It takes a lot of patience, curiosity and dedication to the A Song of Ice and Fire universe to get over all the problems that undermine the game and enjoy its only quality: the story. Perhaps some fans will feel it's worth the effort, but most RPG gamers will want to skip this disappointing tie-in.

Similarly to Civilization V, combat elements are the most evolved and those of you who favored that particular battle system will get right down to business, helped a lot by the map's visual familiarity. The positioning of units on hexagons allows for attacks from multiple directions and, just like in the eternal source of inspiration, in the lower left you get an approximate report of a fight together with any bonuses given by unit type or terrain type.

Binary Domain took inspiration from many places, but didn't manage to gather those ideas into a shell that goes beyond a decent coherence; the story is ridiculously clichéd, the dialogues are passable at best and the Trust and voice systems aren't exploited enough to really matter. Just the boss fights are somewhat fun, but ultimately it depends if you have enough patience to face the tons of (s)crap just for the thrill of taking down such huge metallic monsters.

Actually, Bugbear missed pretty much all its marks: destroying opponents isn't as fun as the Burnout takedowns; ruining the city has nothing of the adrenaline and the real danger and satisfaction from Split/Second; drifting is one more stress factor and the decision to dominate races is motivated by the points and not by the thrill of the competition. So while this mix is theoretically perfect, in reality it's just not good enough for you to spend too much time in Shutter Bay.

So after going through John Yesterday's amnesiac adventures three times in the row, the game is a journey with which I really want to be indulgent, although mediocrity follows it every step of the way. It's not a complete mess, but everything it does has already been done by others and much better.

It's too short, too small in many ways and way too conventional in a market oversaturated with AAA alternatives. Alternatives which last longer and offer competitive modes, not just a few dozen hours of co-op runs in which you can't point anything out to your teammates unless everyone has a microphone for the game's VoIP.

So in the post-Call of Duty/Battlefield/Team Fortress 2 world of today, Nuclear Dawn will not have an easy time finding a safe place, not only because of the risk it has taken as a genre combination, but mainly because of the work that the FPS side still needs.

War in the North is a hack and slash with some RPG elements and co-op, all assembled around one of the most beloved media licenses today, but with all this going for it, it simply doesn't manage to stand out. Sadly, it's just another product that tries to blend some popular elements, but with no true support or personal identity.

Overall, Disciples III: Resurrection is an expansion that features plenty of turn-based gaming hours, but these come bundled with technical issues and a couple of design choices that get more and more annoying as you progress through the campaign.

The Run bragged about revolutionizing the NFS series with an enticing story and memorable gameplay. Unfortunately, the story was better off missing in action and the only things that are memorable from the gameplay are its shortcoming: no freedom of choice, no Free Roaming, no Replay, no cockpit camera, no choice of races in multiplayer.

Unfortunately, The Cartel was rushed to the market with at least 6 months in production. If it stayed in development for at least a while longer, it could've used to the maximum potential the cooperative campaign offered and all the interesting competitive elements. But the way it is now, it only misses the mark on all the design elements that could have ensured it a good place in the genre.

Fable III proves to be a pretty unstable mix, with good visual value, but an excessive simplification of the gameplay. You might get to finish it once and then go on with any remaining secondary missions. Still, there's no life after that; the fights are boring, enemies stupid and the story too thin.

Out of respect for Stardock, I will stop here, because it's hard for me to imagine how a decent developer has allowed such a product to be released in this state, with little connection to the term of entertainment.

But on the other hand, Blood Stone doesn't rise up to its price tag unless you're so into James Bond you're wearing George Lazenby boxers.

ArcaniA is functional, it looks good, but it offers nothing special in its 20 or so hours. And if this is the bright future of the series, I can already say "May it rest in peace".

So if psychotic thriller shooters aren't your kind of game, Kane & Lynch 2 will not make it on your shopping list. For the rest of you out there, it offers too few hours of fun, so the price/quality balance might not be that attractive until you find a sale.

As it stands, NFS World is just a sum of repetitive elements gathered in a body pretending to be a game.

In the end, Disciples III it worth a try, but I can't just say "go and play". It's full of technical flaws, some of them affecting the gameplay quite a lot.

With a price tag of 11 Euros and some spare change, Alien Breed: Impact should have been a pretty easy to recommend title, but the recent release of the free remake of Alien Swarm has further thrown a wrench in the works, besides the above-mentioned issues.

As a spin-off for a legendary series, Tiberian Twilight would have been an interesting experiment. But as the final chapter of a saga that’s been waiting for its epic conclusion for 15 years, it’s a slap on the face which I’m not sure how many fans will be willing to forgive.

Ultimately, I was impressed by the length and complexity of Ego Draconis, and also by the stubbornness with which the producers wanted to present a high quality title. Indeed, if the game would have been bug-free, had a better voice acting and a more polished interface, it could have been a serious thorn in the back of Dragon Age: Origins.

Surely the strategists among you will be pleased with the new content, but those who expected more from this expansion have every reason to be unsatisfied.

As it stands, Champions Online is not meant for the elitist MMO player, who craves for a lot of sudden changes of situation and coherent universes, but rather for your everyday consumer, who can escape work in the gross quantity of perks (read Achievements), in the mini-series heroes (read Vanity Pets) and in the overall lack of sense. And that, of course, only if their personal computer can handle it. And only if the producers will put a lot of effort into keeping up with the (still) growing community.

It’s unlikely that we’ll see another Bionic Commando in the near feature, as GRIN closed down soon after the launch of the game and the title’s poor performance itself clearly contributed to their inevitable financial problems, so it’s now up to other studios to see the potential behind Spencer’s story.

A title without any kind of charm, released only to get a few more bucks from Terminator fans. Stay away from it and better look for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. At least the latter showed us that there are indeed exceptions to the rule.

Battlestations: Pacific is a “light” title in all respects, but if you enjoy air and sea battles and would like an eye-candy icing, you will be fully satisfied. There is little else than that, however, and while the Island Capture mode does offer some interesting strategic features, I wouldn’t really recommend the campaigns, unless you enjoy being a simple crosshair on the screen.

Yet even if it can’t be acknowledged as one of the best games in the genre, Velvet Assassin does its job decently. Barring some obvious flaws, it’s a good weekend title. Just have some patience in the beginning, so you can accommodate with the gameplay style.

It looks well, it moves well, the sound is good, but there are edges to be polished before it can become a serious online phenomenon.