It's a fun novelty that you'll want to spend an hour with. Yet, at its end, I didn't want any more and I didn't care to revisit the game's Endless Mode. I enjoyed The Random Encounter for the hour or so it lasted, but the fact that I don't want any more pretty much says it all.

With its impeccable balance of difficulty, satisfyingly simple level design, and insurmountable overload of squishy charm, Return to Dream Land provides a platform experience that comes as close to perfect as one can get...Videogames simply do not get any more pure than Kirby's Return to Dream Land.

A lighthearted and straightforward game that does most things right and nothing truly wrong.

The best game you can get for Microsoft's Kinect device. You won't find a game with better body tracking tech, and that brings Dance Central 2 far above its peers.

PAYDAY: The Heist is a classic example of a diamond in the rough, a game that is just too enjoyable at its core for any of its issues to remain unforgivable.

Mahjong Cub3d is simply mahjong in fully rotatable 3D. I can tell you that it's easy to get into and control, and that it seems to have this gravitational pull on me as a puzzle game fan. I've always liked mahjong, and this 3D twist on the classic formula makes it even more enjoyable and challenging.

In short, Last Specter is the best Layton yet. The inclusion of a warp system, lack of matchstick puzzles, and memorable cast makes it just a notch better than the Curious Village. However, the series still inconveniences players who play primarily for the story or those, like me, who want to enjoy the story first and puzzles later. There are many players who feel a need to complete every puzzle as they progress. These players won't run into the problem of puzzle tollways or losing track of a previous puzzle's location. However, until the series finds a way to accommodate both types of players, I can't say the game is a must-have for all.

This game is adorable, sure, but where it really succeeds is with its motion control, which seems to give you a direct link with the cute animal on the screen. High-end visuals and animation work with this to complete the illusion of having this wild pet in your living room.

While the genre itself hasn't evolved much in the past twenty years, there is still an undeniable satisfaction that one derives from building and watching Goldberg machines run. For only ten dollars, puzzle fans and creative types can find a lot to enjoy here.

Offers a good amount of content for its price, about a fifth to a quarter of Deus Ex: Human Revolution's 20-25 hour playtime for a fourth of the (original) price. The Missing Link is a well-produced piece of DLC with a level of quality that fits right in with the main game both in terms of quality and atmosphere. It's just more Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and there's nothing really wrong with that since the original game was fantastic.

Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One should have been about $15, five hours shorter, and released on the PlayStation Network. It's a game that does a disservice to the high pedigree of the Ratchet & Clank series and takes too far a departure from what made such an excellent series. It's sad to see these fantastic characters appear in a poorly structured, mediocre game, full of camera issues and silly bugs that add insult to injury.

The game is incredibly polished, and all of the components fit very well together, but they are all components that other games have introduced with a slightly different twist. They have clearly mastered the action platformer, now I would like to see them take it further and try something new.

It strikes a balance between action, RPG, and tower defense in a way that turns it into the Castle Crashers of tower defense. It will keep you occupied for weeks and months to come, provided you have the local or online friends to play with.

I liked the addition of dancing Miis and club-style classical music remixes, and the graphical presentation and 3D novelties were neat, but none of this really satisfied my craving to play some good ol' Tetris. Somehow the standard-ish Marathon mode wasn't doing it for me.

It's not the most complex game on the market, but the innovative gadgetry and authentic thoughtfulness on the part of the developer stands out in a market so used to churning out the same old crap.

There's room for a good videogame based on A Song of Ice and Fire, but while A Game of Thrones: Genesis is the first of its name, it never becomes more than an incestuous child born from both media parents.

It doesn't quite reach the highs of its predecessor, but Arkham City rarely sinks low. When it's all said and done, you'll be begging for more, but not because there wasn't enough. It is just too damn fun to be The Bat.

It might not be the perfect console arcade combat flight sim experience, but Ace Combat: Assault Horizon remains a treat for any fan of the genre or fans of stupidly awesome looking air combat action. Where it breaks with tradition, it injects a shot of epinephrine straight into your heart and keeps it pumping until a mission is over.

Perhaps this would have been a cute little game half a decade ago, but so close to the end of the Wii's life cycle, it smacks of Namco desperately trying to milk the minigame cow one last time. As an ironic celebration of the Wii's most compelling and infamous problem, Go Vacation's selection of tepid and shallow activities might serve some amusing merit, but I don't think even the "family demographic" this is aimed at could find much to enjoy here.

I struggle with claiming the game is great for younger, uninitiated gamers because I cut my teeth on much more challenging, varied, and interesting platformers at a young age, but that audience is there. For the rest of us, Max and the Magic Marker is a cute and fun, albeit simplistic, romp through an upbeat, pretty, childlike fantasy world that does some neat things but struggles to stay consistently engaging.

Packed with references to the Aliens movies, including Power Loader battles and an intense APC escape scene, this is a game made by fans with the fans in mind. After recent disappointments from the Aliens franchise, Infestation brings it all home and makes for a thoroughly captivating adventure.

I can't help but wonder if it would just be better to buy it on a mobile device and save a few dollars. This was a fun diversion, but it may have done a better job as a mobile, touch-based game.

Designed very well around the limitations of iOS and featuring some of the most disturbing creature designs this side of Silent Hill, Phosphor has created a very atmospheric and engrossing game with a delicious streak of dark humor coursing through its veins.

If InterWave manage to grow alongside the community, Nuclear Dawn could become the most important FPS game to arrive in a long time. Right now, it's a welcome replacement for Team Fortress 2 and stopgap until Natural Selection 2.

Truly a strange beast. As a fan of the series, I really wanted to enjoy myself, but the constant fighting with the camera, poor enemy AI in single-player, and terrible pacing keep this one from the top of my list of strategy shooters. It's not terrible by any stretch of the imagination... it's just not very good, either.

Videogame fans want something more engrossing and comic book fans want something with more fan service. Spider-Man: Edge of Time satisfies neither demographic, and can safely be ignored by everybody.

A solid game with a few frustrating flaws, which are not big or bad enough to topple my appreciation for what Recoil Games did here.

Eufloria is a frustrating experience because of how good it could have been and it's even more frustrating because criticism of the first version hasn't been properly addressed. It has some great, fresh mechanics and they mostly work, but it just isn't satisfying or engaging in the end.