If you lost interest some time around the umpteenth GameCube iteration, or the woeful Mario Party 8, MP9 is a good excuse to come back. Enough of the old concerns have been addressed and the game is more focused than ever, marking a return to simplicity that reminds us why we loved huddling around those old Nintendo consoles in the first place.

Marks a new era for the Far Cry series and delivers more explosive action and adventure than ever before, even as the story fumbles some of its more upsetting plot points.

If you've played any Diablo-style RPG and any Monkey Island-style adventure and enjoyed them, you know you'll like DeathSpank. It's a hilarious and seamless combination of the two genres more than worthy of your 15 bucks and a couple weekends of your time.

Our compulsion to keep playing "just one more level" meant that our feelings and hands would get hurt along the way, but in the end we liked what we saw.

With lovely gaming references hidden throughout, never better than the Prince of Persia spoofs, it's witty, charming, and forgivably broken.

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.

Knights of the Nine isn’t in the same league as stellar Morrowind add-ons like "Tribunal" and "Bloodmoon" but any fresh reason to revisit the world of Oblivion once again is all right by us.

No sports game gets the past right quite like NBA 2K23 – and its present-day immersiveness is incredibly powerful, too.

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.

Until the time comes for Tiburon to break down the game to its lowest level and rebuild from scratch, NCAA Football is going to keep on looking and feeling like it has for years now. While to us that's not necessarily a bad thing – after all, the last thing anyone should want is a repeat of the NBA Elite debacle – some people will inevitably feel like the franchise is growing stale.

While not particularly revolutionary despite the theming, Persona 5 Tactica is certainly moving. It's easy to imagine it fanning the flames of rebellion (to use the game's own parlance) in the hearts of players. It's not as all-encompassing as a mainline Persona, and lacks some of the charming odds and ends usually present in them, but it's hard to fault a new kind of spinoff that is mechanically competent and features a compelling narrative.

Sure, Bomberman is still sticking with 2D, and his tale is silly at the least, but there's a ton of gameplay value here. Atlus’s secret release really shouldn’t be kept hidden - it’s the bomb.

Unsurprisingly goofy--but it also just happens to be one of the greatest superhero games ever made.

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.

As a comprehensive and thoroughly enjoyable multiplayer package, however, Lost Planet Colonies is well worth seeking out for its refreshed online servers and distinct new play modes.

Even if you only play the massive single player campaign, R-Type Command is a breath of fresh air in an industry filled with “me too” knock-offs and umpteenth sequels.

The Zodiac Age allows Final Fantasy 12 to realize its full potential, thanks to a wealth of graphical enhancements, a soaring soundtrack, and the addition of the Zodiac Job System.

It’s not a perfect game, mind you, but it’s a breath of fresh air that reminds you how invigorating a game designed for – and not around – the Wii can be.

A scientifically fluid refinement of upgraded graphical sheen (PS3 has a slight edge over 360) and unprecedented stylish madness that will harvest some of your most enthusiastic hollers.

The dungeons are well-designed, the action is well-balanced and fun, and even the characters are likeable. This is a must-have for any action-RPG fan or anyone looking for something different on the DS.

Avowed fills a first-person void within the fantasy RPG genre, but it also stands as an immersive spin on Pillars of Eternity without losing any of the stellar storytelling and worldbuilding that Obsidian Entertainment is known for. Overlooking its forgettable party combat system and some minor quality-of-life misses, Avowed deserves to be remembered as one of this year's best games.

It's well-executed, it's got an appealing look and a sharp sense of humor, and the pacing works well for handheld play.

I'd still recommend Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown to the Metroidvania heads among us, as well as longstanding Prince of Persia fans whose experience with the series stretches back to the late '80s/early '90s. For those wanting more in the same vein as 3D adventures like The Sands of Time, this ain't it. But it is a return to relative form for a series whose last mainline outing landed 14 years ago – it's just disappointing that this very good game was held back from true greatness.

Going solo will end fast (maybe a couple of hours), but grab up to 12 people and you've got the definite Wii party experience.

Styx: Blades of Greed takes this dark fantasy stealther open world further with fantastic results, slotting together complex bases to create dense settings for sneaking that neatly expand in complexity as you progress. Some tech problems and guard simplicity can irritate, but the huge array of creative problem solving, from decoy clones to fireplace scuttling, makes this a world worth getting lost in.

Excellent control options aside, a lack of major platform-specific extras doesn't hold Plants vs. Zombies on Vita back from being one of the best versions yet.

But the battles are the heart of this game, and despite a steep learning curve, they’re strategy-filled, immensely deep and visually stunning. If you missed it the first time around, there’s no reason to ignore Yggdra Union again.

But for 10-12 hours, Ninjatown is a very charming and habit-forming, if modest, RTS that puts a throwing star right in our hearts.