The Third perfectly refines the franchise's style and attitude amongst a sea of other clones and AAA releases. It stands out in every way and, dare I say, can give GTA a run for its money.

Let me clear things up by assuring you that none of the quest bugs, graphical issues, gameplay glitches, or unexplained crashes I've encountered can change the fact that I played this amazing RPG for well over 100 hours in the past couple weeks and absolutely loved it.

L.A. Noire is an ambitious and brilliant game, carrying a new vision for the adventure genre. Sadly, it tries too hard to appeal to the mainstream by taking away control of your actions too often.

Orcs Must Die! is a blast, offering a fun, fresh twist on one of my favorite genres of all time. While its unique defensive structures will be appreciated by the more creative strategist, I'm sure this title would be especially enjoyed by those that might be bored by the more detached nature of traditional tower defense games.

What Nuclear Dawn does best is perhaps how it requires each team of players work together.

If you think you'd like killing a LOT of zombies in huge and varied open-world environments, finding boat-loads of randomized loot, customizing your character and weapons RPG-style, or all of the above, you will love Dead Island. Bring some friends along for the ride and you virtually cannot go wrong. Just don't expect much in terms of story or quest depth, and be sure to mod the game just the way you like it.

Human Revolution does exactly what it set out to do. That is, perfectly capture the spirit of Deus Ex and transplant it into a fresh, modern experience on all platforms, while staying true to its roots in the PC version.

I really like E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy. The shooting is tight, the character progression is deep, the visuals aren't bad, and it's a hell of a lot of fun once you're able to jump 30 feet high, not to mention do everything else a cybernetic/psionic assassin is capable of.

I really did enjoy the game, but I can't help but wonder what it would have been like if Volition didn't have to make sacrifices for the sake of the console versions.

It loses some points for being an outdated modification packaged up and sold as a standalone expansion, but Mount & Blade: With Fire & Sword is definitely worth the $15.

The writing is without peer and its execution brilliant, with the voice-over performances and details in visuals/animations rivaling anything Pixar has done on film. On top of all that, it's hilarious!

The campaign lasts about 6-8 hours, but it's really not particularly fun or interesting. Things that made Crysis so awesome, like destructible buildings/foliage and vast sandbox environments, are nonexistent in the sequel, and the "new and improved" nanosuit is little more than a shell of its former self.

I found Dragon Age II to last about 27 hours for my first playthrough, split almost evenly between its three acts (though the last was a bit shorter). This was disappointing compared to Origins, which took more than 50 hours, considering both were fully explored at a fairly leisurely pace...With that said, DA2 is still a pretty darn good game.

The only way for a campaign that short to be worth a damn is if it was the best three hours you've ever spent with a game in your life, and this is most definitely not that. It generally plays like your standard COD clone, only not as exciting or polished.

If you value a good story, engaging combat, and convincing vocal performances in an RPG, you will most certainly find Two Worlds II to be lacking. However, if you appreciate the journey itself and don't mind a game that's rough around the edges, you might want to give it a try.

Dead Space 2 is intense. The campaign lasts around 8 hours on Normal, and almost every minute of that is spent enduring this psychological stress that alternates between exhilaration and agitation.

Treyarch really stepped up this year by putting out their best Call of Duty game to date.

Bottom line, if you're looking to get sucked into a game and feel like you are a part of its world, this one is not going to cut it.

The best thing about it is the presentation, though; only Blizzard can make an RTS feel like an epic adventure.

Metro 2033 is like the eastern European Half-Life – a must for fans of post-apocalyptic settings, narrative shooters, survival horror, or any combination thereof.

This is definitely a faster-paced and more action-oriented SupCom, and while some people will like that, I would count myself with those that were hoping for more substance in the sequel to one of the deepest strategy games out there. As such, color me unimpressed.

This game is still very enjoyable. If you’ve played the first one (and you should, if you haven’t), there will be some severe déjà vu happening, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still better than a lot of games these days.

Even though I’m sad to see the role-playing elements were neutered, there is no doubt this game is an improvement over the first in almost every way. That’s quite an achievement, considering ME1 is a great game in its own right.

Left 4 Dead 2 is better than the original in virtually every way and every bit as replayable. I would say there is enough new stuff to justify it being released as a sequel, but on the other hand I agree with many that say this is what L4D should’ve been.

Artificial limits to and strict uniformity of online play, precious development time spent on extraneous and arcadey side-missions, removal of a crucial gameplay mechanic because “the game isn’t balanced for that?” I just expect more from a developer who wouldn’t be around if it weren’t for the PC.

It's very admirable for Futuremark to make an exclusively PC game that is DX10 only, to boot, but I'm not quite sold on the longevity of the zero-G concept. It's a new and exciting spin on the competitive FPS genre, but I don't think it will keep me away from games like Borderlands or Dragon Age for long.

It’s not too often anymore that you see an RPG with so much character depth, well-written spoken dialogue, and engaging story arcs on top of such brutally enjoyable combat.

Fast, fun, and unapologetically crass, this is the best game I’ve played in a long time, and is truly deserving of the moniker “role-playing shooter.”

It's certainly the best Batman game by far, probably the best action/adventure game this year. Accordingly, I hope that Rocksteady has a sequel in the works.

Resident Evil 5 is a must-have game. It isn’t without minor flaws, but they do little to undermine everything that Capcom did so very right.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is probably one of the best examples of how Wolverine was meant to be portrayed beyond the comics: brutal, bloody, and violent as hell. But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. The game plays it safe too much in terms of gameplay, afraid to stray from the tried and true action formula that has sustained other series’ like God of War and Devil May Cry.

Zeno Clash is a welcome game from the veteran mod team of ACE. We honestly can’t wait to see what this team can accomplish in the future, especially with their focus on creativity in design and game play.

Battles are fast and furious, but you never feel overwhelmed or pulled in too many directions at once.

Dawn of War II plays like the illegitimate love child of Company of Heroes and the original Dawn of War. The cover system is an excellent addition to the series, while the ability to destroy cover is even better. The RPG elements and open-ended campaign add a lot of depth to the single player game, while co-op works wonderfully to allow you to share your game experience with a friend over Live.

Monolith could’ve done so much more with the nuked city in regard to level design, instead you find yourself still exploring generic offices and buildings like you did in F.E.A.R. And come on now, no mouse side button binds? Seriously? How hard could that have been to implement.

Mirror’s Edge is a lot of good ideas mucked up by poor implementation and an apparent lack of play testing.

I really enjoy the action and gameplay that Combat Arms has to offer. And with a free admission price, it’s kind of difficult to not at least try it out for a few matches. At the very least, you will respect the ability of the game to be fun, fast paced, and highly addictive.

As captivating as Mass Effect is in terms of story, setting, and core game mechanics, it sort of falls apart when it comes to basic gameplay.

Hopefully Ubi shakes things up for a third instalment however, because the current trend is going to result in something downright style and mediocre for Vegas 3.

It’s been a long time since a developer has taken such risks in development and it is deeply impressive that so many of these risks have paid off for the members of Ironclad.

Crysis was our most anticipated PC game of 2007 and the final product does keep some of its promise in terms of its graphics and its multiplayer mode. However its high system requirements will also keep many players from fully enjoying it and a great first half of the single player campaign gets bogged down with its more mundane and ultimately unsatisfying second half.

If Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare had a longer single player campaign our score would have been even higher. As it stands Infinity Ward's latest game still is worth the money to buy and experience for yourself.

Quake Wars just has too much going on to fall into a rut, not counting a couple of choke points on certain maps. It has all the characteristics of an excellent hardcore game except the performance, and that’s a shame. Hopefully upcoming patches will address this and the voice comms issue.

Yes folks, we have played BioShock and we loved it. The minor flaws in the game's design didn't keep us from having an all night session to get to the end and we think that will be your conclusion as well.

A good game and graphically far superior to Silent Hunter III, but a couple of weeks more in beta, and some outside testing to tell the designers to stuff their interface where the sun doesn't shine would have done wonders for the game.

Above all, compared to almost any 4X game out there, it's the AI that stands out in Galactic Civilizations. It doesn't cheat, except at the highest difficulty levels, and it behaves in believable ways. It exploits weaknesses, it doesn't gang up on the player, and it uses sound strategies.

It runs well, it’s almost completely bug-free, the servers are good, the game scales mob spawn rates to keep up with demand, the quest log always has something for you to do and the instances are brief and enjoyable. There’s no clearing of crap before you get to the Dead Mines or Maraudon proper, you no longer need to get 40 people together for a raid... it’s not next-generation, but The Burning Crusade is as good as this generation of MMOs is going to get.

It’s probably the best game of the series despite its more modest score. It is more challenging, the battles are more interesting and balanced, and the graphics and sound are fantastic.

With only minor flaws like somewhat poor AI and brevity, and only one major missing feature in multiplayer, it’s hard not to like this game.

They replicated a lot of the surface that made the original so good but F.E.A.R. Extraction Point ultimate feels hollow when you finish it, thanks in large part to a storyline that’s less of an expansion and more of an extended ending to the original.

Not just a fun adventure game on its own but also an impressive example of how the growing episodic game trend could evolve.

Due to its price and overall incredible level of quality, detail, and care, EHM 2007 is one of the best values on the market. If you ever spend any significant amount of time tweaking your lines or simulating through seasons in either NHL 2K or EA’s NHL series, you will adore Eastside Hockey Manager.

As for regular gamers, if you’ve ever felt any desire to play a more complex and realistic version of Civilization, to wonder if you could unite Germany as Prussia, or beat the Yankees as the Confederates, Victoria is definitely worth trying now. It’s cheaper and the patches plus this expansion have made it a great value. Just be warned, there is a lot to learn in a short time.

It will scare you silly and make you dizzy and when you finish the game you will likely not forget some of the things you encountered for some time. Again, we wish it was a longer experience and we feel not enough was done with multiplayer but on the whole it’s definitely worth picking up.

Fans of the series will love it, those that complain about linearity or other typical Half-Life traits will continue to be disappointed.

If Ritual can improve the plotting of future chapters, add more variety to the enemies and weapons and maybe make the game a tad longer per episode (we would have preferred six to eight hours for the price) we could see this becoming a successful new way to present PC games.

Armadillo Run is more charming and a better puzzle game than "Pontifex," but it doesn't quite recapture that same magic. Even though it's a very different style, the same rules applied and the novelty of the physics has worn off a bit. Quite frankly however, when those are the biggest complaints you can lay at a title's feet, you know you're dealing with a special product.

We’d be tempted to give the game another editor’s choice award, actually, but what holds us back most is that the expanded timeline and the cataclysmic war between the Allies and Warsaw Pact is really only for those who love the burden of taking on such a massive conflict.

There’s certainly room for improvement, we could in fact stand to enjoy some randomly generated quests like in Daggerfall and a bigger game world, but Oblivion is as close to free-form RPG perfection as you can get nowadays.

Red Orchestra starts bright but fades rather quickly. The exact cause was difficult to pin down, since the game is truly excellent on most technical levels, yet the whole doesn’t seem equal to the sum of its parts, never mind better.

We’re impressed with how simple the game has stayed while adding so much depth.

A surprisingly charming title. It’s simple enough to be liked by casual gamers and deep enough to have some appeal for the hardcore player.

Compelling is barely adequate to describe the feeling as you’re gritting your teeth and trying to find a new way to assault that strongpoint at the highest difficulty levels – grenades gone, no squadmates in sight and an MG42 trained on you. The visuals, the sound, the yelling and screaming and the rain or dust storms just suck you right back in.

A great game and a fresh, new experience. Just about every single problem from previous titles, especially the lackluster "Civ III," has been adjusted or outright replaced. Whether it’s the endless city spamming, the lack of good multiplayer, or the AI cheating in obnoxious ways, it’s been addressed in Civilization IV.

Some interesting levels -- even three or four -- and I'd go into the 90s, but the levels are amazingly dull for a game built on an engine this powerful. It's like hiring Michaelangelo to paint your garage.

Quake 4 just isn't notably better than "Quake III" in multiplayer, while having the single worst server browser known to man.

A management nut’s dream. It doesn’t have quite all the depth options of Worldwide Soccer Manager 2006 (better known as "Football Manager 2006"), but the number of options and the veracity of the simulation are staggering compared to anything that EA or 2K Games have come out with.

Where the game falls short is in not providing enough for the player to do, so its lack of depth becomes apparent. In the GTA titles the player was kept too busy to worry about the limitations of the world; in Fable there aren’t nearly as many options or missions. The storyline is also poorly crafted though engaging with its chilling touches of darkness.

Most of the challenge may be in timing the super combos correctly, but there’s an elegant simplicity to the gameplay which endures throughout.

While it does refine the genre, Dungeon Siege II doesn’t really offer anything truly new. Sure, we can take issues with the graphics or the somewhat uneven difficulty level, but the real trouble comes in the lack of meaningful addition.

Those looking for a completely new gameplay experience will be disappointed, as will those hoping for more realism. However, if you're looking for a faster, cleaner and more polished Battlefield, this is it. Digital Illusions didn't roll any dice on this one (pardon the pun), they stuck to the formula but fleshed it out and polished it up.

There is an abundance of strategic options, so there is depth in that way, but not all of them work as well as they should.

Yes, there are only four levels of co-op and we're tempted to tear into Ubi for not including more, but on the other hand the mere inclusion of co-op play is already a major achievement. If only the development team would be so nice as to release some level design tools.

The best simulation we've played in years. It retains accessibility while offering remarkable levels of detail and realism... It is visually attractive, aurally satisfying and quite simply a breathtaking experience.

There are areas it could be improved - the fights could be bigger and more involved, and the game could be longer, and the powers have a little more oomph - but it's really just a series of minor nitpicks that tug away at the whole experience.

Though it bears similarities in style and setting to its predecessor, at heart is a new game with incredible depth that is accessible to any dedicated strategy gamer now, thanks to the completely overhauled interface.

There are very few games I recommend outright to anyone without hesitation. So let me just qualify: if you have any interest in first-person shooters, go get Riddick. Now.

What's different about it is that Blizzard has made the game very accessible and really put together an amazing system of quests that aren't just part of the depth, but actually a tutorial. All this is done in a world rich in landmarks, characters, races and enemies.

It's that kind of freedom and pressure-free atmosphere that makes Pirates! as good as it is. Now, if only it would be so nice as to make dancing less important in courtship - or at least less difficult - we'd have a completely enjoyable game.

It's more polished, refined and spit-shined than any game since "StarCraft"...The most remarkable thing about Half-Life 2 is that it manages to perfectly recapture that magical feeling from the original of being there.

Where the developers chose to, they pulled off a great first-person RPG complete with sneaking, combat, dialogue, an interesting story and of course role-playing elements... On the other hand, its combat is not that strong and yet for some reason someone at Troika or Activision saw fit to include multiple prolonged sequences of it. Furthermore, the balance of the game is really thrown off by those fights.

It's quite gritty, has some surprisingly creative missions and even offers historical lessons about the Vietnam conflict. Now if only it was prettier and fixed the "realistic" walking motion.

On the one hand, I love the flight models, the graphics and the challenge of multiplayer. On the other hand, there's no escaping the conclusion that this is really just a spruced up "Forgotten Battles" with carriers and more American-Japanese planes.

It has a seamless blend of strategy and tactics, giving the player the power to choose whether he wants to enjoy one or the other, the 11 civilizations to play – and it does this all in a very refined fashion.

Although it has an uninspired campaign, it’s very true to the universe. The same can not be said for the combat system, which deviates from the board game a great deal but results in some remarkably bloody battles. RTS games all too often suffer from micromanagement mania, but Warhammer does away with this.

Good God, if this game doesn’t immediately suck you in and render you worthless for hours on end, then I don’t know what’s wrong. I’ve, on occasion, sat down to play for a few minutes and then noticed that it’s been five hours.

The multiplayer in UO is revolutionary compared to CoD, and while we might wish Activision released this as a stand-alone for the sake of the community, we’re not about to punish an excellent expansion pack for adding so much to the original.

Doom III is 4 hours of intensity that tests the structural integrity of your mouse against your grip. That's followed by another four hours of wondering if that's all there is to the game. The last 8 hours are irritation that, unfortunately, that is all there is to the game.

I've played Thief the third time now. It's time to elaborate and expand. The small touches implemented by the developers, like the City, factions and stores are mostly cosmetic, never taken advantage of fully.

The base gameplay and fun factor are through the roof. This has to be the first MMO that immediately grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. Wearing tights is extremely addictive, if you can fight off the eventual tedium set-in.

The stake gun and painkiller are simply useless in multiplayer, and they’re your starting weapons. This is as poorly thought out as id giving the blaster as the weapon in "Quake II."

BFV's lack of originality can't be excused - not only isn't it all that much different from the original, it isn't even clearly better than the Desert Combat mod.

Even with its replayability and late-game problems, Silent Storm is really the best turn-based tactical game ever. Yes, it doesn’t have the strategic aspects of X-Com, but no game has such advanced combat.

A better game than Deus Ex, but it’s a lesser experience. It is far less ambitious, not as complicated and about a third as long.

You’re not likely to find another game that lets you skip the pansy levels and move onto the dragon-smiting immediately.

Random hilarious run-ins occur frequently, many times when they aren't even scripted. And for a show that has virtually nothing to do with driving, it's impressive to see a Springfield with seamlessly integrated wacky vehicles, destructive driving (Canyonero! - it's in the game, baby), and unexpected donut theft.

The new "Medal of Honor." Squad combat, iron sights, the incredible tactile feel of the game, the sound effects, the graphics, the intense levels - it’s done for first-person shooters in 2003 what "Medal of Honor" did two years ago.

The game is much more accessible and deeper at the same time, but doesn’t force too much simplicity or complexity on anyone. In those regards, it’s perfect.