This game certainly could have benefited dramatically from an overhaul in the graphics department, but the gameplay remains top notch. The added refinements and tweaks make for some excellent gameplay and the addition of the scenario generator will add that much more in terms of replay value.

To be honest, this is really the sequel to the original "SOCOM" that players have long been waiting for. Expanded multiplayer, larger mission maps and a dedicated single player story makes SOCOM III stand out above the infuriating missteps of its predecessor.

Online multiplayer is dreadfully slow, both in co-op and deathmatch modes, which brings an unwanted element of luck into the picture. It's shocking really considering how smoothly this game ran back in 1993 yet with all this newfound processing power and high-speed Internet, the game has the problems it does here.

If you’re a fan of the series, or have an interest in the medical genre, I can definitely recommend this game to you. If you feel that you’ve played the series out, however, then there just may not be enough quality, fresh content to pull you back.

If you’re looking for a game with a ton of depth, replayability and a solid storyline, look no further. Gladius is stockpiled with a ton of features that will appease everyone from the beginning adventurer to the hardcore strategist.

As a whole, VF 5: Final Showdown is one of those games that I think of as top-shelf, but all the secondary factors like DLC and available options for it put an asterisk next to that when it comes to recommending it to others. If you love the series, you'll get whatever amount of money you spend on it back in sheer enjoyment. If you don't, then at least try the free PSN version or XBLA demo and see if it changes your mind.

The combat mechanics – weapon feel, body point damage system, enemy AI, running and sneaking, encumbrance and fatigue – have all been simulated excellently and with real care paid to balance and playability. The end-of-civilization free for all environment is a very exciting and engrossing setting for an FPS.

I can't imagine any casual gamers getting much out of Mega Man 9. It requires and tests a skill set that you only tend to have these days if you've been playing games for the last twenty years.

Far Cry 5 is a breathe of fresh air for the Far Cry franchise. Ubisoft’s open-world design continues to evolve in mostly positive ways, granting players more freedom than ever before while presenting more engrossing story and side missions with memorable NPCs to help keep the gameplay loop from getting repetitive. If you’re a fan of Far Cry or first-person shooters in general, Far Cry 5 is an easy recommendation.

With an enhanced battle system, extra game modes, tweaked gameplay and cooperative wireless play on the DS, the game delivers on one of the single most overlooked factors in game production: fun. Space Invaders Extreme 2 is addictive and fun.

From one of the minds that brought us the Resident Evil series, The Evil Within 2 serves as a survival horror delight. It’s a jolting, excellent tale of horror and mystery with a strong story and a driving narrative, plus a multitude of side quests and sub-plots to keep even the most seasoned players engaged and thrilled. It is not a perfectly executed game by any means, but, like the original game, the flaws tend to get buried under the bloody heap of viscera and terror players will experience should they decide to pick up a copy.

As sequels go, Bloodshot is sort of a mixed bag. Chances are if you liked the first Condemned you’ll like the second, even if it doesn’t pull it all off with the same panache.

The gameplay gives you plenty of choices regarding progressing through a stage, and it looks good while you do so. It would've been very easy to churn out another boring murderfest, but instead we get a thinking man's game. Good showing.

The game is certainly worth renting for a weekend, as the single-player campaign lasts a minimum of seven to 10 hours on a modest difficulty setting. A full purchase may depend on just how much the subject grabs you, and whether you can find friends to play online. In any case, the game is very promising for Double Fine's future.

There is no escaping the fact that Fallout: New Vegas is more or less Fallout 3. The map might be bigger, the side quests more expansive, but if you've played Fallout 3, you're not going to find anything dramatically new here.

Even if you’ve already spent hundreds of hours wandering Skyrim’s countryside, the mods available at launch provide new ways to play, new loot to acquire, new locations to explore, and much more. Skyrim Special Edition is the best version of one of the all-time great fantasy role-playing games, even if it has begun to show its age.

I wouldn't complain if they'd given us a little more, though, but this is definitely a stellar start.

Even with the technical snafus that sometimes plague Legends, this is still the best X-Men title ever produced. The Action/RPG elements are nicely integrated within an epic storyline with plenty of intrigue and a huge amount of gameplay that can take 20 hours or more to fully complete.

An excellent game, true to Fallout tradition in all respects. Unfortunately, one of those respects is a cavalcade of bugs and a product rushed to the market.

With improved graphics, better animations, and a control system that, like their commercials say, allows players to fully express themselves anyway they want, Live 2003 is unbelievably solid.

The stages are huge, well-detailed, and genuinely fun to poke around in. As far as side-scrollers go, it's high quality.

The Spyro Reignited Trilogy is a fantastic remake of some flawed games and with that comes a mixed bag of a recommendation. If you’re a series veteran and absolutely love collect-a-thons now as much as you did then, pick it up and you’ll have a lot of fun. If you’re new to the series and have access to the PS1 games via a PS1, PS2, or PS3 digitally, see if the formula is for you. As remakes go, this is a far more thorough one than even the Crash Bandicoot one and in that sense, it’s a better collection for PS1 classic fans – but the game themselves lack variety and feel a bit too similar to one another to recommend a full-price purchase right out of the gate.

Overwhelming salvaged by three of the cornerstones of the franchise, an engaging, well crafted plotline, solid premise and impressive sound values.

I found the first hour of LoG nostalgic, and the next hour tolerable, and the hours after that aggravating. The dungeon is bland and the enemies are flat and the combat interface is cumbersome – in others words, just like every RPG dungeon crawl in the 80's.

This is a decent expansion to Dishonored 2 and sets up a new, potentially interesting status quo for the series, but it takes out so much of what Dishonored 2 had under the hood that it feels a bit slight by comparison, and the few brand-new additions are heavily limited. I don’t regret playing it, but it’s hard to say more about it than that it’s a stripped-down pseudo-sequel.

Brilliantly constructed and a noble last effort from longtime Nintendo mainstay Rare.

The bottom line here is that Broken Steel is more Fallout 3, and if you’re a fan that can’t possibly be a bad thing. Like with the other DLC, the story will probably only take you a few hours to go through and then you’re left with the goodies.

As a sequel to Painkiller, spiritual or otherwise, Bulletstorm is a disappointment. The best way to approach it, if you played Painkiller, is to forget there's a link between the two games at all. Instead, take Bulletstorm for what it is: a ridiculous arcade-ish FPS with a goofy sense of humor and a talent for amazing action sequences.