Darkstalkers Resurrection isn't just a re-release of two classic fighting games, it also stands as the best example to date of how to revive games from the 1990s on modern gaming hardware.

An absolutely first-rate roleplaying game that combines an abundance of content with an abundance of quality. The outdated design elements are unfortunate but not so distracting that it ruins the depth of the story, the openness of the setting, or the visceral joys of combat.

Uncharted 4 is a grand adventure: over the top yet, simultaneously, graciously restrained. It is a reflection on a grandiose life with an overcast of impermanence and a dignified maturity. A Thief's End doesn't settle for telling the final story of Nathan Drake, it also tells the human story of Nathan Drake, serving as a fitting, elegant farewell. "Immersive" is a word that is often used to describe well-executed games, yet never has it been more appropriate than for A Thief's End. Never have I felt more respected as a player, as a fan, than I did during my time with Uncharted 4.

Just as Abe's Oddysee was a classic of the PlayStation era, so too should Oddworld: New n' Tasty be a classic of the modern age. More than just a remake, this is a contemporary puzzle-platformer that charms, exasperates, and delights. This is how you do a reboot.

Spelunky is a demanding platformer that manages to be both progressive and nostalgic at the same time. The enjoyment you'll get out of the title is limited only by your tolerance for frustration.

It admirably accomplishes what an expansion is supposed to do, and doesn't in any way diminish what made the great one of the best RPGs ever made.

Overwatch is a fast, fun, and fresh take on the class-based shooter. Blizzard has made sure its first new IP in 17 years is polished to perfection.

A game worth buying a 3DS for.

Frozen Synapse is an amazing refinement of the tactical strategy genre. It's both approachable for those new to the genre and deep enough to keep you coming back.

I went into this game as a skeptic. Madden NFL 11 made me a believer.

If you've never played Plants vs. Zombies before, then this is - wait for it - a no-brainer. The game is an amazing gigglefest of unbridled fun, overflowing with game modes and replayability.

A brilliantly told story, excellent voice acting, and an atmosphere so unnerving you'll sleep with the lights on for a month. If only it came with a bottle of instant amnesia so that you could play it for the first time more than once.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U delivers hour after hour of fun fighting game play, even if you hate fighting games.

Aside from some minor technical hurdles like occasional slowdown, it looks great, and plays like the best parts of all four Halo games up until now. If you were worrying that Bungie would phone it in for their swan song, worry no more. And that's not even getting into the multiplayer

Undertale is fantastic in ways that are hard to describe. It's a love letter to RPGs, gamers, and gaming in general.

Hyper Light Drifter is a breathtaking game that draws heavily from gaming's most prominent pioneers without relying too heavily on their influence. It is an eclectic masterpiece that feels more like an experience than a video game.

With a regular controller, Child of Eden is a finely-tuned, lovely shooter. With Kinect, it transforms from being something you play to something you become. It's impossible to see someone playing Child of Eden with Kinect and not want to try it yourself. And once you start, you'll keep coming back for more.

This is a fantastic game, but only if you desperately crave the second half of the Assassin's Creed 2 experience. If you hated the original game, there's nothing here to sway you and the story certainly doesn't welcome newcomers. The multiplayer adds a nice diversion.

Extremely funny and surprisingly poignant, Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep is the Borderlands 2 magnum opus.

On a purely technical level, it's one of the most impressive games the PS3 has to offer: It shifts perspectives effortlessly across a number of highly detailed environments without so much as a hiccup and with almost nonexistent load times to interrupt the experience. But in a broader sense, God of War III serves as an example of how to deliver astonishingly varied gameplay in a cohesive package.

BioWare has created a role-playing game which feels like a massive monument to our culture. Inquisition is an absolute blast to experience for one hour or 150.

This is the Tomb Raider you've wanted for years. It needs a few more puzzles, but that's a small gripe when cast against such a marvelous adventure.

The finest city builder in over a decade, Cities: Skylines's few flaws are so minor I only noticed them after hours of enjoyment.

My favorite Civilization to date. Hex tiles and no stacking makes combat fun and more tactical. The new systems work incredibly well without altering what makes the game Civilization. Civ V is an excellent game.

The true masterpiece is the endless struggle to create art. Jump scares and predictable tricks in horror games won't work anymore. The story of the artist is intriguing while still making you feel tense and uneasy about what you see. Layers of Fear made story, gameplay, and atmosphere work together in harmony.

LittleBigPlanet PS Vita has a compelling story and is a joy to play through. Its ability to successfully integrate so many of the Vita's hardware functions makes gameplay both challenging and entertaining. Allowing players to contribute to its world by building their own levels is simply the cherry on the sundae.

With slick and fast-paced battles, a more adult take on the traditional Pokémon concepts and an entirely new roster of characters, Pokémon Black & White is as close to a "reboot" as the franchise has ever seen, but it doesn't reinvent what doesn't need reinventing.

Blizzard tears WoW to the ground and builds it up more skillfully than ever before. The new content is creative, has a tangible sense of story and progression that you wouldn't expect from an MMO, and is implemented so skillfully and smoothly that the bumps in the road are actually a bit jarring.

With slick and fast-paced battles, a more adult take on the traditional Pokémon concepts and an entirely new roster of characters, Pokémon Black & White is as close to a "reboot" as the franchise has ever seen, but it doesn't reinvent what doesn't need reinventing.

Assassin's Creed III lets you jump into an intriguing point in history, and it succeeds on nearly every level with nimble combat, fun diversions and the chance to captain your own ship. Connor might not be an altogether likeable hero, but the New World he's fighting to protect is one you won't forget.

Conviction is the best installment in the series. The developers took some major risks in design and presentation that paid off, resulting in a game that's at once approachable and complex, and arguably the current last word in stealth adventure.

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is a brain-twisting delight. Show up for the clever puzzles, stick around for the gorgeous visuals and quirky minigames.

An amazing introduction to the Fables setting, the first episode of The Wolf Among Us absorbs you fully into the character of Bigby Wolf through excellent writing and forcing the player to make engaging choices.

The series has scaled down from Empire but lost none of the drama or excitement. The smaller scale makes it easier to appreciate all the things the game does right.

Skyward Sword manages to honor 25 years' of gaming history while simultaneously feeling relevant for anyone new to the ways of Zelda - or those who'd perhaps grown a bit tired of hanging out with Link.

It's the best new, isometric RPG to come out in years.

Mists of Pandaria looks and sounds simply beautiful. And it knows it, providing ample opportunity to ride massive kites or giant jade dragons and ogle sculpted monuments and tiered pagodas all while listening to an epic orchestral soundtrack or a nearly flawless monologue delivered by talented voice actors.

It's a platform-lover's dream and the kind of game you buy a Wii for. Do whatever you've got to do to play it.

Bioshock Infinite is both a breathtaking achievement in videogame storytelling and a marquee example of a game that will stick with you long after you see everything it has to offer. Calling it simply a first-person shooter is practically an insult. If you can make it through the game without being emotionally affected - or even experiencing a bit of an existential crisis - you need to check your pulse immediately.

More than just a remake, GoldenEye 007 lives up to its predecessor and then some by not only modernizing the story but the multiplayer as well.

Journey is incredibly short - you'll finish in about two hours - and it's not really all that challenging in the traditional gameplay sense. But it will be meaningful to you in a way that a bigger, louder, flashier game won't.

A must-play for any PlayStation owner, The Unfinished Swan is a short but brilliant exercise in broadening perception, and utilizing simplicity.

While Black Flag feels very much like an Assassin's Creed game, its gameplay reminds me more of Sid Meier's Pirates! wrought in glorious 3D. As in that classic game, you are free to sail wherever your heart desires, and be as dastardly or as benign as you like. Embodying Edward Kenway and living through his adventures on the seas, while also experiencing his struggle with Assassins and Templars alike, is pure escapist delight.

If you're going to try and woo a modern gaming audience with old-fashioned gameplay, you'd better be pretty special. The Book of Unwritten Tales is. It's smart, funny, well-crafted and has tons of heart.

It's Street Fighter IV, but better. With the additional characters new and old alike, it's a glorious celebration of the classic fighting franchise - and even if it hasn't changed much, it's changed enough to be clearly head and shoulders above its predecessor.

Dishonored gives you a beautiful, fascinating, new world to explore, and then makes it your playground for grand misdeeds. Its story of political intrigue and betrayal is told at exactly the right pace, balancing information with action in a way that keeps you interested, but not overloaded.

One of those games that you'll play simply because it makes you feel so good. It's also challenging and clever, with well done co-operative play and even a great soundtrack. There's no downside to this game.

NBA fans will appreciate the accurate nuances and historical details of 2K11 while those less hardcore might be put off by the difficulty. Those people should play it with the Move.

StarCraft II is a wonderful game, both as a story-telling experience and a strategically deep and tactically challenging game. The single-player campaign is deeply satisfying to complete.

It is a rare breed of game that offers exactly what it promises, and does so flawlessly.

Limbo is genius. Freaky, weird genius. Disturbing, uncomfortable genius.

In an age where instant gratification is an essential feature in nearly all art, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate might seem almost miserly in its slow drip and patient reveals of its staggering depth. After more than 20 hours with the game, I’d still only unlocked two-thirds of the main cast and explored half of the World of Light’s map. Rather than feel irritated or cheated by its patience, I instead found Ultimate a luxurious experience, every bit as meditative in practice as its fights were bombastic. This is a game to be enjoyed over time, to be savored with a refreshed palate after you’ve spent some time away.

The Western genre has been won. Fans of the Western genre will feel as if they've died and gone to heaven and open-world gamers will be treated to an experience unlike any they've had before.

Blood and Wine is not the epic "save the world" adventure prior Witcher titles were, but that's okay. It's a fond farewell to Geralt of Rivea, ensuring your last adventure with The Witcher leaves a smile on your face.

The advancements in RPG mechanics would be enough to set it apart, but the real achievement of Dragon Age II is in the story-telling. I could point out the improved combat and graphics till there's blood covering my face, but BioWare is one of the few companies that uses the advanced computing power available to modern game designers to let you actually play a role.

The third episode of The Wolf Among Us adds an illusory time limit, and it works damn well at ramping up the tension of Bigby's investigation before a stellar climax.

Rather than pushing off being sneaky to sections or merely offering it as an option, Mark of the Ninja is a return to form for the stealth genre where bypassing an opponent is just as thrilling as killing them.

A fantastic game, keeping up the series' tradition of giving players a wide open world and the tools to go absolutely bonkers within it. It's hilarious, it's action-packed, and most of all, its fun to play.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 doesn't tinker with the established formula very much, but we didn't really want it to. It's huge, brilliant, and gorgeous. It's why you started playing videogames in the first place.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a thrilling, suspenseful game that holds a mirror up to our own world without losing track of its own. Action, puzzles, a fantastical setting, and a compelling story merge together in a world where conspiracies are real, you can't trust the media, and a razor thin line separates your allies from your enemies.

Borderlands 2 is a denser, richer version of it's predecessor, never compromising on the gunplay that made the series worthy of a sequel.

Guild Wars 2 continues set itself apart by being an MMO that stresses and encourages players to adventure and tackle challenges together.

The Old Hunters is a worthwhile expansion to one of the best games of the year and a shining example of how DLC should be made.

Far Cry 3's single player story may have its ups and downs, but it's still an incredibly in-depth action experience. It's combat and open-ended gameplay is engaging and well-designed, and there are plenty of incentives to explore the game world to see what you can find. The multiplayer modes, while not as detailed, are a nice extra feature that's just as enjoyable as the single player campaign.

Depending on your choices, "Sons of Winter" finally offers a payback for every loss the Forresters suffered. Every plotline lets the player experience a satisfying victory against your worst enemies - with the exception of Gared Tuttle, who is mostly setting up the North Grove story for next month. But with two episodes remaining and a last-second twist you might still lose it all - but it wouldn't be the Game of Thrones if you couldn't.

This is a retro re-release at its finest. The game feels like its classic counterpart, but it has a number of improvements to make it more palatable to a modern gaming audience.

A visually stunning game with simply fun action and challenging platforming, El Shaddai is only slightly marred by the death system and unoriginal mechanics.

Need for Speed: Rivals is like the love child of GTA and Grand Turismo. It avoids the repetitive closed-course race tracks in favor of a fun, free-spirited open world racing experience.

The experience is high on satisfaction and low on frustration, making it an undeniably perfect fit for the company's mobile console. It's not entirely flawless, but as Mario games go, it's one of the best.

Warlords of Draenor provides a new look and feel to an old franchise. It may disappoint some of the hardcore in its apparent simplicity, but for the regular and new players, this expansion shows a lot of what made the game so appealing when it launched 10 years ago.

It's a fantastic little platformer that looks great, plays well, doesn't talk down to you and utilizes the strengths of the system to their full effect. This is a game that really "gets" the essence of the 3DS, and understands that a good 3DS game means so much more than just using the 3D effect.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is absolutely wonderful all around. Each of the 13 protagonists gets relatively equal screen time, and they’re all brought to life by both the great English and Japanese voice tracks. You’re sure to have your favorites, but it’s incredibly satisfying to see how each of their stories intersects through time and space and coalesces into the battle for mankind against the alien invaders. This is one adventure you simply don’t want to miss.

Like much about the game, it balances frustrating randomness with exercises of supreme timing and skill. It balances the old, iterative parts with the shiny and new. It is very much Mario Kart: Take it or leave it.

Omega Force superbly balances the beat 'em all combat of Dynasty Warriors with the enchanting world of The Legend of Zelda. With a meaty combat system and tons of stuff to uncover, Hyrule Warriors is a mad idea that should logically get old after an hour, but never does. It's a novelty that can't quit being novel, and I love it to death.

An impressive port that, while needing to jury rig one or two things, does a most admirable job of putting Terraria in your pocket.

A fantastic dungeon-crawler that is still mercilessly addictive two years after the fact, Diablo III turns out to be a surprisingly good console fit. Just don't leap at the chance to get a current-gen version if you already have it for the prior systems.

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is solid, both in gameplay and narrative. It has been a long time since a fighting game has been this fun for me.

Ashes of the Singularity has limited depth in some aspects, but as an RTS experience, and particularly as a first showing for its Oxide Engine foundation, it is absolutely stellar.

Bleed 2 is a great choice for anyone who loves extremely fast-paced action games that reward skill. Particularly if you've ever wanted to quadruple jump a path through a swarm of gunfire and flaming wreckage, riddle a bunch of enemies with bullets in slow motion, and finish off a hostile helicopter by deflecting one of the dozen missiles it's launched that you back in its freaking face with your sword before touching the ground. It's that kind of game.

An action-heavy realization of what makes Batman such a compelling hero, complete with a fascinating world, a smart story and loads of rewards for exploring it all.

No Going Back provides not one, but three fitting ends to The Walking Dead's second season, each one satisfactory - and saddening - in its own right.

Gorgeous, atmospheric and utterly intriguing, Kentucky Route Zero is a fine example of all that is good about indie game development.

Playing as NBA legends in their prime is awesome, and the My Player improvements are great, but the amalgamation of modes and features doesn't transcend the genre like last year's game did.

The core gameplay of Arkham Knight is nearly flawless, and most players won't even notice my problems with story or dialogue.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown will have you swapping horror stories at the watercooler, and loving almost every minute of it.

Few other games with as many miles under their belts look and feel this good. A fresh coat of paint is all this game needed to remind the world how Bungie brought shooters out of the stone age.

It's so enthralling that I was crushed when I reached the end of Episode 2 and realized that I couldn't continue with the story yet.

A brilliant remake, Star Fox 64 3D sports all the fun and fast-paced action of the original with an excellent visual redesign and only a few minor drawbacks.

Ultimately, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion doesn’t do anything too crazy beyond massively upgrading the visuals and expanding the audio. And frankly, that’s good enough. The original PSP game was excellent with its strong central character and carefully crafted combat, and the addition of a right thumbstick on modern controllers to control the camera is a huge upgrade all by itself. By just taking this foundation and freshening up the graphics and sound, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is both one of the most successful video game prequels and one of the best action RPGs in general.

LA Noire is the type of game we jump up and down over - full of story and style and oozing playability and charm. Unfortunately the single, awkward mechanic of the interrogations mars what could have been a flawless recreation of a classic genre.

Devil May Cry 5 is 99 percent about doing things that are totally sweet and looking totally sweet while doing them. There’s no thematic depth waiting beneath its bombastic, blood-drenched glamour and its vulcanizing, improvisational violence choreography. But when Hideaki Itsuno’s unlikely sequel drew me into a meditative flow of stabbing angry skeletons with a sword the height and width of a Bob’s Big Boy statue, I still found myself carried back to electric moments and powerful memories.

Samurai Shodown is a pristine work of fighting game clarity.

Gunpoint is a short, well-crafted title that combines film noir, stealth, and hacking puzzles into a incredibly fun gaming experience. No one mechanic or playstyle takes precedence over the others, but all are equally balanced and fun to play around with.

This time around, Kickstarter actually did come to the rescue, delivering a game that is very much worthy of being called the spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie. Yooka-Laylee is a game for fans who miss the N64 days of running around a huge, open map, collecting a bunch of stuff and having a bit of a laugh. It's cute, it's funny, and a few minor technical issues aside, it's exactly what it promised to deliver.

Gears of War 4 is the best Gears yet. Don't expect a revolution, but a refinement of all of the aspects that make Gears great, including an over-the-top, almost cartoonish campaign, and a kick-ass upgrade of Horde mode. It's also a flawless representative of Microsoft's new "Play Anywhere" and Universal Windows Platform initiatives.

The MMO industry has been tirelessly chasing the coat tails of a certain game, attempting to capitalize on being the same formula but with something like better storytelling or PVP. In a fresh contrast, the developers behind Guild Wars 2 have taken the time to truly examine the MMO from the ground up. Guild Wars 2 may not completely revolutionize the genre, but it certainly appears to be the new standard that future MMOs will look to.

Orcs Must Die 2 continues to build on its predecessor which cleverly matched together two different genres into a fun and quirky title, and the addition of co-op dials the enjoyment up a notch.

Battlefield 1 is the game that DICE needed to keep the series fresh. The WWI setting makes for great gameplay, and it's well-executed and super fun to play. The campaign is short but enjoyable, and the multiplayer is outstanding.