The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor is a lot of fun if you’re into rhythm games. I do wish that each of the levels were a bit more different, but what it lacks in variety, it makes up in solid gameplay. I don’t think any other game quite like it is out there.

For the sequel to one of the most successful mobile games in recent memory, the developers of Temple Run 2 took a safe approach: more of the same. Sure, it has better graphics and a new power-up system, but at its core, it's a lot like the original.

Vermintide gets so many things right, and its designers have made enough smart decisions about how to deviate from the Left 4 Dead, that it makes the difficulty knee-capping and technical mishaps all the more disappointing.

You'll still need to be a fan of the show to get the most of this. But if you are a South Park aficionado, The Fractured but Whole is another hilarious and fun game that captures the spirit of series.

Being able to play so many iconic DC heroes and villains is a refreshing change of pace and offers fans of more obscure characters a chance to see them in action.

This is yet another Yoshi game that doesn't come close to reaching Yoshi's Island greatness.

If Fall of Cybertron has one lesson that it's trying to convey, it's the same thing that players will quickly learn upon trying out the multiplayer mode: Keep moving, adapt, and be willing to change. Otherwise, you'll probably blow up.

While Zone mode is damn near worth the price of admission alone, it's time for Studio Liverpool to refresh the franchise with some big ideas or hand it over to someone who will.

I’ve never been much of a history buff, but maybe I would be if more games like Valiant Hearts: The Great War existed. Between the artistic backdrops and the soldierly tasks you commit, both right and wrong, Ubisoft Montpellier retells the events of World War I in amazing detail. Yet, the story is always about the people on the frontlines and what they endured, not the politics.

I liked how the single-player campaign drew me into the characters like Vargas, Price, Soap and Laswell. The story had something to say and it delivered some incredible action scenes like firefights on both the inside and the outside of a glass skyscraper. It makes us stop and think about modern warfare. But the game doesn’t forget that the reason we’re all here and reporting for duty again is the fun.

If you can get past that stereotype and your usual reaction to Hollywood horror, you’ll find that Until Dawn is one of the most original and polished games in the interactive horror genre...The game really lives up to its promise and vision, and that’s a rarity in an age of hype.

Judging by its content alone, LittleBigPlanet 3 is easily the greatest value for your money this year. But beyond that, it’s a fun, deep, and endlessly charming experience that has plenty of ways to entertain and amuse you. This is the PlayStation 4’s first must-buy title.

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.

It is astounding to me that such a small team can create a game that is as moving and inspiring as The Unfinished Swan. It is the kind of game that big game studios won't make, to their loss.

I bet longtime Pokémon fans appreciate, if not embrace, this first Switch outing. It adapts much of what makes the series shine while adding effective motion controls and a bridge to Pokémon Go, the mobile game tens of millions of fans still play. Much of my enjoyment came from taking my kids along on this journey, benefiting from their love and knowledge of Pokémon to enhance what I found here.

The game’s high production values add charm and character to the experience. The compelling storyline and animation make up for dialogue that might linger a little too long and puzzles that might speed by a little too quickly.

A funny, entertaining, and deeply satisfying experience well worth the $10 price. Zen Studios has proved that it has more to offer than pinball, and gamers who enjoy building and destroying in equal measure owe it to themselves to check it out.

The Division is in a weird spot. While the story campaign is fantastic, the end-game content is disappointing, even without factoring in the hackers and the bugs.

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 love that Semblance is challenging, and its presentation is lovely as well. It has a unique look, full of organic shapes and eye-catching colors. Though it’s light on story, it’s worth dying a few dozen times to experience.

Judgment just might be the game that drops Gears of War out of the triple-A tier. It is competently done and no more. The rock-solid gameplay returns intact — virtually identical, in fact — and the Declassified options bump the entertainment value up a few notches, but the epic scope and precision level designs that elevated the franchise beyond its mechanics simply aren’t here.

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.

More than anything, I love the look of the new zones and the personalities of the new races. Zandalar and Kul Tiras are more fun to run and around than the Broken Isles.

Civilization is at its best when it enables you to tell your own stories. But at release, Civ VI didn’t do such a good job at that. Rise and Fall fixes this in many ways, giving your better ways to expand your civilization without resorting to combat. It adds a quest-like element with a significant penalty or reward, and most of its news leaders add variety to the game.

Multiplayer is better because of War mode and the slowing of the superhuman speeds. Nazi Zombies has roots in the Nazi interest in the occult. And the single-player campaign follows a squad with characters that you care about through a sweeping journey through some of the most epic battles of the war. Each battle is intense, and the attention to details of the imagery — like the quality of the water in a stream running through a forest — is amazing. It’s an authentic Call of Duty.

All That Remains is short, roughly two hours long. Yet Telltale Games has done a good job in setting up future episodes by asking tantalizing questions about its plot and cast.

It’s a game that’s enjoyable in small chunks but not really for a great length of time. And after a while, I felt that I had seen as much of Wonderlands as I needed to. I think at some point even the most die-hard Borderlands fans will simply lift their hands from their keyboard/controller and say, “You know what? That’s enough Tina for the foreseeable future.”

This is a story that we’ve seen a lot, in everything from Blade Runner to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s becoming as common a storyline as the zombie apocalypse or superhero fantasies. In each case, the story is only as good as its execution. If the characters are believable and engaging, if the story is well told, if the context and environment broadens the story, if the acting is superb, and if the actions and choices are consequential, then it is a job well done. And that’s how I feel about Detroit: Become Human.

The game and story have a couple of execution flaws, but A Way Out tells a good story, and much of the vibe about the themes of trust, brotherhood, revenge, and loss are conveyed through gameplay in a novel way. That’s reflects a good understanding about the cutting edge of interactive achievement.

Yoshi’s Wooly World is an adorable game, and it’s often a fun one. However, the light difficulty prevents it from reaching the excellence of Yoshi’s Island.

The Attitude Era mode is what really makes WWE '13 worth purchasing, especially for long-time fans of professional wrestling. I had a nostalgic blast playing through many of my favorite moment from WWE history, and it's great to see half of the game's huge roster filled with classic grapplers from the late '90s.

Beyond tools, save points, and modest firearms, you absolutely cannot underestimate the importance of Alien: Isolation’s sound. Just like the art direction, the music offers the same kind of fan-pleasing connective tissue to Ridley Scott’s film.

No Going Back is a quality episode, yet it fails to be as memorable as Season One’s ending, despite some intense and heartbreaking moments.

I wanted very badly to love Dauntless, and for a time I think I did thanks to the fantastic combat and weapon variety. But the lack of any real storytelling makes the repetitive questing structure a glaring issue in desperate need of some TLC. If you’re looking for a new go-to F2P experience, you could do much worse — just don’t expect a world drenched teeming with lore and compelling characters.

Yes, nostalgia plays a big part in my enjoyment of these games, but I don’t have blind love for The Disney Afternoon Collection. These side-scrollers have just as much charm now as they did in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and I’m thankful I can finally own DuckTales 2 and Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers 2 without spending hundreds of dollars at a retro gaming store. This is a loving and handsome collection. If you had any affinity for these games growing up, I guarantee that they’ll still make you smile.

These games look great and play better than they ever have in HD. But what else do you get? As far as extras, not a ton. You do get a small museum mode, a boss rush, and some bonus missions. But compared to, say, the 3D explorable world with its multiple media museums from Sonic Jam, it’s a bit bare. But, hey, I’m not really here for bonuses. I’m here for those four games. And a few oddities aside, these are fantastic remasters. Even if you’re a Sonic fan who already owns these games in other compilations, Origins is worth it.

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

It’s not the system’s best puzzle game — that’s still probably Crashmo — but it is its most varied.

The Wonderful 101 is a good game … at times. Once I got the hang of its combo system, the battles were nearly always exciting and challenging, but Platinum’s Wii U debut has too much filler and a busted camera.

I have issues with Mario Golf: World Tour, but they are completely unimportant when I’m playing the actual golfing parts. It feels great, it looks very nice, and it plays at a fast pace. And while the campaign packaging is a faint echo of Mario Golfs gone by, that didn’t stop me from loving the 20 hours I spent with this entry in the franchise.

Rock Band 4 feels like both a necessity and an afterthought.

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.

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.

Like many penultimate television episodes, Episode 4: Amid the Ruins serves to set up the series’ finale by applying pressure to The Walking Dead’s characters and upping the stakes. Clementine’s group has never been more desperate.

For better or worse, Daybreak didn’t design PlanetSide 2 for instant gratification. I’ve had hours of playtime where enemy forces were so overwhelming that I barely got anything done. But I’ve also had hours that were full of tense battles filled with explosions, multicolored lasers, and missiles. When you play at night, it looks like a chaotic fireworks show.

Inazuma Eleven took a sport I didn’t care for and managed to make it exciting. My 30-hour adventure did drag a bit with the constant, and ultimately useless, random battle system, but the strategic matches and compelling story made it hard to put down.

Although you’ll need at least Episode One to play 400 Days, this is a good standalone title that expands The Walking Dead universe and pushes the story forward. The situation it sets up for Season Two is intriguing.

NSMB2 begins as just another night of nostalgic anecdotes. It eventually overcomes that on the strength of its world-class gameplay and level design, but pieces of that awkwardness remain.

The city of Los Perdidos is a bit too massive for its own good, but there is plenty to do and kill within its limits. And with an impressive next-gen presentation and endearingly spastic boss encounters, Dead Rising 3 is an easy recommendation to any new Xbox One owner.

Ibb and Obb is not the most creative or visually striking platformer, but it’s one of the more satisfying and challenging cooperative experiences you’ll find.

Far Cry 5 is mechanically sound and varied. You’ll find something that entertains you, and Ubisoft has nailed all of the underlying elements of character and world progression. At the same time, it squanders some decent writing because it can’t decide what kind of game it is.

Of the new additions, the weapon crafting feature makes it worthwhile to stick around. Even the cooperative mode injects some fresh blood (and sorely missed horror elements) back into the formula. The essential ingredients of what makes a Dead Space game great keeps changing from one iteration to the next, but at least Visceral Games always finds a way to make it enjoyable.

It’s fun to play in two-level sessions, allocating around half an hour to an hour per level, and between the main objectives, optional missions, and side story quests, there’s an incredible amount to see and do here.

It has plenty to satisfy the explorer in you, but not the gamer.

The trademark Borderlands humor and Telltale story prowess are missing from Atlas Mugged, which forces players to spend the whole game preparing to do something instead of just doing it.

If someone like me (who reveres the Pac-Man Championship Edition franchise) is struggling to figure out where the leaderboards are and which mode I should compete in, then I don’t think this game has a chance of winning over new players. The numerous modes and levels are a fun distraction — but that’s part of the problem: they’re a distraction from what Bandai Namco should’ve made a much more rewarding asynchronous competitive mode.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture’s greatest accomplishment is making you care for its departed characters. Their personal stories give you an incredible glimpse of what life was like in their little corner of the world. They’re not the nicest group of people. They can be selfish, stubborn, and downright stupid. But that’s what makes them feel real and memorable.

Mohawk Games really hit on something special in creating the heart and soul of what makes Offworld Trading Company tick. It’s just a shame they didn’t stretch and twist it far enough to broach the limits of what this brilliant idea can really do.

Nintendo Land epitomizes the minigame-compilation genre - occasional flashes of brilliance surrounded by things you just don't want to exist.

Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix offers old fans a great excuse to play some of the series’ older installments while also giving curious newcomers the best way to get their first fix.

Amazingly, neither source franchise feels compromised in this union. And while it’s easy to point out where the game’s many influences stem from, the greater game feels unique. This spinoff is good enough that it should be a new franchise going forward.

People who got into the fighting game community with Street Fighter IV may not want to hear this, but from a base design, Street Fighter V is by far the superior game. Capcom has paved over and smoothed out a lot of the things I didn’t like about Street Fighter IV’s design. A lot of those issues created poor play habits, which makes it feels like Capcom is making small steps to mature the game, and in turn is trying to mature how the player base plays fighting games.

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.

It’s charming, colorful, and offers enough content to keep both action fans and Dragon Quest aficionados occupied for quite some time.

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.

Beamdog’s first effort at original storytelling is a good start, and I’m excited to see more in the future, even if it’s in the world of Baldur’s Gate.

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.

The story is quite elaborate, the human character animations are outstanding, the performances are great, and there are some real moving moments in the game

With combat that’s simple but has some depth and a story that fits in the franchise’s lineage, this ramp up to next month’s Final Fantasy XV is a great way to enjoy a story you love while also sharing it with others who are experiencing it for the first time.

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.

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.

It’s been so long since I could say, without any second guessing or qualifiers, that I like a Resident Evil game. I don’t just like Revelations — I adore it. Slower mechanics, scrounging for items, and marching headlong into the unknown are features not entirely lost in new RE games, but they’re rarely expressed as well as they were in pre-RE4 titles.

The challenges will please more core gamers while the comprehensible level design will likely attract new players attracted to the art style and refreshingly different gameplay mechanics. I recommend it heartily to fans of Portal (either version) as well as gamers who may be suffering from shooter fatigue.

While it won’t have the party appeal that comes with instruments, it’s a more intuitive, beautiful, and creative experience.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare delivers a familiar Call of Duty gameplay in an innovative new setting that should satisfy gamers who are tired of playing the same old thing.

After the ever-so-slightly lackluster Smoke and Mirrors, A Crooked Mile brings the series back up to its promising beginnings. The plot is increasingly dire and bleak, but it’s also one of the most sharply written games in recent memory.

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.

This year, NCAA’s lack of novelty is more evident. Yeah, it now has Infinity Engine physics — which Madden NFL got last year — and Ultimate Team — which FIFA has had for a while. It does play a better game of college football, however, and that’s important. But ultimately, NCAA Football 14 is like your friend who showed up to the first class of the fall semester with the same haircut, shirt, and summer story to tell. Maybe he lost a few pounds, and you’re happy to see him, but he hasn’t really changed.

It doesn’t offer enough yet, and what content options it does have is cloaked behind a clunky menu that doesn’t permit players to hop into its varying modes. Evolve had a beautiful start, but now it’s time to add to it. We need a queue for players that want to play one round of the nest, rescue or defend modes. We need more character choices, maps and play modes.

The new game didn’t bring anything new, instead opting to jam Hiryu into a formulaic experience that looks good on a whiteboard...This is a competent platformer. But when it comes to Strider, I’m not looking for competent. I’m looking for crazy.

If you have no other recourse, then getting the iOS version of Guitar Hero Live might be for you. But even then you may want to reconsider.

The seamless integration of the GamePad hardware with the atmospheric gameplay is nothing short of a triumph, and Ubisoft deserves full credit for not only seeing the possibilities but capitalizing on them.

Just Dance 4 gives you the illusion of dancing with its flashy backgrounds, brightly dressed dancers, and high-scoring gold stars. But it does this by sacrificing accuracy and feedback: You probably won't become a better dancer after playing this game. If you can accept these limitations (or just want a decent fitness routine to do at home), you'll find a lot to like here.

As Dusk Falls is a valiant attempt to tell a good crime drama where actions have consequences. The story went on a lot longer than I expected, as the tense moments at the motel spawned a lot of different threads — both flash forwards and flashbacks — that I didn’t expect. But ultimately the tale failed to move me in the way that I had hoped for. The characters were caught in circumstances where they had nothing but bad choices, and it just made me think that the dumbest thing they did was to allow themselves to be caught in those circumstances. In that way, I don’t think the storytellers succeeded in created the empathy for characters on both sides of the events that they wanted. I would like to see more from this talented studio. But so far the story feels more like a TV show than a stellar movie, and more like a soap opera than a memorable drama.

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.

Sniper Elite 5 is exactly what I want from the series: new maps, new Nazis, and new ways to kill them. The only real let down is that the graphics have not evolved evolved from the last couple of iterations. The levels look great and are fun to explore, they just don’t have a next generation feel. That said, this game is an absolute blast. The time I’ve spent stalking Nazis in the French countryside has been quite enjoyable. The additions and tweaks between this and the last game add to the experience instead of detracting or distracting. I can’t wait to get back into France and kill some more Nazis with my friends.

Camouflaj better have a lot of new mechanics and twists planned if it hopes players will see this prison escape to its end.

With its bright, cartoony visuals and easy-to-grasp concepts, Awesomenauts serves as a good introduction to the MOBA genre. While it might not have the longevity of a game like League of Legends, it's sure to provide hours of entertainment for anyone with the patience to endure some initial butt-kicking.

Crysis 3 is the strongest entry in the franchise. The puzzle-like combat scenarios have never been better with its suite of gameplay options and opportunities while the engaging narrative urges you to see Prophet’s journey through to the end. And if you’re a console owner, you can rest easy knowing that it still looks great on seven-year-old hardware.

The Enemy Within has some great action sequences, but it leans too much on the wider Batman universe as a crutch. It doesn’t put in the effort to make you care about the characters or the situations, and because of that, none of the choices feel meaningful.

War Thunder surprised me. I am not very good at it, but I still have a lot of fun playing it. Because it is a free-to-play game, some players will download it on a whim and quit 20 minutes in due to the poor controls. Those that brave the steep learning curve will be rewarded with a realistic combat simulator that could be truly great one day.

Right now, it’s a rock-solid shooter with no underlying purpose … or soul. Destiny is a ship floating in space without a place to go.

Because BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is an anime fighting experience that allows for constant aggressive offensive and defensive reads, wrapped in accessible execution that makes slightly complex mechanics easy to grasp. If this can add more fresh competition to your world, embrace it.

As one of the better and more charming rhythm action games to come out in recent years, Persona 4: Dancing All Night is not only an apt and engrossing spin-off, but it’s an effective side story that will help pass the time while we impatiently wait for Persona 5.

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.

Yes, Banana Mania is essentially just the kind of Super Monkey Ball game that you'd expect. I just didn't realize how much I've missed this series. The single player levels present a challenging and creative experience, while the minigame offerings make this collection essential to anyone who likes to play local multiplayer.

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.

I’ve played many games in this series, including Shogun: Total War and Total War: Rome, and I have been amazed each time by the improvements in gameplay and graphics. This title is the most impressive yet, and I can easily see someone sinking in hundreds of hours — without running into constant reruns of gameplay or visuals.