Bad Company 2 is an excellent game and the best modern warfare shooter to date. Despite the cookie-cutter campaign, it beats Modern Warfare 2 in both single-player and multiplayer.

Heavy Rain is fast, violent and very emotional. Every now and then the story stumbles over a tired cliché or a “No-o-o-o!” scene, but you try hard to ignore them, because you want to believe the heroes, to accept them with all their maladies and inner turmoil.

Infinity Blade as it stands now is simply an intriguing test of a very promising technology. I'm not sure that you'll get your $6 of fun from Infinity Blade, but if you want to impress your friends, this is the app to buy.

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.

Ghost Trick is a story about loneliness that leads to unnecessary aggression and stirs the appetite for revenge. It's a touching tale of kindness, loyalty, and redemption. Only after experiencing a shocking number of secrets at the very end, you will realize how many metaphors are hidden within this game. And it's enough to forgive Ghost Trick for its stringent linearity, unskippable cutscenes, and a penchant for overly chatty dialogue.

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

Dead Space for iOS is a game with a simple design born on a Procrustean bed of budgetary and technical constraints, although its creators did their best to recreate the atmosphere of the big console brethren.

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.

Static images can't convey the splendour of colors or the intoxicating feeling of flight, they can't thaw icy shards of winter in the heart. Whether you're cynic or romantic, give Flower a try.

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.

Even the "New Game Plus" mode with its full arsenal of potions and gods is not enough to quench the Bastion thirst. Oh, how I wish it had randomly-generated maps, an expansive loot system, RPG stats, and dozens of quests... But that would have been a completely different game. Bastion, first and foremost, is a beautiful story with a beginning, a climax and ending(s). "A proper story", as the old man Rucks would say.

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.

Fall of the Samurai is what every expansion pack should be. There is nothing that will make you gasp with awe, but every one of the new features fits the game perfectly. Evolution at its finest.

A relatively successful attempt to liven up a (still) mediocre game.

Every fan of tactical strategy genre will be happy to spend at least 30 hours with such a smart, captivating game as Valkyria Chronicles.

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.

The Sims 3 is not so much a game as a rich field for experiments; a blank notepad that will soon be filled with hundreds of wild ideas.

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.

The first fruit of Zynga's "new model of partnership" really shows what modern mobile devices are capable of, but as far as the gameplay goes, the world of Horn is empty and lacks fresh ideas.

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".

In the attempt to capture the feel of a Hollywood movie, the developers went so far that they completely turned Call of Duty into a mindless run from one objective marker to another. There is a mediocre on-rails shooter under all these blurry visual effects and nice music, a game no better than Secret Service or Code of Honor 3. It just looks and sounds nicer than its low-budget brethren. Multiplayer is the only worthy thing about Modern Warfare 2.

Looks like Codemasters really struggled with DiRT 3, piece by piece cutting everything that could have saved this game from going off the cliff.

The third expansion introduces so many new facets to Europa Universalis 3 that it’s now truly an embarrassment of riches. Those hardcore players who like to delve into the smallest of details will have a blast.

Dark atmosphere, unprecedented drama for an App Store game, amazing finale. Finally, the iOS platform has discovered its own thatgamecompany.

2K's NBA is still the best sports simulator out there.

This is what Doom 3 could have been if it were developed by creative designers - a stylish, relentless mix of nightmares, drama and visceral action. Wait until the sundown, turn up your speakers and turn off the lights. You will be impressed.

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?

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