Thing is, it injects so much dopamine into my little monkey brain that any intellectual qualms I may have are effectively quashed as long as a controller is in my hands. Put more plainly, Nintendo really knows how to make a fabulously fun run-to-the-right game.

The good news is that players whose gaming palates DO lean toward slaying nightmarish minions with tongue-twisting weapons are finally getting the game they probably wished Diablo III was to begin with.

The first act of Kentucky Route Zero will take you about an hour to complete. It’s well worth your time to do a second play through and a third and maybe even a fourth just to experience what it’s like to live a life on the road.

Ninja Theory didn’t just overhaul Dante. It also infused the series’ plot with some big — and surprisingly timely — ideas.

The Wii U version of the game isn’t perfect, however. The bigger screen and 1080p HD graphics do add to the flair of the game — the textures are redone for the more powerful Wii U, while most of the game models are the same — but no one would mistake them for something that wasn’t also designed to be played on a handheld. The framerate is much better and, most importantly, you can play online with other players.

There’s just something about its robust creation modules that makes sense to me in a way most other game-making games don’t.

It may not be what everyone wanted, but it happens to be almost exactly the sort of Assassin’s Creed game for which I’ve been pining now for a few years.

Complex, sometimes unwelcoming (though less than in the past) — and utterly satisfying when you beat your way past the walls it puts up.

The Long Dark‘s long-in-the-making story mode was worth the wait. And with an eventual total of five episodes each looking to last between seven and ten hours, it looks like it may well prove a truly epic survival experience.

When you’re dealing with disturbing subjects ranging from life-destroying drug addiction to creepy cult organizations to legitimately psychopathic behaviour, the jokes go down a little easier if you get the sense that the writers penned their quips with an aim to make you think about why you’re laughing...True satire happens in Grand Theft Auto V, just not nearly as often as I’d like.

Much like when it was first released, Wind Waker is a visual and auditory feast and it works brilliantly for its first few hours.

Fallout 4 is not the bar-raising, generation-defining post-apocalyptic RPG for which players like me might have hoped. But – and this is a great testament to Bethesda Softworks’ ability to transport us to fantastical worlds in which we become utterly engrossed – it is nonetheless a great piece of end of the world entertainment that’s managed to keep my hands firmly on my controller and my eyes glued to the screen and for dozens of enjoyable hours over the last week...Just don’t expect to be blown away with how it looks.

What’s here is cleverly crafted, well-balanced, and capable of generating moments of authentic mirth.

Every aspect of the Assassin’s Creed formula has been taken apart and put back together again, all while existing in a world populated by impressive crowds of thousands. Sadly, the game pushes right up against the hardware limitations of the new-generation consoles and does not have the quite narrative ambitions or scope as previous games in the series.

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen is an entertaining epic. Fifteen bucks might seem steep for a mobile game, but it’s a reasonable price to pay for a fantasy adventure that could end up keeping dedicated RPG fans occupied for weeks or months.

The Enemy Within 2 oughtn’t to disappoint genre fans. It’s a challenge to survive, and there are some good moments of both physical and mental horror. I’m not sure Tango Gameworks’ largely backward-looking franchise will ever be a mainstream giant within its category, but sometimes the best horror experiences are those geared for a subset of fans – especially if you happen to be a member of said subset.

Will the lack of punishing difficulty turn away the genre’s more hard-core fans? I doubt it. The prestige they crave can be had via leaderboards. By the end I was scoring a D on pretty much every set of levels, with low marks for style, time, hits taken, and lives used. These are the sorts of things genre devotees can master and brag about and hold over the heads of we lesser shmuppers...More serious players might, however, take some issue with the overall simplicity of design.

Had Sunset Overdrive come out late August, there’s a good chance it would have gotten a lot more time to embed itself into people’s consciousnesses. Now, I hope that some of the interesting things the game does are enough to get it noticed in the deluge of big fall games.

Each location along the way is filled with plenty of side-quests, clever puzzles, and secret locations waiting to be discovered. It adds a good dozen hours or more to the experience, making this fantasy world bursting with things to do almost seem like a much more whimsical kids’ version of an Elder Scrolls game.

There’s no denying The Golf Club needs some sort of proper career or long-term competition to help retain players’ interest...But if there’s ever a sequel – and I hope there is – then perhaps HB Studios can add this one last missing piece of the puzzle to what has turned out to be an excellent golf simulation.

But regardless of how one happens to feel about the cast switch, Awakening still makes for a pretty attractive bit of DLC for anyone who’s still playing – and would like to keep playing – Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

Still, Tales from the Borderlands is off to a great start in its plot and personalities. If Telltale can focus more on our heroes’ banter and comical interactions in coming episodes, it will only get better.

Paying a reasonable price for dozens and dozens of hours of satisfying and balanced puzzle play – and no temptation to spend more on in-app purchases – seems like a no-brainer to me.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War does very more-of-the-same in places — it’s the franchise’s 17th instalment, after all — but when a formula has been so fine-tuned, it’s hard to expect the developers to monkey around with it too much.

This is an add-on pack in the truest sense of the term, giving you a large heaping second-helping of what you experienced before.

And if you happen to enjoy your strategy mixed with a little absurdity – like a scarecrow armed with a pumpkin launcher specially tuned to stun alien brains – then all the better.

On the one hand, Plants vs. Zombies 2 is all kinds of fun. The action is as compelling as ever, and the new plants, zombies, rail mechanics, and various mini-games only make things better...On the other, its aggressive strategy to make players spend money within the game is a bummer.

As much as the studio has plugged the cinematic nature of the game’s storytelling, I can’t help but feel the story devolves into some groan-worthy comic book tropes. But it’s not enough to diminish the overall enjoyment of the game...Injustice: Gods Among Us will appeal to both those who grew up reading Batman or playing Mortal Kombat.

Use your kid as an excuse to buy it, then start a fresh save file and play through it yourself once she’s fallen asleep.

From its unrelentingly dark story to its challenging difficulty to its imperfect controls, in no way is The Banner Saga 2 the sort of game one sits down to play casually. It is an intense and demanding experience right from the start, and it never lets up.

use is a strong foray for Insomniac. It’s the Ratchet and Clank/Resistance developer’s first game that isn’t exclusive to Sony systems, and is a polished piece of software.

as it turns out, Yo-Kai Watch is pretty fun. Weird. But also fun.

In the end, what I like most about Puyo Puyo Tetris is that it has a true all-ages appeal. I can see an eight-year-old playing an 80-year-old, both having a blast. And it’s especially fun with other people on the couch beside you. I’m sure some families will play it off and on together and with friends for as long as they own a Switch.

Indeed, Dark Souls II is pretty much exactly the sort of game it wants to be.

While most modern Lego games follow a similar formula – basically, exploiting and parodying some of the biggest pop culture culture properties around – the latest Lego game, Lego Worlds, completely eschews Batman, Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, and the rest of the franchises that helped make Lego games so popular in the first place. Instead, it focuses on facilitating the joy of pure creative freedom.

lood Dragon is silly-fun. It’s the video-game equivalent of spilling all of your toys out in the sandbox and making a story up as you go along with He-Man and Optimus Prime teaming up to fight Cobra Commander...Nothing really makes sense, but it doesn’t make sense in just exactly the right way.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has holes that simply can’t be filled with trophies and an encyclopedic soundtrack. The customizable characters are interesting, amiibo’s have their finer points, and the multiplayer is smooth, but at its core this is a game left unchanged.

While Mario Kart 8 wasn’t what I was exactly looking for in an MK game, it works well on its own terms, even if Battle Mode is the worst.

With great game mechanics, unique artwork and tough to master gameplay, Severed is well worthy of your time.

Planetbase is unforgiving with your citizens only steps away from the void. A solar flare can irradiate your workers, a stray meteor can suck the oxygen out of your habitation pods, and your crops can fail leaving your people to starve.

Firewatch establishes Campo Santo as a visionary studio with some interesting ideas on its mind. And while its first game doesn’t quite muster the authentic emotional resonance of a first-person narrative masterpiece like Gone Home, it still successfully draws us into its world and makes us care about its characters.

It’s an unexpectedly satisfying feat of writing – with some fine voice performances, to boot – for a series that hasn’t received much in the way of accolades for its storytelling in the past.

A faithful replication of the old arcade series. Iron Galaxy Studios — known for developing online HD releases of arcade games — did their best to ensure the game’s aesthetic carried over to a larger screen.

Getting the most out of Watch Dogs 2 requires a good deal of patience and the resolve to play the way you’re supposed to play – especially when you first start out.

In the end, though, I had a great time with Prison Architect, and spent more than one night playing into the wee hours in an effort to build and maintain the perfect prison. What I soon learned, of course, is that there’s no such thing. And adding profit to the equation only makes it worse.

Despite its shortcomings, Splatoon is one of the best Wii U titles and is exactly the kind of game Nintendo needs to release right – a game that’s different, unique and, most importantly, features the charm people have come to expect from the company’s titles.

Much like the original Resident Evil: Revelations for Nintendo 3DS, this sequel – weird episodic format notwithstanding – is a deferential nod toward Resident Evil’s origins. It’s both a step backwards and a step forwards; proof that that sometimes the best way to correct a franchise’s mislaid course is to double back a couple paces and start on a different path.

This is a sci-fi game for Call of Duty fans, not a Call of Duty game for sci-fi fans. Make your purchasing decision accordingly.

Bayonetta 3 won’t be for everyone, and that’s OK. There’s room for all sorts of oddities in our modern gaming landscape. And if you’re willing to just sit back and be wowed by a mountain of manic mayhem, chances are you won’t regret the time you spend with Bayonetta in her multiverse of madness.

Pac-Man 256 checks off all the key features of the original – short sessions, super accessible play, addictive mechanics – while adding just the right amount of modern conventions, including long-term goals, pretty presentation, and co-operative play.

It’s a blissfully lighthearted and colourful game filled with charm, humour — I giggled aloud the first time I caught a black bass, described in-game as “the most metal of all fish” — and a much needed sense of normalcy that comes at a time when we could all use a little pick-me-up.

Sea of Thieves is wholly dedicated to keeping players on equal footing. Someone who’s been playing for a day can crew up with someone who’s been playing for months, and neither will have an inherent advantage — save, of course, the latter’s experience with the game. It’s a bold move meant to keep the entire community playing together, and early indications suggest it works.

Longtime fans of Harvest Moon or those looking to reconnect with the series, Story of Seasons takes it back to the basics.

The Sims 4 provides an intimate and varied experience; being as a god over sprites, to then adopt the perspective within creation, and to, with empathy, become another person, to observe a whole family, or any number of people, as frequent and as seriously as one chooses. For what it is, a simulation game of life, relationships and interior design, I give it an [80].

Factor in multiplayer – both asynchronous turn-based play and a race mode that has players trying to beat each other to the cup with no regard to the number of strokes taken – and you have a game capable of delivering hours upon hours of fun.

Taken down the bare bones of what a video game can be, Dawning provides players with an experience that is at once dream-like and at other times filled with a horror that lies just below the surface.

If you have a crew of friends ready to do some co-op puzzling, Tiny Brains is probably for you; you’ll have a good time, even if you want to punch your buddies by the end...If you’re going it solo, maybe take a pass.

Ultimately, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was designed as a game for people who liked the first two Borderlands and want more of that.

Undeniably distinct from any of the games in which Luigi co-stars with his more famous brother, it’s a rollicking little romp hampered only by its flawed interface, which is more a problem with hardware than game design.

It’s a bit too short and easy to be truly satisfying for experienced gamers. That said, I defy any parent still in possession of an ounce of childhood joy and wonder to have a bad time taking turns playing alongside their kids.

Like other great puzzles franchises – Tetris, Bejeweled, and Picross leap to mind – Pushmo doesn’t seem to be changing much between releases. Intelligent Systems has stumbled onto a winning design and they’re sticking with it.

The sixth iteration in Turn 10’s reliably polished series capably lives up to the franchise’s revered name, but doesn’t dare exceed it.

Intimidatingly epic.

If my daughter’s reactions while playing are any indication it seems safe to say most kids will love this Skylanders adventure at least as much as its predecessors. The new magnetically joined toys are unquestionably cool and there’s more to do within the game and keep them coming back than ever before.

For people who have played the series backward and forward, the most interesting part of the package will likely be the time attack modes that task you with finishing a mix of challenges from each game within a set time frame. Perfect if you want compartmentalized challenges or just don’t have quite enough time to tackle a full game.

This could be that rare case in which a game inspires players to give their well worn controllers a break and pick up a paperback for a few nights instead. That alone makes Metro: Last Light worth putting on your wish list.

If you’ve ever wanted to play an RPG/RISK/Real-time-strategy/third-person-shooting hybrid, Divinity: Dragon Commander is your best choice. It’s also your only choice. And despite how unwieldy that sounds, it actually kind of works.

Everything about it oozes with callbacks and fanservice that Zelda fans will be overjoyed with, but unable to contain the potent mix of Nintendo nostalgia and ludicrous action without tearing at the seams.

I doubt I’ll ever rank among the Vainglory hardcore, but right now I’m having a great time dipping into the arena for half an hour or so each evening.

This seeming brevity will undoubtedly miff some customers. The question you’ll need to ask yourself before making the spend is this: What do I want from a Mario game? If it’s simply to jam through courses, Super Mario Run‘s value proposition probably won’t make sense. You’d be better off with the virtually limitless array of courses available in a Super Mario Maker game, even though it costs five times as much. But if you’re looking to play the way kids did back in the day – repeating courses again and again until thoroughly mastered, every secret found and every trick jump carved into your grey matter like grooves on a record – then Super Mario Run becomes infinitely more appealing....It is, in fact, designed to make players want to play this way.

The resounding theme of Gears 5 seems to be marrying old with new. There’s never any mistaking it for something other than a Gears game, thanks to its polished cover-based combat mechanics, gleefully gory action, and 4K, HDR-enhanced graphics that raise the bar of what we can expect from an Xbox One game. But it’s also trying to grow the Gears experience by focusing on new characters, altering the flow of the campaign, and adding daring new multiplayer modes.

Just as entertaining as playing some of the games is fast-forwarding through the progression of Rare’s work over a period of decades. It’s like watching the evolution of the medium itself.

It might lack the spit and polish seen in some other shooters, but Battlefield V delivers a visceral thrill unique to the series. Its adrenaline-filled, large-scale battles give rise to memorable moments simply not seen in other games, and these moments are augmented by the faithful Second World War setting. Those looking for an alternative to the twitch-driven combat of other popular shooters will find it here.

It’s not perfect, but No Man’s Sky is as much – and probably a lot more – than we had any right expect from such an ambitious game made by such a tiny team.

Gehenna is an extremely interesting environment that’s brought to life by what amounts to being a message board filled with ornery, divisive, and Internet-fluent personalities.

That said, Simply Mad’s latest earns a pretty easy recommendation for anyone looking for a racing game unambiguously and unapologetically locked in the simulation category. Its vision is clear, and there can be little doubt that much love and passion was poured into its crafting.

Gran Turismo 7 is a bit of a throwback to the genre’s early days — and includes some of the series’ old shortcomings — but when it comes to accurate driving physics and sheer, unadulterated love of cars, it’s something close to peerless.

Lego Friends may not be the sort of game you steal away to play yourself after your daughter goes to sleep. And it’s not one you can play together with her for a shared and meaningful family gaming experience...But if you want to buy her a game that’s clearly meant just for her, a game that, as a parent, you can feel okay about having her play on her own or in the back seat of the car, not worrying that it will tarnish her developing brain with mindless violence or make her obsess over her appearance, Lego Friends is worth consideration.

If Mario Tennis Aces is a herald of what’s to come in sports games for Nintendo Switch, then fans of golf, baseball, soccer, and other sports have reason to get excited.

I’m admittedly still a bit lost when it comes to how all of the upgrade systems, subclasses, and secondary objectives and tasks work. And I’m sad that — as usual — I’ll miss out on the new raid mission for lack of being able to schedule a big team of friends to get together for multi-hour play sessions. But perhaps this is just the cost of doing business as a casual Destiny player.

Narratively, Life is Strange is kind of a mashup of My So Called Life and Donnie Darko (with a few elements of Alan Wake and Gone Home thrown in for good measure).

Cutting to the chase, Skylanders Imaginators on Switch offers the same creative, co-operative fun as on other platforms, minus a portal but with the added bonus of portability. It is, however, noticeably inferior to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One editions in its visual presentation.

I’d say it’s a little bit better. It has the best graphics, you can hear your puppy talk, and you can go on a little adventure. There’s no buggie, in case I haven’t mentioned that, but it’s still pretty good.

Fantasian draws clear inspiration from mid-numbered Final Fantasy games. From its orthodox structure — players are put in control of a party of heroes who explore towns, dungeons, and an overworld map, with turn-based battle occurring at random intervals — to its sci-fi-cum-fantasy vibe, which includes grand airships, imaginative monsters, and even glowing save crystals, anyone who played a turn-of-the-century Japanese role-playing game is going to experience some welcome nostalgia here — especially when Uematsu’s signature battle music and themes kick in.

Five years in the making, this one-man project is an ode to retro games like Metroid and Castlevania. From graphics and music to design and mechanics, it channels a late 80s gaming vibe in a way few other modern takes on classic genres do.

It took a little longer than I’d have liked to really draw me in, but once Star Wars Jedi: Survivor had its hooks in I went happily along for the ride. If Kathleen Kennedy greenlit a Cal Kestis TV series or film, I’d be over the moon. Maybe just with a little less wall-running.

However, if you skipped Saints Row IV when it originally landed there’s no reason not to dive in now. Saints Row IV: Re-Elected is an easy recommendation for adventurous players with a taste for the bizarre – especially at the bargain price of just $30.

Starships may lack the complexity and nuance of other strategy games, and it feels a bit rough around the edges in places, but its accessibility, terrific turn-based combat, and bite-sized duration combine to create a tempting alternative to a multi-evening marathon campaign.

All is not perfect — there are still some visual glitches and long load times to contend with — but for a title routinely derided for not improving enough between titles, Madden has really raised its game this time around.

At this point even a game like FRU is highly unlikely to make anyone rush out and by a Kinect camera. But any existing owners still interested in the possibilities of Microsoft’s sensor bar would do very well to give this refreshingly inventive little indie a shot.

Anno 2205 is a solid city builder, albeit one that doesn’t feel like the full Anno experience to me. If you’re someone who has been interested in the series but has been a bit scared by its fussiness and micromanagement, I’d recommend it. Ditto if you just want a city builder with a heavy resource-management angle...If you’re a long-time fan of the series though, you’ll probably be a bit put off by some of the changes and a very real drop in difficulty.

It’s a nice twist on traditional defense-style games. The strategy is surprisingly thoughtful, and the wacky traps rarely failed to bring a smile to my face.

It may not be more than the sum of its parts, but it’s still a fun action adventure and definitely a worthy sequel to Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Just don’t expect to be blown away by the sometimes convoluted story.

Co-op play isn’t as much fun as we might have hoped, and it’d be nice if the designers could find a way around Yoshi’s outmoded aiming mechanic, but the abundance of delightfully creative levels ought to sate casual Wii U gamers and the considerable challenge of tracking down every last collectible on each stage should appeal to Nintendo’s hardcore platformer fans.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege knows exactly what it wants to be, and it’s not necessarily something that will likely appeal to a particularly broad swath of players...It’s a small, focused, and intense game with but a handful of maps, modes, and playable characters. Clearly designed for a niche group of first-person shooter fans interested in teamwork, tactics, and authenticity, it entertains with the challenge of honing skills and strategies rather than jamming a mountain of mostly middling content down players’ throats, as so many other shooters seem eager to do...But that means it won’t be for everyone – especially not those who want to play alone.

It may not be the best or most innovative game within the series, but it definitely feels like it fits with the two games made by Rocksteady Studios.

It is certainly more polished than Civ 5 was when it was released, and feels much more like a finished game, where as the predecessor was merely alright until it was elevated by its expansions.

I don’t know that I’ve ever enjoyed a Star Trek game this much. Star Trek: Bridge Crew‘s target audience may not be as broad as those of most games, but it exploits just about everything the medium of virtual reality does well in its current state. I’d happily take a sequel.