Programmers, designers and other people at Sports Interactive worked even harder than last year, and improved the game with several great features.

Metro 2033 is a collection of unforgettable images, a shining example of a great book-to-game conversion, and last but not least, amazingly gruesome post-apocalyptic world.

The biggest merit of Undisputed as a simulator - you can’t beat it using the “arcade” approach. To win a serious match, you will have to use tactics that place your opponent at a disadvantage.

The only serious drawback of this DLC is that you cannot change the outcome of its story.

A simple, yet very endearing game. If Botanicula were a living creature, you'd want to hold it in your arms and pet it around the neck. What a cutie! If only it were a wee bit smarter.

Despite its modest amount of improvements, Gods & Kings is an excellent reason to come back to Civilization 5.

All in all, Heroes 6 is a game worthy of its legendary name.

By (re)introducing some of the original ideas that never made it into Fantasy Wars, Elven Legacy became even more captivating than its predecessor.

So far, Cubemen is the best "tower defense" of 2012.

A solid expansion pack, although it is not as game-changing as Victoria: Revolutions was.

A few nitpicks aside, Armored Kill is the best Battlefield 3 expansion so far.

A well-written story could have transformed Rayman Origins into a beautiful fairytale. Without it, it's an incredibly fun ride and a great party game.

Unlike its rogue-like brethren, FTL is not a game that you'll be enjoying for hundreds of hours, but still, saving The Federation is a lot of fun for a first few times.

Battlefield: Bad Company is the most enthralling online shooter for consoles to date, and a good role model for many of its PC brethren. While it’s hardly the best multiplayer offering in the Battlefield series, it will be remembered not for the weak single-player campaign or annoying details, but for destructive battles and great sense of humor.

Natural Selection 2 has quite a few things to be nitpicky about. Pared down strategy elements, scanty arsenal of weapons, lack of single-player missions and decent tutorials – yep, it's all there, but, in contrast to shooters that come off big assembly lines, the developers put love and effort into making of this game.

Half-Minute Hero is brilliant parody of genre clichés, sped up 10000 times. It will take you just a couple of tram stops to save the world twice, break the analog nub, and learn to value time.

Assasssin's Creed: Brotherhood has great atmosphere, beautiful visuals, and overall excellent craftsmanship… Just don't expect anything new beyond the multiplayer.

Assasssin's Creed: Brotherhood has great atmosphere, beautiful visuals, and overall excellent craftsmanship… Just don't expect anything new beyond the multiplayer.

Chivalry is, hands down, the best online slasher set in the Middle Ages out there right now.

Battlefield: Bad Company is the most enthralling online shooter for consoles to date, and a good role model for many of its PC brethren. While it’s hardly the best multiplayer offering in the Battlefield series, it will be remembered not for the weak single-player campaign or annoying details, but for destructive battles and great sense of humor.

Pretty graphics, solid gameplay, a well-developed setting – Neocore Games hit a bull's-eye. Despite some rough edges and a tacked-on multiplayer, King Arthur is much more interesting than Neocore's previous effort and head-and-shoulders above Warhammer: Mark of Chaos.

Flight model is the strongest point of Wings of Prey, even despite its arcade-style single-player campaign.

Shift plays to the gallery perhaps even more often than GRID. But when 16 glossy black Lamborghini Reventions, not yet spread along the track, are trying to squeeze into a narrow S-curve, high speed blurring the view, mixing dust with sun rays, and the driver is looking at the road from the incredibly detailed inside of a car… At this moment, you forget that crashes are unrealistic and that race will be over in just a few minutes. And let the theorists decide whether it is NFS or not.

It's a pity that Hamilton's Great Adventure never got its 15 minutes of Internet fame, because it has tons of charm and it's very fun to play.

Stainless Games simply retooled the 2009 version in accordance with the latest edition of the original CCG - Magic 2012. Even with all the changes, this game is basically a big glorified DLC, but, on the other hand, it costs only $10, and offers a lot of fun for this kind of money.

Online multiplayer is what keeps Blur afloat. Without it, this somewhat blocky and unshowy game would have been forgotten even faster than a one-trick pony called Split/Second. So far it is the best online racing experience you will have this year.

Truth be told, Semper Fi is just a ginormous patch that should have been given out for free to all Hearts of Iron 3 owners. Its improvements and new features are unarguably great, but it is not a good sign when you have to shell out $20 more in order to enjoy the game.

The only big drawback is the hacking puzzle which is required travel between star systems. You have to replay this timed mini-game as many times as there are stars in the sky – literally!

Instead of building upon ideas introduced in Bad Company 2, Vietnam rolls everything back to the decade-old Battlefield 1942.

If you like fast-paced combat and weird-looking worlds, and you're already tired of walking about fjords and snowy forests, move on to Kingdoms of Amalur. It's almost the same as Skyrim, give or take a couple of details.

Online multiplayer is FIFA 12's saving grace. Without it, it's a reasonably good game with fair graphics, deep defense system and a promising, albeit somewhat unnatural, player impact mechanics. With multiplayer, it's the best soccer game in quite some time.

Were it not for obtrusive hints and copy/pasted design, Prince of Persia would have taken its rightful place in our Hall of Fame.

An art connoisseur will be in raptures over the perfect, highly stylized look of The Path. A gamer will walk about the forest for 10 minutes and uninstall it. And both will be right in their own way.

It is so nice to finally stumble upon a game with a well-written, well-presented story, even though To the Moon is more an animated movie than a videogame.

FIFA 13 offers good arcade-style football, and its multiplayer is next to exemplary. But it needs to grow up if it wants to become a simulator.

Wargame is definitely not a masterpiece, but for is Eugen Systems it is the first game with such a high level of quality.

Despite its shortcomings, Fable 2 is a worthy choice for those adventurers who don’t know what “RPG” stands for.

If you have never played Panzer General, this almost carbon copy of SSI's masterpiece may easily blow your mind.

This Lara Croft is an exciting, nice-looking game. It's a pity that some of its nagging shortcomings weren't fixed before the release.

Darksiders 2 managed to rise above the original game by fixing broken gameplay elements and adding good new ones.

Halo 4 may be utterly derivative, but it is the best Halo so far.

You will have to spend dozens of hours to fully explore Skyrim. Like any other Bethesda game, it has its share of imperfections and broken promises, but it's exciting and fascinating nevertheless. Wait for a couple of patches to come out, download the best mods, tighten the screws in the SkyrimPrefs.ini file, and you're good to go for a virtual Christmas vacation.

Funny and boring, exciting and annoying, beautiful and ugly, The Ballad of Gay Tony is as dissonant as the strange relationship between Louis and Tony. But still, Rockstar North is head and shoulders above its competitors.

An original, unconventional arcade that caters to the visceral needs of a modern gamer. Yes, it lets you go with ease, but every show has an ending, right?

With only a few shortcomings, Reign is a good excuse to get familiar with the grand strategy sub-genre.

Fate of the World offers not only good entertainment but also food for thought about our way of life.

Stylish, challenging, original, and nice to look at.

Torchlight 2 is a very player-friendly action/RPG. It could have gotten a better score if not for its truncated Act IV.

The Next Big Thing is an ode to classic Hollywood horror movies.

Shift 2 is Need for Speed: Shift with some welcome upgrades and old issues. The overall experience is not as fresh and intense second time around, but multiplayer races are a blast if you play with friends.

If development of multiple bases, careful upgrades planning and intricate micromanagement make your blood boil, you will embrace StarCraft 2. Had it been released 7 years ago, we would have wholeheartedly recommended it to anyone even remotely interested in the RTS genre. But that era is gone now. Today, StarCraft 2 is just a remedy for nostalgia.

If you want to look past the dull single-player missions and buy Battlestations: Pacific for its online component, I advise you to hurry up. In a few months, the already low-populated servers will become deserted, and the best game in this very niche genre will sink to the ocean floor.

Don't miss this game if you're into Combat Mission: Shock Force or the Afghan Civil War time period. Combat Mission: Afghanistan makes up for its flaws with engaging gameplay and unique approach.

This DLC is good enough to warrant its $10 price tag and two hours of your time. But it could have been better.

Dawn of War 2 was thisclose to perfection, but strength failed the developers right on the homestretch.

Even if its multiplayer is a bit generic and bland, Resistance 3 is hands down the best game in the trilogy.

My first impression after completing Leviathan was, "Too bad this did not make it into the core game!" In the perfect world, this DLC would have been available for free, just like Extended Cut.

The original game allowed us to be a selfless do-gooder; now our actions are determined by purely financial reasons. What is better: kill or enslave villagers? Your fingers itch to roll some heads, but anger is hardly profitable. Kill a person, and you’ll get a soul, a bag of gold and, if you’re lucky, an accessory for your minions. Brainwashed citizens produce resources forever. Forget about looking for gold chests and farming sheep for souls – a thoughtful Overlord 2.0 gets everything on a plate.

PopCap had two and a half years to develop ideas of the original game (it wouldn’t have hurt to up the resolution to at least 1280x720) while keeping the spirit and style. Nevertheless, despite its lack of imagination, Bookworm Adventures Volume 2 is a welcome relief in an endless crowd of “hidden objects” and “match-3” games.

This game is definitely better than the usual drivel made in the land of bratwurst and Oktoberfest, but being one-eyed in the country of the blind is a dubious honor. The Book of Unwritten Tales is a careful imitation of adventure masterpieces from the days of yore, only, again, without a soul.

Severed is not bad for a $6 DLC, but I can't shake the feeling that this (severed) piece is just to whet our appetite for bigger things to come.

Severed is not bad for a $6 DLC, but I can't shake the feeling that this (severed) piece is just to whet our appetite for bigger things to come.

Ossian brought many genre clichés to Westgate, be it a treasure hunt, a theft investigation, inevitable gladiatorial fights, dialogue-driven quests, or a drinking contest, but twisted them in unexpected ways. Those who take their time to explore each nook and cranny of Westgate will enjoy lots of adventures.

Binary Domain has its share of weird concepts and one-dimensional characters, but they're better than "let's kill some terrorists who stole nuclear warheads".

Before its release, The Lost and Damned was pegged as an “epic” expansion, but in reality it is more of a B-sides album - a compilation of songs that will never become runaway hits, but are essential to understanding a musician’s work. The story about Johnny who quarreled with Billy and then duped the Italian Mafia is too weak and clichéd to stand on its own. The dialogue is still witty, the satire is razor-sharp as usual, but TLAD is just a Band-Aid for the gaps in the original story.

Rise of the Samurai is a great excuse to return to Medieval Japan.

Puzzle Quest 2 offers more tactical variety in battles, but it is best consumed in small chunks, otherwise endless skirmishes with goblins and orcs will put you to sleep.

Code Force is a small company, but it succeeded where more experienced studios failed – it created a worthy rival for Galactic Civilizations 2. Distant Worlds has its share of technical and ideological kinks to iron out, but this is definitely a step forward for the 4X genre.

Duels is the still the best gateway drug to collectable card games out there.

Chaos Rising’s single-player campaign is too short to call it a breakthrough. The show ends just when you get the taste of it. Here’s hoping that the next expansion will be more epic.

A worthy successor to DiRT, although it doesn’t have enough fuel to become an instant hit.

The drama is well-directed, but as soon as The Walking Dead tries to straighten its shoulders, it immediately runs into technical issues, like stiff animation, poor facial gestures, and the lack of ambient sounds.

A bit awkward and rough, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is still a nice game. It’s an energetic sharp-clawed slasher with some original ideas. Fans of X-Men can look no further.

Alice: Madness Returns is a living contradiction, an unholy union of incredible visual flair and ho-hum gameplay.

It's a pity that thechineseroom opted not to include anything resembling gameplay – an interaction between the player and the creators that is the foundation of an up-and-coming art called "videogames". On the other hand, the story is very touching.

Some other studio could have used Greed Corp's concept to create a big, serious game that would have eclipsed Massive Assault. W!Games turned this idea into a decent casual product - it looks nice, plays well, and costs only $10.

There is a guy with a gun, and he is going to punish anyone who stands in his way, be it corrupt politicians, New Jersey gangsters or rotten cops of Sao Paolo. Max Payne 3 is basically gun porn with a semblance of a dramatic story. It looks and plays like a Hollywood blockbuster, though.

Harvey's New Eyes is ridiculously easy to beat, but fun, not quite beautiful, but very stylish, never gets boring, but goes out with a whimper.

In theory, every new idea introduced in Hitman: Absolution is a good one and, technically, should make a Hitman game more enjoyable. But the reality is that when combined, Absolution's overbearing story, "Instinct", over-reliance on scripted events and a weird checkpoint system take a lot of fun away.

MLB 2K11 has plenty of nifty concepts, it is reasonably complex, and has a solid look, but it wouldn't hurt to inject a few fresh ideas into the old formula.

More suspense, less predictability, and Frogwares will finally create an ideal Sherlock Holmes adventure.

If you're interested in The Russian Civil War, pick up Revolution Under Siege. Being an AGEod game, RUS has its share of annoying bugs, but no other title is dedicated to Russia's biggest national tragedy of the 20th century.

It may not be the most good-looking or exciting action game ever, but few games convey the feel of a dying city which is at the mercy of a single creature.

The three acts of Deadlight cater to three different tastes. One is for the people who love rainy film noir, the other is for fans of hardcore platformers, the third one feels like a summer blockbuster. It's a pity that Deadlight is too short to satisfy the appetites of even one of these groups.

Three of four new maps offer full-scale urban combat that was sorely missing in Battlefield 3. But why this expansion is so sparse on content?

Serious Sam 3 is riddled with flaws, but there is so much flying bacon that you can fill an entire meat plant. It's a decent game that could have been better.

A worthy purchase for all fans of tabletop games.

Multiplayer is the only thing that makes Revelations worth its price (and if you're still interested in the story, just go watch the ending on YouTube).

Lost Horizon is like a good summer blockbuster. Analyze it under the microscope, and you will see a myriad of small flaws, but the action is explosive and gripping until the very end.

Don't trust the bad first impression. Napoleonic Wars is not a re-skinned version of Mount & Blade, but a self-contained game. Give it a chance, if you're interested in the 19th century history.

Stacking is a great "sandbox" game for kids and adults alike. It tests your patience rather than wit, though, and after defeating The Baron, there is no reason to come back to it.

Swordigo is a prehistoric platformer without a single new idea; a hardcore journey through dark fairytale worlds, and a bow to arcade hits of the 90s.

It’s a well-done sequel – an evolution without revolutions.

This episode delivers excellent drama at the cost of killing the non-linear storytelling.

If not for its poor technical execution, Game of Thrones would have taken its rightful place in the 80+ range.

Shad'O is a beautiful story of overcoming one's fears wrapped in a TD-style gameplay.

Those who still crave for more of the same gameplay from AGEod, will enjoy this interactive panorama of the Roman Empire.

Tracks are what makes Resurrection so memorable. It’s hard to forget battles on the decaying streets of once-beautiful cities. Forgotten, overgrown San Diego, rainy Bangkok, mysterious Prague, snowbound Moscow...These places look fantastic.