After playing through the single-player on Normal difficulty, I'd be more inclined to attempt the campaign on a higher difficulty if I wanted to experience the story. Maybe there's some dramatic linchpin that I missed! But I was unsuccessful in keeping my brain from thinking about the problems and inconsistencies I see with the story and the relationship between Cortana and Master Chief the first time around, why would the second time be any different? Halo 4 has its moments, but not enough of them to make me forget about this stuff.

Overall, The Witcher was a game which strived for the peaks of the highest mountains, but only reached the base camp.

With bigger guns and even bigger levels, Unreal Tournament 2003 seems to say: size does matter.

A different sort of game, one where story dominates the action, but in this case to a fault.

This game got released too early. Had it been released around the holidays, and with the collection of bugs and broken quests eliminated, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a great gift for gamers. As it is, I can only say that it's beautiful but tragically flawed.

Comparing the game to "Jak & Daxter," the control is noticeably less intuitive.

As far as the gameplay is concerned, this may be one of the deepest fighting games I've ever played.

It puts at least a cherry on the "vanillafication" that was Generals.

Without the adoption of 3rd Edition rules, IWD2 is essentially the same D&D game released years ago.

Needless to say, this type of gameplay is hardly challenging, thought provoking, or enjoyable, for most serious gamers. However, what Broken Sword does do is very polished and offers a slick level of gameplay for the occasional gamer used to solitaire and minesweeper.

With superior games like "Disgaea," "Fire Emblem" and "Final Fantasy Tactics" out there, all of which are more interesting on pretty much every level, Gladius remains a merely competent title in a field already full of magnificent experiences.

Less than ten hours of content simply doesn’t justify the game’s price, regardless of how improved Legend is over the last few Tomb Raider games.

Overall, I really like this game, but the difficulty really puts me in a tight spot - no matter how fun the game is to begin with, it loses appeal quickly as the game becomes insane.

Once you become intimately familiar with the levels, Hitman becomes a lot of fun, and the game is practically made for infinite replayability. The problem is, getting to that point is so messy that it's more confusing than fun.

Between the somewhat overly complicated nature of the game and the slow, dull battles there just wasn't a lot to get excited about in the game.

Once it drops in price a bit, go ahead and add another point or two to the score, because it’s really a victim of poor pricing than poor gameplay.

The biggest thing I felt was missing was the all-important fun factor.

For players who missed out on the original Butcher Bay, now is the perfect opportunity to take part in the interstellar jailbreak and the following pirate raid making up its second half.

Those that hate obtuse puzzles will want to steer clear. The real attraction to GKIII is the information about Rennnes-le-Chateau and surrounding environs. It’s the next best thing to actually traveling to the south of France, and a lot cheaper.

There are some good ideas here, but they're overwhelmed by all of the visual effects that are being thrown at the player.

After playing the game for a few 3 hour sessions, the gameplay seemed quite repetitive, and there was little challenge either mentally, strategically, or in twitch reflex.

Score some points, hand over the ball and watch the opposition do the same: it gets quite monotonous and struggles to replicate the soaring, athletic ballet of its subject matter.

Despite having to baby-sit your troops, and play with the same objective over and over, the game still had me coming back for more.

It lacks the certain fun factor that elevates a game to "must own" status instead of sitting at "rent a few times." Some of this is owed to the basic design of the game.

The other knock against the single player campaign is that there's no option to save your progress. No option to save your progress. It bears repeating because this is 2013! What the hell?

However, as a whole, it seems to be more a welcome mat for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Still, as long as you can put up with the awkward system, Metal Gear Acid 2 is a worth checking out.

The music is amazing.

The tongue-in-cheek tone of the game almost seems to mock you as much as it mocks the real life despots of the Cold War. If you can shrug that off, you'll find a decent little sim.

In the end, The Masters is, in the purest sense, a golf simulator. It does not require extensive practice, nor does it have enough to entice people who have no interest in the sport. For those that do, however, your devotion will be greatly rewarded.

Heavenly Sword will run you about 6 – 7 hours but as an action game that’s about all we can really expect from a title that wants to tell a spin a narrow tale.

While it might not be a bad game, it can never be a great game due to its extremely limited appeal.

For fans of fires or fans of just wasting away time staring into a dark monitor, EFR will be your "Game of the Year". For other video gamers with at least a half-mind, look elsewhere for your fire controlling needs.

Blue Dragon is a harmless, lighthearted role-playing game at its core with too many cutscenes but with some really great strategic battles.

The major problem is Traxxpad is that it's not really sure who it's aimed at.

Overhaul Games didn't ruin the goodness in their effort to be loved, but they did make it harder to get to and enjoy. As a game, it's not what I would call the definitive experience, and I can't recommend people going with it when there's a better path out there.

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D is a step in the right direction when it comes to reaching out to the "hardcore" audience, but there are too many strikes against the title to make it one I'd recommend. Unless you like crazy.

Repetition aside, Rabbids Go Home is still a worthy title just short of becoming a Wii classic.

Although not much of a gameplay challenge for anybody over the age of 10, the Clue-like gameplay structure of Disney Guilty Party provides a nice little mystery party for wannabe detective Wii gamers.

The third installment of the series, doesn’t do much in terms of “innovation."

Many thrills but you'll have to weigh that against the very directed action which takes a bit of the fun out of it.

A solid game that gets bogged down far too often to be considered great.

Accessible is the key word when it comes to Burnout – the game's most notable feature is the butter-smooth, quick responsive control, especially with the perfect fit of the GameCube controller.

For those gamers that were fans of the original from a single player aspect, Rise of the Witch King doesn't really add that much more such it should grab your attention. For die-hard Lord of the Rings fans, the minimal content additions will likely be enough.

I said it before on the first game and I'll say it again here. There is nothing to recommend this version of Baldur's Gate II over the original version available on GOG.com.

All in all, Medal of Honor: Airborne brings a sense of authenticity and realism with a tinge of the arcade to a simulation of a daring period in American military history.

You’re better off picking up "ESPN NHL 2K5" because for the third year in a row Sega’s hockey series takes the Cup as it’s made the furthest leap forward in improvements.

Despite the quirky, really-unnecessary cartoony factions attempting to infuse some humor in a game that's never been based on humor and being made part of what should be a hard-core strategy game, the opportunity to play with the classic RISK rules and gameplay really saves RISK: Factions from its own Waterloo disaster.

That's not to say it's a bad game, but those who own DOA5 may not get a whole lot more out of this title. At the same time, it's a great deal for those who didn't play DOA5 or are new to the series.

When you realize that a mini-game is better than the actual game, it kinda sends off signals that something is a little bit wrong.

In short, it's a little on the boring side – it's only the aesthetics that will keep you playing.

Isn’t a bad game, however it isn’t terribly spectacular either. It’s unrefined, but still a reasonably fun title, more worthwhile to rent or track down in the bargain bin one day.

With enough patience, and perhaps a printable list of vocal commands by your side, EndWar can become an engaging strategy-based game. It may not reach the level of PC gaming’s most popular RTS games, but for console owners, this war is anything but hell.

A little bit long in the tooth.

With more emphasis on quick-hit, easy-to-play mini-games and casual-centric visuals with extremely basic controls, Madden NFL 10 on the Wii might as well be referred to as Madden Lite.

A game that would be closer to an interactive episode of the show rather than a proper video game.

While F.E.A.R. 2 still delivers in its action and grim setting, especially for fans of the original, FPS games have evolved since 2005, and the very innovations that made the first game stand out have now become cliché and drawn out.

An aesthetic surprise with great visuals and sound; and a huge disappointment of Gameplay and AI.

As a straight-up action adventure game, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron it's falls short in terms of excellence, but the titantic epicness of the concluding shots is so awesome that any Transformers fan should grab Fall of Cybertron if one's willing to overlook the shortcomings of some of the game mechanics.

If you're patient enough, and can regularly resist the urge to throw your DS against a wall, you're likely to find a really good handheld RPG in Ring of Fates. For those with less patience, you might want to give this one a pass, if only to preserve your DS from violent impacts.

If you’re a gamer with a very heavy interest in war games, and a ton of patience then Sniper Elite is a game worth checking out.

It’s got a great story and a well-defined protagonist, the graphics and sound provide a suitable sense of place, but the problem with the “lock” during combat and the funnel quality will more than likely turn some people off.

If you're a hardcore extreme sports fan, Disney’s Extreme Skateboarding Adventure will probably have you bored to tears in within an hour. However, if you have kids or younger siblings (girl or boy) in the house, it fits the bill as a challenging, entertaining, kid-friendly game. [Add 23 points if you're looking for a kids game]

A lot less raunchy juvenile humor and more focus on fixing the weapon aiming would have elevated Shadows of the Damned from the depths of hell to a almost heavenly third-person shooter experience. As it is, though, once gamers acclimate their aiming and focus their efforts on the demon-hunting adventure found in the shadows of the debauchery, Shadows of the Damned is a sometimes-scary ride to Hades and back.

While Reflex still retains the familiar gameplay and gritty urban outlook on war that made the original game such a massive success, it’s still difficult to recommend this severely downgraded port, even if the Wii was the only system available to players.

Despite the constant companionship of allies, it still feels like you're the only person in the conflict.

If you have a sense of rhythm and you'd like to own an interesting peripheral then DK is probably the perfect game for you!

Singularity might not grab the collective gamer consciousness but it's a game worth playing, not just for the shooting and adventure of it, but to play the meta game of trying to identify the references and homage, intentional or not, from Half-Life 2 to Chronomaster to LOST to System Shock and many more.

The Club is one of those games that you are really going to fall in love with, or discard fairly quickly.

But it’s nice to see that Nintendo is at least vaguely on track with this series – maybe we’ll get a traditional entry next, and maybe this time they’ll let us configure the controls.

At times the multiplayer features can be quite entertaining but there may not be enough wrinkles added to the gameplay to keep groups playing. [Score = 94 if no experience with GBA game]

It’s a very nuts and bolts sort of RPG with a fair amount of nooks and crannies to check out, but the game lacks the pop that will keep a player glued to their seat until the wee morning hours.

Not even the innovation with the headset or the cruel dismemberments can blot out a maddening linearity.

In the end, Demigod does a lot of things right.

If you like the match three concept and RPG’s too, there is no question you are going to love this game. If you’re a bit dicey on both then I’d suggest you try before you buy.

A decent title, but if you already own NHL 2004 you’re probably wasting your time and money for updated player stats, a token number of additions, and some new animations.

All round AI is lacking. Enemy AI is laughable at times – walking toward you backwards or standing still while you spray them with the flamethrower.

Once one gets past the controls and somewhat cold, distant storytelling, what remains makes for a pretty good time.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star sure isn't like the Paper Mario games that have come before it. So much so, that's it's hard to think of Sticker Star as a role-playing game. If role-playing is defined as collecting and using stickers, then it would fit, but it doesn't.

While it doesn’t quite hold up to the sports titles found in more powerful consoles, the quick-placed play and the easy-to-use controls make FIFA a fun distraction for the casual crowd, and even for gamers who hear the name “Zidane” and think of the main character from Final Fantasy IX, instead of the guy who considers head-butts as compliments.

Resident Evil: Revelations is less of a "fans of the genre" title than it is a "fans of the series" title. For everyone else, it's like that B-movie that does just enough things right to be entertaining.

Barrels explode, smoke, environmental damage (i.e. bullet holes), flying bodies… it’s all good. Provided you have the hardware that can handle it.

This genre is notably absent from the console world. A number of real-time strategy games have made in-roads in establishing this almost PC-exclusive genre on consoles but until mouse and keyboard get the nod, it has hit a wall. I'm just glad it has done so with a steel drum beat.

It does provide a short bit of fun, but that quickly ends as the repetition sinks in its claws.

More like a puzzle game interspersed with fighting than anything else.

It's not overwhelming in what it offers in addition to what the original game offers already, but it does have enough interesting points to make it worthwhile for fans of the original.

The game is gorgeous, features great depth and affords some neat strategic elements. But as time wore on I couldn’t stop myself from thinking that I’d like to be playing a game that is less boring and includes more in the department of "doing things".

While the game clocks in at about 5 - 6 hours from start to finish, I don't know anyone masochistic enough to undertake such a challenge.

For those of you diehard fans who can quote Scarface the same way other people quote Monty Python, Scarface: The World Is Yours is exactly the game you've been waiting for for the last quarter century.

Just pop in one of the old games – or any one of their numerous clones from the past few years – and it’ll probably be more worthwhile.

Fans will love it, but there's no harm with sticking with previous games in the NHL series.

All in all, Alice: Madness Returns delivers a good sequel. Not superlative, but not a cheap knockoff. If topsy-turvy architecture, steampunk menaces, and Victorian psychotherapy tickle your geek itch, this is a title well worth playing.

It’s just unfortunate it’s over all too soon, because there is some good action here – the execution is just a bit off.

This could have been a seriously awesome game. Instead, we get a clone that blows its own legs off with a clichéd storyline that ignores the internal logic of it's own world.

As a whole, Blitzkrieg does deliver a decent RTS that will last for a very long time; however the game isn’t at the stage to compete with current RTS standards, still sporting the 2D landscapes and scratchy infantry movement.

While Headhunter does well to borrow from games like "Metal Gear Solid 2" and the sort of comically futuristic world found in movies like Robocop, it falls short with it’s blandly typical story and constant cliché rip-offs that cheapen the experience.

It's the game any fan could want, but the obstacles involved can turn even the most faithful fan against it.

Ridge Racer 6 is recommended for nuance-loving race fans. With the amount of fore-thought and planning required to win, casual fans are likely to frustrated.

It's unfortunate that the simple gameplay hasn't held up well over the years, because most of the fun here is had through shear nostalgia (whipping candles, etc).