Mario Kart 8 is a slick and gorgeous-looking kart racer that's perfectly solid but not always as exciting or addictive as we've come to expect from the series.

Brimming with positivity and encouragement, Super Mario Maker's brilliant toy box gives you everything you need to easily create and share some truly fantastic levels.

NHL 11 continues to dominate the sports landscape. It's a no-brainer must-have for any modern sports gamer, whether you can successfully discuss the nuances of the Left Wing Lock or can barely name a couple of players on your favorite team. There's enough here for everyone to have a blast.

The weapons are better. The plasmids are better. The enemies are better. At some points, even the storytelling is better. What’s most amazing and surprising about BioShock 2, however, is that by diving deeper into Rapture’s tortured history and exploring more of Rapture’s haunted world, it actually manages to make the original BioShock better, too.

A dense, detailed, and hugely varied strategy roguelike, Mewgenics borrows much from its iconic predecessor with an imaginative and rewarding gameplay loop. Occasionally harsh RNG can be a buzzkill, but doesn't prevent this from being a worthy successor to The Binding of Isaac.

While it's certainly not perfect, Nier: Automata is nonetheless a breath of fresh air that will challenge your thumbs as well as your thinking - a game with hydrocarbon heart and silicon soul that will stay with you long after you've set the controller down.

It Takes Two is a Pixar-worthy adventure that consistently innovates, offering players an excellent co-op experience unlike any other.

In spite of all the work that obviously went into crafting Uncharted, its gameplay comes up a bit short, turning key moments in its 8-to-10-hour run time into frustrating, repetitive slogs. Still, it's a lot of fun overall, and its cool pulp-fiction atmosphere and wildly entertaining story will keep you grinding through even when things get dull.

A gorgeous, tear-jerking platformer which improves on absolutely everything in the first game and ranks among the finest Metroidvanias available today.

Graphics, gameplay, atmosphere, all-important multiplayer... Rainbow Six Vegas gets pretty much everything right. It even shines on the little details, like wind whistling through a freshly shattered window or jackpot coins spilling out over a freshly bagged terrorist.

Unlike so many remakes of classic fighters, Turbo HD has soul...It’s definitely a must-have title for any self-respecting fighting fan. Period.

Pentiment tells a tale that enthralls at the level of the personal and social alike, exploring a history that doesn't merely recreate period objects and customs, but functions as an evolving process sculpted by individuals within circumstances beyond their control. A melting pot of ideas and characters adds nuance to tightly plotted murder investigations, as does an art and scripting style inspired by 16th century scribes. The pace may feel slow at times, but for all the focus on dialogue choices, Pentiment is anything but all talk.

You'll come for the solid FPS experience, but you'll stay for the delicious helping of online goodness. We just wish that the single-player mode could've been as fun and thrilling as the original. One thing is certain - DICE is providing one of the best online FPS experiences you'll play on a console.

It feels as though Insomniac's writers have taken their cues from more recent Marvel movies, managing the tricky balancing act of cartoon mayhem and emotional payoffs. It made me, a casual lombax fancier, more invested in the series than ever before, and hoping we get to see a lot more of the fabulous foursome soon.

Doom Eternal is a smart iteration of what came before it that occasionally stumbles under its own desire to evolve.

It's the perfect type of game for a handheld, easily playable in short doses or long sessions, and it's a triumph of clever, captivating game design.

NBA 2K17 continues the theme of excellence that has made the series so popular. It’s slick, smart, and deep. It is the model that all modern sports video games should aspire to be, appealing to virtually every type of player and fan.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is a lovingly touched up classic full of plot twists and betrayals that can hold its own against modern RPGs. Minor elements are starting to show the game’s age, but it’s still a standout tactical RPG that genre enthusiasts will love with fantastic enhancements that elevate the original. There's never been a better time to experience this legend.

The World Ends With You is an amazing marriage of style and gameplay. The dual screen combat further stretches what the DS can achieve in gaming that is far from a lame gimmick.

A fantastically designed hack-n-slash RPG. And, because Runic released the full modding toolset it used to create the game, perhaps the best is yet to come once the modding community goes to town. Even without the potentially infinite number of player-made maps, skills, and items, Torchlight II is a worthwhile loot-fueled adventure that will soak up hours of your day without you even noticing.

With an arsenal of new gadgets and upgrades at your disposal, XCOM 2 feels like XCOM: Enemy Unknown with a million mods enabled, creating a deep and engrossing strategy game.

Any criticisms of Dishonored 2 feel like nitpicks of a thoroughly entertaining, mechanically complex, impressively realized world, just like the first. My primary playthrough as a stealthy, nonviolent Emily clocked in at over 15 hours - and though I sometimes found myself wishing for more character development in the overcrowded story, I was never for a moment bored with the otherworldly abilities of my agile assassin.

Horizon Forbidden West is a tweaked, enhanced, and confident sequel that exceeds expectations, delivering an open world full of compelling characters, an intriguing story, and yes, more super awesome robot dinosaurs.

Getting your head around the combat is key to having a good time. Once mastered, you'll find an immersive action romp full of original challenges, incredible environments and interesting characters. This game might have been around for years, but the intensity of the gameplay has yet to be bettered.

Fire Emblem Fates smartly revises a quarter-century old battle system and offers ever more reasons to care about your little chess pieces, but neither version does enough to welcome new players.

Just unhealthily addictive. Our fingers are still aching from mashing the triggers with too-enthusiastic motions.

This is one of the most in-depth strategy games and touching RPGs ever made.

NHL 11 continues to dominate the sports landscape. It's a no-brainer must-have for any modern sports gamer, whether you can successfully discuss the nuances of the Left Wing Lock or can barely name a couple of players on your favorite team. There's enough here for everyone to have a blast.