump for the series, but the structure remains steadfast in its dedication to tradition.

Crypt of the NecroDancer has reminded me how creative, original, and fun video games can be. I’ve switched it off at 2 a.m. more than once this week, forcing myself to break from a dangerously addictive “one more go” loop as I tried in vain to beat the damn thing.

More than how it looks or plays, I appreciate Gran Turismo 7's vibe. It's just pleasant.

This game does the job of creating a mainstream action-adventure game that balances hardcore gameplay like fighting Nazis and solving difficult puzzles. But it’s also accessible with a good sense of humor and a sense of mystery and awe.

When I go to give Link's Awakening to someone else, would I recommend this version? Is this the game I want my kids to play? And yes. It is. Absolutely.

Insomniac's take on Spider-Man now reigns as the web-head's best game.

You’re going to get a lot of play out of TowerFall: Ascension, which is likely going to be the best version of this deep, clever, and wildly fun game. I loved what I got, and I wanted more. If you thought local multiplayer was dead, you might want to give Ascension a try.

I left Tearaway feeling happy and content. What more could you ask for?

It’s a fun, efficient, and rewarding way to play baseball, and it’s the closest most of us will come to achieving our big league dreams.

If you ever enjoyed the original, or just like the idea of a psychic-themed 3D platformer, I'm sure that you'll like Psychonauts 2 and find plenty of laughs along the way.

I enjoyed the ending, but it was so long. I had to wipe the sweat off my forehead. But it felt so good to be done.

It might not be the most fully featured game or the most polished. And the list of things to fix for 2017 is pretty obvious. But, PES 2016 feels right. And for me, fun beats features every single time.

Machine also brought the most amazing characters, quality storytelling, and well-paced gameplay to The New Colossus. You’ll want to spend time with these people and discover their fate — sometimes that will warm your heart and sometimes it will break it.

I really do hate Spelunky. It is frustrating in a way that few console games ever are. It's audio-visual trappings don't really help the matter for me, but the sense of discovery has me intrigued to find out what happens next. That doesn't make Spelunky a good game, but I can't wait to get back to playing it.

Did you miss the part where this is Star Wars Pinball? If you like both of those things, and you have a device capable of playing video games, you really have no excuse not to pick this up.

For those who know what they’re doing, the seasoned grand strategy player, they’re going to find more of what they love — and better ways to exploit what they love and determine their destiny.

It’s a deep game that you could play for hundreds of hours.

Assuming you can get in, this is definitely one of World of Warcraft’s better expansions.

Consider me a Halo fan now. I was never really looking forward to Infinite. But now that it's here, it's so much more than what I was expecting.

West of Loathing is an RPG with a ton of personality and a lot of reading. Personally, I’m a big fan of the surreal, pun-filled humor, so I had a great time, but your mileage may vary. It could also at times be a little repetitive, relying on its personality instead of delivering a ton of variety in gameplay. It’s more about exploring than it is about making meaningful choices or solving complex puzzles.

No, it's no Dark Souls with mechs, but Armored Core VI carves out its own identity.

I wasn’t sure anything could surpass The Wolf Among Us as Telltale’s most engaging series, but Tales from the Borderlands has outdone it with its sharp writing, exciting gameplay, and gallons of personality. And blood. And bullets, if we can measure those in gallons.

All three Uncharted games are must-plays, and Bluepoint Games has done an exceptional job porting the trilogy over on PlayStation 4 with The Nathan Drake Collection.

Thankfully, the story is entertaining. It features a large cast of likable characters, including the eccentric-but-brilliant Herlock Sholmes. You play as Ryunosuke Naruhodo, a Japanese student who travels to Britain to become a lawyer, and it is fun watching him go from a meek, uncertain character to a determined, competent lawyer. I just wish it would get on with it sometimes. Dialogue drives these games, I know, but sometimes characters seem to chat forever before I’m allowed to do anything meaningful myself.

If you’re looking for a good game to play on the PlayStation 4 or the Vita, Velocity 2X is a fantastic choice, with its crisp, bright visuals and energetic soundtrack (I never got sick of it once). Just keep in mind that outer space can be an unfriendly place, and if you’re a sucker for story, you’ve got a lot of playing ahead of you if you want to finish all 50 levels.

If you’re a fan of classic action-platformers, The Messenger is another indie game that you need to own. It’s much more than a tribute to Ninja Gaiden.

After spending over 60 hours with the new expansion, I can say that it’s one of my favorite game expansions in recent history. If you are a fan of Monster Hunter Rise, then you should consider playing the new content. I have enjoyed my time with Sunbreak and can’t wait to continue my adventures with my friends, taking on new challenges, and reaping the rewards. All right, hunters; we’ll see you in the field.

Monster Hunter 4 has a great game full of options, activities, and a vast world to explore and immerse yourself in living somewhere deep inside of it. And it will even show you these things. But its questionable design and control decisions suck all the fun out of it and make you feel every second of your time in the untamed wild.

Almost all of my time with Dragon Quest Builders 2 has been pleasant, and I look forward to building more, either with my kids playing along or by myself, sipping a beer and relaxing after a long day.

Angry Birds Star Wars is far from the most original game you'll play, but the addicting formula still works great, and fans of the classic movies will love seeing this silly take on Luke Skywalker's adventures.

For a multiplayer-only game, Titanfall should have some amazing options and ways to play. But it doesn’t. It has a very healthy number of maps (15), but the lack of interesting new modes will make you feel shortchanged for not getting a single-player campaign. Hell, even shooters like Halo 2 from two console generations ago offer more in the multiplayer-options department...But what is there is so incredible.

A number of minor gaffes, an uninspired multiplayer, and a severe drop in tension defuse Tomb Raider somewhat, but nothing stops it from living up to Lara’s legacy.

If you consider old-school platformers like Donkey Kong Country to be pinnacles of a nearly forgotten art form, Tropical Freeze is a game you need to experience. Having played many subpar platform games over the years (including certain uninspired 2D Mario titles), it’s a joy to experience a game where the developers obviously had so much love for their levels and characters. Their passion shines through from beginning to end.

No one expected the single-player campaign to be a milestone in video game literature, so I can excuse its meandering tone and appreciate it as a window into StarCraft’s development.

Crashmo is a fine example of what a talented developer can do with a solid gameplay mechanic. It's also a great argument for separating business from play.

Final Fantasy XII has aged well. The things that made it unique, especially the Gambit system, still feel fresh. And the Zodiac Job System and High Speed Mode are great improvements that make the game more convenient for newcomers and fresher for fans who have already played it.

It is a rare title that all generations or genders of players can enjoy. I heartily recommend it, as there are no rotten vegetables in this game.

The original Devil May Cry paved new roads in action gaming. As a remake, DmC: Devil May Cry largely repaves the same road, but a gleefully brutal combat system and the patented bad attitude bring the sexy back to mass demon extermination. Even better, the action endures throughout a lengthy campaign with few drops in the tempo - no small feat, that.

Sonic Mania isn’t just a great game for old Sonic fans. It’s a great game. This inspiration from the past should be Sonic’s future.

Max Payne shoots more rockets out of the air than Nathan Drake falls off of stuff.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is an epic adventure, and it’s a story well told and well played.

Horizon 2 doesn’t just use the Kinect well. It also is one of the best games for the Xbox One controller, and it’s all about those force feedback-capable triggers.

We spent more than an hour playing the game, working up a sweat and having a lot of laughs. If that’s what you like in your VR games, I highly recommend this title.

This is a huge step up for a franchise that has always been enjoyable but never felt special. Well, Luigi's Mansion 3 is special.

With its addition of 45 more tracks and routines to the franchise's repertoire, and its suite of new multiplayer modes that push the genre in new and interesting ways, the series is stronger than ever.

Titanfall 2 is a major surprise. I was expecting to love the multiplayer and to tolerate the campaign, but I love everything about it. Respawn isn’t just making Call of Duty with mechs. It has found its own way, and that has paid off with a special game.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is a puzzle-rich wonderland full of irreverent humor and clever level design, but it cannot overcome the 3DS’s limitations. Tilt controls and the lack of a second analog stick really tarnishes an otherwise amazing game.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age moved me in ways a Japanese RPG hasn’t done in years.

This lack of variety in the style of play makes every run feel samey, and they begin to blur together. That leads to a roteness that made me want to put down the game when I was struggling with the difficulty. I like challenging games, but roguelites need to walk a fine line between familiarity and routine. Familiarity is the warm embrace of something that feels like home. Routine is boredom, and it is poison for a game like this.

Staggeringly beautiful and provides just enough fan service for the RPG players while ramping up the challenge for the fighting game guys.

I think that Cyberpunk 2077 delivers the big-budget gaming thrills that many people are looking for. But it falls short in a few key areas for me, and a lot of that comes as a byproduct of its ambition.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D is one of the biggest and best games available for any handheld game system, and it still stands as one of the best role-playing games in recent years, handheld or otherwise.

Twilight Princess succeeds largely because of its fantastic dungeons, and the HD enhancements are enough to give fans an excuse to go riding through the plains of Hyrule once more.

The new mechanics and features — well welcomed — don’t make up for just how overly familiar everything feels, or the overall lack of new monsters and material, and I’m not sure if Generations ever entirely justifies itself.

You’ve got to be in the mood for Talos. It’s demanding of your time and attention, especially if you’re the type that wants to finish most things you start. And you’ve got to have a love affair with words...But if that describes you … this game can be magical. The result is a little melancholy, a little melodramatic, but one of the better puzzle game presentations I’ve ever played.

Samus Returns has an appropriate name. It really does feel like a homecoming for a franchise that I love. It’s great to be playing a new 2D Metroid.

A video game that’s stunning to behold — one that can take players to unexpected emotional places and make them eager to push through the story to see the next brilliant cinematic. And we also get an experience that’s a bit too rooted in old Japanese role-playing traditions.

It doesn’t have that freight train momentum you sometimes feel from other RPGs, where the story gains so much steam you feel like you need to blitz through it, missing out the sidequests and other tidbits that gives games character. Wasteland 3 isn’t asking me to hurry up; it wants me to stay awhile, crack open a beer, and take it on at my pace. And that might be its greatest strength so far. And nothing can shrink that.

The characters can be intriguing, subtle, or over-the-top. But you remember them, and that’s saying much more than I can about other RPGs I’ve played this year.

Bravely Default is the best JRPG you could play on the 3DS. If I were Square Enix, I would give this same team a Final Fantasy-sized budget and let them make a proper, numbered entry in the series.

Amazing.

I'm not sure if a Sony home console has ever had a better PlayStation launch game than Spider-Man: Miles Morales. This certainly beats Knack and Killzone: Whatever the Subtitle Was on PlayStation 4.

While Forza Horizon can feel like demographic-mongering, interactive junk food, you'll find a deeply engaging racing experience below its overly gaudy candy-paint top coat. The game truly shines when it lets you live out your childhood fantasies, driving that car from the poster on your bedroom wall down a meandering motorway toward the sunset-soaked … well, horizon.

Not only is it a great South Park game, but it’s a fantastic RPG in its own right. The plot has enough ridiculous twists to keep you engaged, and the battle system offers enough variety to keep encounters from growing stale and tiresome...This is one of the greatest licensed games ever made.

You can never tell how great a fighting game will really be until the public has time to master it, but Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS has everything it needs to finally get the competitive community to move on from Melee. The new characters are excellent, and the gameplay is smooth, fast, and exciting.

Square Enix has been known to rerelease subpar versions of its Final Fantasy games — just look at the old PlayStation port of Final Fantasy VI. It’s clear that the publisher put plenty of care into this version, giving those of us in the New World the complete package for the first time and no doubt pleasing fans with TV-like episodes that run with the credits.

The main issue I have with OT2 is in its similarities to its predecessor. It’s a fun and excellent example of the genre, but doesn’t really stretch beyond it. I suppose there are worse sins a game can commit than just not feeling much different from its great predecessor. Still, if Octopath Traveler wasn’t your thing, Octopath Traveler II likely won’t be, either.

I adored Heist and didn’t really play much of the first Dig, but I now consider myself a fan of the SteamWorld canon. Image & Form is doing great work with this universe, and I wouldn’t want to miss this sequel. Even if you’re going from Metroid: Samus Returns, which is similar, directly into Dig 2, I still think you’ll come away thrilled and looking in the developer’s direction hoping they have something else new coming very soon.

I’ll keep going back for more punishment because Kingdom Rush: Frontiers is just that damn good. It’s not only worthy of carrying the title of “sequel to Kingdom Rush,” it’s one of the finest tower-defense games you’ll find anywhere, regardless of platform.

Rebusmind deserves a lot of credit for the attention to detail in SwapQuest. It’s full of neat little touches and moments that’ll make you smile and want to keep on playing.

As the midway point of the series, it could've easily become a filler episode, but the shocks, twists, and character revelations keep the story's momentum trundling along as steadily as the train Lee and company now ride on.

If you avoided the original Destiny because of its launch issues have no such fears with Destiny 2. And if you’re just curious about Destiny 2 and want to play casually you can find plenty of quick, satisfying things to do while enjoying some of the best art, sound design, music scoring, and shooting mechanics in the video game industry.

Know that the single-player components of Halo: The Master Chief Collection are excellent and well worth the purchase; however, if you intend to spend months tearing through multiplayer, reliving glory days or forging new conquests in sci-fi shooter perfection, you’re going to be sorely disappointed right now.

Telltale had a difficult task on its hands with all these headliner villains in its cast. It would be near impossible to pull off a story that gave equal story time to everyone, and the final showdown we got feels appropriately epic. This Joker’s no Mark Hamill, but I’ll still remember him fondly.

I’m thrilled that I had another great excuse to play through it. And I’m really hoping this is paving the way for a Pikmin 4. Even if you bounced off of Pikmin, I think Nintendo has ironed out a lot of the wrinkles that acted as a barrier for this franchise. The controls are solid and friendly. Even the camera never really causes frustrations. Give this game a shot. It’s worth it. I’m giving Pikmin 3 Deluxe 4 stars.

Cry Wolf ends Telltale’s Fables series on a memorable and effective note, taking everything that has worked in the series so far and amplifying it to its most spectacular.

Sometimes Civ V feels like it’s on autopilot, which isn’t the hallmark of a strategy game worth your time.

Yes, MLB: The Show 16 is more of the same in a lot of ways. However, new features like ShowTime and modes like Conquest give this entry enough new toys to feel like a meaningful improvement over last year’s entry. If you’re a fan of the series, this year’s version is worth checking out unless you’re suffering from the most severe of digital baseball boredom.

I really don’t have sufficient superlatives to use here. Beyond best-in-setting and best-in-franchise, Total War: Three Kingdoms is a game that instantly contends for best of the year, or best in its genre. The setting and franchise here give it high expectations, and Three Kingdoms surpasses those expectations at almost every level.

Far Cry 4 is the furthest thing from a mere upgrade. As developers struggle to decide how much a sequel should be similar or different from its predecessor, Ubisoft shows immense skill in finding a happy medium in Far Cry 4.

Moss is my favorite VR experience so far. This is partly due to the fact that it’s extremely gentle. Because it doesn’t task you with moving through the environment, it’s an accessible VR game for people who are prone to getting motion sick. The world’s beauty is also a draw.

I enjoyed Tunic, and I was pleased during most of my time with the game. It’s challenging, but it’s also tranquil. It’s a little slice of puzzle-y goodness in the middle of multiple massive open-world releases, and for that I’m grateful it exists. I just wish sometimes Tunic would meet me halfway and not leave me frustrated either with the controls or with the exploration.

Pyre backs up its eye candy with some pretty impressive world-building and fun gameplay, particularly in Versus Mode.

I have little to complain about regarding the single-player campaign. It’s a fun shooter that brings back aspects of classic design (like health packs and sprawling levels) that I didn’t realize I missed so much...The multiplayer doesn’t make as much of an impact. It feels safe compared to the unapologetically old-school campaign. Still, it’s a fun bonus for one of the most exhilarating, chaotic shooting experiences I’ve had in a long time.

Ubisoft managed to turn a complex genre into a Mario-friendly experience that never insults the intelligence of its players.

The original Crash games are classics. For years, it seemed like we'd never get a new game that's as good as they are. But now, I feel safe saying that Crash Bandicoot 4 is the new best game in the series.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax does everything a good fighting game sequel should. It adds new characters, modes, and other changes that improve the experience. The story is a bit long, but it features plenty of fan-service for devoted followers of the series.

I think Shadow of Mordor deserves a huge audience. I like it bordering on loving it. Had Monolith tightened up a few things, I’d probably love it bordering on considering it one of the best games of the year.

Sound Shapes is not the best platformer you'll ever play, but it deserves your attention for its accessible level editor and playful visualizations of sound.

Gears 5 has a lot to offer, with multiplayer, co-op modes, and a single-player campaign with wide range of emotions, from humor and laughter to despair and tragedy. It leaves the fans with a bit of a cliffhanger ending, but that just means that fans will want Gears 6 to come soon.

Zero Sum stands tall as the ultimate point-and-click science project: combine the beloved Borderlands lore and setting with the shining vision of an artistic studio, crank up the heat, and enjoy...If you are a fan of Borderlands, you will love it. If you are a fan of Telltale Games’ previous franchises, you will love it. If you have a pulse and aren’t easily offended, you will love it.

Cut the Rope: Time Travel is the type of time-wasting game that mobile devices excel at.

Assassin's Creed III capitalizes on its historical setting in ways few other games do, hitting several perfect notes and even throwing the best curveball in recent memory. As a crescendo piece, it misses the mark completely. Occasionally iffy controls and a few mystifying design choices also knock down an otherwise solid effort.

If you're only going to get one of the Mega Man X Legacy Collections, definitely go for this one.