The last episode of the series completes the arc of Bigby's investigation, and you'll be able to exact some final judgment on the perpetrators, but the resolution stumbles a bit after a spectacular climactic action scene. The whole series is excellent, and the conclusion may want to make you replay it to figure some stuff out you might have missed.

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.

Apply Devil May Cry's stylish, breakneck sensibilities to the run-duck-and-gun of Gears of War. All of the trappings are perfectly sound if not extraordinary, and despite one or two incredibly vexing design decisions, Vanquish's combat is blisteringly fast and a genuine pleasure to watch and play when it's going well - but an exercise in maddening frustration when it isn't.

My 40 hours in Yakuza: Like a Dragon were a great experience regardless if I was playing on my original Xbox One or seamlessly transitioning my save onto the Xbox Series X for improved resolution, frame rate, and loading times. I loved its characters, humor, and willingness to balance complete absurdity with utter sincerity. And even though the battle system would occasionally trip over its own feet, I still adored watching my crew beat the hell out of some weirdos, grow a little bit closer, and celebrate their victory with karaoke back at the pub.

Despite the time skip, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night feels like it could have come out just a year after Order of Ecclesia, when IGA and his team were still riding a hot streak and at the height of their abilities. Even after all this time, the house that IGA built has collected no cobwebs.

Kid Icarus: Uprising is a fun game with endearingly cheesy dialogue and characters, but the setup of the levels can get a little monotonous.

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.

It's a port of an excellent game that matches its source material beat for beat. Whether you're a franchise fan or simply a gamer looking for something fun to play on your 3DS, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is one of the best options of the platform.

Despite its quirks, Darksiders II really delivers on the breadth of its content, making for a sweeping experience that fans of multiple genres should be happy to explore if willing to look past a couple of hiccups along the way.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is a clever concoction that will stretch your brain in pleasantly unusual ways. It strikes just the right balance between whimsy and challenge, always just the right amount of difficult and bizarre.

Black Ops 2 is conflicted. It wants to move in bold new directions, but it falls back on safe, but aging, mechanics.

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.

Sine Mora puts a cool twist on the shoot 'em up genre with its application of time and interesting storyline.

Once the characters grow up and band together, the plot finds its Focus, and the gameplay takes the training wheels off to let gamers make the most of the stellar combat system, it's an excellent JRPG, just one with severe pacing issues.

MIO: Memories in Orbit is a pretty game, the kind where you can get lost in its world. Unfortunately, MIO: Memories in Orbit is a video game, not a cartoon, and the gameplay is a little too mundane, and its pacing is a bit too all over the place. There are certainly worse Metroidvanias on the market, and MIO: Memories in Orbit can easily be recommended for people looking for something similar to Hollow Knight, but more forgiving. It’s more the Metroidvania diehards who will be wishing that there was more under the hood.

If you're a fan of adventure platforms like Metriod and Castlevania, but you always felt they could be a little more sandbox, Terraria is a must have.

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.

While it takes some time to find its own identity, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a solid Gothic action game that is competent in all areas - but never outstanding in any of them.

Sometimes frustrating in terms of both gameplay and narrative, Transistor manages to be a redolent title with a ton of imagination. While not quite as clever as its presentation suggests, it's a pretty little title that ends on a beautifully bittersweet note.

Infamous 2 improves upon the original in nearly every way with a fantastic setting and great mechanics but the story just wasn't quite a home run.

Mortal Kombat X offers the best story mode I've ever personally seen in a fighting game. Its cohesive plot and extended cinematics makes you feel much more like a participant in a film than a player on the couch. The fighting is frantic, fluid, and dynamic, with the glorious goriness of the X-Ray moves often turning the tides of battle.

Another Professor Layton game, another bit of puzzling brilliance. Some of the brain teasers feel a bit recycled - instead of foxes and chickens, you're shuttling dogs and cats across the river, for example - but there's more than enough variety to warrant doggedly tracking down every last one. But if you only solve the ones you need to move the story forward, that's ok, too.

Despite a few control hiccups, Gravity Rush succeeds on the strength of its excellent movement system and endearing protagonist.

Despite a few issues with its end game challenges, Luftrausers is a surprisingly addictive, challenging arcade game that will keep you glued to your Vita for game after game after game.

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.

Broforce is a silly, but sincere love letter to iconic action movies, refined to perfection with rich environments and wonderfully-crafted enemies. Even when you're killed by an out-of-control explosion which you triggered, you'll be having an absolute blast with this game.

Dust: An Elysian Tail is made of straightforward elements built to extraordinarily high standards, and rarely loses sight of its commitment to beauty, craft, and straight-up fun.

If you like Dark Souls it's more new Dark Souls to explore.

MIO: Memories in Orbit is a pretty game, the kind where you can get lost in its world. Unfortunately, MIO: Memories in Orbit is a video game, not a cartoon, and the gameplay is a little too mundane, and its pacing is a bit too all over the place. There are certainly worse Metroidvanias on the market, and MIO: Memories in Orbit can easily be recommended for people looking for something similar to Hollow Knight, but more forgiving. It’s more the Metroidvania diehards who will be wishing that there was more under the hood.

When it comes down to it, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive may follow the same old formula of gameplay seen in previous versions of Counter-Strike, but it's still a well-rounded tactical shooter. It may not try anything drastically different or revolutionize the series by taking it in a new direction, but there's still enough there to appeal to newbies and hardcore fans alike.

As the game goes on, more and more quests are required to be completed to move on and frankly, I’ve found it exhausting. It’s hard to shake the feeling that Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is a game obsessed with making the player eat their vegetables.

Though it fails to innovate in an engaging way, the base on which Tropical Freeze is built is solid as a glacier.

The game perfectly recaptures that time in our lives when we're still too young to know how much we don't know, and still manage to believe that pinning a towel to our shirts makes us a superhero. The time when bravado counts for more than experience and candy can fix just about anything. It's adorable, but not cutesy, oozing with charm and a fantastic sense of humor.

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.

YS: Memories of Celceta is a great action RPG and one of the most entertaining games on the Vita. It perhaps stumbles in a few places but never enough to fully fall.

While its writing can make one cringe now and then, Child of Light is an overall charmer of a game, with a beautiful audiovisual style and clever twists on simple RPG concepts. Lovely stuff!

Though it climbs to impressive heights, it fails to stick the landing.

Superhot is a shining example of how to build a game around a single clever game mechanic. Its story mode is short, but the unlockable Endless and Challenge modes provide plenty of worthwhile reasons to go back for more.

The Outer Worlds 2 was a delight to explore, and I can’t wait to dip back into the game to build a character that’s the polar opposite of my first one. Arcadia felt both rewarding and dangerous to venture through, and the story stayed consistently entertaining throughout. Fans of the original should get a kick out of it, but new fans of the series will enjoy it, too.

While grinding and idiosyncrasies will get to some, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is a great game. It shines particularly bright when played [in] multiplayer.

If you happen to be the one person in the world who has never played Bejeweled, this is a great place to start. If you've already had your fill of the series, there's nothing here that will bring you into the fold.

Dyad is elegant and joyous, a hurricane waiting to be tamed - and you might hate it. That's true of every game, I know, but this is one of those games that you will either want to beat into submission as you bend it to your will, or one that you'll play for a few levels and abandon as soon as the learning curve starts to arc too high. There just isn't a whole lot of in between here.

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.

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.

A modest revision from last year's game, NCAA Football 12 brings adequate football gameplay with robust multiplayer dynasty features, for a price.

King's Quest: A Knight to Remember is a very promising start to a worthy revival of the classic adventure franchise.

Dragon taming doesn't feel very engaging, but because of the story's depth and the host of new items and abilities, Dragonborn is still a thoroughly charming experience.

It's a kinder, gentler Trauma Team, and that's a good thing. It's also got the most variety, offering both twitch surgery and medical puzzles.

Endless Legend is a lovely game with deep strategy that's a singular pleasure to play, but can sometimes disappoint you in finer details. Know that if you're never going to play multiplayer, you're not getting the whole experience - so bring a friend.

It plays fast and keeps you on your toes all the while. If you’re looking for a side of strategy with your next cozy gaming session, you’ll find it in Synergy’s fascinating desert, a world beyond our own.

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.

Mortal Kombat 11 is a very good game that could have been great.

For anyone exhausted by endless upgrade systems, infinite unlockables, new skins and every other contrivance meant to ensnare the contemporary player, Spyro’s uncynical good time is a worthy escape. This is one that shouldn’t be put away.

Combines the simplicity of modern tablet or touch screen gaming with complex old school systems. For the most part it works well, like balancing regenerating health with hunger, though there times where it feels like the game is stretched in two opposite directions.

Dragon's Crown is gorgeous, and though at times its flavor may be of questionable taste, ultimately it does still manage to strike a lot of the right nostalgia chords.

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.

With Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Kojima Productions and Platinum Games have retooled Raiden into a capable character who is finally justified in having his own game. By taking him out of covert missions, Raiden's able to wield his sword of justice and use his martial arts skills out in the open. This is more fitting to him than sneaking around in a cardboard box, which is possible in this game in case you want to pretend you're still Solid Snake, even just for a minute.

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.

A good little story with a bleak atmosphere that nonetheless provides some relaxing puzzle solving.

A standard, competent kart racer hampered by frequent loading times and irritating writing, but bolstered by an intuitive and powerful editor that lets gamers make their karts, racetracks, and characters their own - or at least lets them make their characters into Spider-Man.

Mechanically, Far Cry 4 is an excellent shooter. It adds further polish to the open-world and action of its predecessor with even more involved and dynamic gameplay, and is loaded with rewarding side content on top of featuring a huge game world you'll spend hours exploring. The narrative isn't quite as solid, and falls through in several places with some aggravating characters and a lack of context to drive your actions.

Enslaved rises above its flaws to deliver a grand adventure. Neither the platforming nor the combat are particularly inspired, but it doesn't really matter - you'll keep playing because you care about its characters.

SSX has glorious over-the-top moments, masterfully inspires friendly competition, and rewards practice with steady improvement. It's slick, polished, and hand-crampingly addictive.

Tekken 7 is the first modern fighting game I've played that really seems to maintain the feel of the classics in its entirety. As much fun as the results of the genre's evolution has been, there's always going to be a place in the gaming collective for the classics, and Tekken 7 is fundamentally just that. It's nearly perfect as a core Tekken experience. The only thing that was truly disappointing was the lack of Tekken Ball.

If you're willing to put in the effort of replaying 999 to examine its many paths, you'll be rewarded with a multilayered, oftentimes horrifying, story and some satisfyingly creative puzzles.

Ultimately, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is a celebration of everything that made the 2006 game special, and with that nostalgia has to come the understanding that while the remaster is an impressive love letter to the original, it doesn’t (and can’t) fully escape its age. Players who have realistic expectations will have a great time experiencing the remaster, whether it’s for the first time or not. However, those expecting a new, 2025-level Skyrim will be disappointed.

Joe Danger 2: The Movie has so much more content than its predecessor it almost doesn't feel like a sequel, and almost all of it is great. With tons of challenges to complete, multiplayer, and community content, you'll have plenty to do even after the credits roll.

Catherine is oftentimes agonizing, but like the blonde vixen that bewitches Vincent, it keeps you wanting more, just the same. The story, helped along by beautiful animation and first class voice acting, never stops being interesting. The puzzles test your mettle with genuinely clever design.

When Ninja Gaiden 4 focuses on what it’s good at – fights against lots of sword-wielding enemies in melee combat or a single big boss, it excels. Few games feel as satisfying as Ninja Gaiden 4, when you’re seamlessly blocking attacks and going straight into flashy, instant-kill death combos, with red rivers of blood soaking every surface. It’s just the moments outside of these that can test your patience, as the game can feel unfair, especially during a first playthrough when you’re learning the ropes.

Broken Age: Act 1 is all about the slow build. Slow isn't boring, however, and a wonderful job is done of carefully constructing the pace while keeping the audience amused. It's a strong start that concludes in a way that makes me desperate for more.

It's a bit rough around the edges, and the first few hours are a slog, but Starbound is a deep and vast constructor with a killer soundtrack.

Injustice: Gods Among Us is big dumb fun, and anyone who digs superheroes or virtual fisticuffs will find dozens of ways to enjoy NetherRealm's latest fighter.

Nidhogg is a strange, unholy pastiche of lo-fi aesthetics and surprisingly deep, albeit minimal play; taking cues from decades of arcade-style 1v1 fighting games and modern indie darlings.

With the amount of content and value on offer here and an incredible open world to sink upwards of 80 hours into, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is an example of what the franchise can be among its best. While not every aspect is perfect, the game’s epic journey makes for the best Assassin’s Creed game in a decade, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for the franchise after seeing Ubisoft can still deliver on its flagship IP in a big way.

The game's single player is surprisingly in-depth for a title that has been marketed as a multiplayer game, combining elements of platforming and shooting in a style of game that reminds me of Ratchet & Clank or Jak & Daxter.

Sunless Sea is a dark game combining Lovecraft-themed exploration with Victorian Gothic visual novels in exciting (and chilling) ways. The end result isn't perfect, but its sense of terror and wonder makes it a worthy follow-up to Failbetter's Fallen London.

In Harm's Way is one of the most violent installments TellTale's overall series, if only for the disturbing intimacy of it all. At times, Episode 3 is hard to experience, but it's well worth sticking it out.

Downwell is an unique take on the shoot em' up and roguelike genres that is sure to keep you coming back.

Dual Destinies follows in its predecessors' footsteps by combining simple gameplay mechanics, memorable characters, and bizarre courtroom antics into a wholly entertaining experience. It drags at times, with pacing between the investigations and trials occasionally being an issue, but that hardly gets in the way of the fun.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare upholds the status quo and aims no higher than that. Its sci-fi trappings are but shallow appeals to progress, and while the multiplayer is still able to provide some entertainment, the CoD formula feels anything but "advanced" these days.

Alien: Isolation can be frustrating, but it's mostly terrifying in a near-perfect way. The Alien is scarier than it's been since Ridley Scott first showed it to the world, and the atmosphere is thick enough to cut.

The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy isn't worth rebuying if you already have the iOS versions or still have your DS copies in rotation. However, all three games are as great now as they were upon release, and it's hard to complain about getting more of a good thing.

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

The game hits on a lot of levels; it's challenging, full of charm, and genuinely fun. I just wish it wasn't over quite so soon.

An episode full of setup, A House Divided trades in its intensity for a bit more action, and a touch of intrigue.

While its commitment to madness can be maddening itself, Sunset Overdrive is an energetic, fun-focused adventure. The jokes don't always hit home, but this is a game that loves being a game, and you can't hate that sort of honesty.

Defense Grid 2 is a fairly typical Tower Defense game at its core, but the layers of complexity give it a lot more staying power and replay value than you are likely accustomed to. With 21 campaign levels, and plans to offer countless more as downloads, there is no end to how much time you can spend with DG2, and that's not even counting fighting for placement on the leaderboards... or multiplayer. DG2 is a shining example of Kickstarter done right.

Open letter to the designers of Just Cause 2: Thank you for making me drive 2 kilometers each time I die. It really makes me appreciate your big open world.

Samurai Shodown is a pristine work of fighting game clarity.

Firewatch is an excellent, tense story, uncanny in spite its numerous beauties, and unmissable despite weaker mechanics.

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.

Spirit of Justice, the sixth game in the Ace Attorney series, is really starting to show some franchise fatigue. The puzzles and the technical systems behind it have improved, but the writing has begun to suffer.

As good as the series has ever been. The franchise is almost always a safe bet and they won't let anyone down with this installment. Gran Turismo 6 doesn't really introduce anything too new, but it will give you little snippets of fun to offset the tension that can accrue over hours of playing a serious racing game where every turn could make or break the race.

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.

The merits and flaws of Persona Q2 are exactly what you’d expect from the series. It’s delivering the same mechanics which are alternately tedious, punishing and strategically exciting and the chance to have a host of dysfunctional heroes tease, flirt and ultimately fight alongside each other. Like Endgame, Q2 is both a fitting finale but also a look forward. So long as people love watching larger than life figures pummeling each other on the big screen, there will be Marvel movies. So long as people love spending dozens of hours building parties and exploring dungeons, Atlus will keep making Nintendo handheld games. This era is over, but the genre lives on.

Dragon's Dogma still holds up as a solid game in 2016. Capcom fixed many of the technical errors and glitches of the 2012 console release with patches, allowing a reliable framerate to go with your experience. The included difficulty modes raise the stakes of the challenge.

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

Anyone who’s invested time into playing the previous games in the Trails series will know exactly what they’re in for. Satisfying combat, impressive world-building, and deep characters are all part of the package. It does have pacing issues, and players may get lost if they didn’t experience the arcs in Liberl and Crossbell. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is still a solid game though, despite the stumble in the second act, and is a viable option for those itching to play an epic, immersive JRPG.