Despite the lack of innovation in Franchise Mode, MLB 19: The Show excels when it comes to the sheer variety of single-player content on offer, while significant improvements to fielding round out the on-field package, making this one of the best baseball games ever.

GRAW2 offers up a better, though shorter, single-player game than its predecessor. But the bulk of its gameplay can be found in its impressive and deep multiplayer game.

Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack mixes puzzles, platforming, and charm to provide a slimy good time.

With its gripping narrative, brutal violence, and fantastic implementation of Max Payne's bullet-time ability, this is a distinctive and outstanding game through and through, and it's easily a worthy successor to the Max Payne games that preceded it.

Skate's analog trick system is revolutionary for the genre, but the game surrounding those mechanics isn't quite as good.

Engaging player-versus-player combat makes this an online role-playing game to reckon with.

NBA 2K12 retains its crown as the best basketball franchise by offering a number of worthwhile improvements across the board.

Whether you liked these games originally or are just playing them now, Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is a great place to experience them. Put another way, it's going to take you for a ride.

By the end of the campaign, I was ready for the game to be over, but that's okay. RE7 ends just as it starts to outstay its welcome, and after the fact, I felt like I'd survived a truly harrowing journey. The boss fights may be slightly inconsistent and certain sections might drag after a while, but RE7 is still a remarkable success. It has a clear vision and executes it with impressive patience and precision. By returning to horror, Resident Evil has once again become something special.

Little things mean a lot in NHL 12, which subtly refines the best arcade hockey game ever made.

As a third-person adventure game, Rise of the Tomb Raider excels. Rather than collide, gameplay and story share the space, supplementing each other and emerging as a cohesive whole.

An incredibly atmospheric and disturbingly gruesome deep-space adventure that will haunt your dreams and leave you begging for more.

Even if the stiff challenge and clumsy new "serious" tone don't make it the most accessible or recommendable entry in the series, there's still a lot to like about Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, especially if you're looking for some really compelling online action for your Nintendo DS.

Whether you play solo or in a group, successfully executing adaptive tactics to win intense, high-stakes firefights makes for an incredibly rewarding experience. Every player has unique stories of their most memorable matches, and even after hundreds of hours, PUBG continues to inspire rousing tales of victory and defeat.

This new frontier in rhythm gaming is electrifyingly fun, but the cover charge is steep.

Horizon 2 is about careening into the sunset while Beethoven symphonies blast from your speakers, as if you might leap off the edge of the Earth and straight into the arms of God.

Despite the lack of a defining new feature to attach itself to, FIFA 14 is far more than the sum of its parts. It's a fundamentally different experience to last year's game, and an entertaining one at that, moving the series ever closer to the realism it so proudly strives for. The only competition FIFA has this year is itself.

It makes an already great game even better, not only by piling on new features, but also by adding enough significant enhancements that the result stands out as being not just broader than its predecessor, but legitimately different.

Once you get past the initial shock of how big and occasionally unwieldy the game is, you'll find that the detailed mechanics work to produce an unparalleled level of depth.

Players who're new to the Monkey Island series may get the sense while playing the game that they're watching a bunch of old friends regale each other with old in-jokes; it's easy to feel as if you're being left out of the fun if you don't catch the references.

Aside from a few minor issues, it's an extremely good port of one of SNK's last great NeoGeo games and is itself one of the last great games for the Dreamcast.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a superb Star Wars game that gets into the nitty-gritty of the struggle of what it takes for a Jedi Knight to begin the journey toward the rank of Master.

Beat Saber is an exhilarating rush and an exhausting game to play in the best way.

SteamWorld Heist is an absorbing tactical experience with well-crafted mechanics and systems that in spite of its story and repetitive missions, is worth recommending. As a package, it has a sense of quality in its content that'll keep you engaged well after completing it. Heist is an accessible strategy game with nuanced mechanics and systems that make its ever-shifting challenges a joy to play.

That seems to be the pattern of XCOM. The tale always grows in the telling, and with this entry, you find yourself in a world richer and more enjoyable than the one you experienced before. With a world this finely crafted, it's fitting that we should get to save it all over again.

An essential purchase for those who have spent more hours than they'd care to admit in Eorzea.

Luigi's first ghost-filled adventure on Switch offers up another satisfying blend of exploration and puzzle-solving.

Whether you're looking for a beginner-friendly dance experience, rigorous routines that challenge your skills and help you burn calories, or a terrific party game that gets everyone on their feet and having fun, Dance Central 3 is the best way to turn your living room into a dancefloor short of hiring your own personal DJ.

Shatter is brick breaking at its best--simple, innovative, and beautiful.

The dungeons themselves are varied in that some incorporate puzzles, some require the designated tank of the party to take control while leading the boss away from more vulnerable players, and many are middle-of-the-road affairs you can conquer with little more than your best spells, buffs, and melee.

A mostly pleasant game marred by the possibility of moments so frustrating, they threaten to overshadow the entire experience. These missteps are all the more disappointing because the better elements of the game are so charming. You may still want to take up the PolterGust 5000 and explore these haunted houses, but be warned: the things lurking in these dark places aren't likely to scare you, but they may well have you seeing red.

Excellent music and new creative opportunities make DJ Hero 2 one of the hottest rhythm games on the scene.

Guitar Hero III ups the ante with increased difficulty and new modes, and though not everything it adds is fantastic, the excellent tracklist and stellar gameplay are sure to keep you hooked.

Holds up to the challenge of being a platformer on the PS2 by delivering an experience that ranks right up there with the best the system has to offer.

Wide-ranging improvements and an excellent new Party Play mode make Guitar Hero 5 a great way to bring some rock into your living room.

Innovation in games is talked about a lot, but it's also great to see traditional gameplay formulas that have been around for decades presented exceptionally well. Dragon Quest XI is one of the best modern examples of this; its beautiful presentation, both visual- and story-wise, combines with a tried-and-true gameplay formula for a journey that’s full of heart and soul. Once you find yourself sucked into the world of Dragon Quest XI, it's going to be hard to put down until you reach the grand finale.

While it isn't be most visually astonishing Game Boy Advance launch game, Maximum Velocity's visuals improves upon the SNES version in almost every respect.

The Taken King is more than just an expansion; it's also a heart transplant. And with its wounds sewn shut, the anesthetic wearing off, and the scalpels put away to dry, Destiny has pulled through the operation with renewed vigor and a much stronger pulse. Now, only a few scars remain.

A fantastic casual-competitive game that offers untold hours of enjoyment.

Between its entertaining and engaging scenarios, the improvements and enhancements to the regular epic game, and the functional multiplayer, it's the expansion pack that Play the World should have been, and much, much more.

Rainbow Six is reinvented and reinvigorated for a new age thanks to beautiful visuals and top-notch tactical shooting action.

He is back with a furious and terrible anger indeed. Just as GoldenEye raised the bar for first-person shooters, so too has Turok 2. It's a landmark shooter and a must-buy.

Considering that Path of Exile costs you nothing beyond some Internet bandwidth, it provides an embarrassment of pleasures.

Returnal is constantly unsettling and consistently challenging. Its mysterious story and demanding action feel intense, urgent, and fresh. The fast-moving combat manages to appear incredibly daunting, bordering on overwhelming, without ever actually becoming insurmountable. Every moment is a rush, either because you just barely evaded a giant purple laser or because you have no idea why there's an Apollo-era astronaut following your every move. Do you need to be a little brave to play Returnal? Yeah. Do you need to be glutton for punishment? It helps. They say that anything worth doing should scare you at least a little bit. I'm not sure if that's always true, but Returnal makes a strong case.

A number of features make Madden NFL 10 a more realistic and enjoyable portrayal of football, but a few problems--both old and new--continue to trouble the series.

Excellent maps, a focus on close-range combat, and great period atmosphere keep this downloadable add-on from feeling like more of the same.

If you missed the first game, though, this is the better of the two, and the tutorial will ease you into what its 2D skateboarding is all about. And if you loved it the first time around, "more OlliOlli" shouldn't sound like a bad thing. Provided you can get over the difficulty hump, you'll find a great high score chase in OlliOlli2.

The PC version of last year's beautiful action adventure is lots of fun, but you'll have to overcome its online-only copy protection and high price point.

Assault Android Cactus+ is the ultimate version of an excellent game, and a perfect marriage between console and content. It's exciting and intense without ever being impenetrable, and the new Campaign+ feature is a great reason to dive back into the game even if you've already completed it elsewhere.

Even with an imperfect roster and a selection of modes that doesn't compare to the comprehensiveness of Forza 6 at launch, Forza Motorsport 7 is still a feature-rich and competition-diverse bundle of racing events that keep you coming back for more. The ability to control the weather to create rich, painterly cloudy backdrops goes a long way in making up for the lack of zombie modes and the Toyota MR2.

Once clear of its port of origin, this clever, humorous tale unfurls its sails and becomes a thoroughly entertaining swashbuckling adventure.

EA's latest NHL title creates one of the most legitimately exciting interpretations of the sport you've ever played.

A great roster with a wide range of diverse fighting styles and variations gives you plenty to play around with, and the new fighting mechanics add the right amount of depth to nudge Mortal Kombat X ever higher on the list of respectable fighting games.

It's still not the most welcoming game for newcomers, stacking systems upon systems upon systems, but for veterans and those willing to put in the effort to learn, there's never been a better time to hop in and entrench yourself in the virtual dugout. Football Manager 2019's tweaks will have you happily settling in for another mammoth play session of juggling egos, pipping your rivals to the signing of a wonderkid, and smashing in a 90th-minute winner to capture a league title in triumphant fashion.

Persona 4 Arena is a fast-paced fighter that can be easily enjoyed even if you're not a Persona fan. With the auto-combo system, combat is initially accessible, but it quickly reveals its complexity as you explore the intricacies of each character's persona and individual traits.

Delivers more, more, more of what made the first game superb--but it's so similar to its predecessor, it's inherently less inventive.

Humanity is a charming, engaging, and inviting puzzle adventure of a breed that seems all too rare nowadays. Its constantly-evolving gameplay, unique premise, and striking audiovisual landscape make for a game that's easy to get sucked into for long periods of time. Even better, when you finish the main game, you can dive into the various user-created levels folks all over the globe are already crafting--or try your own hand at creation. Creation is something humanity excels at, after all.

Shivering Isles adds more than enough new and interesting content to give you a great reason to dive back into the world of Oblivion.

Your mileage may vary, but in our experience, the bugs are obtrusive and substantial across the board, often forcing us to reload saves or exit the game entirely. It's hard to get really into a world you constantly have to leave. But then it's hard to get into Cyberpunk 2077's world in general. So much of it is superficial set dressing, and there's so much happening all around you--ads going off at all times, gunfights breaking out in the streets, texts coming in about cars you'll never buy--that a lot of the game feels superfluous. The side quests and the characters they showcase are the shining beacon through the neon-soaked bleakness of Night City, and they give you room to explore the best the core RPG mechanics have to offer. These are what carried me through an otherwise disappointing experience.

Ultimately, Madden NFL 06 is a highly playable game of football, but in comparison with the leaps forward the franchise has made in previous years, 06 feels like a false start.

While it's an inferior proposition to its initial release in 2011, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D remains superior to the majority of RPGs.

Cairn may have fewer mechanics than some games, but it drills down on what's there so successfully, and regularly tests the players' resolve and accomplishment of these skills, that I was often itching for the next challenge it'd send my way.

Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright is an absolute delight to play, from the battlefield to the bedroom. If you loved its predecessor Awakening, you'll enjoy the heightened tension and intimacy imbued in every moment of Birthright.

This is as authentic a portrayal of rally as you’re likely to find, and proves to be not just a return to form for Codemasters, but its best game to date. Just don’t expect it to treat you with any courtesy.

Sonic Mania methodically uses its sentimental appeal to great effect, but in the process, it heals the wounds inflicted by its most disappointing predecessors and surpasses the series' best with its smart and interpretive design.

Crafted during anxious times for Nintendo, developed for two consoles simultaneously, this was the GameCube's last hurrah, a Wii launch title, and a defining test for motion controls (which have been stripped out). Perhaps now, ten years later, it can finally be remembered how it ought to be; the dark and violent showpiece of a treasured series.

Its real-time strategy elements and its focus on cooperative piloting tactics are so central to its gameplay that Allegiance can be very challenging to learn, but it's well worth the effort.

If you're a fan of college basketball, the attractive presentation, smooth online play, and deep legacy mode are all good reasons to check out ESPN College Hoops 2K5.

Cadence of Hyrule is a fantastic Zelda game in its own right, even though it adopts the gameplay mechanics of another series. Beyond the aesthetics, it nails the satisfying sense of exploration and increasing power, and it revels in the joy of discovery, as all the best Zelda games do. It's an extremely successful melding of two great game series and an experience that makes you feel eager for Nintendo to do more interesting things with their major licenses.

Monster Hunter Generations still feels like a niche, punishing game that bears more in common with Dark Souls than an adventure game you'd typically find on 3DS. But that punishment never feels arbitrary.

Unique time-travel mechanics and a creative combat system make this RPG a refreshing change.

Portrait of Ruin is a great game not because of what it does differently, but because it stays true to the familiar Castlevania design and delivers a fun, lengthy adventure.

Risk of Rain 2 is lo-fi beats to relax to with the bass boosted until the subwoofers catch fire. And explode. And bleed? What begins as a chill loot-shooty time quickly escalates to a frantic fight for your life where everything is burning and there's a big red target on your back. The lack of any strategic layer between the action did leave me feeling burned out. But the additive nature of the game's builds give Risk of Rain 2 the feeling of a pebble skittering along a rocky cliff. When the avalanche begins, enemies would be well advised to get out of your way.

The first act is just brilliant. Not only is the core card game at its best, but it's also where those mechanics are best served by the richly atmospheric trappings surrounding them. The following two acts admirably offer new twists on the mechanics and a different perspective on the narrative, but neither prove as satisfying as the original. Alone, Act 1 is one of the best games of the year, but everything that comes after drags it back into the pack.

It's hard not to feel a twinge of disappointment if you're a fan of the series. Sam's newest adventure doesn't offer the challenge you may be expecting, and recent stealth-action hybrids like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Batman: Arkham Asylum provide much more satisfying single-player experiences. Yet stellar storytelling, fantastic co-op play, and rewarding executions make Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction a legitimately great game that delivers frequent surges of excitement.

Put simply, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is an absolute delight. This is a combination that shouldn't work and yet it more than works--it excels. When Ubisoft announced Kingdom Battle, the concept seemed so goofy that its success came as a surprise. Sparks of Hope is an improvement in every meaningful way, from the characterization and world-building to combat variety and flexibility to environmental diversity. Ubisoft loves and respects these characters, and has now shown definitively that even something as familiar and comfortable as Mario is still capable of surprising us over and over again.

Its innovations with regard to timed-run and in-level goal designs are sure to become trends used in the next generation of alternative sports games.

The Talos Principle is an absolute joy to play, packed to the gills with expertly designed puzzles and enough ancillary content to make any history of philosophy buff salivate. But all of that is almost beside the point in the face of the game's thematic ambitions.

Cities: Skylines is the best city-builder on the market right now. The game's presentation is stodgy, but it is all but guaranteed to provide you many hours of carefully crafting cities, laying out zoning, and establishing districts for specifics residential and industrial uses…all free from real-world mayoral headaches like 6 a.m. phone calls griping about snowplowing.

Despite a few issues, Dirt Rally is a triumphant return to form for Codemasters. The PS4 version arrives as a slightly more fleshed-out package at release and its technical performance is admirable. It's still mightily difficult, but if you're a rally enthusiast or even just have a passing interest in a challenging racing game, you can’t go wrong with Dirt Rally.

Project Gotham Racing 4 continues the series' tradition of brilliant visuals and fun gameplay, and adds to the list with new rides and weather effects that must be driven to be believed.

Surprisingly little has been sacrificed in the transition to the portable console, and in some ways the fact that you can now hold it close by undocking the Switch makes it a slightly more immersive experience than sitting feet away from your TV. If VR isn't something you have access to or want to invest in, the Switch version of Thumper is arguably the second best route to experience everything this impressive and brutal rhythm game has to offer.

Samus Returns is both a return to form and a look to the potential future for 2D Metroid games, where combat plays a bigger role and exploration involves clever thinking rather than persistent guessing. Fans get more than they bargained (and hoped) for, and everyone else gets an excellent 2D action game with one of the most captivating and capable video game heroes around.

The War Within marks not only the start of The Worldsoul Saga, but the beginning of what seems like a new era of WoW. All the old staples--Mythic+ dungeons, raids, PvP, world quests-- are still there, but the game's newfound focus on letting you play how you want to play, rather than forcing you to play a certain way, makes it a far more enjoyable experience. Blizzard is finally meeting players where they are, not where it wants them to be, and that means whether you like to focus on one character or play many--solo or with a guild--there is something here for you. The War Within is WoW at its most approachable, and it's all the better for it.

The new content and cheaper price make Remix the definitive version of Midnight Club 3, but there's not enough new to draw in those who already took the plunge last year.

EA's latest NHL title creates one of the most legitimately exciting interpretations of the sport you've ever played.

The impact of the fantastic soundtrack cannot be overstated.

Much like last year's game, this mixed martial arts fighter impresses inside the octagon but doesn't do nearly as well outside of it.

The Two Thrones provides a satisfying conclusion to the Sands of Time trilogy, with a lot of the same puzzle solving and gorgeous environments you remembered from the previous two games.

Ultimately, my feelings toward Dragon Quest I & II HD Remake boil down to "Would I recommend it over DQIIIHD or Dragon Quest XI? Well… no." Both of those games are far better experiences for both new and old DQ fans. That's not to say DQI&IIHD lack any value--there's good times to be had, especially with DQII. You're not forced to play either of the games before enjoying the other, so if you just want to play one, you're free to do so. But the games don't quite stack up compared to other recent Dragon Quests, even with all the new bells and whistles, and Dragon Quest I's remake in particular feels like a lot of wasted potential. But if you're looking for another source for that distinct Dragon Quest flavor of turn-based charm and whimsy, there's certainly nothing wrong with revisiting these two adventures.

Exceptionally well done in most every way and represents a major improvement over the original.

Despite the bugs and broken features, I've been game-locked on this simulation since the day I booted it, forsaking even the WWII sims I'd waited so long for. No other sim has come so close to re-creating the feel of my one flight in a jet fighter.

While generally better than Spec Ops, Rainbow Six carries its own baggage, especially where the conflict of realism versus gameplay rears its ugly head.

Abe's really is the ideal platformer, balancing its action and puzzle elements perfectly to make the game intelligent, engaging, and, best yet, fun.

Although NHL 2004 does fall just shy of beating out the competition, any previous fan of EA's NHL series will find very little to complain about in this installment.

Hardcore players will appreciate the added control brought by the new features, like off-the-ball control and the jump stop. The separation of the dunk and shoot buttons is an especially great move.

The fighting in Guilty Gear Strive, though, is impeccable. And that's what matters most. Like all Guilty Gears, it is a game of extremes. If you've tried the series and fallen off because of its complexities, I wouldn't expect a different outcome. If you're up for a challenge, or just want a cool, sharp-looking fighting game to mess around with, Strive knows all the right moves.

In many ways, Madden 2005 is just a bit too much like last year's Madden for comfort--but it's still a truly excellent game of football all around.