At normal difficulty (which is actually quite easy) the game should take about eight to 10 hours to complete. There is replay value in the different characters, although the dungeons and quests remain identical.

It isn't for everyone though, the difficulty can be infuriatingly hard and means that some players won't ever make it to the later levels.

While the rev of the bike engines is dead on, the music is just awful. The same bad grunge rock song (or at least, all the songs seem to sound the same) plays over and over. Unless you can phase the noise out, turning the music off will be your only recourse.

Persona 3's daily structure is both a blessing and a curse. A benefit of the system is that you genuinely look forward to seeing what new characters or events are revealed the next day. Yet having to visit a single dungeon, even one with hundreds of floors, is not always appealing.

We like Beyond the Sword because it makes the vastness of Civilization 4 just a little bit bigger. Getting to play the Dutch and Portuguese is worth a lot, but we wish all the expansions could have the cunning to make us look at the game in a new way without losing the rich complexity that make us love it in the first place.

The threadbare story can barely support the game’s 20 hours of gameplay and the brothers don’t have enough moves to keep the puzzle-solving fresh.

Isn't really a sequel no matter what it says on the box. It's an expansion pack. Gamers who already own "IL-2 Sturmovik" may balk at the price, as there's simply not enough new here to justify the purchase.

The game is the pretty much the same as last year, but with a more updated roster. If you purchased last year’s title, this game is not worth forking over another 60 bucks for the same experience.

The versatile character-creation system will, at the very least, allow you to end up with something reasonably close to what you had in mind. The problem is that your looks pretty much have no bearing on how your character will play.

It's a shame, because this game, while merely good, does hint at the possibility of a truly great RPG, given another development cycle or two.

Though we've managed to tune the game, the clunky interface and hidden Sim settings are definitely a turn-off.

The universe is large, but there's not much to do in it. There are infinite numbers of missions to complete, but once you've played a handful, you've played them all.

This feels like yet another genre shoehorned poorly onto hardware that just isn’t equipped to handle it.

New scenery, new enemies, and new quests abound for fans of the third Elder Scrolls game, but the familiar story line and lack of any real innovation keeps Bloodmoon from shining too brightly.

Maybe next year will bring us that much closer to having a Madden game like never before. It’s still a good game, slightly above average, but not as great as it should be.

A perfect example of why shooters have become such a niche genre. It's a good game that's well made. It's even got an interesting hook to keep the hard core happy. But the insane difficulty will keep most players from getting past the first level before giving up. And with the ultra-short playing time, even shooter fans might not find enough to like here.

PoP is a group of interesting ideas searching for a stronger game to hold them all together.

Lacks some of the technological prowess of other shooters, but its personality and extras keep its head above water.

Resident Evil 5 is mired in poor design decisions that drag down the experience and render single-player campaign a tedious exercise in working around the game. It’s frustrating to see a game that I so looked forward to playing and carried with it such potential, sabotage itself in so many ways. Compared against the ambition of games like Bioshock, Mass Effect, and Assassin’s Creed; Resident Evil 5 seems timid, unwilling to move out of its comfort zone. It’s a shame.

Devil May Cry 4 is also nothing close to the full next-gen transformation that the moody, gothic world of Capcom’s demons deserved.

Devil May Cry 4 is also nothing close to the full next-gen transformation that the moody, gothic world of Capcom’s demons deserved.

At its core the game is fiendishly clever. Like the game's baroque visuals, the mechanics are equally ornate – nearly diabolically so. It's a shame to discover such a meticulously crafted game cobbled together with duct-tape.

New Super Mario Bros. U is a solid game, but one whose core experience is as conservative as can be and the level design, graphics, and sound are nearly identical to previous entries. The co-op features, however, are excellent, as are the new challenge modes.

We would have liked more maps and a solid fix for the sound problems.

The same formula that was once termed as ground-breaking now become tired and old.

While the game soars when it comes to charm and presentation, the uneven mix favors the weaker half of the gameplay formula and can't offer up a single well-rounded control option.

Resident Evil 5 is mired in poor design decisions that drag down the experience and render single-player campaign a tedious exercise in working around the game. It’s frustrating to see a game that I so looked forward to playing and carried with it such potential, sabotage itself in so many ways. Compared against the ambition of games like Bioshock, Mass Effect, and Assassin’s Creed; Resident Evil 5 seems timid, unwilling to move out of its comfort zone. It’s a shame.

Did we really need a third version of Dead or Alive 2? Probably not, and we definitely didn't need more DOA 1. But, for diehard fight fans and online junkies, Ultimate is worth a look.