This is the digital Magic game that fans have been wanting since 2009; it’s the pinnacle of the series in function, and it’s a welcome new direction.

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.

In a time when most games want to baby us with giant "go here!" waypoints, regenerating health, and an overabundance of save and checkpoints, I Am Alive kicks us in the ass with heart-pounding, intense, and unforgiving gameplay. It takes a lot of chances, and as a result, it's one that will stick in my memory for a long time to come.

I like the Battlefield series, and I love the parts of this game that are here. I only wish it were finished.

Maneater is unique — tell me the last time you played an open-world RPG as a mutating shark. Its sense of humor winks at you. It’s challenging without being difficult. And it’s hard not to enjoy the absurdity of being an armored shark that can destroy 10 or so boats as hunters are shooting you with automatic rifles and machine guns and throwing TNT at you...I would’ve liked a bit more clarity on the storyline quests, and it would’ve been nice if Maneater would say a bit more about the imperiled state of sharks in our world. And if you don’t get the joke, you’re not going to get this game.

Like Crashmo, I'd rather play Tokyo Crash Mobs than just about any smartphone game.

The flip side of being accessible is that some people will complain that the game is too easy. It only has 23 levels, and so you’ll get through your first run in just a few hours. I understand it was made with a small indie team, but I would have been happy with 50 levels, with harder difficulties.

It’s a polished shooter, and it’s undeniably fun to play. Still, set up against console shooters, it’s really nothing special. But as a portable game, it offers an unrivaled experience for anyone looking to get their FPS thrills away from their PC or TV.

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.

The game's focus is on refining classic gameplay that worked rather than attempting something different to attract new fans, and some may be put off by the limited roster. At $15, however, Skullgirls is still a quality experience that deserves time in the spotlight.

And while the graphics are better than the games made for prior generations, I believe that Supermassive has to do some major upgrades that eliminate latency, improve the movement, and still reach an even better level of graphics realism. I’m looking forward to more entries in this series. If I think of The Dark Pictures Anthology by itself, I believe this series is getting better with 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.

Critics praised this series for its unique campaigns like Weapon Master that feature a variety of challenges and weapons with different properties, but SC5's offerings feel limited and rushed.

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.

Humankind is my favorite type of game: a glorious mish-mash of mechanics from other standouts from its genre, all informed by a studio’s design and visual philosophy. This 4X game (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) takes the main ideas from Civilization, and Amplitude Studios blends them with the city-building and clean, pretty UIs of its Endless series.

Even as a collection of well-done ports, 3D All-Stars feels lacking.

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.

Super Stardust Delta does not reinvent the genre, but it does offer a few new tricks on top of an already immensely enjoyable package, all for an extremely reasonable price.

Matterfall is a challenging and creative take on the twin-stick shooter. Even if it's sci-fi setting is bland, the multitasking gameplay rarely offers a dull moment. This is a strong followup to Resogun, and one of the PlayStation 4's better digital exclusives.

Its scale and sense of isolation is special. The procedural nature imbues everything in the game with a sense of life that other, better-crafted games can’t match. And it nails the emergent storytelling that I want from a survival game.

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 also dig just how much control Tactical Adventures gives you over Solasta’s rules. You have several ways to deal with encumbrance, levels of attack and damage roll modifiers, and skill check rolls. If you want to play and experience the systems and story but not worry about missing skill checks in conversations, you can do that. You can ditch spell concentration rules. Or you can make the AI more merciless, giving them better tactics in combat.

Though lacking polish from a mechanics standpoint, it nevertheless presents an awesomely addicting cornucopia of exploration, epic combat, and loot-chasing for hours upon hours of fun.

The story just doesn’t live up to the exhilarating gameplay, and a weak, unresolved ending gives a poor final impression. Thankfully, the game can re-enter your good graces once you’re done with the plot, and you can just spend hours running across rooftops for fun. The occasional death-inducing fall will frustrate you, but Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst’s first-person platforming feels so good when it works that you won’t easily give up.

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

Empire of Sin has its bugs and some rough cinematic moments. But Romero Games pulled this project off with a team of just 30 people. For a game of its ambition, that seems like a small team. It’s pretty much an indie project, or perhaps “double-A,” compared to other games that are more polished but have hundreds of developers — or even more — working on them. What I also liked was that the game feels smart. I felt like I was playing against other crime bosses who were figuring out how to outthink me or double-cross me. And that’s what you want in a gangster game.

It is an admirable attempt to portray people with psychosis and treat them with dignity. We can learn so much from games that takes us down this kind of path.

Divinity: Dragon Commander came out of nowhere to become one of my favorite games of the year. Swift, brutal dragon combat paired with large RTS battles works way better than I ever expected it to.

Unfortunately, the weird pricing structure and noticeable depth of features holds back the screaming, rage-filled “Powerthirst” of fighting games from really making a statement. It’s no Street Fighter competitor this time around, but it’s good enough to measure up against the rest.

It’s a promising step toward those good intentions.

Much to my surprise, I like Monster Hunter Rise for Switch even more than World.

Dragonborn is a creepy descent into madness set in a mini Morrowind that isn't quite as epic as Dawnguard, but it compensates for that with a wealth of new items, shouts, and spells.

Smoke and Mirrors has plenty to like, but it doesn’t quite live up to its impressive prequel. I miss the first part’s abundance of action sequences, but the dialogue and storytelling are still among the best around. And I would still like to turn off those annoying notifications.

I was concerned about Shadowlands and Blizzard development in the COVID era. All those complex systems made a real mess on beta servers near the original game launch date in October. But other than some balance issues — and that core problem with covenant choices — the extra month of development time after the release date delay really gave Blizzard a chance to paint on some polish. The end result stands as one of the very best expansions the game’s ever had.

It's an incredibly immersive experience. It's just one I didn't really want to be immersed in right now.

A frenetically fun, albeit flawed, experience set in a beloved universe — a sexy, slash-soaked side story worth playing for franchise fans and newcomers alike.

After nine successful titles (though No. 3 was pretty weak), Activision has finally delivered a Call of Duty game that is a disappointment for me. I’ll play it. I’ll enjoy the multiplayer. But I thought that the multiplayer modes for Black Ops II were great. I don’t know why Infinity Ward couldn’t borrow more from those modes and just build upon them.

Papo & Yo is a welcome addition to the growing library of creative indie games whose purpose is greater than just engineering fun gameplay, but minor technical issues turn into major woes for Minority Media's debut release.

The tutorials make it super easy to learn the complicated game, and making decks is easy and fun. It might play better once it’s on PC and consoles, since all of that tiny text will become easier to play. But even now, Magic fans will enjoy this digital version of the classic card game.

It does have some shortcomings: Namely its dialogue and slightly self-conscious microtransaction system. But when it’s on-form, it’s a lot of fun. If you have any taste for these kinds of extreme sports titles, then you’ll likely enjoy Riders Republic.

Dungeon of the Endless works well with the iPad interface and is a great game in its own right. Be warned if you’re unaccustomed to roguelikes. It can be discouraging starting over from scratch, so even though the action enticing, failure is so punishing it can be difficult to brush yourself off for another attempt.

If you're looking for a fun distraction and you're a fan of the series, then Fight for Fortune will tickle your treasure-hunting fancy. Besides, it's not exactly a risky purchase at $5.

Making people happy is such a rare goal in games, and to have one excel at the notion and the motivation for doing so is a doubly rare joy, although glaring missteps do keep it out of the center ring of adventure games.

The Bureau is Enemy Unknown’s hyperactive younger sibling who delivers something different while still fitting in well with its predecessors.

This title has some of the most modest aspirations of any of the Animal Crossing titles, but it delivers on them spectacularly.

While it's hard to control, Anomaly is still playable and enjoyable as long as you take the time to really master the interface first.

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.

In the absence of an epic tale, a torrent of doodads to collect, or some time-devouring crafting system — all the fixtures big business gaming says you need to survive today — Knack 2 just works.

I can't tell a lug nut from a spark plug. But Forza Horizon 5's world is so beautiful that I'm more willing to play and learn just so I can continue existing in its dazzling vistas.

One of the great things about the game is that you can keep on playing it until you get through the storylines of all of the main characters. The game is replayable to the point where you can experiment with different kinds of pro-revolutionary or pro-moderate behaviors. But it doesn’t judge you on the choices you make. It only makes clear that your choices matter, and your road to hell can be paved with good intentions.

This War of Mine makes the most of its clean, attractive graphics, its moody ambient soundtrack, and the intense, emotional nature of its gameplay. You’ll care about your refugees, and you’ll want to work hard to keep them healthy, fed, alive, and well. Unfortunately, This War of Mine doesn’t make it easy.

Jurassic World: Evolution is more of a pure sim game than Planet Coaster, but it does a good job of taking advantage of its license.

The package could be on the light side, but Arms is fun enough that it’s still worth owning. After all, most people will stick with a fighting game because they enjoy the competition. They want to try to master the game, and while Arms doesn’t have a lot of mechanics, you’ll need precision and timing if you want to consistently win.

The Last Tinker: City of Colors is best shared with friends or family who enjoy a good story and pretty artwork. It’s not difficult, it’s not aggressive, and it’s not online, so it definitely belongs in the gentler category of family games like the Lego series.

It’s easy to recommend to anyone who’s enjoyed the series before. It’s very easy to recommend to a baseball fan who has a PlayStation 4 and never played The Show before. I just hope that next year’s edition wows me a bit more.

Star Trek: Timelines offers a lot of fun for mega-fans of the franchise, but understand that you won’t get as much out of it as you would want unless you’re willing to spend some money. And, once you start, it can become hard to resist the temptation to drop another $5 for another chance to unlock a rare character or ship...Of course, I wouldn’t put up with any of that if the game wasn’t so much fun.

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.

NCAA Football has always struggled to find its own place on the pigskin pecking order. While EA Sports has continued its quantity-over-quality approach with this latest entry, the title still provides a solid college football experience.

WWE 2K15′s greatest addition is the MyCareer mode. It finally gives us a way to play out our WWE fantasies with our self-made superstars. The new character models are also a nice touch, but they’re offset by the loss of customization options.

If I put my nostalgia-tinted glasses aside when it comes to my affection for the Adventure games, I feel pretty comfortable calling this Sonic's best 3D effort. I hope Sega continues using and refining this open world formula. Who knows, we might even get two good 3D Sonic games in a row if they do.

Mechanically, Peggle 2 is just as good as the previous Peggle titles, and once you get into a groove, it’s really hard to put down the controller.

The games themselves are still fantastic and have held up about as well as anything from the NES library. I just wish this was a more complete celebration of the Blue Bomber.

MercurySteam has taken out most of the problem sections inside the original Lords of Shadow’s design document, specifically the loose patch work of several different action genre ideas, and has given Lords of Shadow 2 a much tighter focus.

It has a beautiful world populated by a colorful cast of characters and an alluring mystery that doesn’t unfold in the way you expect it to. This is Double Fine Productions at its finest, and it’s on track to finish strong with Act 2.

Like its source material, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has no shortage of flaws, but it also provides a wholly unique gaming experience that can last for untold hours, whether you're mining alone into the deepest depths of your randomly-generated world or crafting a giant Starship Enterprise replica with a crew of up to seven other players.

Minecraft: Story Mode will never have the same kind of success that Minecraft does. That’s OK — few things do. But what’s important here is that Telltale gets what makes Minecraft tick and has translated that into something that fits its story-focused mold.

The new, light-hearted tone and its likable cast of characters are a good fit for this series. But it’s a shame that Ubisoft couldn’t get its online features working properly before it launched.

It’s not always a perfect combination. A few of the latter puzzles feel needlessly complicated, requiring you to place the objects at pixel-perfect angles to trigger the next area. But that doesn’t take away from how remarkable the game is. Like Portal before it, Maquette redefines what puzzle games are capable of, and I don’t think I’ll be forgetting about these characters any time soon.

The story is enjoyable, with every actor bringing their A-game, and everything is so beautifully animated the sight of New York will make you weep...That being said, there are flaws and shortcomings within the game. It doesn’t improve on areas of the original game that were screaming for an upgrade. It also struggles to deliver a story where not only both Spider-Men but their supporting cast feel equally served, though this is saved somewhat by the excellent performances.

Magic: The Gathering fans will be surprised to see how much of that card game’s mechanics remain intact in this match-3 version, and even casual mobile fans who have never played the original can appreciate Puzzle Quest’s added depth to the formula. You’ll even get a lot out of it without spending any real money, although the thirst for more cards will definitely tempt you.

I don’t think it’s as good as last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which was so disturbing and thoughtful and had an excellent and long single-player campaign.

Its attempts at humor may flop, but Immortals succeeds at being a fun and engaging Breath of the Wild clone.

It’s pretty simple: If you enjoyed Wolfenstein: The New Order you’ll like Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, too.

So, yeah, Stranger of Paradise doesn't look good. Its story is a bunch of nonsense. Maybe you'll find that amusing, maybe you'll find it annoying. But all of that doesn't matter as much as you might imagine. Because you spend the bulk of the experience fighting monsters. Stranger of Paradise makes fighting monsters fun.

I have a lot of games on my plate right now, and I think it’s a good sign that I want to go back and keep playing Streets of Rage 4. It’s something that feels good to control and look at and listen to. If you are going to make a beat-’em-up in 2020, the act of punching better deliver a shot of dopamine. And this game absolutely crushes that.

Skylanders Superchargers is the most diverse and enjoyable entry in the series to date, but it also locks away a lot more of its fun content behind additional purchases.

I enjoyed the meandering conversation and found the main character to be relatable. She’s at a point in her life where she’s ambivalent about what she wants, and she wants to recapture simpler times from her childhood. These are feelings that many of us have experienced before, and Far From Noise is a kind of guided exploration of how we can choose to view those moments of terrified paralysis.

Gat Out of Hell can stand on its own. Yes, it is undercooked, and it has problems, but the core mechanics and gameplay still work.

I loved my time in the Aegean. The game has its flaws, and I gamed those flaws to find an easier way to victory. But I hope the team can patch the economic systems — or at least explain them — so that it makes more sense. I don’t think they can do anything about the sea battles except to say that this game didn’t have that big a budget. I would also have liked to have some staged battles that laid out the events of The Iliad or the sacking of Troy in a narrative path. But the game can provide fans of the series with many hours of fun. And that’s no small achievement.

What Ails You is the strongest episode so far, giving Batman: The Enemy Within a much-needed injection of verve as it speeds toward the conclusion of the series.

It doesn’t rely on stereotypes or tropes to find easy answers, and it could be a source of comfort to those who can empathize with these problems. That’s why I liked the tale. It treats all of its characters with a kindness and empathy that unsheathes their complexities.

While Alex’s story didn’t have the most action in it, it was full of emotion and it was a story worth telling. I give this one five stars out of five when it comes to its narrative, but I drop it down a notch to four stars out of five because of the clunky movement and too-familiar gameplay. I’m looking forward to what Dontnod and Deck Nine can do with next-generation platforms and the future Unreal Engine. But for now, they fell just a little short of what I was hoping for.

Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby are worthy updates of classic games from the Pokemon pet battle series. They add modern graphics and sound, the gameplay updates of the previous few installments, and the new evolutions without ruining the nostalgia of the original Sapphire and Ruby titles.

Company of Heroes 2 builds on the formula and adds new mechanics with interesting gameplay ramifications. Unfortunately, Relic does a poor job of easing new players into the rules systems.

Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby are worthy updates of classic games from the Pokemon pet battle series. They add modern graphics and sound, the gameplay updates of the previous few installments, and the new evolutions without ruining the nostalgia of the original Sapphire and Ruby titles.

Dated graphics and a hopeless multiplayer section damage its overall appeal, but fans of the Tropico series and its competitors won’t be disappointed by the newest offering.

Aside from wishing it was longer, Astro's Playroom is an easy recommendation. I mean, if you have a PS5, you have this game anyway. Just play It.

The parts that are exceedingly well-polished (gorgeous cars, skill-based driving) make those that trip up (ugly A.I.) all the more disappointing. It sets a high bar for the inevitable competitors to follow, but like an inexperienced driver on a hot lap in a solo challenge, it’s sloppy in the turns.

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.

This is a game I expect to go back to regularly throughout the life of the Switch. But when I do, it probably won’t be for the multiplayer. Those modes are fine, but cooperative play adds a bit too much stress. But as a classic WarioWare, Get It Together shines.

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.

Sadly, in this unforgiving age of Metacritic and the rest of the score-aggregation mafia, one number it's going to have to be. Just keep in mind, if all you're about to do is read this introduction and then scroll all the way down to see the score, that the multiplayer game deserves a better grade and the single-player missions don't.

The satisfaction of solving well-designed puzzles set in a visually interesting post-apocalyptic version of an alternate-history Seattle is worth it. The tone and excellent aesthetic design of the title only increases its value as a gaming piece of art.

With an art style that easily won over this English major's heart and battles that keep you guessing until the end, it's certainly one of the most action-packed word games you'll find on your mobile device.

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.

Ascension isn’t a reinvention of God of War; it’s a refinement. It plays on its strengths – exciting combat, great visuals, and huge levels — even when those strengths might overshadow some of the new things it tries to accomplish (like adding emotional depth to its lead hero).

In Rock Band VR, you sound like a cover band that sounds like a cover band, which isn’t nearly as satisfying unless you’re enamored enough with the VR technology and experience to not care what the song sounds like as long as you’re having fun.

Do you want full-blown sequels with all the changes that we usually see between major releases in the series? Then you'll be disappointed...But if you think of the games as a substitute to a hypothetical Pokémon Gray Version (like what Platinum Version was to Diamond and Pearl), then you'll be impressed with just how much Game Freak has added to this second trip around the Unova region.