This year has been chock full of games. With the holidays approaching we’ve rounded up some gift guides covering all sorts of bases for you. Price range, platform, etc. But what if you just want to refresh your memory of this year’s highlights?
Here are all of our reviews of the biggest games this year. Hopefully it will help in your holiday purchases, and to occupy your non-family time with some good game choices.
If you don’t see a title you’re interested in, try Kotaku.com/review where you’ll find a full list, including hardware and even snack reviews.
A horror game that’s actually scary. A survival game that’s tough to survive. A first-person Demon’s Souls with zombies that uses the Wii U’s controller better than any other Wii U launch game So… why not? More ยป
https://kotaku.com/zombiu-the-kotaku-review-5963314
Need For Speed: Most Wanted is a laser-focused, unblockable gut-punch of constant acceleration. Speed freaks, rejoice. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/need-for-speed-most-wanted-the-kotaku-review-5957518
Because it may not be the best Assassin’s Creed but it is a refreshing recharge to a well-made series. It’s an important game about America, about killing bad guys and about climbing beautiful trees. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/assassin-s-creed-iii-the-kotaku-review-5957510
Assassin’s Creed Liberation brings the series to Playstation Vita in strong fashion and adds inspired new mechanics to an already strong formula. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/assassins-creed-iii-liberation-the-kotaku-review-5957502
Halo 4 is an emotional, beautiful look at Master Chief’s struggles in war. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/halo-4-the-kotaku-review-5957424
Nintendo Land is the best way to experience all the wonderful weirdness of the Wii U. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/nintendo-land-the-kotaku-review-5960900
Far Cry 3 does so much right: It’s an exhilarating and empowering adventure that marvelously combines player freedom with shiny technical polish. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/far-cry-3-the-kotaku-review-5962414
Hitman: Absolution is a sprawling, satisfying game that offers dozens of vicious possibilities with each new scenario. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/hitman-absolution-the-kotaku-review-5961499
Like most Mario games, it never stops feeling fun. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/new-super-mario-bros-u-the-kotaku-review-5960880
Black Ops II feels great to play, especially when futuristic weapons are involved, yes-but it also makes you think. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/call-of-duty-black-ops-ii-the-kotaku-review-5959849
It offers a continuation of the World of Warcraft experience, but at this point that experience just isn’t quite enough. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/world-of-warcraft-mists-of-pandaria-the-kotaku-review-5954928
Medal of Honor Warfighter is slipshod, uninspired, unpolished, and unfun. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/medal-of-honor-warfighter-the-kotaku-review-5954926
007 Legends is not only terrible a homage to James Bond, but it’s a mediocre shooter too.
https://kotaku.com/007-legends-the-kotaku-review-5953642
Skylanders Giants, like Spyro’s Adventure before it, gives collecting colorful pieces of plastic a purpose. It’s a chimerical combination of two passions, and hey, the kids seem to dig it. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/skylanders-giants-the-kotaku-review-5953530
Forza Horizon lets down its parent brand’s hair and gives you the fantasy lifestyle of racing gorgeous cars in the prime of your life. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/forza-horizon-the-kotaku-review-30767069
XCOM: Enemy Unknown takes a classic PC strategy game, improves it then makes it playable for console owners as well. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/xcom-enemy-unknown-the-kotaku-review-5949522
Where most games have strict rules and guidelines, Dishonored has suggestions. Suggestions that it encourages you to mess around with at every turn. Blending the do-what-you-want structure of Deus Ex with the masterful world design of BioShock, this game is really something special. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/dishonored-the-kotaku-review-5948347
NBA 2K13 serves the flashiest sport and sports lifestyle in North America with rich gameplay and deep career modes. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/nba-2k13-the-kotaku-review-5949514
The interesting changes in this Resident Evil can’t save it from feeling bloated and boring. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/resident-evil-6-the-kotaku-review-5948171
You have to catch all the things, and revisiting old friends and exploring the aftermath of events two years prior is an entertaining way to do it. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/pokemon-black-and-white-2-the-kotaku-review-5947771
With a mix of familiar MMORPG tropes and new, modern approaches to delivering them, Guild Wars 2 is an excellent, welcoming take on the genre. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/guild-wars-2-the-kotaku-review-5946563
A fresh style, new stages to tear apart, and expansive story / training mode and solid online play, this is a Dead or Alive sequel that’s finally worth its new number. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/dead-or-alive-5-the-kotaku-review-update-5946157
Torchlight II is a sprawling, ambitious game that does one thing very, very well. It gives you a world you’ll want to explore, filled with enemies you’ll love to destroy. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/torchlight-ii-the-kotaku-review-5944546
Borderlands 2 is a charming, funny, hell of a cooperative game with lots of style and personality that you can spend hours with. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/borderlands-2-the-kotaku-review-5943999
It is one of the most unique games to come out of Japan in the last decade. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/tokyo-jungle-the-kotaku-review-5942860
NHL 13’s skating and AI refinements make it a very lifelike, very strategic interpretation of a real-world sport long abused by the speed and power of video games. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/nhl-13-the-kotaku-review-5942764
The offline action represents one of the best Tekken games in years and the online portion is promising, though it still needs to be properly tested by hordes of players. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/tekken-tag-tournament-2-the-kotaku-review-5942255
For a real-time physics engine that keeps you in the action, and a brilliant career mode that unites players of all levels of interest. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/madden-nfl-13-the-kotaku-review-5937551
It’s the grown up version of grabbing a bunch of Transformers from your toy box and acting out the final days of their doomed home world. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/transformers-fall-of-cybertron-the-kotaku-review-5936505
Like putting on your favorite sweatshirt or curling up in bed and re-reading a great book, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a familiar, warm, comfortable story. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/new-super-mario-bros-2-the-kotaku-review-5934327
Although the game is entertaining and fun to play, the sheer number of bugs encountered in the PS3 edition really need a patch. We’re waiting for confirmation on if the Xbox 360 and PC versions are plagued with the same issues or not. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/darksiders-ii-the-kotaku-review-5934437
Sleeping Dogs is both great at making a beautiful Hong Kong your playground, as well as portraying the drama hidden in its streets. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/sleeping-dogs-the-kotaku-review-5934272
It’s a nice change of pace to see an MMORPG in a modern setting, the class-free leveling is nice, and the attention to story, detail, and setting are fantastic. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/the-secret-world-the-kotaku-review-5930694
Spec Ops: The Line is a considered and thought-provoking game that deserves to be experienced for its flaws as well as for its successes. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/spec-ops-the-line-the-kotaku-review-5921242
Despite a heavy reliance on traditional massively-multiplayer role-playing mechanics, Tera’s addictive active combat system is a breath of fresh air in a relatively stagnant genre. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/tera-the-kotaku-review-5917854
Slicing up zombies with a chainsaw is incredibly fun, and you get to experience endearingly stupid humor fighting in boss battles. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/lollipop-chainsaw-the-kotaku-review-5917497
If you want an engaging open-world RPG with action combat to spend way too many hours playing, there are plenty that do what Dragon’s Dogma fails to. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/dragons-dogma-the-kotaku-review-5912494
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier can feel a bit ungainly, but for the most part it successfully balances stealth, tactics and all-out action. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/ghost-recon-future-soldier-the-kotaku-review-5912223
The action role-playing game that launched a thousand clones remains the most viscerally entertaining way to click your mouse several hundred thousand times. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/diablo-iii-the-kotaku-review-5911906
This unrelentingly grim thriller boasts great storytelling, sharply implemented mechanics and inventive multiplayer. It’s the total package. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/max-payne-3-the-kotaku-review-5910100
More than just demonstrating some truly spectacular superpowers in an open world, you’re doing them with a great character, James Heller, even if the game’s story doesn’t take any risks. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/prototype-2-the-kotaku-review-5905137
Fez is more than just adorable. It’s a world that makes you want to explore every corner, and solve every obscure puzzle. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/fez-the-kotaku-review-5900926
Despite its many flaws, Xenoblade is a great fix for MMO junkies and sidequest nuts. This is a world you’ll want to breathe in. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/xenoblade-chronicles-the-kotaku-review-5898947
If gameplay upgrades are a key demand made by consumers of annual sports titles (ones rarely fulfilled) then Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13’s improved swing control, by itself, makes the title recommendable. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/tiger-woods-pga-tour-13-the-kotaku-review-5899236
It’s a tedious, uninspiring mess that neither pleases the franchise’s old fans nor appeals to a new audience. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/ninja-gaiden-3-the-kotaku-review-5895492
The three-part chaos is fun but there’s not enough to make this Resident Evil feel like something you need to experience. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/resident-evil-operation-raccoon-city-the-kotaku-revie-5894905
The drama might be lessened but the fighting engine is has improved significantly and the character roster ridiculously huge. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/naruto-shippuden-ultimate-ninja-storm-generations-the-5893327
It’s still the only Major League Baseball game on the Xbox 360. That’s not a hell of an endorsement, but MLB 2K12 is an improvement over MLB 2K11 in gameplay. Its visuals are plainly a disappointment, though. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/mlb-2k12-the-kotaku-review-5891743
Technically, it’s a smooth next step in a well-loved franchise and narratively, it’s still haunting me days after finishing. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/mass-effect-3-the-kotaku-review-5890467
Street Fighter X Tekken brings together two of the greatest fighting game franchises of all time in a game that’s incredibly accessible to new players. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/street-fighter-x-tekken-the-kotaku-review-5890401
It takes all the best things from old-school RPGs and brings them into a modern format. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/the-last-story-the-kotaku-review-5889812
Journey is a gorgeous, meditative game that combines disciplined design, cutting-edge technology and beautiful art into something remarkable and moving. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/journey-the-kotaku-review-5889425
A beloved extreme sports franchise gets rebooted with realism and asynchronous online play. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/ssx-the-kotaku-review-5888858
The unusual combination of storytelling styles, along with the vibrant and detailed art design, make this short experience worth the while. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/asuras-wrath-the-kotaku-review-5888071
Syndicate challenges your brain’s flexibility in chaotic situations, while testing your ability to adapt to new threats. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/syndicate-the-kotaku-review-5884812
It’s like being the Game of Thrones. You build castles and invade Kingdoms, but you also get to bang courtiers and humiliate that disappointment of a son you banished to Wales. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/crusader-kings-ii-the-kotaku-review-5886773
For mixed martial arts fans, it’s an astoundingly deep offering that could be the only game you play for long stretches. For fighting game fans, there are enough symmetries in its gameplay to make the introduction into a simulation sports title. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/ufc-undisputed-3-the-kotaku-review-5885841
After all these years it’s still the best the vehicle combat genre has to offer. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/twisted-metal-the-kotaku-review-5885618
The allure of a portable Uncharted game is strong, but Golden Abyss feels for the most part like a cut-rate version of 2007’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune More ยป
https://kotaku.com/uncharted-golden-abyss-the-kotaku-review-5884421
The four-arm action is the only interesting thing about this game. And you can get that, and a better overall experience, in the original game. Everything else feels like a step backwards. From a game that came out five years ago. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/the-darkness-ii-the-kotaku-review-5882915
It’s an extremely well-crafted action role-playing experience with all the bells and whistles fans of the genre crave and countless hours of quality hack-and-slash entertainment in a fully-realized new fantasy world. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning-the-kotaku-review-5882533
The core fighting remains as sharp as ever and gets tweaked with interesting changes. Also: you can fight a furry, or be a furry. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/soulcalibur-v-the-kotaku-review-5880830
It improves upon Final Fantasy XIII in nearly every way. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xiii-2-the-kotaku-review-5880275
It’s a superb Resident Evil game and easily one of the 3DS’ most impressive games. More ยป
https://kotaku.com/resident-evil-revelations-the-kotaku-review-5879545
