The best American football game in a decade, with a career mode which will take over your life – along with fabulous levels of college pageantry and authenticity.

Ultimately, those limited failings will either be seen as quaint by longtime RPG addicts or tolerable by newcomers that will appreciate everything else Shin Megami Tensei IV gets right. It advances the genre in subtle ways, exhibiting once more that JRPGs are alive and well on handhelds. Numbered Shin Megami Tensei entries are few and far between. Thankfully, SMTIV makes the most of it.

An ambitious start for Assassin's Creed on next-gen. The vibrant Caribbean world and bloody piracy shine brightest, while the only sour notes come from contrived series story beats and repetitive missions--both need rethinking for AC5.

In many ways, Halo 3: ODST marks a bold departure from the franchise formula, with story, characters, atmosphere and multiplayer that are refreshingly, surprisingly different. Due to a short campaign and overly familiar gameplay, however, it fails to escape the “expansion pack” label.

Despite occasional frustration though, the more active gameplay of Ghost Trick is a welcome change from the mostly passive adventures of Ace Attorney (a series we also love!).

Beenox has managed to take the original Crash Team Racing, and somehow made it better. 20 years ago, this was the kart racer to play, but Mario Kart gradually usurped it and since the early 2000s, Crash has been laid dormant, waiting for its time to seize the throne and become the king of kart racers once more. That time is now, because Crash is back, baby.

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.

The Wolf Among Us is a game that exceeds expectations, providing an intriguing, painful, and thought-provoking journey that everyone should experience at least once.

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is a pleasing amalgam of first-person dungeon exploration and role-playing elements that injects just enough humor to keep things fresh.

Still madder than a box of frogs, but its magical Disney charms make it worth the long wait.

The story is tightly linear, so it's hard to make your character's tale your own.

Resident Evil 4 taught the industry so much, and in turn we expected RE5 to at least learn from what others have since added to those accomplishments. Instead, it jams the series full of gasoline-enriched testosterone, keeps outdated inventory and control ideas and refuses to admit the franchise is now more action-adventure than survival horror. Don’t let the negatives fool you though – it’s still one of the best balls-to-the-wall co-op excursions you can buy.

Buy it, finish it, love it, because if this takes off we’re going to see a renaissance of new-old games. And if that happens, a whole new batch of gamers will grow up learning why rock-solid gameplay, not tera-flipping flop-bib shaders, make games truly exceptional.

With solidly rebuilt controls only a little marred by a still-fussy camera, LEGO Star Wars II is even better than last years prequel trilogy-based offering. And, as the first LEGO Star Wars was an amazingly entertaining homage to Lucas's genius, this sequel stands atop the original's shoulders as the pinnacle of LEGO Star Wars fun.

Another fast, fun, and technical Capcom fighting experience. The online code seems problematic, but that's hardly enough to sink what's otherwise another top-tier Capcom fighter. It's actually kind of amazing to see a fighter where literally half the cast is basically new.

Nintendo's threequel has flashes of brilliance everywhere.

Mankind Divided is full of great moments, from the lengthy journey across The Throat of Golem City, to the simple pleasure of crouching in a Prague bank, wondering how next to proceed.

Zombies drops you into an intense, expansive world with untold secrets to discover, multiplayer's Pick 10 system and Scorestreaks open up new strategies to exploit, and the single-player campaign warrants repeat visits from its captivating, branching storyline.

Generally well polished and deeply atmospheric, this is Resident Evil amplified and with a brand new set of authentically imperfect controls, but let down a little by occasional low-quality backgrounds.

A good game, though not necessarily a standard bearer for shoot em ups. It's got a unique art style, tinges of Grasshopper's profane quirkiness, and offers some rather challenging wrinkles on the genre formula. Don't believe for a second that "casual friendliness" means putting a controller in the hands of your game-dabbler buddies and expecting them not to either melt down or wave a white flag.

Battlefield 6 offers a carefully-crafted and layered multiplayer that strives to be its least threatening self, with innovation and creativity played down in favor of refining all the proven successes from the military genre. What's there will surprise nobody, but thrives when all those components come together – even if the single player can feel fairly threadbare as part of the package.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is so close to the original that you probably already know if you'll like it or not. Some controls and visuals have been modernized, but even those built so closely on pre-existing foundations that it doesn't attempt to bring it into the modern conversation. Even so, I can't begrudge a faithful recreation of one of my favorite games ever made.

It's a shame that the multiplayer options don't include a cop pursuit mode, but that's a minor omission in a one-game-fits-all package.

The Wii U Edition's new modes are more "goofy entertainment" than "substantial content." But without them, the game's still great--so you should look at these rowdy wranglings as icing on the Tekken cake. If you skipped TTT2 on other consoles and enjoy 3D arcade punch-ups, this is currently your best Wii U bet.

It's also good that Ring Fit Adventure can scale according to your fitness level. You can easily adjust the difficulty (which seems to be based on the number of reps needed to beat enemies rather than adding in more complex fitness routines) whenever you feel like it, and the game will regularly remind you to have some water, or take a break if you feel like you need it.

For anyone who purchased the game last generation, the hi-def version is definitely worth the worth the price of admission for Medieval Madness alone.

The streamlined, focused structure eliminates potential tedium without dumbing anything down, and the battle system strikes an elegant balance between strategy and fast-paced action. Stunningly beautiful graphics and a pervasively meticulous level of polish throughout only add to the experience.

There are plenty of other features to sink your teeth into, of course, including the return of online dynasties, a nationwide “meta” stats aggregator called Season Showdown, and an updated Road to Glory mode allowing you to take a created high school prospect through a college career. You won’t lack for things to do, that’s for sure.