Polygon

That state is excellent. In World of Warcraft's 12 years of life, I've never seen an add-on this reactive and this specific in its targeting of individual issues that have upset long-time fans. New systems like world quests and mythic-plus dungeons are overflowing with potential to keep the game fresh and engaging for much longer. And the classic questing and raiding content is as good as it's ever been.

World of Final Fantasy wants to be fan service for everybody, an almost impossible task in such a long-running, varied franchise. In that regard, the game may look like lighthearted filler on the surface. But those shimmers of something greater and World of Final Fantasy’s more original, modern elements are worthwhile, even if they don't quite make up for the hours of annoyances that pay lip service to nostalgia.

The end result is a collection of fantastic mechanics across its campaign and its multiplayer that often feel hamstrung by difficult to understand design choices. There's clearly more here than before, and the package is offering something more "complete" by today's standards. But Titanfall 2 throws the series' dynamics off enough to make for something that just doesn't quite click together as well as it did before.

If only I’d had more time to bombard them with my flirty quips, out-of-character real talk and blunt cruelty. It’s great to play through a game so sex-positive, but with little payoff for these character-driven scenes both simple and sexy, I came away from Ladykiller in a Bind feeling as unsatisfied as someone on one of those lonelier mornings.

Color Splash had moments of greatness — clever levels that changed up its formula, mostly sharp humor that actually made me laugh (a rarity in games, to be honest), handcraft-reminiscent visuals that made me want to spontaneously adopt arts and crafts as a hobby. It’s a shame that despite all these positives, in the end I found the game to be a chore; my pleasure often undercut by frustration and annoyance.

Taken all together, Gears of War 4 doesn’t completely reinvent the genre, and it’s not always "bigger." But it’s a remarkably consistent, complete package with the kind of refinement and focus few other games can manage, providing excellent solo, cooperative, and competitive options that rank it as one of the best action games of 2016.

In the end, not many people are going to play Dragon Quest 7 for a combat system that is serviceable but not terribly engaging. The pull of this game, the thing that kept me going even as the in-game counter ticked on and on, is found in its exploration, its simply drawn but satisfying characters and its short, tightly knit adventures.

If Yo-kai Watch 2: Fleshy Spirits/Bony Souls aspired to do nothing more than keep the player busy, it wouldn’t be anything special. It would be one more video game world, one more endless stream of shallow quests and grindy battles and collectible checkboxes, one more way to kill a weekend or keep the kids quiet. But there is more here.

If Yo-kai Watch 2: Fleshy Spirits/Bony Souls aspired to do nothing more than keep the player busy, it wouldn’t be anything special. It would be one more video game world, one more endless stream of shallow quests and grindy battles and collectible checkboxes, one more way to kill a weekend or keep the kids quiet. But there is more here.

FIFA 17, thanks mainly to The Journey, feels like a reintroduction to the things that have made this series EA Sports’ pride and joy for the past eight years. It may be a safe and well-trod story path, but it’s walked with characters I cared about. When I finished The Journey, I beelined for Be a Pro, something I have rarely touched, to create myself there and carry on what I had learned with Alex Hunter.