This is a game that demands more from its players, and treats them as capable thinkers. Don’t make the mistake of dismissing The Swapper.

It's the perfect game to jump into the series with if you're a newcomer, and the updates and new content are enough to keep veterans satisfied.

Arkham Knight tells a mature story that cares about its characters. The missions are a little over-committed to showing how much the Batmobile can do, but it also feels like the car completes Rocksteady’s vision of a living, breathing Gotham City; a war zone with lots of problems to solve and lots of fun ways to solve them.

The whole experience is even more remarkable at its price point of $10. Sure, clearing towns might get a little stale and the occasional blip of aimlessness is annoying, but the outstanding writing and attention to detail more than make up for any pockmarks on this putrefied gunslinger.

The multiplayer element, though far from its selling point, adds a welcome, manic element that amounts to icing on the cake. This, simply, 2D Mario at its best, and it's been a long time coming.

It can be digested in small chunks making it perfect gaming for the on-the-go types, and there’s honestly no other handheld game like it.

Forza Motorsport 6 maintains the series’ strong handling, robust features, and its ability to bring together players of varied skill levels. There are improvements in virtually every area, but even with additions like night and weather, it doesn’t really feel like there’s a standout change to push the series forward. It seems like most of the effort this time around went into getting Forza back on track.

It's a clever and challenging platformer that consistently hits the sweet spot between fun and frustration. You're guaranteed to rage in a few stops, but at the end of the day, it's still good to be Kong.

The only catch is the camera. It’s very tricky to make your character go one way, and your perspective another.

The total amount of worthwhile content makes paying full price for most other games feel like a crime. Treyarch has closed the gap between its games and the Modern Warfare franchise with boundless customization, a keen sense of what makes the formula a success, and listening to fans. You won't regret answering the call once again.

It’s easy to have fun with TowerFall, and there’s a lot to like on the surface, but players who put more into it will certainly get more out.

The world of Tearaway is one you’ll want to soak in until your battery dies. That said, the story is sweet, but the story is short, and the game can be finished in a few sittings.

With so much going for it, having to wrestle with the controls in Portable Ops is a real shame. It simply tries to do too much with too little, and while not a deal-breaker, it definitely makes the experience a lot less fun than it could be.

Zack and Wiki is colorful, inventive, and just plain fun. It never manages to transcend the trail-and-error aesthetic endemic to the genre, but for most players, the unique experience and thrill of discovery will be more than worth a little bit of frustration.

Some of the new features are questionable, such as the throwing meter, while others, like the postseason mode, aren't fleshed out enough to make MLB 13 an instant purchase for those who are content with previous versions. Yet while there really aren't any new modes or "wow" features to make MLB 13 a completely different ballgame from previous entries, the gameplay, customization, computer AI, and visuals are too strong to ignore for even the most jaded fan.

Spirit Tracks addresses all of the shortcomings of Phantom Hourglass and delivers a brilliant experience. It hasn't done much to change up the established formula, but it's still a solid adventure that ranks as one of the better outings in the series.

With stunning environments, a wide array of events, and an ingenious use of track surfaces, DiRT 2 is a superb ride for anyone wanting to rip through the wilderness at high speed.

It's the perfect game to jump into the series with if you're a newcomer, and the updates and new content are enough to keep veterans satisfied.

When it comes to voice work, though, you can't touch BioWare. The production is great, and astoundingly comprehensive.

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.

Little King's Story is an impressive package, with only a few lingering flaws keeping it from true greatness. It's a slow burn that rewards those with the patience to appreciate its elaborate setup.

If you want substantially new play options and features, then MLB 12 may come as a disappointment, particularly if you aren't interested in playing the game online. Yet if you place a higher value on the quality of the on-field action, then MLB 12's attention to detail will enthrall and entertain.

If you enjoy deep RPGs and you're looking for a great time-killer--or just ask a lot from your video game purchases--you can't go wrong with Pokemon Black and White.

Expansion packs don’t get much more solid than this.

With stunning environments, a wide array of events, and an ingenious use of track surfaces, DiRT 2 is a superb ride for anyone wanting to rip through the wilderness at high speed.

So, it may play better with a 360 controller, it may quirk out, and the new stuff may be good but not great, but it’s still one of the most solid PC games of the year, with a great single-player game that can even be played cooperatively, and fantastic, team-based multiplayer that’s just a few notches below Team Fortress.

With platformers enjoying a big resurgence in the last few years, it makes sense that Rayman: Origins has an anachronistic feel. Challenging levels, mosquito breaks, amusing multiplayer, and a hard-as-nails reward for perfectionists assures its place in the platformer pantheon. It just lacks a little of the sparkle that could've helped battle the fatigue of coaxing out every last lum.

It's the ultimate rental ride that might just bewitch you into purchasing it.

Level randomization is a delicate tool and one that Spelunky wields well, placing its tiles just so to equally aggravate and entice. Play Spelunky to conquer it, keep playing to master it, and just remember to keep your eyes open for new danger and adventure.

Resistance 2 offers more than the first game on all fronts. A better-designed single-player experience, more online mayhem with almost unthinkable amounts of player support, and a unique co-op mode make it easy to recommend. It's a little derivative, but it's an incredible value and a top quality production.

If you're looking for high-speed thrills and white-knuckled action, it should come as no great surprise that Flower is not your cup of tea. Yet its atypical approach is precisely what makes it so intriguing for those yearning for something off the beaten path.

Although the microtransactions devalue certain aspects of the game, and Pro-AM has connection issues, the on-court changes and additions are worth checking out for basketball enthusiasts.

Beautiful environments, persuasively appetizing fruits, and a quirky personality are matched by thoughtful and challenging game design. Nearly a decade since the previous game, there's still nothing quite like Pikmin, and it's fantastic to see new growth finally take root.

World of Warcraft is an achievement that's never truly been outdone and Warlords of Draenor ensures its reign will continue for the foreseeable future.

Not even counting user-created content, LittleBigPlanet is one of the strongest games on the platform this year, even with the minor control issues.

PixelJunk Shooter is slick, addictive, and memorable, and more than worth the $10 dollars it'll set you back. It's also clear that this is just the first installment in what we're hoping is a long, ongoing inquiry into the science of fun.

While not all that innovative, the game brilliantly implements a race-saving instant replay function and incorporates a strong strategic element with its sponsor management.

If A Crack in Time is indeed the final Ratchet & Clank game, then the series has been finished the right way - with a solid game that doesn't stray from what fans love while giving them plenty of service in the process. And in this way, it's also guilty of playing it a bit safe, but when expectations are that high, and are met, it's a sure sign of a quality game.

For the last decade, Bethesda games have had similar issues, and it’s getting harder to forgive. Somehow, in spite of everything, Fallout 4 consumed us. When we’re not wandering the wastes, it overwhelms our thoughts as we ponder where to go, which faction to pursue, and what weapon to try next. Fallout 4 is flawed in very serious ways, but it’s also the only thing we want to do.

Blending some unlikely, arcane ingredients into a flavorful and original epic, Persona 3 is a rare supernatural delicacy.

If you have no friends and no broadband connection then UT III will be a snore. When twitching out against opponents around the globe it can be as addictive, and deep, as video games come.

Gone Home's crisscrossing threads, like any good short story, are sure to have your mind racing as you try to unravel what's going on. This heavy sense of mystery is mixed with a dose of nostalgia that might have you head-banging.

It's rare for a visual direction to have such a profound impact on gameplay, but the two are seamlessly interwoven in Kirby's Epic Yarn. It's certainly not one of the more challenging platformers out there, but it's a breathtaking experience nonetheless.

Anyone feverishly clawing at their 360 for more Oblivion will venture forth through this new dimension with a smile on their face, but once you do the math, Shivering Isles is just as overpriced as Knights of the Nine and the downloads that came before it.

If you’re a strategy gamer who’s grown jaded, it’s the exact shot in the arm you need.

The latest Fight Night pushes hard to deliver a game that feels realistic and authentic to the sport while also being extremely playable, and offering plenty of staying power. Even if boxing as a sport barely piques your interest, this game delivers tension, drama, and punishment to rival the best fighting games out there.

If you're looking for an RPG that strays off the beaten path, go buy Valkyria Chronicles. From the gameplay to the visuals, it's one of a kind. It has appeal for both strategy heads and role-players who find high fantasy to be low on their interest scale.

The multiplayer is the real deal, and is destined to sit on the throne of data packets for the PS3 for the foreseeable future.

Boom Blox: Bash Party is well-done, accessible, and fun, but it just doesn’t feel like a completely new game. If you never tried the original, Bash Party would be a great place to start. It’s hard to imagine someone picking up the game for the first time and not having fun with it.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is not only the best portable entry in the series, but quite possibly the best installment, period.

When it comes to voice work, though, you can't touch BioWare. The production is great, and astoundingly comprehensive.

After suffering from an oversaturation of Sims for the last 10 or so years, it’s hard to believe The Sims 3 is as good as it is. It’s unapologetically a Sims game, but it also manages to feel truly fresh.

Despite these moments of frustration, Fluidity surges past the usual fare of stagnant WiiWare games, sparkling with a steady stream of fresh gameplay mechanics.

It doesn’t redefine first-person genre, but it certainly threatens the status quo, and that’s a welcome step forward.

A few things about the new Tomb Raider come across as wasted effort. The story of Lara’s transformation is sabotaged by the gameplay, and is frankly a little dorky, with an after-school special style multi-ethnic cast filled by lame sterotypes like angry black woman and scrap-happy Scotsman. Likewise a multiplayer mode, which nobody familiar with Tomb Raider would expect or even think to ask for, is competent but utterly unremarkable.

It's not for players who demand immediate gratification from their games, but those who appreciate the simple pleasure of overcoming challenges within a team environment will find a lot to like. It's deep, customizable, and provides a lot of latitude for different play styles.

Lack of character progression aside, this is a substantial chunk of DLC, lasting 12 to 15 hours and including some great payoffs at the end. You’ll find tantalizing mysteries to explore along the way, and a few more side quests unlock after the main quest. Assault on Dragon Keep is the funniest and most expansive bit of post-launch content for Borderlands 2. Fantasy nerds, this one’s for you.

Fluid combat, well-designed levels, and boss battles that will remind you precisely why you love the series in the first place make Ready at Dawn's second entry in the series a God among portable games.

It's straightforward and often unforgiving, but at 1200 points, you'd be hard pressed to find as infectious a downloadable game as Trials HD. If you're looking for a DLC title with an easy hook and replayability to spare, this one has a lot of rubber to burn.

It’s disappointing that the motion controls are more a novelty than an effective way to play, but the personality, nostalgic nods, hidden goodies, and battle-tested, edge-of-your-seat gameplay demonstrate that some things never go out of style.

Series savants won’t be disappointed by the game’s catalog of well-constructed missions and stellar multiplayer experience, but players may still find themselves hoping for some sort of wild mutation from the franchise’s established norms.

It’s a sequel to one of the most entertaining Star Wars games ever made, and it honors one of the best sci-fi trilogies of all time. Unfortunately, some of the design limitations might keep you from playing each level multiple times to find all the goodies and online achievements.

The melancholy can swell at times to border at overbearing, and one or two real head scratchers would have been nice, but Brothers is a yarn that hopefully won’t be forgotten after fussy first looks.

It appears that the development team refuses to say amazing is good enough. The new Be a Legend option is disappointing while the also-new 24/7 mode shines. The graphics stay the course, but the staggering depth that pervades the entire experience puts yet another championship season on ice.

While in some ways little brother has finally come of age, it still has nagging immaturity issues at times. While there are no new modes, the tweaks to the existing ones are all for the better, and the new running controls are so precise and lifelike that we hope big brother Madden takes the hint.

Ninja Theory has done right by Devil May Cry, delivering a striking game that honors the series' essence while still feeling like the product of a distinct vision. If you can forgive a few excesses--like the pretty-but-toothless boss fights--you'll find that your old friend hasn't changed all that much on the inside, in spite of his new style.

A careful, confident treatment of a classic game that's had more influence than it's had time in the spotlight. If you're interested in the history or practice of fighting games, this is a great chance to pick up a fighter that's paid its dues and proved its worth.

The game's production values--from the artwork and voice acting, to the music and video sequences--are among the best in any handheld game to date.

While some core mechanics could still be improved, Black Flag's story, world, and systems come together to form a markedly better and more cohesive game than Assassin's Creed III. It's not only the best Assassin's Creed game to date, but also one of the best games for pirate fans to embark on as well.

Nimbly straddling the line between technical and accessible, the series continues to be one of the best dancing games out there, if not one of the best games on Kinect period.

Capable and shaped to its purpose, Bastion proves a well-crafted and entertaining experience. Easily justifying its $15 price tag, this downloadable game offers a simple but complete package that's charming, playable, and worthwhile.

MMORPGs are often frowned upon for their stagnant conventions, but the tweaks that LOTRO offer to these modes are streamlined enough to make the process as easy, and fun, as possible.

The mediocre plot, and control limitations keep it from being the groundbreaking experience it always is on the bigger systems.

The learning curve is steep and the squad AI could stand a few classes, but the truth is you won't find a more realistic, feature-filled shooter. Toss in a nice bump in visuals and you'll get your money's worth and then some.

Attempting a character study of a deeply flawed action hero is an interesting gamble that just doesn't pay off, and the single-player experience continually struggles with leveraging the character's identity or unique skills. So it's got some issues. That said, the surprisingly entertaining multiplayer modes and a virtuoso treatment of extreme violence stand out as legitimate highpoints. It all basically comes down to your tolerance for pain.

If you attempt to plow through the goals you’re going to come across a few of them that will get your blood boiling, and there’s an incredibly steep learning curve to overcome. But if you just want to cruise around popping ollies and laying down grinds, or session a spot to squeeze every last line out of it, it’s easily the most realistic representation of the sport yet.

It appears that the development team refuses to say amazing is good enough. The new Be a Legend option is disappointing while the also-new 24/7 mode shines. The graphics stay the course, but the staggering depth that pervades the entire experience puts yet another championship season on ice.

While the story and extras may not impress, the gameplay in Rise of the Tomb Raider holds up through a long and varied adventure. There are lots of tools to play with and utterly jaw-dropping locations to see, fleshed out with great level design. Rise of the Tomb Raider is right on par with the last game, so if you enjoyed Lara’s previous excursion, there’s plenty to look forward to here.

For what you’re paying, you’d expect this expansion to have one-sixth the content of the original game, but it strays far from delivering on this assumption. Still, if you’re desperate for more to do, letting the Knights of the Nine rest in peace has its short-lived rewards.

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is a nice continuation of the series, but there’s very little here that’s unexpected or particularly clever.

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.

Enemy Within isn’t the definitive version of XCOM, but it’s a smart and satisfying extension of a game ideal for enticing players back for a second, third, or fourth playthrough.

The vast majority of Heavensward is outstanding and it’s easy enough to endure the occasional slow patch. A Realm Reborn was an impressive revival when it launched in 2013, and Heavensward elevates the game to an even higher level. Rarely do expansions feel so fully formed.

It isn't completely successful with some of its experimental features and still lacks some of the fun auxiliary modes of its sister games, but it's clear that it isn't just a glorified track pack. For all the aspiring b-boys and b-girls out there, Dance Central 3 is a great game to experienced, and an even better one to share.

Every haunted room seems to breathe with an inventive charm and delicate attention to detail that make this game one of the best reasons to own a 3DS. Catching ghosts is a rewarding occupation, and the vast amount of hidden collectables could have you fighting to exorcise your inner completionist. With the addition an unexpectedly inventive and enjoyable multiplayer experience, 3DS owners will be hard-pressed not to cut Luigi just a little more respect.

It would have been easy to just pull together another list of mashups and call it day, but DJ Hero 2 has gone above and beyond the typical music game sequel. From the engaging head-to-head options and easy going party play to the increased emphasis on player creativity, it's an improved experience all around.

Guitar Hero III abides to the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach by sticking to the tried-and-true formula established in the first game and honed in the second. A few minor tweaks to pre-existing modes, like the ability to jump to practice mode mid-song and sift through organized song sets, tighten up the presentation a bit, but for the most part the features sing to the same old tune.

If you are a new, returning, or current player in Destiny, the Taken King is absolutely worth checking out.

Heroes of the Storm has plenty of room to grow, but even with its numerous deficiencies, we’re simply not having as much fun with any other MOBA. At this point, we’ve overdosed on so many would-be competitors to League of Legends. Heroes of the Storm is a revitalizing and largely successful attempt at looking at the genre in a different way. Blizzard refused to say “me too” and we’re all better off for it.

Requiring you to think a lot more than the average shooter and providing a wealth of online content, Rainbow Six Vegas is a great addition to the PS3 line up, even if it does come several months late.

By appropriately mating the strengths and traits of its mixed heritage, Persona 4 Arena flourishes as a fantastically realized fighting game that stands tall even without resting on the laurels of legacy.

The game keeps up a great pace and maintains a steady stream of new enemies and new swords, maces, whips, and magic spells to kill them with.

With Conviction, the Splinter Cell series expertly keeps pace with the way stealth games are ploddingly evolving. It even throws in a few flourishes all its own. The result is a great stealth game that's well worth experiencing, even for newcomers to the series.

Games that are this thought provoking and enjoyable are rare. Rarer still are those that imbue this level of pride and honor upon completion.

Loaded with content and the driving is generally tight, it just fails to break any sort of new ground.

If you have any sort of appreciation for a great RPG, look no further than Ni no Kuni.

There’s a whole lot of game here, but that was true last year, and for every gameplay improvement there’s something annoying to dampen the enthusiasm. It’s still an excellent football game, but the casual player is going to like it a lot more than the grizzled vet.

Guitar Hero III abides to the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach by sticking to the tried-and-true formula established in the first game and honed in the second. A few minor tweaks to pre-existing modes, like the ability to jump to practice mode mid-song and sift through organized song sets, tighten up the presentation a bit, but for the most part the features sing to the same old tune.