Here's the thing about games: you can never have enough. No matter how many incredible virtual worlds we've experienced, there's always something new on the horizon to get us excited for the next big game all over again. Even though there are plenty of stellar games to enjoy in the here and now, it's never too early to get excited for what's coming, and what could be.

Here's a look at our most anticipated games coming in 2016 and beyond, from original ideas like ReCore and Horizon: Zero Dawn to high-profile sequels such as Uncharted 4, Dishonored 2, and Mass Effect: Andromeda. It's going to be another great year for gaming - just try not to think about how long it'll be until we finally get to play these excellent-looking titles.

It’s taken years for Harmonix to take another shot at Amplitude, a music-and-rhythm game cherished fiercely by the people who actually played it back when it launched on PlayStation 2. Its new incarnation is aimed precisely at that crowd of longtime supporters, in part because they’re the ones paying for it through Kickstarter, and in part because it’s a game so evocative of the PS2’s more experimental days. In 2016 we’ll see those days modernized by Harmonix in a gorgeous, abstract rhythm game about blasting down a space highway, triggering pulsating notes, switching tracks and becoming immersed in the studio’s in-house electronic music.

Available: January 2016 (PS4), Early 2016 (PS3)

Every day is opposite day in XCOM 2. In this alternate history to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the rogue organization XCOM is now the Rebellion to the aliens’ Empire. Earth has been overrun. The aliens now occupy our planet, forcing XCOM to become a leaner, faster operation. Firaxis' Greg Foertsch told us this new game is all about hit-and-run tactics. Your enemies outnumber you, are better armed, and have the home field advantage, so you need to hit 'em fast and get the hell out before backup arrives. As I noted in my , "XCOM: Enemy Within tried to reinforce a more frantic pace by introducing MELD. XCOM 2 bakes this playstyle into the core of its design."

Available: February 5 (PC, Mac)

It's no secret that Gearbox has struggled to step out from the shadow of its own massively successful Borderlands series. The studio's other projects (such as finishing Duke Nukem Forever and Aliens: Colonial Marines) have been met with … less than positive reception. Hopefully Battleborn, a unique spin on the co-op shooter formula that made Borderlands so popular, can turn things around. While it's not a MOBA per se, it certainly wears the influence of the genre on its sleeve to create a tightly-controlled experience that makes each level feel more directed and less meandering than its open-world predecessors. With tons of colorful characters to choose from and a distinct flair for personality, this may be the best chance Gearbox has to prove they're not a one-franchise wonder.

Available: February 9 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Deus Ex: Human Revolution was way better than it had any right to be. It also opened in 2007, an era when every series under the sun from RPGs to strategy games were being transformed into basic shooters. Instead of a dumb FPS, Human Revolution was an expert blend of story, role-playing, action and stealth. sees the same team of creators emboldened by their success and working on an even grander scale.

Available: February 23 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

It's always nice to see a cult classic get a second chance in the spotlight. The original Mirror's Edge delivered the critically-praised and novel concept of a first-person parkour game, and those who played it generally loved it. Unfortunately, those numbers were a bit on the low side, and it looked like we would never get the chance to see the ideas present in Mirror's Edge refined into something better. Imagine our surprise when Mirror's Edge Catalyst appeared - this reboot developed by DICE (Battlefield 4, Battlefront) in the Frostbite 3 engine (used by most of EA's recent games, including the aforementioned Battlefield 4 and Battlefront) looks good enough to get us freerunning again.

Available: February 23 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

A deadly virus has broken out and spread across the United States on Black Friday (and no, it's not amiibo fever), causing the government to collapse in under a week. In response, what remains of an organization called The Division must restore order and help prevent any further chaos. Of course, this means exploring a derelict New York City with friends and hunting for awesome loot, a la Destiny - though your friends might not stick around if you backstab them in the game's many PvP Dark Zones.

Available: March 8 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

The Ghosts are back, and this time they’re free to roam the land, taking down tangoes as they see fit. is an open-world co-op military shooter, where you choose how to approach each mission. It’s designed for squads of four, and friends can drop-in to help out at any time, although the AI will take over if you just want to solo the game. It takes plenty of cues from Ubi’s other action games, like Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed, so expect stacks of mini-missions, side-ops, and different ways to approach each objective. Probably no elephants or honey badgers, though (unfortunately).

Available: TBA (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Following a delay that pushed out of the 2015 holiday season, A Thief's End has a firm release date in March 2016, so everyone has three more months to emotionally prepare for the end of Nathan Drake. Of course, it's not certain that's what the title means - Nathan's long-lost brother Sam (new to the series and played by Troy Baker) also appears to be a thief, so it's anyone's guess which thief will be 'ending'. What we know for sure is that Sam convinces Drake to return to the globe-trotting, treasure-pilfering life for one last job off the coast of Madagascar. Sully is in tow for optimal joke making, and per the E3 demo we get plenty of the intense car chases we've come to love from Drake's adventures. Elena has yet to make an appearance, but no need to worry just yet - what would the last Uncharted game be without Elena? Sob.

Available: March 18 (PS4)

After breathing new life into the fighting game genre with 2008's Street Fighter 4, developer Capcom now finds itself in an interesting position with its upcoming sequel. SF4 found great success in going back to the basics, in keeping things simple. But sequels demand new ideas, and delivers by replacing the focus attack mechanic with three new designs: V-Triggers, V-Skills, and V-Reversals. So far, the result feels like a mix between Injustice: Gods Among Us and the Street Fighter Alpha series, with a heavy focus on giving each fighter individualized gimmicks. And if that doesn't get you pumped, well, there's always R. Mika.

Available: March (PS4, PC)

Quantum Break represents a big departure for Remedy - it’s not a story about a Mister Q. Break. As for the rest, well, it’s totally what you’d want from the creators of Max Payne and Alan Wake (starring Max Payne and Alan Wake, respectively): slick third-person action, extravagant graphics, environmental catastrophes, and a pulpy time-travel story driving you from one cliffhanger to the next. Quantum Break also has a live-action television component interspersed with gameplay episodes, balancing the developer’s desire to not only hook you on an unfurling plot, but to respect the fact that you probably don’t have time to watch and play the whole thing in one sitting. Not that it’ll be any less hard to put down, going by Remedy’s previous games.

Available: April 5, 2016 (Xbox One)

Once upon a time, Rare fans dreamed of a game they awkwardly dubbed 'Banjo-Threeie' - basically, the next Banjo-Kazooie game after the stellar Banjo-Tooie. Unfortunately, that game never materialized (Nuts and Bolts doesn't count). But next year, Yooka-Laylee - a new mascot-happy platformer made by a group of ex-Rare devs called Playtonic Games - promises to hit fans right in the nostalgia with a cheeky, cartoony, collect-a-thon-y return to form. If screenshots from the game's Kickstarter campaign are any hint, expect a 3D adventure-platformer where a bat and chameleon duo collect golden book pages called "Pagies" to expand the world around them. Add in that the character designer, environmental artist, and composers from Rare's good 'ol days are also on the project, and I'm starting to feel some deja vu.

Available: October (PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, PC, Mac)

A follow-up to the excellent classic role-playing game Divinity: Original Sin, this sequel easily sailed past its Kickstarter goal and looks set to build on the impressive manipulation tactics set by its predecessor. This time out, the theme is “how your origins affect who you are and what chances you get in life,” and you’ll be able to exploit character weaknesses to achieve your goals. If the first game is anything to go by, you can expect to get up to a lot of magic-based mischief.

Available: December (PC)

One of the most underrated open-world playgrounds is primed to make a hell of a comeback in 2016. The urban sandbox of the Crackdown universe is all about taking down crime lords in the most egregious, property-obliterating ways you can think of - and with the power of the Xbox One backing it, .

Available: TBA (Xbox One)

The master is back. After taking a supporting role on the development of Dark Souls 2, From Software's Hidetaka Miyazaki is back in the director's chair for the next (and last) installment in the Dark Souls saga. The grand finale to this legendary action-RPG franchise has a lot to live up to, and it's interesting that there seems to be a lot of Bloodborne's DNA in its make-up. So expect not only demon-stabbing, slashing and flaming, but also some of the best enemy designs around. No pressure, then.

Available: TBA (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

If you're looking for blood, gore, shotguns, and more gore, the new Doom looks like it has all of those bases covered. In the E3 2015 gameplay demo, we finally got to see Doom in action and it wasn’t long before we were seeing demons decapitated by shotgun blasts and ghouls being dismembered with a chainsaw. Doom looks like it's staying true to ye old shooter mechanics of yore, forcing you to pick up armor and health packs, but there is new flair added to the shooting with gruesome execution moves that allow you to stomp heads and rip the arms off of stunned enemies. Oh, the joy.

Available: TBA (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

During Bethesda's first ever E3 press conference, the company with announcements for Doom, Fallout 4… and Dishonored 2, sequel to the 2012 gaspunk sneak-a-thon Dishonored, right alongside. Set ten-plus years after the end of the first game, Dishonored 2 will feature two main characters: Corvo, our familiar protagonist, and Emily Kaldwin, his young charge-turned-magical-Assassin. Each will have their own storyline and set of powers, and if Dishonored 2's E3 trailer is any indication, you can be just as ruthless no matter who you choose.

Available: Spring (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Media Molecule made a name for itself with off-the-wall game concepts populated by universally appealing characters, as seen in LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway. But Dreams is definitely its most experimental project yet, even by the studio's eccentric standards. What little we've seen of this surreal experience involves shaping objects and vignettes from a highly moldable, clay-like material, which can then be animated through a sort of PS4 puppetry and shared with other users (a la LBP). The idea is that you'll eventually wander through a string of completely unalike, ethereal visions, but how that'll function in terms of actual gameplay is still a mystery.

Available: TBA (PS4)

When Final Fantasy 15 arrives in 2016, it will have officially been in development for ten years. Despite name changes, platform shifts, and a brand new director taking over the game, it’s actually looking like it might have been worth the wait. Director Hajime Tabata has a flair for taking risks with Square Enix’s flagship series, as with the strange mix of manga melodrama and war documentary in his most recent release, Final Fantasy Type-0. The emerging themes of bombastic anime action and lend themselves nicely to a road trip story full of cars, camping, and magic roadside diners. All that helps make Final Fantasy XV an ambitious, truly unique entry not just in the series, but in the role-playing genre as a whole.

Available: TBA (PS4, Xbox One)

Gears is back, and while the series over time evolved into a brotastic locust-filled curb-stomp-fest (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) many of us are excited that Gears of War 4 will bring back the darker, horror-tinged vibe that the series initially started out with. There's not much to know at this point other than the fact that the two leads, Kait and JD, are fighting bizarre creatures in courtyards and dark corridors with familiar weapons. The studio responsible for the franchise, now renamed to The Coalition, is led by Rod Fergusson, the former Director of Production at Epic Games, who has been working on the series since the first game.

Available: Holiday 2016 (Xbox One)

Halo Wars 2 ranks pretty high up there on the list of 'sequels we never expected to happen in 2016'. The first Halo Wars, while not a bad game, didn't exactly light the fires of passion in either the Halo fanbase or RTS players - partly due to its limited tactics and console exclusivity. Halo Wars 2 looks to change that in a couple of very important ways. First, it's coming to Xbox One and PC, and second, it's being developed by Creative Assembly, the studio behind the Total War franchise. Those guys and gals know their stuff, and it gives hope that Halo Wars 2 will be more complex and honor the RTS genre in a stronger way than its predecessor.

Available: Fall 2016 (Xbox One, PC)

It’s been a long and troubled development but Homefront: The Revolution is finally seeing the light of day and, from what we’ve played, it’s shaping up nicely. A sprawling open world city makes it feel like Far Cry with guerilla warfare and that’s just fine. Philadelphia in 2029 is ruled by the Greater Korean Republic and it’s you and a bundle of other (mostly leather clad) rebels taking on the city with explosives in hand. Just like Mad Max, everything goes boom here and there’s even remote-controlled explosive devices to take on the technologically-superior enemy. Dambusters is concentrating on weapon customization with every part of your weapon able to be satisfyingly swapped out for other bits. The action is suitably chaotic, too, with enemy drones sweeping in and sending you running for cover to replan your attack. Add in a motorbike to cross the city and Orwellian areas of the map to explore and this is an open world we’re excited to explore.

Available: TBA (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

This is just about the last game you'd expect from the team behind Killzone: a post-apocalyptic adventure game where you play as a young woman hunting robot dinosaurs. That's the concept behind (which we'll just be calling 'Horizon', thank you very much), where you'll be hunting mechanical prey with nothing but a bow, arrows, and whatever other gear you can collect from the object of your hunt. Since you have only the most primitive equipment to work with in this hostile world, you'll have to be clever about how you use it, setting traps or using stealth in places when a direct confrontation means death between some beastie’s mechanical jaws. Little is known about the story, but the sincere, unflinching way it approaches its premise (Robot. Dinosaurs.) more than has our attention.

Available: TBA (PS4)

After departing Epic Games in 2012, Cliff Bleszinski went on to start his own studio, Boss Key Productions. LawBreakers is the first effort from the new studio: a fast, futuristic, free-to-play arena shooter that harkens back to the days of like Unreal Tournament and Quake. LawBreakers evokes those classics' relentless pacing and verticality (yes, it's even got rocket-jumping), but mimics contemporary shooters like Overwatch and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 in that you play as unique characters with special abilities. We're excited for LawBreakers' gorgeous, graceful carnage, though it remains to be seen how publisher Nexon will handle the game's microtransactions.

Available: TBA (PC)

LEGO Marvel’s Avengers assemble for the second time in this goofy, co-op friendly format but now, it’s based off the recent Marvel movies The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron as well as the comics. It’s meant to be a celebration of everything Avengers related all in one - even Stan Lee will make an appearance as Iron Stan. It’ll likely be everything that you know and love about LEGO games, because Traveller’s Tales has got this formula nailed down.

Available: January 26 (Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, 3DS, Wii U, PC)

LEGO Worlds is already available on Steam Early Access and it’s what you picture it to be, a sandbox game that allows you to build an entire worlds made up of LEGO Bricks. Finally! The worlds are procedurally generated and you have landscaping tools carve out the LEGO paradise that you’ve always dreamed of. At least you never run the risk of stepping on stray pieces, because that hurts.

Available: TBA (PC, TBD)

It's easy to forget that Mario - the mustachioed mascot who sold millions by platforming through the Mushroom Kingdom - stars in some of the wittiest, most enjoy RPGs available. Both the Paper Mario and Mario Luigi games are known for their wry humor and their timing attacks - hitting a button in time with an attack to deal extra damage. Jam is an RPG mashup of both Mario role-playing universes. Considering the Paper Mario series has been in a weird place with its last two entries, hopefully this collaboration will return it to its RPG roots.

Available: Spring 2016 (3DS)

Commander Shepard's story is over and the Reaper invasion is behind us. Now what is the human race to do? Explore space, obviously. If Star Trek has taught us anything, it's that you can have some incredible adventures out in deep space. In Mass Effect: Andromeda, you take on the role of a new main character as he or she (or maybe it?) explores the Milky Way's neighboring galaxy Andromeda. Not much is known about the game yet, but we have seen glimpses of what appears to be a Mako-like land rover and the return of omni blades.

Available: Q4 2016 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Mega Man purists might have a tough time making the transition from the classic Blue Bomber to the new android Beck, but the spirit of the fighting robot is definitely in Mighty No. 9. The classic side-scrolling shooting and platforming gameplay has a new home, but this spiritual successor is still under the watchful eye of Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune. After beating each boss, Beck earns Mighty Skills that allow him to take additional forms (including a tank), or morph his arms to gain magnetic powers. Each new ability gives him access to previously closed off areas and exposes enemy weak points.

Available: March (PC, Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, Vita, 3DS)

When it comes to Kirkman’s zombies, we’ve been from the sublime work of Telltale to the ridiculous awfulness that was Terminal Reality’s Survival Instinct. Overkill’s The Walking Dead wants to deliver the undead experience we really need and with the full support of Robert Kirkman himself, the Payday 2 devs might just deliver something (bloody) special. This slice of zombie action is all about co-op in post-apocalyptic Washington and is set in the comic book universe, not the TV show. It’s an FPS but has elements of stealth, survival horror and good old headshots as you and a friend attempt to survive in a world more than a bit hungry for your brains. We’ve not seen quite enough to know if Overkill can topple Telltale but it looks like it’s going to be gorily exciting to find out.

Available: TBA (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Sometimes, suburbia just isn't big enough to contain an all-out war between the walking dead and sentient plant-life. Sometimes, you need to take the fight to the moon. Garden Warfare 2 is the follow-up to the team-based, third-person, surprisingly fun shooter based on Popcap's essential tower defense game, adding a bevy of fresh classes and chaos-encouraging arenas. Standout newcomers include a rapid-firing stalk of corn and a support-spell-casting rose for the Plants, while the Zombies have recruited an undead-piloted mech suit and a rotting superhero to their squad. Whether you're engaging in a 24-player melee or some lighthearted 4-player co-op, this backyard carnage is sure to be a hoot.

Available: TBA (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Continuing the theme of post-apocalyptic robo-wildlife from Horizon, ReCore stars a girl and her mechanical dog-friend-thing with a plasma globe for a stomach, as they explore the wastes and fight other metal-based fiends. While not a lot has been revealed, there’s a mechanic that lets you insert your companion’s core into other robots for new abilities. It’s also being made by Keiji Inafune (the man behind Mega Man) and the makers of Metroid, so you can likely expect more than just your average run-and-shoot game.

Available: June 2016 (Xbox One)

Insomniac’s AAA reimagining of the original Ratchet and Clank, debuting alongside a full-blown movie based on the same source material, easily exceeds the usual parameters we apply to ‘remakes.’ Though the new Ratchet Clank brings its playful blend of platforming and weird weapons to planets we’ve seen before, we haven’t quite seen them in such a cutting-edge display of the PS4’s capabilities. Insomniac has also completely modernized the controls and camera, redone every cutscene to a Hollywood calibre and introduced new oddball guns. And yes, Mr. Zurkon is here too.

Available: April 16, 2016 (PS4)

You might be familiar with the concept of the , where standout games have been locked away on Nintendo's sixth-generation console seemingly for all time. Luckily, one longtime inmate is finally being freed thanks to Resident Evil Origins Collection, which bundles an HD remake of the GameCube prequel Resident Evil Zero with 2015's re-remake Resident Evil HD. Whether or not you're following the unlikely duo of Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen for the first time, the prospect of blasting giant mutant tarantulas on a speeding train in glorious 1080p is pretty damn enticing.

Available: January 22 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

When Hideki 'I just blocked you on Twitter' Kamiya makes a game, you should pay attention. He's the man behind Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, Bayonetta… are you seeing the trend here? Almost everything the guy touches turns to gold. Scalebound is Platinum's first Action RPG, incorporating elements of the team's trademark free-brawling action, only now you've got a dragon at your side, helping you out. The demos so far have all looked far too good to be true (surely no game can really handle all that climbing on beasties in a fast-paced action format), but it seems increasingly likely this will be another top-drawer hit. Oh, also check your Twitter - I hear Kamiya just blocked you.

Available: TBA (Xbox One)

Made up of ex-Bioshock developers, indie studio Fullbright used its expertise in crafting believable spaces filled with incredible detail and environmental storytelling with its breakout hit, Gone Home. Now, Fullbright reaches for the stars with Tacoma, a game set on a space station hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth. We don’t know much about Tacoma yet, but chances are good that you'll walk around the station hunting for clues, and solving some puzzles while an engrossing, non-linear narrative washes over you.

Available: 2016 (Xbox One, PC)

It's almost too good to be true. Following eight years in development and radio silence on its progress for the last three, it seemed like The Last Guardian would forever be a pipedream, the stuff that Team Ico fans sigh over in moments of quiet sehnsucht. But during E3 2015, Sony dropped a bombshell by revealing that not only is The Last Guardian alive, it's nearing completion and coming to PS4 in 2016. In The Last Guardian, you play as a young boy exploring a calmly empty fantasy world alongside his giant eagle-lion-dog, who learns to help you solve puzzles with a little training. Most of the game is yet mysterious, but the fact that its existence is not is probably the best news Ico and Colossus fans have heard in many moons.

Available: TBA (PS4)

What Remains of Edith Finch is by the creators of Unfinished Swan, the game where you lob black paint all over the place to discover the world in front of you. Edith Finch is visually different (less paint), but there is a similar element of discovery, as you (Edith) move through the world from a first-person perspective and unravel the story of your cursed family. It’s a series of short stories where you get to experience the lives of various family members, leading up to their death. Cheery, isn’t it? It's actually quite unsettling, but fascinating.

Available: TBA (PS4)

This year, video games finally figured out the majesty of Dog. You don't need a degree in marketing to notice that including a dog in your game <(a href="http://www.gamesradar.com/final-fantasy-15-teaser-features-dog-internet-goes-nuts/" target="blank">or even just in a trailer) leads to instant player love, especially when the dog's . Man's best friend has been a part of games for years, their innate wonderfulness is finally being fully realized.

Of course, things could have easily gone differently. Gaming is almost inexorably linked to the internet, and what does the internet love? . It makes you wonder how gaming would be if all its best dogs were envisioned as feisty felines, with all the appropriate changes in personality. The end result is hilarious for us, but maybe not so great for their servants--I mean protagonists.

As a dog: Growing from an adorable puppy into a still-adorable killing machine, D.D. helps you track enemy combatants, sniffs out supplies and weapons, and will absolutely knife someone on command if you arm him properly.

As a cat: Diamond Cat may like the thrill of the hunt, but focuses almost entirely on small desert creatures to the detriment of the team (and refuses to share his spoils). He also has a habit of sleeping during the day, only to sprint frantically through a enemy base and alert all guards during night missions. He will, however, still definitely knife someone, but it'll probably be you. Why just puke in your shoes when he can murder you instead?

As a dog: After losing a fight against Max (and knowing what's good for it), The Dog quickly makes itself useful as a mine-sniffer, helping Max dismantle landmines hidden in the wasteland's most attractive scrap heaps.

As a cat: Dinki-Di finds a nice warm spot in Chumbucket's buggy and sunbathes through every wasteland excursion Max takes him on. He can sniff out the landmines just fine, but keeps that information to himself, and is nonplussed when his nap is disturbed by explosions and flying meat.

As a dog: A K-9 with the Ghost squadron, Riley is as much a trained soldier as anyone else on his team. Decked out with a bulletproof vest, he is often sent in ahead of his human teammates to attack unreachable enemies, do reconnaissance, and find secret paths his allies can take during stealth missions.

As a cat: Riley is an expert at infiltrating enemy camps and barricading himself in a bathroom by closing the door and pulling opening an adjacent drawer. He then uses his ultimate distraction tactic - clawing at the enemies' hands as they try to get the door open with a coat hanger - allowing American soldiers take the camp unnoticed. He doesn't do it on purpose of course. It just kind of works out that way.

As a dog: A bit of a lone wanderer himself, Dogmeat joins the Lone Wanderer when they cross paths in the depressing and barren wasteland. He helps guard the Lone Wanderer from enemies, but is even more effective as a tracker, disappearing for days on end to uncover items at his master's request.

As a cat: Catmeat refuses to retrieve anything on command, but he does leave the corpses of mangled birds, lizards, and other small creatures in the Lone Wanderer's backpack. That isn't so bad when you're wandering the desert without food, but it'd be nice if he'd make sure they're fully dead first.

As a dog: Angelo serves as Rinoa's loyal companion and primary weapon. All of her special limit break attacks incorporate the canine in some way, and Angelo can serve as everything from an emergency medic to an oversized projectile.

As a cat: Angelo refuses to respond to any commands, being a cat. But he still acts as an effective weapon when Rinoa uses her ultimate limit break and drops him on her opponent's head. Which he falls onto right-side up, naturally.

As a dog: Originally trained to be an attack dog, Chop is left in Franklin's care by impulsive gangbanger Lamar, and turns out to be the world's biggest sweety. He regularly goes with Franklin on car rides, and can help defend Franklin in times of need.

As a cat: Chop is perfectly happy to hop in the car (preferably by dropping through the sunroof) but immediately goes into panic mode once the vehicle is mobile. Driving down the highway with Chop in tow unlocks a new minigame where Franklin struggles to keeps the feline from crawling under the brake pedals.

As a dog: The most quadrupedal member of the Persona team, Koromaru is a loyal and highly intelligent animal that loves movies and hanging out in the team dorm. He's also fearsome in battle, and has taken down Shadows without an evoker, using only his intellect fancy knife skills.

As a cat: Koromaru is able to hold his own against Shadows with the rest of the team and kill as necessary, using his ultimate attack: exposing his belly and hypnotizing enemies into petting it, like a furry bear trap.

As a dog: Fiona's canine escort, Hewie acts as her primary means of defense. But more than just commanding him to attack an assailant or fetch items for her, Fiona can train Hewie into an obedient, loyal, and courageous guard dog intent on keeping her safe.

As a cat: While Fiona screams for help and flees from her attackers, Hewie is too busy with a fascinating dustball he found in the corner of the hallway to notice, and will be preoccupied for the next several hours. Fiona can take care of herself, and when's she going to get around to feeding him, anyway? Food, human. that is what you are good for.

As a dog: This cute fellah is already pretty cat-like, since you only see him for a second or two before he darts away into the forest, only to be seen when he's good and ready. But his dogly nature comes out after Leon saves him from a bear trap and, out of gratitude, the dog helps Leon fight El Gigante.

As a cat: He does just as much disappearing as you'd expect, but he's not nearly as grateful or willing to help Leon in battle. He mostly just eats all your green herbs and throws them up on the carpet before disappearing into the night.

As a dog: Easily one of the most despised characters in gaming history, Duck Hunt Dog has no qualms about rubbing your nose in even the slightest failure. He's all cheer and happy faces when you shoot down his dinner, but let a single fowl get away and expect to get a good, long look at his overly-amused mug.

As a cat: He doesn't even bother to mock you. He just stares at you with eyes full of derision, pressing the weight of your failures down upon your fragile human soul.

Just because your world is fire and blood, doesn't mean it should be frustrating. is an excellent open-world adventure full of invigorating car combat and gorgeous (if desolate) locales, but exploring the wasteland can be pretty harsh when you're first starting out. If you're hoping to live long enough to get revenge on the big bad Scrotus - yes, that really is his name - and reclaim your prized black-on-black Interceptor ride, you're going to need every advantage you can get.

So here's your chance to get the leg up on all those anarchic War Boys. These tips should make staying alive in the post-apocalypse infinitely easier, especially when you're first starting out. If you're chipping away at that other big-budget, open-world desert, be sure to check out our . Otherwise, buckle up for a quick crash course in surviving Max's crazy world.

Before you go tuning up the Magnum Opus or worrying about Max's post-apocalypse accoutrements, there's one item you absolutely need: the Jimmy Bar. The moment you've got enough scrap (the de facto currency), head to the 'Tools' section of Max's inventory and treat yourself to this handy appliance. It's not very exciting, given that it's just a crowbar, but you'll need it to open up certain crates, barricaded doors, and secret compartments you'll find strewn across the wasteland, all of which result in precious resources. If you buy the Jimmy Bar straight away, you won't have to worry about coming back to previously inaccessible treasure troves later on.

The mysterious merchant Griffa offers Max many ways to strengthen his inner self, including handy upgrades like increased Health and faster Fury generation. But liquid, be it water or fuel, is your true lifeblood in Mad Max, and you'll want to be as economical as possible with your reserves. To that end, you should make it a priority to boost your Essence and Adaptation abilities during every Griffa visit, which will give you additional bonuses on water and gas consumption, respectively. These stats are infinitely more important than things like extra regen from eating food (which is already sizable) or additional melee damage, as Essence and Adaptation will constantly be saving you from those times when you're running dry and desperately seeking sustenance for your body and/or car.

Your hunchbacked pal Chumbucket specializes in all things mechanical, but he's also an ace with a harpoon cannon. And while it can feel pretty dang cool to slow down time and line up a shot while you stomp the gas pedal, you'll eventually just want to leave the targeting to ol' Chum. Tapping the fire button will let Chumbucket decide what to shoot, and he's awfully smart about his targets; he'll rarely deviate from what you probably wanted/needed him to hit, like the driver of an incoming vehicle or a scarecrow as you go speeding past. Once you make him your designated harpoon gunner, all the car combat will feel a lot faster (and in turn, more exciting).

Mad Max is no platformer, but you'd think the game's tutorial would do a better job teaching you that you can jump. By tapping L2/LT, Max will do a jaunty little hop - nothing that would give Mario a run for his money, but just enough to clear pesky dunes or shin-high blockades. This can be a godsend when you're frustratedly trying to clamber up a rocky hillside, though it won't help you scale ladders or vault up ledges any faster. What's more, there are some History Relics hidden throughout the environment that seemingly require a short jump to access, so if you find one that seems impossibly out of reach, a running jump off of a nearby structure is likely the answer.

Part of clearing out the many encampments that dot the desert is the dismantling of Scrotus insignias, those bright red, skull-on-fire emblems hanging on the walls in each camp. And while most of them are conveniently placed at chest level, where Max can shatter them with a few forceful smacks from his crowbar, a few will be hanging overhead in large rooms, or even mounted on the side of tall towers. Nothing's more annoying than spotting one of these hidden insignias only to realize that you don't have any shotgun shells to blast it down, forcing you to come back later. With that in mind, it's best to save your ammo when fighting your way through each camp, especially early on when your supplies are low - you really shouldn't need any bullets to take down the opposition in the earlier camps. If you're desperate, you could try lobbing a lit gas can at an out-of-reach insignia, though their tricky explosion timing may be just as frustrating.

As you zoom across the wastes, you're sure to encounter Convoys: giant processions of enemy vehicles led by a humongous truck. Chumbucket will make wistful comments about the 'mojo' artifacts carried by the vehicle in the lead, which is actually one of the collectible Hood Ornaments that add a perk to the Magnum Opus (in addition to looking totally sweet). While it can be tempting to try and tussle with these warbands early on, it's akin to automotive suicide in the earlier stages of the game. Instead of trying to chase down convoys and take out the multitude of cars surrounding the lead truck, just leave them alone for the first dozen or so hours until you've tricked out the Magnum Opus in protective gear like spiked hoods and barbed rims. Oh, and when you do finally muster the courage to take on a convoy, remember that harpooning drivers is the quickest way to disable a vehicle (though you'll still need to destroy their ride after the fact).

It takes a lot of scrap to upgrade Max's abilities and the Magnum Opus' parts, and you'll only find so many metal bits on scavenger's corpses or buried in the sands. Taking out encampments has the massive benefit of providing a steady stream of scrap every hour or so, increasing with each camp you overthrow - but the real way to make bank is to complete two specific Stronghold Projects. Building the Scrap Crew makes it so that your scrap income will be collected even when the game's turned off (provided your system is still connected online), while the Cleanup Crew will collect all the scrap from the cars you destroy that would typically be a waste of time to stop and pick up. You'll want to construct these ASAP, so be sure to inspect their glowing, vacant workbenches in each Stronghold to make their part locations spawn on the minimap - just remember that you can only track one project's requisite materials at a time.

Certain upgrades are locked behind a specific region's threat level: the numerical representation of Scrotus' dominion over that area's terrified denizens. Pretty much anything you do - from eliminating snipers to tearing down scarecrows - helps whittle down the current threat level, but the quickest way to establish a foothold is to take out some camps. You can scout out where each camp is located during your hot air balloon rides, then decide which ones you want to take down first based on their difficulty (represented by those skull icons). Just know that if you're chasing after a specific upgrade, you'll have to make sure that you're reducing threat in the correct area (though every bit helps out in the long run).

In most games, sniper rifles are a chance to line up the perfect headshot from a distance - but in Mad Max, those bullets are one-hit kills no matter where they connect. When trying to line up your sights, you should only be focused on getting the hit, rather than where you hit, because each bullet is precious. Gliding the reticle above an enemy will typically give you an auto-aim nudge toward their chest - and that's the shot you want to take. And if a sniper is shooting back at you, keep your cool; it can be tempting to frantically try to nail them before they clip you, but that just makes you more likely to waste your ammunition. Instead, simply drive out of their range and come back later. Same goes for if you run out of ammo, because trying to get out of the car will almost assuredly get you killed (or at least have you dancing and dodging away from incoming shots nonstop).

Ever heard the travel expression "as the crow flies"? That's typically a good rule of thumb when trying to make your way to whatever destination you've highlighted on your map. Like most open-world games, your minimap will highlight the optimal road you want to take in green - but you'll usually make it to your mark much quicker if you just go barrelling off a cliff or two, bypassing the windy trails with some off-roading. Once you've unlocked nitro boosts, you can clear most canyons or cliffs without much trouble, which will save you tons of time while you cruise around the wasteland. And don't worry about wrecking your car, because...

You've got to hand it to Chumbucket: the little fella does good work. No matter what kind of body-shattering, axle-grinding torture you put the Magnum Opus through, Chumbucket can always repair it back to pristine(ish) condition. You can effectively ignore your vehicle's health bar; as long as you get out of the car in time whenever you've taken critical damage, even an all-consuming car fire can be fixed. On top of that, the Magnum Opus will never tip over no matter what kind of death-defying jumps you take, so you won't have to pull a Master Chief and flip over a two-ton vehicle in the middle of a fight.

Not wanting to be outdone by his ride, Max himself is also quite resistant to high heat. If you've just rammed a bandit off the road and want to pick up the scrap from their car's burning remains, go for it - those plumes of orange flame won't leave a scratch on Max or his leather jacket. And though you're not immune to explosions, you can withstand some pretty devastating blasts. For instance, the kind of detonation that'll wipe out all nearby enemies will usually only ding about half of your health bar - so if those War Boys have you backed into a corner near an oil transfer tank or an explosive barrel, might as well blow it and hope for the best.

It would probably be frowned upon if NASCAR or F1 drivers actively tried to kill each other while jockeying for position - but in Crow Dazzle's Death Races, anything goes! Make you sure you load up on shotgun ammo before starting a race, because you're free to blast the exposed gas canisters on the back of your competitors' rides and permanently remove them from the rally. It's not time efficient to take out all the other contestants, but this lethal bit of cheating can be a godsend if you can't seem to pull ahead of the car in front of you. You can even take out the nearest vehicle right at the starting line without anyone - be they racer or event organizer - batting an eye.

UPDATE for September 10: With two Royal Rumble’s worth of wrestlers revealed over the last fortnight, WWE 2K16’s grappler count stands at 109 – with freshly unveiled debutants including Haku, Kama Mustafa, and the Vaudevillains. We’ve updated the gallery to include every wrestler and diva announced so far.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: While Yuke's' official WWE series has garnered mixed reviews in recent years, one area it’s always strong in is attention to detail outside of the ring, specifically arenas, wrestler entrances, and t-shirts worn by members of the crowd. In fact that latter apparel-based matter has become a flawless, ambient tie-up with each game's roster over the years. Simply, if a WWE superstar or diva is in the game, so too is their official merchandise, and vice versa. As a result, 2K’s recent of Finn Balor and Seth Rollins’ entrances inadvertently blows a good deal more future reveals, unveiling - at least to eagle-eyed fans - another 22 roster members in WWE 2K16 who haven’t yet been ‘officially’ announced.

With more than 120 wrestlers featured in the upcoming edition, there’s been a clamour for stars both old and new to join current-era combatants like John Cena and Randy Orton. And on this evidence, 2K and Yuke’s have delivered. Stalwarts The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and The Rock are joined by the returning Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart, while NXT standouts Baron Corbin, Enzo Amore and Charlotte are among this year’s debutants. For all 22 in-game characters unveiled in this way, and an updated list of every guy and gal revealed so far, read on…

Well, duh. Like the great one was going to miss out on a WWE game for the first time in forever. Rocky’s inclusion rounds out the names revealed so far to 109, just a dozen-or-so short of the final line-up. That makes the full, current list (*deep breath*):

dam Rose, Aiden English, Alicia Fox, Andre The Giant, Bad News Barrett, Bam Bam Bigelow, Baron Corbin, Batista, Big Show/Paul Wight, Billy Gunn, Bo Dallas, Booker T, Bray Wyatt, Bret Hart, Brie Bella, British Bulldog, Brock Lesnar, Cameron, Cesaro, Charlotte, Chris Jericho, Christian, Col Mustafa, Colin Cassady, Curtis Axel, D-Lo Brown, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose, Darren Young, Damien Sandow, Diamond Dallas Page, Dolph Ziggler, Edge, Emma, Enzo Amore, Erick Rowan, Eva Marie, Fandango, Farrooq, Finn Balor, Fit Finlay, General Adnan, Goldust, Haku, Heath Slater, Hideo Itami, Honky Tonk Man, JBL, Jack Swagger, Jake Roberts, Jey Uso, Jim Neidhart, John Cena, Jimmy Uso, Kalisto, Kama Mustafa, Kane, Ken Shamrock, Kevin Nash, Kevin Owens, Layla, Leg Luger, Lord Steven Regal, Luke Harper, Mankind/Dude Love/Cactus Jack, The Miz, Naomi, Natalya, Neville, Nikki Bella, Paige, R-Truth, Randy Orton, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Rick Rude, Rikishi, The Rock, Roman Reigns, Ryback, Sami Zayn, Santino Marella, Seth Rollins, Sgt Slaughter, Shane McMahon, Shawn Michaels, Sheamus, Simon Gotch, Sin Cara, Stardust, Stephanie McMahon, Sting, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Summer Rae, Tamina, The Terminator, Titus O’Neil, Triple H, Tyler Breeze, Tyson Kidd, Ultimate Warrior, The Undertaker, Vader, Vince McMahon, X-Pac, Zack Ryder.

Just because your world is fire and blood, doesn't mean it should be frustrating. is an excellent open-world adventure full of invigorating car combat and gorgeous (if desolate) locales, but exploring the wasteland can be pretty harsh when you're first starting out. If you're hoping to live long enough to get revenge on the big bad Scrotus - yes, that really is his name - and reclaim your prized black-on-black Interceptor ride, you're going to need every advantage you can get.

So here's your chance to get the leg up on all those anarchic War Boys. These tips should make staying alive in the post-apocalypse infinitely easier, especially when you're first starting out. If you're chipping away at that other big-budget, open-world desert, be sure to check out our . Otherwise, buckle up for a quick crash course in surviving Max's crazy world.

Before you go tuning up the Magnum Opus or worrying about Max's post-apocalypse accoutrements, there's one item you absolutely need: the Jimmy Bar. The moment you've got enough scrap (the de facto currency), head to the 'Tools' section of Max's inventory and treat yourself to this handy appliance. It's not very exciting, given that it's just a crowbar, but you'll need it to open up certain crates, barricaded doors, and secret compartments you'll find strewn across the wasteland, all of which result in precious resources. If you buy the Jimmy Bar straight away, you won't have to worry about coming back to previously inaccessible treasure troves later on.

The mysterious merchant Griffa offers Max many ways to strengthen his inner self, including handy upgrades like increased Health and faster Fury generation. But liquid, be it water or fuel, is your true lifeblood in Mad Max, and you'll want to be as economical as possible with your reserves. To that end, you should make it a priority to boost your Essence and Adaptation abilities during every Griffa visit, which will give you additional bonuses on water and gas consumption, respectively. These stats are infinitely more important than things like extra regen from eating food (which is already sizable) or additional melee damage, as Essence and Adaptation will constantly be saving you from those times when you're running dry and desperately seeking sustenance for your body and/or car.

Your hunchbacked pal Chumbucket specializes in all things mechanical, but he's also an ace with a harpoon cannon. And while it can feel pretty dang cool to slow down time and line up a shot while you stomp the gas pedal, you'll eventually just want to leave the targeting to ol' Chum. Tapping the fire button will let Chumbucket decide what to shoot, and he's awfully smart about his targets; he'll rarely deviate from what you probably wanted/needed him to hit, like the driver of an incoming vehicle or a scarecrow as you go speeding past. Once you make him your designated harpoon gunner, all the car combat will feel a lot faster (and in turn, more exciting).

Mad Max is no platformer, but you'd think the game's tutorial would do a better job teaching you that you can jump. By tapping L2/LT, Max will do a jaunty little hop - nothing that would give Mario a run for his money, but just enough to clear pesky dunes or shin-high blockades. This can be a godsend when you're frustratedly trying to clamber up a rocky hillside, though it won't help you scale ladders or vault up ledges any faster. What's more, there are some History Relics hidden throughout the environment that seemingly require a short jump to access, so if you find one that seems impossibly out of reach, a running jump off of a nearby structure is likely the answer.

Part of clearing out the many encampments that dot the desert is the dismantling of Scrotus insignias, those bright red, skull-on-fire emblems hanging on the walls in each camp. And while most of them are conveniently placed at chest level, where Max can shatter them with a few forceful smacks from his crowbar, a few will be hanging overhead in large rooms, or even mounted on the side of tall towers. Nothing's more annoying than spotting one of these hidden insignias only to realize that you don't have any shotgun shells to blast it down, forcing you to come back later. With that in mind, it's best to save your ammo when fighting your way through each camp, especially early on when your supplies are low - you really shouldn't need any bullets to take down the opposition in the earlier camps. If you're desperate, you could try lobbing a lit gas can at an out-of-reach insignia, though their tricky explosion timing may be just as frustrating.

As you zoom across the wastes, you're sure to encounter Convoys: giant processions of enemy vehicles led by a humongous truck. Chumbucket will make wistful comments about the 'mojo' artifacts carried by the vehicle in the lead, which is actually one of the collectible Hood Ornaments that add a perk to the Magnum Opus (in addition to looking totally sweet). While it can be tempting to try and tussle with these warbands early on, it's akin to automotive suicide in the earlier stages of the game. Instead of trying to chase down convoys and take out the multitude of cars surrounding the lead truck, just leave them alone for the first dozen or so hours until you've tricked out the Magnum Opus in protective gear like spiked hoods and barbed rims. Oh, and when you do finally muster the courage to take on a convoy, remember that harpooning drivers is the quickest way to disable a vehicle (though you'll still need to destroy their ride after the fact).

It takes a lot of scrap to upgrade Max's abilities and the Magnum Opus' parts, and you'll only find so many metal bits on scavenger's corpses or buried in the sands. Taking out encampments has the massive benefit of providing a steady stream of scrap every hour or so, increasing with each camp you overthrow - but the real way to make bank is to complete two specific Stronghold Projects. Building the Scrap Crew makes it so that your scrap income will be collected even when the game's turned off (provided your system is still connected online), while the Cleanup Crew will collect all the scrap from the cars you destroy that would typically be a waste of time to stop and pick up. You'll want to construct these ASAP, so be sure to inspect their glowing, vacant workbenches in each Stronghold to make their part locations spawn on the minimap - just remember that you can only track one project's requisite materials at a time.

Certain upgrades are locked behind a specific region's threat level: the numerical representation of Scrotus' dominion over that area's terrified denizens. Pretty much anything you do - from eliminating snipers to tearing down scarecrows - helps whittle down the current threat level, but the quickest way to establish a foothold is to take out some camps. You can scout out where each camp is located during your hot air balloon rides, then decide which ones you want to take down first based on their difficulty (represented by those skull icons). Just know that if you're chasing after a specific upgrade, you'll have to make sure that you're reducing threat in the correct area (though every bit helps out in the long run).

In most games, sniper rifles are a chance to line up the perfect headshot from a distance - but in Mad Max, those bullets are one-hit kills no matter where they connect. When trying to line up your sights, you should only be focused on getting the hit, rather than where you hit, because each bullet is precious. Gliding the reticle above an enemy will typically give you an auto-aim nudge toward their chest - and that's the shot you want to take. And if a sniper is shooting back at you, keep your cool; it can be tempting to frantically try to nail them before they clip you, but that just makes you more likely to waste your ammunition. Instead, simply drive out of their range and come back later. Same goes for if you run out of ammo, because trying to get out of the car will almost assuredly get you killed (or at least have you dancing and dodging away from incoming shots nonstop).

Ever heard the travel expression "as the crow flies"? That's typically a good rule of thumb when trying to make your way to whatever destination you've highlighted on your map. Like most open-world games, your minimap will highlight the optimal road you want to take in green - but you'll usually make it to your mark much quicker if you just go barrelling off a cliff or two, bypassing the windy trails with some off-roading. Once you've unlocked nitro boosts, you can clear most canyons or cliffs without much trouble, which will save you tons of time while you cruise around the wasteland. And don't worry about wrecking your car, because...

You've got to hand it to Chumbucket: the little fella does good work. No matter what kind of body-shattering, axle-grinding torture you put the Magnum Opus through, Chumbucket can always repair it back to pristine(ish) condition. You can effectively ignore your vehicle's health bar; as long as you get out of the car in time whenever you've taken critical damage, even an all-consuming car fire can be fixed. On top of that, the Magnum Opus will never tip over no matter what kind of death-defying jumps you take, so you won't have to pull a Master Chief and flip over a two-ton vehicle in the middle of a fight.

Not wanting to be outdone by his ride, Max himself is also quite resistant to high heat. If you've just rammed a bandit off the road and want to pick up the scrap from their car's burning remains, go for it - those plumes of orange flame won't leave a scratch on Max or his leather jacket. And though you're not immune to explosions, you can withstand some pretty devastating blasts. For instance, the kind of detonation that'll wipe out all nearby enemies will usually only ding about half of your health bar - so if those War Boys have you backed into a corner near an oil transfer tank or an explosive barrel, might as well blow it and hope for the best.

It would probably be frowned upon if NASCAR or F1 drivers actively tried to kill each other while jockeying for position - but in Crow Dazzle's Death Races, anything goes! Make you sure you load up on shotgun ammo before starting a race, because you're free to blast the exposed gas canisters on the back of your competitors' rides and permanently remove them from the rally. It's not time efficient to take out all the other contestants, but this lethal bit of cheating can be a godsend if you can't seem to pull ahead of the car in front of you. You can even take out the nearest vehicle right at the starting line without anyone - be they racer or event organizer - batting an eye.

If you haven't already heard the news, 2K and Lionsgate Entertainment announced a Borderlands movie last week, and the response has been a resounding "Huh?" As a series that's infamously light on story and heavy on shooting wildly in every direction, Borderlands hardly seems to warrant a film adaptation - even the most generous critics predict at least 40 minutes of the movie will be allotted to weapon respecing.

But before you write it off as a shameless cash-in (months before shooting of any kind starts), consider that a story-centric Borderlands might not be as bad as the internet has thus far decreed. In fact, the so-far-stellar builds itself on a foundation of Borderlands' narrative qualities, proving there's more to this universe than screaming guns and monsters shaped like genitalia. Borderlands has all the pieces of a great movie and while, yes, you can probably expect many minutes of fiery gunfights and crash-bang car chases from Hollywood's Borderlands treatment, that isn't all the screenwriters have to work with.

The world of Pandora at first seems barren and basic, a thin environmental backdrop so you're not just shooting at stick figures running around in white space. But look a few inches past your rifle sight and you'll find a vibrant, living world looking back, its history on display in every blathering Psycho, weapon logo, and normal-looking young woman who goes on regular jaunts through another dimension. But don't take my word for it: a gander at the proves the point just fine.

That leaves the directorial mind behind this adaptation with plenty of room to move in just about any direction they'd like. They could do a straight retelling of any of the series' existing games, recreating the race to open the first Pandoran vault or the mystery of the being called Angel. Or it could rocket off to parts unknown, covering a brand new story from elsewhere in the timeline. Remember how Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel literally took the cast to the moon for the purposes of corporate warfare? There are a lot of options here, is what I'm saying.

While some game movies have to deal with source material that gives them nothing to work with but iron-jawed muscle men in wardrobes of brown and grey, this film will have no such trouble. There's enough wise-cracking robots, assassins who speak in emoticons, and sadistic clowns in low-cut tops in Borderlands that the movie is all but guaranteed an eclectic and memorable cast.

How likeable they are will of course depend on how they're written and cast - if we get a bunch of generic Video Game Heroes that are meant to be audience placeholders, there goes one of the film's great assets down the garbage chute. But if the team behind the film keeps to Borderlands' eccentric and loveable brand of character design (how else do you explain the widespread love for Claptrap and Tiny Tina?), we can expect an ensemble that will keep all eyes on the screen, even if it's just out of morbid fascination.

When you think of Borderlands, you probably picture an endless swath of desert with a run-down, neo-western vibe and way too many corpses. But that's really only a fraction of what Pandora has to offer - sun-scorched wastelands and shantytowns exist alongside lush underground caves, soaring mountain peaks, and idyllic crater lakes. Of course, they're still full of monsters that'll eat you alive (especially the sea monster living in that deceptively lovely basin), but peace isn't the point here. The point is the Borderlands movie will have plenty of gorgeous environments to work with, and can get as creative as it likes with whatever setting(s) it chooses to use.

The only hard and fast rule is that there has to be some kind of monster for the heroes to fight (and we're talking a ). Everything else is up to the writers' (hopefully whacked out) imaginations, and even a globetrotting adventure where the cast explores all of Pandora's ecological wonders could be in the cards. If Tales from the Borderlands can invent a giant garden in the middle of Pandora's arctic circle, then Pandora clearly has no trouble supporting creative new environments and ideas.

This one's a bit tricky, since Borderlands' reliance on memes and dick jokes for its comedy isn't to everyone's taste. But any film that aims to do the series justice will at least try to be funny, and that's an anti-gravity moon leap in the right direction. In a world where too many video game adaptations are humorless and devoid of cheer, we need less Max Payne and more Mortal Kombat; a Borderlands movie has the best chance to deliver.

While it's almost inevitable that a SO I HEARD YOU LIKE GUNS gag will show up at some point, that isn't the only type of humor that works in the Borderlands world. There's also some deft use of screwball comedy and irony that has a lot less juvenile appeal. Sure, monsters called bonerfarts may be a thing, but that's a lot more tolerable when it appears alongside . In terms of being laughed-til-I-cried funny, the Borderlands games give the film a place to start; with luck and with a little smart direction, it could be the Kingsman of video game adaptions. In fact, you know what? Just give Matt Vaughn the job right now.

I said earlier that there's more to Borderlands than guns, but I never said the guns couldn't show up. Borderlands without ridiculous shootouts would be like Metal Gear Solid without plot twists, or Final Fantasy without hair gel - not the series we've come to know and love. A proper jaunt through Pandora is a blood-pumping and blood-spilling experience, full of frantic battles that overflow with colorful destruction and violent glee. It's perfect for a summer action blockbuster, and any production company worth their reels will put that to use.

Borderlands even has an extra leg up in this category over other popular shooters, because there's a ton of variety in how its battles actually look. The heroes aren't always mowing down waves of grunts before jogging to the next checkpoint and doing it all over again. Sometimes they do that, but other times they take down colossal beasts that could crush them into banditcakes, or smash down on packs of moon monsters with the help of limited gravity. When gripes about technical difficulties are no longer part of the equation, the sheer strangeness of Borderlands' action shines.

Look at that handsome SOB. Just look at him, and think about all the evil shit he does while still reveling in the fanbase's love. A dangerous mix of charisma and outright sociopathy, Handsome Jack is easily one of the most complex characters in all of Borderlands, the sort of guy who calls himself a hero then complains that the civilian he just stabbed got blood on his jacket. And even though you're aware he's a mass-murdering, child-abusing, back-stabbing bastard, he's also bizarrely charming, intelligent, and incredibly funny. You fall for his schemes even when you know better.

Basically, he's the Most Interesting Asshole Alive, and no Borderlands movie would be complete without him. Because we need him. We need Handsome Jack.

...Oh. Well, shit.

I'd say video game movies get a bad rap for being subpar cinema, but the honest truth is that video game movies are pretty goddamn awful most of the time. That reputation makes it hard to greet the .

But, true as that may be, it doesn't do much good to wallow in misery. We can spend our time lamenting the most rotten of the game movie crop, or we can turn away from the worst and focus on game-based films that are worth signing into Netflix over. Yes, I choose to be optimistic and think about the best video game feature films, even the ones that only made it to DVD. They aren't perfect, and they may make proper film buffs scoff, but each has a special something that makes microwaving another bag of popcorn worthwhile.

DOA: Dead or Alive wasn’t exactly set up for success. It was released straight-to-DVD in the United States, though it deserved a full theatrical release over some other video game adaptations (we’re looking at you, Dungeon Siege movie starring Jason Statham). The story's what you'd expect from a fighting game franchise: combatants from around the world are invited to participate in a secret martial arts tournament where things are not what they seem.

It's a weak premise to be sure, but DOA neither needs nor wants to be deep and affecting cinema. It's a pure popcorn flick from start to finish, with cheesy dialogue and exaggerated fight scenes that make for some stellar so-bad-it's-good comedy. Plus, the fact that allies can instantly become enemies if their names are drawn out of a figurative hat of death pumps some juice into an otherwise stale formula, and actually gives an explanation for why everyone in the DOA universe is constantly kicking the crap out of one another.

Max Payne is a movie that dreams of being Sin City when it grows up, from the neo-noir setting to its oppressive, shadowy visuals. You could say that much of that style comes from the Max Payne video games, but Max Payne the movie uses its roots as a segue rather than a foundation, turning it into a straight-up private-eye thriller.

Of course, losing the more game-centric aspects of Payne's vendetta means the film misses out on bullet-time physics and comic-inspired visuals, which is a big part of what made Max's exploits so good in the first place. The film's plot feels almost entirely removed from all but the basic parts of the Payne mythology, so there isn't much for fans here. Still, it latches onto the grittiness of Payne first and foremost, making it perfect if you're looking for a mystery marinating in dark action. If that's your jam, make sure to grab a copy of the Unrated edition, as things were toned down for theatrical release - the exact opposite of what Max Payne should be.

If you’re dying for a movie that juxtaposes excellent fight choreography and flashy CG with Ben Kingsley sighing internally for 116 minutes, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time better be in your shopping cart of choice. A loose retelling of the first game, The Sands of Time is filled with great action sequences and expert use of special effects for the sands’ time-warping properties, both of which make up for its so-so storytelling.

The elephant in the room is that none of the actors for the main characters are Persian, and the whitewashed cast is definitely a distraction. Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton's performances are decent enough though, with Gyllenhaal in particular channeling the Prince's struggles from Warrior Within and The Two Thrones into a faithful portrayal. Don't go in expecting Shakespeare, but if you're craving impressive fight scenes and sand-related magic, this won't be a waste of time.

The first in a series of films based on Capcom's seminal zombie franchise, Resident Evil is a fun horror flick that knows where to focus its energy. It doesn’t follow the story of the games, which can be impenetrable for non-fans, and would've been diminished if it was simplified for mainstream audiences anyway. Instead, RE follows new protagonist Alice (played by the lovely Milla Jovovich) and a group of Umbrella Corporation soldiers as they work to contain the outbreak of the T-Virus.

Alice’s main opposition isn’t the virus itself, but rather the AI with a doomsday protocol, using its automated systems to exterminate the virus by killing everyone inside. This tech makes for one of the best gore scenes in horror history, as characters are sliced and diced by malevolent machinery in a shower of gore. The plot gets squashed to make room for all that violence and action, and tends to drag when it does get attention, but if gratuitous gore and fantastic gunplay are all you care about, Alice is a worthwhile stand-in for RE's iconic, zombie-slaughtering protagonists.

It's Suicide Squad with an Arkham twist, dressed up like Batman: The Animated Series - and all of those things turn out just as good as they sound. Taking place two years before Arkham Asylum, Assault on Arkham focuses of the dysfunctional adventures of the Rogue Gallery's pinch hitters as they're forced to break into Arkham on the orders of Amanda Walker. Like I said, it's with a few different faces.

Even if you haven't played the games (or scored every Riddler trophy), Assault on Arkham can stand on its own, with the sort of impressive animation and framing that's characterized most of DC's animated features in recent years. That said, it's heavy on fan service and light on explanation, so if you walk into this one with no Batman knowledge you're going to come out very confused. But for a film aimed squarely at building another piece of the Batman mythos into the Arkham series, Assault on Arkham it gets the job done by any means necessary (which includes exploding heads).

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was right to put Lara's name first, because that's what the movie's really about: the spelunking heroine of video game legend, and everything else is secondary. Angelina Jolie is the perfect actress to fill Lara's combat boots, and her action hero chops have made her virtually inseparable from old-school Lara in the minds of many moviegoers. Tomb Raider is an action-packed popcorn flick through and through, with excellent choreography and magnificently ridiculous fight sequences; Jolie's performance is the hot, buttery magic on top.

That doesn't translate to Tomb Raider being a good movie - the story is bare-bones at best, and when the movie does attempt to foster an emotional core through Lara's feelings about her dead father, it's painful in all the wrong ways. But don't worry about that - Lara just sliced a robot open with its own blade arms and popped her party mix into its disc drive, and you don't want to miss another second.

Before taking the helm on the Resident Evil movies, Paul W.S. Anderson directed Mortal Kombat, one of the first video game movies that managed to appeal to a mainstream audience while faithfully adhering to its source material. The film follows the saga started by the evil Shang Tsung and his plot to destroy Earthrealm (i.e. Earth); the exaggerated fight moves of Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and Liu Kang are the only thing that can stop him. It's incredibly cheesy in proper early '90s fashion (with all the bad hair and leather to boot), but commits to the premise so sincerely that it's hard not to love.

The quirky nature of the film fits right in with the characters themselves, who are constantly cracking jokes and switching between increasingly ridiculous outfits. Its fight scenes are genuinely exciting, made even better by regular overacting, and both capture the spirit of Mortal Kombat even without the gut-churning Fatalities. While Hollywood tried to bottle lightning again in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, it lacked the goofy soul it needed to succeed. In a battle between the two, the original Mortal Kombat scores a flawless victory.

Capturing the scale of Bayonetta's battles is hard to do on film, and Bayonetta: Bloody Fate never really gets there. Even though it's replete with explosive battles and outrageously campy action, the anime interpretation it feels toned down in comparison to the game, with a lot of stylized close-ups and music that has nowhere near the peppiness of . But as different as Bloody Fate might feel from its source material, it's still good enough to stand on its own, and that's not half bad for a video game film.

Through gorgeous animation that uses its bold color scheme as a storytelling tool, Bloody Fate recounts a simplified version of Bayonetta's tale, which is easier to make sense of when it's actually explained. Unlike other game adaptations that demand a thorough understanding of the original game from the start, Bloody Fate is a workable stand-in for the original game. You won't have to know anything about the seductive witch ahead of time to get the jist of what's happening, letting you enjoy the gleeful carnage on its own, beautifully rendered merits. Now if only they'd they'd give Bayonetta 2 the same treatment (no Wii U necessary).

Advent Children is the ultimate in fan service, and it's not sorry. The impatiently awaited sequel to Final Fantasy 7, Advent Children comes bearing a plot that you need , some diagrams, and a ton of red string to properly understand. Yet its stellar cinematography makes much of its narrative incoherence forgivable, and once you actually sort out what's happening, it's the perfect story for those in need of an FF7 fix.

Here are the broad strokes: two years after the end of FF7, three Sephiroth clones show up and start all sorts of trouble, so the gang has to get back together to stop them (and help Cloud get over his re-emerging survivor's guilt over Aerith's death). That's about all the explanation the movie offers up, which leads to a lot of head-scratching moments when the characters' motivations don't stretch farther than the next fight scene. But man are those fight scenes amazing: varied and gorgeous enough to stay interesting despite their frequency, with bits of character development in between that'll leave any FF7's fan's heart a-pattering. Dress it up with full CG that still look fantastic ten years later, and you've got a solid gift for the fans that doesn't need to make sense to be enjoyable.

Striking a balance between loyalty to the source material, mass appeal, and good filmmaking is biggest hurdle for any video game movie, and very few manage to keep one aspect from overwhelming the others. Silent Hill isn't perfect in that regard (it’s no stranger to cheap horror gimmicks and clichés, for instance), but it's gotten closer than any other game movie to date. It takes what made Silent Hill so terrifying in the first place and captures it on film, feeding off that same fear that made the game successful so many years before.

Reimagining the story of Silent Hill with a female lead named Rose, the Silent Hill movie pulls from the game's otherworldly horror for its visuals and iconography, incorporating series touchstones like the cultish Order, psychic child Alyssa Gillespie, and nightmarish monsters at every turn (including Pyramid Head in one of the movie's best scenes). Most importantly, it doesn't shy away from the grotesque imagery that makes Silent Hill so affecting, so you never get the sense that it's been sanitized for Hollywood. It even takes things a bit too far at the end, so get ready to cover your eyes.

For all the flashy graphics, cool moves, and complex combos, a fighting game is only as good as its cast. Without a strong roster of compelling, unique fighters to choose from, brawls will end up feeling kinda 'meh'. But Capcom's legendary Street Fighter series has always offered a diverse range of awesome characters - and it looks like will be no different. Whereas Street Fighter 4 put a lot of emphasis on its eccentric newcomers, SF5 looks like it'll bring back old favorites - with a few new twists.

Only a handful of fighters have been revealed so far, but rumors are always afoot about who might secure a spot in the roster. We've rounded up all the for-sure fighters who will be in SF5 - and just for the fun of it, included our picks for some hopefuls (or ridiculous long-shots) that might make a return. So, which character will you be choosing as your go-to main? Time to make your selection.

These guys and gals will definitely be in Street Fighter 5.

It simply wouldn't be Street Fighter without series frontman Ryu. With his iconic gi, noble fighting spirit, and fireballs aplenty, Ryu is back to kick some butt in SF5. As always, his suite of specials - hadokens, shoryukens, and hurricane kicks - make him a well-rounded fighter that can deal with any situation, against any opponent. Ryu's the kind of character that appeals to beginners and veterans alike, thanks to his versatility and timeless moveset.

In SF5, Ryu seems to have retained his signature moves - including his normal attacks, such as the crouching medium kick that easily combos into a point-blank hadoken. His V-abilities are also perfect for anyone who loved Street Fighter 3: Third Strike. Ryu's V-Skill is a parry (the only one in the game), while his V-Trigger, Denjin Renki, lets him power up fireballs for extra guard-breaking power.

The first lady of fighting games is back, and it looks like her kung fu is better than ever. You no doubt know Chun-Li for her adorable hair buns, spiked bracelets, and thigh muscles that look beefy enough to snap bones like twigs. Like Ryu, Chun-Li has her standard special moves at the ready: lightweight kikoken projectiles, lightning legs that strike like a machine gun, and a variety of tricky flip kicks that can throw opponents off-balance.

Her playstyle favors agility over big damage, but Chun-Li's more than capable of some devastating combos and meaty hits. Counter to Ryu's lightning-based V-Trigger, Chun-Li enhances herself with the power of flowing water, which makes her normal attacks deal additional hits. Her V-Skill also enables tons of tricky mix-ups, since she does a short hop into the air.

In English versions of Street Fighter, he's Charlie; in Japanese, he's Nash. Convenient, then, that his full name clears up any possibility of mistaken identity. Charlie is a staple of the Street Fighter Alpha series, before he met a heroic end saving Guile and Chun-Li from a fatal explosion. So if he's dead, how is he back for SF5? One look at his new form, which appears to be bits and pieces of rotting flesh stapled together like Frankenstein's monster, should provide some answers.

Not only has Charlie's appearance changed - he also has some new game-changing special moves in addition to his previous toolkit of sonic booms and flash kicks. Through some kind of strange magic (no doubt related to the jewel embedded in his forehead), Charlie can now teleport around the screen for devious mix-up opportunities. He's also got a face-electrifying command grab, and his V-Trigger lets him instantly dash in any direction. Crazy!

For us, the moment M. Bison returned to Street Fighter was the most important day of our lives. But for him... it was Tuesday. The classic big bad of Street Fighter is back, and that head of white hair under his trademark cap indicates that yes, the ol' dictator can actually age. Known for his mighty Psycho Crusher and unrelenting Scissor Kicks, M. Bison is the perfect fit for players that like to apply pressure on their opponents and never let up.

In addition to his lightning-fast teleport, it looks like Bison will have another tool to get close to fighters that like to keep him at bay: a projectile reflector that sends a burst of Psycho energy back at whoever's chucking fireballs. And his V-Trigger mode lets Bison unleash his raw Psycho power on the poor opponent, complete with devastating double-headstomps and additional hits on his Scissor Kicks.

SPIRAL ARROW! Prepare to protect your legs for dear life, because Cammy's probably going to kick her way clear through your shins. This British special forces agent has been a fan favorite ever since her debut as a new challenger in Super Street Fighter 2, getting by without a projectile thanks to her screen-crossing dive attacks. Cammy's one of the most nimble, tricky-to-read fighters in the whole franchise, and her extensive, finesse-demanding combos always get spectators pumped up.

In SF5, one of Cammy's existing moves has become an invaluable asset: the Axel Spinknuckle, which is now her V-Skill. This attack was already pretty effective at throwing your rival off-balance in previous games, but it can actually pass through opponents in SF5, making it one of the simplest and most effective cross-up attacks imaginable. Cammy's V-Trigger, Delta Drive, also makes all her special moves safer by giving them similar phase-through properties. Your enemies will be spinning in circles trying to figure out which way they should block.

We never would've guessed it before, but this stylish punk from the streets of England is back after being AWOL since Street Fighter Alpha 3. Birdie seems to have neglected his workout regimen, since he's got a spare tire where his six-pack used to be. That might have to do with his voracious appetite for junk food, a new character trait that factors into his existing chain-grabbing moveset. Basically, this is Birdie by way of SF4's Rufus, minus his iconic mohawk with the physically impossible circle in the middle.

Birdie's suite of V-Gauge abilities all revolve around food. His V-Trigger, called Enjoy Time, has him scarf down a hot pepper and go red with heat, adding extra damage and guard-break to his attacks. And his three distinct V-Skills feel like something out of Smash Bros.: Birdie can gulp down a donut for a V-Gauge boost, a banana for a stationary, opponent-tripping peel, or an energy drink which he rolls along the ground as a projectile. And Birdie's never sated - every match ends with him hungrily digging into a pastry that's the size of a small child.

Acting as the American yin to Ryu's Japanese yang, Ken Masters is as much a part of the series as his trusty sparring partner. The brash, dragon-punch-happy fighter is literally letting his hair down in SF5, showing off a magnificent mane of blonde locks and loosening up his trademark red gi to reveal his slick Under Armour-esque suit. Ah, Ken - ever the showman.

As before, Ken's special move set is a tweaked version of Ryu's tuned for quicker attacks and constant offense, with hurricane kicks that travel faster and Shoryukens that are more damaging (and flashier) in exchange for increased risk. When Ken activates his Heat Rush V-Trigger, he goes full-on Human Torch, adding searing flames to all his attacks. Meanwhile, his V-Skill encourages constant aggression, as it lets you dash in to close the gap if your opponents flee from your red-hot feet.

If Akuma and The Flying Spaghetti Monster had a lovechild, it would probably look exactly like Necalli, the first newcomer to be revealed for the SF5 roster. Necalli's tentacle-like dreadlocks flop around wildly whenever he goes in for the attack, which is pretty much always, given his in-your-face special moves and brutal command grab. He may not be one for conversation - or words in general - but Necalli lets his V-shaped tribal markings and 'crazed warrior' stare do the bulk of the talking.

Those who enjoy C. Viper's tricky Seismic Hammer attack in SF4 will appreciate Necalli's Culminated Power V-Skill, which slams the ground to trip up the opponent from any range. And when you're ready to go Super Saiyan, you can activate the Torrent of Power V-Trigger, which turn Necalli's hair into an explosion of demonic tendrils and significantly alters his moveset (including a super move that can only be activated in this mode).

Everyone's favorite high-flying, narcissistic pretty boy is back. Vega earned the nickname of the 'Spanish Ninja' with his acrobatic attacks and wall-jumping slashes, and his metal claw provides incredible reach on his normal strikes (provided the opponent hasn't knocked it off). If you're the kind of player who likes to frustrate the competition by wearing them down with tricky mixups and keep-away tactics, you'll be all over Vega and his beauty-preserving mask.

Dashing off of walls and into the air is still the crux of Vega's offense in SF5, and his iconic rolling attack gets an upgrade with an overhead kick to cap it off. The Matador Turn V-Skill lets Vega nimbly dodge incoming attacks - great for bypassing fireball spam - which can transition into a knockdown counterattack. There's also Bloody Kiss, Vega's V-Trigger, where he flings a rose at his target (not unlike SF3/4's dapper boxer Dudley); if it hits, Vega will unleash a savage zig-zag of slashes to carve up his enemy.

This zany pro wrestler hails from Street Fighter Alpha 3, where she instantly stood out from the pack with her ridiculously impractical attire and a grappling style fashioned after Zangief's piledrivers. Like SF3's Hugo, "Rainbow" Mika Nanakawa frequently utilizes her butt as a weapon, flinging herself into the opponent backside-first for devastating effect. It's all for her fans, and the Japanese wrestler's moxie comes through in her boisterous, crowd-pleasing personality.

That's the entire basis of R. Mika's V-Skill in SF5, called Zealous Mic Performance, which lets her amp up the damage on her next grapple attack by hyping up spectators with an impassioned speech. Mika's heavy-hitting command grabs make her the premier grappler of SF5's roster thus far, and her buttocks-based special moves look as harmful as they are hilarious. Hardcore wrestling fans will adore her referential throw animations, which include nods to the Frankensteiner, the Giant Swing, and the iconic Stone Cold Stunner. As a bonus, Mika's V-Trigger makes full use of her tag-team expertise, letting Mika call in her tag partner/rival Nadeshiko for a jaw-cracking dropkick.

Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! Tiger Uppercut! With the way people gravitated to him when SF4 first debuted, Sagat seems like a no-brainer addition to the hypothetical SF5 roster. Less of a villain and more of a principled antihero, Sagat's eye patch, scar, and obsession with moves named after large feral cats are all a well-established part of Street Fighter lore. We're just hoping that, if he is in SF5, he won't be as overpowered as he was in his first SF4 incarnation.

Of the four brand-new fighters to be introduced in the Street Fighter 4 roster, Viper's the one with the most staying power. Capcom set out to create a cool, technically complex heroine that felt like she could belong in the King of Fighters universe, and the result was a hit with players who don't mind difficult inputs for combos. Plus, her part in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 made her something of a hit - her crazy Seismic Hammer and Thunder Knuckle setups are always a sight to behold.

Believe it or not, Poison had never been playable until Street Fighter X Tekken (unless you somehow picked up the ridiculously obscure Final Fight Revenge). But popular demand spurred Yoshinori Ono to include her in the game, and the resulting elation following her announcement was an encouraging sign for fans of the transgendered fighter. Now, with two fighting games under her belt - including a strong showing in Ultra Street Fighter 4 - there's no reason Poison can't come back for SF5.

Here's another female fighter who should totally stick around for SF5. Ibuki makes up for her relatively weak damage by having some of the trickiest mobility in the game, letting a skilled player dash circles around their confused opponent. Adding her to the Super Street Fighter 4 roster was a stroke of genius, and her aerial attacks and kunai-tossing work just as well in 2.5D as they do in regular ol' 2D.

Alright, we could probably go on stating obvious character inclusions all day. Blanka, Zangief, E. Honda, Dhalsim - we have no doubt in our minds that they'd make the cut for SF5, and if they're ever confirmed, we'll gladly add them to the list. But it's interesting to hypothesize about the borderline characters; fighters who have enough clout to sneak their way into the SF5 roster. The more the merrier, we say, so if Capcom sees fit to include the followings fighters, we'd be delighted.

Despite only appearing in Street Fighter Alpha 3, Karin’s a fan favorite who never misses the chance to demean her assailants. Born into the rich Kanzuki family, Karin fancies herself to be Sakura's rival after Sakura trounced her in a scuffle. Like Dudley, she’s always accompanied by her loyal butler; unlike Dudley, she rarely treats her butler with much respect. But all is forgiven when you see her crazy kick loops in the corner!

Everyone's favorite loincloth-wearing tyrant deserves to make the jump to 3D. Ever since he debuted in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, he's been a fairly popular mid-to-high-tier character, knee-dropping and Chariot Tackle-ing his opponents into oblivion. His Aegis Reflector super move can also be a game-changer, bouncing back incoming projectiles and setting up nasty unblockables on knockdown. We'd gladly welcome this metal-controlling megalomaniac into the SF5 roster.

When it comes to Capcom games, Maki’s been around the digital block. First appearing in Final Fight 2 as an analogue for the absent Guy, Maki resurfaced in Capcom vs SNK 2 before finally landing a gig in the Street Fighter lineage, with a slot in the Street Fighter Alpha 3 ports for the Game Boy Advance and PSP. Like Guy, she's another disciple of the Bushin-ryu style, using her tonfa to lay the smackdown on Mad Gear goons and rivals alike. Maki and Ibuki would get along like ninja peas in a pod.

It seems like SF fans have been quietly waiting to see the triumphant return of Q. This terribly mysterious fighter might be man, machine, or monster - no one's seen underneath his metal mask and lived to tell about it. His fighting style is also quite unlike any other character in the series' history: a sort of lanky, lumbering brute that can withstand absurd amounts of punishment when played correctly. Something tells us that Q is just enough of an oddball sleeper hit to make it into the next game.

So, which fighter are you planning to play as (or hoping makes a comeback)? Let us know in the comments below!

And if you're looking for more, check out .

It's here, everyone. After five years of development and a lot of behind-the-scenes drama, you can finally go to your local store (or digital download service) of choice and acquire a copy . But here's the thing: it's unlike any Metal Gear you've ever played before, with a massive scope including some colossal open environments to explore and a whole mercenary operation to grow and manage. It's a lot to take in, especially if you've never played Peace Walker, Phantom Pain's closest inspiration.

Don't be scared, though. The Phantom Pain is well-paced, unravelling its various systems slowly over time and gradually acclimating you to this positively gigantic beast of a game. But if you find yourself completely lost and you're looking for a little guidance, here are a few handy tips that should help you get your bearings relatively painlessly. It's a big world out there, Boss. It's time to rise up and take your revenge.

Right after the bizarre, mind-melting prologue mission, you're dropped into Afghanistan to seek out your old partner, Kazuhira Miller. Revolver Ocelot goes over a few basics with you before setting you off into the open world, including how to use your Int-Scope - which is just a fancy word for binoculars. Your Int-Scope isn't just a good way to look at distant places; by scouting out enemy and weapon emplacements, you'll tag them, marking them on your heads-up display for the duration of the mission. Tagging is a godlike boon, allowing you to keep track of troop movements even after you die or restart from the latest checkpoint. Use your Int-Scope constantly.

During your first mission, you'll probably get a twinge of wanderlust, as the wide-open deserts of Afghanistan beckon you to explore. But don't worry about that too much at first, because you're missing several vital skills and pieces of equipment to make the most of your excursions into the field. Just focus on your initial mission: find Kaz, and extract him via chopper. Once the mission is over, you'll be introduced to Mother Base, a massive, off-shore military facility, granting you the ability to research new gear and use Fulton balloons to conscript soldiers. That's when The Phantom Pain finally begins to open up, and exploration becomes a little easier.

In previous Metal Gear games, kills were greatly frowned upon, as even a single execution could completely ruin your mission ranking. The Phantom Pain bucks that trend: kills don't affect your final score nearly as much, giving you a bit more freedom in how you approach the game's myriad missions. Speed and stealth are the two things that matter most to attaining the elusive S-rank, so as long as you're quick and don't get spotted, you can usually leave a pile of bodies in your wake and still get a great mission score.

So here's the thing: Big Boss kind of forgot how to speak Russian, thanks to the shrapnel embedded in his skull, and Revolver Ocelot isn't a great interpreter. This is a problem if you want to interrogate any of the soldiers you find milling around Afghanistan, as you won't be able to understand a lick of what they're saying. When you finish your first Main Op (after completing the Mother Base tutorial), you'll unlock the Side Op list which includes a crucial (yet optional) mission: find and Fulton (aka attach a balloon to their torso) a Russian interpreter. Do this immediately; this not only lets you comprehend what they're saying over the radio, but it also allows you to gather intel on hidden items and highly skilled soldiers when you hold them up.

Thanks to the events of Ground Zeroes, Big Boss' military empire has fallen apart, meaning you'll need to help him rebuild his army one person at a time. Now's not the time to be picky; knock out any soldier you can find with a tranquilizer dart or CQC, attach a balloon to their belt with the Fulton, and send 'em back home. Eventually you can upgrade your Int-Scope to analyze soldiers and see their rankings, allowing you to be a bit more choosy with who you Fulton, but don't worry too much about that until Mother Base nears capacity. Oh, and be careful not to Fulton anyone when a patrol's nearby, as enemy soldiers can and will investigate why their friends are being hoisted into the air by a giant balloon.

While you can Fulton smaller animals and people without much issue, you won't be able to snag the many artillery cannons and vehicles you find until you upgrade your balloon a few times. Don't worry about this too much at the start, because it'll take you a several hours before you get to that point. Just keep a mental note of where you find them for later.

There's a cute wittle puppy running around Afghanistan, and once you find him, you can strap a Fulton balloon on him and send him back to base. This pup is DD, and once he grows up, he'll become one of your buddies on the field, helpfully marking enemy locations on your HUD. But he's not always in the same spot for everyone; I found him on a hill as I headed toward base #24 on the map, while someone else I talked to said they found him in a completely different spot. Just keep your ears perked up for high-pitched barks while you explore, and you'll find this friendly canine eventually.

There are a couple ways to incapacitate enemies. You can shoot them in the head (either with a tranquilizer dart or a bullet if you're looking for a more, ahem, permanent solution), you can get up close and CQC them into submission, or you can sneak behind them and hold them up by aiming at them with your weapon of choice. By holding down L1/left bumper, you can extract info from your hostage, make him call his friends over, or force him to lie down on the ground. That last option is a doozy: once they're down on the ground, they won't get up at all unless they're spotted by another soldier or you raise the alert status by getting caught. It's a really good way to keep soldiers out of your hair without wasting any ammo.

Ocelot tells you to use your horse constantly during your time in Afghanistan, but your stallion is loud as hell and can be a bit unwieldy on uneven terrain. Make sure you dismount and leave your horse behind around 150m or so away from your objective, so you can make the rest of the trek on foot. It's slower, but you'll be much more quiet and more maneuverable without him.

Yes, you can tranq and Fulton the animals you see, building up your own personal zoo back at Mother Base. And yes, that even includes bears. No, your starter tranquilizer is probably not strong enough to take one down without a few upgrades behind it. Besides, you can't Fulton it without a more powerful balloon anyway, so it's best to just run if you see a massive grizzly barrelling toward you.

As you acquire soldiers, complete missions, and gather resources and GMP (the game's currency), you'll continue to unlock additional gear and equipment upgrades. If you bring up your iDroid, you can pick and choose what you want to research no matter where you are. At the start, if you see it, and you have the funds to build it, go ahead and build it. Things like smoke grenades, horse armor, and Int-Scope upgrades are vital as you build the foundations for your stealth-based empire.

Everything costs resources, from bringing gear into the field with you and abducting soldiers with your Fulton balloon, to requesting supply drops or even summoning your chopper to exfiltrate you from the field. If you don't have the resources, you can't do any of these very important things, so don't go overboard researching stuff you don't exactly need at the moment. Otherwise, you'll find yourself out of ammo and without the GMP to safely get yourself resupplied.

When you start The Phantom Pain, you can't carry a whole lot of ammo, and your suppressors are incredibly weak, breaking after just a few shots. If you're not too great at aiming and shooting yet, this becomes a problem - especially since the tranquilizer doesn't come with a ton of darts. Luckily, you can hop into your iDroid anywhere on the field and summon a supply drop wherever you are. It costs a little GMP, but it's a great way to top off your supplies without putting yourself in danger. Make sure you get to the box before the enemy does, though, or your drop will be wasted.

You'll likely notice that The Phantom Pain's story feels somewhat sparse in comparison to other Metal Gear games. Sure, the intro's exciting, but once you get through a couple missions, you'll find the focus swings heavily onto its gameplay. If you're finding yourself missing out on all those codec conversations and long-winded monologues, don't worry: just listen to your cassettes. After completing each Main Op, you'll be rewarded with a ton of these recordings, which do everything from fleshing out the political backdrop, to revealing new details about old comrades. You can listen to them while hanging out in your chopper or taking on missions, so be sure to find some time to listen to them all.

You may be laser-focused on completing mission objectives, but don't forget that the various outposts and bases you explore are filled with tons of stuff to grab. Radios play 1980s hits that you can steal and listen to on your Walkman, posters adorn the walls of many buildings around Afghanistan, and rooms are filled with materials you can use to build additional gear and even new platforms for your Mother Base. If you're lucky, you'll stumble across POWs to rescue, or even weapon blueprints to give you an edge in battle. Don't just gun it straight to your objective and bail; take some time to look around a bit, and you'll find a ton of goodies, ripe for the taking.

After you've got a few missions under your belt, and a few upgrades completed, you'll unlock the ability to build new development platforms. These will grant you access to tons of additional features, and upgrading the ones you've already built allows you to assign more soldiers to each station. The first one you'll want is RD, so you can start building bigger and better weapons and items, though you'll also want to build a Base Development platform so your crew can find and process materials while you play. You likely won't have enough materials for any of these when you first unlock the ability to construct them, so keep an eye out while you're sneaking around Afghanistan for additional supplies to bolster your Mother Base ASAP.

Unlike other Metal Gear games, time progresses in a realistic fashion in The Phantom Pain, and guard placement will change as day shifts to night (and vice versa). There are benefits to both - it's easier to see during the day, but you might have an easier time sneaking around at night. You can choose what time you'd like to drop into the field from your helicopter, but if you're already mucking about, there's an easy way to change the time of day: simply puff on your Phantom Cigar. It uses the wormwood plants you'll pick up in the field, and by taking a drag on your e-cigar, you'll cause time to move forward quite rapidly. When you're done, simply unequip it by tapping left on the D-pad. Voila, time travel.

As you infiltrate the encampments strewn about Afghanistan, you'll likely notice some larger pieces of equipment with blinking lights on them. The enemy uses radios to report in with one another, communication satellites to send messages to nearby bases, and power generators to run the lights. These can either be turned off or blown up, and will disrupt the enemy temporarily. Sometimes, you'll also find a giant anti-air radar just hanging out. Destroying it will permanently take it out of commission, and give your helicopter a new landing space nearby. Be mindful of your surroundings, and take advantage of whatever opportunity you get to cripple your foes.

The Phantom Pain doesn't tell you this until you've found your first leaflet, but some of the outposts you come across will have a yellow, triangle-shaped sign with a delivery manifest attached to it. Grab that, and you'll be able to use it as a fast travel point. Simply hop in a box, wait in the designated area, and you'll be whisked away to any other spot on the map you've unlocked. That way, you won't have to hoof it across the hot desert for miles, or summon your chopper if you want a faster way to get around.

Metal Gear Solid 5 is hard. The enemy AI is brutal, and enemies will work together to counter your strategies at every turn. If you get spotted, you can only take a few hits before you're down for the count. So don't be afraid to run away, wait for the enemy's alert status to drop, send for some more supplies, and get your head back in the game before you make another attempt. Or, if you'd simply like a do-over, hit "Restore Previous Checkpoint" in your Options menu.

Just when you thought 2015 had run its course in terms of rereleases, August rolls around with a bevy of worthwhile remasters. Chief among them are technically comes out in September, so... yeah. It's got next month's awards pretty much locked up.

At the end of each month, we look back at the standout games that demand your attention above the rest of the year's releases thus far. That way, you know what to prioritize before you're caught up by all the other amazing . So, without further ado, here's what you should be playing right now to tide you over until next month.

Locksley's a futuristic thief following in the fabled footsteps of Robin Hood, taking from the rich and giving to the poor. But he has something that old archer never did: a bitchin', high-tech facemask made of luminescent polygons. , from the studio that brought you Thomas Was Alone, is a neon-drenched take on the stealth action of Metal Gear Solid's VR missions, where you carefully sneak past the watchful eyes of guards, cameras, and turrets from a top-down perspective.

Combat's not really an option for Locksley, so you'll have to carefully plot out your path to avoid detection while snagging the valuable gems scattered around each stage. Across the 100 levels included in the campaign (plus the infinite possibilities of user-made challenges), you'll master the art of tiptoeing around danger, avoiding patrols, and blending in with the environment, all taught with just the right pacing. If you're partial to slipping past vision cones or just sticking it to the man, Volume is sure to provide hours of stealthy satisfaction.

There's a lot to see in . You'll even behold things you wouldn't see under normal circumstances, like people who are long gone from this world recreated with swirls of light and retreading memories of times long past. But more importantly, you'll see things in the empty town of Yaughton that you see in so few video games: a real appreciation for life, even in its final moments.

Rapture snags August's Game of the Month award (or rather, calmly drifts over and gently spirits it away) because of its emotional punch, showing not only a way of life coming to an end, but each individual in their own way. Backed up by an eerily serene world and a hauntingly gorgeous soundtrack, Rapture turns the death of virtual strangers into a heartbreaking affair, as you watch them go (gently or not) into that good night. Try to keep a stiff upper lip through this one, but don't expect to maintain it for long.

An entire realm being reborn is a tough act to follow, but aces the trial that is an MMO's first expansion. By expanding on just about every aspect you can think of - most notably, some gigantic zones and three intriguing Jobs - it feels as substantial and vibrant as the revamped version of the base game. Oh, and you can soar through the sky atop a flying mount, including a tubby Chocobo with tiny, adorable wings which you motivate with a slice of cake on a stick. For some, that fact alone will justify a renewed subscription.

Heavensward sweetens the deal with a wealth of engaging, plot-thickening quests (provided you've reached the end of A Realm Reborn's storyline), and the fresh abilities for each class make the journey to the new level cap a joy. For all you living room adventurers, FF14 continues to be the best console MMO on the market - but whether you're playing on a PC, PS4, or PS3, chit-chatting with Moogles, felling colossal Primals, and dancing some merry jigs in celebration is simply delightful.

is what happens when ‘the beautiful game’ is usurped by clusters of rocket-powered battle cars. It’s not quite as intricate or as Messi as football, but Rocket League is sincere in its sports presentation, right down to the chanting arena crowds and cheesy pop music in the menus. It also doesn’t feel derivative, coming to its own cartoonish crescendo when those somersaulting sports cars butt bumpers over an oversized, blinking ball. It takes a long time to master the bumps, the bounces, the jumps and the jukes, but Rocket League is brilliant right off the bat.

Even while you’re learning the right timing for a forward-flip, or when it’s ok to drive on the stadium ceiling (right now, actually), you’ll pull off some amazing stuff. It’ll be the perfect metallic maneuver: clipping the ball with your front left tire in a graceful somersault, sending it straight into the points pen where it explodes with a satisfying KABLOOSH. Wow. Just… wow. And nobody has to know you did that completely by accident. We’ll just keep that between us.

is an absolute marvel of storytelling, making ingenious use of out-of-order video clips to spin out its mystery. Despite the fact that the game’s unique structure means your path to the end won’t match anyone else’s, Her Story is complete and coherent, though its solution is open to interpretation. It’s a detective game that relies on your natural instinct to push its narrative forward, never nudging you in one direction or the other, letting you explore avenues of investigation as they come to you.

Watching FMV clips on a reproduction of a computer from the '90s certainly doesn’t sound terribly exciting, but you’ll be thinking about Her Story for days after you’ve tracked down that last video. You’ll find yourself rolling little details around in your head, mulling over their implications, deciding that you finally know the “truth,” only to realize that another detail makes your assumptions invalid. But then again, does it? One final bit of advice: go in knowing as little as possible, and don’t try to game the system. Be a true detective.

is another biff-pow display of Rocksteady’s exceptional craftsmanship in bringing a classic comic icon to life. Though combat and stealth are again refined and expanded within Batman’s beautifully rain-slick city, the game’s elegant design is reflected not in its individual components, but in how well they connect with one another, like nodes in a web.

Though the Batmobile’s roaring arrogance has made it a controversial addition to the Arkham series, there’s no question about how integral it is to Batman’s latest patrol. Conceptually, it’s meant to be a way to move quickly in a much wider slice of dour ol’ Gotham, and its visual appearance is, of course, inspired by Batman’s history of driving - as The Riddler calls them - rocket-powered hearses. But Rocksteady dives in fully and makes sure the vehicle connects to combat, stealth and every part of Batman. The overall game’s polish and continuity can be seen in one motion, with the Batmobile hurtling down an alley and launching Batman into full flight, right through a window and into a savage display of ne’er-do-well punishment. It’s one move, one world and one of the coolest moments of 2015. It’ll get you pumped to track down every last super criminal, including whoever masterminded the dreadful PC port.

In a sea of multiplayer shooters obsessed with grit, gore, or teabagging, stands out like a brightly colored squid catapulting through the air - which is actually a thing that happens regularly in this game. Nintendo's take on team deathmatch puts the focus on marking your squad's territory with a rainbow of ink rather than racking up kills, but it still delivers the thrilling blend of twitch shooting and coordinated tactics that define the genre.

Even if those human-squid hybrid Inklings are dripping with kid-friendly personality, this is the kind of joyous multiplayer experience that anyone of any age can enjoy. There's still weapon progression like you'd expect from Call of Duty or Battlefield, but with ink-filled Super Soaker facsimiles and colossal paint rollers. You won't hear anyone raging on voice-chat (because there isn't any), but the GamePad provides clear cues for what to do next. And while the selection of maps currently feels a bit sparse, the moment-to-moment gameplay is fresh, exciting, and - most importantly - good fun.

As open-world experiences go, takes high fantasy to new heights with its staggeringly massive world and rich, engaging storytelling. The grizzled Geralt of Rivia finds himself in landscapes that are as picturesque as they are treacherous, where otherworldly beasts and crazed cultists lurk in the wilderness. There are unforgettable side-quests and delightful supporting characters to distract you at every turn, but you best remember Geralt's primary goal: finding his adopted daughter (and witcher-in-training) Ciri before some supremely evil people get to her first.

That's not to say that you need to rush through the main story, because taking the time to stop and smell the eviscerated corpses is well worth it. The sword-and-spell-casting combat looks stunning on new-gen, and the deep upgrade system gives you plenty of options to slay your way. There are a few hitches - notably some framerate issues that can hopefully be patched out - but the sheer depth of the overall experience makes The Witcher 3 a triumph among action RPGs. Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got to return to a rousing round of the in-game card battler Gwent.

It takes a lot to make a fighting game appeal to the masses. You need slick graphics, excellent presentation, and the kind of depth that'll ensnare those highly skilled players who people want to watch. has got all that, and more. While the Fatality finishers still pack in more gore than you can shake a disembodied limb at, MKX brings a lot of new, refreshing ideas to the table that really make this fighter stand out.

For starters, there's the variations mechanic: every combatant has three unique movesets to choose from before each fight, letting character loyalists mix things up and giving the roster a wildly diverse variety of playstyles. You'll also have a blast playing through the elaborate story mode, which introduces a swath of likeable newcomers while imbuing familiar faces with . The online play still has a few kinks that could be worked out, but fans of the Mortal Kombat series - or fighting games in general - will have one hell of a time with MKX.

Of all the re-releases that have come out this year, .

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D is massive, sporting one of the most interesting locales ever designed. Its sprawling swamps and rolling hills - all set on the backs of two titan-sized dead gods and filled with beasts both great and small - are practically begging to be conquered. While its lush, verdant landscapes lose a little luster and detail on the smaller screen, what you trade in graphical quality you gain back in portability. Being able to take an adventure of this magnificent scope with you wherever you go is a technical marvel. Don't miss it.

somehow manages to be diamond tough and lovingly tender at the same time, balancing out its demanding difficulty with a story that'll practically yank your heartstrings right out of your chest. Playing this open-world platformer puts you in a wondrous state of conflict: the tight controls inspire you to run free throughout the lush world, but the sheer depth of the beyond-gorgeous backdrop art makes you want to stand still and gaze at the environment for hours.

The protagonist Ori is such a cute li'l critter that it's hard to watch the fuzzball die again and again while you struggle to overcome the many deathtraps and spike pits in this treacherous forest. But you'll get over any bruises to your ego, so long as you remember that you're the one responsible for plunking down checkpoints before delving into the trickier bits. The degree of challenge here may rattle anyone without an affinity for hardcore 2D platformers, but Ori's dazzling presentation has a universal, heartfelt appeal.

You’ve probably heard that is really hard. You might've heard it’s really easy. The reality lies somewhere in between. Yes, it sends an army of writhing, fanged, flayed, terrible, tormented beasts your way, beasts only someone bragging about their perceived gamer cred would ever deem a pushover. But it teaches you how to deal with them expertly, their unique attacks and defenses and behaviors, building you up until you look and feel like a great gothic badass. And when you do, you'll have earned it.

In streamlining some of Dark Souls’ complexities (the weight system, magic attacks, a few character skills here and there), Bloodborne gains a rawer sense of immediacy, with vital combat that require relentless attacking sans the comfort blanket of a shield, and unpredictable bosses that force you to develop reflexes alongside your already honed skills of pattern memorization. Oh, and the world. That mystifying, atmospheric, intricately hewn world. Developed for PS4 from the ground-up, the enigmatic Yarnham looks like a beautiful waking nightmare.

If you've yet to succumb to monster hunting fever, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Plenty of games let you battle vicious beasties and craft fancy gear - but few can develop the kind of player investment and cooperative dedication typical of Monster Hunter. For the uninitiated, is a great way to educate yourself on its gloriously addictive ways. Not just because it's the most beginner-friendly entry in Capcom's hit series - it's also the best Monster Hunter game yet.

Gathering materials and killing harmless herbivores is really just a build-up to something greater: downing fearsome creatures after incredibly demanding battles that require true mastery of your chosen weapon. Series vets are already familiar with MH's captivating gameplay loop of fighting and looting, but the new Charge Blade and Insect Glaive playstyles offer entirely unique ways to test your prowess. If you're looking to start or join a dedicated hunting party - preferably with an expert as your guide - Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate offers the kind of adventure that can hook you for hundreds of hours.

Majora's Mask is... well, it's a bit weird. Instead of following the familiar formula that Zelda games have stuck to for years, Majora's Mask asks that you play the same three days over and over again, trying to make the world a little bit brighter each time. It's certainly strange, and more than a little stressful - but taking the time to learn its rhythm opens up one of the most intriguing and creative Legend of Zelda games ever made. Perhaps that's why, 15 years and a 3DS port later, it feels even better than ever.

Much of that feeling is thanks to the improvements found in this portable version of the N64 classic. The updated Bomber's Notebook makes tracking numerous sidequests a painless process, boss design has been retooled to make things teresting, and additional save points help make portable adventuring much more palatable. Plus, New 3DS owners even have some improved camera control with the C-Stick. Whether this is your first time playing through those ominous 72 hours or your hundredth, is a master quest that stands the test of time.

Grim Fandango is, without a doubt, one of the most unique video games ever made. The quest of an undead travel agent as he attempts to atone for his sins is a love letter to film noir greats like Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon, but it also transcends its influences to be something truly original. And with , you'll finally get to play this lost classic on your PlayStation 4, complete with (some) updated graphics and a fantastic re-recording of the original score.

Grim Fandango is also one of the most uniquely frustrating games ever made, and the Remastered edition only serves to highlight its many game-ruining bugs. Whether it's glitching out a puzzle, clipping you through a wall, or just flat out crashing, Grim Fandango Remastered actually seems buggier now than it did 17 years ago. Make no mistake: Manny's journey is still definitely one worth revisiting - just remember to save your game. Often.

sounds kinda ridiculous at first - it's literally a remastered HD version of a rebuilt SD version of the original Resident Evil. Turns out the joke's on us, though, because that's all we really needed to enjoy the survival horror staple all over again: the HD Remake gives all the main characters and the Spencer Mansion an enticing facelift but keeps the little quirks that make Resident Evil awesome/a total headache/undeniably unique.

You'll still need to manage eight (at most) inventory slots, and you'll still need to keep your distance from downed zombies - or preferably burn them on the spot. The most major change is the new default control scheme, which makes it handle more like a modern fixed-camera game, but you're free to select the old 'tank' controls if you want. With modern conveniences where it needs them and good old weirdness where it doesn't, Resident Evil HD Remake is a near masterpiece… of unlocking.

Here's a video game scenario you've definitely seen before: a malevolent power is about to end the world as you know it, but no rush, because . It comes down to design philosophy: they want you to keep playing as long and as often as possible, so missions can't be too restrictive in how they let you use your time. The sense of urgency that's meant to push you to the end becomes little more than a carefully curated illusion that's easily broken if you decide to make a sandwich and don't hit pause.

Sometimes, anyway. Other times, you come back from your meal prep and all the hostages are dead, or the world has ended, or the love of your virtual life has turned into a horrific monster because you took too long, and the game wants you to feel it. It's a delicate balance to strike, making you feel the weight of a time crunch without pushing you so far that you quit. But games that do it well show that players don't need the virtual world to wait on our every move. Sometimes lighting a fire under your ass is the best thing a game can do.

Easily the most famous game that uses time against you, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is also one of the most forgiving. Though you only have three in-game days (with a timer ticking away) before the moon faceplants directly into the planet, you can reverse to the first day as many times as you like. But make no mistake, it's harder than it sounds - failing to finish your current quest means you'll have to start that undertaking over during the next three-day period. Or worse, if you let the moon crash into the planet, expect to lose everything you gained during that cycle.

Kudos to Nintendo, because this is probably the best way to balance a foreboding sense of urgency with dozens of intricate sidequests. Putting a hard deadline on the game as a whole would push you to skip side material, while allowing ample time to complete everything would turn the moon's descent into an empty threat. Meanwhile, the reverse-and-start-over option makes virtually every dungeon-romp nerve-wracking, as you only have one shot to successfully finish if you don't want to start over from the beginning. At the same time, you feel comfortable enough with your schedule that you can set aside time to fight an army of ghosts in return for a bottle of milk. You know, the important things.

As it turns out, Revolution came very close to promoting paradoxical procrastination with its first mission. Specifically, you're told that you only have so long to save a group of hostages before things get ugly, but in the game's original version you could take as long as you wanted and they would never come to harm. Figuring that out immediately deflates any sense of importance the mission had (no need to worry, they're all gonna be fine without you) but also makes it hard to trust the game when it promises dire situations in the future. Chances are those will be falsified too, so why bother?

Thankfully, set a time limit on the hostages' survival, so if you don't get there fast enough, too bad for them. That one choice made Human Revolution significantly more effective at creating suspense and a sense of gravitas, because anyone who tried to call that Mission One bluff learned that this game was not messing around.

At face value, Prince of Persia isn't all that different from the standard hero-saves-princess plot: the Vizier of Persia captures the princess, saying he'll kill her if she refuses to marry him, and you have to rescue her. However, while the likes of Mario and Link have ample time to train before they face off against their nemeses, the Vizier gives the princess an hour to decide, and he isn't kidding around - you get one real-world hour to finish the game before you fail and the princess is left to her horrible fate.

Honestly, this is a far more realistic depiction of how a princess' abduction would go, and gives it the weight and urgency it deserves. Where other games assure you that the princess will be just fine with waiting until you show up to get her, Prince of Persia promises the exact opposite, making you feel your pixelated protagonists' desperation as you struggle to navigate a tricky maze of traps. With no on-screen timer to guide you, it feels like failure is always lurking a step behind, and nothing about the experience would've been nearly as effective if you didn't have the dwindling sands of an hourglass lighting a proverbial a fire under your feet.

Snake Eater might seem like a strange addition here, since the only place where time matters is a single boss fight, and even then it feels like you have to wait for-e-ver for the ravages of time to have any kind of effect. Yet, that use of time has a powerful effect, proving that while Big Boss may be the protagonist, he's not the center of the universe.

Here's the mission (in) brief: you face off against The End, a master sniper who's getting too old for this, and is only hanging on so he can hunt down his 'final prey', aka you. You can fight him in a properly grueling battle, or you can simply save in the middle of the fight and wait a week to play again, by which point The End will have died of old age. While it's easy to assume this feature was included in the name of shock value and some laughs you feel guilty about later, it also puts forward the idea that the world and everything in it isn't waiting on Snake's input - the world moves at its own pace, regardless of what he chooses to do. That doesn't necessarily hold true in other parts of the game (none of Snake Eater's other bosses will get bored and leave if you wait too long to fight them), but that one moment is enough to at least make you think.

Pandora's Tower may not feature of the world's greatest romance - while central to the story, it never gets far past "insert gifts, receive affection" territory - it does remind you that your love Elena has a life of her own outside your adventures and won't just twiddle her thumbs until you get back. Mostly because she's mutating into a horrific demon and needs to eat the flesh of the demons you're slaying in a timely manner if she's going to stay human. And I do mean timely: every mission is on a timer, and if you wait too long before getting back to her with more flesh, she (and your relationship) will start to rapidly deteriorate until her transformation is complete and she destroys the world.

That may seem brutal and at least a little annoying, as you constantly have to return to her room instead of pressing forward, but the timer does serve as a constant reminder of why you're going on this adventure at all. While the game could just teleport you back to her place for a cutscene or two and then let you go about your business, it'd be easy to look right through those interactions without noticing them. Because you have to constantly think about maintaining her health, Elena is at the forefront of your mind, and the game serves the story rather than wearing it like a thin and ineffective overcoat.

Often enough, completing all of the sidequests in a game is just a question of your interest and willingness, because the objectives themselves typically don't require much skill or effort. But Dead Rising - a game where you and a handful of survivors are trapped in a zombie-infested shopping mall that's also housing a few "psychopaths" from the local prison - doesn't want to go that easy on you. Side objectives involve rescuing as many other survivors as you can, but you only have a limited amount of days before the rescue team shows up to collect them. Even trickier, each survivor is only alive and mobile for a short period of time. Miss that window, and they're gone for good.

That sidequest setup is immensely punishing, and you can expect to see plenty of announcements that survivors are dying on your watch as you level up. But it immediately drives home how dangerous your situation is, and proves that this zombie infestation isn't just a good excuse to beat a few shambling bodies down with a weed whacker or a six string. Getting everyone out alive is possible, but incredibly difficult, and you're basically going to have to be superhuman to pull it off.

Lightning's world is going to end in thirteen days. And unlike most games, there's no chance you'll be able to save the world in that time; all you can hope to do is send the souls of the living to their rest before the apocalypse arrive. There is a bright side, because if you can rescue enough souls before the clock strikes midnight on the final day, everyone will be reincarnated in a new world. But that's only if you rescue enough, and you're on a deadline: there's a timer at the top of the screen constantly reminding you how close you are to imminent doom.

That sense of looming destruction is what keeps you on the move over the course of Lightning Returns, forcing you to constantly think about how much time you're taking and how you'll fail if you don't recover enough souls. But what really sets it apart from any other timed game is that sidequests don't detract from your time - they add to it. You're actually only given six days to work with when the game begins, and have to earn seven more by finishing various quests scattered throughout the world. It's a brilliant way to solve the 'speed versus completion' problem, making them inseparable without losing out on the tension that's meant to keep you on the move.

Pikmin may look like an adorable game about flower creatures helping a spaceman rebuild his rocket, but pull back that veneer and it's a cold, calculating resource management game. Each task takes a certain amount of time to complete, whether it's getting the tokens to grow new Pikmin, gathering materials, or taking down enemies. You could Pik the surrounding environment clean if you had the time, but you don't, because you only have 30 in-game days to repair the ship.

Pikmin's all about making the best choices about how to manage your time. Sending your Pikmin to harvest parts from a giant monster nets you a lot of materials at once, but you'll lose most of your workforce and halve your productivity in the process. Going after smaller prizes isn't as dangerous, but it also isn't as rewarding, and you simply don't have time to gather everything you need piecemeal. That 30-day timer keeps the pressure on, forcing you to think fast and change your strategy in an instant when the situation calls for it. Yet that demanding nature is what makes the Pikmin series worth playing: these games may be cute, but satisfying victory can only be earned through careful planning and preparation.

With their new Hitman, developer IO Interactive wants you to 'Enter a world of assassination.' Their vision for the latest entry in this long-running stealth series is an ever-expanding world of targets, tools, and cunning tricks populated not only by the developers, but by the community and your friends. This has led to some very unorthodox choices in how Hitman is being developed and distributed, which we'll cover in the slides that follow.

At E3 earlier this year, IO unveiled a new trailer (embedded below) that gives a good overview of how Hitman will play. In it, Agent 47 is after a man named Viktor Novikov at a fashion show in Paris. We've played this part of the game - a couple of times, actually - and between that and our talks with the developers we're ready to give you a detailed breakdown of what you can expect from Hitman. The game itself launches on December 8th for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. However - as you'll soon discover - this release date is just the beginning.

Agent 47 - the series' bald, brooding antihero - has been working the assassination circuit going on 15 years now. Starting in 2000 with Hitman: Codename 47, this peerless assassin has since starred in seven Hitman games (two of which are on mobile). And during that time Agent 47 has maneuvered all sorts of people into overly elaborate and complex deaths. CEOs, mob bosses, the Vice President of the United States; no one is safe from his creative mind.

You don't spend 15 years pulling off assassinations without learning some new tricks - such as the Batman-style Instinct vision seen in Absolution. However, this new game will step back from special abilities and refocus on what made the series great: creativity. Speaking with , creative director at IO Interactive Christian Elverdam said, "We’ve moved away from trying to create new abilities for Agent 47, since we want tools and planning to be a bigger part of the game. We want Hitman to be a more creative game, about figuring out what’s going on."

From Morocco to Italy to Paris, each stop on Hitman's globetrotting parade of death is designed to feel like a world unto itself. As editor Leon Hurley described , "[Each] level is a clockwork simulation of a living environment that, with enough observation and experimentation, you can manipulate." This is Hitman at its finest: you arrive in a space, size it up, choose a plan of attack, and execute. It's a razor-sharp toy chest; a playpen for sharp-dressed killers.

"One of the series’ strengths the new game is trying hard to recapture is that feeling that every level has somehow been designed for you and you alone," Hurley continued. "There are so many options and potential opportunities that only the ones that make sense to you spring out." Whether it's poisoning a drink or an axe to the chest, if you can imagine it, Hitman wants it to be a possibility. And they're not hurting for ideas. We counted with the game.

Hitman is treating its release date a bit differently from other AAA titles. In short, you won't be able to buy the full version of Hitman on day one because it won't be finished yet. Instead, Hitman will be built online with new locations and other content being added over time. We spoke to about this early access-style approach, "The specifics, about how much content we start with and the specific pace of it, we will talk about later. But for now, just imagine there are going to be locations appearing".

Once Hitman is 'finished' you will be able to purchase the full game as you would normally. "Once we’re done building all the locations...we will put it on a disc so you can buy it as a disc if you want," said Elverdam. So why go through all this trouble? Elverdam hopes that, by rolling out content gradually, it will give the team more opportunities to do things like time-sensitive assassinations (more on those in a sec) and respond to user feedback. "By doing it where we release it over time," said Elverdam, "we actually get [the] opportunity to figure out how people are playing our game and maybe react to things, like disguise mechanics and game balancing."

In addition to the classic, Hitman-style assassination missions, there are two other types you'll have to contend with. Time-sensitive assassinations, according to Elverdam, are the dev team's way of dropping new targets into existing locations. When this happens, all you'll get is a mugshot and 48 hours to make the kill. Screw up the hit and that's it; the mark is gone, forever. "That’s something we haven’t been able to do before: this feeling," said Elverdam. "I just can’t wait to sit there with a sniper rifle knowing that when he’s dead he’s dead. If I screwed it up? I screwed it up. He won’t come back."

The Contract modes from Hitman: Absolution are making a comeback here as well. If you didn't play Absolution, here's how they work: by assassinating any NPC in a location you essentially put a bounty on that character's head, which gets sent to your friends. The manner in which you killed that unlucky NPC determines what other players will need to do in order to get the maximum payout. As Leon Hurley pointed out , "Easy if it’s the bloke on the gate, not so much if it’s a guard behind several security checkpoints and your mate’s specified a 'suit only' run (so no disguises)."

Choosing the top 10 MGS moments is an enviable task given the series’ astonishing volume of incidental details, Codec conversations and monumental set- pieces. We asked the readers of GameRadar.com for their favourite memories, sprinkled in a selection of our own; and tried to rank them based on factors like innovation, excitement and poignancy.

You almost certainly won’t agree with our running order, but no one can dispute the legacy of Kojima’s incredible series, or the sheer diversity of its greatest moments…

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

It’s revealed in Metal Gear 4 that Vamp isn’t actually a supernatural, immortal vampire: it was nanomachines that gave him his powers all along. Of course.

Raiden fails to kill him in MGS2, but Snake gets his chance in 4. He bypasses the flamenco-dancing weirdo’s nanomachines by grabbing him around the neck and injecting him with a suppressing chemical, ending his reign of terror once and for all. Van Helsing is nothing compared to Snake.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

The End, the Cobra Unit’s elderly sniper, is waiting in the jungle, ready to take on Snake in a fight to the death. Arguably the best boss battle in any game, the duel with ancient sniper The End can last minutes or hours. This firefight takes place in three alternating areas of MGS3’s vast jungle. The End only has one reliable tell as you figure out the sniper’s location: sound, as players slowly stalk the jungle with the directional microphone, listening for the wheezing old man as he mumbles “This...is the end” or goes to sleep.

It’s unbelievably tense, and searching for The End is filled with uncertainty. You can’t use the directional mic in first-person and still have Snake’s full peripheral vision; every time you stop and search, you’re putting yourself at risk of him finding you and picking you off. Shortly after The End is introduced in a cut-scene, you’re given the chance to snipe the geriatric marksman while he’s still napping in his wheelchair. It’s not only an ingenious twist, but a huge timesaver – killing The End at this juncture takes away an hour-long sniping battle. Giving the player the option to skip your game’s best boss battle? Now that’s ballsy. The End actually slowly dies during the fight. Cowardly players could adjust the PS2’s clock and kill him with time. Even better, The End can sneak up on Snake and take him prisoner. You wake up in jail and are forced to break out, before going back to resume the duel.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Sending Snake’s mentor to her maker with gaming’s most painful mercy kill The Boss is Kojima’s most fascinatingly layered creation. At her most base form, she’s already that rarest of entities: a middle-aged woman in a video game. She’s also a mother, a mentor and a badass soldier. With a convoluted plot that skirts around her true intentions, the climax of Snake Eater eventually reveals The Boss to be an American patriot, rather than the Russian defector you previously assumed.

Fittingly, Snake’s final fight against The Boss is as conflicted as her character. It’s a brutal CQC brawl framed by a field of brilliantly white flowers; the emotionally charged violence offset by MGS3’s most tranquil setting. To win, you must tap into the naturalist spirit of Snake Eater; dressing your hero in white to match your floral surroundings, before sneaking up on your mentor. Upon draining The Boss’ life bar, the game passes control to you one final time; a single press of square dealing a slow-mo bullet to release the tortured soldier. As the shot rings out, those flowers turn from red to white; a merciful yet bloody act that transforms Naked Snake into future series villain, Big Boss. It’s a haunting, honourable end to Kojima’s boldest Metal Gear.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

MGS4 continually highlights Snake’s escalating decrepitation. He’s a wreck: old, tired, wounded and prone to violent coughing fits. Nowhere is his physical degradation more heartbreaking – and yet strangely uplifting – than during his crawl through Outer Haven’s microwave corridor to deliver the AI virus.

The scene is clever in its framing, in that it uses a split-screen effect to juxtapose Snake’s unfailing determination with the struggles of his faltering friends. It’s a gruelling sequence, and goes on just a little bit too long to create self-doubt. Your arms burn with lactic acid, forcing you to change how you hold the pad. Triumph is an act of will over physique.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

This is the most varied, fast-paced, conclusion to any game ever. First, a boss scrap with Russian general Volgin – forcing you to pull all out all the dirty tricks, like disguising yourself as his beloved Raikov, or startle him with captured tree frogs (his pet hate). Next, a rattling bike escape from the Shagohod, followed by a surprise stealth section with Eva… before the epic final scrap with The Boss.

Except that’s not it. ‘Safe’ in your escape plane, you play Russian Roulette with Ocelot. You can’t lose – but for a few seconds, it feels like the entire journey might have been for nothing.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Games rarely give you time for quiet reflection – it’s the antithesis of mainstream game design, which focuses on keeping player’s engaged at all times. Even cutscenes, ostensibly a moment of downtime, require you to pay attention to plot developments and interpersonal conflict.

After the staggering one-hour boss battle with The End, MGS3 gives you time to consider Snake’s state of mind with a two-minute ladder climb backed by a quiet, vocal-only version of the Snake Eater theme. It’s beautiful, haunting and reflective, creating a genuine sense of scale.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

It’s Kojima’s mic drop, as The Patriots’ grand deception is revealed. Raiden fights through Arsenal Gear’s Sigmoid Colon, taking out tengu soldiers with Solid Snake, when the screen suddenly flashes with a fake Game Over screen – Fission Mailed.

Colonel Campbell goes mad and advises you to turn off the console. Disorienting and deliberate: Kojima tries to play us like The Patriots’ played Raiden himself.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots

The Best Is Yet To Come plays during Snake’s return to Shadow Moses’ helipad. The most overtly nostalgic moment in the entire MGS saga. Upon Old Snake’s return to Shadow Moses, he quickly stumbles upon the decaying remains of the island’s heliport.

Visibly crumbling in front of the now decrepit agent, its decaying state reflects our hero’s disintegrating genes. As you first enter the helipad, The Best Is Yet To Come – the song that plays during MGS1’s closing credits – flutters on the wind. A haunting, humbling and expertly judged piece of fan service. Even seeing the crumbling CCTV camera feels poignant.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

By controversially forcing players into the role of Raiden for the majority of MGS2, Kojima wanted players to see Solid Snake from another perspective: as the legendary, mythical hero, and not the character we got to know in the first game. Raiden catches glimpses of Snake throughout the game, building on this image until they eventually join forces at the end. It’s a powerful moment, and we finally see Snake shed his ‘Pliskin’ skin to become the legend.

For a few electrifying minutes, Raiden and Snake work together to battle waves of elite Tengu soldiers in the bowels of Arsenal Gear. Stealth be damned, this is a sword-waving, guns-rattling scrap for survival. It’s a thrilling moment, and you see Snake in the same light as Raiden: the hero of Shadow Moses, the son of Big Boss, and the world’s greatest living soldier.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

As Solid Snake tries – and fails – to take his own life, he’s stopped by a familiar face How do you craft a satisfying end to a series that juxtaposes themes of genetics, economics and politics with Godzilla in-jokes, groin punching and nude cartwheels? A game that defies focus-group compromise with varied game styles torn from Kojima’s toybox psyche? The answer is fittingly enigmatic as Big Boss puffs his final cigar with lost ‘son’ Solid Snake and declares: “This is good, isn’t it?”

What is good? The fleeting, sensory pleasure? Sharing a last moment with your son? This – the game, the series and Kojima’s final knowing wink that a game like this might never exist again? All these things are good, and it’s a fitting end to the contradictory, epic series that defined a generation.

Assassin's Creed is, put kindly, a contentious series. Put unkindly, its has had highs and lows so high and so low that I'm starting to feel seasick thinking about it. But for all its troubles, swathes of players keep coming back, because there's something at the heart of Assassin's Creed that still creates fun, enthralling, even timeless adventures.

Of course, no one can actually agree on which Creed games deserve that ‘timeless’ descriptor. If you're a newcomer to the series looking for what's worth your time, internet screaming matches aren't going to do you much good; you need a list of the best and worst of the Assassin's Creed series, free of drama. For you, I have combed through the data, consulted those most knowledgeable, and reached back into my own past to create a ranked list of all currently available Assassin's Creed games. This doesn't include AC games that have been scrubbed from existence, like the ill-fated Assassin's Creed Recollection, but everything else is here. Nothing is true, but everything is permitted, so permit me to say this list might spark debate.

This one was a tough call, because Freedom Cry was born as Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag DLC, but had bigger ambitions and eventually became a . While its combat and sidequest structure make it all but inseparable from Black Flag, it deserves an honorable mention for its story alone. Here, former slave Adewale stands against the slavemasters of Haiti in the name of freedom, proving that the Assassins' mission can take on many important shapes.

Freedom Cry puts you in the thick of a slave trade and is unflinching in how it depicts that brutality. You can't miss the human auctions or runaway slaves who will be killed without your help, and being a participant rather than an observer makes it impossible to ignore. But perhaps most importantly, Freedom Cry shows how those slaves and the nation's freemen are active participants in their own liberation, working with Adewale rather than waiting passively. In that regard, Freedom Cry does something that is not only important, but almost entirely unique, and that deserves a shout out.

Before Ezio's trilogy was a twinkle in the eyes of the AC development team, there was Altair's Chronicles. The mobile prequel to the original Assassin's Creed, it sees Altair hunting for a mythical artifact called The Chalice in constricted 3D world. It's a disaster from start to finish: Assassin's Creed's combat is simplified down to the point that it's no longer interesting, locations and missions are same-y, its story (complete with forced romance) is hackneyed, and the dialogue is consistently awful with occasional forays into Vader ‘Noooooooo!’ territory.

The one thing Altair's Chronicles sort-of has going for it is visuals, including lovely (if overused) environmental designs, which at least make it aesthetically-pleasing. But that's not nearly enough to make up for its many and varied shortcomings, and with new mobile AC games surpassing its visual quality, it’s best to give this one a pass.

This actually covers five separate titles published over the years, but they're basically the same game, so it's efficient to talk about them all at once. Up until the release of AC4: Black Flag, every main entry in the series was accompanied by a mobile game that retells its story. Or, rather, takes that story and shaves it down to the absolute basics, using what remains as the skeleton for a simple side-scroller build for playing at the train station.

These games are workmanlike and handle well enough, but much of what makes the main games interesting is tossed out in the name of mobile consistency. Ultimately these titles feel like random side-scrollers with AC skins, and Ubisoft apparently thought so too: every sign of them has been scrubbed from the company's digital storefronts, so you'll have to hit the if (for some reason) you want to give them a try.

Assassin’s Creed Identity launched on iOS with the intent to be more like the full-blooded console releases, albeit with an RPG spin. Set in the Italian Renaissance, Identity attempts to recreate the series’ signature sneaking-and-stabbing gameplay, shrunken down for shorter sessions. Ezio’s been swept aside for custom-created characters, each brought to life using a marvelous Italian name generator.

Sadly, you’ll probably spend more time messing around with that than you will the actual game. It’s a free-to-play affair, sending you to and fro to eliminate some guy / collect this artifact / escort this person in exchange for skill points you can spend on outfits, equipment, and movesets. Spotty controls result in a lot of running into walls rather than up them, but at least you won’t have to avoid the usual swarm of civilians - there’s barely anyone in the streets, meaning that it’s up to the flat textures and boxy buildings to build the atmosphere. Bizarrely, Identity was only released in Australia and New Zealand on iOS; a promised Android version never arrived. Frankly, world, you’re not missing out.

If you only played the Assassin's Creed mobile games, you might get the idea that the series' trademark is side-scrolling your way through corridors of oblivious guards/corpses-to-be. Assassin's Creed 2: Discovery won’t do much to dispel that notion; you play as Ezio, conducting assassination missions for a series of clients, all of which are nondescript and ultimately unimportant. They just act as vehicles to push you into a 2D platformer that takes on a few infinite-runner qualities, if you feel like charging in full steam and destroying every barely competent guard you meet.

It's a simple game that doesn't have the depth of most Assassin's Creed titles, but it does accomplish what it sets out to do. Creating a smoother, teresting platforming experience than the mobile companion games, Discovery set the standard for 2D Creed games back in 2009. It's since been bypassed by the superior Chronicles: China, but might still be worth a play if you can find a DS copy, since Ubisoft has since removed all evidence of the mobile version.

Released alongside Assassin's Creed 2 and Discovery in a calculated assault on everyone's wallets, Bloodlines continues Altair's story following the events of the original game. As opposed to previous handheld/mobile entries in the series, Bloodlines tries to approximate the 3D look and free-for-all gameplay of the console releases. In the case of the former, it does a decent job, with crisp visuals that make it look like a true AC game. But when it comes to gameplay, Bloodlines misses the haystack: small environments funnel you into battles constantly, but the combat system doesn't actually use the PSP's controls to its benefit, so fights often feel as ungainly as hand-stitching in oven mitts.

Plus, while Bloodlines does have an involved story that's not as awful as Altair's Chronicles, it often falls flat and isn't strong enough to make up for the lackluster combat. Its one saving grace is Maria - Altair's sharp-tongued associate who fans might remember from a certain - whose interactions with Altair give the story some life and depth. Sadly, even she's not enough to save the production.

It takes serious confidence to slim down a mini-game from one of your previous titles and release it on its own. But Ubisoft was riding high on the crest of Black Flag's success in late 2013, and the result was Assassin's Creed Pirates, a mobile game that is just Black Flag's ship combat, playable on the go.

Pirates does try to be a proper Assassin's Creed game, with a story involving Assassins, Templars and magic DNA time machines, but that's just window dressing - you spend 99% of your time shooting cannonballs at other ships just 'cause. But the designers knew that, and so they made a point of prioritizing the combat and making sure that controlling ships via touch features feel simple and natural. Pirates sits low on this list because it’s just a facet of another Assassin's Creed game, but that facet is so well designed that it deserves recognition.

Assassin's Creed 3 is, in many ways, a test drive. It was the first Ezio-less Assassin's Creed in five years, the first set in a populated wilderness (fields in Italy don’t count), and the first to feature the series' now beloved ship combat. It does a lot of things right, creating a Frontier you can explore for hours, and it’s . Unfortunately, it gets a lot of other things - fundamental, obvious things - very wrong.

Main character Connor is often too aloof and superior to be sympathetic, and the amount of times he steps in to save the incompetent Founding Fathers is hard to take seriously. The game contains sections that emphasize stealth, but the actual stealth controls are poor, so these parts are far more annoying than fun. And, hurting from a tight development schedule, the game shipped with enough bugs to make an entomologist swoon; now the way it controls is awkward at best and game-breaking at worst. It has some good ideas, but ultimately can't execute on them; that's been left to later games that have the fundamentals down better.

AC Liberation still bears the marks of its time on the Vita. Its combat is just as fluid and satisfying as some of the strongest Assassin's Creed games, and presenting its story as the Templars' altered version of events is one of the most clever new mechanics the series has seen in a while. But there's no escaping how cramped the game feels, both in physical size and its storyline.

One-woman-wonder Aveline is a fascinating character with a lot of gusto, but her motivations are never really made clear, and neither are those of her enemies. And with only one city, some outlying swamp, and a temple to investigate, it doesn't make you want to explore the world the way an Assassin's Creed game should. All told, it fits squarely in the middle of the Creed quality scale: not great, but not terrible, and serviceable for fans in need of an AC fix.

If you got your first look at Assassin's Creed Rogue with no context, you might come away thinking it's Black Flag DLC. That isn't too far from the mark - the story of an Assassin-turned-Templar named Shay Cormac, Rogue focuses on the period of time between Black Flag and AC3, and lifts heavily from Black Flag's trove of assets. Ship combat is virtually the same, music and sound effects are extremely similar, and Shay fights the same way Edward does nearly stab for stab.

But with Black Flag's style of combat and exploration on the way out with the release of Unity, some fans hail Rogue as a welcome retread, and it does a standout job of replicating Black Flag's best parts. Plus, new environments like the North Pole, and minor additions to ship combat, give those mechanics a little extra juice without changing them too much, and seeing off some of the North American arc's most beloved characters is welcome fan-service. It doesn't do much new or inventive, but Rogue extends the life of a familiar and well-loved time-period, giving fans a soft place to land.

The game that started it all isn't looking as hot as it was eight years ago, but it isn't quite falling apart at the seams yet either. Effectively a tech demo for what the franchise could become, the original Assassin's Creed gives you one thing to do (assassinate, if you hadn't guessed) and tells you to do it ten times over, with only the most repetitive of sidequests to break things up. Much of what earned it acclaim at the time of its release has also faded, as graphics have gotten better and Ubisoft honed the controls for AC games so you don't run up walls quite as much.

But what the original Assassin's Creed has going for it is a place close to the series' heart: you learn everything you can about your target, you plot the assassination, and you execute. The high-profile missions offer some variety in that regard, since each target behaves in a unique way that favors a different kind of approach. It's bare-bones, and it's been done better since, but the game isn't irrelevant yet.

The latest in that fine tradition of Assassin's Creed side-scrollers, Chronicles: China perfects their best parts and improves on them by borrowing tricks from one of (hint: it's the one with the ninjas). Stealth mechanics are integrated seamlessly and give the gameplay a lot more flavor, and true free-running segments create intense and welcome action. Add in a beautiful art style that disguises its lesser budget, and Chronicles: China is easily the best among Assassin's Creed's not-quite-2D library.

On the downside, its short runtime and basic setup don't allow for the exploration of a truly great Assassin's Creed, and the lack of variety between environments means that the world quickly becomes repetitive. Plus, protagonist Shao Jun's revenge plot is light on heartfelt storytelling, and instead unapologetically replicates that of her mentor, Ezio Auditore. But it's a fun and challenging title that advances the quality of the series' smaller offerings and redeems the format.

Let's get this out in the open: Assassin's Creed Unity has problems. An ambitious project that promised to revamp Assassin's Creed's standard battle mechanics, create a bigger world than in any previous title, and build a completely new multiplayer from scratch, it bit off more cake than it could chew and was an . And while that may be the story that lives on into gaming infamy, it's not Unity's full story: it has a lot of good stuff under its lapel that isn't always buried by glitches.

In addition to being beautiful and upping the graphical standard for every Creed to come, Unity's assassination system is revolutionary, opening up new opportunities for creative killing by honing in on weak links in the environment's security. In addition, it offers up cerebral challenges in the form of murder mysteries and riddle solving, which are a lot tricate and interesting than AC has seen in the past. If all Unity ever brings to the series is the ability to and some serious brain teasers, its earned a place of esteem on this list.

Pick a popular game, and chances are good that the protagonist is somewhere between 15 and 35 years old. They might as well be dead after that, because you're more likely to run across a unicorn in-game than a silver-haired main character. Ezio Auditore is not only an exception to that rule, but the best, thanks to the brilliant story at the forefront of Assassin's Creed Revelations. Featuring easily one of the most thoughtful and mature tales the series has yet woven, Revelations set the standard for every Assassin's Creed story since.

Admittedly, that brilliance isn't felt in every part of the game. Constantinople is fairly drab and forgettable, and the tower-defense mini-game added to territory-claiming is basically the worst. But that only speaks to the strength of Revelations' narrative, which focuses on sacrifice and loss in a painfully honest way that satisfies your heart as much as it breaks it. Both Ezio and Altair get the loving send-offs they deserve, because Revelations knows that there's strength in telling a different kind of story.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. A direct, swiftly-produced sequel to Assassin's Creed 2 that restricts your movements to one city and deemphasizes story: it had shameless cash-in written all over it, especially given the precedence set by Altair's Chronicles and Bloodlines. But those of us who prepared for disappointment were met with a pleasant surprise: Brotherhood is good. So good that it changed the face of the series forever by implementing brand new mechanics that are still around to this day, like capturing territory, addictive multiplayer, and control over a legion of Assassins you can summon at your whim.

The only real downside to Brotherhood, as mentioned, is the lack of story and different locations to visit. But alongside those pieces of gameplay it executes so well, Brotherhood hides emotional slices of plot for the curious to find, and Rome itself is so diverse that you're never left wanting for much more.

Altair may have technically kicked off the Assassin's Creed franchise, but turning it into a gaming powerhouse that sells millions of copies to fans around the world? That was all Ezio, and for good reason. Starting from the very basic formula that started the series, Assassin's Creed 2 squeezed blood from a stone to create a nearly perfect game.

Its tale of revenge is engaging from the instant it begins, and full of characters you love and ache to see succeed. Assassinations are made much more complex and challenging through unique weapons and a new move-set that gets deeper the longer you test it out. It fills out the time between main missions with sidequests that are instantly engaging, and the best of them may . Nothing is overlooked, and nothing is wasted: AC2 is an expertly crafted and perfectly honed masterpiece, one that made Assassin's Creed what it is today. And for the longest time, nothing could surpass it.

While AC2 soared to success on an updraft of enthusiasm for a burgeoning series, Black Flag arrived on the heels of the disappointing AC3, when confidence in the series was at an all-time low. It faced a hostile climate with little faith that a game about pirate Assassins could possibly succeed. And in proper buccaneer fashion, it blew the doors right off the place, taking every piece of the Assassin's Creed franchise and turning it into pirate gold.

There's almost nothing about the Assassin's Creed series that Black Flag didn't either invent or radically improve; against all expectations, it offered up the biggest game world the franchise had yet seen, an incredible variety of addictive missions, ship combat that was suddenly fun, and an effortlessly beautiful soundtrack that you've probably listened to at least once while nowhere near the game. But Black Flag went beyond the video game basics, giving an honest treatment of an often misrepresented historical period, and deftly telling the tale of a time, a place, and a people that ultimately came to ruin. It's masterfully crafted, incredibly fun, and is the game that proves the series' best years aren't behind it.

It's no secret that the Metal Gear Solid timeline is a complicated quagmire of names, dates, and secret organizations, and with the last entry in the long-running series arriving in less than two weeks, we'll finally get the missing pieces to a story that has been decades in the making. Metal Gear has always revelled in gleeful impenetrability, straddling the line between serious melodrama and over-the-top ridiculousness. It's endearing in a way, as following Metal Gear's labyrinthine narrative is usually worth the effort needed to understand it, but if you're new to the series, or not willing to sift through pages of wiki articles, keeping track of its myriad characters can be a nightmare.

Metal Gear's characters are perhaps the most fluid of any video game franchise out there, as their allegiances (and even names) can change drastically from entry to entry. That's why I've compiled a list of the major players in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, their role in the overall franchise, as well as any other information we might possibly know about them. If you're wondering why Revolver Ocelot is working for Big Boss, or why young Eli seems to be so important, this article will give you a crash course in who's who in The Phantom Pain.

A quick note: This article assumes basic knowledge of the overall plot to the Metal Gear Solid franchise. I try to summarize where I can, but if you're completely new or want a refresher, be sure to check out .

Big Boss began his role in the Metal Gear series as its greatest villain, but thanks to decades of sequels, prequels, and retroactive continuity, his role in the timeline has become far more complex. Metal Gear Solid 3 introduces a Big Boss before he received his intimidating title, back when he was known by the callsign Naked Snake. Snake receives the title of Big Boss after saving the day by killing his closest friend and mentor, but then leaves the military and wanders from skirmish to skirmish, eventually forming a secret organization called The Patriots with Major Zero and Revolver Ocelot. Things seem hunky-dory until Zero decides to clone Big Boss without his consent, which doesn't really sit well with him. Big Boss leaves the Patriots, and eventually meets Kazuhira Miller, forming the Militaires Sans Frontieres (MSF), a private military company built for a new age of war.

Which leads us to Ground Zeroes, a brief mission that shows us the destruction of MSF by unknown forces and a helicopter crash that seems to place Big Boss in a nine-year-long coma. Up to this point, Big Boss hasn't exactly gone full-on evil yet. Morally gray and willing to build a massive organization of mercenaries, sure, but he's not finding war orphans, raising them as soldiers, and using them to create more war orphans, perpetuating the cycle of violence ad infinitum like he was in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. So how does Big Boss get to that point? The Phantom Pain should shed some light on exactly how Big Boss will avenge his fallen comrades - and considering his new callsign is Punished/Venom Snake, it's probably not going to be pretty.

First revealed in , Ishmael is probably The Phantom Pain's most enigmatic character - and that's saying something when you compare him to the mysterious rogue's gallery already revealed.

Ishmael is a fellow hospital mate of Big Boss who claimed to be watching over him while he was in a coma for nine years. His face is completely bandaged, and he sounds like he's voiced by Kiefer Sutherland - which, coincidentally, is the same actor who voices Big Boss. Who is Ishmael? Is he another person, or merely a figment of our imagination? Whoever he is, he seems like he holds the key to The Phantom Pain's biggest secrets.

The first thing you'll probably notice about Quiet is her clothing - or, more accurately, her lack of clothing. The reason behind her manner of dress is apparently under as much lock and key as the reason why she's unwilling - or unable - to talk, but based on the , it would appear that your crew isn't exactly thrilled to bring her aboard.

What we do know about Quiet is that, at some point in the story, she meets up with Big Boss and joins forces, offering up her crack-shot sniping skills in the field. She'll post up on a cliff face or some form of high elevation, keeping watch for you through her sniper scope, marking enemies, and sending a bullet through their unfortunate faces at your command.

Skull Face doesn't seem like a very nice guy, if the cassette tapes found in Ground Zeroes are any indication. He holed up at Camp Omega for a while, taking time to torture both Chico and Paz, as well as a variety of other POWs and political prisoners. At the beginning of Ground Zeroes, he's seen taking off in a helicopter moments before Big Boss shows up, his face scarred beyond recognition.

Like many of the newly-revealed characters, not much is known of Skull Face, though the does shed some light on his origin. At a young age, Skull Face lost his nation, as well as the language of his native tongue, to foreign soldiers. Because of this, Skull Face wants to rid the world of language, uniting the world under "the chain of retaliation". The events of Ground Zeroes make it seem like he was the one who ordered the bomb to be placed inside Paz, causing the explosion that sent Big Boss into a coma, but then he's seen palling around with Big Boss at the end of that E3 trailer so… what the hell is going on?

This guy seems to get a new name with every single game he's in. Referred to as Master McDonnell Miller in Metal Gear Solid, then Kazuhira Miller in Peace Walker, now he's Benedict Miller. He was second-in-command of MSF during Peace Walker, and after its annihilation at the end of Ground Zeroes, he rejoins Big Boss to pick up the pieces, forming a new private military corporation called Diamond Dogs nine years later. Obsessed with revenge, Miller and Big Boss aim to take down Cipher once and for all in The Phantom Pain.

But here's the thing - eventually, Miller and Big Boss go their separate ways, as Master Miller ends up training soldiers for FOXHOUND, including one Solid Snake, while Big Boss secretly heads up Outer Heaven. Miller even serves as one of Solid Snake's contacts during Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, going so far as to call Big Boss a "monster" in the final encounter. Miller dies shortly before the events of Metal Gear Solid, as his body is found murdered in his Alaskan home during the Shadow Moses Incident. What caused the schism between the two comrades-in-arms? Or will this bit of information be retconned out of the series' timeline? Hopefully The Phantom Pain will provide some answers.

Introduced in Metal Gear Solid as a bitter rival to Solid Snake, future games in the series would paint him in a far more sympathetic light. He first met Big Boss during Operation Snake Eater, where Ocelot worked as a Russian GRU operative and secret Philosopher spy. After the events of Snake Eater, Ocelot and Big Boss would go on to form the Patriots, along with Major Zero. When Big Boss left, Ocelot remained with the Patriots, though he despised their policies. In the 1980s, he left the Patriots and rejoined Big Boss to help build the Diamond Dogs.

Despite playing villain to Solid Snake throughout his adventures, MGS4 informed us that Ocelot's loyalty always remained with Big Boss. Everything that happened in MGS 1, 2, and 4 - from siding with Liquid and Solidus Snake, to grafting his hand with Liquid's arm and allowing it to take control of his body - was all done to help Big Boss combat the Patriots. He dies at the end of MGS4, thanks to the FOXDIE virus inside Solid Snake's body.

The Emmerich family has a long history with building machines of war. Huey's father was one of the scientists that worked on the Manhattan Project, designing the atomic bombs that would decimate Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Huey would go on to work as a mechanical engineer, perfecting research discovered in Operation Snake Eater that would give way to the bipedal technology found on Metal Gear. He also designed Peace Walker in 1974, believing that it would provide the ultimate form of nuclear deterrence. His son, Hal (or Otacon, as he's also known), would go on to develop Metal Gear REX in Metal Gear Solid - but let's back up a bit.

Big Boss rescues Huey Emmerich during the events of Peace Walker and brings him into MSF to design Metal Gear ZEKE, a nuclear-equipped walking battlemech. Before the events of Ground Zeroes, government organizations are catching wind of MSF and rumors that they may be hiding nukes. Big Boss and Kazuhira Miller dismiss these allegations and deny their requests for an inspection, but Huey sends another message allowing them to go ahead with the investigation, with the team wrapping up as Big Boss returns from his rescue mission at Camp Omega. The investigation was likely a ruse, however, as Big Boss returned to find MSF under attack from an unknown force. Was Huey the reason MSF was invaded, or is he merely a patsy to a larger double-cross?

Eli's only been shown in a few trailers, and only in a brief handful of scenes, but he is most likely one of the clones created during the Les Enfants Terribles project. More specifically, he's probably Liquid Snake, the villain of Metal Gear Solid. First off, Eli is the right age to be Liquid, considering The Phantom Pain takes place in 1984, and the Les Enfants Terribles project began in the early 1970's. He's blond, he does the same fist-pump-then-hop-into-Metal-Gear bit that Liquid does in MGS, and the back of his jacket has a series of Japanese characters that loosely translate to "liquid man". Oh, and at , the camera hovers over him and another kid who looks exactly like him, while Big Boss says, "'Les Enfants Terribles', Zero called it." Yeah, the kid has to be Liquid Snake.

Anyway, according to Metal Gear Solid, Liquid Snake and his father Big Boss don't exactly have the best relationship. Liquid feels slighted because he ended up with all of the recessive genes while Solid ended up with the dominant genes, even though Liquid doesn't know that the reverse is actually true. His ultimate wish is to surpass his father and his genetic destiny, and his attempt to do this comes during the Shadow Moses Incident. He ultimately fails, falling victim to the FOXDIE virus harbored inside Solid Snake's body.

Not much is known about Code Talker, but the mentions that language is the one thing that can bring multiple cultures and nationalities together.

This is where The Phantom Pain gets a little weird. We've seen that shows a young child wearing a gas mask while floating in the air, along with the appearance of a menacing man engulfed in flames (possibly Colonel Volgin, the villain from Metal Gear Solid 3). Is the child Psycho Mantis, the master psychic introduced in Metal Gear Solid? Does that make the man on fire a psychokinetic apparition, or his he real, too? Or is something else going on here?

Paz originally called upon Big Boss at the beginning of Peace Walker to help rid her country of a mysterious invading force, but was, in actuality, a double-agent working for Cipher. Her job was to keep tabs on Big Boss, MSF, and the development of Metal Gear ZEKE. When her cover was blown, she tried to make off with ZEKE, attempting to kill Big Boss in the process. Big Boss foiled her plans, and Paz is flung into the ocean in an explosion.

Big Boss learns that Paz survived the blast and is being held prisoner at Camp Omega, a US black site on Cuban soil. Because she knows of MSF's and, subsequently, Metal Gear ZEKE's existence, Big Boss infiltrates the camp to rescue her. After exfiltrating Paz via helicopter, he discovers a bomb planted inside her abdomen, but misses a second bomb - the one that supposedly destroys the helicopter and places Big Boss into a nine-year-long coma. Paz should surely be dead, right? Well, shows a Paz who looks very much alive, and who hasn't aged a day since the incident in 1975.

Big Boss meets Chico during the Peace Walker Incident during a rescue mission. Chico's older sister, Amanda, was a comandante for the Sandinista National Liberation Front, and urges Big Boss to rescue her brother from the enemy's clutches. Big Boss finds the young boy weeping, having sold out the location of his comrades. Big Boss takes pity on him, recruiting him to fight alongside him with the rest of MSF. It's there that Chico befriends and develops a crush on Paz.

Fast forward to Ground Zeroes. Chico learns that Paz is being held at Camp Omega, and so he leaves on his own to find and rescue her, inevitably getting captured as a result. Big Boss rescues Chico along with Paz, and exfiltrates via chopper. He witnesses the destruction of MSF along with Big Boss, Paz, and Kazuhira Miller, and is inside the helicopter when the bomb hidden inside Paz goes off. Chico's fate is currently unknown.

Major Zero was a British SAS officer and MI6 operative before joining the CIA and heading up the FOX Unit, a black ops squad specializing in infiltration, along with The Boss. He was Naked Snake's commanding officer during the events of Metal Gear Solid 3, and would go on to form The Patriots after Revolver Ocelot recovered the Philosophers' Legacy.

While Major Zero and Big Boss were allies for a time, Zero's Les Enfants Terribles cloning project created a schism between the two, causing them to become bitter rivals. Zero renamed The Patriots to Cipher and went into hiding, using proxies to relay orders to his operatives. Cipher and Big Boss would spend the next several decades fighting with one another, beginning with the Peace Walker Incident in 1974. Their conflict would eventually come to a head in 2014, as Big Boss finally ends Major Zero's life, putting a stop to The Patriots and Cipher once and for all.

While there's no word on whether Major Zero will actually make an appearance in The Phantom Pain, Skull Face and Paz make several references to Cipher throughout various cassette tapes in Ground Zeroes. Major Zero may never show his face, but it's likely that Cipher's shadow will hang over the proceedings like a storm cloud, and it's there's a good chance that , describing how he's found a way to make "the Boss' vision a reality".

When used responsibly and approached in good faith, DLC can add a lot to a game, building on an already stellar experience until it feels . But, at the other end of the spectrum, DLC can be all about the baubles, where you throw down cash for digital costumes alone. They don't actually affect the game in any measureable way, but seriously, doesn't Hitomi look fierce in that ninja getup? And while a few digital outfits here and there won't a money-suck make, some games take it too far. Way too far. "You could have put a down payment on a new car with the money you just spent on digital outfits" too far.

Recently I've fostered a morbid fascination with the shamelessness of DLC cosmetics, and the desire to find out just how much you can spend on imaginary clothes has been burning inside my heart like an overlarge pile of money. In my search for the game with the most expensive cosmetic DLC, I have made some fascinating and terrible discoveries, and here I present them to you. Horse armor's got nothing on these boudoirs.

Total cost: $45/£30/43€

I can already feel you giving me a weird look, readers, and it's true that you can't dress Dom up as Princess Peach or buy Marcus a festive Christmas hat. But there is a cosmetic feature you can shell out way too much money for in Gears of War 3 to show off your creative fashion sense: weapon skins. The comprehensive Weapon Skin Launch Collection pack comes with 22 different skins to make any weapon in the multiplayer look like a .

You're going to pay a shocking price for that sweet weapon wardrobe though, because the Launch Collection costs more than the actual game regardless of what region you're in. And don't go thinking you'll save some cash by buying separately: grabbing the four weapon-specific packs will run you $60 (£40/57€), and going through the Xbox Marketplace buying each skin individually is an assault on sanity that no living being should have to face.

Total cost: $62/£53/64€

Dynasty Warriors is all about being big and brassy, whether in combat or the cost of its warriors' wear. However, one region gets a better deal: though the US PlayStation Store boasts three costume packs totaling up to $62 worth of virtual outfits, the PAL region only gets the DW8XLCE - DW7 Original Costume Pack Sets 1 and 2 (really rolls off the tongue), and the four DW8XLCE - Original Costume Packs separately, which adds up to a slightly higher price tag. Not sure who made that call, but I have a sneaking suspicion it was whoever decided only Americans would ever buy a $10 wallpaper pack, too.

Granted, the price tag at least gets you a decent amount of digital cloth, since you can snag a full 207 different costumes across armies no matter where you live. That's 30¢ per costume, or 26p / 0,31€. That's way cheaper than the cost of real clothes, so that kind of makes it worth it, right?

Total cost: $78/£50/70€

It's not exactly shocking to see Hatsune Miku on this list, as much of what the Vocaloid diva does while you're playing the game is dance in the background and look cute. Why not throw in some adorable costumes to make her job easier? Surprisingly, Hatsune Miku Project Diva F didn't do much of that, offering only six DLC costumes for fashion-hungry players to purchase. Diva F 2nd makes up for that obvious error in judgment, with $78 worth of costume content to Diva F's $6.00. Quite the wardrobe upgrade.

All told, that nets you 45 different outfits in the Costume Club pack, which will run you a cool $70 from the get-go. But oddly enough, that isn't a complete collection of all the game's costumes, so you have to purchase the Extra Characters Extended Pack and the Americana module by themselves to get the full set. Hopefully that extra $8 doesn't break the bank.

Total cost: $90/£58.50/85.50€

In an effort to prove that it's more than a cheesecake game that also has some wrestling in it (or maybe reinforce the idea?), Rumble Roses XX beefed up its costume closet with an extra 90 outfits between 15 of the fighters to add on an extra dress up element. Which, of course, you have to pay for. Dearly. For the same price as , you can purchase every Rumble Roses XX for a cool $1 per.

That might still sound reasonable to some super fans, but keep in mind that many of those costumes are just basic recolors, like the egregious example shown above. Plus, any outfit with SS attached to the title (a full 36 of the 90) isn't new, but a version of that character's outfit that can be worn by any of the other girls. Seems like a rip-off, but if you subscribe to the school of fashion, it might be worth the money.

Total cost: $142/£109/135€

Poor Evolve. After a strong showing leading up to the game's release and plenty of kind words on launch day, its player count has since dwindled significantly after only a few months. While its dogpile-style gameplay , it's hard to ignore how DLC played a part, with a lot of content being walled off until players coughed up the cash for new monsters and hunters. One of the most egregious examples is Evolve's hunter and monster skin sets. They're separate from any other packs, so you really are just buying skins, and you're set to spend three times the cost of the game itself if you want to poach them all.

Individual skins have at least been grouped together into sets based on theme, so for instance, any pack labeled 'Medic' will work for any base-game Medic character you want to want toting a cooler-looking weapon. Unfortunately, that means each set offers only one costume per character, and oddly, they don't work for any DLC comrades or beasts you want to bring online. So if you only intend to play as Lennox or don the flesh of the Behemoth, save your money. These grounds are fallow.

Total cost: $162/£124/161€

In a bid to get DLC-happy fans interested in the second Xillia game, Namco made sure all the downloadable costumes for Xillia 1 would also be accessible in Xillia 2, and vice versa. In the US, the combined price tag for both Xillia costume sets will push you into shop-a-holic territory, with $160 worth of outfits available between the two. But in the UK and the rest of Europe, the first Xillia only has a single costume pack to its name, so the combined price is… even more somehow?

That gets even more confusing when you get into a discussion of packs: in the US you have to buy each outfit individually, and while there are packs available in the UK and Europe, you'll still have to buy the majority individually if you want the full set. Wherever you live, that should give you plenty of time to consider your life choices as you go. Of course, if the announcement of is anything to go by, Namco is betting you won't.

Total cost: $279/£222/90€

Talk about sticker shock. When fans first learned that Last Round would feature two launch day costume packs coming in at $93 (£74/90€) a piece, the idea wasn't exactly met with enthusiasm, and that was before a third pack was announced in the months that followed. But, while fan reaction can be summed up in a narrow-eyed stare, the Last Round costume situation actually could be worse. No, really. Total up the individual cost of the costumes in just one of those packs, and the resulting price tag lands in the $750 range.

That isn't to say that any of these bundles are a good deal (those $93 real dollars will get you as little as 78 costumes if you look at Season Pass 1), just that it's collectively cheaper to buy them than compile every costume piecemeal. If you're really into DoA, you might benefit from the , which features all 237 DLC costumes available for DoA 5 pre-Last Round. But the two season passes, which feature significantly fewer outfits and mock you with one exclusive costume each, seem tantamount to highway robbery. Plus, if you really like DoA you've probably already bought most of those old costumes, in which case I am so, so sorry.

Total cost: $470+/£350+/367€+

This is where things start getting hard to parse, as games replete with costume options throw out mini-packs and individual outfits in lieu of all-encompassing bundles, so its hard to tell whether you really got everything. Case in point is LittlebigPlanet 3, which combines the offerings of every LBP into its inventory and organizes them about as neatly as a tornado. There are thankfully comprehensive packs for different franchises, so you can at least be assured you're getting every BioShock Infinite or Muppets costume if you buy the associated pack. But if you desperately want every single outfit available, get ready to pay $470 for the packs alone, plus extra for any individuals that slip through the cracks.

Credit where credit is due, this setup at least gives you options if you only want one or two costumes, so you don't have to buy the entire Frozen collection just to get that adorable moose ensemble. But the absence of bundles for each LBP game makes gathering them all a rough job for any collector, especially when it gets into those individual items. If you're seriously planning on taking the plunge, at least let someone know your plans. At some point you might need a rescue party.

Total cost: $950/£609/858€

IdolM@ster 2, a "raising sim" where you raise up teen idols to become superstars, is notoriously difficult to navigate outside its country of origin, and you'll have to scramble through quite a few technical loopholes to be able to download its DLC idol outfits on anything but a Japanese system. But it can be done, and many who get that far go the distance when it comes to collecting DLC costumes, to the tune of almost a grand.

Costumes aren't the only thing you can download from IdolM@ster's DLC collection, or even the most ridiculous - you can also pay real money to download emails from the idols, because the developers are clearly screwing with people at this point. But the vast majority of what's available are costumes of different types, from cutesy to "luxury", and they just keep stacking up. In a way, the fact that it's so hard for many to get ahold of these outfits is a blessing in disguise: it makes it that much harder for you to do this to yourself. A built-in intervention, in a way.

Total cost: $3195/£2324/2577€

Between the 126 champions it has on the roster, League has tossed out over 500 different skins at different price points, so just tallying them is a behemoth task. Thankfully reddit user Perezthe1st and got a result that will make any collector queasy: buying every League skin at full price will run you upwards of $3000.

Now, there's a case to be made that no one will actually drop that much cash on character attire. But keep in mind that this is LOL, where players are known to spend . It may not be common, but Riot put those skins out there, and now the temptation is real. Someone, somewhere has them all.

Total cost: $3315/£2127/2992€

"I didn't choose the train life," murmurs a diehard Train Simulator fan as they buy ten new locomotive skins, a tear sliding down their cheek, heavy with the weight of their eternal burden. That's how I imagine it would go anyway, because I know I'd be holding back tears if I committed to buying every DLC for Train Simulator, or even just the train skins. Of the $5322.55 worth of downloadable content that Train Simulator is hauling, a gut-wrenching $3315.17 is exclusively for what I can best sum up as "train clothes" for your fleet of iron horses.

Part of the reason the price is so high is because you have to pay out the nose for each individual pack, which contain about two skins each and cost an average of $20. With nearly 200 packs on the market right now and more constantly on the way - like a surging river of DLC that will crush our feeble mortal bodies beneath its mighty swell - the price is set to keep climbing into perpetuity. And according to developers themselves? Someone out there probably . The train life chose them.

It hasn’t even opened to the public yet, and the Black Ops 3 Beta is already an intimidating place to be. I’ve already played against folk who are in excess of level 20, so they’ve been going at the game hard and already know the layout of the three maps currently available. They’ve been getting used to the new movement system too, which does take a little acclimatising to. However, there’s plenty of room for newcomers too, and even raw recruits have a chance to nail the killstreaks and top the leaderboards. With that in mind, here is some advice if you’re joining up for the first time.

Click through for more, and check out our exclusive Beta footage below.

UPDATE for August 17: 13 more superstars were revealed today - again, a bit sooner than planned, by way of some ingenious internet detective work on the - including the debuting Hideo Itami, and two wrestlers returning to the series after missing out in 2K15: Zack Ryder and Heath Slater. Also, even more NXT, which is just great. That takes the number of confirmed wrestlers to 56 – you can see the full list at the end of this gallery.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: While Yuke's' official WWE series has garnered mixed reviews in recent years, one area it’s always strong in is attention to detail outside of the ring, specifically arenas, wrestler entrances, and t-shirts worn by members of the crowd. In fact that latter apparel-based matter has become a flawless, ambient tie-up with each game's roster over the years. Simply, if a WWE superstar or diva is in the game, so too is their official merchandise, and vice versa. As a result, 2K’s recent of Finn Balor and Seth Rollins’ entrances inadvertently blows a good deal more future reveals, unveiling - at least to eagle-eyed fans - another 22 roster members in WWE 2K16 who haven’t yet been ‘officially’ announced.

With more than 120 wrestlers featured in the upcoming edition, there’s been a clamour for stars both old and new to join current-era combatants like John Cena and Randy Orton. And on this evidence, 2K and Yuke’s have delivered. Stalwarts The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and The Rock are joined by the returning Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart, while NXT standouts Baron Corbin, Enzo Amore and Charlotte are among this year’s debutants. For all 22 in-game characters unveiled in this way, and an updated list of every guy and gal revealed so far, read on…

Well, duh. Like the great one was going to miss out on a WWE game for the first time in forever. Rocky’s inclusion rounds out the names revealed so far to 56, just over one-third of the final line-up. That makes the full, current list (*deep breath*)…

Adam Rose, Bad News Barrett, Baron Corbin, Bo Dallas, Booker T, Bray Wyatt, Bret Hart, Brie Bella, Brock Lesnar, Cesaro, Charlotte, Col Mustafa, Colin Cassady, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Emma, Enzo Amore, Eva Marie, Finn Balor, General Adnan, Goldust, Heath Slater, Hideo Itami, Jack Swagger, Jey Uso, John Cena, Jimmy Uso, Kalisto, Kane, Kevin Owens, Lord Steven Regal, The Miz, Natalya, Neville, Nikki Bella, Paige, Ric Flair, The Rock, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Shawn Michaels, Sin Cara, Stardust, Sting, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Summer Rae, Tamina, The Terminator, Triple H, Tyler Breeze, Tyson Kidd, Ultimate Warrior, The Undertaker, Zack Ryder.

The most impressive thing you can say about is that every update is surprising. The more we learn about it, the less it seems like a slothful rehash of Street Fighter 4. The grimy on-disc DLC fiasco is now nothing but a distant memory, replaced with an update policy that makes every other fighting game look grasping and mercenary like a coin-diving Scrooge McDuck.

More than this, characters we’ve known (and in Vega’s case, hated) for ages now feel exhilaratingly fresh, like sticking your head out of a fast-moving car. Let’s take a look at how Vega has changed, what’s frightening about Necalli and why Ken is suddenly our new favourite character...

Not in the sense that he’s no longer a preening, self-obsessed bellend; more that the charge character you once knew and probably-despised is long gone, replaced with a preening, self obsessed bellend with command attacks, new stances and the ability to sidestep moves like a matador. That’s right: a character custom built for sneering annoyance now takes his fighting cues from people who murder bulls for a reason that isn’t beef. Let’s not get into that here. Short version: he’s different, but still a prick.

As with many of the other changes, Capcom has cunningly made him feel familiar even though things are quite different. For example, his rolling crystal flash now ends with a thumping overhead kick, rather than a claw strike. And that’s just the beginning.

The biggest change is that he can take his claw on and off, dramatically altering his style of play. With it, things are similar, if not identical. Without it, he adds flashy command throws to his moveset, but sacrifices range. The real skill will be learning to switch stances depending on the situation - something I comprehensively failed to grasp, because why wouldn’t I want to fight using a massive claw?

Vega’s changes are bad news if you’re relying on muscle memory from Street Fighter 2 Turbo, but great news if you’re a Gen player who wants to try another techie character with varied stances. There are defensive changes, too; if you knock off Vega’s claw he won’t be able to pick it back up, making an already satisfying event even more delicious. If only there was a way to kick off his stupid mask, smug grin and bottom jaw, too...

Vega’s V-Skill lets you dodge incoming attacks, and you also have the option to counterattack with a blow that knocks your opponent down. If you’ve ever played at Raphael in Soulcalibur - or, more annoyingly, played against him - this move will feel immediately familiar. The timing is tight, but the rewards are worth it. Street Fighter 5 is all about hitting these V-Skills in the flow of battle to swiftly build your meter, and much like Ryu’s parry, Vega’s sidestep gives us clear insight into how delicately balanced all of Street Fighter 5 is.

One his bar is full, Vega can unleash the Bloody Kiss - a V-Trigger move that has Vega throwing a rose at you. A rose. If it connects - and in my limited experience on the receiving end, it almost always did - he charges forward and chops you up like a greedy boy cutting bacon with scissors. Annoying, and very, very Vega.

It’s an ancient, often-asked Street Fighter question: why the crap would you play as Ken - a man who looks like a melted He-Man figure wrapped in a red sock - when you could play a Ryu, who punches waterfalls and stands moodily in the wind, thinking about fireballs? Thanks to Street Fighter 5, that question finally has an answer. The answer is 'running'.

That’s right. Running. As well as looking ever-so-slightly different, Ken’s V-Skill is a game changer, contrasting deliciously with Ryu’s defensive parry. It’s called the Quick Step and it’s marvellous statement of intent - a bit of internal signposting, as vivid and informative as any piece of overt character design. Ken is running at you with the express and ignoble purpose of fucking your shit up and sending it, boxed and wrapped, back to sit-down town.

Why is it so important? There’s the super-obvious fact that it closes gaps quickly, and the more you use it the quicker your V-gauge will build. But it’s far deeper than that. Ken has a delicious, meaty kick he adds to the end of the run. It’s perfect for nudging enemies backwards, but the real use is far more tactical.

By leading with a quick, pokey attack like a medium punch, then chaining it immediately into the run, Ken becomes incredibly tricky. It’s best used with a throw on the end, meaning three totally disparate moves occur in swift succession. Experienced players will soon spot this, but it’s an indication of how deep Street Fighter 5 will be. The run isn’t just for running: it’s for punching, throwing and kicking, too.

We spent a few desperate days at GamesRadar+ trying to work out who Necalli was when we first saw a flash of him at the end of Ken’s reveal trailer. Genuine suggestions included Zombie E Honda, Angry Fat Urien and Abigail from Final Fight. We were, and continue to be, complete and utter dolts. Necalli is Necalli, and there’s nobody else like him.

He’s so unrefined he makes Blanka feel like a pinze-nez wearing Victorian milquetoast. Fighting him is like being brutalized up by unpasteurised cheddar. He’s rougher than a camel poo rolled in fish hooks. All his moves feels savage and stampy, and that’s before you reach his empowered V-Trigger state. In contrast to Vega’s smooth, flowing style, Necalli fights like a wardrobe falling down stairs; and God help you if you get in the way.

Necalli’s V-Skill perfectly summarises his style. It’s called Culminated Power, but what it should be called is ‘smashy-smashy rock bosh’. Necalli whacks the ground, causing shockwaves to appear in the location of his choice: you hold away for a close one, towards for long range. In isolation, it’s pretty useless: there’s an obvious tell, and savvy fighters will leap towards you and start kicking off your dreadlocks. As anyone who’s ever summoned the power of rocks will no doubt know, it belongs at the end of a combo.

It’s fiddly, but by chaining it to the end of Necalli’s target combo you can smash enemies as they land on the ground. Hit medium kick, fierce kick then time your V-Skill correctly and it’s a cheap, effective way of knocking about your opponent while building up your gauge.

Fighting as Necalli is all about rushing to his V-Trigger, Torrent of Power. As the name suggests, it’s a fearsome buff that increases his attack power, unlocks new combos and changes his Critical Art. There’s no time limit, and once activated you can’t turn it off. The only downside is that Necalli loses the ability to use V-Reversals, and his floaty magic hair probably keeps getting in his mouth.

On a more tactical level, it also changes his frame data, so you’ll have to familiarise yourself with both versions if you’re going to defend effectively. Unlike some the other V-Triggers, turtling up in a corner won’t be enough to save you. Our advice? Knock him on his ass before he gets there.

Mix all these things together into a delicious burgoo of fists, fireballs and Super Saiyan transformations, and Street fighter 5 becomes even more impressive. It shouldn’t work, but it does. Brave variation between characters feels like the next logical step in Street Fighter’s immaculate design, and the new V-Skills tell us more about each character than any wiki bio could (Chun-Li’s favorite food is crepes, apparently - we have so much in common).

When Cammy was revealed at the first hands-on session, there was a ripple of indifference from the audience, but it was only because people didn’t understand how different Street Fighter 5 is. Now, the reveal of every new character will be met with whoops, cheers and feverish examination. Hell, I'm even excited to see if Dhalsim turns up. What a time to be alive.