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.

Devil Survivor 2 was already an enormous game, but Record Breaker nearly doubles up on that with a new epilogue...It’s not easy, and it’s certainly not short, but Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker is one of the best strategy role-playing experiences available for the 3DS.

A very well-executed, bug-free game with awesome technical effects. The single-player campaign is on the short side at nine hours, but it gives you everything that you want and expect in a Gears of War game. The Coalition does a decent job walking the tightrope of providing something that fans want and giving them something different at the same time. The Horde mode has taken the co-op play in a very good direction, and I expect that fans are going to enjoy multiplayer quite a bit as well. If I had to pick one flaw, it’s that this game has too wide a range, with a lot of humor and a lot of terror all at once.

The saving grace of this game is multiplayer.

Day of the Tentacle is a classic, and this remastered version is a great way for old fans to see the time-hopping adventure looking its best. Hopefully, it’ll also give a new generation of players a chance to experience all of the silliness for themselves...The few technical terrors I encountered were annoying, but they only momentarily zapped the smile that I wore throughout the rest of my playtime.

Gorogoa is a brief but beautiful foray into mystery. But its puzzles are elegant rather than elusive, relying on internal logic and a cohesive exploration of the main character’s psyche and the world around him.

If I was a more cynical and lazy person, I could have written this review in one sentence: Yup, it’s Soulcalibur. But I also happen to like Soulcalibur, so I won’t complain too much.

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.

Axiom Verge uses Metroid’s building blocks to create a fantastic adventure that can stretch for hours if you want it to … though maybe not always in a good way. I’m not a big fan of the genre, but even I started getting obsessive over my map and item completion rates.

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.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted wishes it was a Burnout game. It has the right developer, the right approach to open-world racing design, and the right gameplay to make it a worthy sequel to 2008's Paradise. Unfortunately, it's not a Burnout game. It lacks the punch and thrill of that series, replacing it with something that can't fairly be called "blandness" but is still too generic to set it apart from other games in the genre.