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.

Ultimately, Skyrim is a spectacular game. Huge, full of rewards and things to see, read and do. Still, the "console friendly" approach did leave its mark and the technical problems, coupled with some excessive simplification don't bode well for Bethesda's reputation.

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.

World of Tanks is a nice alternative for anyone who is passionate about armored mayhem, with a good mix of fun and strategy to meet every gamers' expectations. The large number of vehicles, the customizing possibilities and the variety of equipment will please every action and strategy passionate. It all depends on how willing are you to grind your vehicle into the upper Tier, how much can you stand a faulty matchmaking system and disregard the curiosities of Clan Wars, but overall I can only recommend the game as a solid product.

Dungeon Defenders is quite addictive, but after you spend enough time, this attribute dilutes its fun factor, turning what was initially a tactical advance and collaboration effort into a repetitive farm meant to improve your attributes, gear and obtain achievements and mana.

If you've never played Heroes though, the current installment isn't that bad: 50 campaign hours, Hot Seat to keep my friends close, online multiplayer and many customization options. If the bugs are solved and the designers actually listen to the criticism, the next game will gain more favor.

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.

The humor never gets tiresome or done poorly, which, if you're asking me, is pretty rare in the array of overused jokes in the recent mainstream market. Another memorable advantage Orcs Must Die! has is the pretty good replay value, guaranteed by the presence of a score and global ranking tab, aside from the achievements that require finishing the game on Nightmare or getting a five star rating (or skulls, in the game's visual grammar) on each map.

So despite the odds being stacked against it, Eidos Montreal accomplished the impossible and brought us a Deus Ex in the true sense of the word, probably the best one that we could have hoped for considering the current "requirements" for being commercially successful nowadays.

Dead Island has plenty of reasons to be likeable: a satisfying duration, enough freedom and interactivity to create addiction and enough potential to become a classic. And although it isn't what the elitists would call a mandatory title, I think it's infectious enough for me to pull my friend's sleeve to buy the game too.

The Shift ability is the element that makes Driver: San Francisco an interesting game. No matter how stupid the idea behind it is, the possibility to use any car (not just those affordable to you) gives huge freedom. And mixed with varied missions and a good multiplayer, but with a crippled AI and some control issues, Driver manages to revive not only the cop, but also a series that almost no one believed to be viable anymore.

All in all, Space Marine captures the essence of the Warhammer universe: huge, classic factions and their infinite fight for control, the weapons and the power of the high tech future.

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.

Even if Bastion is short (just a few hours, depending on how many challenges you're keen on passing with a gold medal rating) it's one of the few games in which the New Game+ (rewinding the whole adventure but keeping the endgame resources) was just as much fun as the first playthrough. The content might be identical, but you've probably missed out on a few platforms the first time around, so you'll have the opportunity of discovering them and testing out your untapped weapons as well.

Even if it's short and single-player only, From Dust has at least one statement to make: that there are still special ideas around. Not necessarily perfect, due to the control and pathfinding issues that will annoy the not so patient players, but with a huge potential to evolve in totally new directions.

Timeline that, to be honest, will be quite short. An hour, maybe two. That's if you don't want to get all 13 achievements, in which case you'll most likely need more than one playthrough.

It's true that the soul trees offer outstanding flexibility for character development and the rifts bring a welcome sense of insecurity into Telara's everyday life, but for some players this simply might not be enough.

A platformer, a rare sight nowadays, has to be technically perfect, otherwise it shoots itself in the foot because this kind of gameplay is essentially repetitive. The same thing goes for the puzzles (too easy ) and fights. Still, the game catches you in its crazy universe enough so you really want to see if Alice remembers that faithful night and if it really was somebody else to blame or it was her that gave life to a criminal fantasy…

There are other shooters that offer more, but I do know one thing: Gearbox, now free of the DNF burden, will now be free to create a new Duke, a better one we hope.

The design ideas are great, but the implementation resulted into a lackluster story and boring missions in limited levels, coupled with intense, but ultimately boring fights. There's loads of adrenaline, but no consistency to maintain the motivation level up, an aspect partially visible in the multiplayer too. But even so, for a serious chunk of mayhem and destruction, the end of the world has really come to Mars.

We've got visuals, lots of cars and challenges for any type of gamer, from the casual ones to the genre aficionados. Races are varied enough and one can find interest in Gymkhana too, even if tricks aren't your main go. If the producers had paid more attention to the sound and music, the overall package would have been even better than it already is, gameplay-wise.

Just like Din's Curse, Demon War is fun, but I still recommend it in small doses. The action tends to get repetitive after 4-5 towns and, if you're no collector of sets and rare items, you won't find many interesting rewards in the idea of endlessly killing brainless monsters; not to mention that the dynamic side of the world can frustrate less patient players. So if you don't get along with the idea that in a game you get random, uncontrollable events that are out of your influence (just like in real life), then Demon War won't keep you interested for too long.

It's true that fights are maybe too simple, the GUI a bit awkard at first and the difficulty will kill you, so you need a little patience until the game is released from its shackles. And when it is… dark and loving, brave and treacherous, Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings offers almost everything you could want from a fantasy RPG.

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.

Even though With Fire and Sword can be considered a mod for the original game, it does bring some nice features. The firearms are well integrated in the gameplay, the economy is a lot livelier, and the graphics update is a welcome addition. However, there is still need for balance, particularly in the case of the sieges, and I cannot understand why some fun aspects of Warband were left out, so I fear that many players will go back to the original game, once the fascination for firearms has ran its course.

However, all of this comes under the unpretentious cover of a very self-conscious price: 9,99 Euros. And thanks to it, you can't really hold the length against Anomaly, because cost-efficiency didn't get left out. So I can only encourage its purchase if you're into sweet small deals with sweet small prices in sweet small packages.

For those who never played a Warhammer 40K : Dawn of War 2 title, Retribution is a very good introduction, giving access to all six factions and an improved multiplayer mode, from a technical standpoint. For the veterans, however, the novelties may be a bit too superficial and the campaigns may disappoint those who appreciated Chaos Rising.

In the end, it's a decent game, but with a pretty steep learning curve, one that only true fans and yoga practitioners can handle on the long term.