Stephen Totilo
An entertaining if perosnality-light translation of Assassin's Creed from open-world 3D to linear 2D.
An improvement to the GTA formula set on the densest, most interesting, best-loooking piece of terrain Rockstar has ever crafted.
If you have Watch Dogs... if you like the core gameplay of Watch Dogs... then, yes, but mainly for the co-op.
It looks like a cute fairy tale, but this is a turn-based game that's thorny with challenge and packed with an incredible number of gameplay secrets.
Visually creative, fun levels, great source material and packed with one of the best casts in gaming history.
Play it to enjoy the next-gen graphics moreso than for the throwback PS2-style gameplay.
A happy platforming game that appears to be made out of clay and has just one odd design flaw.
It's a (mostly) polished, fun single-player game from Nintendo. Not a lot of those in a year of Kart and Smash.
It's no Ocarina of Time or Link Between Worlds. Hell, it's not really a Zelda game. But if you like Zelda, you finally get a Zelda fan-service game. That's the allure. Wait. You don't like Zelda? What's wrong with you?
It looks good, sounds better and plays well...if you have a high tolerance for a high level of difficulty and/or are willing to cheat the system.
Probably the best graphical showcase exclusive to Xbox One and a fun game if you're willing to learn its combat system--and aren't squeamish.
The best bundle of games releases for an Xbox since The Orange Box. Some are all-time classics, Others are Grabbed By The Ghouies.
It's a masterfully-designed sidescrolling puzzle-platformer based on a brilliant combination of Mario and Tetris.
A mix of mostly-new puzzles, an engaging, globe-spanning story, characters worth caring about and a welcome change to the series' formula. It's the opposite of a lazy sequel.
It's gorgeous but not very fun in solo or co op.
An unspectacular sidescroller that squanders its core idea.
A return to classic Yoshi's Island gameplay would be worth cheering about if the new game didn't feel like an inferior imitation of a still-excellent game.
Despite how pedestrian some aspects of the game may be, I concluded Quantum Break feeling like something new had happened. Something special had happened that more than compensated for some of the flatness of the story and the mostly rote gunplay. A game simply never worked like this before, nor has a TV show. Because of that, what might have otherwise been ordinary feels extraordinary.
Even after I found a way to wield its unwieldy controls, the game underneath those controls is a lukewarm retread. As a flagship Nintendo console release or even as a worthy sequel to a once-great franchise, Star Fox Zero just doesn't cut it.
Uncharted 4 may have problems at its edges, but its middle is phenomenal. It is a sufficiently wonderful finale for a studio that has made its own case that its next great step should be somewhere new.