I love that the game portrays its female characters as assertive beings that desire and need sex on their own terms, instead of as sexual material doled out in-game as "rewards" for player performance.

This role-playing board game takes delight in letting you mess with your friends, and it's fun for as long as you can tolerate its slow pace.

Despite some potentially off-putting thematic material, Arcana Heart 3 is a fun fighter with a lot to offer.

Despite the fact that its graphics leave something to be desired, Blackthorne's gameplay and atmosphere are just as satisfying as they were on the Super NES nearly a decade ago.

Fun driving and an inviting world make visiting Planet 51 a pleasure in this family-oriented open-world game.

Twin Mirror has interesting new mechanics, well-realized characters, and a good understanding of what makes exploration rewarding. It's just a shame that the pacing undercuts so much of what makes it work.

Avadon: The Black Fortress offers up some good old-fashioned role-playing, as long as you can handle the dated production values and a few design quirks.

Right now, though, Pokemon Champions provides two different experiences for seasoned players and newcomers respectively--and unfortunately for newcomers, it's an uneven one that will require a lot of their own dedication and time to improve. Perhaps the barrier to entry for competitive Pokemon can never be smashed entirely, but Champions wears it down, and those willing to push through it will find one of the most thrilling competitive games on the other side.

This board game translation is a lot of fun, but it could have been so much more.

Some ultimate game where nerd and jock fuse together and assume their final form.

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 offers fast, fun games of Magic: the Gathering, and the PC edition is the best, thanks to its mouse-driven control scheme.

Magnetica is a good, solid rendition of its chosen formula, but there isn't necessarily enough to the package to pull you away from your current addiction to any of the DS's other, better puzzle games.

Gamers who like their games action-oriented may find Broken Sword to be too slow, but patient folks who like a good story that continually unravels will be delighted by this game.

Puzzle Kingdoms is a worthy addition to the growing list of puzzle/role-playing hybrid games.

Tron: Identity is a sharply written story that offers not only a fresh look at Tron, but also an interesting visual novel/puzzle hybrid format. The pacing of the story, the agency I feel when making choices, and the immediate weight of those choices make this a fine new addition to the visual novel library--even if the puzzles routinely pull me out of the story for a moment. I just wish there were more story told here, as my initial disappointment when finishing the game came not from what I'd played, but that the game was over so quickly. Ultimately, that's the mark of a well-made game, but I hope we get to learn more about this new Tron game's identity in the near future.

With the addition of Snowfall on top of the After Dark expansion released last fall, Cities: Skylines is starting to take shape as an expansive city-building franchise that offers something for any wannabe mayor. One caveat here is that you don’t really get a tremendous amount of content, and that what's present is pretty much relegated in specific maps, leaving the impact of this expansion on the overall game fairly minimal. That said, the winter wonderland atmosphere does freshen up the visuals so even while this expansion is not essential, spending a little time in a virtual snow globe city remains awfully appealing.

While the unlockables fit right in with the whimsical spirit of the Plants vs. Zombies franchise, you're left feeling like Garden Warfare needed a little something more to make it a meal rather than a side salad. Still, it's that rare shooter whose world and characters might put a smile on your face, making it a refreshing entry in a genre that usually takes itself really seriously.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations improves on the series' fun and flashy fighting mechanics, but drops a few features along the way.

Golf: Tee It Up! offers respectable arcade gameplay and slick production values.

Meticulous attention to detail makes even the most mundane things, like a forgotten book in a corner or a bottle of shampoo, captivating, and strong voice acting and writing gives surprising depth to characters who are physically absent from the story itself. But its two levels never really intersect in meaningful ways, culminating in an ending that's thought-provoking but short of being revelatory.

Dirt 5 adopts the arcade sensibilities of the series' past, but its frenetic action is dampened somewhat by an uninspired handling model.

Nintendo World Championship: NES Edition feels more like a platform than a game in itself. It's a set of tools to gently introduce players to speedrunning, and to encourage some light competitive hooks. Even the "NES Edition" part of the name suggests this is envisioned as an ongoing project with room for further exploration in the future. I hope it does, because this could serve as a great introduction to invite newcomers into the speedrunning community.

A difficult game that's clearly designed for experienced role-playing gamers, but these are the same sorts of people who might have already lost their patience for this antiquated style of gameplay.

But even though it's not quite as good as Danganronpa's dizzying roller-coaster highs, Rain Code is a solid detective adventure that entertains and engages for the majority of its runtime. It's got an intriguing concept, enjoyable dialogue, an interesting and plenty of bold, outlandish strangeness to hold a player's interest. I, for one, certainly hope this isn't the last we see of Shinigami's sublime snark.

Some flashy action, a playful sense of humor, and a clean visual style bring this otherwise straightforward beat-'em-up to life.

This motion-based minigame collection is inconsistent, but it gives you a good excuse to start leaping and scrambling around with your new Kinect.

What is somewhat surprising is that the gameplay is pretty solid for a game aimed squarely at kids, the voice actors do a good job of capturing the inflections of the film's characters, and the game features a nice boon of unlockable content to make up for the short quest.

Lords of Shadow 2 should have been a much shorter game. Still, though the game's stealth sections and drab modern settings represent the worst elements of the three-part saga, the tail end of the game contains the best of every aspect that the series is currently known for.

This series has a beautiful visual style and an aggressive combat rhythm uniquely its own. But while the core mechanics remain intact, Generations drops some features found in its predecessors and offers shallow alternatives.

What doesn't work is the fact that the disparate parts of puzzles and message board threads don't really have anything to do with each other.

Off the Record provides as much entertainment as last year's Dead Rising 2 because it's almost exactly the same game.

Code of Princess is a fun and funny fantasy brawler that's unfortunately hampered by technical issues.

There's a beautiful simplicity to Resident Evil HD that serves as a reminder that the best mysteries don't need convoluted stories to be enthralling.

Off the Record provides as much entertainment as last year's Dead Rising 2 because it's almost exactly the same game.

There's not a lot of depth to it, and there are certainly better ways to get a fix for your giant robot jones, but Encounters in Space still stands as one of the more accessible Gundam games to be released.

The Xbox Live Arcade version of Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, then, does a solid job of re-creating 1991's game, but falls short almost every time it attempts to improve upon or enhance it.

Mutant Storm Empire is a quality entry in the increasingly overloaded dual joystick shooter genre.

MotoGP 08 is meat-and-potatoes racing with enough challenge to keep two-wheeled gearheads busy for a long time.

Lost Planet's strong single-player campaign stands out, in spite of buggy online functionality and other missteps.

Challenging and sometimes frustrating though it may be, Klaus is a refreshing take on one of the most lasting genres around.

Hellgate: London has plenty of neat ideas, but many of them aren't executed as well as you'd like.

Despite the great way Out of Time handles emotional payoff, it suffers from problematic dialogue.

The racing isn't the star of the show, and the load times are painful, but Crash Tag Team Racing's supplemental elements pull the whole thing together into a mostly enjoyable experience.

This unique puzzle game may not draw you into its orbit for long, but it'll still provide hours of entertainment at an earthbound price.

The enjoyment NHL Hitz 2002 deteriorates rather quickly due to its negligible computer AI and simplistic gameplay, but if you're looking for some quick-hit fun from your hockey games, it's an excellent choice.

Much of your time in the game is spent wandering the UAC facility, waiting for the chance to unleash wrath on Hell's inner circle. When you do, it can feel great, but Doom VFR feels like a game unsure of whether that's the case. The result is a game that feels tentative about its own considerable power.

Newcomers to the turn-based strategy genre are likely to have a blast with Tiny Metal all the way through its campaign, though the endgame is no doubt a little restrictive. Old hands to this type of strategy game will find a campaign that wears its influences on its sleeve, but still admirably and respectfully fits right in with them.

Age of Empires IV is a satisfying game, but its more innovative ideas are overshadowed by a gameplay formula that rarely deviates from the revered legacy of Age of Empires II. Dated graphics, annoying AI, and a thin selection of content holds Age of Empires IV back from establishing an RTS kingdom that can stand the test of time, but thrilling campaigns, a passion for history, and factions that feel truly distinct from one another makes for satisfying RTS comfort feud.

A pretty good shooter overall, offering up a short but sweet single-player campaign and a decent botmatch mode for a little extra lasting value.

Rolling a katamari is as charming as ever, but you may have rolled most of these katamaris before.

A bread-and-butter console shooter that will let you blast enemies to your heart's content, but not a whole lot else. If that's good enough for you, then go for it.

This brawler has good combat and solid content, but it lacks the refinement and razzle-dazzle to earn a title shot.

It’s the kind of game where you jump in just to take two or three more turns and suddenly an hour has passed, and you can’t rest until that pesky enemy gunship or tank fleet is down for good. Hopefully that can continue next year if the multiplayer patch comes as promised.

If you have the patience to learn the subtleties of sled-track design, there is a lot of value in this little package.

Need for Speed: Nitro gets off to a fast start, but lacks enough variety to make it into the winner's circle.

Repetition and a lackluster story are its biggest shortcomings, but Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is different enough to separate itself from the shadows of its older siblings.

While both the RPG and RTS elements presented here stay true to form, the overall game is more than the sum of its parts because of how it makes such disparate concepts serve the goal of creating a militaristic role-playing epic.

There's nothing especially unique about Escape Goat 2 aside from its protagonist, but it thrives due to its masterful execution of puzzles, simple controls, and a kind learning curve.

Aragami 2 is a bold and aggressive take on the stealth genre, when it finds the confidence to step out of the shadows. Occasionally, however, it's a little too timid and reverts to playing it safe, cowering in the corner rather than seizing the initiative.

An oddball attitude, some decent variety, and a dip into the surreal spice up Rango's otherwise tame action.

No, it never reaches the furthest edges of space, but Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel still offers some the best of what the series has to offer: good loot, good laughs, and good times for many hours.

Its uneven difficulty saps some enjoyment out of the otherwise whimsical journey through this new and gorgeous kingdom, but it's still one that is admirably accessible while deep enough to be engaging throughout its 20-hour adventure.

A wildly addictive, bizarrely rewarding adventure constrained by tight restrictions that only loosen after a significant time investment.

An oddball attitude, some decent variety, and a dip into the surreal spice up Rango's otherwise tame action.

Knack 2 is definitely a holdover from the past, but it manages to surprise with varied combat and the pleasing back and forth between big and little Knack. Where the original game felt, frankly, like a launch title meant to show off the power of a new system, Knack 2 is a more realized version of Knack as a character, and the wonderfully weird world he inhabits.

The on-field action is as exciting as ever, but off-the-field problems drag NCAA Football 12 down to the turf.

Elpis is a beautiful place to behold, yet with its deep craters and creepy multi-eyed extraterrestrials it feels like a hostile and alien world.

The game absorbs you in three ways at once, by invoking both the loot-gathering vibe of an action RPG, the deck-fiddling fun of a CCG, and the "I'm feeling lucky this time!" aspirations of games of chance. It's a powerful one-two-three punch, though you need to be prepared: sometimes those punches land with unexpected pain.

Thicker Than Water continues to move things toward what will inevitably be a bloody conclusion in the next episode. This New Frontier season has been a little on the formulaic, predictable side and somewhat lacking when it comes to interactivity and zombie-biting action. In some ways, the episodic structure of this season has proven to be something of a drawback, as the slower sections would likely not have seemed so pronounced as part of a single eight- or nine-hour game. But the superb quality of the scripting and acting continues to deliver the dread and despair that have become Walking Dead staples, making it hard to wait and see what happens to Javy and friends in the next episode.

It's a long game whose simplistic but satisfying combat can be quite addictive, but mostly for meticulous players who don't get frustrated easily.

It's not as fun fun as the real thing, but you can still have a good time with this minigolf game.

If you're interested in action, without too many adventure strings attached, Wayward is worth taking a look at, but it's also a short enough game that you could easily get by with a rental instead.

Between its overall solid presentation, and its gameplay that keeps you guessing, this is one game that's worth taking a look at.

A lot of riddles are solved by the end of the game, yet even as the final curtain falls, many more questions are left unanswered.

The return trip might have revealed a few more cracks than we remembered, but it also serves as a shield for our nostalgia. And as remakes go, that's worth the journey home.

This messy ending is an appropriate way to wrap a season that evolved into a morality play loaded with grim, philosophical musings about what it means to be a human being, whether you're struggling to survive in a zombie apocalypse or simply learning how to get by in the real world.

Loki may be awfully late for the party, but this Diablo derivation is a solid rip-off with great game mechanics and atmosphere.

Like Arbaaz himself, these great moments have a bad habit of vanishing into thin air when you least want them to, bit there is still a lot of fun to be had in this Indian adventure.

Rugby 08 isn't much of a step-up from the previous game in the franchise, but it still offers pick-up-and-play fun for both novices and rugby fanatics.

Black Desert Online will attain greatness when it can provide good answers to those and other questions. Yet even now, it's hard not to heed it's call, which it sounds out the moment you enter its robust, genre-best character creator. I imagine that it will be even harder to tear myself away when player-versus-player siege wars are in full swing.

Given its cookie-cutter narrative, polarizing leveling system, and late-game repetition, ACE doesn't address all the issues that plagued players the first time around. If it didn't satisfy your monster-fighting fix back in 2012, there's probably not enough here to draw you back to the battlefield. However, if you're a Ragnarok vet ready for more, or a new recruit looking to hunt some big game of the not-of-this-realm variety, then you'll want to start sharpening that oversize sword.

All in all, if uncovering loot, crafting builds, and unleashing chaotic mayhem is what you're looking for, Borderlands 4 has you covered. It's the most mechanically sound Borderlands game to date, and the various Vault Hunters each present an entertaining opportunity to tackle the game in a different way. Just maybe find a good podcast or video essay to fill the moments between the shooting and looting. The game's story and characters aren't strong enough to hold your attention on their own, and the game's combat begins to drag once you've seen all the enemy types there are to see.

There are flaws on and off the pitch, yet this is the best the series has been for a short while. It might not walk away with a trophy this year, but it's getting closer to glory.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is among the best games to emerge from this beloved franchise. It looks stunning, has a solid gameplay base, and gives people who love the series a way to feel like they’re a part of this big, beautiful universe. Though it has its share of problems, I was really surprised at how much fun I had with it.

If not for the price, Rise of the Necromancer would be easy to instantly recommend to fans of Diablo III or anyone with even a passing interest in trying out a classic hack-and-slash RPG. Still, this is a fantastic character pack that adds one of the best, most enjoyable classes to the existing game roster.

With some caveats, I'd recommend Discounty. The story will make you regularly feel like you're the bad guy in all this, and technically you are even if it's no fault of your own. But it's easy to ignore the riffraff and the trouble you're causing your fellow citizens in your constant pursuit of bringing a factory-level of efficiency to your growing supermarket, and driving up profits for the sole purpose of buying upgrades that will let you drive profits even further. Maybe Stardew Valley's JojaMart had the right idea after all.

Shovel Knight is a memorable re-imagining of what I grew up with, but doesn't have the longevity or inventiveness to be great in its own right.

Corralling livestock is a fun new way to solve puzzles, but some agitating quirks will push the impatient away.

A combination of endearing critters and solid role-playing gameplay make Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 a pleasant portable adventure.

My time playing Sakura Wars mirrored the way the Combat Revue grew and changed through the game. Much like Seijuro seeing his team for the first time, I was skeptical that Sakura Wars could adequately pull off what it set out to do. But as I kept playing and the women grew into their roles, I began to warm to it. By the time the curtain fell, I was cheering for the team just as hard as everyone in-game was. The flaws of Sakura Wars are obvious, though a strong focus on melodrama and spectacle makes it a lot easier to gloss over the game's weak points. There's nothing out there quite like Sakura Wars, and if you stick with them, there's a good chance this cast of oddballs will worm their way into your heart too.

If you have the patience to learn the subtleties of sled-track design, there is a lot of value in this little package.

A captivating albeit disturbing setting is Transference's greatest asset, rooted by strong performances from the cast and a smart approach to storytelling.

Sam & Max Save the World Remastered is more than just a nostalgia play. The season has held up well and still has plenty of great jokes and clever puzzles that have held up well over time. Even if the overarching plot is weak, and some jokes don't hit, the titular duo is still a delight, and the smart puzzles are even more enjoyable to solve now that the controls have been improved. This is the definitive version of one of Telltale's strong early efforts--hopefully Sam & Max Seasons 2 and 3 will receive similar treatment in the future.

It may lack a certain spark and its missions tend to slip into drudgery, but I keep finding myself coming back to blast off toward any star in the night sky and eventually reach it. Such possibilities satisfy the thwarted little astronaut within me, and perhaps more importantly, they kindle excitement for the possibilities of the future.

Of course, these other activities aren't all enormous fun, but if you're a Marvel nut or a completionist (or both), then this game's basic cheerful gameplay and demeanour will make all of those extra pursuits worthwhile. Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 is reverential to its source material, even if the game that surrounds that adoration is starting to sag somewhat. After all these years, the Lego formula is still a winner--but only barely.

Interestingly, Sports Interactive has said it plans to sell a standalone version of Football Manager Touch, with a release date of "sometime before Christmas." If you’re the same kind of Football Manager player as me, you may be better off waiting for that. For now, you can find Football Manager Touch here in Football Manager 16. Many of the new features--the Set Piece Creator, Create a Club and a lightly tweaked tactics UI--are available in Touch while almost everything I dislike has been cut. This, coupled with the fact that the match engine feels just a little bit more Joachim Löw than Tony Pulis this year, was enough to draw me back in.

Journey of a Roach is a charming, worthwhile adventure with some clever puzzles and a nice cast of characters, though you may wish for a longer adventure for the price.

This isn't the best action game you'll play this year, but that doesn't mean you won't have a damn fun time playing it.