If the release would have been delayed a couple of months (the time required to fix the large number of bugs (some of them being very bad), Underworld could have been labeled as a fruitful combination of Legend and Anniversary. But the impression of an unfinished product also reflects in reduced replay value, puzzle simplicity and insufficient use of the level design. And some options, like (at least partial) camera control, are yet to be seen.

So Left 4 Dead is basically the „Royale with Cheese” of this year’s multiplayer shooters. Just that the french fries next to it aren’t covered in mayo, but blood.

And although I hate to admit that the replay value is reduced because of a precarious balance between characters and also due to the multiplayer options, which aren’t too varied, I can recommend this game to any fan of the series and also to those who only wish to relax with a title worthy of being called Mortal Kombat.

Wrath of the Lich King is a casual MMORPG. It’s a vast game, in which you can still easily get to see all content playing 8 hours a week, slipped in here and there, because of the low difficulty and free structure.

The AI is pretty dumb, the pathfinding is indirectly and randomly reliant on the cursor’s direction, and there are some pretty ridiculous situations in which a “highly” intelligent person would think of “real sex”, but it’s at the same time the game is extraordinary through its “heart-pounding” addictiveness and the fact that it made me laugh out loud a few times.

Mirror's Edge is a game with an innovative approach, but unfortunately it is rough around the edges, and with a little more work on it would have been an amazing title.

World at War is a remarkable Call of Duty title, once again, but it’s clear that more could have been done on the multiplayer side. Unlike the rest of the games in the series, Treyarch studios can’t pride themselves with this latter aspect, which has always ensured the series’ longevity.

Is it worth buying? Definitely. Is it better than the first? That’s debatable.

Thanks to the good implementation of voice commands, EndWar manages to tackle one of the most problematic aspects of strategy games on consoles and enter the club of good games.

Barring some gamers’ repulsion towards graphics, many of the series’ fans should be content – the spirit is the same, the story got a couple of pretty interesting new chapters (with some of the most surreal twists, aside from funny clichés) and the multiplayer (be it the cooperative mode or the bloodbaths on the online ladder) ensure at least enough substance until StarCraft 2 is launched.

The main quest is pretty short and unimpressive, but this was never the “backbone” of a Fallout game. I’d estimate that an uninterrupted run through the main story could take around 3-4 hours, while not being particularly juicy.

You want to freely drive through Africa, set the savannah on fire and run over zebras with your car, Far Cry 2 is the right choice.

From a technical point of view, Dead Space is alright. It’s not great, but it holds its own, especially for a console port. The framerate is good, and the bugs are negligible.

Everything is more realistic, more spectacular and more detailed. In addition to this, you can see clearly that the producers have focused more than usual this time around, adding new game modes, especially online.

But one thing is certain: LEGO Batman reminded me of the good old times when I was a kid.

In many ways, King's Bounty is a step forward regarding the combat aspect for turn-based games of the HoMM variety. But barring this, Katauri Interactive's latest creation is nothing more than an RPG in which the only hero evolves in terms of basic genre principles that are already set in stone.

The new Colonization manages in some weird way to capture that conquistador feeling that its 1994 ancestor made popular. But you need to play fast, if you don’t want to lose in one way or another, and a big chunk of feeling is lost when the game itself pushes you onto dark alleys just to finish it.

Clearly WAR is not a platform dedicated to social interaction - the lack of available in-game emoticons, very few in numbers, comes to prove this. Despite this, the game offers an extensive set of guild tools, as well as special rewards for the entire guild.

Although Force Unleashed does deserve your money to a certain extent, be aware that your patience for technical and design issues will be tested.

When it comes to entertainment, Pure is a true success. The speed sensation is exhilarating, the gameplay is very challenging, the race tricks are at least spectacular and the multiplayer is extremely fun. A title that I can gladly recommend to everyone, especially to those that haven’t played a racing game before.

Crysis Wars is fun, and although it didn’t keep me glued to the monitor like the multiplayer component in Call of Duty 4 did, I do appreciate its merits.

Aside from that, if you’re in just for a relaxing skirmish or looking to conquer the whole world of Calradia, Mount and Blade is a stable product from early beta with great replay value which offers a level of entertainment that few titles with overinflated budgets fail to provide.

The Witcher Enhanced Edition is an excellent purchase for RPG fans that haven't come in contact yet with the universe created by Andrzej Sapkowski. Players that have finished The Witcher won’t have much reason to replay the game.

To me, Spore is an impressive creature in a purely technical sense – the world, the box, the engine that make it live and breathe are a big leap for humanity and allow an almost overwhelming freedom both for the producers as well as players living the experience.

But the truth of the matter is that I wouldn’t even recommend Mercenaries 2 to the fans of the series. Because the game might ruin the wonderful impression they were left with from the first title.

Sure, it’s worse than the first two stand-alone episodes and I can understand why some might be angry with the producers, myself expecting a tad more out of it. Even so, I consider the 10 dollar cost money well spent, but it’s important to know that you need the second game of the series previously installed to run this expansion.

Its flaws are largely subjective; there are no open wounds for me to pour salt on, but don’t worry – a race or two would be enough for you to decide whether it’s worth investing time in.

Considering the current drought of the genre, The Abbey is a title which can satisfy adventure lovers, but also those that have had enough of frantic shooting and want a calmer game.

Too Human isn’t perfect, but it’s not a bad game either.

For its current price, Bionic Commando: Rearmed is close to a free lunch.

Space Siege is a mediocre game, trying to fool the audience with its high price of admission, which is completely unjustified compared to what you actually get in the package.

Ultimately, I think that the developers got bored before finishing Legend: Hand of God. And considering the game’s quality, it’s not really worth the admission price.

Even if it's not as complex as Tekken, and it doesn't have the online component of Virtua Fighter 5, with its top-notch graphic, captivating feeling and characters and fighting style diversity, Soul Calibur IV is without a doubt one of the best 3D fighters around.

Political Machine has a major flaw, its low replay value, as each game varies very little, and aside the "unlockable" content, there are few reasons to play single-player.

Alone in the Dark could have been a great game, but in its current shape it’s just a disappointing failure.

Battlefield: Bad Company is, in my opinion, the best console shooter that has been released so far this year.

The Bourne Conspiracy is one of the better movie-based games out there, with intuitive and spectacular hand-to-hand fights, interactive cut-scenes and more than decent graphics.

So, there, you go. Race Driver Grid is a great game. Unfortunately, it's part of a series, and as such, the only thing it excels at is the graphics.

The concept is as bizarre as it is successful, the gameplay is well fleshed out, and I'll be totally honest and tell you that sometimes it's best to kid around, if only we'd be blessed with products such as this more often.

Mass Effect is without doubt the best Xbox 360 RPG at the moment. But we’re on PC market here, so it’s a bit more obvious that BioWare just wanted to test the waters a bit with its very own Star Wars brand. Not to mention that Mass Effect simply has too many alternatives on the PC.

The best thing about Age of Conan is its potential.

Aside from the small bugs and the controversial tech-tree redesign, Twilight of the Arnor delights us with lots and lots of new features, and I believe that even months from now I won’t discover all its secrets.

The game will most likely leave you the same sweet taste should you be one of the chosen few that understood it's message and enjoyed it's humor, and bitter because once you let go of it you have to go back to your everyday life, with it's ups and downs, with prejudice and misery, poverty and worries, in a real east-European city, with no politically correct crap to worry about.

Ultimately, Turok is the kind of game which you either like very much, or you hate and uninstall it after the first 10 minutes.

Jack Keane is addressed to those who are more attracted to the ridiculous humor that LucasArts were able to produce before endlessly milking the Star Wars cow, rather than somber, logic-oriented gamers.

Nevertheless, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 remains a good game, recommended for military shooter fans and action games alike, because it represents the ideal combination between realism and action.

Even so, Assassin's Creed remains one of the best games of the year. It's not THE game most probably expected it to be, but it's a solid base on which Ubisoft Montreal can build the rest of the series, now that they have the solid backing of the impressive worldwide sales.

The game's strong points remain the atmosphere and the script, but if you're not willing to compromise when it comes to graphics and game length, you won't be able to enjoy the two things the producers got right.

It’s the kind of game with good gameplay, nice graphics, spectacular battles and over the top brutality, with the RPG elements being neglected a little.

For some, Global Domination won’t be a real challenge, seeing as it’s not a multiplayer mode, but a skirmish one, against the AI. For others, Global Domination will increase the add-on’s replay value, especially if they’re fed up with the LAN and Online matches, where you can still find cheaters and players that prefer to disconnect rather than lose a game.

Army of Two is a game with new ideas, most of them very good. But, the rush to launch the game on the market and the lack of attention to details lower its value a lot.

All of these bittersweet features can be summed up like this: Chains of Olympus is just like the PlayStation Portable Lite and Slim – smaller, lighter, and makes the girls blush.

Considering the official announcement for Dawn of War 2, Soulstorm can be considered the epilogue for this Warhammer 40.000 generation, and I can’t escape the feeling that the producers wanted to squeeze the last cents with minimum efforts, especially because it's only a half stand-alone expansion which only allows the two new races to be played online, the earlier version being required if you want to play all factions.

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty is a good idea put badly into practice; what you might call an unfinished game.

So, what’s left? A decent game, annoying at times, a bit buggy, fun in multiplayer and boring in single-player, pretty to look at, which justifies the money you’ll need to pay for it only if you’re very bored, or you have nothing else to play, or maybe you’ve quit World of Warcraft, or maybe you need a gift… but overall, there are better shooters out there.

Bottom line, The Club is unfortunately a mediocre title, an arcade shooter insufficiently polished, having no other purpose other than running around, chasing a higher score.

Frankly, if your pocket allows it, skip the demo version and just buy the game directly - I guarantee you won't regret it.

If you’re one of those who don’t get moved by the atmosphere and lyrical construction of the game, know this – it’s without a doubt a very good sequel, and the standard it set will make it very hard for Requiem, the last episode, to live up to the Penumbra name.

Unfortunately, Conflict: Denied Ops is a clear example of how not to make a game for a platform where players are more demanding than ever, especially after recent releases like Crysis or Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Despite its shortcomings however, Sins is good game, with a relaxing gameplay, that catches on to you and won't let you go for nights on end, without causing anguish even when you lose.

Although there are some good racing titles on the Xbox 360, Burnout Paradise entertained me the most.

To sum things up, Savage 2 is an enjoyable experience, and even though the mix of genres brings nothing new to any of them, it is still well-implemented and fun to play.

Universe at War is a diamond that is a bit rough, a game with great potential, but it is sabotaged by the LIVE system and some elements which can be repaired in an ulterior patch (the bugs, the limited zoom and the path-finding).

The main problem of SunAge is that without the patches released, the game is a disaster.

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is not revolutionary.

Adding it all up, Crysis is definitely the most impressive title today from a graphical point of view and the only thing the competition can do is smile and wave.

I was expecting something else from the Need for Speed series and, although it’s not a bad game, ProStreet goes into territories where there are strong competitors and, in this types of battles, it doesn’t come out on top.

The game is too linear and the freedom of movement is limited, while Crysis, for example, offers a wider environment to explore. At least if this linearity was sustained by a good gameplay, things might have been different.

If you were expecting an Oscar story and dialogues that would show you the meaning of life on earth, you’re in the wrong place. But if you want non-stop action, uglier than death enemies, visceral fights and the possibility, in multiplayer, to execute your adversaries in the most barbaric ways ever known, please, do come in.

The main problem of Perseus Mandate is that follows the same pattern set by the previous two titles a bit too closely.

Call of Duty 4 is a undoubtedly an important mark in the history of this genre and it will take something special in the future to compete with the powerful impression it makes on every player that comes into contact with it.

But what prevents The Witcher from entering the gallery of truly great titles is what pretty much plagues other diamonds in the rough: lots of crashes, long and frequent loading times as well as an artificially limited freedom of movement.

Had it been released in mid-summer at a lower price, TimeShift would have done very well. Do not misunderstand me; it’s a decent game, which unfortunately does not have too strong points, especially when compared to the likes of Crysis, Gears of War, Call of Duty 4 or Unreal Tournament 3.

I recommend Puzzle Quest to all those who love the Heroes series, artworks, the number 4 and, of course, puzzles.

Watch out though, if you get the taste of it, eventually you might end up telling your boss „Take it like a man, shorty!”.

As the game progresses, the initial familiar sensation disappears and we get caught up in the story again, there are many open spaces and we’ll be able to drive another car (a modified Dodge Charger) on more types of terrain.

Portal is a sum of contradictions: it’s an FPS game with no weapons, no human characters, no complex scenery, but one that uses a simple and incredibly fun concept, with a well thought-of story and accessible to people of all ages (given they have minimal notions of moving the character around with the mouse and keyboard).

Regardless of these problems however, Mask of the Betrayer is a triumph which should be saluted by all RPG fans, since it proves once and for all that “old school” RPG principles – wonderful story, interesting characters, great dialogues – which seem to have been forgotten by newer “RPGs”, are still as valid as ever.

Even though it’s closer to real life football, FIFA 08 seems like it could’ve been just a large patch. The main issue with this version is that the developers showed that they could implement an even better graphics and physics system on the next gen consoles, but PC fans will have to wait to see it in action, at least until the next title in the series.

For the casual player however, the original campaigns remain the most attractive, because of user-friendliness and server popularity.

Personally, I think you need a lot of patience to understand Loki’s shady side, and an iron will in order to wait for the up-coming patches.

So here’s the perfect recipe for creating an expansion-pack: sprinkle lots of new units, add a large chunk of single-player campaign and place the already excellent mutiplayer mode in the community oven that now makes it even tastier.

Despite its flaws however, regarding the story and multiplayer, the people at Midway have translated Woo’s films rather well on the PC. The game is exactly what we would’ve expected from such a migration and will not disappoint those who only wanted to shoot the bad guys from Hong Kong.

Medal of Honor: Airborne, is a game that’s generally good, but with a few problems here and there.

In the end, even if most of you (myself included) will go out on other adventures, be it exploring a tropical island in a hi-tech nano-suit, duking it out in professional arenas or fighting hordes of aliens on distant planets, Rapture will stay with you long after you will leave it.

With its lack of strategy, non-existent AI, disappointing single-player and annoying voices, Rage of War should not be a commercial title.

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a quality tactical shooter with excellent feeling and addictive multiplayer, you should definitely give Advanced Warfighter 2 a try.

Although I personally wished for the game to have more cut-scenes between the missions, more show-downs with other ninjas and samurais and not with fairytale creatures, I can definitely recommend Ninja Gaiden Sigma to all those who want to experience intense action, with very few interruptions.

Unfortunately, the control system ruins much of the game experience, and even though a patch could probably fix this major issue, the producers have yet to release one.

If I wasn’t clear until now, Overlord is a great game. Even though it has a few quirks, it has something that most titles today lack: originality.

So, again, PC users are treated like second-class citizens, just another source of cash for the publishers. Frankly, I’m getting tired of this attitude from the publishers, and the simplest way to show them what we think about them is to stop buying their games. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

In the end, it all depends on how you look at DiRT. If you want a serious racing simulator, perhaps this is not the best choice, but if you are looking for a really fun game, one that offers long hours of gameplay , great replayability options and looks great in the process we have a winner.

In the end, it’s all about player satisfaction and if it’s of any importance to you, I’ve played it all in one session. It’s that captivating.

Summing it up, Tomb Raider: Anniversary is what Legend should have been: a game with less emphasis on action and more on puzzles which require a combination of brains and agility.

And even though I played Halo 2 on the Xbox, I personally didn’t wait three years just for the map editor and dedicated server or to be charged for wanting to host an in-game server or talk to my friends via voice chat. Sorry Microsoft, but this time you really screwed up.

Forza 2 is an exceptional game, realistic, difficult and complex, with features rarely found in other racing titles. It's the type of game which has managed to attract people who otherwise wouldn't have touched a racing sim for the life of them, and showed them the "path". A must buy, for sure.

For a man like me who has seen most of MMO’s on the market, 9Dragons is something different. It is a way of getting away from the elitist atmosphere of Eve Online, from the crazy chase after equipment in World of Warcraft or from the PvP frustrations in Age of Conan. And for me it is a great game only because of this reason, in the end. It is a game that respects one of the most important aspects of a video game – to relax.

A game with little expectation of itself, basically a title with today’s graphics featuring yesterday’s gameplay. The entire game can be best described like this: taken in small doses, it might seem interesting and fun, but even so you’ll get bored after a few days.