FIFA 18 is still seductively deep and delivers excitement. It gave me the feeling that there is still so much to learn about what appears to be a rather straightforward sport, and that the game would gladly help me understand. This is always the time of year when I ask myself why I don't just spend all of my time playing FIFA, and FIFA 18 poses the question more forcefully than ever.
NBA Live 18 is best for a very personal brand of basketball, focusing on a created superstar and the moves that make him stand out in a game that skews more toward individual play than teamwork.
The no-frills quality of NASCAR Heat Evolution meant NASCAR Heat 2 had to show a little more than just great racing this year, and it does in spots. There's a lot of variety in NASCAR Heat 2, it's just more immediately seen in things like the one-off races or online multiplayer.
F1 2017 is a game that's as much fun to think about as it is to play, and as intriguing to plan out and strategize as it is to race. And it is a lot of fun to race, because so much of F1 2017's enjoyment comes from things built up over time, not the year-to-year bullet-point features of video gaming.
Madden NFL 18 doesn't shake up its gameplay but the new story mode is a success.
I've never been more charmed by a racing video game and I could not recommend any other more than Dirt 4, to anyone of any ability. Dirt 4 is a joy.
NBA Playgrounds stifles any above-the-rim action promised by placing condition after condition on the gameplay
The first chapter's conflicts and outcomes may be conventional, but so were the the ones in the weird comic books my best friend's older brother stored in bread bags, which we'd read as fast as we could before he got home from football practice to terrify us. The feeling of wanting to read the next issue is just the same, too.
Drawn to Death fails the fundamentals
Time will tell if the changes to MLB the Show 17 establish a new foundation for what is enjoyed five years from now. In the present, though, it is still a richly illustrated, seductively appealing depiction of the National Pastime.
For Honor is worth the work you have to put into it
Walking Dead fans looking to jump back into Clementine's story with this new game should temper their expectations. The player only takes control of her in flashback chapters that do not affect the overall arc of the story or any relationship with a character in it. Her retrospectives are nonetheless harrowing.
FIFA 17 feels like a reintroduction to what makes this series great
NASCAR Heat Evolution brings the white-knuckle last lap, even for 24th place
Madden NFL 17 does so much it's hard to speak of all its appeals and improvements
MLB 16's appeal lies mainly in tried-and-true features
EA Sports UFC 2 is easier to understand without being easy
This sequence is the story of FIFA 16, from its participants, to the tools used to deliver the goal, to the cathartic payoff that sent me leaping from my seat. Sports video gaming is at its best when you're fighting your ass off and the miracle comes through. And when it does, no game rolls out the TNT like FIFA 16.
Madden 16's hard-earned successes feel that much more satisfying.
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour falls far short of its predecessors