Alex Varankou
Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 offers more of the same multiplayer action and enjoyable presentation with a few new features coming to fruition. It's charming and accessible, though the game doesn't break any new ground.
Street Fighter V excels at offering a polished and enjoyable fighting experience, but not much else. This is a game aimed at highly competitive players, while the rest of the audience will probably feel rather underwhelmed with what they get.
American Truck Simulator offers a decent big rig experience for an agreeable price, but it's underwhelming if you consider the existence of ETS2.
While not particularly challenging or deep, LEGO Marvel's Avengers offers exactly what fans expect - an accessible and often enjoyable adaptation of the movies.
Hardware: Rivals is a shallow, uninspired and very overpriced multiplayer vehicular combat game.
Amplitude offers fairly stock-standard rhythm gameplay and nice visuals, coupled with a rigid unlock system and a music genre of limited appeal.
A solid and accessible platformer, Tearaway Unfolded offers a unique world and some creative uses of the controller.
Despite a few redeeming qualities, Need for Speed is a lackluster reboot that fails to reinvent the franchise, or live up to the name of the original game.
Guitar Hero Live ushers in a new era for the music game genre. It's bold, innovative, but it won't be a hit with everyone.
Halo 5: Guardians marks a strong debut on Xbox One for the long running franchise, with great gameplay and solid multiplayer and in spite of a weak campaign.
Rather than following in the footsteps of AC Unity, Assassin's Creed Syndicate is an unambitious entry that mostly shuffles in place. There's still fun to be had here, but this sophomore next-gen effort doesn't excel.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain offers an excellent gameplay and presentation package, and if not for a few weakness, it could have been one of the all-time bests. Instead, it's just really, really good.
NBA Live 16 continues to improve the franchise, but given the poor starting point a few years ago, that's not saying much.
PES 2016 offers some notable improvements, especially for series veterans, but a lack of polish in certain areas keep the game from reaching higher ground.
Skylanders SuperChargers continues to deliver the fun and accessible experience that the franchise has become known for. The introduction of vehicles adds further variety to an already expansive game world.
FIFA 16 makes strong strides forward in gameplay, while offering minor additions to an already great core experience and working to get new fans on the field.
NHL 16 marks what some would call a rebuild year. Most of the content that was inexcusably cut last year is back, but that's about it. The gameplay remains solid, and there is hope that the franchise can finally break away from the past and create something great in the future.
The Star Wars property is arguably the most famous universe included in the game thus far, as Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition continues the fairly slow pace of evolving the franchise.
Forza Motorsport 6 marks the true arrival of the franchise on the Xbox One. From an overabundance of content to great gameplay, the bar has once again been set for simulation racing on consoles.
With troubled multiplayer design and an unwarranted higher price point, Lara Croft's spin-off reputation may have trouble recovering after The Temple of Osiris.