Players who want to complete the level and do so in the shortest amount of time will find a lot to love in this game and even more so in the game’s replay value. However, when the initial awe wears off, Shadow Blade: Reload comes across as a generic ninja-action game with an interesting art style, good controls and an otherwise underwhelming story.

As a hidden object game, this will definitely appeal to casual gamers and puzzle enthusiasts, although the story and overall premise may turn off a hard-core audience.

Keepers of the Void offers a nice change of pace to Darksiders III’s From Software-enriched action experience. If you’re playing the game for the first time or enjoying the New Game Plus mode that was added back in April, the added zone should provide a nice break from the main story (especially on harder difficulty modes). To that end, I just wish the puzzles were more exciting. If nothing else, I was pleased to see that the area of Limbo runs very well and at no point did I run into issues that plagued my experience last year.

Nintendo release another title that makes perfect use of its quirky controllers, but with just a few truly memorable games in the collection, it's best as a weekend rental.

Setting traps and luring your enemies to their doom is a brilliant idea, but Tecmo doesn't build on that with more gameplay variety.

Fans who are starving for more Pillars of Eternity II will not be disappointed, either by the gameplay or by this mini story’s dive into some of the universe’s more interesting lore. On the other hand, if you have sunk 150 hours into the series through two full games and two previous DLCs, then you may be tiring of its formula, its routine, and its combat. It probably feels even more tiresome if you love the series for its open ended exploration, since the mostly linear DLC offers very little of this. How much you will enjoy Beast of Winter ultimately depends upon how important each of these elements are to you.

Although Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is a classic in the Fire Emblem series, it's hard to recommend for modern audiences. The bare bones of what makes Fire Emblem great is here, but it's bogged down by outdated systems and the limitations of the original Famicom system. Although I appreciate that Nintendo wanted to preserve the original experience, I feel that they should have added more quality of life improvements to the game before releasing it. This game has already been remade for the DS as Shadow Dragon. I feel like it would have been better for Nintendo to have released that in a bundle with this original port. I can really only recommend this for hardcore Fire Emblem fans and those who have a great deal of patience for classic game mechanics.

Under the right set of circumstances, though, the game can be fun thanks to its varied classes and trolling-heavy metagame. Shooting the food with three friends can still be a great time, but you’ll have to temper your expectations.

There is a day-one patch that will go up right around the time of this review that will address some of the less polished elements I experienced. But it’s a game that more so than past versions feels like it needed more development time before release. It’s also a tough one to recommend because the changes between this year’s game and last feel minor. It’s still a very good game of football and I’m excited to see where the franchise goes on the next-gen consoles, but as the swan song for this generation, this version goes out with a very quiet release.

The controls feel good, it looks great, and core concept is both simple to understand and challenging enough to keep you trying again. It just needs some kind of competitive aspect to the high scores so you’re not just competing with yourself.

Relive those classic WWII naval battles with this sim, which provides overwhelming customization options with a dash of RTS and RPG elements.

There’s absolutely no variety, not even when the lurking horrors start to crawl in and the characters are taken into a dream world once in a while. They, too, play out painfully similar to everything else in the game. As a reviewer, I’m obliged to play games throughout so that I can give an objective view of them. But I have a hunch that if I had purchased Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics for my own pleasure, I would have played it only for a couple of missions and then moved onto something more exciting. When the Cthulhu mythos is left largely untapped in the tepid action, the game is yet another addition to the long list of unsatisfactory takes on the subject.

Thunder Wolves aims to embody the 80′s action flick and does so in a pretty fun manor. The gameplay is simple and enjoyable for the short time you’ll play, and the story feels appropriately campy. Enemies explode by the dozen and missiles fly left and right at all times.

Far from revolutionizing the genre, it falls victim to the same fault of "Dynasty Warriors" - repetitive gameplay.

Midway ports the Blitz on the 360, but doesn't feature anything new, apart from visual improvements here and there. Get it only if you didn't already.

As-is, it’s a fun diversion comparable to the many free internet game options that have been available for years. It’s not worth $10, but I’d recommend it if it ever dropped to $1 and you’re only looking to kill an afternoon.

It’s a shame that the combat is such a drag because it’s the main part of a game that is overflowing with life and excitement.

Life Is Strange: Before The Storm has its moments but on the whole, it just didn’t do enough to capture my attention the way Life Is Strange did. Though easily a tumultuous period in her life, Chloe wasn’t as interesting as she was in the original game. The whole back talk mechanic isn’t an adequate replacement for Max’s time travel ability because I feel the consequences weren’t nearly as substantial.

The combat is fine enough, but the puzzles are the things I thought were the best parts of the game and the ones that really stand out as something I’d like to go back to. They were fun and engaging and by far the best part and if there was more focus on them, I’d be singing praises. But uninteresting lore and shrug-worthy combat separated those bits, and just left me longing for a version of this game I could enjoy more.

The game has too many instances where things will be going great and you will be enjoying it and then you will be stuck having to get enough hero points to complete the chapter. The other big downside to the game is the fact that the enemies are more of an annoyance then a challenge.

The visuals are bright, and despite their overly rich nature, the screens are easy to read. The character graphics can be awkward though, and the voice acting is sadly pretty ho-hum, with only a few voice actors doing a bit too many characters for their skill range. Nevertheless, the numerous cut scenes enrich the experience. In the end, Lost Grimoires: Stolen Kingdom is not quite like your typical Artifex Mundi game, for better or worse. While the story is intriguing and mostly succeeds in its ambiguity, the game itself is a tad too simple.

It is not a bad experience, but it is probably not the one that should be at the top of your wish list.

Invisible Inc. is a game with a lot of hidden depth that is waiting to be explored and exploited; and while the story is severely lacking it’s still worth the $20 to checkout and run through a few times.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 is a not terrible time and a pretty good game. While the story is nothing to write home about, and the gameplay is beginning to feel more than a little played out at this point, you know, definitively, if you want to play this game or not just based on the title. After 12 years, a LEGO game is a LEGO game is a LEGO game.

In the end, Crackdown 3 isn’t a bad game. It’s just... fine. It’s largely inoffensive, the combat is generally OK, the driving is harmlessly average. Graphically, the game looks alright and retains the finely cel-shaded look adopted by the 2005 game. It’s a fun enough to spend a couple hours with at any given time, be it hunting orbs or taking down Terra Nova facilities. I imagine it’d be even better with friends, being one of those games that’s fun to meet up and just goof around for a little bit. The thing is, though, Crackdown 3 feels stuck in 2005. Hero-based open world games, like Spider-Man, Just Cause, hell, even Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto, have either pushed the genre further in their own ways or made playing around in sandboxes fun, fast, and thrilling. Crackdown 3 isn’t bad, it just drives aggressively down the middle of the road.

The popular cyberpets community gets into the gaming scene with this typical action RPG. Decent offering, but plain to see it's meant for the younger gamers.

Doesn't do anything new or exciting, and this really translates into a rather lackluster performance.

Unless you are dying to check out The Life on NBA 09: The Inside you have better basketball choices this holiday season.