If you’re like me, as a kid you had notebooks full of level ideas for your favorite games. For us, Super Mario Maker is a dream come true. Nintendo’s latest release makes level creation fast, easy, and most impressively of all, fun. Lots of games have let you make your own levels, and many of them have been built around that feature–but Mario Maker is without a doubt the best one yet.

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LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule is best known for its creative approach to design. All their games feel hand-crafted, filled with childlike glee and exuberance. Tearaway, originally released for the Vita in 2013, was no exception, with its adorable papercraft world and storybook setting. That original release has been revamped and expanded in the form of Tearaway Unfolded for the Playstation 4, more akin to a remake than a simple port.

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[Video review edited and co-narrated by Gage Paul.]

Metal Gear Solid V once again casts you in the role of Big Boss, awakening after a 9-year coma induced by the tragic events at the end of Ground Zeroes to once again lead your mercenary company to greatness. It’s the game that finally bridges the gap between eras, and almost certainly the last entry from series creator Hideo Kojima. It’s at once an evolution of the series and a fundamental restructuring of its ideas. As a Metal Gear game, it will be controversial–perhaps even moreso than 2–but taken free from the series’ baggage, it’s an amazing title that excels in nearly every category.

MGS5 moves the series’ stealth action to the open world, and this opens up a ton of new options for how to complete your objectives. You can approach enemy bases from any direction, and there are tons of ways to approach each mission.

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Last year’s Hitman Go was an incredibly pleasant surprise that smartly adapted the core gameplay elements of the Hitman series to a simplified style designed for mobile devices. Now, following in that game’s footsteps, we have Lara Croft Go, which turns tomb raiding into a turn-based puzzle game.

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Gears of War’s 2006 release was a seminal moment in the last generation. Its cooperative cover-based shooting set the standard that AAA games would follow for years, and while many of its innovations have been driven into the ground in the decade that’s followed, Gears’ legacy is still a strong one.

Now, nine years later, Microsoft has released Gears of War: Ultimate Edition for the Xbox One, updating the original’s visuals and bringing its online features to the current generation. But is this a worthwhile revision, or just another in a long line of mediocre remasters?

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Hordes of undead plague the earth, and the only one who can stop them is a bikini-clad samurai cowgirl. Abandon all hope of taste and decency–this is Onechanbara Z2 Chaos.

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