Rivals feels like it's on the cusp of greatness. The pieces are all there--the handling is exciting, the soundtrack is solid, and the systems that surround the multiplayer help build meaningful battles between racer and cop. But with just six players driving around the entire world and no good way to pull those players together for some true multiplayer activities, those pieces go absolutely nowhere, leaving behind an empty world that might as well not even be online at all. It's a real shame.

Unfortunately, the game doesn't do enough to bring players together, resulting in an online game that feels empty, cold, and lifeless.

Ryse makes a good showpiece if you've bought into the Xbox One early, but at full price it feels a little thin.

Even with what it's missing, the wide swath of visual improvements to NBA 2K14 alone make it worth consideration for anyone looking for a great looking sports game to go along with their new console purchase.

If anything, NBA 2K14 signals that great things are on the horizon for this franchise on these new platforms, and that things are already off to a very good start.

Madden NFL 25 doesn't represent enough of a leap forward to make it either a technical showpiece for your new console, nor a more exciting football game than what EA already put out a few months ago.

Madden NFL 25 doesn't represent enough of a leap forward to make it either a technical showpiece for your new console, nor a more exciting football game than what EA already put out a few months ago.

World might not be the same revelation that Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Galaxy were, but it doesn't look at traditions as a crutch, and instead uses what you know as a way to delight and entertain.

Here is a game that dutifully balls up tired cliches and flat, unimaginative game design just for the sake of filling a presumed-to-be requisite slot in a launch lineup. It does the barest minimum necessary to craft a functional, if utterly flavorless morsel for families hungry for something to feed their shiny new PlayStation 4.

It's a quality multiplayer shooter paired with a lackluster campaign that starts out with promise that it completely squanders by the time the credits roll.

It's a little hard to wrap your head around the idea that what's arguably the best exclusive game on the PS4 so far is sort of a pack-in freebie, but even at the normal $15 asking price, Resogun would be an easy download to recommend.

It's still my favorite online multiplayer shooter. But the bells and whistles surrounding the game are muted and missing, leaving behind that same core without giving you enough new and exciting reasons to come back.

Ghosts offers the same style of video game combat that Call of Duty has had since 2007. The core of it is still engaging and can be very thrilling, if you're receptive to this type of action. In fact, it's still my favorite online multiplayer shooter. But the bells and whistles surrounding the game are muted and missing, leaving behind that same core without giving you enough new and exciting reasons to come back. Even with the improved graphics to be had on next-generation consoles, I'd rather play Black Ops II.

2K14 most definitely satisfies whatever nostalgia I had for Wrestlemania's history, and I expect will provide ample enough amusement between now and next year's installment. But come next year, I'm considerably less certain that another entry just like 2K14 will be similarly satisfying.

It works because it's fun to explore the limits of the scenario and see which bits they've written smart, well-delivered dialogue for and how many different "endings" you can come up with as you play around.

All I can say is that in spite of its sometimes dopey script, its slavish dedication to control mechanics that don't always quite fit, and its unrelenting desire to stuff in as many obvious blockbuster movie references and cliches as a single game can hold, I enjoyed the experience of playing Beyond: Two Souls.

I have no issue recommending NBA 2K14 to those looking for another tightly-tuned, exquisitely deep game of basketball for their current generation consoles. It'll certainly help if you have a particular interest in King James and his future endeavors, but NBA 2K14 has more than enough quality content to keep LeBron haters happy too.

The resulting journey is so singularly devoted to creating a specific tone and atmosphere that you won't likely be able to stop thinking about it until long after you've seen it through to the end.

The brothers' commitment to their goal and to each other is so strong, the various parts of this game so superbly crafted and woven together, that it's hard not to feel deeply touched when you finally reach the end of the road and see how deftly this game marries its gameplay to its themes in a way few have before.

If you're the sort of person who thinks video games are capable of not just entertaining us but also making us think and feel, you owe it to yourself to play Brothers.

The writing associated with those main characters and their stories is the best part of Grand Theft Auto V.

If you missed out on NHL 13, NHL 14 comes recommended largely without caveat. If you did pick up 13, consider how badly you want to see improved hitting and an abundance of fighting before deciding if you need to drop another $60.

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.

The problem is, Madden NFL 25 isn't anywhere near the best or most memorable edition of the game released. Hell, it's barely much better than last year's flawed, but generally playable game.

As is, The Bureau makes for a decent enough 10 hours of alien-obliterating combat, but all the way through you'll find yourself lamenting the many aspects that feel like they could have, and should have, been better.

Maybe if it had scaled back the scope of its X-Files-meets-the era of Mad Men concept, focusing on the earliest incursions of the massive conflict brought to bear in Enemy Unknown, it might have helped rein in some of the crazier, stupider, and more aggressively junky portions of the game.

It’s epic, personal and revelatory to the people involved, and that’s why it’s so special. The moments in my life that I cherish the most--my first love, realizing my brother was my best friend, moving to San Francisco, getting married--would not register against saving the universe from an alien threat, but these are the epic moments in my life. Gone Home grounds itself by reveling in life’s quiet, defining moments, the ones you might write down in a diary, underneath a set of books, only to find years later.

Yes, it's most certainly "just" more of the Pikmin we came to know during the GameCube era, but after nine years on the shelf, coming back to a Pikmin game this solidly designed quickly reminded me why I had such affection for this series in the first place.