With a great collection of classic mini-games and a surprising level of challenge, even for experienced players, there’s plenty to love about Mario Party Superstars. While it can be unfair at times, the randomness of the game keeps emotions high, spicing it up for everyone and making each new game fresh.

Braid is still one of the best puzzle platformers you can ever play.

It’s rare for a game to so ruthlessly and completely nail the altered reality games place us in the way Undertale does. Whether it’s the nameless NPCs you always meet in RPGs or the hundreds of mooks you mow down with gunfire in games like Uncharted, Undertale brilliantly demystifies these conventions and questions why games are still codified this way. But even outside of its ambitious themes, it proves to be a compact, perfectly paced RPG experience with hilarious, tense writing and endearing characters. That it succeeds so completely in its thematic approach on top of all that is what makes Undertale a truly essential experience.

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.

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.

I love Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart because it is a fun and beautiful adventure. It's not about setting you loose to stumble across objectives and side activities across an open-world map. And I love those kinds of games.

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.

If you’re a seasoned Souls-like fan, then it’s worth picking up a PS5 just for Demon’s Souls. If not, I still recommend having your passport stamped in Boletaria, but know what you’re getting into beforehand and proceed with caution … and plenty of Moon Grass.

It’s a great example of when you start with a clean slate, improve all of the graphics and game systems, and then wind up with a much better product than the original. This remake of a classic goes to show why video games just get better with the passage of time.

Street Fighter 6 is further proof that Capcom is on top of the gaming world these days.

Not only does Endwalker offer a satisfying conclusion to one chapter of Final Fantasy XIV, but it creates an amazing foundation for the MMO’s future.

I struggle to think of another co-op puzzle game that's better. Maybe Portal 2? Even if that's true, It Takes Two belongs on that same tier.

Call it a masterpiece or a work of art. Both apply. I rate the game as five stars out of five.

I loved Final Fantasy VII Remake, but Rebirth makes it look like a demo.

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.

It has put unparalleled craft and care into every element of this game because it loves Mario as much as we do. And that propels this game into a whole other realm of greatness.

Not only does Endwalker offer a satisfying conclusion to one chapter of Final Fantasy XIV, but it creates an amazing foundation for the MMO’s future. Endwalker will ensure that Final Fantasy XIV’s recent meteoric rise won’t come crashing back down to earth any time soon. Final Fantasy XIV’s prospects are over the moon.

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.

I think the result of all of its interlocking systems is a game that wants to slam you with moments of epiphanies. For me, my experience with Link’s Awakening was about getting that one major flash of insight and then using that to understand the rest of the game and then the rest of the Zelda series. For Breath of the Wild, Nintendo made a game that could replicate that moment over and over.

One of the most enjoyable Call of Duty experiences in years.

Deathloop is one of the best games of the year — at least from what I’ve played so far. And I say that as someone who has previously recognized the quality of Arkane games while struggling to enjoy them. But with this game, French team Arkane Lyon used some smart tricks to amplify its strengths. And the result is a special experience that has broader appeal than some other Arkane projects.

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.

This is another Mario all-time classic that we'll be remembering and celebrating for decades to come.

Its playability matched with MercurySteam doing right by Samus Aran has turned me into even more of a fan of Metroid. Even beyond the context of my own affinity toward the character and world, Metroid Dread is some of the most fun I’ve had with a game in 2021. It’s a contender for game of the year.

I'm joyfully exploring every inch of the land and delighting in my discoveries, and I don't see myself stopping any time soon.

Will of the Wisps is easily one of the best Metroidvanias ever, and I know that includes company like Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night.

The Wii U version is a fantastic addition to the series. The new modes are great, but the excellent mechanics and huge, varied roster make it potentially the best entry in the franchise yet.

A beautiful and content-rich bundle of joy for Vita owners looking to dust off their woefully undersupported handhelds. The subtle incorporation of new characters, scenarios, and even online connectivity takes full advantage of the new hardware without compromising content or story quality.

Uncharted 4's journey is gorgeous and thrilling. It's full of surprises and callbacks that fans of the series will love. It manages to pay tribute to what came before while offering a satisfying conclusion to Drake's story. If this series truly is done, Uncharted 4 ensures that it's a tale we'll never forget.

Legion is the best work ever done on WoW, and I say that as someone who remembers the original development process from alpha to the launch of the original “vanilla” box. I’m not known for giving high review scores. Legion earns one.

Dead Cells is a masterpiece. It is the marriage and apotheosis of decades of Metroidvania design and the surging popularity of difficult Roguelike games. It is exquisite in all ways. It looks phenomenal. It plays like a dream. It makes you want to keep coming back even when you fail.

I haven’t been this addicted to an online shooter since I was kid spending every day after school capturing flags in Team Fortress Classic (well, trying to capture them, anyway). Overwatch has everything going for it. It’s fun, beautiful, deep, and so far, it’s never boring. You might be overwhelmed at first when you start your first match and have to pick just one of those 21 gorgeous heroes, but you’ll quickly have a blast as you learn each characters’ strengths.

Persona 5 is full of style and confidence. Persona 5 knows that it's special, and you'll soon know it, too.

It is beautiful. It sounds amazing. Its controls are perfect. It loves you with its pacing and variety, and it never wants you to get bored.

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.

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.

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.

Rockstar has done a brilliant job blending an open-world game experience with the freedom of discovery and balancing that with the tightly woven narrative. Nearly 3,000 people are listed as contributors to the game. I don’t know if we’ll see the like of this again. Red Dead Redemption 2 is an amazing work of art.

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.

It’s easy to learn, easy to get into matches and play, and it’s fun. It’s led me to check out other digital card games — and I’m again surprised at how much I enjoy these.

This game has every reason to grow into something even more special over time. And it’s starting from a position of strength. The game’s appeal is undeniable to a certain kind of person. I’m somewhere between neophyte and sim veteran, and Microsoft Flight Simulator has won me over. It happened when I picked a flight path from a small, grass airfield in Brazil to an airport in Sao Paulo. It feels so good to learn the characteristics of your plane while watching the sunset give away to a purple sheet of stars. And I’m confident that most people will end up feeling the same way if they’re willing to give the game a chance.

I do not regret the possible hundreds of hours I am going to continue to lose to Shin Megami Tensei IV, and I hope it has the power to win over newcomers to the franchise. I like quirky, demon-summoning high schoolers as much as the next Persona fan, but you haven’t truly experienced a Megaten game until you’ve tried to wrap your mind around the infamous conversation system.

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.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is fantastic. It is the best Animal Crossing game ever made.

This HD version not only makes everything look sharper than before, but the new additions and features make for an even more enjoyable experience without tarnishing the spirit the original. Simply put, The Wind Waker HD makes one of Nintendo’s greatest games even better.

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.

Whatever frustrations and let-downs fans of The Division suffered, their patience has been more than repaid with The Division 2. With new, free content scheduled for release throughout 2019, and considering Ubisoft’s recent track record with keeping releases like Rainbow Six Siege and Ghost Recon Wildlands fresh for years with new content, I wouldn’t bet against The Division 2 being a thousand-hour game for dedicated players. The Division 2 is surely the game that fans of The Division wanted to play and that Massive Entertainment wanted to deliver the first time around.

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.

Fallout Shelter is an endlessly engaging mobile title that gives you plenty to do without overwhelming you with menus and meters. It has both of those things aplenty, but you’re always in control. This game will charm you while challenging you.

Time just melted away as I lived a second, third, and fourth life in GTA V. The experience consists of more than just crimes. I played tennis, enrolled in a flight school, captured fugitives, watched movies, and towed cars. A lot of that doesn’t sound fun on paper, but they bring some semblance of real life to a world that otherwise runs on its own bizarre rules.

I said that the original game is the very best of what video games can be on the PlayStation 3. And this game, available on the PlayStation 4 on June 19, also represents the very best of what video games can be.

Oxenfree might just be a big next step for adventure games, particularly when it comes to the way it presents dialogue choices. Night School Studio has managed to execute an interactive story that treats player choice in a mature and subtle way. It’s an emotional experience with wonderful characters and great writing, and it’s one that masters its 70s and 80s influences.

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.

Trials Rising does so much right. It doesn’t muddy the gameplay with distracting additions. It has dozens of excellent courses. And it has great systems for playing against your friends either with online multiplayer or asynchronously with ghosts.

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.

Alien: Blackout is a cleverly crafted piece of work that shapes itself around the limitations of its mobile canvas, and then it takes ownership of its boundaries with uncanny confidence. As a total package, it is miles ahead of anything a straight Alien: Isolation mobile port would’ve been, and it is a strong enough concept to stand on its own as a separate game series.

I loved every second of Ori and the Blind Forest. It’s as fun as it is pretty, which is an incredible achievement when its one of the most gorgeous games I’ve ever seen.

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.

Lego Dimensions truly sets a new standard for toys-to-life games.

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

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.

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.

Grim Fandango is still one of the best stories any one has ever told in a game. If you’ve never played the original, the convenience of a multiplatform release (and the better control options) really should push you to finally try this classic.

This is the best Forza Horizon game, and that makes it one of the best racing games ever. But that just doesn’t wow me like it once did.

It might have been madness for a small studio like Ninja Theory to take on such a herculean task, but I’m glad they made the trip.

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.

Dark Souls II is demonstrative of what all video game sequels should aspire toward. It takes the successful formula of the original, expands it with tons of new content, trims away clunky and confusing gameplay elements, and delivers an experience that is an improvement on all fronts. If this is the kind of trend we can expect from From Software, I truly can’t wait for Dark Souls III.

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

Majora’s Mask is an odd one, but it’s a legendary game from Nintendo’s library, and one that deserves a rerelease. With its graphical improvements and system enhancements, one of the best Zelda games is even better this time around — and that’s really saying something.

Having someone to share Mario Maker with is like having a pen pal. You make something for them, send it to them, and then you wait to hear what they think about it. Maybe they make something for you, or maybe you build something new based on their feedback to challenge them even more next time.

I consider myself lucky that I got to play this game. It’s special. If I could go back in time to show a video game to artists from the last century, I would choose this. God, I know that sounds hyperbolic, but I mean it. It is such an effortless and mesmerizing marriage of perfect game design and powerful imagery and audio. And it is an interactive lesson in why those things matter to games.

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.

Firewatch is special and rare...It tackles mature subjects, but it isn’t just telling a story. It is using the medium of gaming to say something to the player. Maybe that was especially effective for me because I’ve avoided asking myself the questions that Firewatch poses. But I think it’s important that a developer can wield this kind of power, and I want more of it.

The choices I’ve made are sticking with me way more than any scene that HBO has aired.

The gritty world and its many pitfalls create a realistic post-apocalyptic experience where every choice can mean the life or death of any or all of your friends and enemies. The responsive combat system and environment test the limits of video game problem solving, and the size of Wasteland 2’s quest bank allows for countless hours of enjoyment.

A phenomenal game, and a must-play for any PlayStation 4 owner. If you don’t own a PS4, it’s worth buying one just to play Second Son — that’s how good it is. If you’re looking for an open-world game with lots of side quests, a satisfying story told through groundbreaking animation, and an arsenal of one-of-a-kind superpowers, Infamous: Second Son has it all.

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.

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.

Despite its many references and callbacks to the 1991 classic, A Link Between Worlds feels fresh. Not only does it feature some of the best dungeons and bosses in the series’ long history, but its stunning use of the system’s 3D effect should make anyone thinking about saving a few bucks by getting a Nintendo 2DS pause and reconsider.

Fire Emblem: Awakening completely engaged me while I was playing it, whether I was connecting with its well-written characters or taxing my (limited) intellect as I tried to win a difficult battle while keeping everyone alive. It's hard to ask for much more from a strategy game, but Awakening goes beyond that by supporting its great mechanics with immersion and beautiful art.

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.

Telltale has put together an incredible Game of Thrones story. I’ve said all along in my previous reviews that I am happier with this than the television show proper, and I stand by that. I still can’t wait for HBO’s next season to debut, but I’m far more interested in seeing what happens with this story.

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.

N++ is the new co-op game of choice in our house. And, if you like crazy, physics-based platform action and a decent challenge, it’ll likely find similar favor in yours. Even just played solo, N++ offers so much content and replayability — and is so obviously a labor of love — that it’ll stay on your PS4 home-screen for months to come.

I’ve spent around 50 hours playing between the console and PC versions, and I don’t feel like I’m anywhere near quitting...And that’s what we want from Fallout, right? A world we can dive into completely and spend days exploring. Well, if that’s what you come to Bethesda products for, you’re going to get it here.

Amazing.

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.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the ideal example of a Star Wars game in 2019. It's an expert blend of multiple genres.

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.

Even if you've never liked a stealth game, you shouldn't miss Mark of the Ninja. It redefines the silent assassin.

Old school gamers will love Shovel Knight’s retro sensibilities, but they’ll also appreciate its modern touches.

Being able to use my fingers to manage items onscreen in both story and creation environments is a significant upgrade in the playability of the title.

One of the best open-world games available, portable or otherwise. The atmospheric world, likable cast, and clever, entertaining mechanics make it a title that you can easily sink many joyous hours into, even if you spend a lot of them just flying around the city and hunting for gems.

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.

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

Antichamber is the film "Cube" sans horror, the threat of death, and poor acting. It's insanely hard and painfully simple, just like any expertly crafted puzzle. Bruce has created one of the finest and most challenging puzzle games I have ever experienced.

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.

Fire Emblem continues to be a franchise on the rise, and Three Houses just took the series to another peak.