There's nothing really like Forza Horizon out there right now, as the wide-open world to explore and solid handling of the Forza franchise come together beautifully. Yes, Playground and Turn 10 had to compromise on what feels like a rather hefty list of features and selling points in order to make Horizon a reality on Xbox 360, but the relatively few new things this game includes add up to a massive impact on how it's played and enjoyed.

Does Firaxis' re-imagined XCOM perfectly bring back the tactics and excitement of the MicroProse original? Not exactly, but they've still made an excellent tactical game that works just as well on all three platforms.

Pure FPS fans may not be too excited and there are a few minor problems, but this is a rare gem that anyone looking for a more cerebral action game should be paying serious attention to. And by "paying serious attention", I mean that you should buy it.

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.

The ten bucks it costs to get into Faster Than Light won't be money well spent for every gamer out there, but if you are looking for a challenging roguelike strategy game with some intriguing ship management and light RPG systems built into it, then you owe it to yourself to check out this game.

If you've had issues in the past with the balance in Battlefield 3's larger, more open maps, I don't expect that anything added in Armored Kill will solve anything for you. But if you were happy with it and still play BF3 to this day, then just suck it up and get Premium, because DICE is delivering some great action with these addons, and the new unlocks, vehicles, and weapons included in each of their DLC packs means these are a lot more than just map packs, like you might be getting used to with military-themed FPS games now. Armored Kill doesn't try to vastly expand the scope of Battlefield 3, but it does add more of the exact kind of action that other shooters out there are incapable of giving us.

The world's bigger and badder, the visuals are more impressive, the best characters return alongside plenty of great new ones, and the endless search for new loot proves to be even more addictive than before. Borderlands 2 on PC is just plain awesome and will definitely be one of my candidates for Game of the Year.

I'd love to tell you that Namco has breathed a ton of new life into this ailing franchise with TTT2, but it's just not really the case. It's still a fantastic fighting game that will sell plenty of copies to the series' fans, but it's not a fantastic choice to start with if you're looking to get into fighting games.

There are still many annoying or silly things we've seen in the last decade-plus worth of MMOs that Guild Wars 2 didn't fix, but ArenaNet's efforts so far have delivered a huge range of disruptive changes that should pique the interest of any dedicated player.

If I was just reviewing Journey itself, I'd give it a 10 out of 10, but I'm reviewing this whole package, priced at twice the cost of the PSN version of the game that's in big letters on the box cover. If you've already played thatgamecompany's previous two games, then this isn't the best value.

It seems doubtful that this port of an already inhospitable game will make many new fans, especially with the kind of treatment it got in the conversion to PC, but there will be some that will swear by it as one of the best games made in a very long time. If you think there's any chance at all that you'll be one of those people, then you owe it to yourself to drop the cash and find out.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron won't likely garner many Game of the Year awards since it just slightly misses the mark on a few key points, but what it does bring is some serious passion for a great property. What's important this time around is that Activision allowed High Moon to see that through with a big budget and the time needed to polish things up.

Square Enix and United Front Games pulled Sleeping Dogs from the brink of death, and what surprised me is just how good it turned out to be.

Better than its predecessor in pretty much every way: it's slick, polished, smart, beautiful, and most importantly, fun to play, giving you plenty of freedom and adventure with exciting combat and some excellent art and music to go along with the solid voice acting and interesting plot.

Is Dawnguard worth your money? Yes because it's more Skyrim, no because it's really only that: a bit more Skyrim. For twenty bucks, I was expecting more.

Orcs Must Die! 2 is a wonderful combination of action and strategy, all wrapped up nicely with a whimsical art style and slightly silly attitude.

In summation, riding wolves. Huge, awesome guns. Shoot stuff and marvel at just how much Intrusion 2 makes Adobe Flash, arguably the worst gaming platform in the world, actually look good. The one major complaint I have is that the game is fairly steep at ten bucks with a rather short playtime.

So the classics have been resurrected in one nice package, and while it's not a total home run, it'll scratch that itch you might've been feeling for something - anything - like the original Tony Hawk games.

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.

Pick it up if you're a serious Japanese action fan, but if not, then at least wait until it's on sale.

The combination of free-roaming Manhattan to smoothly swing through, a serviceable (but not wonderful) sequel-to-the-movie plot, and some solid stealth and action to fill out the experience is what makes The Amazing Spider-Man a winner.

Maybe the next Bellator game can be a full-featured MMA simulation experience, but this first title is just not going to work.

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.

The important part here is that Sins of a Solar Empire still delivers a very unique kind of strategy game, and Rebellion doesn't screw with that; instead, it makes that base game substantially smoother and more interesting.

Max Payne 3 contains a lot of wonderful, pretty moments and there is often a good chunk of substance there, but a few relatively small mistakes and technical issues have dragged it down a bit

It's got decent motion controls that give you a unique handle on the action, and while the cartoonish nature and linear structure won't put this game anywhere near the likes of Skyrim (or even Fable) on the RPG halls of fame, PS Move owners have plenty of reasons to go ahead and give Sorcery a go.

With key changes to its art style, technology, gameplay, skills, and classes, Diablo III has revitalized the isometric action-RPG and made this classic genre fresh and cool all over again.

Those who see past the blocky graphics to bring out the fun of Minecraft, especially with their friends, will find that this game is well worth the money.