NBA 2K13 is a love letter to basketball fans everywhere. 2K Sports continues to impress, resist the urge to rest on its laurels, and produce a fantastic product that innovates in unforeseen ways.

Plants vs. Zombies is one of those addictive games where you always want to play just a little bit longer -- just to see what crazy thing might appear next, if for no other reason.

By doing what they do best Criterion has made Burnout Paradise one of the most accessible and wildly entertaining arcade racers ever created.

The weapons are pretty unimaginative (all the imagination was in "Doom 1" – this is just a continuation) and are often useless (ever try using a rocket launcher in a small room? Well, there are about a billion small rooms in Doom 3). The BFG is fun as always, of course.

Series vets with fond memories of the Pro Race Driver/TOCA games on previous systems should pick this up immediately, and if you're unsure about it, there's a demo available for download that’ll give you a good idea as to how easily most of the cars can be controlled, but won't give you a very accurate view of just how many kinds of racing styles are represented in the full game.

343 Industries had some very big Spartan boots to fill when took over the reigns of the Halo franchise from Bungie. All things considered they've done a tremendous job. Where they come up a little short is the campaign, which feels all too familiar gameplay wise to previous Halo installments. They played it safe and it shows.

If you spent any time at all on SF2 as a kid, on your SNES or Genesis or down at your arcade, this is a must-have nostalgia bomb.

Injustice 2 tells one of the best stories ever featured in a fighting game, and the folks at NetherRealm have once again shown that it’s something they truly excel at. As a core fighter, it’s really more of the same with the Injustice engine, and if you were to imagine that game rebuilt with much higher-quality character models, a new story, and an updated roster, you’d have this in a nutshell. That’s not really a bad thing; it’s just a sign that this is exactly what someone would imagine a sequel to that game being for better or worse. For anyone who loved that game, you should get this as soon as possible. If you didn’t play that one, then you’re better off starting there – if you dig it, then buy this too. The two games fit together perfectly like puzzle pieces, and are a lot of fun to play.

The multiplayer is easily the best facet of the game, and is much better than it ever was. However, some of the problems with the still-weak single player missions limit this game from truly being great.

Purists will chastise RalliSport Challenge 2 for being a little too liberal with the physics and having too little depth in terms of customizing vehicles. For ninety percent of the gaming population, however, RalliSport Challenge 2 is a fine racing game. It sounds amazing. It looks great. It plays well.

Overall, Final Fantasy VII Remake is a must-buy for fans of the original – but with some caveats attached. Those going into it expecting the complete FF VII experience from start to finish with a new gameplay setup and graphics will be disappointed, while those going in knowing that it is part of the overall package, just with a poor name choice, will wind up quite happy with it. Being able to go between a more classic gameplay approach or a modernized one offers up a lot of freedom to players, while the story itself remains my favorite in franchise history – and it’s now told with more depth and detail than ever before. The revamped graphics aren’t perfect – but do a better job on the whole of conveying the story, while the voice work helps it gain a new level of gravitas that wasn’t there before.

The entire package does a fantastic job of delivering all the fun, brain-teasing puzzles and hilarity for which the series is known.

If you're able to put aside any possible reservations, you'll find that Dragon Quest IX is a great RPG to sink your teeth into this summer.

Nearly every facet of the spy game is more mature and polished. Pandora Tomorrow shouldn't disappoint and had such a great effect on me, I found myself trawling the NSA website for jobs the next day. Like fine wine, this franchise has definitely become better with age.

FIFA Soccer 09 looks the best it ever has, the controls make it user friendly, and the improvements to player movement and animations make it the most realistic soccer game on the market.

If Jeanne d'Arc was a PS2 game, it'd be one of the last great games on the system. As a PSP game, it's definitely a reason to own the system, although it has a surprising difficulty curve that may frustrate some players.

From the new modes and vehicles to the expanded level of destruction and rewarding progression system, it all lends to an open warfare experience that will have you returning to the battlefield for months to come.

FIFA Soccer 09 looks the best it ever has, the controls make it user friendly, and the improvements to player movement and animations make it the most realistic soccer game on the market.

While the inclusion of the Race for the Heisman mode was an incredibly ambitious move, along with some of the other tweaks made to the game, NCAA Football 06 manages to carry them off rather well.

DiRT 3 has some rough edges but remains a worthwhile purchase for longtime fans who crave more of the racing action that has made the DiRT series the premiere rally series on the market, but newcomers should go with one of the prior games. Partly because rally racing isn't for everyone, so if you're new, go with a prior game, preferably DiRT 2 and see if the series is for you. Multi-platform owners should get the 360 version. Its controller feels better for racing games, and you can use your Avatar as a prop hanging off of your in-car mirror, which may not make for impressive ad copy, but sure is amusing to see and will get a few laughs out of you.

I recommend it to those who grew up in arcades, those who enjoy a challenge, and casual gamers looking for something they can pick up and play.

Despite some rough edges, Heavy Rain is an unforgettable experience.

The graphics have been prettied up, but the rest of the game has been completely moronized and user-friendlized to foot the bill of I-don't-know-who.

Sure, it's essentially an add-on for the original Thief plus a few engine enhancements, but the result still works.

The entire package does a fantastic job of delivering all the fun, brain-teasing puzzles and hilarity for which the series is known.

It’s an amazingly good, distressingly short game.

Overall, Gran Turismo 7 is the greatest entry in the series to date and the perfect gateway game for those who are lapsed fans of the series. It takes everything the series has done right while cutting back greatly on things that have bogged it down over the years and outside of the lootboxes, feels like about as perfect an entry in the series as one could imagine. The completely restructured career mode makes for a far more fun and engaging experience and the menu overhaul makes everything so much easier to do. It looks great, plays near-perfectly, and is the exact kind of game I always wanted from the series. Simply put, Gran Turismo 7 is a must-buy for racing fans.

DiRT 3 has some rough edges but remains a worthwhile purchase for longtime fans who crave more of the racing action that has made the DiRT series the premiere rally series on the market, but newcomers should go with one of the prior games. Partly because rally racing isn't for everyone, so if you're new, go with a prior game, preferably DiRT 2 and see if the series is for you. Multi-platform owners should get the 360 version. Its controller feels better for racing games, and you can use your Avatar as a prop hanging off of your in-car mirror, which may not make for impressive ad copy, but sure is amusing to see and will get a few laughs out of you.