While I'm mildly disappointed in the linear and rather limited single player mode here in Soul Calibur V, the simple fact that Namco caught up to Capcom's feature sets in the online department is a pretty big deal. I'm far from a pro player, but I do think that SCV offers fast, offense-oriented action without the ridiculously frenetic pace and utter chaos of the Marvel vs. Capcom series.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is just as good as the original game, and its two main characters do a great job of keeping you interested even when the action falters.

The game might not be worth the purchase for those that aren't terribly interested in first-person melee combat, but for anyone that's looking for that - or at the very least an imaginative, slightly crazy game world to beat people up in - then this is a fine choice to make.

Shadows is certainly not for everyone. Still, it's far more accessible and appealing to the mainstream than Grasshopper's last few games, while remaining super-satisfying for their faithful following.

Despite the game's problems, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat is still fun if you play online and don't need any real depth in your first person shooters.

Supreme Commander 2 is the best game GPG has released in the last couple of years, but for us fans of Chris Taylor's best releases, it's just not quite enough.

With that said, though, Lumines Live is still a fun game. It has something none of the other versions will have in the expandability. However, the wrong direction has been taken by forcing you to “buy” the extra modes.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 builds on its predecessor with new characters, challenging gameplay, plenty of new items, and the workshop system.

The single-player game is fun but manages to end sooner than it should with no possibility for player created campaigns (yet). Multiplayer is also lacking – a play-by-email system would have been a huge help to the game.

The gameplay is addictive as ever and the Indy makeover oozes with style.

With a lack of multiplayer modes or any decent replay value, Black falls flat.

While Stranglehold doesn't revolutionize action games, or even any one part of action games, it's a solid game with an authentic cinematic style, great use of Chow Yun-Fat, excellent action, and destructible environments.

As mutliplayer shooters go, it's hard to go wrong with Section 8: Prejudice, and while this game still won't live up to the Tribes name - turns out that there's nothing out there that can do that just yet - you'll still find a damn fine online shooter with plenty of depth, all in a low-cost package.

Quantum Conundrum won't live on in memes and in gaming history quite like that, but if you're in the mood for a solid, entertaining puzzle-action romp, it's hard to go wrong with this game.

If you are in the need to go into a game and slaughter creatures in a mindless fashion, then Doom II is definitely for you. Do not expect top of the line graphics or high quality music, but you can expect a lot of killing and being killed as you play your way through the slaughterhouse called Doom II again.

Metro 2033 lacks some of the polish we're used to seeing in AAA FPS efforts such as Modern Warfare 2. However, considering it pretty much came out of nowhere, it stands as a decent first effort in what I hope will be a continuing franchise.

The Godfather has a few real strengths: the movie scene tie-ins, the overall 40s mob atmosphere, and the whole mechanic of extorting businesses to work with the Corleone family all make this game unique and much more than just a GTA clone.

The Cognition series is nothing if not consistent. Thus far, all three chapters have delivered bizarre-looking characters and laughable dialog, but more importantly, they've delivered seductively gruesome murder cases and an impressively comprehensive story arc.

It's hard to believe, but by doing something as simple as giving players something specific to work toward, Maxis has taken gameplay that had become as stale as three day old pumpernickel and made it surprisingly fresh.

Overall, MLB 07 is one of, if not the best, baseball games ever made.

For $20, you get some fun minigames to play that will track your progress along with 100 Sudoku puzzles.

With clever puzzle design, inspired graphics and laugh-out-loud dialog, it's head-and-shoulders above the majority of adventure titles and is a shoe-in for any adventure fan's list of most-loved games.

Developer High Moon Studios have done a great job with Transformers: War for Cybertron. It's not just about finally making a game worthy of the franchise, but it's about capturing the fun of the show, from back when we were kids, in a way that the recent movie-based games could never really hope to do.

Even if there aren't any kids in your household, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up if you've got a Wii.

As well-built as Singularity is, it does follow a lot of the hallmarks of your standard six-to-eight-hour FPS, which may feel just a little too familiar for today's jaded gamer.

This is a purely arcade racer, and its sense of speed isn't nearly as good as, say, Burnout Revenge. Car crashes themselves are fun, but not nearly as satisfying as a destruction-oriented racing game should be.

Star Wars: Battlefront may sound like a bad idea, but Pandemic and LucasArts have delivered a polished experience with some seriously fun action, the opportunity for real strategy during the battles, and a new take on the Star Wars gaming experience overall.

Shadows is certainly not for everyone. Still, it's far more accessible and appealing to the mainstream than Grasshopper's last few games, while remaining super-satisfying for their faithful following.

For those who are jonesing for some classic Ryu-Ken action, I've got to say that overall I think that past ports of similar Street Fighter titles on the Xbox and PS2 were better overall, but few of those have online play, and there probably aren't any players left in those versions' online modes anyway.

Frankly, Band Hero could have easily been called Guitar Hero 5 Part 2 and no one would have cared.

It comes off less as a product made of art and design and gameplay and excitement, and more like an entry on a balance sheet, a simple fulfillment of a contract, or a footnote on an investor conference call. I know that both EA and Crytek can do better, and I hope that's their plan for their next project.

There's nothing really wrong with DOA5 and it's certainly an improvement over its predecessors, but I was expecting more from the first Dead or Alive game to come out in nearly seven years.

If you’ve played those other titles, you’ll feel right at home in the Dark Knight’s plastic paved Gotham. And, if you’ve enjoyed those titles, and are looking for more of the same but with a Batman facelift, you may find this the best Lego entry yet.

Whether you began busting up baddies as Ratchet on the PS2, or this is your first go-round with the lovable Lombax, you'll find QfB is one of the best titles to ever trek down the PSN path.

Treyarch did more than an admirable job porting last year's Call of Duty: World at War to the Wii, and with REFLEX they build on that success

Even though it is more of an enhancement to Darwinia than a new game, Multiwinia is a worthwhile purchase if you enjoyed Darwinia and were left wanting more with the same theme.

Sure, there was a new minigame added (a variant on last year’s pitching minigame) but that doesn’t keep this from feeling like I’m playing pretty much the same game that I did last year.

I can recommend that you pick up The Missing Link if you really, really want to spend more time with Adam Jensen, but know that it's not a particularly good DLC add-on - especially for fifteen bucks.

Bizarre Creations has done something unique here in trying to get you to actually play through the levels of their shooter multiple times and keep having fun doing it.

For its budget price, it won't work if you're looking for great graphics or a lot of all-out action, but once you get into the game's wacky style of play I think you'll find it's wonderful and very satisfying.

Even if you're not a huge comic book or Spider-Man fan, you could do a hell of a lot worse than to grab Shattered Dimensions and play through it before the "real" fall season of game releases starts.

Simply put, while Rivals can be fun with the right people and in the right doses on the right platforms, it is very poorly suited to PC gaming.

Simple as it is, Age of Booty is a great way for all kinds of gamers to learn the basics of RTS gameplay.

The controls work – and with my experience on the PSP that’s saying a lot! The UI is simple and clean. And it’s fun. What more can you ask for?

The game does a great job of showing off what the system is about and showcasing the system’s abilities.

Space Marine gets off to a sluggish start and it never really reaches the lofty heights that long-time fans of the tabletop games probably hoped for, but Relic has still done an admirable job in making their first AAA-level action game - and the online play is a definite fun distraction if not entirely unique or long-lasting.

If you really need to play a demo first then by all means wait it out, but if you're still on the fence, I think most gamers will find Demigod to be a blast - especially when more multiplayer issues are ironed out over the next week or two.

Alley of the Dolls represents a still-funny but less creative chapter in the series that for some will feel more like a stepping-stone to the finale than a worthwhile chapter in itself.

Old school fans and new tomb raiders alike should find lots to love in Lara's latest (and best in years) adventure.

If you're into the idea of experimental "games" pushing the boundaries of the medium, you might like Dear Esther, but if you're looking for a detailed story of Event A causing Event B which then naturally led to Event C, then this is not for you.

Hammerlock is a decent DLC pack, but with Gearbox farming out some of this work, I'm hoping that means they've got something bigger and even more interesting in the works for post-releaseBL2 support.

Even if you dislike the poker, this game is probably still worth it just for the general humor you'll get, and it helps that Telltale can keep nearly anyone laughing and coming back repeatedly.

This game could have been much better with a more rounded out story and a little polish, but what we get here is a good amount of raw fun and plenty of survival-horror nostalgia.

While certain parts of the game are tremendous fun, Overlord II fails to represent a significant improvement over the first game as lack of player guidance, control issues, collision problems and poor camera control conspire to kill the fun.

In essence, what the game may lack in exposition or narrative complexity it makes up for in nostalgic capital, a refined weapons system and a classic Resident Evil feel

While the original F.E.A.R. mostly set its gunfights amidst boring office buildings and warehouses, this third game has done a much better job of giving us a wider range of environments to fight in, with at least less of a jarring difference in tone whenever it becomes obvious a horror bit is about to start.

For its time, it's not the best one (I'll leave that honor to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 back from 2000), but it's still a lot of fun - as long as pro players don't mind how easy it'll be for them, nor if the newbies don't mind how hard it is for them.

While the first game offered a frustrating gaming experience that frankly defeated many gamers, DII has solved all of the previous reasons for criticism, providing a true horror gaming experience unmarred by mechanical flubs.

There are a lot of interesting things about Dante's Inferno. Unfortunately, these positive elements are somewhat undermined by a sketchy camera, an unintuitive right thumbstick control, an excess of unnecessary falling deaths, a series of frustrating timed puzzles, and a default difficulty level that's higher than it probably should be.

I really had hope for Medal of Honor and I was excited at the prospect of Call of Duty getting some competition, but I think we'll have to wait for the ex-Infinity Ward guys to be the ones to do it. Simply put, Medal of Honor is kind of a mess, and the whole is worth less than the sum of its component pieces.

For anyone who is looking for an old-school action FPS experience with solid production values and lots of explosions, this is your game.

WWE All Stars may not be the modern-day hardcore fan's dream game, but it comes pretty close to accomplishing that for casual and ex-fans, especially those who watched the Hulk and The Ultimate Warrior take each other on two decades ago.

Still, this is a damn fun title if you're interested in a deep action-RPG, especially if you expected very little after the wildly strange, often severely disappointing first game. And if you can get past the rough parts, it's exciting and addictive in all the ways you probably expect out of a good European RPG.

WWE All Stars may not be the modern-day hardcore fan's dream game, but it comes pretty close to accomplishing that for casual and ex-fans, especially those who watched the Hulk and The Ultimate Warrior take each other on two decades ago.

It has great art, fun game play, a good story and it's a dream game for you collection junkies out there. It just goes to show; sometimes it pays to think small.

Not many games in this genre are released with a $20 price tag, so some gamers out there might not really know how to deal with a game that is a little light on the content but much lighter on the price.

If you're looking to blow up city blocks with a rocket launcher, Mafia II may not be your cup of cappuccino. However, if, like me, you're hoping HBO's upcoming Boardwalk Empire fills the gaping Soprano-less void in your life, Mafia II's ready to fit you for a nice pair of cement shoes.

Wolfpack's idea of a MMORPG is unique and wonderful, and in some areas they delivered perfectly; in others, the delivery was a big letdown.

If you’ve finally caught up on all the holiday’s big titles, and are looking to blow some MS Points, The Maw is the way to go.

Ultimately, BattleForge isn't the embodiment of the next-gen RTS but it's a beautiful, flawed step in that direction.

While it isn’t the best launch game on the system, it definitely does a good job of showing off what the Wii is about – using a unique control scheme to make a game that couldn’t really be made elsewhere.

There are a ton of new features as well as dozens of little changes that tweak the formula further and get that much closer to perfecting everything the SvR series has tried to do over the years.

River City Ransom EX is a hilarious, complex beat-em-up with a ton of options and plenty of options for fun combat.

Frontlines probably won't win any big awards and might even be forgotten by summer, but until then you can get in a lot of great matches with dozens of people together at once.

Sure, Kung Fu Panda won't be much to those hardcore gamers who have been dicing people up in the Ninja Gaiden series or wound up finishing Assassin's Creed for the story, but for kids this one's pretty solid.

I was skeptical about why I'd really want to play anything like a PS2-era action platformer here in 2013, but spending even just half an hour in this game made me a believer, and there's much, much more fun to be had beyond that. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time may not innovate in bringing the genre forward, but there's still a ton of merit in bringing to market a polished, charming game with colorful graphics and inventive characters and levels.

The Next Big Thing is a prime example of what a graphic adventure should be. It's got it all: an entertaining story, great writing, creative but logical puzzles, good voice acting and music, beautiful artwork and a killer sense of humor.

Hector Badge of Carnage: We Negotiate With Terrorists is a great little adventure that's often shocking, frequently offensive and always hilarious. Despite (or perhaps because of) its gross out moments and unabashedly low-brow humor, it's one of the most entertaining, unique adventure games most of us have seen in longer than we'd like to remember.

I'd definitely recommend that you play Super Princess Peach. You're very likely to enjoy it if you are a fan of sidescrollers.

Even with its technical and gameplay-related issues, Just Cause's unrealistic, arcade feel still winds up being loads of fun once you start getting creative with the game's stunt system and fiddling with some of the more hilarious options.

Beat-em-up fans would do well to try Double Dragon Advance, a well-made and greatly enhanced port of the arcade classic.

The gameplay's neither terribly exciting nor really unique in the world of action games, and what uniqueness we get from the setting is about all it really has (other than the core story which happens to be pretty damn good).

For fans of the hit movie trilogy, Back to the Future: It's About Time is exactly what we were hoping for.

Still, Sam nails exactly what it's aiming to do, which is to throw scores of enemies at you in some of the most frantic firefights you'll ever experience.

I really had hope for Medal of Honor and I was excited at the prospect of Call of Duty getting some competition, but I think we'll have to wait for the ex-Infinity Ward guys to be the ones to do it. Simply put, Medal of Honor is kind of a mess, and the whole is worth less than the sum of its component pieces.

Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is a polished and entertaining action adventure.

Even if you're not a huge comic book or Spider-Man fan, you could do a hell of a lot worse than to grab Shattered Dimensions and play through it before the "real" fall season of game releases starts.

Even though there are a few infuriating missions and some out-of-place voice acting, it feels fairly genuine and is a high quality, unique addition to your shooter collection.

If you found great fun and challenge in past Super Monkey Ball games, then Banana Blitz will certainly keep you going for a while with its new set of puzzles and tons of stuff to do on the side.

I'll probably be able to get to the end-game a little quicker this time now that I know how to play, but suffice it to say that if you can get into its brand of action and strategy, SPAZ is easily worth the $15 that MinMax Games are charging.

Despite the lack of authentic Disney music and the lack of any sort of online play, Meteos: Disney Magic is a worthy pickup for anyone that is looking for a new puzzler, both Disney fan and non-fan alike.

In all, I can say that I enjoyed Big Brain Academy and feel it is a wonderful addition to the Brain Age-style games. Nintendo has really hit on a different market than the traditional gamers.

It's got functional online play and an interesting way to go about delivering a career's worth of single player races, but when it comes down to it, the racing gets old fast.

There are a ton of new features as well as dozens of little changes that tweak the formula further and get that much closer to perfecting everything the SvR series has tried to do over the years.

The game's a blast just like it was on the home consoles, and while the graphics will make you think you have glaucoma and other parts had to be removed to get everything else to fit, it's an acceptable trade-off to be able to sink in an arm-in guillotine choke on Brock Lesnar when you're waiting for your special ladyfriend at the grocery store.

While there's definitely fun to be had in the new game, everything—the story, the environments, the level design, the enemies—feels recycled. Ultimately, even though the new Wolfie is polished, professionally done and has some interesting new elements, it fails to deliver any surprises.

To ask so much of gamers here in 2012, especially when there's such great competition out there, means that they should be delivering a game that's exciting to play, easy to get into, deep when people get to the endgame, and well-rounded in nearly all aspects - and I can't say that they've done that. This game is damn good in concept but it falters in the execution.

I really don't understand why so much effort went into making Gran Turismo such a fantastic racer while you're behind the wheel, but so little went into extending that experience when you're not.