Rayman Legends is bursting with creative platforming and fresh ideas.
Game Freak has really outdone itself this time, and Pokemon X and Y will be remembered as great transition point for the series’ transformation into an even more social, beautiful, and strategic game. Building on five generations of games, a digital menagerie of captivating creatures, and a wide range of diverse regions to explore, Pokemon X and Y proves this formulaic portable role-playing series can still deliver an innovative experience.
Crimson Dragon is a competent arcade shooter, but its heavy grinding and weak presentation drag down the pace.
Super Mario 3D World is marvelous and its fantastic co-op and variety will keep you entertained for hours.
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is a fun and challenging platformer that isn't afraid to make you work hard.
Yoshi’s New Island’s inconsistent art and tacked-on new ideas are all layered on top of the same strong platforming and level design that made the original great. This deep understanding of pacing and flow helps Yoshi’s latest adventure stand out as the best iteration on Yoshi since the SNES original. Even if I wanted to play with the sound turned off.
Towerfall's fun multiplayer sets up hilarious face-offs with your friends.
Kirby Triple Deluxe may look great and has some clever ideas for how to use 3D, but falls into a rut of simple platforming and puzzles that rarely require any thought or skill. I admire that it tries to give us more powers and abilities to play with than ever before, but that empowerment shouldn't come at the expense of any real difficulty.
Mario Kart 8 is a fun kart racer that uses gravity-defying tracks and better item balance to build a better game.
Tomodachi Life offers a great kind of humor: it's just fun to laugh at yourself and your friends in absurd situations. Nintendo gets a lot out of mileage out of this Sims-like concept, but still manages to find ways to make it simple, accessible, and entertaining. The stiff, robotic voices could use improvement, but the effect of hearing the Miis speak is still novel in it's own way. The easy-breezy pace makes it ideal for short bursts of play, and it leaves me eager to check in on my town early and often.
Hyrule Warriors brings the worlds of Zelda and Dynasty Warriors closer together in a fun, repetitive action game.
Smash 3DS is impressive and, for the most part, feels right at home on 3DS. The multitude of ways to play and awesome customization gave me many reasons to keep fighting - and I've been at it for more than 45 hours already. It all produces a fun feedback loop of engaging in matches to unlock custom moves and trophies, then jumping into another match to try out the new stuff. Even the online modes feel carefully considered and focused on what the series does best, and what the 3DS can reasonably do. It's a little disappointing that the four-player antics that are the best part of the console games don't really work on a small screen, but there's still more than enough that does work to make Smash a great 3DS game.
Bayonetta 2 builds on everything that made the original great, and delivers one of the best action games of the year.
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is an amazing game with a deep roster and diverse modes to choose from.
Geometry Wars 3: Dimension is a fun twin-stick shooter that's easy for anyone to pick up and play.
Resident Evil does a good job of updating the look and feel of a classic survival horror game for a new audience.
Just when you think the fight is over in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, the next challenger steps in and ups the level of competition for another satisfying round of combat and loot. Very few games can hook me in for 100 hours, but this installment adds enough new creatures, weapons, locations, and fighting moves to expand and reinvigorate my lust for the hunt.
DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition brings the same great game to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Code Name STEAM is a strange hybrid of turn-based tactics and action, but its simple mechanics create plenty of head-scratching decisions in single or multiplayer. Carefully selecting my squad and positioning them for maximum effect on the battlefield is tense and satisfying, even when I end up watching my goofy team crumble under a brutal counter attack.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3D shrinks an epic RPG into a nifty portable form. Even though the New 3DS' speedier hardware can't make it look quite as good as it does on the Wii, its scope and scale still make it an impressive and deep game that's well suited for play on the go.