While Mortal Kombat may not completely overwhelm you with features, it does offer more replayability than recent offerings from other fighting game developers - Capcom included. This game may not quite have tournament-level gameplay depth and that's mostly due to some minor issues with hit detection and the combo system, but this is still the most polished and pro-gamer-worthy MK we've seen in the last decade.

With this sequel, Valve has ramped up the brain-cramping puzzle elements and expanded the cast with immensely lovable characters, and they did it just enough to make sure the whole thing feels fresh and interesting for the longer campaign.

SHIFT 2 isn't quite to the level of the big boys yet, but it's still very much worth your time.

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.

It essentially puts a PS3/360 game in the palm of our hands.

I don't think that this DLC's partial failure is necessarily a bad sign for the third game, but it seems clear that all the new ideas and original content are going into ME3 rather than something like "Arrival".

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.

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.

These are very difficult games to make, almost to the point that calling any freshly-launched MMO "not an instant failure" has become high praise. So, on that note, I can confidently say that RIFT is not an instant failure, and that's already a huge head start over many of the MMOs that came before it.

It doesn't give hardcore PC gamers every little feature they want, and that might be enough to sink the game entirely in many people's eyes, but Crysis 2 is still one of the biggest and most ambitious PC shooter releases in quite a while and it should prove to be well worth the purchase for most.

I'll say it right now: if you're considering buying Homefront today, it needs to be for the multiplayer. The campaign should only serve as a small distraction that you might want to goof around in if you're bored and have already gotten your money's worth out of the multiplayer.

I'll say it right now: if you're considering buying Homefront today, it needs to be for the multiplayer. The campaign should only serve as a small distraction that you might want to goof around in if you're bored and have already gotten your money's worth out of the multiplayer.

I'll say it right now: if you're considering buying Homefront today, it needs to be for the multiplayer. The campaign should only serve as a small distraction that you might want to goof around in if you're bored and have already gotten your money's worth out of the multiplayer.

Dragon Age II is a fine RPG, but it lacks the kind of lofty ambition that has made BioWare famous. All I can hope for is that a good two or three years is spent on the next game, and that it comes out swinging with a much more hard-hitting story.

Fight Night Champion may be the best boxing game I've played, but with competition from all sides in this rekindled fighting genre, this franchise is starting to look and feel a little like the sport it represents: increasingly outdated and out of style.

More than any previous Double Fine title, Stacking, with its flawless art direction, unusual gameplay and affecting soundtrack is a one-of-a-kind adventure that story lovers and creative thinkers won't want to miss.

It's still a wonderful, hugely fun game, because the fan service and foundation of its 3-on-3 fighting action is very sound.

It's still a wonderful, hugely fun game, because the fan service and foundation of its 3-on-3 fighting action is very sound.

Body and Brain Connection is an ambitious idea and definitely fills a niche for Xbox Kinect.

Rearmed 2 is far from a bad game and it can be a decent value at $15, but it never really excels past the standard set by its predecessor.

Dead Space 2 is a solid game and in many ways an improvement over the first Dead Space. The problem is, having traded up from small scale survival horror to full-blown action blockbuster, the game and the franchise, lose something.

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.

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.

Mass Effect 2 is one of the best games made in recent years, but it's at least partially because it was built on top of a solid foundation two years before, and this new target audience only gets to scratch the surface of that foundation before being thrust into a war with the Collectors.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is the epitome of what a good spinoff title should be. While fictionally unrelated to the Ace Attorney games, it borrows heavily from the best aspects of that series while adding enough new game mechanics to make for a completely fresh gaming experience.

Microbot is one of the most creative "space" shooters seen in a while.

It'll probably be years again before Polyphony Digital delivers another Gran Turismo, but I think it's pretty clear what they need to work on: treat all the cars with equal love, give players more options to fine-tune the AI, make driving something to be enjoyed rather than endured, improve all aspects of the online functionality, and re-prioritize all those features into something more focused on fun than a back-of-the-box list.

It's a solid add-on, especially if you don't care for the engineer and would just rather have solid FPS gunplay over the high-tech gadgets. It's not perfect, but the launch did go smoothly and it's a blast to play.