Below its cartoony surface and morbid fascination with killing orcs in as many brutal ways as possible, Orcs Must Die! is a surprisingly deep and challenging game that begs you to delve into it and slaps you until you do it right.

The most egregious of all faults lies in the enemy AI. Nearly all creatures in Dark Souls are hyper-aggressive and many of them to a fault. Some will completely ignore a gap between you and them, running off a cliff.

By no means is RAGE not worth your time -- it looks stunning, the combat on both wheels and foot is fun, and there's a tremendous sense of atmosphere that deserves to be experienced. However, RAGE's quality only makes its lack of ambition more painful in the long run, as it could easily have been better than it is. It's a good game, most definitely, and one that id fans will enjoy ... just don't expect it to do half of what it looks like it can do.

If you haven't played King Arthur, then you won't really enjoy this a whole lot, and if you have played it you'll just think of how much better it is than this weird expansion. I recommend that you check out the original game if you haven't played it, and if you have played it you should just wait for King Arthur 2 to come out.

A spectacular re-release packed to the brim with more content than most paid downloadable titles; that all of this is available for free is simply mind-blowing. The multiplayer is as deliciously evil as it ever was, but I just wish more tweaks were made to tailor the single-player mode for solo adventurers. If you are able to gather a group, however, you will have a blast.

Why settle for this shallow, repetitive interactive adaptation?

A deceptively deep game. That it only costs $4.99 is nothing short of astounding. I don't see myself putting it down until I hit that magical 100% completion mark, which is hours and hours away at this point. This is one trip that I recommend to everyone open-minded enough to give it a chance.

X-Men: Destiny is an ugly, boring, lazy little game. Even if it were free, it would be insulting to have one's time wasted in this way, but the fact it's being sold for sixty dollars rubs salt in the wound. It tries to eke out an existence by pretending to be a far richer and more satisfying game than it is, but the promise of a better experience only serves to hammer home just how bad the final product actually is.

Disgaea 4 has a clear sense of self and it embraces all of its absurdities, presenting them in a surprisingly palatable package, whether you choose just to get your feet wet or dive all the way into the brimming time sink.

A great example of how to offer a classic game to a new audience with improved graphics and sound for a low price. Another World - 20th Annivesary is every bit as hard as it once was, but this iOS version is far from a lazy port. It offers an improved core experience with the option to play the 1991 version, features excellent touch controls, and gives a new breed of gamers the chance to explore why this classic was such a big deal.

A re-release of a 10-plus-year-old game that doesn't have enough new content to appeal to those who already own it and will be hard to adjust to for those who have no nostalgia for the original.

ClaDun X2's combat and world feel a bit generic and small in comparison to Quartet's masterful SNES titles and similar action-RPGs, but the customization, Magic Circle system and endless dungeons make ClaDun X2 a recommendable title for RPG-lovin' PSP owners.

NHL 12 isn't a giant leap forward for EA's vaunted hockey series, but it maintains the franchise's lofty pedigree despite a few missteps. It offers improvements that are subtle as opposed to eye-catching, but they're significant nonetheless.

A game with nothing to offer the world but boredom and irritation in equal measure, and isn't worth playing even for those who are desperate to flesh out their 3DS library.

Its campaign is a thrill ride of rollercoaster-like set-pieces, huge boss battles, and consistently fast-paced action, and its multiplayer is a solid, enjoyable, anarchic complement. If you own a PS3 and you love first-person shooters, you would do well to add this one to your collection.

If you can embrace Burnout Crash!'s design with open arms and wave the few annoyances away in the scope of a thousand retries, submit to the Autolog addiction with a bunch of friends, and devote yourself to hours upon hours of fighting for that high score, I can't recommend it enough. Still, Burnout Crash! can be entirely different things to different types of players.

Radiant Silvergun doesn't just hold its own against the contemporary competition, but offers the classic game with different graphical skins and a host of options to reach a far wider audience than ever had the chance to experience its excellence before.

Xotic demands a certain competitive mindset to fully enjoy it, to be sure, but for those who want to test their first-person skills with the type of score-based arcade gameplay that is usually found in other genres, it does what it sets out to do and it does so successfully without overwhelming the player.

Resident Evil 4 is a 10 out of 10 game. This repackaging of the game is not a 10 out of 10 product. If you already own Resident Evil 4 on the Wii, there is absolutely no reason to buy it here other than the HD-ness, which did nothing for me.

Offers just enough tweaks to the formula to make it worth the download. Visually, it's not the prettiest racer out there, but the lighting can be particularly gorgeous at times and the system requirements are very reasonable. As the community settles in again, the amount of content will only grow from here given the excellent creation tools included.

Hits a sweet spot for me. The gameplay is fast-paced without being too hectic and confusing. The realism is not as arcade-like as Call of Duty, and it's not a hardcore simulation like Arma II. There is even enough variety in the role types that you can have a completely different gameplay experience depending on what you want to do.

NyxQuest is a fine example of a mobile game that successfully makes the transition from other platforms to reach a wider, and different, audience. It plays like it should have been a game made for touch interfaces from the start, and it's the kind of game that would probably do well on a handheld's downloadable service.

Cleverly designed, overwhelmingly cute, and devoted to fun, Kirby Mass Attack is a game that should become part of your handheld library without question.

A great game indeed, one that fans will most assuredly adore. It does lack that unique, intangible spark that the past two games had, but that does not mean it's a poor game in any way. I have my disappointments, but I cannot claim I had a bad time. That Gears of War 3 doesn't quite live up to expectations is only a testament to how high Epic raised the bar in past efforts.

The planes feel right, and the combat, while not exactly in-depth, provides for some fun moments. This game may not be the best of its class, or put forth any noteworthy new concepts, but it shouldn't be allowed to slip into obscurity, either.

Given that all of the Bit.Trip games are almost perfect as-is, and that this collection has so much new content -- all of it top-notch -- and that this is a $40 budget release at retail... well, I think I have to go whole hog on this one. It feels weird to finally go ahead and commit to this sacred, borderline magical number, but it's the truest form of expression I have at my disposal to show you just how much enjoyment I've gotten from this compilation.

Bit.Trip SAGA stands alone as a visually enhanced, portable repackaging of some of the best games of this generation of consoles. Just like Paris, Bit.Trip SAGA is for lovers.

A great example of what talented developers can do with Microsoft's Kinect technology when they think creatively...Twisted Pixel's original characters and oddball sense of humor -- married with enjoyable gameplay -- add up to a special gameplay experience worth of your time if you own Kinect.