Inquisition is a Schrodinger’s Goldilocks kind of a game: too big and just right at the same time...The main campaign is more interested in telling you how great you are than letting you prove it, and combat feels designed for a game half this size. It’s not a far fall from grace, by any means, but it’s noticeable — and occasionally grating — in such a long experience. But if you have been working for the Inquisition for that long, hopefully by then you will be too busy discovering and exploring to care that much.

Few console games in recent years are as special as Dyad. It can captivate with its beautiful synthesis of visuals and audio while delivering a gameplay experience that grabs hold of you and simply won't let go.

They’re standing on the edge of greatness now, and I hope the next game will fulfill the destiny of making Talion’s story a part of the Tolkien canon.

Although Rock Band still has the bigger catalog, more instruments, and backward compatibility, Guitar Hero Live is progressive, nimble, and, well, lively. The new guitar and GHTV system get me truly excited about playing rhythm titles again.

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

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.

When I finished playing this game, I felt like I wanted more. That’s the mark of a good game.

This is the 10th Battlefield game, and at this stage in the franchise’s history, it isn’t easy to come up with fresh takes. Visceral Games has done that.

It delivers with its story, great acting, dialogue, the realistic facial animations, cool weapons of the future, and the welcome change in pacing from combat missions to stealth missions. I welcome the idea of using great actors like Spacey in a big-budget game, and I look forward to future versions of the game that marry Hollywood blockbuster actors with the blockbuster-style game play.

It’s a deep game that you could play for hundreds of hours.

Lara Croft Go emphasizes cunning and exploration, not challenge, but this doesn’t make it a pushover.

Dishonored nails the Thief-style gameplay while missing the BioShock-quality story that would've elevated it into something truly special. It'll have to settle for amazingly cool instead. The impressive depth, range, and balance earn this one an easy recommendation despite a few hiccups and one dreary, excessively long level.

It's not bold enough to be excellent, but Ghost of Tsushima is enjoyable enough to keep fans of these kinds of map games busy and happy for a good while.

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.

Injustice’s greatest strength is that it makes you feel powerful regardless of your skill level. Even when you are struggling to overcome a series of grueling attacks, breaking through that with a well-placed combo or ridiculous supermove brings out the wonder in controlling an iconic hero or villain.

The storytelling is done well, where you learn a little bit at a time about the characters, their background, and the larger context for things that are happening around them.

Like the celluloid explosion-and-exploitation fests that inspired it, Sleeping Dogs isn't about defying convention. It's about silly, stupendous entertainment.

A clever, fun, and challenging Nintendo 3DS game well worth your time.

Destination: Primus Vita is an enjoyable narrative sci-fi experience. It looks and sounds terrific as you investigate your environment, solve puzzles, dash through mazes, and navigate short conversations with your colleagues and friends. Scraps of lore about the Scatters and their origin help build an interesting world and provides a menacing enemy.

Hyrule Warriors has little in common with a traditional Zelda game. You don’t solve any puzzles, you don’t explore any dungeons, and you certainly don’t break into anyone’s house and destroy all of their pottery. Still, it definitely works as a spin-off that focuses almost entirely on action.

My only regret is that the Switch version I tested is crippled by Nintendo’s directional controls. If the Switch title’s portability wasn’t so compelling, the control issues alone would force me to choose another platform — Ultra Street Fighter IV would be another good reason to look elsewhere. I can only hope Capcom releases a patch of some sort to mitigate the Switch’s D-pad issues.

Assuming you can get in, this is definitely one of World of Warcraft’s better expansions.

The lack of polish in some areas and questionable design decisions in others can overshadow Tokyo Jungle's moments of brilliance. As I finished the story, however, I realized I couldn't stop smiling: It knows how absurd it is, but it doesn't care. The developers takes the ridiculous concept and runs with it all the way, mainstream tastes be damned. That's something you really have to admire.

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.

Resident Evil 2 is going to click with a lot of people, and those folks are going to love it. I still really enjoy it even if it didn’t fully click with me. But my issues with this game are just a matter of taste and not execution. I prefer the Resident Evil 4 style where I have enough ammo to just blast my way out of every situation. But what’s great about Resident Evil 2 is that it’s still a really fun and well-made experience even when it drives someone like me out of their comfort zone. That’s the sign of a strong game.

But what I actually want you to take away is that this game works despite itself. You shouldn’t miss out on the characters, writing, and world because a small fraction of the experience doesn’t work. By the end, I had largely forgotten about standard combat. I think this is the rare game that improves as you continue playing. And that culminates in a thrilling finale that comes as a huge payoff for the story. So don’t sit this one out. Pick it up, play through it, complain about it with me, but then stick around for all of its joys.

A game that knows its roots but is willing to try something new as well. It takes the darker aspects of Spirited Away — because, let’s be honest, it’s kind of terrifying to see your parents transform into animals and then find yourself whisked away to another world with no way home — and explores them. And it does so with a lot of style.

The scope of Enemy Unknown is immense, both thematically and mechanically...In these ways, Enemy Unknown is peerless in modern game design.