It's rare that a prequel truly works, where a story can captivate despite the audience knowing what's coming and where the path will lead. Life Is Strange: Before The Storm is one of those exceptional stories because it draws you in on its own terms. The only problem: You know it's building you up just to break your heart.

While there are minor issues with AI, and pacing suffers when you’ve comfortably gotten the upper hand, this is still a worthy and engaging contribution to the Total War stable that has successfully taken its cues from history’s winners and losers alike.

Pepper Grinder is here for a good time, not for a long time. Every piece, from the core drilling mechanic itself to the various ways it manifests with cannons and mechs and more, feels meticulously engineered to teach you a new concept, wring the fun out of it, and then move on to the next. That sense of propulsion makes every moment fun and engaging. It's a great little gem of a game which, like its heroine, may be small in size but makes every bit count.

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.

Even more so than playing the N.Sane Trilogy, which literally remade the original Crash games from my youth, playing Crash 4 felt like getting back in touch with the series. It's an injection of new ideas into now-classic gameplay that surprises and delights, even as it feels like a homecoming. Truly, games like this are why we come running back to long-dormant franchises with open arms.

The Outer Worlds 2 feels like the series coming into its own, carried by flexible combat options and great role-playing progression. The first Outer Worlds felt like Obsidian trying to recapture the magic of Fallout's apocalyptic future in a new spacefaring context. The Outer Worlds 2 cements this setting as its own identity that can exist alongside its sci-fi contemporaries to deliver something that is familiar, but also distinctly its own.

Ruined King: A League Of Legends Story has set the bar for future forays into League of Legends lore. The story Airship Syndicate tells here delivers in a big way, turning these six champions into the new faces of the franchise. The JRPG Airship crafted around its story is also wonderful, creating a feeling of playing League of Legends while actually playing a turn-based RPG battle. A few technical issues pop up here and there, but outside of the rare crash, none of them break the experience for every game. If this is the level of detail that future Riot Forge projects reach, we will all hail the Ruined King for ushering in this new era.

If you've got opposable thumbs, a sense of humor, and a brain that you're not afraid to use, this puzzle-filled adventure is one well worth taking.

No other Xbox soccer game comes close to matching World Cup's gameplay, sound, or even graphics.

Players looking for a terrific online racing game won't be disappointed.

In some ways, Halo 5 is the boldest Halo yet. The franchise's multiplayer is at its peak, with a mode I'm sure I'll return to several times over. But then there's the campaign, which introduces fluid new movement and open level design, yet can't tell a coherent story to match. There are signs of a phenomenal shooter here, but certain narrative aspects feel underdeveloped, holding the franchise's newest sequel back from true excellence.

Whether you're able to extract more playtime out of Shredder's Revenge or not will depend on how willing you are to replay levels with other characters and on higher difficulty levels. Despite its brevity, however, this is still a tremendous labor of love that lives up to the legacy of Turtles in Time and the brawlers that came before it. Combat is fast-paced and simple yet satisfying, while new features help modernize the action without tampering with its 16-bit essence. Co-op is overly chaotic and could use some indicators to help you keep track of where you are, but playing with friends is still a blast. Rehashing a classic retro game is always a tough ask, but Shredder's Revenge avoids the obvious pitfalls and successfully brings about a revival of everyone's favorite mutant turtles.

It's rare that a prequel truly works, where a story can captivate despite the audience knowing what's coming and where the path will lead. Life Is Strange: Before The Storm is one of those exceptional stories because it draws you in on its own terms. The only problem: You know it's building you up just to break your heart.

Duelyst overlaps enough with similar games in the genre that stepping into it doesn't feel like starting from scratch, but it still manages to distinguish itself with some clever additions. While it still has its faults, those faults never overpowered the satisfying feeling of executing a perfect play. Even if you're still devoted to your competitive card game of choice, Duelyst is definitely worth a look.

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.

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.

This entertaining and varied sci-fi shooter doesn't break new ground; it's just a bunch of goofy, gory fun.

Web of Shadows is a fast-paced, soaring superhero adventure that delivers just about everything a Spider-Man game should.

Lode Runner on the 360 is a testament to the enduring appeal of this innovative and challenging game.

Digimon Story: Time Stranger is a strong argument that it's high time to give the digital monsters their own space in the critter-catching genre. Strong voice acting and mature themes digivolve this time-traveling tale into an emotionally-rewarding journey of grief and self-acceptance, and a vast array of branching options keeps team-building and the turn-based combat exciting. If you're still ignoring Digimon for its more mainstream pocket monster cousin, you owe it to yourself to at least try Time Stranger. You won't regret it.

Ring of Pain is interesting and enjoyable in ways that can keep you enthralled despite doing almost the exact same thing for hours. The quick runs are really nice for just jumping in and having a few goes rather than oversaturating yourself with this world. It nails the creepy aesthetic from the art and sound design right down to the way it plays. It can make you feel a bit unsettled no matter what stage of the game you're at and how confident you're feeling. Ring of Pain swings between frustration and satisfaction but thankfully leans heavily to the latter most of the time. It's a delightfully disturbing mix of roguelike and card game genres that's worth stumbling in the darkness to discover.

Easily the most graphically impressive, deepest, and by and large most enjoyable surfing game to be released yet.

The third time is the charm for Traveller's Tales--logical puzzles and great offline co-op play make this the best Lego game yet.

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

At its best, though, in both the original survival mode, across the bulk of the campaign and in the one-off challenge of the week maps, They Are Billions remains a tight and compelling strategy game. The knowledge that you're always just one misstep away from disaster creates a gripping, tense atmosphere that's unusual for the genre. And the cycle from defense to offense and back again as you progress from one wave to the next offers both well-paced urgency and the ability to set clear short-term goals. It's a smartly designed game at its core, despite the distractions. Just like a lone zombie can bring about your demise, sometimes one strong idea is enough.

Both on its own and as a tribute to Mario's legacy, Mario vs. Donkey Kong does a great job.

The Beginner’s Guide is an absorbing journey into the thoughts and processes involved during the creation of a video game. It succeeds in helping you understand and sympathize with game developers as artists and people. It equips you with important tools to perceive and think about both video games and other mediums in intelligent ways. It’s a game that lives up to its namesake--it’s the beginner’s guide to the meaning of video games.