PC retains the addictive qualities of battling and team-building we love in tactics titles while fully embracing everything strange about niche Japanese titles like this one. By coming at it from a different angle, Conquest finds its own special spot in the world of SRPGs.

Difficulty is erratic overall, and some of the operations are infuriatingly tough on any skill level, even without your nurse constantly interrupting to point out how badly you're doing. Still, even though we occasionally had to pause to curse at the TV, we couldn't stop playing - we were addicted.

Happy Action Theater is a great game for children with plenty of variety in almost every activity – each being different and exciting both visually and interactively. Although the entirety of the game can literally be seen in an hour or two, young gamers are sure to want to revisit their favorite version of their transformed room again and again, and at 800 Microsoft Points ($10), it's well worth it.

A stunning return to form for the annual football franchise – and one of the finest all-round Madden packages in years.

A truly wonderful wrestling experience, hampered by the determination to drive fans into parting with even more cash. Maybe that's just the way sports sims are now – but it's still a huge shame.

Building on the already solid (if a little claustrophobic) linear design of previous installments, Call of Duty 3 introduces enough new tidbits to keep even the weariest veterans in the fight.

Between the addictive character building and the online community features, there's tons of links action. All you'll need is just a little patience.

This is a charming, beautiful, and accessible title that dares to be different while paying homage to the original. It will make a fine addition to the collections of both its fans and action-RPG enthusiasts alike.

For some people, the bottom line will be this -- is Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for the Vita a faithful port of the console version? To that question, we would say, "Yes." It looks and plays more or less identically to the original game, and it has all of the relevant DLC as well. For those of you who need a Marvel vs. Capcom 3 fix wherever you happen to be, this game is pretty much everything you could hope for.

Pokemon Let's Go is a superb surprise, a fully-fledged Pokemon RPG with interactivity that brings the series to life in a way that's never been done before.

But Lock’s Quest is just too damn fast-paced for the fussy controls to get annoying enough to really kill the fun.

While some puzzle games can feel a little too on-rails, Dungeons of Hinterberg gives you enough freedom to follow whichever sub narratives take your fancy, adopt a preferred fighting style, and choose which order to tackle puzzles. And with the ability to slow down for a moment of tranquility at any point, it really does feel like a holiday… except you also kill stuff.

The Last Story is by no means a perfect game. However, the good here far outweighs the game's shortcomings, and, unlike RPGs that are bloated with fetch quests and tiring level-grinding, everything here is absolutely in service of the game's story.

A whole lot of fun, though, especially with some friends. The current generation of hardware isn’t dead yet; this is a great game to play as you wait for next year’s game on PS3.

Clever and unique dodgeball battles make this an easy pick, especially during the free trial.

Ultimately, we tapped in for par what should have been a birdie – the best description we can come up with for Tiger Woods 12.

The consistent delivery of these references complement the story's comedic dialogue and sight gags. You can tell the game's writers are fans of the Police Squad! TV show and movie series. None of the jokes feel forced or drawn out, which helps keep the cutscenes concise and well-paced.

Luftrausers may suffer from a few bugs and interface issues from time to time, but at its core is a magnificently modern aeronautic arcade experience.

GRAW may be too realistic for gamers that prefer arcadey, twitchy shooters. Its gritty realism and requirement for a methodical approach borders on obsessive-compulsive. For players who appreciate a "thinking man's shooter," it simply cannot be missed.

This is the perfectly polished, logical extension of what Guitar Hero started and where the music genre needed to go. It's a real shame to see the Wii version stripped of some of the game's best features, but it still just flat-out rocks.

It's clear that nobody has plans to create a full-fledged RPG on the scale of any of the PSone or PS2 classics for the PSP, so a port is going to have to do. This game stands nobly above anything else you can buy on the system.

While hardcore baseball fans may be turned off by its cutesy style, MLB Power Pros is fun, and that's what matters. Give it a swing.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe is a great package with two entertaining side games to complement the super-slick platforming quest. With a stronger final quarter, this would be essential.

Veteran Magic players will enjoy the new decks and challenging puzzles here, and the game is a great way for potential planeswalkers to learn the ropes of this classic geek gaming staple.

If you're looking for a next-gen showpiece to demonstrate the power of PlayStation 4, inFamous: Second Son will definitely do the trick--it looks great, plays well, and gives you a dozen or so hours of city to explore. The gameplay itself isn't all that revolutionary, but the stellar presentation and enjoyable characters assure you'll enjoy your trip to Seattle--even if you'll wish there was more to do there.

Tracks are banging, the peripheral's bold and performing feels brilliant, but TV mode is a bust, making you rent songs rather than own them outright.

It's a punchy, fulfilling game that takes you to plenty of cool places and does a lot of basic things right.

If you’re not a music person, you could have fun with Live Play mode for a little while, and if you’re an audiophile, you may find yourself frustrated with the game’s limitations – but if you’re looking to compose some decent tunes for giggles, Beaterator is your game.

RoboBlitz may be a tad on the short side, but at around 15 bucks, the price of admission is perfect for the amount of fun you'll have with this game. Plus, the PC version comes with a level editor, which makes it even more worthwhile.

While we’ve got a small list of complaints – you get no instant replays, pitches are tough to pick up in Home Run pinball, and the commentary gets repetitive really quickly – they don’t really impact the overall awesomeness that is The BIGS 2. In fact, it’s our favorite baseball game of the season, even if it’s really just an action game dressed up in pinstripes.

A brilliant battle system is let down somewhat by the largely underwhelming side stories and meandering companions of Scarlet Nexus.

The moments of fluid football where you feel completely at one with the game are better than FIFA. But all the strides forward in ball control are undone by the game seemingly doing everything it can to take true control away from you, leaving you with the feeling that PES 2014 is more about simulating football than it is about you playing it.

There's little doubt that The Division understands how to be a persistent MMO-shooter, but it perhaps lacks that understanding of why players continue to log-in to its competitors months and years after they start playing. Even the end-game, which is technically sound, lacks the variety or substance to entertain long-term.

A brilliantly fast and playable racing game that doesn't cost the Earth, Fast Fusion is a superb example of what Switch 2 can deliver. Super Hero mode is pretty perfect, though some balancing issues and oddly fuzzy visuals take off some of the shine. This is really front of the pack.

With all the new bells and whistles, there's no way that fans of Retro Evolved could go wrong with this one. But even strangers to the series should give Geometry Wars: Galaxies a shot as they'd be hard pressed to find a more satisfying 2D shooter out there.

Our biggest complaint is that sometimes if feels like you're just filling in the blanks and it's only a matter of time before the game finishes playing out the way it's supposed to. On the other hand, the fast daily routine and quick rewards, like a new building or job class, make it easy to get sucked into playing for "just one more day" more than we'd like to admit.

We can't blame you for being hesitant, but the odds are pretty low that you have even half of these that will play on a current system. While every game isn't a winner, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection is the best you can do, outside of Japan anyway. At least until the next, even more Ultimate Collection.

Planet of Lana is a beautiful cinematic adventure full of mystery, suspense, and charm. With stunning hand-painted backdrops, an enchanting musical score, and characters you care for, the companion-based mechanics and bond between Lana and Mui make this one very special adventure.

Massive, intimidating, and stunningly beautiful, Elite: Dangerous is one of the deepest, most rewarding open-world experiences you can have on Xbox One.

A superb action game that does far, far more than just depend on the novelty of gravity switching. It deserved so much more than to be ignored on Vita, and you simply must play it on PS4.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is fun, light-hearted and a celebration of Super Mario with a strong story, great humour and brilliant characters.

By combining an improved UI with deeper strategic gameplay, Total War: Attila increments on Creative Assembly’s formula to deliver a strategy game (almost) worthy of its namesake.

Though a lot of my experience with Oblivion Remastered is fueled by nostalgia, I'm a big fan of the deeper changes it makes. While the original game's mechanics are a tough sell for anyone who plays without the benefit of nostalgia, the remaster makes it all far more palatable. Levelling up is now more straightforward and offers more control over how your character develops, allowing you to put specific points into attributes. Combat isn't miraculously on par with modern RPGs like Avowed and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, but it's serviceable; feeling leaps and bounds more textured than it did in 2006. You can sprint! [Review in Progress]

A solid console adaptation of an intricate and rewarding competitive experience, but not without rough edges.

No one would mistake Thomas Was Alone for a AAA release, but don’t hold its relatively short length and abstract graphics against it. The game plays to its strength with clever puzzles and cleverer writing. Once you get to really know these mild-mannered cubes, you’ll want to follow their adventure all the way to the end.

Enslaved is a bit scrappy in its presentation and would have benefitted from more polishing time, but its heart is in a place few games even try for. Its world is original, fascinating, beautiful, and daunting. Its characters are alive and full of real emotion and they're truly loveable. Its simple combat is spare but elegant, and its climbing sequences get the blood pumping. It tells a story unlike any other, and it tells it with maturity and confidence.

Snake is back, but don’t let his fluffy, forgettable story fool you; he brought a lot of game with him. If you think “owning them all” is a pastime reserved for small children, you are wrong.

Flight Simulator X looks to have touched down six-to-twelve months too early for much of its target audience but, as its score reflects, it's an extraordinarily well-crafted piece of software and one of the most significant releases in flight simming history.

A huge Lord of the Rings experience that’s always enjoyable, although its scale leaves it straining at the seams at times.

Despite the fantastic story, Judgment stops short of being a must-play thanks to its shallow and unfulfilling crime-solving gameplay.

Keeper is one of those rare birds that the less you know about it, the better. It's a stunning, bizarre, and totally unanticipated game that isn't afraid to subvert your expectations at every turn. It's so good I wish I could wipe my memory and play it again.

With Forza 5, it chose to compromise in certain areas in an attempt to create something unique and fresh. It’s not entirely successful, as the sometimes-negligible improvements to the gameplay can’t quite make up for the sting of losing so many fan-favorite cars and tracks. But what is included is still terrific, and in some cases better than ever.

Hitman's temporary hiatus did worlds of good for the franchise, and Absolution is one of the strongest entries in the series to date. It shows true evolution, moving Agent 47 forward and playing up his enhanced abilities well, both when it comes to hitting a well-placed shot to the head of a scummy target or stealthily moving through a building full of police.

Skylanders Imaginators is rich with customisation options, and a genuine sense of fun makes this a brilliant addition to the series.

An over-the-top shooter with fun action, memorable set-piece moments, and decent characters, Wolfenstein: The New Order successfully transform an oldschool game into a modern experience.

Venba is a must-play experience, an enthralling tale of immigrants across multiple generations, all backed by a brilliantly absorbing puzzle game in the form of cooking.

A big, exciting martial arts film wrapped up in one of the most brilliantly stupid and consistently entertaining game worlds you'll ever find. Graphically, it might be a bit last-gen, but we doubt you'll care when you can beat men to death with bikes.

You might breeze through it, but it'll be a cool breeze.

It's got enough content for you to get through a few career mode seasons while you wait for a likely iteration timed for the 2013 season that's loaded with features. But make no mistake, it's not FIFA 12, and despite the cover athletes, you'll be disappointed if you dive into this one with expectations of the latest console experience.

If it weren't for a lack of online play, NBA Jam would be virtually perfect. Even so, Jam is our favorite sports title of the year.

The KOF series has never looked better, and the current gameplay system and mechanics are rewarding for dedicated players. Unfortunately, its old fashioned ways and gaunt presentation make it a much harder sell for casual players.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order might take ideas liberally from others, but the result is an endearing adventure that ranks as EA's best Star Wars effort yet.

Other M divides its attention among too many viewpoints and gameplay styles to nail any one of them. Thankfully, the entire game soars so high in the closing moments that it ends up a must play for franchise followers.

A great educational game that children can enjoy with their parents or on their own. The intuitive controls, easy-to-follow story, varied gameplay, and impressive dedication to the tone of the source material make this a great choice for young gamers, especially those who are already in love with the Sesame Street franchise.

A disturbingly different take on interesting sci-fi concepts let down by a slow start and disappointing monsters, but worth it overall.

It’s pretty accessible, with simplistic interfaces and beautiful eye candy all around. But considering that those arcadey enhancements are what’s supposed to make this game unique, we can’t help but feel casual fans would be better off playing "MLB 2K7" on easy difficulty.

A great package overall and especially for long time MMA fans. There are some minor sticking points in the controls and some will miss their favorite UFC fighters, but if you want a fuller experience of what mixed martial arts is coupled with superior online modes, you can't do better than EA MMA.

In the end, we came away from Scribblenauts wondering if we had missed the point. There were a few puzzles with satisfyingly original solutions, but instead of feeling empowered by the freedom to write anything we wanted, we felt more confined by the limitations of core mechanic and the game’s lousy controls.

A very solid hockey game. Everything feels smooth and refined, and while everything could be refined even further, this lays the groundwork for next-gen hockey.

Some delightful scenes mix with more mundane, throw-away moments in an episode that packs an emotional punch without offering much in the way of gameplay.

Ninja Gaiden 4 takes the torch from the second game, runs with it, and impales the nearest hulking demon. This is a genre triumph that delivers slick, over-the-top action that rewards patience and mastery, and a blood power system that adds a combat layer that allows you to push yourself beyond your limits. A deadly delight, action doesn't get much better than this.

What Wolves of the Pacific lacks in explanation and polish it makes up for in tense, exciting ship-to-sub combat, tons of replayability, and loads of depth.

Some people might be turned off by its ease of entry, but the spectacular online play, neat little fight-a-friend Street Pass feature, and 26-character roster is enough to turn the rest of us on.

Just skip the plot (filled with hyper-cool words like "rendezvous" and "amnesia") and you'll be stranded in bug-blasting, giant robot heaven.

Even though you've done the whole "construct buildings, connect them with roads and upgrade them" thing before, 1701 A.D. has captured the best of the civilization building genre. It doesn't leave any gaps in gameplay that will allow you to exploit a particular way of playing and serves up a challenging and fun experience that will have you mesmerized for hours on end.

What it may lack in length, it more than makes up for in absolutely every other aspect. The battle system is addictively fun, the multifaceted story is riveting, and the graphics are amazing... we couldn't ask for much more.

The Xbox 360 version is nothing like the PS2 and Xbox versions. Instead of Campus Legend mode, where you can take some hapless youth through his illustrious college career (hiring tutors to teach him math), you get amazingly realistic graphics.

While every game isn't a winner, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection is the best you can do, outside of Japan anyway. At least until the next, even more Ultimate Collection.

South Park balances ample fan service with gameplay that stands on its own merits and an engaging story. It won't make you a fan if you weren't one already, but it's hard to imagine a better-realized adaptation.

LEGO Batman 2's greatest strength is not only in how it balances its difficulty and length, but also in how the sandbox world will give you way more playtime and challenges to solve afterwards. Also, players can choose to be Superman and solve problems easily or play with Batman to make them more challenging.

Overall the frustration factor feels very low for a competitive shooter, yet at the same time it's very hardcore skill-based, so it can appeal to all skill levels. Even when we lost matches or got crappy kill/death ratios, we were still having fun, which can't be said for a lot of shooters out there.

Once you get to grips with its demands, Rollerdrome’s core concept is realised immaculately. With glorious backup from its retro stylings, each run is peppered with audacious stunts that would grace any action movie. It flags towards the end, however, thanks to an inelegant pile-on of difficulty, a lack of new twists, and disregard for its character’s story and narrative themes.

It's fun from the very beginning and remains so 20 hours later, enough to put it in the same league as the all-time greats of the PS2 era.

It's just that, if the first Trauma Center was a heart transplant, this is more like your fourth visit to the chiropractor: it feels great while you're there, but you can't help wondering if something a little more drastic and different from your previous check-up would improve your life even more.

You can’t go wrong in picking up the 3DS version, as it’s an impressive example of how much content and depth can go into one little 3DS cartridge.

Rainbow Six Siege X is the reference in tactical team shooters, where elite strategy and execution triumph. Enjoy free access to Quick Match, Unranked and Dual Front game modes with a selection of operators.

Yoshi’s Crafted World doesn’t use its clever conceit as well as it should or weave a poignant story, but it’s still a solid and accessible Nintendo platformer.

Ultimately, we tapped in for par what should have been a birdie – the best description we can come up with for Tiger Woods 12.

The story campaign entertains and the multiplayer modes entice you to come back after the credits roll, but the out-of-place melee segments, polish issues, and dropped features from the first game make it fall short.

There's also no denying that Liverpool has overextended itself just a bit with Wipeout 2048. At its best, it's incredibly fast and beautiful; breathless, even. The little compromises chip away at the experience though, from the framerate to the slightly chunkier handling. It's a tremendous racer as always; but as far as grand ambitions go, Liverpool has fallen a tiny bit short.

A pleasant bastion of everything that drew so many to this genre long ago. Amusing characters, a rich setting and great mechanics all smoothly coalesce to create a surprising and thoroughly enjoyable tale, prompting us to speculate that our little PSPs are far from retirement. We're ready for part 2.

Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail is a slow start to the next narrative arc of the critically acclaimed MMORPG. Despite having a set of gorgeous new zones to explore, and some exciting new dungeons and Trials, the middling narrative holds this expansion back from being truly great.

With amusing unlockable bonuses and three (and a half) solid, good-looking games, you'll get plenty of mileage out of this one if you have the bare minimum one like-minded friend who makes playing fighting games worthwhile.

Despite the blood stains and ransacked rooms, I’m having a blast so far.

Even with DOA single-player, Payday 2 offers a lot of bang for a below-average asking price. Debuting at $30 on Steam, its co-op action is gangbusters with the right crew of like-minded individuals. Better AI and a few more clever gameplay flourishes could have pushed it into must-play territory.

The subject material is ghastly, but Valiant Hearts has the right mix of emotion and entertainment to make enduring the Great War worthwhile.

As cheesy horror goes, you've never had it this pretty or entertaining but when it comes to a one off experience, Until Dawn is expensive interactive terror.

Impressively, the game takes full advantage of the PSP’s analogue stick giving it an incredibly responsive feel. You’re given a sense of total control over each vehicle and the subtle nuances between the cars and bikes are instantly apparent.