Devoid of any throwaway modes or game types that rely on nostalgia, Madden NFL 16 is both sensible and forward thinking. Its developers could have made a bigger deal about Super Bowl 50 or relied more heavily on the appeal of Hall of Fame players (who are available in Ultimate Team). Instead, EA Tiburon has focused more on fans’ diverse play tastes as well as making this one of the most welcoming Madden games in recent memory.

Thanks to its blend of platforming, puzzles, and "combat," all set in a colorful world, Creatures of Ava reminds me of a kind of action-adventure game that is seldom made anymore. It's both nostalgic for yesteryear while also creatively reinventing traditional elements of the genre. It routinely defies tropes in every corner of its world, yet still feels like the sort of game that is approachable, familiar, and easy to love. With a story that goes harder than one might expect and gameplay that routinely throws new tools and challenges in front of you, Creatures of Ava is surely one of the year's coolest surprises.

It can take a little while for the narrative to ramp up in Golf Story and for you to feel like you've really cultivated the skills of a champion, but based on the sheer scope of what the game delivers, there's likely something for everyone to enjoy whether their shtick is mini-golfing or terrorising delinquents with frisbees. It has successfully captured the trappings of yesteryear's RPGs, and the witticisms and idiosyncrasies of the characters you encounter are a great palate cleanser between rounds.

Rather than beef up the feature list, Harmonix has taken the opposite approach: it's slimmed down the game, offered way more value, and removed the obstacles between you and just getting out there and dancing. It's a different take on Dance Central, but the party is just as fun as ever.

A picture is worth a thousand words in this charming point-and-click adventure.

On PS5 specifically, developer Toys for Bob has also added some DualSense haptics, but they don't contribute much to the experience. When playing as characters other than Crash or Coco--Tawna, Neo Cortex, and Dingodile--some moves now come with a very weak haptic response. Using Tawna's grappling hook, for example, elicits a very, very mild trigger shake. Moving from space to space on the Dimensional Map also has a little bit of trigger feedback in addition to a rumble. The haptics really don't add anything, though it isn't as if they felt missing from the original release.

Far Cry Primal's setting is its greatest strength, and in its newest form on PC, it's still worth the many hours it takes to explore.

Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition is a joyous adventure, despite being lighter on content than its other iterations.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided refines and reinforces the defining foundations of the series. It creates challenging situations and gives players the tools and flexibility to deal with them in a multitude of ways, all within an absorbing cyberpunk world. Although not a significant departure from Human Revolution, Mankind Divided is still a uniquely fulfilling experience, one which feels rare in games today.

In many ways, Book Three acts as the fulcrum from which the story's trajectory pivots on your past choices. It is short and powerful, using the momentum of previous chapters to leverage dramatic weight going into the penultimate act like narrative jiu-jitsu

Responsive control, consistently good visuals, and diverse gameplay will ensure that most anyone will end up enjoying this game.

MAG's big battlefields are a great place to wage war, as long as you can handle some of the rigors of combat.

But even with its flaws, Gnosia remains a fascinating and engrossing experience. Its short gameplay loop makes for a unique presentation different from other visual novel and adventure games, and adds a hard-to-resist “just one more game!” quality that keeps you eager to find out what will happen on the next go-around. The varied roles and options also make each attempt a unique experience, and even when the game isn't fully cooperative in giving you the event scenes you want to see, it's still a fun time to try to eke out a victory over either the humans or the Gnosia--or possibly both. If you're looking for a different spin on social deduction games, Gnosia is one time loop you'll be eager to get sucked up in.

Much like its predecessor, Dragon Quest Heroes II isn't short of opportunities for high-volume slaughter while effectively preserving the charm of Dragon Quest. Omega Force's thoughtful mix of familiar Dragon Quest Heroes designs and new features not only makes this sequel engrossing, but it also shows this side series' potential for future installments. It makes for a satisfying hack-and-slasher that is not only a great Warriors spinoff, but also an effective gateway to the main Dragon Quest series.

Astral Chain's shortcomings don't overshadow what it does best. It's an incredible execution of a fresh take on Platinum Games' foundation, standing among the stylish-action greats. And its own anime-inspired swagger makes fights all the more exhilarating. You'll come to appreciate the calmer moments in between that add variety and offer a second to relax before jumping back into the superb combat. After 40 hours with Astral Chain, I'm still eager to take on the tougher challenges, and I'll be grinning from ear to ear as I hit all the right moves, one after the other, while watching it all unfold.

This fun, delightful adventure takes "going green" to an entirely new level and is full of unique characters and entertaining minigames.

Much like its predecessor, Dragon Quest Heroes II isn't short of opportunities for high-volume slaughter while effectively preserving the charm of Dragon Quest. Omega Force's thoughtful mix of familiar Dragon Quest Heroes designs and new features not only makes this sequel engrossing, but it also shows this side series' potential for future installments. It makes for a satisfying hack-and-slasher that is not only a great Warriors spinoff, but also an effective gateway to the main Dragon Quest series.

While the first episode was too perfunctory in how it set the stage and got everything into motion, you can now see both the story and the characters taking shape and evolving. This slow-burn approach should continue to pay dividends as the saga matures in future episodes.

Playing through The Rising Tide was bittersweet. For all its flaws, I have a deep fondness for Final Fantasy XVI, so I was happy to have a strong hook to bring me back to Valisthea, even if it was a rather short-lived journey that wrapped up just as I was starting to vibe with the new setting, abilities, and characters. In several ways, The Rising Tide offers something I wish the original game had a bit more of in its story: vibrance and warmth. FFXVI was outwardly grim and dark--fitting what it was going for. But having this contrast that complements the core themes of the original game was a real treat, especially with some great gameplay twists along the way. The Rising Tide is an easy recommendation for those who enjoyed the base game, and a damn fine way to send off FFXVI.

Rive is demanding, but it pushes the kind of near-thoughtless play that shoot-em-ups strive to achieve. When faced with an onslaught of enemies and environmental hazards, you'll have to think fast or die. Rive also doesn't run all that long, but what's here is excellent, top-notch action, and the game delivers some of the most memorable moments in a shoot-em-up in years.

Crown of the Sunken King's standout exploratory design and abundance of engaging enemy encounters make it a terrific adventure, though a hair short of being essential. Equally significant is that it succeeds at raising the stakes for the next installment.

Go into this game with the right expectations--knowing, for instance, that this is a time-consuming game that takes a while to get into and isn't dramatically different, at its core, from other online RPGs--and you'll find in Final Fantasy XI a different-enough take on the online role-playing genre that the experience can end up being both rewarding and refreshing.

The Reignited Trilogy is the best kind of collection that not only brings a beloved series up to current visual standards but also proves just how well-built the original titles were. Granted, the originals were done by a little studio called Insomniac, and it's not exactly surprising something that team did is a fine example of the genre. But the Reignited Trilogy's developer, Toys for Bob, deserves major kudos for bringing Insomniac's vision to life in the way we could've only dreamed in 1998.

Madden NFL 08 is a solid, feature-rich football game. Furthermore, all of the various minor improvements make it the best Madden to hit the DS yet.

Skin Deep doesn't reimagine immersive sims, but it takes the level design principles that players have enjoyed for decades and recontextualizes them for its brightly lit, goofier-than-usual world. Sometimes, preferred routes to success can become too reliable and make very differently shaped spaceships the settings for some familiar outcomes, but much more often, it's a game of clever actions and surprising reactions. It checks all the boxes of a great immersive sim, where each level is a puzzle box and you hold any number of figurative keys to unlocking it. And, yes, you can flush the toilets.

It's the battles themselves that make the most forcible argument for spending 25-plus hours with Final Fantasy Type-0, for it's in the combat arenas that Orience truly comes to life.

The bleakness is so overbearing, in fact, that A House Divided steps perilously close to monotony. Every kindness is rewarded with brutality.

Terraria is just as magical and content-rich on consoles as it is on the PC, although the controls aren't ideal for every situation.