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.

Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual is a decent title that is just a little shy of greatness.

For a game that seems to be positioning itself as the anti-Diablo, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing puts in a strong, if kind of rough, performance.

The online setup is great, supporting an in-depth ranking system and easily accessible online options.

GHWOR does little to change the minds of those who thought the series was past its prime. Frankly, GHWOR could have existed as a track pack, but for what it's worth, Neversoft still manages to squeeze out some fun gameplay even if it is to the same old tune.

My other issue is that Bomberman wasn't that great a game to start with and there's no multiplayer, which is sure to cause some gamers to scratch their heads.

There's already been a price drop of about $20 for Lost Planet 3, which makes it a pretty good deal. The timing for such a thing isn't great. There are a couple new consoles launching soon and the tidal wave of 4th Quarter games has only just started, I think Lost Planet 3's window of opportunity has closed for this somewhat enjoyable mid-tier game.

It’s for kids, so it’s not difficult to unlock most of the stuff in a few hours of play, but this isn’t one of those games that’s aimed at me, at the older, core gamer.

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.

All in all, Naruto is worth a pick up for Naruto fans or those who enjoy a simple combat game.

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 first downfall of Build-a-Bear Workshop is that there's no spoken instructions.

If nothing else, it should satisfy gamers looking for a good party game and a little more lighthearted fun during their breaks away from their more serious games.

I imagine that G-Force will be one of those Trojan Horse games for my nephew that gets him familiar with games that are definitely for the mature player. Who would have thought a guinea pig with a jetpack could be a Trojan Horse?

All in all, Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 was an entertaining diversion for those hack and slash enthusiasts like myself, as long as you aren't expecting anything more grandiose than that.

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.

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.

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 The River of Time has its fair share of technical flaws, the story, and combat in the game more than make up for this. Also, the game is only $20 which helps one overlook its shortcomings. The game quietly slipped onto the market at the start of the year, which is a shame because it certainly deserves the attention of RPG fans.

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.

Rango doesn't innovative in any particular way, but it proves to be a solid game all around.

Overall, even considering the frustrations, this game is above average and if you love the source material you're going to love the game even more.

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

While Guitar Hero: On Tour is a very solid port of the franchise to the DS and the technology to get it working is brilliant - why don't more developers make use of the GBA cartridge port for DS games?

A wholly decent entertainment experience although it won’t change anyone’s opinion about the genre it unfortunately sits in.

Your allies are invulnerable for some reason, but that doesn't make them any more useful.

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.

And I say in conclusion (with great sorrow and apologies to the late Lloyd Bentsen): "Silverfall, I played Diablo II. I knew Diablo II. Diablo II was a friend of mine. And Silverfall [sigh], you’re no Diablo II."

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.

While Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades is a very solid follow-up port of the franchise to the DS and the technology to get it working is brilliant - why don't more developers make use of the GBA cartridge port for DS games? - I can really only recommend Decades to fans of the franchise, with the proviso that they have relatively small hands.

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.

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.

Overall, it’s short but its fun. It’s also a decent price and it looks like it may be one of the last original platforming games we’re going to see on the PS2. Go on, be ‘Brave’.

The game is pretty good graphically, but the music and great voice acting is where it really shines most.

A game parents will be able to safely play with their pre-teen kids.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy won't leave much of a legacy behind but it is a decent game and if you've enjoyed any others in the rich history of this franchise, you should definitely set your sights on it.

There isn’t anything overly new or innovative in Revenge of Piccolo. It’s just a very straightforward brawler that will appeal to younger fans of the Dragonball franchise.

With all its faults, Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground is still a fun experience. And even though you know exactly what you’re going to get even before you open the box, that doesn’t make the game bad, it just means it’ll fill you up with empty calories.

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.

This is a game that hardcore fans of the genre are more likely to want to spend some time with. Casuals are better off grabbing something like Castle Crashers or Chronicles of Mystara instead, as they are quite a bit better so far as beat 'em ups on the PC go.

For as simplistic as the gameplay seems, there's a simple old school pleasure in dungeon hacking that makes Children of Mana so appealing, even if there are some occasional annoyances.

Combined Assault feels much more like an expansion pack than a full sequel. The single player game once again doesn’t show much improvement, while the online play shines.

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.

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

Last year the clear winner was NHL 2K7 when it came to online play. This year the playing field is definitely more even – it didn’t matter what game I put in I always had fun while playing over Live. However, having some friends over to play, the choice was always NHL 08.

Sure it starts to build up interest when you reach level 40 but it takes forever just to get to level 20.

It is hard to get excited about the game. It certainly isn't an embarrassment, and huge Spidey fans will likely find lots to love here, but everything has a “been there, done that” aura about it.

For folks looking for a quick and casual experience, this game fits the bill, but for early adopters hoping for a meatier experience to go with their big system purchase, they may be disappointed.

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.

But as a PC game that feels like a port, especially with the save game method, it’s only good not great or excellent.

Shrek the Third doesn’t feature a lot of surprises in its linear beat ‘em up romp, though there are a couple of occasions to bust out the catapults to break down castle walls, which can be fun, especially if you’re playing against a friend in one of the separate multiplayer modes.

The music is amazing.

It's geared toward younger gamers specifically because the level of difficulty and simplicity alleviates boredom.

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.

About average for a stealth-action game.

All the games suffer a similar problem when it comes to the basics of control. No steering wheel.

There aren’t that many fighting games for the DS so Ultimate Mortal Kombat doesn’t have much competition but it’s still a good fighting game, pardon the cliché, on the go.

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.

In the end, Bee Movie is harmless fun.

I can't say that I would recommend spending your money on The Club if you aren't already an action fan, but if you are just looking for a fast-paced game with lots of shooting you might want to give it a shot.

Good stuff for adventure fans.

Xbox Live gamers will enjoy the online play (if they select a character that can fire weapons- or powers-based projectiles) and it's nice to have a brawler/fighter that showcases the Marvel universe so well, but an imperfect storyline that just doesn't draw gamers into the Marvel Nemesis realm very far and a weak A.I. challenge in the single-player story mode hold the game back from reaching the heights of previous Marvel-based games.

Expect to get some enjoyment out of Air Command 3.0, especially if you're tired of Solitaire.

In the end, hardcore Deadpool fans may want to get this game sooner rather than later, but for everyone else I'd say wait. There is some fun to be had here bashing baddies over the head with hammers and the like, and the story is pretty hilarious. However, the extremely short length of the game is a deal breaker. Wait until Deadpool gets a Steam sale or some such before picking it up.

The 10-year old, the most experienced gamer of the bunch, really hemmed and hawed about the score. “I think it should be a 7 because it’s fun but it’s also kind of really hard sometimes.”

An above-average movie tie-in. If it left some of the exploration and discovery up to the players instead of laying things out it would have scored higher. That said, it's still a good gaming experience.

As impressive as the stadiums and surrounding aura visuals are, the player and on-field graphical presentation is a huge disappointment.

Ultimately, its lack of real innovation and franchise recognition holds it back yet in the end it’s very worth the trip.

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

Homefront is worth checking out.

It's not a "AAA" title but it's one I can highly recommend to the under 12 age group.

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.

Jumps are a bit hard to do and some of the more advanced stunts are really a challenge.

Fun to play but it's riddled with quirks and some problems.

The game graphics are alright, certainly not as polished as other fighting games this generation and definitely not a challenger against the Soul Calibur 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.

APE is quite tactical, the control is good and it should keep fans interested, even with the fog-of-war, funnel levels, and pathfinding problems - a good RTS entry.

I give them props for trying to re-work the popular Most Wanted angle of this series, I just wish it was a bit more evolved instead of running out of gas too early.

With over 80 playable characters and a varied amount of modes, it feels like a love letter to those who love the series, and if you don't, you'll never understand what all the fuss is about.

Overall, accessible and straightforward and worth checking out if you’re a fan of either the genre or source material.

While the little kids won’t especially notice or even care about the some of the graphical quirks and choppy animation – Puss in Boots is the main culprit – any older gamers will likely be distracted but if you’re just playing the “hard” parts of the game, it’s not so bad.

Despite getting slammed harder than a flying elbow smash to the cranium with some aggravating control issues and a somewhat short single-player experience, wrestling gamers, especially TNA fans, will be able to tolerate TNA iMPACT!

Probably the best game-play design that I've seen in years; the game play is twitchy - if you're a purist you're going to have a conniption playing this.

It's a solid first-person shooter with some hours of shooting fun with at least one odd design decision.

As a light adventure outing, I can recommend Dracula: Origin if only for the puzzle elements because even though the source material is treated with a great of respect and care there's not a lot present to keep the tension up to find out what happens next.

989 Sports keeps improving their franchise each year, but unfortunately it’s too little to catch up to the competition.

The seamless and responsive control scheme found in DOA3 just cannot be found in XND.

In short, controlled bursts Odama is fun but in stretches no longer than half an hour. And for all the uniqueness and quirkiness of the title, it can't offset the fact there's more luck involved than actual skill.

When a game's so hard that playing becomes more of a chore than enjoyment and the online gameplay that could have made up for the extremely taxing single-player mode doesn't even work the way it should, not too many gamers are going to give it a fair chance unless they're a uber geek that thrives on the computer-related features of TRON 2.0 Killer App.

As something to mess around with for no money down, World of Warplanes offers a wonderful arcade flying experience even if the richness of the gameplay modes is about ankle deep.

Misses the mark slightly by adding a couple of things that don't work quite as well they could have.

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

Its presentation and slick detail are a credit to the developers, but the often laborious pace will put off those seeking more intensity in their RTS offerings.

A deceptive "kiddie" game that brought back frightening memories of the mental anguish I battled after losing race after race to a 16-year old Japanese school girl while playing "Mario Kart 64."

Play it for a few hours, play it with your friends, after that, go to sleep and dream of SSX 5.

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

With save points laid at logical points throughout, there’s little chance you’ll be frustrated with some of the more difficult puzzles or encounters in Rival Swords, making it a great entry point for newcomers to the series – even if the story will likely seem convoluted.

Taking flight for the seemingly last time, Spyro gets regrettably grounded by some debilitating gameplay features, most notably the camera that will have gamers madly spewing fire and brimstone.