The system can go very far with some fine-tuning, but as it stands it seems downright schizo. Is it a simplified "Civilization" or a modestly beefed up "Warcraft"? It's almost as if the designers started out to create one game and ended up with another.

Wings of Power may just seem like a plane add-on for Flight Simulator 2004, but it's definitely commercial-quality software: It lets you experience the closest thing to actually <I>flying</I> a colorful collection of World War II-era aircraft.

Puts authentic gameplay ahead of any other detail.

Very good. With just a bit more variety to its tracks and a slightly better career mode, it definitely could have been much better, but it has great graphics, solid sound, and the sort of easy learning curve that makes it a driving game that anyone can excel at.

Deftly avoids the many pitfalls of AI squad tactics, and this, combined with great control, mission design, and presentation, makes for a truly fantastic game.

Echoes of Faydwer is EverQuest II's most appealing expansion yet, thanks to a new continent, a new race, and a wealth of new content to round them out.

The excellence of Dragon Quest Builders illustrates the versatility of this 30-year-old franchise as much as it speaks to the engrossing appeal of Minecraft-inspired creation. The story-advancing draw of quests goes hand-in-hand with the depth of a crafting system that cleverly uses monster drops as some of the game's building tools.

Bleach: The Blade of Fate is a great fighting game that will appeal to fans of the show and general fans of the fighting genre.

There's a touch of magic, even of spirituality, to Transistor's story, a sense that there are things within the world of Cloudbank that transcend our understanding of what's possible.

It's a beautiful game in so many ways, but most of all that beauty shines through in the would-be simple story of two friends on an adventure together, which easily became just as special for me and my loved ones.

Superb presentation and smart improvements to the Lumines formula make Electronic Symphony a great portable puzzle game.

While Warrior Within's new combat and satisfyingly long campaign improve on last year's game, the now darker tone falls somewhat flat compared to the storybook atmosphere in "The Sands of Time."

At first glance, Splatoon 2 seems very similar to the first game. But all the small changes, and even the bigger ones in single player and League Battles, make for a fresh take on the already unique shooter. If you played a lot of the original, the sequel has enough to keep you coming back, and if you're new to the game, it's a fantastic place to jump in.

Crown of the Ivory King is a melancholic victory lap in the only way a Dark Souls game can present a finale.

Years ago, Yacht Club introduced Shovel Knight to the world with a retro game that just feels right, thanks to pixel-perfect platforming that recalls the best of the NES days. With Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon, it applies that same level of polish to an entirely new genre and mechanics, and then uses the twist of rogue-lite elements to give it a completely new spin. It's inviting enough to feel immediately familiar, while mechanically complex enough to keep you coming back for one more run, and then another, and maybe just one more.

Everyday Shooter is an intensely creative and challenging take on the dual-stick shooter genre.

Crackdown creates an exciting open world and gives you a lot of interesting abilities, but there isn't enough main-game content to truly take advantage of the game's strengths.

So while EverQuest II isn't the massive step for the genre that its predecessor was, it can still be a fun and addictive online role-playing experience that has a lot to offer new and experienced players alike.

The world is dense and rewarding to exist in, the dynamic combat system stays exciting even after you’ve kicked the crap out of five thousand enemies, and perhaps most importantly, Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life serves as a fulfilling conclusion to the turbulent, decade-long saga of its beloved icon, Kazuma Kiryu.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land + Star-Crossed World takes an already-great game and gives you more of it. The upgrade doesn't feel as essential as the Zelda Switch 2 Edition games, because those helped ambitious games run more smoothly and fully realize their original potential. But it is more substantial than either of those, by nature of adding new story content and stages to explore. Kirby and the Forgotten Land was already a platforming buffet, and this add-on is a great reason to go back for seconds.

Call of Duty 3 isn't just another first-person shooter that takes place during World War II. It's a fantastic game with great online play and top-notch sound.

This great fighting game nails the look and feel of the UFC and demands strategy as well as quick reflexes.

This updated version of Fable is better than the original, since it extends the game's main quest, but the world of Albion isn't necessarily worth revisiting if you've been there already.

The magical world of Terraria is bursting with terrific content and surprises to keep you invested for a long time.

Little Nightmares II is a delightfully spooky foray into a horrifyingly gorgeous world. It's also a bit too long, occasionally frustrating and, in one key moment, inaccessible for players who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. But, overall, it represents a successful follow-up from Tarsier. With inventive puzzle design and some startlingly original levels, it isn't quite a dream come true, but it certainly won't have you waking up, bolt upright, screaming, in a cold sweat.

For every addition, like the backtrack feature, Collinsworth, or improved visuals, there's a problem that rears its ugly head, like the unchanged Superstar mode, poor pass coverage in the middle of the field, or underwhelming online leagues. Newcomers will still face a steep learning curve, but if you're a football fan or series veteran, you can't go wrong with Madden 09.

A Realm Reborn isn't so novel that it feels like a vacation to an undiscovered realm. Instead, fantasy-world travelers will understand the language and quickly take to local customs. Yet these previously charted lands are wondrous to look at and overflowing with like-minded adventurers seeking to make a name for themselves in a world in need of heroes.

The PC version comes with the usual suite of graphic and control options, and ran smoothly on our test PC built around a GTX 1070.

All of the little improvements, and there are tons of them, make MLB '06: The Show a masterful follow-up to last year's game.

Card Hunter's fusion of tabletop role-playing games and trading cards is easy to get into and hard to pull away from.

If EA Tiburon's goal with Madden 17 was to build upon the solid foundation set by the last two iterations, the studio mostly succeeded by fine tuning its production values on and off the field while also focusing on its strengths in its Ultimate Team and Franchise.

Crazy stunts, a huge gameworld, and a playful attitude help Just Cause 2 overcome its annoyances.

Picross DS is a high-quality collection of logic puzzles at a terrific bargain price.

Admittedly, most of the improvements and updates found in Round 3 are merely incremental updates over Round 2, but they're still enough to warrant stepping into the ring for another bout, just as long as you haven't already played the game on the Xbox 360.

The game design doesn't take full advantage of the huge city, so instead you'll usually end up repeating the same half-dozen or so tasks over and over again, with some unique challenges thankfully sprinkled in to keep things moving.

Due to its attention to detail and wide range of features, Combat Flight Simulator 2 has something to offer almost every simulation enthusiast.

If you can work your way around these shortcomings, you'll find that Colin McRae Rally 2.0 is one of the most engrossing racing sims available.

The game suffers from a number of small flaws (and sometimes bigger ones, where the AI is concerned), yet it still does many things exceptionally well.

It may not be enough for veteran players looking for an entirely new experience, but World of Outlaws should satisfy anyone else who enjoys career-oriented oval racing.

An original and memorable entry in a genre that's been mostly stagnant for years now... More than enough to recommend it to anyone looking for a truly great role-playing game.

Clubhouse Games serves up 42 different parlor games that practically anyone can pick up and play--and most of them support local and online multiplayer modes.

A dark, disturbing game. And while it may not bring anything new to the genre, it can create obsession-level loyalty if you tend not to look beyond the barrel of a gun.

It isn't the most full-featured port, but excellent combat and challenging puzzles make Darksiders a brutal blast.

While Street Fighter Alpha 3 for the GBA does cut a few corners here and there, it takes a discerning fan to notice any real difference between this version and the arcade original--and that's pretty amazing.

Plays very well, makes a great link cable game, and still stands as one of the best Tetris-style puzzle games ever made. Purists may find the slowdown a little disappointing.

The fun and funny Fallout: New Vegas - Old World Blues gushes personality and is the game's best add-on yet.

Despite a few small issues, Madden NFL 13 is the best version of the same basic game that has existed for years. Nominal improvements in most aspects create a more believable experience, both on the field and off, and the expanded career mode lets you decide how much control you want in creating your team. But these changes never go beyond what you'd expect for a yearly sequel.

Sharp new skating physics and the advanced AI make this a different, more realistic game, but there are just enough aggravations here to take some of the shine off these otherwise impressive adjustments.

Tightly balanced action and a superb array of guns make Resistance 3 a blast.

Multiplayer co-op and a number of other great additions make diving into Orcs Must Die! 2 a delight.

This compilation is about a place. It's a place where you can hear the laughter of children long since dead, and the screams of aircraft passengers moments before their incineration. It's a place where you must fear both the hideous mutants that prowl as well as humankind--and yet it's only with humankind that you might find safety.

You're treated to one of the most interesting and effective re-imaginings of a retro aesthetic around. Octopath will likely be a divisive game due to its fractured storytelling, but it's one worth playing despite its lesser qualities. Its high points are simply too good to ignore.

When I began Triangle Strategy, the plodding pace of the story was a low point I had to get through to play the tactical battles. As time went on, that calculation flipped. The strategy segments are streamlined and enjoyable, even if the class system is missing the amount of flexibility and nuance that I'd like. But instead of getting through the story segments to play more combat, I found myself getting through the combat to see more story. It's overindulgent at times, but I became invested in my band of trusted advisors as they carefully navigated a fraught mixture of war and politics. And more than many games, I felt the burden of the decisions I reached, the relationships they shattered, and the lives they impacted, as belonging to me alone.

Delayed gratification from the episodic release schedule or not, this 2016 take on Hitman is a brilliant game. Expansive level design and nearly unlimited replay value courtesy of so many routes to your assassinations (and so many methods with which to carry them out) make the experience almost completely different each and every time you play. Yes, Agent 47 took his time getting here, but it was time well spent.

Its fast, furious action and brilliant visual style will appeal to any side-scrolling action fan.

Even though Madden NFL 07 doesn't have any big, game-changing features to make it an especially memorable iteration of the series, its roster of small, but useful changes are ultimately more compelling than anything Madden 06 had on offer last year.

It's cute, colorful, and the perfect puzzle game to keep on your 3DS for dull commutes.

Buckets of whimsy and oodles of puzzles make this a satisfying adventure, despite the sometimes steep difficulty.

While in many ways the same game as Innocent Sin, Eternal Punishment retains the same excellent gameplay and offers expert storytelling, which make it worth playing despite its similarities to the first chapter.

Prey's campaign won't take too long, and it's rarely difficult, which makes it a solid choice if you're looking for an easy weekend romp. But much of the game's potential for unique thrills feels wasted by its straightforward level design, and the multiplayer doesn't add much to the package.

THUG2 hangs on to the great gameplay of the previous games, makes a few minor tweaks, and wraps it all up in a new Bam Margera-centric package.

Entertaining highs and frustrating lows punctuate a Castlevania game that--in an effort to redefine the series--loses its identity.

An exciting and poignant journey that every fan of role-playing games should take.

Despite a touch of monotony, Age of Conan's atmospheric first expansion is an absolute delight.

Starseed Pilgrim makes saving the sky from a virulent blackness an especially rewarding challenge.

This gorgeous action platformer is fun on your own or with a couple of friends.

An uproariously fun and enjoyable post-Apocalyptic adventure that is a little too familiar at times.

Starfield has its moments, for sure. Its satisfying gunplay makes combat exciting, especially when it's integrated into setpieces within its better, more captivating questlines. And although limited in its conception of space exploration, there's a novelty in poking around the galaxy to see star systems up close and personal, and occasionally finding side content worth chasing. However, it struggles to deliver a cohesive and memorable RPG experience amid the seemingly boundless sea of stars. For all its reverence for scientific philosophy, its stories and characters paint a rather tame and sterile vision for what our spacefaring future could look like. When you strip Starfield down to its essentials, it relies on a tried-and-true, but well-tread formula while missing some of the depth of the games that came before it. Starfield is a game more concerned with quantity than quality, and leaves the experience at the surface level.

Killer storytelling and creative demon slaying make the haunting Alan Wake one for the books.

Just about every aspect of the game's design has undergone some type of change, from the radically improved swing interface and the use of 3D golfer animations instead of digitized motion-capture footage, to a powerful camera option that gives you unlimited access to the gorgeously rendered courses.

It retains enough simulation-style elements to appease those craving a realistic game, thus giving NBA Live 2003 a much broader appeal than its direct competitor, "NBA 2K3."

A cool piece of technology, and it definitely has the potential to be a lot of fun, especially in a crowd setting.

Delivers all the fun of the original game with enough extras to keep the gameplay fresh and the premise interesting. Fans of the first game should feel at home with the sequel, while those new to monster ranching should be able to dive right in.

Even the most experienced gamers will find a serious, rewarding challenge in the game's highest difficulty mode, yet the well-rounded design of Hitman 2 means just about anyone with a taste for the subject matter, or just a stomach for it, will really like the game and its distinctively cinematic style.

Developer Quantic Dream's Indigo Prophecy is a game that actually gives cinematic gameplay some context, as well as some real heartfelt meaning.

Transistor is always a good-looking game, but in these instances, it demonstrates a rare knack for combining its visuals and music to powerfully convey both narrative information and tone, driving the story forward with Red's own unwavering resolve. So in the end, yes, Transistor is a fun action role-playing game with a neat combat system, but beautiful moments like these make it more than that. They make it a game with a soul.

This new take on an old favorite adds new, exciting elements to the formula without getting rid of what made Pac-Man so good in the first place.

While Warrior Within's new combat and satisfyingly long campaign improve on last year's game, the now darker tone falls somewhat flat compared to the storybook atmosphere in "The Sands of Time."

Of course, it's fun to see your characters become stronger over the course of the game, but what gives makes Child of Light meaningful is the way that Aurora grows emotionally stronger.

Like an anime version of "Star Wars," this big, lavishly produced action RPG is another good reason not to shelve your PlayStation 2 just yet.

Small problems hold Infamous 2 back from greatness, but there's still a lot of electrifying fun to be had in Cole's latest adventure.

You'd have to have a cold heart indeed to not be charmed by the bright eyes and madly wagging tails of the wonderfully lifelike Nintendogs. The game's boisterous and affectionate young canines are impossibly endearing, making the tasks of caring for them, training them, and simply interacting with them a joy.

As a graphical showpiece, DiRT is an unbridled success. It also happens to be an entirely enjoyable rally racer.

Yakuza 5 makes up for its modest shortcomings with enthralling diversions and eye-popping settings that compel one to look at travel deals to Japan.

The drastic improvements made to No Man’s Sky in its Beyond expansion are the new gold standard for how to gracefully cope with a game’s flaws post-release. The game laid the foundation with its release, but it took Beyond to elevate it into something magnificent. Successfully transitioning to VR is a creative victory on its own, but realizing just how full and vibrant and rewarding an experience this game has now become is almost poignant. Beyond represents the courage of convictions, a concept that has not only met the lofty expectations it set forth, but transcended them.

FIFA 08 makes small tweaks to last year's game, adds some new controls, and introduces new gameplay modes such as Be-a-Pro.

MLB The Show 25 plays a typically excellent game of baseball. Ambush Hitting is lackluster, but tweaks to fielding make for a more well-rounded game. Meanwhile, Road to the Show finally gets the shot in the arm it's been crying out for with the inclusion of amateur games and a reworked progression system; free agency is more engaging in Franchise, and Diamond Dynasty smartly shifts away from the restrictive Sets and Seasons model while also introducing an enjoyable new single-player mode. Whether its additions are incremental or more significant, MLB The Show 25 makes enough positive changes to justify another year out on the diamond.

The most fun, addictive shooter released so far this year. While far from perfect, the intense sandbox warfare is something that you have to experience. Dice calls it tactical destruction. We call it explosive fun.

Exciting gameplay packed with clever mechanics and framed by a compelling artistic vision make Outland a superb experience.

The new character combinations enhance the gameplay, expanding on what can be created and adding an interesting mechanic to the game. You may wind up shopping for new figures to unlock new content, which isn't a cheap habit to build, but Swap Force taps into the sheer joy of experimenting with new character combinations and building them from there.

The huge change in player mobility is less of a paradigm shift and more of an overdue retooling for an 11-year-old FPS franchise, especially in a year of mobility-focused shooters. Yet for all its predictability, Advanced Warfare is a deluge of action-film bravado, and it's difficult to not be carried away by its tidal forces.

It's a terrific use of the Wii's unique control features, it looks amazing, and in short, it should be a part of your library.

You will find success early and often in Tiger 06, and though that may not sound like such a bad thing, it isn't necessarily true to the spirit of the sport, where triumphs--however minor--need to be earned, not simply offered to you for the taking.

Football Manager 2009 may not be a beautiful game, but it's still compelling in the extreme.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a thrilling revival that successfully channels the spirit of the classic series while also building upon it with some inspired new mechanics. It remains to be seen if the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 4 will likewise live up to the series' standards, but Koei Tecmo's Year of the Ninja is off to a good start.

World at War brings proven Call of Duty mechanics back to WWII with great success.

Torchlight is a great dungeon crawler with enjoyable combat and an excellent loot system.

It's promising that EA is listening to its community. FIFA 19 is much more responsive on the pitch than last year, and the company continues to evolve FUT to keep it fresh. However, the lack of progress in Career Mode and Pro Clubs is sorely inadequate. Thankfully, The Journey's continued entertainment, FUT's long-lasting nature, and some inventive new Kick Off modes mean I'll likely still be playing FIFA 19 by the time next year's game rolls around.