It looks great, it’s reasonably well acted, and while its puzzles are hit and miss, its story is enveloping enough to draw you in and keep you playing.

If you’ve played Telltale’s other games, then Game of Thrones is about what you should expect.

In North America, where big bangs, high production values and cinematic 'rail shooters' reign supreme, the hint of frustration and subtle depth that Hidden and Dangerous 2 offers might not be so alluring, but for fans of the original, you owe it to yourself to try it out, even if you can no longer play the campaigns through with your friends.

Overall, Dungeons 3 was a mixed bag for me, mostly because I found the campaign to be sort of a chore. It took me 30 hours to finish its 20 missions, and while the humor was great, the lack of challenge took away any sense of tension or excitement, and I knew at the start of every mission that I was going to win after about 90 minutes. I was also sort of surprised that the focus of the game is way more on the surface (where everything interesting happens) rather than the dungeons (which all look about the same), when it should have been the opposite. So while Dungeons 3 isn’t a terrible game or anything, it’s certainly a title where I’d recommend that you wait for a sale before purchasing it.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane destroys its predecessor by providing more of what made it such a classic to begin with, and improving upon it.

It’s obvious from the beginning that this game isn’t trying to do anything new or terribly innovative. Origins does action, and does it well.

The puzzles morph from tedious to annoying to frustrating, and at no point are they fun.

Though this game is a visceral and grand experience, I can't get away from the fact that it was supposed to be a free pack-in, and instead they've slapped a $50 price tag on it. It would've surely been the best pack-in of all time. As a stand-alone retail game, I can still recommend it, but only for fans of the NBA Jam series.

Last Round is the absolute best version of Dead or Alive 5 to own, with a caveat. The odd pricing model hurts it, as does the overabundance of DLC, but at its core, has the smoothest gameplay of anything out there now and delivers the goods online more often than not.

Evolve isn’t perfect, but it is fun. I haven’t decided if it has enough content to justify its full retail price tag, so it’ll be interesting to see how long the community sticks with it.

Sonic 4: Episode 1 is a short, but well-crafted entry in the series. It's hurt by a lack of innovation and a relatively high price given that it's basically half the length of a regular side-scrolling Sonic, but still carries a pretty hefty $15 price tag. If you're a casual Sonic fan, you're probably better off waiting for it to be discounted at some point on PSN or as an Xbox Deal of the Week, but series die-hards will definitely get $15 out of it between playing through it, then replaying stages for better times and leaderboard scores.

I probably enjoyed Railway Empire more than I should have. I liked laying down tracks and adding switches and figuring out how to move a multitude of trains around without them causing traffic jams and blockages. But the game is a little on the casual side to suit me completely, it only includes early trains in the United States, and it has enough interface and gameplay problems right now that I’m only giving it a minor recommendation. Railway Empire is best suited to people who like trains and simulations, or who played Railroad Tycoon back in the day and have been wishing for it to make a comeback.

The putting mechanics aren't up to par and the game isn't going to blow anyone away in terms of presentation, but if you're a golf fan that would rather swing a club, even a mini one at that, as opposed to pushing a few buttons or moving an analog stick around, you very well might want to consider taking a hack at Real World Golf.

Overall, I found the first episode of Back to the Future: The Game to be fun -- not amazing or anything, but fun.

Battlestations: Pacific does improve on its predecessor in several ways, but overall it just doesn’t do enough to make it a must-buy. The machines control well, but the action is just a bit slow to keep you on the edge of your seat (or couch, or Lazyboy).

A solid, but unmemorable game. The first stood out because it featured a unique premise and sharp humor, this lacks either of those, and ends up feeling like a mere add-on pack to the first instead of its own game.

So if you’re a fan of adventure games and you don’t mind some adult content (including profanity and grisly murders), then the 20th Anniversary Edition is certainly a game you should consider purchasing.

Majin and the Forbidden Kingdom has its fair share of strengths and weakness, but its strong points easily overpower many of its flaws. If you're on the prowl for a budget title that appeals to kids and really anyone else, look no further.

And so my guess is, if you play A Vampyre Story exactly the way the developer intended, and if you don’t encounter any bugs or sloppiness, then you’ll have a lot of fun. But if you keep having problems, and if you keep struggling with puzzles, not because you can’t figure them out, but because the engine isn’t working properly, then each bug / mistake / badly designed puzzle will drain a little bit of fun from the game, until, perhaps, there isn’t any left. It’s just a question of whether you want to take the risk or not.

MLB 2K10 is a good game of baseball. Not a great game, yet, but a good game. I will say that for the first time in recent memory, I get the sense playing this game that it does have the chance to be a great game in the next couple of years.

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is definitely a mixed bag. It's not a "bad" game per se despite having some poorly-executed parts to its gameplay, but it's also not as good as the franchise's best gaming entries either.

A mixture of a quality style, fun story, great characterization, and gameplay that's crippled by absolutely baffling design.

But between the overly tight scripting and the split-second timing required to pull it all off, I thought it was a little difficult to play the missions out the way they wanted you to, finding Hitman: Contracts instead played like an average first person shooter with excessive stealth elements.

This is definitely a single player title first, multiplayer title second. Even in the former, it lacks the material to vault it into the stratosphere and turn XIII into a classic. Style and visuals can only do so much for a game.

I am not one to look a gift-horse in the mouth, what is there is fun -- and fun is fun.

The inclusion of nearly perfect emulations of "Mortal Kombat 2" and "3" alone make this collection worth it for any fighting fan.

Resident Evil has become an entity bigger than any C-Virus creature. It is undeniable that the quality of its past titles has lead to countless sequels, side stories, films (both theatrical and animated) and a general expansion of the lore far beyond the "B-Grade Horror Film" roots of the original title. Gamers are willing to forgive a single misstep, but if Capcom wants the series to continue to be the success it has been for the last fifteen years, Resident Evil 7 should focus on a single artistic vision… perhaps even going back to the "root of all evil."

While Rivals isn’t a perfect racing game, it does manage to fulfill that adrenaline rush that speed junkies crave on a regular basis. With plenty of game modes and tons of upgrades, players will have lots of replayability in their hands.

It’s completely bland and repetitious.

Star Ocean is an enjoyable RPG with engaging battles and an addictive item creation mode. Despite the bland dialogue and vague mission objectives, role-playing fans will love the open worlds and intense combat with their party members.

Visually, Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 is one of, if not the best-looking tennis game on the PlayStation 2.

Longtime fans will probably enjoy this enough to buy it, but casual fans should probably stick with a rental.

For 360 owners, Case West is worth a couple of playthroughs, but it's just not as fun as the main game. The only real reason it has to exist is to please fans by bringing Frank back, and that by itself isn't enough to justify getting shot for two hours straight.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is one of the most fun Wii titles out there, and makes the best use of the controls.

Blackguards 2 is in many ways a game that compares more closely to XCOM than other RPGs.

Some may find that it’s too realistic, but I believe that Madden purists won’t be able to get enough of it.

At $60, newcomers might want to wait until a price drop, while series fans can buy this ASAP without worrying about whether or not they’ll get their money’s worth out of it.

Need For Speed Heat is a return to form for the series and the best entry this generation. The racing action is top-shelf and the day to night shift in gameplay focus keeps things fresh.

The score reflects more the quality of the engine rather than the gameplay, but I liked the game well enough, and there is such a dearth of other adventures out there, that it’s a game worth owning if you enjoy the genre.

It tells a compelling story, and so few RPGs have done that recently that it makes this game shine ever brighter.

The inclusion of nearly perfect emulations of "Mortal Kombat 2" and "3" alone make this collection worth it for any fighting fan.

The combination of frustrating mission mechanics and limited replay value leads me to strongly suggest renting Destroy All Humans before buying, if at all, regardless of your love for bad sci-fi.

Overall, Deponia has some pluses and minuses. The story doesn't make any sense, and the ending is terrible (nothing gets resolved; it's all a set-up for the presumed next title in the franchise), but the world is colorful and the dialogue is well-acted, and the situations are more funny than not. Given its mild $20 price point, Deponia is a reasonable adventure to try out.

As visually striking and aurally impressive as this game is, the duration of Genji and the gameplay issues keep this from being an incredible game.

The bottom line here is that this isn’t nearly as good, fun, or as satisfying a game as the original from either an action standpoint, a role-playing standpoint, or just a comic book standpoint.

Batman: Arkham Origins does its best to continue what two of the generation’s best games started, but falls far short of either game.

It looks good and it’s well acted and it’s funny. And while it’s also short and easy, at least it’s fun while it’s short and easy, and I always prefer that to the opposite.

It’s just that, while I liked Bad Mojo well enough, I didn’t care that much about it, and so the bonus DVD didn’t do all that much for me.

Overall, I was not a fan of Magicka, even at its modest price. The game looks and sounds good enough, and it even has some funny scenes (including a vampire who keeps insisting he's not a vampire, and lots of fake-ish Swedish dialogue), but the actual gameplay was just too punishing for me.

The visuals, while not at all enhanced, look good and the play control, once mastered, is silky smooth.

Personally I preferred Total Annihilation for its big guns and tanks and the larger range of strategic options, but this is an excellent effort by Cavedog to create a medieval version of Total Annihilation. A good solid strategy game which should provide weeks of multiplayer enjoyment, although I am disappointed in Cavedog for botching up their whole Direct 3D Mode.

Between the campaign and the challenges, I spent over 60 hours with the game, and it didn’t seem like a long time at all. So if you were a fan of the Commandos games back in the day, or if you like the idea of dodging guards and disabling security devices, then Crookz is definitely a game to try out.

Overall, Steambot Chronicles is a tremendously ambitious effort that sometimes falls under the weight of its own innovation.

Anyone expecting a purely frenetic racing game should pass, but this should provide sim racing fans with a satisfying game. There’s a lot to tinker with here, and gaming gearheads will be in heaven.

A hell of a game, although some of the missions, in addition to being hard, are frustrating due to various bugs that just end up infuriating the gamer.

Sometimes fun and satisfying, but more often than not it is slow, boring and repetitive.

Mediocre at best. If you’re trying to find a simple racer to appease someone who is confused with such daunting tasks as, say, reciting the alphabet, then Ridge Racer 6 might be what you’re looking for.

Arguably the best poker game on the market these days. The enhanced AI and depth of the career mode make the game more than just poker. However with the overlooks of the few visual effects, it has room for improvement in the coming editions.

As it is, this new installment still remains a must-have simply due to the Havok physics - it adds that much to the game that it's worth buying it just for crazy extreme rules and TLC matches.

It possesses excellent technical qualities with a run-down view of the world that Nostradamus would be proud of. But it lacks any heart.

Each episode presents its own challenges, humour and fun -- and for the Sam & Max fan, it will be worth picking up and playing through. For those not familiar with the Sam & Max franchise, the game is probably of most interest to adventure game and puzzle game fans.

Overall, God Wars: Future Past is a well-crafted strategy RPG that manages to be both fun for veterans of the genre and newcomers. Its robust job system allows you to experiment freely with different character types and makes what would otherwise be trial and error into a fun task. It’s a solid-looking game overall, but definitely has some visual shortcoming when it comes to the character models. The sound design as a whole is strong though, and the game itself is perfect for anyone looking to get into SRPGs, or for lapsed fans of the genre.

Newcomers who have heard of that game’s legend may want to wait for a demo or a price drop – but at only $20, this is one of the rare games out there you can blind buy and get a lot of enjoyment out of without worrying about buyer’s remorse. It plays like a dream, looks good, and is a satisfying score-based game that makes you want to keep playing to do better – not force you into doing so.

The inclusion of nearly perfect emulations of "Mortal Kombat 2" and "3" alone make this collection worth it for any fighting fan.

At $40, it's impossible to recommend the PSP version of UFC Undisputed 2010. With some retailers charging that much for the console version brand-new, it's ridiculous to pay the same price for a vastly inferior version of it. In its present form, it's just a poor rendition of a fantastic game.

It’s exactly the same effing game!

But while AOK managed to hit every note just about right, Cossacks mixes together some harmony and cacophony (continuing the metaphor) and doesn't quite achieve the same elegance of gameplay.

With an addictive soundtrack and a near verbatim translation of the story and gameplay, you'll find that all the praise Jet Grind Radio got for the Dreamcast is well deserved.

It also captures the spirit of both the old pirate movies, imparting a sense of heroism and roguishness within the player.

In the end, F.E.A.R. 3 is a great game.

The action is fun, but a couple of the vagaries of gameplay kill that. This is a case of an otherwise high-quality game being hindered by a few iffy additions that wreck the whole experience.

A solid, but unmemorable game. The first stood out because it featured a unique premise and sharp humor, this lacks either of those, and ends up feeling like a mere add-on pack to the first instead of its own game.

In the end, F.E.A.R. 3 is a great game.

Wolfenstein is a mediocre title from a franchise known to be innovative and exceptional in their offerings.

Overall, The 40th Day, which is an awful name by the way, is actually a great game. Is it as much of an improvement over the original as we might’ve hoped? Not really, but there is a ton more content including a hefty arsenal of weaponry for you to pimp out and an expanded multiplayer that makes this game well worth playing.

Fireteam Bravo 3 is the best SOCOM title Slant Six Games has produced thus far, but it’s a much better multiplayer experience than it is a single player game.

Luckily, while I didn’t enjoy Yesterday Origins for most of the time that I played it, the ending was clever and worked pretty well, and that saved the game for me. Still, I can’t overlook ten bad hours for one good one. The story is dull and does little to establish an emotional connection, I didn’t like any of the characters involved, and the puzzles are at best workmanlike. If you were a fan of Yesterday, then Yesterday Origins might be a worthwhile purchase for you, but otherwise you’re better off looking elsewhere.

It's not the best looking game and the extras are a little shallow but there's really very little wrong with it. If you like to punch, kick, and explore gorgeous worlds, this is the game for you.

I wish there was more to say about Rogue, but there really isn’t. For better or worse, Ubisoft has turned Assassin’s Creed into a fairly predictable series. Rogue is very much a standalone AC 4 expansion.

A solid and entertaining mech game with an unprecedented customization system that mech-fanatics will totally get off on.

Every so often I had some fun with the game, but too much playing time is taken up by long, boring trudges where you have to kill the same enemies over and over again (and then over and over some more, since monsters constantly re-spawn), and that isn’t much fun.

For the most part Ion Assault is a great game, though not without its flaws.

The game does deserve some respect because, admittedly, despite its shortcomings players are likely to be compelled enough to finish it. The fun that the game does deliver when it decides to is nail-bitingly entertaining and, as stated above, the storyline is fantastic.

It’s not going to wow you or keep you up at night, and I doubt it’s going to make any adventure gaming Top Ten lists, but it’s pleasant and accessible, and I enjoyed it enough during the 5-6 hours I spent with it that I feel comfortable giving it a modest recommendation.

And so overall I didn’t much like Anna’s Quest. It’s just so nice and pleasant that it’s boring. That being said, there isn’t any profanity or violence or meanness to be seen, so it’s definitely a family-friendly game. It also appears to be targeted at young girls, and since that’s not the usual audience for games, it could work in the right situation.

All this eye-candy comes at a price however, the game is plagued with clipping problems that are, at times, completely ridiculous.

You can't really play this game without thinking of the dark, sweat-filled arcades that're now long gone, or of those plastic-sheathed sitdown machines you still sometimes see in bars. Midway Arcade Treasures is like a time capsule, buried back when games were simple, and no less fun because of that.

Had the developers of Red Dead Revolver paid as much attention to mining classic video game control as they did to beloved movie scenes, they might have had a perfect game on their hands. As it is, Red Dead Revolver is a damn fine game.

Revelations 2 isn’t quite a return to form for the series or anything quite so dramatic, but it’s an example of doing more with less.

Syndicate may not be for everyone. Purists who enjoyed the original back in the day might well be disappointed by the direction Starbreeze took it. But if you're into sci-fi shooters this is definitely worth a look.

A fantastic first entry for the series on the Wii. EA has done a lights-out job, and for SSX fans, this is a great sign of awesome things to come. The game is flat-out hard, and again, it will take you quite some time to master. When you do, though, it is just plain fun.

On the ice, NHL 2K8 has improved by leaps and bounds in the graphics department.

Similar gameplay for both characters, aimless objectives and technical issues strangle and mar what would otherwise be a solid addition to an excellent series. Despite that, however, the plot is still well done and answers a number of questions that fans have been looking forward to.

Overall, Sonic Colors Ultimate is a must-buy for anyone who loved the original release – or who missed it and always wanted to try it out. On the PS4 and PS5, it plays wonderfully and our time netted zero issues either visually or with crashes. Some have reported issues on the Switch version and it seems like it would be best to wait for that one to get fixed-up before buying. However, if you’re playing on PlayStation and Xbox hardware, you’re in great shape to enjoy one of Sonic’s finest adventures ever and his best 3D outing in history.

Where there was mostly frustration before, there is now more room for fun and creativity.

Even though I enjoyed the case more in Double or Nothing, I didn’t enjoy playing the game as much because I felt like I had done it all before.

A disappointment. I liked Tilted Mill’s first offering, Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile, much more, and it’s odd how they could go from a unique and interesting game to one so completely bland and generic.

Spyro has definitely not lost its audio-visual lustre since its first inception, but it has some ways to go to dislodge Mario on the handheld platform.