Xenoblade Chronicles is genuinely fun to play. It's an RPG with an extra-capital G, a gameplay-driven game. That's a sign of real progress from Monolith Soft, and hopefully promise of even better games to come.

It’s nice to get back to basics with ShootMania Storm and recall a time when we played for the joy of playing...And while the creation tools offer a potential for unlimited greatness, the truth is that ShootMania is fun today.

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.

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.

I actually enjoyed arcade mode much more than the story, and that is the main reason why users can have hours and hours of fun with this game.

Island-hopping in a fantasy world felt new to me, and this builds upon the already engaging strategy that exits in Warlock.

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.

ColdWood has succeeded in a handful of bold ways with Unravel. It is showing EA the value in smaller, quieter games. It also feels like another fresh take on the side-scrolling platformer. And while Unravel drove me mad a couple of times, I was mostly thrilled by its wonder and adventure.

No other game has made me feel more like an actual participant in a legitimate Star Wars battle. I don’t know if I’ll ever get sick of that feeling I get when I take down a TIE Fighter, and I doubt that chill I get when I hear the main theme play as I run across a crowded battlefield will ever go away.

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.

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.