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.

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.

Anyway, even with its flaws, The Wise Monkey offers some good old-fashioned adventure game entertainment and promises more to come. Fortunately for us, the Cognition series' compelling heroine and an even more compelling story arc do two important things: make it possible to overlook the game's graphics, dialog and puzzle design hiccups and ensures that I for one, will see it through to the end.

Aliens: Colonial Marines certainly offers a wealth of reverence of the movie it's aping, but the efforts by TimeGate and Gearbox Software seem misguided and tone-deaf - and that's not even considering the wooden gunplay, often-broken cutscenes and terrible AI.

Skyrim was such a wonderful game, and it was disappointing to see something as half-baked as Dawnguard serve as the only example of what Bethesda could offer for post-release support for this game. Dragonborn, however, is truly worthy of the Elder Scrolls name - even if it doesn't have characters casually pulling actual Elder Scrolls out of their back pockets and buying or selling them for a few thousand gold - as it adds the kind of large, epic feel you should be experiencing when playing an open-world RPG.

Nostalgia aside, Sonic Transformed as a kart racing game is a blast to play and it comes highly recommended, especially at the reasonable Steam price of $30 (or $80 for a four-pack).

This PC version is better than some straight-over ports I've seen this generation, but it certainly could have benefited from a little more time spent on PC-only features.

Alexander Bruce's biggest achievement with Antichamber is that he created a game that's brilliant and inviting, something that can rarely be said for a game made entirely of difficult puzzles where what you see isn't always what you get and where the room you're standing in can change at any moment.

As the Outcasts go, however, you're not really missing much if you just leave them behind.

Any fan of the genre owes it to themselves to give Ni no Kuni a try, but I won't go so far as to guarantee that you'll love this game even if you've hated past JRPGs.

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.

Earth Defense Force 2017 is not really a good looking game, nor is its sound anything to hold in high regard, but it gets a lot of its gameplay right, and somehow this quirky title always seems to show up at just the right time on a system to let us know that yes, loot-heavy action RPGs are still a total blast to play - even if other publishers out there haven't bothered to fulfill our wishes for more of them.

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.

There are some nice nuances and a couple of "neutral"-type choices that can be made, but overall I'm not impressed with any of the possible end results, not when this DLC costs a rather princely sum of $15.

All of the Infinity Engine games are brilliant pieces of work that still stand out from the RPG pack more than a decade after their release dates, and here Overhaul Games made a perfectly competent "port" of the game that started it all. But it costs twenty bucks, and that's too much when you can get the original version with the same Tales of the Sword Coast expansion pack over at GOG for half the price - even less when it goes on sale - and a few minutes of installing mods gets you to nearly the same point.

Far Cry 3 gets so many things right about why we play first person shooters, that I really am having a hard time knocking it too much for the few things it gets wrong.

It still needs some work, but I'm very impressed with the end result. If you've got a powerful PC and a desire to bring some real tactics and organization to your team-based FPS fighting, then this game is a must-try. And with no material cost to get started, all you have to lose is the time it takes to download, patch, and give it a shot.

For a first effort and a brand-new IP, Phoenix Online Studios has done an admirable job. Although in places Cognition's graphics are little rough and the writing's a little unnatural, it offers us an adult-level adventure game full of interesting mechanics, a professional voice cast, great music and a compelling heroine. After playing the first Erica Reed episode, I have no doubt there will be future ones and no doubt that through them, Phoenix Online will iron out the remaining kinks and create for us a truly memorable adventure series.

Still, as flawed and frustrating as this game can be, Ubisoft has brought us one of the most ambitious, entertaining, and expertly-built games of 2012. Assassin's Creed 3 is overbearing and sometimes just a little too much to handle, but after you play it, you'll see why it's worth all the trouble.

Hitman: Absolution's insistence on putting Agent 47 on the run can often get in the way of what made the series so fun in the past, and the lack of a manual save system undermines the kind of goofing around and experimentation that made past games so enjoyable.

Those looking for a stroll, a punch, and a bow down memory lane will enjoy the many throwbacks to the original, but even those gamers will likely come away at least a little disappointed.

For those who love Halo and mostly play online, all I can say is that you should pick up Halo 4 as soon as possible, because it's got everything that makes this series' online play so entertaining. For the rest, I wouldn't worry about rushing out to pick it up on release day, but do check it out when it's convenient.

In the end, Painkiller HD is only a half-measure, and it doesn't do everything it could have to modernize the classic fast-paced action of the original. It's worth the twenty bucks if the overhaul you want is visual, but otherwise, it's best to pass.

The franchise is most definitely at its most complete here in '13, with a massive roster, a focus on a golden age of wrestling, and lots of visual and functional tweaks to rein in the franchise's ambition and instead start making the many modes and options a little more polished.

If real-world handling and precision aren't remotely your concern, then Most Wanted should be your game of choice. And if you want realism and would rather stay on the PC, consider a more serious racing games like Project CARS, iRacing, or even last year's SHIFT 2 Unleashed.

I feel that Danger Close is a talented, dedicated and well-meaning studio and I do hope they can stay together and make more games, but at this point, I think it's probably a good idea that EA helps them come up with a new IP or new style of game. This current revival of Medal of Honor just isn't working out.

Other than a couple of minor issues and unavoidable things you'll have to get used to when doing competitive gaming on the Vita, SFxT really is a fun and fair game that's plenty fast, but not so frantic or silly that you get lost with a half-dozen characters flying around on-screen.

Hotline Miami is difficult and violent, but it's not aggravating when you lose, and it's very rewarding when you win.