It’s a rewarding game that constantly revs up the creativity and challenge to keep you addicted while also throwing in a decent amount of extras to bring you back for seconds. It’s charming presentation and clever puzzles give it a special touch that sets it above other similar games. And frankly, there’s little else out there that’s like Captain Toad.

So PES 2015 isn't quite the FIFA killer that many may have hoped, as there are many things that the current iteration of EA's footie series does better. Yet the gap has narrowed significantly with PES 2015, and the hardest part of any sports game -- the gameplay and feel of the sport -- has never been better than with this year's installment.

Escape Dead Island should be avoided at all costs. The moment to moment gameplay is intolerable as you have to endure dull combat, an insulting lead character, and redundant backtracking through ugly environments. Pile on the game-stopping technical nightmares, and it all amounts to being one of the worst games of the year. It's not worth digging through corpses to salvage it.

Omega Ruby feels like it clocks in a bit on the short side at well under 20 hours to complete the main story, but there’s a lot of stuff to do on the side plus the post-game content.

If not for the inconsistent online functionality, Smash for Wii U might have been the definitive Smash installment. It offers up every control option under the sun, including the much desired GameCube controller support, delivering the most accessible version in the series. It’s definitely an improvement over Brawl and the recent 3DS counterpart, though Nintendo could still learn a few things from Melee to include in future installments, like adding a competent adventure mode back into the mix.

Far Cry 4 will enchant you with its lush forests, scenic vistas, and hostile wildlife but it’s the mission and combat variety that will keep you exploring.

With the challenge of bringing such a distinct franchise to a brand new platform while retaining all of the things that have made it great, including the hard work of the community, all things really were considered.

Even with its faults, we’ve enjoyed much of our time with Assassin’s Creed Rogue. Exploring the wilds and icy seas is still fun for a while, and facing off against hidden assassins has its moments. Overall though, Rogue is left feeling stretched thin, held together by the threads connecting it to other games in the franchise.

WWE 2K15 has attempted to create an authentic wrestling experience by slowing the pace to a crawl, and the result is a boring and unsatisfying. WWE 2K15 loses sight of what makes wrestling fun in the first place: high thrills, meaningful momentum changes, and unsuspected surprises.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of those rare games where its flaws sound severe on paper, but often melt away when you’re actually playing. We can’t remember the last time we’ve been so thoroughly absorbed by a virtual place or so attached to a cast of characters. In that sense, Dragon Age: Inquisition is a flawed journey, but it’s one that we eagerly want to return to.

Unity is an attempt to get back to the basics of stealth-action, and there are a lot of subtle upgrades that make the formula feel freshly tailored for this new generation. This is an extremely ambitious, beautiful game that you can spend a lot of time with. Unfortunately, system performance may vary substantially, Arno’s story is a bit underwhelming, and if you don’t have a few patriots to join you in battle the co-op missions won’t impress.

It's a grand celebration and a potent reminder why the green Spartan rose to a level of prominence that few can match. Many HD collections or remasters are often pleasant trips down memory lane, but this feels like more than that. It's a gripping reintroduction into all things Halo and something that will likely be enjoyed for years to come.

While it’s a big improvement over last year and a clear step in the right direction, NBA Live 15 forgets that basketball is a team sport. Dunks are overpowered, rendering ball movement and teamwork pointless. Hopefully further refinement can produce a great basketball game in the future, but for 2015, NBA Live’s advances are still overshadowed by flawed fundamentals.

Advanced Warfare is Call of Duty’s true starting point for a new generation.

You can wrap up the story in about 6 hours. There are 12 costumes to try on and 27 cards to collect. Whether you can handle the grind or not Costume Quest 2 is a shallow game. It’s also a celebration of this sacred holiday that you may find yourself replaying next year. If there’s still time before the sun rises on November 1st, you may not regret buying this game.

Like everything Disney inspires, it’s the colorful and playful energy that will keep you coming back. It’s just tough to stay excited about waving your arms around for very long.

The more straightforward design of Lords of the Fallen puts more focus on combat than building an interesting world. Players may be less likely to get lost, but the game lacks a sense of wonder and isn’t helped by its dull narrative and recycled enemies. Still, the solid mechanics are a step in the right direction.

There’s a lot of greatness within Sunset Overdrive, but it’s obfuscated by a lack of difficulty and an aggravating tone. Ultimately, it’s worth dealing with the game’s worst moments to enjoy the many things it does get right. When you’re darting around the world like a ninja in a denim jacket, there’s nothing quite like it. If there is a next time for Sunset City, and hopefully there is, maybe things will come together more smoothly than they have here.

It’s easy to look at Beyond Earth and see it as nothing more than an elaborate reskin of Civilization V. In many ways, it shares a similar interface and borrows many components. Yet as soon as you get to the end of your first game, you’re acutely aware of how different it feels. At this point, it’s cliche to say how time consuming Civilization can be, but Beyond Earth only lends further credence to the phrase “one more turn.”

The Pre-Sequel does feel more like a massive expansion pack than an entirely fresh experience, but the new playable characters are worth exploring and the tweaks to the formula have an impact across the entire breadth of the game. You won’t know what you ever did without huge double-jumps and butt-stomps.

There was so much potential for Korra when you consider the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a developer like Platinum to work on the combat, but it seems like the Japanese studio’s B-team showed up for this project.

Fenix Rage isn’t for everybody. Some fans of Super Meat Boy, Flappy Bird and other challenging platformers may want to test their mettle in a new arena, but conquering its trials results in a hollow sense of victory.

There’s an old adage that says “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” FIFA 15 perfectly embodies that sentiment. This game subtly refines the mechanics of what was already a great series, and while it’s very similar to previous iterations, that’s largely a good thing.

Perhaps where The Vanishing of Ethan Carter succeeds most is in establishing a sense of place. This is the kind of game that you’ll want to get lost in.

From its peerless combat to its outlandishly entertaining world, Bayonetta 2 is a triumph. Platinum Games has created a classic so thoroughly excellent that it can’t be ignored. Action games don’t get better than this.

The Evil Within is a survival-horror masterpiece. Anyone concerned this is just another action game soaked in blood needn't worry. Tense pacing, stunning atmosphere, and terrifying enemy encounters come together to create a journey you may never forget.

Crown of the Ivory King is exhausting, but at the end of it all, the predominant emotion swelling inside of us was sadness. We wanted more: one more boss fight, one more tucked-away room – not because the DLC is lacking, but because we didn’t want to leave.

NBA 2K15 has an awe-inspiring amount of customization that makes the game accessible for new players, and finely tuned for veterans. Each mode has addressed and improved upon criticisms from previous years and despite a slight misstep on defense, offense has never felt better.

Cooking Mama 5: Bon Appetit is happily devoid of cohesive design. Its title character grins as she coasts on the series’ prior successes, and exists today as a shallow, uninteresting non-game.

Driveclub is a focused, thrilling racer for players looking to push themselves and compete in all new territory, working up a sweat as its captivating sights and sounds fill your senses.

While T-Bone doesn’t do too much to differentiate himself from Aiden Pearce, Bad Blood provides a few interesting twists to the core gameplay and some memorable moments along the way. With a great new set of story missions lasting several hours long, and the addition of co-op play, it’s worth picking up despite some repetitive side content.

Alien: Isolation is worth experiencing, but at the same time feels like lost potential.

Until Nintendo manages to nail all aspects of Smash’s multiplayer, it’s just another missed opportunity that has to rely heavily on its solid single player offerings.

Ultimax is a half-step in the same vein as Super Street Fighter IV or Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. But it’s a step that plants itself firmly and confidently. Practically everything new in Ultimax is outstanding and the core it’s built on is just as robust and exhilarating as it was two years ago. What could have been a meager effort to re-engage idle players is instead a triumphant rebirth. It’s time to enter the ring.

An accessible co-op dungeon crawler that's at its best with a group of friends. It may be on the shorter side, but while it lasts it's an unpredictable and memorable experience.

In some ways, Forza Horizon 2 doesn’t feel that different from the original, but its proficiencies are expressed in new ways as you joyfully tumble across wide stretches of terrain. It gets open-world gameplay right by continually encouraging you to explore, and you may climb a hill just to look out over the scenic landscape and watch the clouds roll in.

The world feels alive and treacherous, the combat gives you lots of gruesome options, and the enemy army is always evolving. It might not offer the challenge you crave, but if you enjoy killing orcs, there are two maps filled with the savage monsters and they're all looking for a fight.

Wasteland 2 may not be the best looking game nor does it play in any sort of revelatory fashion, but it can still pull you in and refuse to let go.

Depending on what you want from Disney Infinity 2.0 Edition you’ll either be underwhelmed or overjoyed. Maybe both. You can see exactly where improvements have been made, and where the series still needs to grow. We’re disappointed in the lack of diversity from the available Playsets, but there is still a ridiculous amount of stuff to collect, and it’s now more accessible, customizable, and fun than ever.

When played in short sessions, Hyrule Warriors is mindless fun that celebrates the rich history of the Zelda series. However, your long term enjoyment of this game boils down to how much you like Dynasty Warriors, or hack-and-slash games in general, and whether or not you care about exuberant amounts of Zelda fan service. It more than delivers on both these points, but if either one of these is a turn off, this likely isn’t the experience for you.

Shadowgate is a formidable if sometimes frustrating return to classic adventure gameplay. If you’re a fan of the original or undaunted by Shadowgate’s unforgiving depths, it’s worth grabbing a torch and venturing inside.

For the time being we’re prepared to brave the beautiful wastelands of our solar system over and over because the freestyle combat across huge maps can have surprising variations between different play sessions. We’ve had enough wow moments to justify the time and effort to unlock them, and the possibilities of what Bungie could do next in this newly minted galaxy is intriguing based on what we’ve played so far. Destiny has not achieved greatness, yet. It is however, extremely fun to play.

Despite misgivings about the roleplaying elements, Curtain Call is the best Theatrhythm has ever been. It’s telling when a game offers DLC and there’s already so much there that more would just be icing on the cake. If song names like Battle at the Big Bridge and Dancing Mad mean something to you, this is a game you don’t want to miss.

The choice to rebuild from square one on a new engine has resulted in a game that doesn’t necessarily stand up to last year’s on paper, but shows promise when taking into account the track record of EA Sports NHL. In the game of hockey, sometimes you have to make the counter-intuitive decision to take a big penalty to prevent a season-ending goal.

Whether you're a Layton and Phoenix expert or a newcomer, the game does an admirable job of demonstrating why each series is so beloved in the first place. The few rough edges do little to dull the wonder of Labrythina, making us hope that these erudite heroes will someday reunite.

While there are certainly some things to like about The Sims 4 such as building a custom mansion, or being visited by the Grim Reaper, the entire experience feels like a starter kit for bigger things in the future. If you had The Sims 3 and its multiple expansions, The Sims 4 will feel stripped down. If you have never played a Sims game, it might be a better option to hold off until The Sims 4 flourishes into a more complete package.

Outside of the repetitious boss, there’s very little to complain about with Crown of the Old Iron King. As you descend deeper in Brume Tower, there’s much to uncover and you’re often given multiple paths to explore. Regardless of how you progress, that familiar sense of dread will plague every step. Crown of the Old Iron King only gets more insidious as it goes on and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

For fans of the story, inFamous: First Light is somewhat dimmed by rewriting events and motivations, but it’s carried along by Fetch’s fast, agile gameplay and a strong closing chapter. It’s not a must-play, but it’s a good excuse to run another lap around Seattle.

The most condemning thing we can say is the dream reminded us of everything missing in the episode; if only we cared as much as Lee and Clementine used to care about each other.

Madden 15’s new additions to defense and attention to detail make it a must have for existing fans, and a great entry point for newcomers. If you have never touched a football game before, it’s a fitting time to begin, with this fresh start from an old franchise.

CounterSpy doesn’t really develop beyond its opening concepts. It’s fun to play the spy game for a while, but it quickly falls victim to tedium and repetition, with an unrewarding ending that comes off as a smoldering dud.

For such a large RPG, it’s the small moments where Risen 3 works best. The game just needs more of them; times when you get swept up in a random quest, stumble upon hidden treasure, or chuckle at a random quip from Bones. It's a game with its heart in the right place and when everything clicks, you won’t want to leave.

While it’s lacking on the exploration end, Xillia 2 boasts a strong story component and combat system to deliver another solid RPG.

Akiba’s Trip is largely a wasted opportunity. For as much as it tries to honor the Electric Town, the attempt is undermined by severely limiting exploration. It’s amazing that a game about tearing clothes off can be so consistently dull.

Despite a distinct look and feel, Hohokum doesn't live up to its more ethereal aspirations.

While Sacred 3 isn’t a broken mess, there are few redeeming qualities to be found. Linear levels, repetitive enemies, meaningless progression, and insulting voice acting add up to a dreary mechanical exercise. There are far better options for action RPGs than Sacred 3.

Gods Will Be Watching strives to be meaningful. The story ruminates on how hard it is to find purpose in a world where things are often outside of our control. Many may never get a chance to appreciate that message, since the game ruins its own potential. At no point does Gods Will Be Watching make the struggle worth the effort.

What New ‘n’ Tasty does right overwhelmingly outweighs its few annoyances. The level of care that went into this remake will make you fall in love with Oddworld all over again and if you’ve never taken part, now is the perfect time to do so. Just Add Water has proven that we definitely need more Abe.

Amid the Ruins clearly demonstrates what Telltale is capable of. There’s a level of purpose and confidence here that the studio has rarely matched.

Abyss Odyssey is the kind of game that initially seems fantastic, but its many issues become increasingly apparent the more time you spend with it. The thought that went into combat prevents the game from falling into mediocrity, but it also never lives up to the potential that’s so obviously there.

Even so, “Cry Wolf” is the end to a story worth experiencing. While not every episode has lived up to its potential, the season as a whole has left us with a world that we’re hesitant to leave behind.

Sniper Elite 3 definitely improves the rare but rewarding genre of open-world sniping. Being thoughtful about each shot instills a sense of companionship with your rifle, and we definitely felt an unexpected bond with our terrifying tool of death. Everything involving firing that rifle is fun, it’s just too bad the other elements in the game aren’t as impactful.

While we might sound a bit harsh on GRID Autosport, it really is a solid racer with tight controls and competitive opponents. It is an improvement over over GRID 2 in some ways, but with so much repurposed content, it's more like a best-of collection than a completely new game.

These problems don’t dilute Valiant Hearts’ message, however. Rarely has war been examined with so much honesty and earnestness in a videogame. It only makes us yearn for more games that were less about guns and more about the people behind them.

Shovel Knight works well because it knows exactly what it wants to be. The people behind it have a clear love of retro games, and that collective passion has created something great. So often we play games that try to prey on nostalgia in the cheapest ways possible, whether it’s half-hearted HD remakes or blatant ripoffs. Shovel Knight is one of the few games that not only honors the past, but something we may be reminiscing about for years to come.

Picking up Pushmo World isn't the most exciting prospect up front. It takes far too long to really get going, and we wish there were additional challenges and incentives to retry old puzzles. That said, it really does get more interesting as you dig deeper in, and there are more than enough individual puzzles to keep you busy for quite some time.

The few moments where Murderd: Soul Suspect actually makes good on its supernatural potential aren’t worth slogging through the rest of the game for. It’s trying to be a gripping murder mystery, but never really knows how to get there. This is one you should probably just leave for dead.

The pervasive sense of quirkiness in Tomodachi Life works, but can’t sustain the entire game. It’s the type of thing that will make you laugh for a few hours and then you'll never want to pick up again, since it isn’t worth the effort of endlessly doing the same tasks. Sometimes weird isn’t enough.

Whether you consider it to be meaningfully different or pretty much the same old thing, the important question is whether or not it’s worth playing. That one’s easy to answer. The game is aging, but it’s still great. And if you’re already a Street Fighter fan, it’s hardly a question at all.

"In Sheep's Clothing" nails it where it counts. Not since episode one have we felt so fascinated with The Wolf Among Us.

Those who never experienced this type of game in the past won’t acclimate as quickly as veterans, but it’s still an easy to pick up and play game. It just isn’t easy to win. There’s even a surprise ending and plenty of hidden secrets for those seeking something more than just intense action. Kero Blaster is a nice throwback to the older days of gaming that delivers a short but sweet side-scrolling shooter that hits most of the right notes.

Watch Dogs isn't inspiring or revolutionary, but it's a well-rounded approach to open world gameplay. Completing the story and merely sampling the various side activities can last over thirty hours, with plenty more left to do. The focus on hacking lends to more cerebral gameplay, and the multiplayer is solid.

Wolfenstein: The New Order suffers from minor inconsistencies in nearly every aspect of the game from its storytelling to its action, but the good news is the game never feels consistently bad.

Despite some reservations with the ending, Transistor is captivating in ways that few other games can manage. It creates a place that we wanted to be a part of, learn more about, and most importantly didn’t want to leave. Transistor isn’t something you’ll forget about immediately after finishing it. Instead, it’s one that you’ll wish you could play again for the first time.

The overall high quality of the game is so impressive that it doesn’t really matter that much that the zero-gravity gimmick barely adds anything that’s truly new. Next time around, though, Nintendo might need to come up with new tricks if it hopes to keep us coming back for more.

In all Super Time Force, is a humorous romp through the ages, but the core rewinding mechanic that makes it different fosters a love-hate relationship. It's both an asset and an obstacle, but with tons of characters and a quirky storyline, you’ll find the space and time to enjoy yourself.

Bound by Flame is far from perfect, but underneath a few rough edges, a memorable journey awaits, defined by an unpredictable storyline, and decisions that have a meaningful impact on the story.

Plenty of important things happen and there’s a lot of action, but none of it carries the weight that it should. Instead, “In Harm’s Way” is mostly a bullet point list of zombie-story cliches without many of the excellent character interactions we’ve come to expect from Telltale. It’s certainly troubling when characters get killed and the only thing you feel is indifference.

Part one offered a promising foundation, but lacked a reason to care. This episode puts faces to everything that’s happening and generally moves at a much quicker pace. We can’t wait to see where Hope’s quest for freedom takes her next.

Nintendo’s take on golf is as charming as ever and remarkably full-featured, even if the way things are organized keeps you from seeing just how much is really here right off the bat. You don’t have to like the real life sport to have fun with World Tour. If you can appreciate a “nice on”, the variety and challenge here should keep you playing for a long time.

If you’re really into JoJo, or really into fighting games, or both, you’ll be able to see through the messy design, pick out the good stuff and have some fun with it. Otherwise you’re likely to be beaten and bewildered.

The various game crashes, audio glitches, and unceasing loading make up an additional catalog of do-not-want, but it’s really just how diminished Spider-Man is that hurts. The anemic plot and the oft-repeated zingers give us a pencil sketch of the great Spider-Man, when he deserves to be inked and colored.

Child of Light may not be the biggest game this year, but sometimes it’s the smallest things that shine the brightest.

Daylight's potency is diminished by repetition and distraction, but when you have the chance to become truly engrossed in its shadows, it can really pull you in and make you jump, especially if you’re wearing a pair of headphones.

With so much to do, achieving 100% completion will take some real effort. It’s fair to say the game earns the Deluxe in its title, and almost everything here is well done. Charming and light like its hero, Kirby Triple Deluxe has some real substance under all the pink fluff.

Cold, Cold Heart is a bit curt and claustrophobic, not unlike Mr. Freeze himself. If you felt Arkham Origins didn’t do enough to force the franchise forward then you can give this DLC the cold shoulder. If you’re a committed defender of Gotham City, you should be amused by this brief addition to Batman’s beginning. Just don’t expect this New Year’s party to last all night.

Simply stated, NES Remix 2 is a real sequel’s sequel, with stronger games, weirder remixes and better bonuses. Players who’d like an interactive history lesson and anyone with fondness for old-school Nintendo could do far worse than romancing these ROMs.

If you have a tendency to rage quit and throw controllers, Trials Fusion may not be for you. Sometimes satisfaction is only found after hours of failed attempts, but the ease of giving it "just one more try" can be absolutely engrossing. The game’s outside-the-box goals are brimming with creativity, and the uncompromising level design pushes you to keep digging deeper to conquer every roadblock in your path.

The new additions have helped streamline the experience, and the "Stubs" system has directly addressed fan criticism of micro-transactions. However it's unfortunate that its ambitious element, Online Franchise, is severely marred by technical difficulties. Hopefully the situation can be remedied in a future patch, and if not, well at least we have the PlayStation 4 version to hope for.

Though the series has yet to recapture the magic of the first episode, The Wolf Among Us still offers a grim fairy-tale world worth getting lost in.

The long and the short of it is that it feels good to be bad. The thrill of abusing and degrading these virtual people and the little twinges of guilt you might feel for enjoying it serve as a wonderful complement to the mental exercise of building a better deathtrap.

Hearthstone is thoughtful and complex, but at the same time welcoming and almost irresistible. It may just be a card game, but it often feels like so much more.

This mix of ideas just never properly congeals. Uncovering mysteries and vanquishing foes while building up your repertoire and knowledge should be fun, but wandering this world is often little better than performing listless chores.

Blizzard listened to complaints, and moved to rectify issues, not just remove them, while mixing in an impressive amount of new material. It’s more than enough to entice veteran players to return, and if you have never played Diablo 3, there has never been a better time to start.

Its title may be a bit of a misnomer, but Revelations is an interesting addition to Lords of Shadow 2. It adds next to nothing to the story, but the clever and more challenging gameplay is worthwhile for anyone wanting to delve deeper into Dracula's castle.

The sheer scope of the episode and what it accomplishes with the story makes it feel essential. Even more importantly, episode two is the best kind of DLC by being both distinct and deeply connected with its associated game. If you’re willing to invest in the struggling first episode, episode two considerably strengthens this interesting extension of Bioshock’s world.

Second Son is visually stunning with rocking dynamic music to boot, but with its repetitive side-tasks, the finely crafted Seattle streets feel a bit lacking in things to do. Nevertheless, the game's characters and core story arc holds strong. The varied and eccentric powers give you a lot to experiment with, and you truly feel like a super-hero with the city at your fingertips.

Past Ninja Gaiden games demanded a certain level of commitment and you could actually feel yourself get better while playing. In Yaiba, even when you're doing well, it all feels like a mess. Between the horrendous camera and the overly simplistic combos, you'll never truly feel like a ninja. At this point, it seems like Tecmo Koei has no idea what to do with Ninja Gaiden, but whatever comes next, we hope it's better than this.