If you haven't picked up a copy of Madden in a while, 12 is a lot of fun. If you're still getting fun out of more recent versions, there's nothing here you can't live without.

So cute I almost vomited.

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.

It was explosive and fun, with a decent story and stellar gameplay loop. The blend of parkour and zombie-killing made for an adrenaline-packed experience, enhanced by the intricate crafting, scavenging, and leveling up systems. It’s a worthwhile pick-up for any zombie-killing fan.

While its new steps in a fresh direction don’t quite pan out, there’s no denying this is a fitting next chapter for Samus’ first-person adventures. Here’s hoping we don’t need to wait another 18 years for another one.

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy is a strong entry in the series and is an improvement on the previous game. It introduces new mechanics that fit well within the context of the story without feeling like they were forcibly implemented just for the sake of it, while also refining existing core gameplay elements. While I’m not entirely satisfied with a change, or lack thereof, here and there, this game is certainly worth your time, especially if you enjoyed Ryza’s first adventure.

Overall, Days Gone Remastered is a fantastic, if flawed, game. It isn’t quite as good as the games it emulates, but if “It’s not The Last of Us” is a valid complaint, then it’s one you can throw at most titles. It’s a game that absolutely deserves your time, either as a replay or for the first time.

It's not bad, but compared to its predecessor, and to other Daedalic adventures in general, it's not really all that good, either.

Like inventing and describing a new color, That Dragon, Cancer tries to describe something indescribable, and does an admirable job of it.

Sentinels of the Multiverse: The Video Game is a faithful adaptation of the card game that maintains much of the fun of the original, while alleviating some of the issues with handling the math. Its UI can be a little confusing to navigate at times, but its one real flaw is that it doesn't maintain the cooperative nature of the analog version that makes it so enjoyable

It's brilliantly wacky and unique, with awesome basic gameplay, but The Wonderful 101 doesn't quite live up to its potential.

Don't Starve is a gorgeous, terrifying, often funny game, albeit one that can chew away at the player's morale with its constant demands and willingness to undo hard work. Provided you go in willing to work hard and take punches on the nose, there's plenty of reward to be had.

Fallen Enchantress engenders a feeling of real accomplishment, without requiring the investment in time and study demanded by truly hardcore strategy titles.

The enhancements aren't quite ready for prime-time, but Baldur's Gate II remains one of the greatest RPGs of all time and an unsurpassed D&D experience. The improvements to the interface are fantastic, and if the new content gets the final wax-and-polish it deserves, it will be too.

Humor keeps Tropico 6 from getting too stressful.

Sonic Origins was great, and Sonic Origins Plus is great plus. It’s that simple. It’s a fun collection made a little more fun with the adequate addition of Amy Rose, Knuckles in Sonic CD, and a dozen emulated Game Gear games. Some of those Game Gear games I dare say are even still worth playing today, especially Sonic Triple Trouble. Sonic Origins Plus also adds in the Classic Music Pack and Premium Fun Pack add-on content that was made available for the original release. So if you want to play most of the classic Sonic games ever made in one place, you might as well pick this up and have a fun time.

Call of Duty: Ghosts throws a lot of stuff at the walls and attempts to see what sticks. In addition to the campaign and multiplayer there's now Extinction, Squads, Clans Wars and more. There's a little bit of everything to be found here and it's all built on the foundation of a fast paced shooter. With so much customization over your character and you routes of play there's probably something for everyone in Ghosts.

The most memorable episode since the season premier, Amid The Ruins fleshes out the supporting cast, provides some nasty scenarios, and takes Kenny's personal arc to some very haunting places.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate features a solid campaign, elevated by challenging assassination missions and a spellbinding setting. Syndicate delivers all of the innovations I had hoped to see from Unity, which was the franchise's first new-generation console entry, as the adjustments to combat, stealth, and travel breathe new air into the series.

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.

Trap Team delivers a new gimmick on top of an old gimmick and does it damn well. The strong scriptwriting and voice work keep both adults and children interested in the story, even if you have to spend a lot of money to get the full effect.

It offered bags of replay value with plenty of unique build options, and each enemy felt well-designed. If you’re a fan of titles with elements of dice games, roguelikes, and deck-builders, you’ll get a kick out of the speedy gameplay that Dog Witch offers.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is solid fun for anyone wanting to experience cinematic dogfighting, though subsequent playthrough are going to reveal the smoke and mirrors behind the illusion.

Simple to pick up and play, the precise, tension-filled combat is capable of turning friends into bitter rivals.

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

Dead Rising 3 will likely go down as one of the quintessentially "good" launch titles seen when a new console releases. It's an exclusive title with a big open world and tons of zombies that demonstrates the power of the next gen console well.

Dead Space 3 has a way of getting into your head, uncoiling and slithering around your subconscious until you're not quite sure what's wrong, you just know you want to get the hell out. Its subtlety makes for a great contrast to the in-your-face combat that dominates the rest of the game.

A:WE is a superlative downloadable title. A cheap price tag belies a deep, difficult game that offers some frustration, but much more fun. Even if you've had more than your fill of tower defenses lately, give this one a shot. You might be surprised just how much a shift in perspective can change the feel of a whole genre.

One of 2013's best games, Outlast deserves success in 2014 as a PlayStation 4 release. Disturbing and macabre, sometimes to the extreme, this is one of the best horror games to grace the world in a long time.

Pokémon Legends Z-A improves on its predecessor, Arceus, by making battles just as fun as the previous entry made catching. The Z-A Royale and the mystery of Rogue Mega Pokémon mean exploring Lumiose City is a consistently rewarding delight, especially when every corner feels carefully curated with Pokémon quests, items, and more. While visual fidelity is no match for Arceus’ better artistic direction, Z-A runs flawlessly. Plus, visually, both Lumiose City and the title’s character designs have moments of brilliance. Altogether, whether exploring Wild Zones to uncover Pokémon, steamrolling through battles, or leaping across rooftops, Pokémon Legends Z-A is a consistently and brilliantly rewarding entry in the Pokémon franchise that hopefully heralds the start of a new standard.

Overall, if you’ve played Virtua Fighter in the past, R.E.V.O. World Stage is a great way to return to the series, thanks to its ‘World Stage’ mode, better graphics, and more. If you’ve heard of Virtua Fighter before, but never had the chance to play it, R.E.V.O. World Stage is a fantastic way to get into the series before the sixth entry arrives.

I can't imagine a game so fundamentally about number crunching being universally appealing, but the audience it will appeal to will absolutely love it.

Starhawk's an average shooter with an engaging multiplayer element and a unique sci-fi western theme, but the single player is forgettable.

Sanctum 2 is a thrilling, fast-paced tower defense game, which keeps things interesting with the FPS gameplay during the assaults. The RPG elements add to the total package, making even the single player feel like a complete experience.

Solid strategic gameplay, clever, well-written characters and cutscenes, and a loyalty to the board game we played when we were kids all make Risk: Factions a great game.

While it is incomplete by design, with the missing content being dolled out for free over the course of the year, Street Fighter 5 is the most accessible the franchise has ever been and remains mechanically brilliant.

CARIMARA: Beneath the forlorn limbs is a short but sweet horror-adventure that’ll be a joy for any indie horror lover to play through. The card-based dialogue and exploration mechanic was unique, and the world itself had clearly been crafted with care, with a gorgeously eerie art style that matched the narrative nicely.

Colorful yet dark, Tales of Symphonia Chronicles effectively communicates its theme about ending discrimination while providing a fun and sometimes emotional playing experience. Dawn of the New World uses a similar formula, but loses the charm.

You fight lots of pallet-swapped enemies over and over again, rinse and repeat. Fun to play with a friend and a huge nostalgia rush, but not much to hold your interest for long.

Echoes of Aetheria weaves narrative, combat, and exploration together wonderfully, with no one aspect of the game overshadowing another. However, dialogue is occasionally cheesy and design flaws cast a shadow on what is meant to be a tactical combat experience.

Orwell is a thought-provoking interactive debate about the politics of privacy and security. It's the kind of game that never actually feels like a game, and it manages to do it well.

A brilliant remake of two classic, underloved arcade brawlers.

A good, solid platformer with several fun quirks, but has an issue with reusing the same gameplay elements for some of the stages and a rollercoaster-style of difficulty level.

If you’re a fan of Lovecraftian horror and walking simulators, Eclipsium will be a delight for you to explore. It’s gross and gorgeous, with a subtle narrative, interesting premise, and heavily stylized world. While the art style may prove divisive, the experience as a whole is mesmerizing, adding a fresh spin on a classic horror walking simulator.

Duels 2014 has everything you've ever wanted from a Duels game. The Sealed Play option takes this version to a whole new level, and will make it exceedingly difficult for Stainless to one-up itself again.

Transformers Devastation is a blast to play while it lasts, and expertly blends elements of Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising, but packages it in a way that makes it come off as completely unique.

Quantum Conundrum nails the puzzles, and does okay with the atmosphere, leaving a well-crafted "Diet Portal"-style adventure that succeeds when it matters.

Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 manages to turn dark material into something lighthearted and fun, but it never quite achieves the magical goofiness that its predecessor does.

While the game is a little limited by the platform, the underlying mechanics will capture a certain style of player.

Endless Space smooths over a lot of the issues typical to 4x space, but it also bulldozes perhaps a bit much in the combat.

Metro 2033 has a ton of really great ideas, but not only do they not fit together well, they actually compete with each other, sucking all the enjoyment out of the experience.

When Evolve is working well, it's one of the most enjoyable co-op experiences I have had in a long time. It looks great, the varied classes are all fun to play, and there's almost certain to be one that becomes your favorite. It's a great addition to Turtle Rock's resume, and a solid entry into the early release slate for 2015.

All in all, Cronos: The New Dawn was tense, gritty, and challenging. While some portions of the game were trickier than others, thanks to the scarce amount of bullets, the game was enjoyable and provided some tense moments. The story was interesting, although the storytelling method of dotting lore around the world may not gel well with some players.

It's a really highly polished experience with a lot of secrets to be found, coupled with a story that pulls you along with strong characters.

Grey Goo is, frankly, fantastic. From the opening scenes through the entire narrative thread of the campaign, you'll want to improve your game if only so you can see what happens next as quickly as possible.

Hitman lives up to the legacy of the original games, and redeems the series from the lows of Hitman: Absolution by taking the series to new heights.

A survival horror game that delivers tense exploration with more than a few drawbacks, ZombiU succeeds in making the Wii U's gamepad feel like an essential part of the experience and proving well-designed mature games can flourish regardless of what console it's played on.

Maxis wagered that adding fun new game elements to its blockbuster franchise would work, and The Sims Medieval succeeds sufficiently to start its own branching franchise. Expect an expansion pack or ten.

TERA is a game caught between MMO past and MMO future. Its action-based combat is a breath of fresh air for the genre, and makes tackling its giant enemy monsters all the more thrilling, but its quests are formulaic and repetitious, serving no real purpose other than to move you through zones while anticipating the next giant boss fight.

A World of Keflings is a little too shallow to really satisfy the true builders in the crowd, but if you've ever felt overwhelmed by Sim City and others of its ilk, AWoK's casual approach may be more your speed. Plus, the appeal of shooting Keflings out of musical cannons simply cannot be overstated.

de Blob 2's cheerful demeanor and simple goals make it a natural for the younger set - or anyone suffering from Grim Shooter Ennui.

A brilliant, addictive downloadable that will is designed to target and trigger the happiness center of your brain.

One of the best examples of how good the Japanese RPG can be, even if no single aspect sets the bar for the genre.

It's a funny and charming little game, but it plays the retro card a little bit too much. A lot of the gameplay feels very dated in a modern game, and you can't make the same allowances for age that you can with an actual retro title.

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.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is good fun, with striking visuals and a great setting. A few issues keep it from being totally brilliant though.

D4 is ridiculous. It's weird, and silly, and makes very little sense. It's also hilarious, and packed with some of the most engaging motion-controlled sequences I've ever played. Coming from someone who generally doesn't like the Kinect, that's a damn big achievement!

With its banal universe and flavorless style, Destiny is packed with content, but just ... well ... content. There's a great PvP mode, and the leveling system can be rewarding, but nonetheless this is a pretty, rock-solid, ultimately pedestrian product.

What could have been a generic third-person shooter is bolstered by solid gameplay and an awesome transformation mechanic that makes battles fast-paced and very mobile. The visuals and combat set pieces begin to get repetitious by the end, and the AI feels buggy, but the multiplayer is terrific fun - for the most part, it simply works well together.

It has plenty of replay value, particularly for folks who enjoy achievement-hunting and collecting endings, and the world-building was solid from the get-go. If you’re a fan of b-horror movies, demon-slaying, and goofy one-liners, this is a title worth keeping an eye out for.

The improved passing game is the real star here and the other small improvements help sell the overall experience. Heisman is an enjoyable addition, but creates balance problems.

Shadows of the Damned's slick visuals and offbeat sensibility is worth checking out, despite its ordinary gameplay. Besides, ordinary doesn't mean bad. Beheading demons with a shotgun that fires skulls has a certain amount of appeal, after all. It's pretty brainless, but it's a weekend's worth of stuff to shoot, and sometimes that's all you really need.

Crysis 3 is visually stunning, and it's still fun to jump around in a nanosuit, but the new additions to the gameplay and the lackluster story don't make it very memorable.

Like a grizzled veteran of countless battles, Total War: Rome II is still set in its ways, for better or worse.

Strider is a stellar example of how to remake a classic. It sticks to the original where it should, and modernizes where the classic formula can be improved.

DOA5 is fun to play, easy to pick up, and hard to master. Everything you want from a fighting game.

While the action can wear the player out, and the campaign itself isn't particularly lengthy or deep, fans will get their money's worth from this concentrated blast of Ratchet & Clank action.

The Beginner's Guide is an incredible art piece of a game that gets you thinking your relationship with the games you play.

It was a probably a good idea to update Twisted Metal for the PS3, and the combat and ambience is intact, but there's nothing here to push the medium beyond the 1990s era that spawned the original.

Yo-Kai Watch is a good variation on the monster collection genre of RPGs that will definitely please fans and earn a few new fans, but has just enough tiresome elements to keep it from being great.

Divinity: Dragon Commander has a unique setting and interesting characters, but its real time and turn based strategy elements don't hold up to its narrative aspects.

It's not particularly original, occasionally gets repetitive, and the main storyline is fairly short, but it's a solid and entertaining effort that you'll probably enjoy more than you think you will.

If you only play games on consoles - or if you're looking for a Sims experience you can share with your friends - it's worth a rental at the very least. If you're familiar with the series on PC, knock the below score down a star - the controls are going to drive you nuts.

Those that love or have fond memories of Shadowrun will get the most out of Shadowrun Returns, but anyone that enjoys RPGs, XCOM and cyberpunk settings could also find something to love.

Far Cry Primal is the Stone Age survival game we never expected from the Triple A industry, complete with a lush prehistoric world you can explore for hours.

Section 8: Prejudice offers a fun set of shooter mechanics, with a complete campaign and robust multiplayer package without costing you a full $60.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare feels a bit spiritually out of step with the original Alan Wake, but provides just enough story to balance out the action. But, seriously, it needs more Barry.

Creative set-pieces and an awesome concept can only hide a repetitious game structure for so long - and the stealth sections that mix it up are just frustrating.

A charming concept can only get a game so far, and Garden Warfare fails to capitalize. While there's fun to be hard, there's not much meat on the bones, and the repetitive combat ensures this will be nothing but a stopgap title until better shooters enter the market.

Samurai Warriors 4 is a faster, greatly expanded addition to the series. Each character feels fresher, and there's a ton of stuff to do. I just wish the online play would actually be something acceptable for the modern day.

The writing in the second episode of Telltale's A Wolf Among Us series does more to investigate the dark corners of your soul than your shrink can in an hour. Sadly, you can play through the episode in just as much time.

Telsagrad is a complex puzzle platformer that is enjoyable and fun despite its painstakingly difficult challenges. However, the lack of a conventional story and dialogue left you wondering if you had missed out on an untapped experience.

Story of Seasons is a refreshing game offering a positive place of escape, and while it is definitely a niche title, it gets everything it does right.

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.

A game that puts story over gameplay, and in many ways successfully creates a unique experience. That being said, Dear Esther isn't for everyone. If you're the type of gamer who feels most comfortable with a laser assault rifle at your side, then you might not enjoy what makes Dear Esther unique. If you're the type who believes that games can be art or tell an interesting story, then Dear Esther may be more your style.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a funny cartoon shooter that compels you to keep playing and score more guns. Just like the last two. Laser weapons and moon bouncing add a little extra flavor, but if you don't like Borderlands by now, this won't change things.

Edna and Harvey: Harvey's New Eyes is deep, dark and twisted. If that's your thing, this is your game.

In the end, MainFrames is the rare sort of indie release that both feels professional and knows not to punch above its weight. It has a clear central idea and hits the right notes without getting itself into too much trouble (unlike Floppy). I wouldn’t describe it as “cozy” given how much it can kick your ass, but it’s an easy suggestion for anyone who’s looking for quick and gorgeous platforming thrills with a perfect amount of complexity. [Recommended]