The level design, enemy placement, and especially the puzzles are all, by and large, wonderfully crafted. There are a few instances where the "traps" seem more unfair than clever, but that hardly tarnishes what is otherwise a terrific experience. You'll be hard-pressed to find a modern game like Legend of Grimrock any time soon, but with a game of this quality, you won't need one.

Despite a few nitpicks here and there, I can't compliment it enough. The Splatters is a truly wonderful game, one that reminds us how terrific a platform Xbox Live Arcade was during its prime and still has the potential to be. Go add points to your account and download this immediately.

Whether you are exploring the corners of DMC's castle or surfing on a rocket in DMC3, there are a lot of great moments in this collection that will make veterans nostalgic and turn newcomers into fans of the series' unique charm. Bayonetta may have outgunned Dante and Kratos may have outclassed him, but the combat, exploration, and scenarios of the DMC series still offer a thrill to this day.

Tropico 4: Modern Times gives the core game a much needed content injection, and turns Tropico 4 into a better game. Some additions have a larger impact on Tropican economic planning than others, but Modern Times is well worth checking out for any fan of Tropico.

In case you don't have a computer to play games on, this XBLA version of Anomaly Warzone Earth is just as good the original, and one less reason to avoid putting off playing this game.

Alas, Kinect Star Wars as a package is a mixed, if varied bag of motion tricks. For everything that works well, something else ruins the experience.

There's no denying that Xenoblade has its low points, but those high points are some of the highest of the genre. If you own a Wii, there's very little room to question -- this is a must-have game for Nintendo's humble little system.

Closure's faults can't prevent it from, at times, reaching some of the greatest heights in the puzzle-platforming genre. Once you get to the final ten stages, you are in pure puzzle-platforming bliss. Or hell. I suppose, bliss, then hell, then bliss again.

Thanks to the new swing setup, I've had more fun playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 than any previous entry in the series. By putting the onus on you to think like a real golfer and execute every shot, PGA Tour 13 makes successful play more rewarding than ever before and gives you the closest possible feeling to mastering a world-class golf course in real life.

Ridge Racer Unbounded simply doesn't manage to make all its separate elements gel together.

Birds of Steel doesn't quite manage to marry arcade and simulator crowds in a single console title, but it does pull off being the best online combat flight simulator on consoles, bar none.

Lone Survivor is easily among the best survival horror games that I've ever played, a feat that's truly remarkable when one considers the 2D perspective and visual limitations.

Warriors Orochi 3 is quite possibly my favorite Warriors game of the series. It's stuffed to the gills with content, featuring enough characters, stages, and unlockables to keep the hardcore fan enthralled for months.

Apart from its visuals and recognizable voices (when they're heard at all), there's nothing South Park about it and could have easily been any other multiplayer platform game; a pretty mediocre one at that.

Mario Party 9 features less motion control, fewer board-game rules, and more of a videogame feel, but there's still plenty left to chance. Those waiting for a full-scale overhaul will have to wait a little longer.

MLB 2K12 isn't a terrible game. But if you've played it before...well, you've played it before. If you haven't played it before, it's not a very good jumping-on point due to little to no in-game tutorials, and the animations won't win any new fans either.

A good, competent point and click game, even if Pendulo's attempts at a "darker" story don't mesh with the game's art style and humorous nods. The tale the developers have woven with serial killers, satanic cults, and immortality does wrap up in surprising ways.

Even once I worked past the game's convoluted, tutorial-free systems and understood how to build a mech, I found myself in a constant state of despondency. I just can't get myself to care about the customization and persistent world when everything surrounding it so poorly designed and not the least bit fun. I mean, at least give me loot. Give me something!

It's quite long, too, easily taking you six hours or more to complete nearly everything there is to do on the new island. Moreover, it offers an excellent opportunity to try out a new build if you've been stocking up powerful equipment in your stash, but never bothered to commit to a full respec of your abilities before.

Incomplete, glitchy, and visually degraded, Silent Hill HD Collection is Konami's greatest insult to the series.

It's sloppy, cheap, and the one central gimmick is exploited to weary degrees. Nevertheless, it still carries itself with a sense of sincerity that I find utterly charming, and its simplistic combat system is perfectly capable of providing some basic thrills.

Players desperate for traditional action gaming may glean some passing repletion from what is ultimately an inoffensive waste of time. However, the monotonous action long outstays its welcome and a series of this pedigree should be bringing so much more to the table. Instead, it does just enough to be a videogame available for purchase, and not a lot more than that.

Wave manipulation is a neat concept -- one I don't recall encountering in this form before -- but despite admirable attempts to introduce slight tweaks to the formula, it is eventually stretched to its limit. Even still, Waveform is a solid, highly polished game that's very much its own thing, and very much worth checking out.

Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture have created an absolute revolution in contemporary game design that proves beautiful, original things can still be done beyond the realm of first- and third-person shooters. It's just as brave and elegant as Journey, while being as accessible and fun as a cherished Irem classic. Even if you think this game isn't for you based on genre, Sine Mora may unexpectedly surprise and delight you.

Raccoon City suffers from poor design and sometimes doesn't quite seem to "get" the point of the style it wishes to emulate, but that doesn't stop it from being a genuinely good time that should satisfy anybody looking for a hardcore romp. As a challenging rollercoaster ride through an iconic fictional catastrophe, Raccoon City provides hours of violent fun interspersed with some exasperated cries of aggravation.

A game with 9.5/10 ideas delivered in a 6/10 package.

Equal parts tremendous and terrible, with a fine line clearly separating the two distinct territories. Unfortunately, since each stage ends on a sour note, the overall emotion one gains is that of bitter disappointment. It's a game that repeatedly starts strong and ends despicably, and as much as I want to adore it, I ended every session cursing its name.

Jagged Alliance: Back in Action may ultimately be inferior to its legendary predecessor, but it has just enough of that spark in it to be a compelling, substantial impostor.