One great addition in Makin’ Magic is the creation of a character inventory, which allows you to keep MagiCoins and ingredients for spells and charms.

Thus, while Templar's precursor may have been merely good when it was initially released, in the face of new competition from much shallower titles, it is even better, like Citizen Kane's positive reappraisal.

Those who already own Chrono Phantasma can probably wait a bit, but if you’re new to the franchise, there is no better jumping off point than this game.

Special attention was paid to capturing the athletic tumbling abilities that Spider-Man exhibited in both the comic books and the movies, and it shows. The incredibly agile moves that a player can pull off with Spidey are astounding.

All in all, Kiwami is an easy game to recommend to fans of the series and those who have already played Yakuza 0 and loved it. The remakes of the older titles are Sega’s way of ushering in a new generation of fans and, now that the series has proven to do well in the west, bring all of the series’ experiences to a wider audience. Yakuza Kiwami is just as fun, weird, disturbing, hilarious and provocative as the rest of the series’ titles, and is well worth the twenty-five hours of gameplay and thirty dollar price of admission.

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.

All in All, Driver: San Francisco is a successful rebirth for the series.

It's no longer the de facto title out there. I still came away enjoying my time with Pacific Assault immensely.

Space Invaders Extreme is a definite must-buy.

In the end, LEGO The Lord of the Rings is fantastic – very possibly one of the best LEGO games made to date. The level design is ingenious and unique despite using the same tried and true techniques we've seen before. I like how different situations call for unique strategies. I also appreciated the risk taken since there is no central hub.

If you’re like me, where Wii Sports continues to get the most play on your Wii, then you’re surely itching to get your hands on Wii Sports Resort, if you haven’t done so already.

It’s certain not to appeal to all gamers, and while I often personally use games to relax and blow off steam, I find that after playing an hour or so of Outlast I’m too wound up to play anymore. Good thing then that the whole game is about five hours long.

From Dust is a fantastic game and a great follow-up to the Summer of Arcade's first game, Bastion. It's not quite like anything you've ever seen before and there's plenty of content to warrant a purchase. There are a few kinks that need to be worked out but overall, this is a game that everyone should check out, just make sure you don't let your newfound godly prowess get to your head.

Be wary, though, as Doomsday, like its predecessor, can suck away hours to no end. And in the final analysis, that’s not a bad thing at all.

The sound in Homecourt is spectacular. From the excellent narration of the players’ tales to the on-the-court trash talk, the sound is awesome.

As great as Marvel’s Avengers was, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy takes the framework of combat there and fine-tunes it.

The story is engaging, the graphics are attractive, and the gameplay is challenging, but rewarding. I'm practically burnt out on WWII games, but this one managed wet my whistle.

Overall, Injustice is a very good game aided by the gameplay being a slightly more evolved version of the MK reboot.

The good news: there’s a co-op mode. The bad: it’s limited to two players. It’s the work of the solo campaign divided in two, which may possibly be fun for you and a friend, assuming you’ve got broadband and a microphone. The ugly however: there are no publically-hosted campaigns to be found, anywhere, despite built-in GameSpy support.

You could do a lot worse with your Microsoft Points than to pick it up.

Renegade Ops doesn't aim to push any boundaries or blow our minds in any substantial way; its sole purpose is to give gamers an incredibly fun game they can share with their friends. It might not be something you remember a year from now but this is definitely an experience you should check out, if only because there isn't anything out there with this level of polish or a personality this nutty and consistently fun.

If you're looking for a gory, gruesome action game with a lot of heart, both literally and figuratively, then The Darkness II is a very worthy addition to your library.

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.

It's fun, but I'm not sure it's forty bucks worth of fun.

The visuals constitute as the most appealing part of Colin McRae 2.0. Compared to other racers I've seen, the car models in here are a phenomenal improvement.

Not quite Tony Hawk and not quite completely innovative, Wakeboarding Unleashed is an original take on the extreme sports genre that, despite breaking new ground in the field of wakeboarding, manages to get it right the first time.

It's as seamless and clever as it could be in a title like this.

In theory, Trials Fusion should be the biggest and best entry yet. Between more development time and it being on next-gen systems, it should feel definitive. However, while it’s very good, it doesn’t raise the bar for the series like Evolution did.