Street Fighter IV combines old and new in powerful ways, resulting in a game familiar enough to bring retired fans back into the fold while being different enough to appeal to the players who have stuck with the genre since day one.

So stylish...I am diggin' it. [Quick look]

I was initially pretty skeptical about Braid, and it took me some time to get past the game's severe melancholy. I eventually found the game's story and the way it plays against the gameplay to be academically interesting, and the game's final payoff is terrific, but it's the ingenuity of the mechanics that makes Braid so engaging.

It's unfortunate that Fallout 3 is saddled with so many little- and medium-sized issues, because they get in the way of what's an otherwise fantastic experience. The world is well-realized and full of options. It'll be a struggle in spots, but I'm willing to guess that most people will be able to overlook a lot of the game's problems and still have a very good time exploring the irradiated wasteland formerly known as Washington DC.

The differences and enhancements in Gears of War 2 feel very calculated and intelligent. It's clear that no one set out to break things that worked before, and the most dramatic steps were taken in an effort to widen the game's appeal to players who might not be good enough to play it, otherwise. But it takes on this task without dumbing itself down and alienating the people who already liked the first game...All you really need to know is that Gears of War 2 is a terrific, kick-ass shooter with enough stuff in it to keep you busy for a pretty long time.

Even though it has some interesting ideas, it's hard to get excited about yet another take on wave-based survival, especially one that uses the occasionally-clumsy Mass Effect combat as its base. Once you start thinking about how most of the campaign's side content either uses these same multiplayer levels or has you performing extremely basic retrieval tasks, it's easy to start feeling slightly indignant about the whole thing...But only slightly. At the end of the day, Mass Effect 3 is a game for people who liked Mass Effect 2 so much that they absolutely need to see how it all ends. Despite claims to the contrary from the game's publisher, I really don't think newcomers will get much out of it at all.

Maybe the most impressive thing about this already very impressive game is just how damn weird it is. MGSV is bursting with the kinds of bizarre little touches this series is known for but which you never see in the biggest games that cost tens of millions and take years to create, especially the ones in this genre.

Designer Shigeru Miyamoto once said "the first 30 minutes of a game is the most important," and Skyward Sword fails to pass that test. It takes several hours before you're given any sense of real freedom, which is too bad, as the game manages to merge the sublime openness of the sea from Wind Waker (without the Triforce madness!) with the directed fun of most other games, as it's easy to just keep moving forward without much fuss. And by the time you start seeing what the designers really have in store for you..., you actually don't want it to stop, even if you're able to constantly, cynically predict when the game will ask you to find just One More Thing before it's all over.

I'm not sure where else there is to go, but I don't really care. I'm having too much fun right now.

This is one of the most fully-realized action campaigns of all time, and it sets a new bar of quality for what’s possible in the genre.

Quick look.

Even though it has some interesting ideas, it's hard to get excited about yet another take on wave-based survival, especially one that uses the occasionally-clumsy Mass Effect combat as its base. Once you start thinking about how most of the campaign's side content either uses these same multiplayer levels or has you performing extremely basic retrieval tasks, it's easy to start feeling slightly indignant about the whole thing...But only slightly. At the end of the day, Mass Effect 3 is a game for people who liked Mass Effect 2 so much that they absolutely need to see how it all ends. Despite claims to the contrary from the game's publisher, I really don't think newcomers will get much out of it at all.

Inside expands on the concepts and scope of its predecessor in wildly creative ways, and it's so immaculately designed and constructed from top to bottom that it almost feels suitable for display in an art museum. This is one hell of a followup.

Forza Horizon 4's connected world and seasonal weather help make what's otherwise a very familiar-feeling experience feel fresh one more time.

The beautiful rendering of Kratos' ugliness is what made God of War III a compelling experience for me, despite of the bits that felt unnecessarily slavish to the God of War formula. Even if it's not the best God of War game, it's unequivocally the best-looking God of War to date, and it makes for a wicked showpiece for the PlayStation 3.

The only thing that might surprise you about Uncharted 3's relentless roller coaster ride is that it doesn't advance the standards for video game action like its groundbreaking, mind-blowing, superlative-generating predecessor did. But it certainly does match them. There's a slight sense of "been there, done that" in the way this game hews so closely to Uncharted 2's masterful blend of puzzle-solving, parkour, and dizzying action scenes.

A fighting game is only fun if you're matched up with like-minded, similarly skilled opposition, and in this respect, the game seems to be able to help you have fun, regardless of your skill level. SSFIV makes last year's fighting game a lot better, and it does it at a less-than-full retail price.

It's extremely easy to lose hours to Forza Motorsport 3 because it does so much great stuff both on and off the track. If you're at all interested in the reality of racing cars, Forza 3 is amazing from every angle.

It was a whispered reminder that great games can do more than impress with sheer complexity and breadth, they can also draw us in close to them as to engage with our humanity.

This is a full-on experience devoted to all of the different facets of being Batman, from the gadgets that help him along, to striking fear in the hearts of his opponents by carefully lurking in the shadows, to taking challenges head-on with little more than his feet and his fists, to straight-up acting like a detective, hunting around for clues. This all translates into an adventure full of variety, with each different aspect coming in at such a high level of quality that it just keeps impressing you over and over again, right up to its final moments.

From the very beginning, The Walking Dead sinks its teeth in and never lets you go. It's a journey in the truest sense of the word, replete with tragedy, heartache, tension, fear, and even brief moments of catharsis. Calling The Walking Dead a work of entertainment almost seems like a misnomer, considering the heavy tone and general lack of sentimentality in the writing.

Some modes flop in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, but the important thing is that the core game is expanded upon and significantly improved over entries in the franchise’s past. Its roster and stages are unmatched, and the variety of controller options is fantastic.

Certainly a game that offers up aesthetic beauty, both in its visuals and score. But where it truly shines is in the experience of playing it. In Journey, the mere acts of jumping, running, and sliding around a painstakingly crafted world are enough to invoke strong emotional responses from the player. Every element, every mechanic, every single little thing works in seemingly effortless concert to deliver a game that is experientially beautiful from surface to core.

It's both a must-own for fans of the genre and a great place for new players to get started.

This is one of those games that's so terrifically crafted, so effervescently energetic, so beautifully, colorfully drawn, that it's genuinely difficult to come up with legitimate caveats to possibly dissuade anyone from it.

A fighting game is only fun if you're matched up with like-minded, similarly skilled opposition, and in this respect, the game seems to be able to help you have fun, regardless of your skill level. SSFIV makes last year's fighting game a lot better, and it does it at a less-than-full retail price.

There's an awful lot of wonder and joy to be found in those user levels.

This package makes for an epic and excellent expansion to World of Warcraft, one that will certainly keep longtime players coming back. And the increased accessibility and streamlined nature of World of Warcraft 2008 compared to World of Warcraft 2004 mean that even players who gave up a long time ago will also find plenty of reasons to return to Azeroth.