For all of its surface gimmicks and complex management systems, F1 2017 excels by maintaining a real sense of accessibility for players who aren’t true F1 aficionados. Racing players will find this an enjoyable experience, albeit that experience probably won’t offer a great deal of longevity once the novelty wears off.

Cuphead is a rare case where the long development cycle didn’t ruin the final product. This game matches its incredible look with stellar game play. In the sea of games releasing this year Cuphead stands tall as one of the best. There is little reason to skip this gem, it even comes with an outstanding value price and plenty of replay. Don’t sleep on Cuphead. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to listen to the soundtrack one more time.

It still has that addicting game play, and it’s still a fast game that is easy to pick up and play. The new mechanics are interesting, and even when I found them a little daunting at times, I still had a blast with the overall game play.

Unconventional and beautiful, Valkyria Chronicles delivers a game that is both deep and whimsical.

The Xbox One version seemed to perform decent enough, though there are times when smoke effects or other graphical elements kick into play that causes some system performance issues. Luckily, with the type of game this is, it was never a huge hindrance. Pillars of Eternity is a great RPG experience by Obsidian, and my time with the port was a very good experience. The excellent music and voice acting, the wonderful writing, and the multitude of ways quests can play out just add up to Pillars being a wonderful RPG to add to the collection. PC players have known this for a while, but console owners can now experience this for themselves. Now if everyone will excuse me, I still have plenty more adventures to partake in the world of Eora.

The Messenger is a horrible name for a game that pays homage to Ninja Gaiden. Don’t let the name stop you, though. This is one of the best of its type and is worth checking out. I do wish it was more widely available across consoles, but Switch and PC owners should certainly not miss this one.

The game will keep you playing for months to come with its massive online component and solid single-player experience.

Boom Blox Bash Party is the definition of how to take a great game and make it even better.

If puzzles, adventure, mystery, exploration, a race against time with an evil rival company sound exciting, and your PC can handle it, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a can’t miss experience.

There is plenty of content here, enough it seems to keep a child entertained from age three all the way through to six.

Total War: Warhammer should be given credit for breathing new life into the Total War franchise, a task it primarily accomplishes with distinct factions and a fun battle system.

Grim Dawn is still a fantastic game that any fan of the action RPG style will enjoy. There are tons of customization options not only with the game mechanics, but with the character builds as well. It’s a beefy game and with all the expansions added in, this is a complete package that any RPG fan will enjoy and get a ton of time in and while the menu navigations aren’t the best in the world, it’s something that now Xbox fans can enjoy.

Two Point Museum is another great entry in the ‘Two Point Universe’. With each game the team at Two Point Studios shows their growth and as such each one is better than the last. Fans of micromanagement sim style games will find lots to love here, not the least of which is the stellar radio station that plays during gameplay. I am hoping that the team delivers some post-launch content to add some more areas to Two Point County, but even in its base form, I don’t see this one going extinct anytime soon.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak offers new content that is not only impressive in scale but also in its quality. While there are some notable elements like difficulty in searching for multiplayer games and afflicted variations being a bit over tuned holds it back from being a perfect expansion, the positives very easily outweigh the negatives.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is the type of game fans usually get only once a generation. The sheer amount of passion and care that was taken to ensure balance, accessibility, and enjoyment is nearly unmatched.

It feels less robust than the last game, but the amount of fun I derived is more than worth diving in for. Grab yourself a donkey beer and a tentacle bat, it is time for some virtual stimulation.

For those that don’t already own the game, this is without a doubt the best package available, but I have to imagine that audience is significantly small. It also lacks enough new to warrant double-dipping for those that already own the game on another platform.

Whatever reason you haven’t played this, it is time to finally dive in, and for those like me who already beat it to death on previous consoles, it is more than worth jumping back into. It really is one of the best releases and the ideal way to craft a remaster.

Monster Hunter Rise on PC is the definitive version of an excellent entry in this long running franchise and whether you are a veteran of the series or a rookie, looking to jump in for the first time, it’s the perfect opportunity to grab a weapon and start hunting some monsters.

Metallica songs just seem to lend themselves to this type of game. The note charts are a blast and the presentation is top-notch.

I highly suggest it to 3DS owners looking for a complex series that can last them well over 100 hours. There’s nothing else like it on the system.

Despite my criticism of the pacing, I actually love this game. It improves upon the first game in all the ways I would want. I only wish there was a way to have the game stop trying to walk me through every step of the game. I would rather fail and have the game tell me I did something incorrectly than having to wait for the game to give me permission to play the game. The inclusion of a first person mode makes building roofs and exploring caves far more pleasurable than the first game as well. Overall, DQ Builders 2 manages to do everything a sequel should do to improve upon the previous game. I fully recommended to anyone wanting to play a more structured Minecraft-like experience to pick this one up.

I’ve always enjoyed the genre, and everything in Sky Force Reloaded is solid enough. From a visual, gameplay, and soundtrack standpoint, I’m more than happy. I just can’t shake this feeling that the game was designed to kill hours on the phone, and for me it just doesn’t translate into a great home console experience. I like replaying shooters like this, but I prefer to go through the entire campaign over and over again. Here I’m so burned out on each stage by the time I finish or unlock the next that I don’t want to play anymore, which is never a good sign. Though for the low price, there are much worse things to spend $9.99 on.

Dragon Age: Origins has sucked me in more than most other games this year. I find myself thinking about the game when not playing it, imagining other scenarios and different ways that situations could play out.

Evaluating the worth of a remake can be difficult, as it’s often unclear how to weigh its strength and weaknesses in comparison to the original. This bodes doubly true when it’s the remake of one of my favorite games of all time. While I have some contention in regards to the changes made to the main campaign, the additional stories are well worth the cost of admission by itself for fans, and even though I hesitate to call “Elite” the definitive way to experience the beauty of Steins;Gate, there is simply no bad way to experience such an exceptional story.

The Sims 3 isn't a bad game, not in slightest, and too a different group of gamers this might be all they wanted, but for me this feels like a sequel that Will Wright had nothing to do with. There is no new magic, or amazing new idea that is going to re-imagine the whole series, it's just more and better stuff that we got in Sims 1.

Titanfall was heralded as “the game” for Xbox One, which is a little unfair. It is a very niche audience that will dedicate themselves to the title. Also considering it is (eventually) coming to 360 and already out on PC, it is hardly exclusive. Still it takes a lot to bring me back into the online shooter fold, and Titanfall has definitely dragged me back in. I can see myself enjoying this for months to come; I just hope they deliver enough support to keep it interesting beyond that.

While I enjoyed my time questing, the fact that I barely gained a level and found almost nothing of value the entire time was really disheartening. Overall I had fun, but the experience fell short of what it could have been.