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.