Telltale needs to retain a modicum of control over such an intense, intricate plot. In doing so, it has found the balance between personalized gaming and coherent drama. Enjoy the journey.

An exquisitely polished game with few flaws.

The real treat for fans, of course, will be revisiting Halo 2's campaign and subsequently reliving the classic multiplayer...For newcomers looking to see what all the fuss is about, Halo is as vibrant now as it was a decade ago, and The Master Chief Collection is essential.

Much as Persona 4 Arena was a great fighter in its day, Ultimax immediately renders it obsolete. Whether you're a fan of fighting games or just want another chance to hang out with the familiar faces of the Inaba region, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax has you covered and then some.

The overall game doesn't get the polish on Wii U that it needed on other platforms back in August, but it remains a majestic blend of melee combat, puzzle solving and exploration. And if you squint, it's the best Steven Tyler game since Revolution X!

As a platformer with beat-em-up tendencies, Battleblock Theater is a rousing good time, alone or accompanied, and it weaves a charming tale throughout every challenge.

The few complaints I've aimed at Castlevania: Lords of Shadow can't withstand its engaging combat and unapologetic march through danger.

THQ and Yuke's bring the sport to life, and it says something about their efforts when the worst aspects of their product are minuscule in comparison to its overall value. UFC 3 makes it easy to get wrapped up in the tactical strategy of MMA fighting while maintaining the pace and difficulty at a challenging level.

The Wolf Among Us has been consistently excellent from start to finish, and its final chapter, Cry Wolf, is the well-told end of this well-told story.

Far Cry 4 may have installed a despot, but it's still the undisputed king of the open-world shooter.

Episode 2 ends on a note that highlights the detail and thought behind its mechanics... (Potential spoiler omitted.) It's presented in a terribly disturbing manner, of course, but that's part of what makes it so wonderful.

If you've found yourself unsatisfied with golf offerings on the PS3 and 360 in recent years, give this one a shot. It might not have the graphical polish of the other consoles, but you won't find a better pure golfing experience.

While the single-player campaign is something I can see myself returning to a couple more times in a quest for Achievements/Trophies, the multiplayer side of Crysis 2 has me utterly hooked. I came for the pretty graphics, was happy with the solid shooter underneath them and am pretty much beside myself with how unexpectedly good the online play is.

What would have otherwise been a competent sandbox game with solid combat mechanics and an interesting twist on a known fantasy world is elevated by the Nemesis System. Shadow of Mordor is the strategic person's action game.

For all its good looks, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- is ultimately disappointing. What the game does, it does very well, but the sum total feels lacking.

Though it plays it safe in terms of mechanics, TxK is challenging and thrilling throughout. It's a treat for anyone who enjoyed any previous version of Tempest, and it's especially worthwhile if you missed out on Tempest 2000.

It's an experience I intend to play repeatedly, wearing out the virtual grooves in the metaphorical albums.

As a solo game, Battlefield 3 on consoles is even less the sum of its parts than the PC version, due to compromised visuals and a legion of technical issues, some of which might stand in the way of actually finishing the game. When Battlefield 3 does its damnedest to go toe-to-toe with Call of Duty are the times it stumbles the hardest. But when DICE is doing what it's always done best, Battlefield 3 is a uniquely mesmerizing multiplayer game with a seemingly endless number of ways to feel like a success.

It's sad to see the game lose sight of its assassin role-playing ideals in favor of bombast, bomb blasts and pig herding, so I hope this is but a momentary stumble while the franchise regains its balance. Trim the excess, remember the central thrust (hint: it's with a knife) and then you'll have a great game again. Assassin's Creed 3 is the kind of game that's just good enough to make you wish it was better.

Developers! If a battle has several clear stages of pattern recognition, there had better be checkpoints between them.

The clumsy evolution of combat aside, I'd heartily recommend Guacamelee – once for its devilish difficulty, again for its luchadorable charm, and one last time for its even-handed treatment of the lowly video game chicken.

It's the finest simulation of basketball out there and this year's entry in the series is bolstered by smart and simple additions.

No amount of 3D waggle can change the fact that the Killzone 3 campaign is a miserable experience. Killzone 3 certainly offers more bells and whistles than its predecessor -- it's just a shame they've been affixed to an inferior game.

Critics are constantly crying out for fresh mechanics, and this is a wonderful one that I hope I get to see an evolution of.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted is the next Burnout game fans have clamoring for – it may not say so on the box, but everything about it screams Burnout. The feel of the cars, the physics and the eclectic mix of multiplayer modes are all undeniably Criterion qualities, the things old fans love and the properties that convert new fans with every studio release.

One of the two best RPGs on the Nintendo 3DS (the other being Fire Emblem). It's big, it's deep, and for once, it's accessible. That's more than enough reason to go and discover what has been, to this point, one of Atlus' best kept secrets.

I've come to a conclusion: Bulletstorm wasn't so much developed as it was raised on human growth hormones and taught the English language by a group of sailors and truck drivers. It was also shown every '80s action and sci-fi movie ever made about a dozen times, given a bottle of whiskey, handed a gun and instructed to shoot anything that moves.

Paradoxically, New Vegas doesn't make good on much new on any front, and it takes a hit both as experience and product for it.