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After some time with Prison Architect, I can’t say that that I’ve completely warmed up to the genre just yet. Still, that doesn’t mean I regret the time I spent playing it either. Even though Prison Architect has its share of flaws and limitations, it’s still a fun experience I’m sure fans of the genre will enjoy.

Yoshi’s Woolly World is Nintendo doing what Nintendo does best; create a colorful world full of precision that spans generations. I loved it, my son adores it, and gamers everywhere will not be able to play it without smiling. Nothing about it changes the genre for better or worse, but that doesn’t change the fact that Nintendo still makes some of the best games out there.

A lot of the issues with GHTV is that it is confusing to understand how it works within the game. Players are used to just buying songs a la carte. The new six button setup will also throw players for a loop. Again, I totally respect the new direction, but the familiar tones of its competitor really draw me to prefer that offering. Plus I can play what songs I want, when I want.

Yes, it still does retread a lot of what the series has always been known for, and can comes across feeling as more of the same. This doesn’t matter though, Fatal Frame has been the top tier of ghostly survival horror adventures, and Maiden of Black Water proves you can’t keep a good franchise dead, even when that’s what its entire premise is about.

Ride seems to be a spiritual successor to MotoGP. While I didn’t play those game back in the day, I can say I enjoyed my time with Ride. It is a niche genre, but this game is well done when it comes to creating a simulation motorcycle racing game that celebrates the culture. It looks nice, plays well, and has just enough in it to make it feel like both simulation and arcade at the same time.

Elite: Dangerous is a massive game. I can’t even begin to talk about how many star systems there are in the game, and you can go to them all if you choose to do so. That statement is both what defines this game as well as holds it back, but it only does that for the first few hours. The lack of direction is its biggest gift and its biggest curse.

Transformers: Devastation is a fantastic trip down memory lane for fans of the Generation One cartoon. As a video game, the combat is extremely satisfying, if not a tad repetitious. This game feels incomplete in some areas, like there should simply be more of it. That makes it hard to recommend to anyone not completely gaga over the cartoon.

DB:FC falls short in being able to compete with the big boys in the anime fighting game scene as an overall package but when viewed strictly from the accessibility and depth of its combat engine, it’s most definitely a contender.

Dragon Quest Heroes is just fun. The visual style is gorgeous, and the game play hits all the right notes with some fantastic pacing. Fans of the genre should definitely check it out, but even those usually put off by it, should definitely keep an eye on it. It quickly became one of my favorite sleeper games of the year. I didn’t expect to even care, now I can’t stop playing.

Overall the improvements to 2K16 cannot be ignored. The gameplay is better than it’s ever been, the presentation is fantastic and the expansions to My League and My GM are very welcome. For someone like me however, for whom My Career is consistently the biggest draw, it’s hard to not be disappointed. My hope is that next year 2K addresses my concerns in this area and finally delivers what I would consider the perfect hoops game.