Despite a few nagging shortcomings, The Settlers 7 is the best game in the series so far. It is good-looking, well-made, complex and accessible at the same time.

Toy Story 3 offers entertainment for any taste. License-based games of such quality are few and far between.

H.A.W.X. sorely lacks in the epic battles department. There is no one else really fighting in the sky, besides you and two wingmen who react to commands like “Engage!” and “Cover me”. While the sky is almost empty, the ground is unnaturally clean: there are no signs of destruction, no shell holes, no burning armor... Even for an arcade game, H.A.W.X. is full of conventions.

Despite horrendous optimization, Africa 1943 is still a cut above the others in its genre.

A well-made platformer with a nice pedigree, albeit too short.

Grim post-nuclear romanticism of Fallout 3 is going to be a huge revelation for console owners. Those who spent the last 11 years exploring the nuclear wastelands of America on the PC, will probably see this game as nothing more than Bethesda’s attempt to fix the mistakes of Oblivion.

Dishonored rarely challenges the players, but it doesn't take them for fools, either, so that's an achievement compared to other games in the genre. Just don't expect strokes of genius like the Shalebridge Cradle level from Thief: Deadly Shadows.

If clichés that permeate Killzone 3's story and gameplay do not turn you off, than, by all means, plan your trip to Helgan today. Its denizens sorely lack in originality and intelligence, but they still manage to entertain.

There is a deep chasm between Halo Wars and its PC brethren. Yet Ensemble's swan song is strong enough to entertain a hardened RTS vet for a weekend or introduce newcomers to the genre.

The atmosphere of ArmA 2 reminds of now-classic Operation Flashpoint. Dirty streets, shabby signboards in Russian, ugly Soviet-style architecture – you can see this in any real provincial town in Russia. The volume of work is astounding, but the potential hit is marred by flaws and rough edges, in both single-player and online modes.

Remove the ho-hum gunplay, and the rest is an interactive action movie that's decent enough for one walkthrough. Don’t go for seconds, though. And if you’re still craving for a space opera fix by the time you’re done with Mass Effect 2, better rent all five seasons of Babylon 5.

Once again, Gameloft made a compilation of the best moments from other studios' first-person shooters.

Design flaws and the game's tendency to wax philosophical do not distract from the core idea and its stylish execution. This is what Vivisector, Action Forms' previous project, should have been like.

By copying the original game, 1C: Ino-Co preserved its charm, but exposed its flaws. In 2000, they were excusable; in 2009, they are depressing.

Players who prefer to control a single character will happily dive deep into the whirlpool of daily grind. The rest will face a classic dilemma: stellar career or domestic bliss.

Vampyre Story is truly a brainchild of professional artists, which is evident not only in excellent graphics at anachronistic resolution and quirky characters, but also in rather bland game design.

Hunters is a good strategy game, but this jewel needs a good setting. Rodeo Games doesn't have to create something epic like X-COM or Jagged Alliance 2, but it would be nice to see a captivating campaign that takes more than 3 hours to finish it. With a multiplayer cherry on top.

Gray Matter makes the most of its small scale. There are no mad supervillains, and no one here wants to plunge the world in the eternal darkness. This is a convincing, emotionally mature story about grief, estrangement, and longing to be with a beloved person.

There is a reason for comparisons between Rise of Flight and the legendary IL-2 Sturmovik. Rise of Flight is truly a good game. Now all it needs to do is to use its potential.

Payday is already better than other low-budget multiplayer shooters (Lead and Gold, Killing Floor). It serves as a nice distraction after a hard day's work.

Army of Two: The 40th Day is a wild mix of brilliant thoughts, violent firefights, stolen ideas, and lazy design.

You can’t deny the fact: Torchlight is a Diablo clone to the backbone. It lacks imagination and fresh ideas, but it’s a clone done well, with extra care for people’s time and nerves. And that’s worth a lot.

If it weren't for some very unfortunate flaws, Fallen Enchantress would have been a great game.

Konami still haven't figured out how serious and realistic they wanted their game to be, and made some silly mistakes. PES 2011 has occasional strokes of genius, and they really push the series forward… But it's not worthy of a gold medal yet.

Crytek's motto is "Maximum Game". Alas, Crysis 2 is anything but. Well, it happens when you activate the "Maximum Profit" mode instead of "Maximum Creativity".

Army of Two: The 40th Day is a wild mix of brilliant thoughts, violent firefights, stolen ideas, and lazy design.

Distinctive games like E.Y.E. are a rarity these days. Its colorful characters, good dialogue, entertaining non-linear story, and multiple ways to develop the main characters are enough to offset the shortcomings.

All quests, both main and optional, are simple "fetch" tasks. Once in a while, the developers break the routine with forced stealth sequences, but they're not really entertaining – you'll have to crawl through the same corridors five times in a row.

Sengoku offers only political intrigue. You set up a trap, fast-forward time until it springs, reap the fruits of our trickery, then rinse and repeat until you win. And if you're not well-versed in the history of Medieval Japan… well, good luck.

If you can forgive plot holes, awkward save system and unstable multiplayer, you will enjoy Bionic Commando.

Red Alert 3 is a typical EA product: well-crafted, but boring for experienced players. It's clearly better than C&C 3, but it can't hold a candle to Red Alert 2. Pick it up only if you like great music, B-movie style humor, and cooperative multiplayer.

Rugby Challenge is probably the best game about rugby on the market right now, and it's accessible to everyone, even complete beginners.

The brisk single-player campaign is reason enough to overlook the boring cooperative multiplayer. Unfortunately, the lack of blood, same-looking environments, and cheap-looking comic strips let it down.

Rich atmosphere compensates for poor gameplay mechanics of The Walking Dead.

If you like designing interiors, Hotel Giant 2 will entertain you for hours. Too bad there is nothing else to do but to put overpriced items in rooms.

This cute platformer is worth a look regardless of your taste in music.

I could give Resistance 2 complete absolution if it had truly spectacular gameplay. It's a pity it doesn’t. Insomniac simply built a scenic railway from point A to point B, put stunning CGI videos here and there, and rested.

SEGA could have used its money and influence to elevate Virtua Tennis to the level of EA's FIFA franchise, but, judging by the lack of tangible progress in this installment, I guess SEGA just doesn't care.

From Dust feels not as a game, but as a humble experiment. It's almost like Ubisoft is testing the waters before diving in.

Even with all its flaws, Nuclear Dawn is a treat for those who wanted a decent FPS/RTS hybrid.

If only Brutal Legend's gameplay was as imaginative as its cool look! Try not to fall into a rut of side-missions spread over 64 square kilometers, and you’ll enjoy the short single-player campaign. And yet, Shafer & Co. can do much better than this. Just ask Ben, Manny, or Raz.

BioShock 2 is a sequel inspired not by the Muses, but by quarterly financial reports.

War for Cybertron is a huge leap forward compared to previous Transformers games.

A meditative, unworldly, overly formulaic shoot 'em up. It won't keep you occupied for hours, but it's nice enough to help you kill time until Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet arrives.

If only Brutal Legend's gameplay was as imaginative as its cool look! Try not to fall into a rut of side-missions spread over 64 square kilometers, and you’ll enjoy the short single-player campaign. And yet, Shafer & Co. can do much better than this. Just ask Ben, Manny, or Raz.

Halo: Reach is not a breakthrough, yet it's a clear showcase of Bungie's creative growth. The game is hardly a "must buy" – its single-player campaign is way too short and uneven in quality, while multiplayer has very little room for expansion besides map packs and useless character decorations. But with that said, Reach is worthy of your attention for a couple of evenings.

This update of the FIFA series on PC is far what it was promised to be. It's not the soccer that we see in life and on TV, but a tedious arcade wrapped in boring gameplay modes and half-baked engine. Only the online features save FIFA 11 from utter mediocrity.

Frozen Synapse is no rival to full-fledged tactical strategy games, but it's an ideal time-killer for a lunch break.

Shooters like Serious Sam and Painkiller are hard to come by these days. Yes, Hard Reset is full of plot holes, the ending is too silly even for a pulp paperback novel, and there is no blood and flesh – only gear-wheels and oil. But even will all of this, Hard Reset is fun enough if you want to just blow off some steam.

Despite a few old-fashioned quirks, Red Orchestra 2 is fun to play. Clean up the bugs, and it will become a nice middle ground for those who are tired of Battlefield, but couldn't fall in love with ArmA.

Each new product from Eagle Dynamics is one step closer to full-fledged training software, but game simulators are judged not only by their degree of realism. Eye appeal and diversity never hurt anyone.

Treasures of the Sun is a good expansion pack. Too bad that it's attached to a mediocre game.

Order of War doesn’t require superhuman reflexes, leaving you enough time to plan your strategy, type a message in the text chat window, play about with the “cinematic camera” and so on. It looks like nobody at Wargaming believed in the multiplayer mode, but in the end it is more compelling than the single-player campaigns. All in all, Order of War is an outlet for experienced players and an object of derision for juvenile “hardcore gamers”.

If Cannon Fodder 3 had been released a decade ago, it would have become a cult hit. Now, it's a just a decent old-school arcade game.

To avoid the risks while working on an expensive next-gen sequel to Resident Evil 4, Capcom recycled the previous game. The developers moved the action from Spain to Africa, replaced Leon Kennedy with Chris Redfield, brought back Albert “Duke Nukem” Wesker as the main baddie, added co-op, and rested. Look past the pretty graphics, and you will see a shameless clone.

Last Stand Arnhem is a big step forward compared to the previous Close Combat remakes.

An enjoyable and, dare I say, cozy game, even though it has neither flashy graphics, nor innovative gameplay ideas, nor much variety.

By switching their attention to the story and the overall atmosphere, the developers lost sight of what had made the first King Arthur so fun. Technically, the sequel has everything a good strategy "sandbox" should have: dozens of units, a huge map, and the diplomacy system. The only thing missing is the sandbox itself.

Outdated visuals and a few necessary simplifications can't take away the joy of playing this original, amazingly solid game.

Changes to the formula are so light that one can’t help but wonder what prevented PopCap Games from making a patch for the original game. The answer to this question is on the price tag.

Infinity Blade 2 is akin to a game of chess where the player is taking down enemy pieces one by one. This time, we can move around the board both vertically and diagonally, and getting to the end-play will take you more than 90 minutes. Alas, the formula is still too simple, and Chair will have to do something about that in the inevitable Infinity Blade 3.

The new playable race and nifty multiplayer additions compensate for the disappointingly short, boring campaigns.

Remedy loves to compare its game with television hits like Heroes and Lost, but if you look at gameplay rather than story, it becomes clear that Alan Wake is not a “complete first season on DVD”. It is more like an unbearably long pilot episode that gave all its cards away well before the third act. Judging by the final titles, Alan Wake’s journey through the night will continue (in fact, two DLCs are already shooting for your wallet), so it’s high time to switch gears and introduce new ideas.

Volition wrote a more or less coherent story, squeezed 101% out of the "sandbox minigame compilation" concept, improved the physics engine, and finally made a decent PC version, but the end result feels too derivative and forced. The surprisingly short single-player campaign (15 hours if you're not trying to comb an entire map) doesn't help.

Copy-pasted decks and bays, as well as backtrack-heavy mission objectives will test your patience. This DLC adds nothing to the main storyline; it simply demonstrates the atrocities committed by Belltower in the name of surplus profit.

Absolute Power is made for those who loves the original Tropico 3. The developers didn't want to shake foundations, but it doesn't mean that this expansion is not worth its $19.99.

There are some nice things to be done in the HD version of The Second Encounter: set new high scores in the endless Survival mode, take part in two-team matches or play cooperatively with four or five cutthroats like yourself. But as for the single-player campaign, it's better to set it aside… forever.

This incarnation of Pets is mostly retread of what was introduced in animal-themed expansions for The Sims 1 and 2. The developers simply expanded on some ideas and trimmed a few annoying shortcomings.

London 2012 is almost an exemplary sports compilation – nice-looking, somewhat challenging, with a good selection of disciplines.

The first Supreme Commander was unique even despite its problems. The sequel turned into a “just another RTS” with a couple of nifty ideas and flawed balance.

A solid, but all in all cookie-cutter adventure game.

It's hard to judge The First Templar by the usual standards, since almost everything here has two sides. Fairly good story, but dated graphics. Interesting combat system – annoying stealth sequences. Big levels – linear corridors. But ultimately, you will be remembering these 10 hours of non-stop swashbuckling with a smile on your face.

To avoid the risks while working on an expensive next-gen sequel to Resident Evil 4, Capcom recycled the previous game. The developers moved the action from Spain to Africa, replaced Leon Kennedy with Chris Redfield, brought back Albert “Duke Nukem” Wesker as the main baddie, added co-op, and rested. Look past the pretty graphics, and you will see a shameless clone.

Zero - that's how many fresh ideas Killzone 2 brings to the table. Had it been released alongside Soldier of Fortune or Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, it would have made a big fuss. Today, after Call of Duty 4, Gears of War 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode Two, its gameplay looks weak. Very few enemy variations, cliched situations repeat over and over again, and there is not enough story to fill a Saturday morning cartoon.

You will be done with eight maps in just one evening. It's a nice game, but it could have been longer.

Warfare is a flawed game, yet it will go down in history as the best offering from the late GFI Russia. At least it's not a boring pseudo-realistic strategy crawling with bugs, like their previous efforts, but a solid, interesting and even somewhat charming game. Too bad it's not about Russians.

Emerald City Confidential is a good-looking, atmospheric, light-hearted fairytale with stellar writing, perhaps even too stellar for a casual game.

TDU 2, like its predecessor, is a very self-absorbed and meditative game. It doesn't force you to dash through all the championships, to fly to the final race... But there comes an inevitable moment when you start pondering what to do next. All tasks have been completed, all cars have been tested, and you're the best in your club... And that's it?

It's impossible to take Anomaly: Warzone Earth seriously. It's a distraction for a couple of evenings at best, and I wish it had more emphasis on interesting gameplay modes than superfluous radio chatter. Alas, as soon you move on to skirmish battles, the game quickly loses its sparkle.

With Fire and Sword is a definite purchase if you want to play Warband's multiplayer with a Ukrainian flavor.

Honest Hearts proves once again that Obsidian is more experienced than Bethesda when it comes to DLCs.

Their Finest Hour doesn't come with flashy new features, but every change that it brings is meaningful.

Point Lookout is a miniature copy of Fallout 3. Alas, just like the original game, the wrapping is much better than the contents, but even this result is a great achievement for Bethesda Softworks. Not only they managed to produce a decent expansion, but finally added their own ideas to the legendary post-apocalyptic universe instead of ripping off stories about supermutants and The Brotherhood of Steel.

A compelling cooperative mode instead of a brainless mayhem is what Madballs needs. But even in the current form, it is way ahead of its rivals.

Revolution is not without its flaws, but you can live with them, because finally, this is a real successor to Worms World Party.

The pace of this game is laid-back even by the standards of the 4X strategy genre. Most people will hate it for being obscure and boring, while orientalists and fans of leisurely 4X games will be playing it non-stop. In any case, it's hard to treat RotK XI with indifference.

Point Lookout is a miniature copy of Fallout 3. Alas, just like the original game, the wrapping is much better than the contents, but even this result is a great achievement for Bethesda Softworks. Not only they managed to produce a decent expansion, but finally added their own ideas to the legendary post-apocalyptic universe instead of ripping off stories about supermutants and The Brotherhood of Steel.

Akella, Russian distributor of the game, pulled a crazy marketing stunt. In addition to the regular PC release, it sells the game as two independent halves – Escape from Butcher Bay and Assault on Dark Athena. My gut reaction was to scold Akella for greediness, but now I see that this is an unintentional benefit. You buy the remake of one of the best action games of 2004, and forget about its defective 6-hour appendage.

Akella, Russian distributor of the game, pulled a crazy marketing stunt. In addition to the regular PC release, it sells the game as two independent halves – Escape from Butcher Bay and Assault on Dark Athena. My gut reaction was to scold Akella for greediness, but now I see that this is an unintentional benefit. You buy the remake of one of the best action games of 2004, and forget about its defective 6-hour appendage.

Tropico 4 is hardly a full-fledged sequel; it's more of an expansion – utterly derivative, but well-polished – that got its number somewhere in the marketing department.

inFamous 2 is so derivative that "2" in its title should have been an exponent. This game navigates the sea of superhero clichés as easily as Cole McGrath slides on tram cables.

Excellent helicopter controls and highly polished code are, unfortunately, the only things that put Just Cause 2 above the other GTA clones. If you’re in the mood for silly fun, the game’s simple “jump-shoot-explode” routine will be more than enough, but it could have been much more than that.

This NFS/Burnout hybrid reminds me of Split/Second – it is simple, fast, spectacular, and lasts a week at best.

A fun racing game if you have family or friends to play it with.

Akella, Russian distributor of the game, pulled a crazy marketing stunt. In addition to the regular PC release, it sells the game as two independent halves – Escape from Butcher Bay and Assault on Dark Athena. My gut reaction was to scold Akella for greediness, but now I see that this is an unintentional benefit. You buy the remake of one of the best action games of 2004, and forget about its defective 6-hour appendage.

Lesta Studio created a decent RTS game, but, alas, Elements of War is far from the major league. Pure enthusiasm is not enough to take on World in Conflict; you'd also need exceptional talent and a serious budget.

Colorful vistas and ear-pleasing music are the few things that bring Drakensang closer to its eminent North American brethren. Alas, it is not enough for a good game, especially the one that wants to become the RPG of the year and gain a cult following. One would need talented writers and interesting game design for that.

Adrenaline-filled, lightning-fast battles are so exciting that I'm willing to forgive Bayonetta for its clumsy, clichéd storyline, awkward camera and dubious soundtrack. The only thing that’s beyond forgiveness is horrendous quality of the PS3 port.