It took long enough for a sequel to arrive but Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon offers a spirited romp, a good level of challenge, and might spur some thought regarding your very existence.

Virgil's Downfall will add another 8 or so hours of story to your Devil May Cry game, and for those who enjoyed the original game immensely the extra few dollars to purchase is a good investment to get a little more of the same experience. As long as you don't get your heart set on getting the exact same play that you loved about the original you'll be leaving happy.

All in all, Fuel Overdose has a ton of replay value for those willing to look past its warts, especially for the price point.

The multiplayer hits all the right notes when it comes to gaining experience points, load-out customization, a good mix of game types, etc. so there's plenty for the competitive player to enjoy.

Fans of action side-scrollers will get a kick out of BKS. I just wished the game felt more polished, especially with its controls, but even though the game isn't as memorable as some other side-scrolling classics such as Castlevania, I think it's definitely worth checking out if you have some extra money in your pockets.

There isn't anything inherently wrong with Dollar Dash. It's just a multiplayer only game that doesn't do a lot different and as a result feels overpriced for what we get.

All in all, DMC was a fun surprise to review and one of the best games released this year.

For players with a large vocabulary, Scribblenauts Unlimited can be pretty simplistic and challenges overcome with a modicum of creative thought. However, kids will appreciate the paper-esque sensibility and chance to just do whatever pops into their heads. Good, clean fun all-round.

Everyone gets a chance to play and interact and have fun. Really, that’s what Nintendo excels at, getting everyone involved and allowing childish enthusiasm to file down the sharp corners of the vexation of adulthood and life experience. New Super Mario Bros. U does that very thing.

It's free, sure, but that doesn't mean it's good.

Despite the games high difficulty at times, it's a "must have" title for the 3DS, especially if you are a fan of Strategy games. Fire Emblem won’t disappoint, and goes on step further in making it memorable with a well-rounded cast of characters, great music and a bevy of customization options.

There’s still the occasionally spastic camera to deal with – as if even the game itself can’t keep up with what’s going on – and the feeling that something bad-ass is happening with all those button presses without really knowing what, so if you want nuance, just keep looking.

Batman: Arkham City is one of the best games ever created, no matter the platform. It’s engaging from beginning to end, the production values are first rate, and on Wii U there’s an extra level of depth to the experience. You can't go wrong with an outright purchase.

With enough variation of modes to opt for, including the new story-type mode Fight Lab (which is rather short, although it will help gamers learn the game's moves), Tekken Tag Tournament 2 has enough fighting gameplay for single-player and same-console multiplayer entertainment, especially with the strong controls and impressive visuals. However, the utter dismalness of Xbox Live (lack of) gameplay delivers a double-fisted punch to the face of Tekken Tag Tournament 2's quality.

All in all, I had a great time playing through the campaigns again – with the collectible nature of the game and character power-ups for armor and weapons it's a great game for a little break from reality. I found the $40 price point to be a little expensive myself, especially when I bought my original game for $20… but if you have some money to drop, it might be worth it to give it a spin.

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.

Either way, LEGO Lord of the Rings is worth a look.

The game itself doesn't possess enough personality (or challenge) on its own to stand out as unique in the admittedly small field of AO games.

Sleeping Dogs had been in development as the next installment of Activision's "True Crime" franchise but the publisher ceased funding and cancelled it. Square Enix turned up to salvage the project and Sleeping Dogs was the result. The fact it turned out as good as it did -- that it's executed so well, performs as well as it does, sets the bar for open world combat and driving -- made Sleeping Dogs, story stumbles aside, the most surprising game of 2012.

For hard-core auto racing gamers, especially those that love Formula 1, Codemasters once again has a fuel-charged and totally immersive, realistic racing simulation in F1 2012 that has everything a F1 fanatic could want.

Far Cry 3 is a terrific and is one of the best games I've played in a long time. Far Cry 3's main draw is the deep and engaging campaign, but the multiplayer modes are also serviceable enough to keep you playing for a long time.

While the campaign length is fairly standard of past iterations of the series, it's worth multiple playthroughs and the multiplayer offers endless hours of fun and enjoyment; whether it's slaying zombies or facing off against other players in a wide range of multiplayer modes with an endless number of loadout combinations.

Just what the witchdoctor ordered: no matter what supernatural doppelganger – from the scary to the mysterious to the mischievous ‑ gamers choose, there is ample magically macabre monstrous adventures to explore in the eerie enclave of Moonlight Falls.

As much of a cool mixture of '90s nostalgia and modern gaming, it doesn't mean that the game is all the memorable. Having the entirety of Manhattan to swing around between inside missions is a technological feat, but it might have done Beenox better to make a smaller, more densely populated environment to explore and experience different story beats.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a worthy tribute to its progenitor and hopefully the start of something brand new for players who've been dying to get a good squad-based strategy game that lets them not only think, but feel as well.

This is Okami's third appearance. It began on Playstation 2, was ported to Wii, and now we have the high-definition version. If you missed out previously, there's really no reason why you couldn't drop $20 on Okami now. It was originally released back in 2006, but it's one of those games that is standing the test of time extremely well.

With it's great sense of style and creative puzzles -- and easily digested price of $7.99 on Steam -- it's an easy title to recommend.

Hitman: Aboslution is as close to being a gritty Roger Moore era James Bond reboot as you can get without infringing copyright. It has just the right amount of "whackadoodle" nonsense to qualify as a "Spy Who Loved Me" spin-off adventure.

All in all, those new to the franchise would be better served to pick up the Mass Effect Trilogy releases that came out at the same time and would get all 3 games for the same price. However, if you don't have access to an Xbox, PS3 or a gaming PC, this isn't the worst way to go.

The bottom line is that if you are a Dragon Ball Z fan, this is probably going to be a good value for you to play through all the characters, watch the movie, and try to get the additional QR codes for added fun. If you're looking for a good fighting game on Kinect, this one might leaving you feeling a little defeated.

Walking Dead isn't just Game of the Year material, it's one of those touchstone games that will continue to be referenced years from now.

Most Wanted is definitely aimed towards those players who normally don't play racing games. The game doesn't feature the exhaustive customization options of game's like Gran Turismo; instead Criterion successfully delivers a beautiful looking and fantastic adrenaline packed racing experience.

Darksiders II is an extremely deep and well balanced game. While Darksiders II may not appeal to everyone, its certainly going to please those looking for a deep and enjoyable action adventure title.

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.

All in all, Painkiller is a blast to play in short doses but quickly devolves into a ho-hum slaughter-fest. Worth trying out if you're in the mood for some Duke Nukem 3D combat without the 15 year old graphics.

Besides being accessible to just about all ages -- my 4-year old had no problems, though he finished Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes without much help so maybe that's not the best yardstick to measure "accessible" -- it's inoffensive, provides a middlin' challenge, and it's fun to watch and play (if it comes down to it.

If you are an RE fan and haven't played the Wii version of the games before, I suggest you buy it now.

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.

All in all, NHL '13 is another solid game as we would come to expect from EA Sports; some areas for improvement that I would like to see personally but otherwise not a horrible way to spend the lockout.

Ravaged has a demo available that features the "Liberty" map (Thrust mode) and "Canyon" (Capture the Resource mode). Highlighting the "Liberty" map was a good choice because it's probably the most interesting multiplayer shooter arena this year. There's no harm in giving it a whirl for yourself, but I'll be monitoring the update progress before I pump more hours into Ravaged for a zero sum gain when it comes to upgrades and leveling-up.

Training Pokémon and battling trainers (earning badges) and Pokémon alike is still bulletproof and as addicting as ever. The ever-increasing challenge over the course of so many hours, broken up by a bit of exploring and insipid story beats, is great.

All in all, I did enjoy playing One Piece: Pirate Warriors there's a lot of love in this title, but some awful too. If you can overlook the warts, you've got a good game.

At this point, 800 MS Points ($10) for Leviathan seems just about right if you liked Mass Effect 3 and want some of the lore explained at greater depth even if some of the fights are a little frustrating.

Around Every Corner is about 3 hours long and it definitely felt like the longest episode yet. And I can't wait until the next one. As terrible as things get, I can't wait to see how it all ends.

For 1200 MS Points, the compilation will appeal to fans of the arcade titles if only for the sake of nostalgia because there are plenty of better fighting games available.

At the end of all things, Darksiders II is a deeply middling sort of game. Too much to be a mere expansion pack, too little to be a full blown sequel.

Dishonored is put together so well and executes its ideas in such an expert way that it would be difficult to not recommend the game to the highest degree possible.

I've had fun with Resident Evil 6 but that could be attributed to playing on Amateur. As written previously in this review, Amateur blunts ammo scarcity and control issues, makes things easier to kill, and sidesteps a lot of quicktime events, but it also allows forgiveness some of the really obvious backtracking the game puts the player through.

Darksiders II is full of enormous environments and dungeons to traverse to and explore, even more fantastical enemies and large-scale bosses to battle, and plenty of challenging hacking, slashing and loot collecting.

All in all, Tony Hawk HD proves that while you can't always go back, it certainly can be a lot of run to reminisce. Definitely worth a short-term pickup or for a quick break from reality… long term though? Not really.

There's so much extra built into the game I'm not sure how anyone could evaluate all of it in one go, which is why I'd encourage anyone interested in NHL 13 to give it a rental first to focus on the part of the game that might be of most interest. For me, it's the action on the ice during couch matches, which is my recommended way to play.

From Episode 1 to Episode 3, only three characters I started with are still part of Lee's struggling cadre of survivors. New characters are added to fill the character void but how those voids were created... It's not a "fun" experience in the usual sense, but it certainly is gripping to the point where there's only one thing left to say. Mama?

Despite that engine tune-up that does improve some of the realism through the player physics, Madden NFL 13 plays relatively the same as its close predecessors.

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.

At its worst, Future Soldier is an uneven experience with some unchecked boxes as they pertain to PC ports (e.g. no option to invert the controls on a gamepad) and an unrecognizable story, but at its best it's a good shooter with a little more thought required than many other 3rd person shooters available right now.

Tales of Graces F is a good game and though the story may seem like a typical JRPG, it does stray away from the stereotypes as the story progresses, and leaves you wanting to know what will happen next.

The Amazing Spider-Man tries very hard to emulate Batman Arkham City, but despite solid controls, especially the well-designed Web Rush, and a good amount of single-player gameplay, the open-world concept doesn't offer much else in the form of any kind of really challenging gameplay and engaging side-mission variety as its obvious inspiration, the award-winning Batman Arkham City.

It's a side-scrolling platformer where goombas are flattened, blocks smashed, turtle shells hurled, and tricky platforms navigated by, what else, jumping. And the coins... so many coins.

On PC, Prototype 2 hums along nicely in the presentation department, but playing a game a game like this with a keyboard and mouse is ridiculous. It's not as accurate as playing with a controller, which this reviewer switched to after about 20 minutes fidgeting with the keyboard and mouse and finding them completely impractical at best and frustrating at worst.

The campaign is a solid adventure that is best enjoyed with another person (rather than the AI!) and the game offers a certain level of "surprise" with some of its unique gameplay elements. It's just a shame that some of these unique elements are not incorporated better or injected more frequently in the campaign. While I wouldn't pay full price for the game, it's definitely worth checking out once the price goes down.

Traveller's Tales has done a good job of fitting together multi-part, leap-frog puzzles to break up the tedium of punching LEGO men to pieces.

As a third-person shooter, Inversion has some fun and long-lasting single-player gunplay (even if it does a huge amount of copycatting off of Gears of War). That's despite an utterly incomprehensible and confusing single-player story filled with too many plot holes along with a very sparse online presence to date.

Witcher 2 is a throwback in a lot of ways to old PC games, which certainly appeals to me. The delivery method is modern, no doubt, but the fact there's a lot of poking and prodding (and death) that happens even early on has me anxious for another instalment.

The longevity of Lollipop Chainsaw relies on how much time gamers want to practice combos to finish levels faster and more cleanly than other players on the leaderboards or earn enough silver coins to purchase a closet's worth of outfits for Juliet. Otherwise, the game is a quick experience that doesn't dwell too much on one particular thing for too long before throwing something else at the player.

No doubt in my mind, 3DS owners should have Kid Icarus: Uprising in their library of games, especially if action games are a favorite.

Like Gotham City Imposters a few months ago, the component parts of Nexuiz are sound; the weapons and shooting good, and the "hook" of the mutators offers some variety but there just isn't the player base to make it worth checking out unless gunning down bots isn't a deal breaker. And it should be reported that unlike Gotham City Imposters, getting connected and staying connected to a match of Nexuiz was never a problem.

What you should take away from everything above is that Max Payne 3 is a worthy sequel to the Remedy Games originals. Max's monologues aren't quite as faux-serious (and are instead depressingly serious) and the cover mechanic will certainly be an adjustment for fans of the first two games, but there's a lot of action, challenge, twists in the story, and plenty to do after the credits roll that Max Payne 3 gets high marks indeed.

All in all, the care put into Starhawk definitely shows – but the amount of things that were left on the drawing board or out of the concept phase shows as well. A few tweaks to the combat, vehicle, and piloting system would have made huge steps into making this the premier game of the year as opposed to just the pretty darn good game that we got.

GST2 is a solid effort, but falls short in several areas. The career mode, opponent AI and presentation still need to be fine tuned. If EA can sort out these issues then there's no doubt GST3 could be the new Grand Slam Champion of tennis.

All in all – Naruto Shippuden Ninja Storm Generations is moving in the right direction – giving fans the chance to use all of the favorite characters and making it accessible to as many people as possible. When making parity though you have to be careful that you aren't watering down all the characters too much which is what ended up happening.

Max Payne 3 has an action-packed and long-lasting single-player campaign driven by an expectedly solid single-player story that is a Rockstar trademark. That combines with very entertaining multiplayer that will have gamers playing long after the single-player campaign is complete.

It's a fun little distraction for the price, and the game actually makes for a surprisingly satisfying "beat up some robots" experience with how it combines its control scheme on the mouse and keyboard. It's definitely a fun action game to look into.

The process of building mechs then testing their mettle on the battlefield is Armored Core V's strongest element, but with another showing like this if there ever is a sixth Armored Core, the longtime mech franchise may be dishonorably discharged.

There is absolutely no denying that Diablo III continues to maintain the high artistic standards that it has kept over the years. But the dumbed character and inventory systems, coupled to the ridiculous always-on connection and the breathtaking arrogance of the"you'll play how we tell you to play" attitude makes playing this title a damned shame instead of a hell of a good time.

As a standalone "episode" of Alan Wake, American Nightmare is something PC gamers should be checking out, particularly if the craziness of it appeals to you. For $15 there's really no excuse; and if it ever goes on sale, the trigger on this purchase should be pulled without hesitation.

The first couple of difficulty levels are complete pushovers, so anyone with previous experience should jump to the Hard difficulty level. Then the game comes down to accurately predicting opponents and taking advantage of their weaknesses. (Luigi is atrocious at returning "fish tile" power shots.) As with most games like these, maatching skills against computer-controlled opponents takes a backseat to human competition. Either way, Mario Tennis Open is pleasant, though it seems to lack any addictive extras or some hook to make it addictive.

For a relatively budget price with around 45 hours of total gameplay, gamers who may not have played them in their first release get a reintroduction to one of the PS2's classic protagonists in two good games – DMC1 and DMC3 with a third (DMC2) only worth playing to acquire new added achievements.

As an opening act, A New Day did what it was supposed to: get me interested in the next episode even if the overall universe of Walking Dead completely depresses me. It's not that there's no happy ending; it's that there's not even real respite from the horror of what's going on. And that's exactly what happens at the end of the first episode.

The game doesn't create a massive fissure in the first-person shooter genre, but the DART and breach systems do add some cool wrinkles to an otherwise straightforward experience with some of the best gun play I've had in recent memory.

Fans of both The Walking Dead comic book and TV series will be impressed with the great story and gameplay that is another excellent extension of the walker lore. And the scintillating second the episode ends, gamers will be anxiously awaiting the second episode, which if the teaser trailer at the end of the first one is any indication, will be even more tension-filled and exciting.

It's certainly gorgeous for the eyes with stellar anime-inspired graphics and a first-rate capturing of old-school 2-D fighting game charisma. But a short single-player adventure and some overly frustrating controls reveal some of Skullgirls' warts. However, as a budget-priced fighter, those imperfections don't detract too much from what is a solid 2-D fighter with smooth and lag-free online gameplay.

Playing off the huge popularity contests on television that has everybody that watches them dreaming of that being them on stage being adored by millions, the Sims 3 provides that same level of daydreaming-of-stardom to individual Sims 3 players with The Sims 3 Showtime Limited Edition.

Playing this collection on the big screen TV has left me wanting for more.

All in all, I enjoyed Final Fantasy XIII-2 – it was a fun RPG game to play, looked spectacular and ate up a significant amount of my free time. It didn't give me everything I wanted out of the experience, but I still had fun.

All in all, Prototype 2 does a good job of creating an interesting combat engine, but falls short visually, in story-telling, and general mission design. Assuming that you are geared for some mindless death and dismemberment, this is a good way to spend the time until the new releases hit the open market.

SSX is a great reboot of the series. While the game has some shortcomings, it does provide an amazing adrenaline rush and sense of speed you rarely experience in other titles.

With plenty of other tower defense titles and strategy games out there, Defenders of Ardania is a poor choice on which to spend your money.

Hard Reset isn't a bad game, but it's rote old school sensibility has passed me by. I don't have the same kind of reflexes I did 5 or 10 years ago to properly appreciate the twitch elements, so maybe I have to take some responsibility on that front. For me, Hard Reset is unremarkable because it seems about 5 years too late for me.

Radical Entertainment has delivered on their promise of improving the foundation laid by the original Prototype.

Gamers who already bought the game when it came out in 2011, though, won't find enough in the "komplete" edition to justify purchasing it. However, any fighting-game fan that missed it last year shouldn't pass it by the second time around. With smooth graphics and gameplay, great controls, and excellent online multiplayer and spectacular single-player gameplay, Mortal Kombat has reclaimed its crown as the best fighting game.

The randomness of some of the board effects can be frustrating; it's akin to Nintendo grabbing the chess board mid-match and throwing it across the room. It doesn't seem fair and there's nothing you can do about it except enjoy the experience while it lasts. And the kids liked it.

PokePark 2 is, more or less, on the same footing as the Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball games. It's much more kid friendly, of course. But like DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball and Xtreme 2, PokePark 2 is all about playing nice and doing favours (or maybe even "battling") in hopes of acquiring more friends in this world devoid of humans trying to stuff unwitting creatures into Pokeballs.

Save your money; don't bother with Operation Raccoon City.

TTT is only going to meet the needs of the hardcore fans who need something to keep them busy until TTT2 is released this Fall.

Certainly not on the challenge or quality level of the stellar puzzle-action blend of Portal 2, Warp still has enough of a puzzle-solving complexity with light action gameplay blended in to be enjoyably entertaining.

Mass Effect 3 is thoroughly enjoyable and a good sci-fi romp.

Despite a learning curve, gameplay is very smooth, with a first-class presentation, from the fighter introductions, to the actual UFC announcers and referees, to the good audio features of the crowd and impact of punches and kicks onto each fighter.

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.