The RPG elements are far from groundbreaking, but they provide a very entertaining quest structure that serves as the game's backbone. After that, it's up to you how you want the game to play out, and it works very well. The total package is a lot of fun, and hell, you get to be a pirate.

Defense Grid takes about five minutes to learn, then slowly gives you more tools over the course of campaign mode.

The first couple levels are excellent and there are jewels hidden throughout the rest of the game. It just becomes a little frustrating to wade through all the other fillers that lie between.

This title is all about gameplay, which is magnificently presented on the Game Boy Advance. Above all, its raison d'etre is about fun and it succeeds admirably in delivering it.

Last Light is a punishing, hardcore experience that isn’t quite like anything else on the shelves right now, and if you go into it looking for exactly that, it delivers in spades. If you pick it up looking for a quick weekend’s shoot-’em-up fun (or a lap dance), it will crush your spirit and laugh at your pain. You’ve been warned.

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.

Trine 2: Director's Cut is an excellent game and an absolute must-own if you don't already have it for another console. If you've already got the 360, PS3, or PC versions of the game, I'm not quite sure if the additional content is worth $20 – that will really depend on how much you liked it. If you're a casual fan of the series, then it's probably not worth full price, and if you've got a good enough PC to run it, then your best bet is to stick with that unless you're dying for something to play on the Wii U. It looks and sounds great on the Gamepad, and is one of the most amazing titles to see running on the device.

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.

The piece de resistance is undeniably the batting and pitching. The other parts of the game merely dress it up to become a full baseball title.

Mega Man 11 is coming at a time of great unrest for the character and this shows that the franchise can be done quite well even with new people at the helm. It takes the best of what worked before and manages to add new things in to make it feel modern and more than just a retread of the past. It’s a great buy for anyone who has either loved Mega Man, or wanted to see what the fuss was about.

Except for the pieces where SS3 is like the old Serious Sam, awash in enemy hordes, this Serious Sam feels almost more like the original FPS Duke Nukem' than anything else.

An excellent arcade boxing title. Obviously inspired by the popular Punch Out series, Boxing Fever offers a little more strategy and a fantastic two-player mode.

The production values on Winterbottom are pretty high, it's a fun game to just sit and look at, and the little bits of art and writing that join each stage are at least as good as a solid children's book.

Soulcalibur IV is exactly what the fans expected it to be, and a bit more.

With a strong dose of attitude, very accessible control scheme and creative spin on the sport of football, NFL Street is a bold and worthy addition to the EA Sports Big family.

Pinball FX2 VR is sure to please existing fans of the series – but newcomers may want to just stick with the mainline game for now. The cost-to-value ratio on this game isn’t quite as high due to the comparative lack of content, but what’s here is very good. The table themes for the in-game world are outstanding, and do somewhat offset the lack of content.

While the inclusion of the vision cones and the concept of the Superstar mode were creative ideas, the actual implementation of the features ranged from inconvenient to improperly constructed.

For fifteen dollars, you get a lot of gameplay with Torchlight. It's very much made for people who are already fans of the genre, but I could see a new player having fun with it too; on Easy or Normal, it begins slowly enough that just about anybody could get up a good head of steam. It's not the kind of thing you play if you're looking for a strong, unforgettable narrative, but it'll keep you busy for at least a few days.

NBA Live 10 looks great, and finally plays great as well. The Dynamic Season mode is the highlight of the game, and is worth the price of admission by itself.

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.

While its controls have a high learning curve, and the graphics don’t dazzle like one might expect from a latter-day Wii U release, Rodea the Sky Soldier is still an outstanding experience.

The Groundhog Day of tile-based fantasy RPGs, Loop Hero is a unique, highly addictive and well-crafted roguelike that will have you saying, “just one more loop.” If this mix of genres intrigues you, I highly recommend you check the game out.

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.

In the end, crisp visuals, superb sound and an engrossing solo campaign all help Brothers in Arms stand out from an overcrowded crop of World War II shooters.

I think for the story lore alone, I’d play Wasteland 3. Add into it some mid-level tactical combat, a wide-open character progression tree, and a pretty sick sense of humor, and I think I’ve found a winner.

I wasn’t really looking forward to this chapter after I was so cold on “Atlas Mugged,” but “Catch A Ride” turned me around a bit. I’d still like a bit more engagement in the game–more puzzles, more sequences that involve actual skill–but this is good.

Without a doubt, the most revolutionary addition to the game is the inclusion of co-operative play.

It lacks that final polish games like Starcraft have received where each unit and race has been weighed against every other in terms of cost and utility. Nonetheless, it is a nicely crafted and presented RTS which leans towards the old-school mold.