If Brute Force has one failing in terms of gameplay, it’s repetitive level design. The missions are fairly linear, and your squad is equipped with a radar that always tells you where you need to go.

Street Fighter X Tekken is a great game in some ways and does a surprisingly good job of blending two completely different styles of fighting games. However, it's got too many rough edges to warrant a full-price purchase right now, and is definitely best-suited as a rental until the kinks are worked out. If that happens, then I'd say it's a worthy addition to any fighting fan's library for about $40.

Overall, I enjoyed the time I spent with The Walking Dead. It's not a great "game" since its puzzles and action sequences are short and easy, but it has all the right elements - including excellent writing and voice acting - to make it an absorbing interactive movie. Plus, with about 15 hours of content, it's reasonably priced at $25. So if you've been trying to find the perfect Christmas gift for the zombie fan in your family, then The Walking Dead might be just the thing.

While its engine handles combat well enough, the targeting crosshair was not made for human eyes. It'll lock onto somebody's chest effectively enough, but it's got a sense of humor. You'll often aim at a crate or barrel when you really want to be aiming at the chest of the guy who just stormed into the room.

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.

The action is moderately intense, though I think most gamers will find the level of difficulty very manageable as long as you advance methodically and don’t rush blithely into massive enemy numbers.

While the A.I. could’ve been stronger and there could’ve been more with the playable characters, Chaos Bleeds does a great job of appealing to fans and newcomers to the show alike. Adventure fans should look at sinking their teeth into this game.

While the A.I. could’ve been stronger and there could’ve been more with the playable characters, Chaos Bleeds does a great job of appealing to fans and newcomers to the show alike. Adventure fans should look at sinking their teeth into this game.

Rochard takes the somewhat-familiar puzzle-platformer genre and puts a unique spin on it. The gameplay is very well-done, and the controls are usually great, with only a couple of issues.

Ultimately, the frame rate and online issues transform what could have been an incredible game into a very good game.

The lack of attention to the pure mechanics that attracted so many players to the series is a significant detraction to the game, as are the limitations placed on some of the game modes and the overemphasis on acting crazy.

Being one of the first strategy titles based on Tolkien's locus classicus, War of the Ring should introduce a good many movie fans to the strategy genre -- and most likely, no greater percentage of Ring fans exists than amongst the gaming demographic -- but veteran real-time strategy players might want to look elsewhere if depth is what they're seeking.

Overall, I enjoyed the time I spent with A Plague Tale: Innocence. It’s unique in premise and content, it looks and sounds good, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. I probably would have liked it even better if it had stayed more stealthy than action-oriented, but I’m not going to complain. A Plague Take definitely isn’t for kids — violence and gruesome deaths abound, and there is also some (completely unnecessary) profanity — but for everyone else, it’s a worthwhile game to check out, just perhaps at a slightly cheaper price.

A surprising twist to the horror genre. With extremely creative monsters, an unique setting and quite a bit of replayability, The Suffering provides a sense of where the survival horror game could be going within future titles.

Mega Man Zero's developers hit the right note and the ensuing drama lends a sense of urgency to the action.

If you snicker when someone says "Uranus," find Carrot Top absolutely hilarious, or perhaps still carry around a whoopee cushion, Conker: Live & Reloaded will be right up your alley. If you're a little more Bill Cosby than Richard Pryor, you'll have problems.

Ultimately, the frame rate and online issues transform what could have been an incredible game into a very good game.

The lack of attention to the pure mechanics that attracted so many players to the series is a significant detraction to the game, as are the limitations placed on some of the game modes and the overemphasis on acting crazy.

Critter Chronicles took me about a dozen hours to complete, and I consistently found it to be enjoyable during that time. The puzzles work well and are sometimes challenging (at least on "Hard;" I didn't try "Normal"), the writing is amusing enough that the game is entertaining to watch as well as play, and the voice acting is once again terrific.

With extremely creative monsters, an unique setting and quite a bit of replayability, The Suffering provides a sense of where the survival horror game could be going within future titles. If only some of the graphics and gameplay facets were a little more solid, this game would be almost perfect.

Its visual presentation is amazing and the gameplay is even better. If not for the progression-stilting level design this could be a contender for game of the year.

College Hoops 2K8 is your best college basketball option for this year. The game looks good, the gameplay is as sharp as ever, and the feel of college basketball is there. If you're a college basketball fan, then this one is easy to recommend.

Peripheral issues aside, Taiko Drum Master is probably one of the first rhythm games in a while to actually provide some amount of creativity to the genre.

Emergence should serve as a great launching point for Ritual’s experiment. It’s a solid game that knows its audience, and while it is pared down, that’s only as far as needed for a game half the length and cost of an average one.

College Hoops 2K8 is your best college basketball option for this year. The game looks good, the gameplay is as sharp as ever, and the feel of college basketball is there. If you're a college basketball fan, then this one is easy to recommend.

If you liked the humor and structure of the Sam & Max episodes, then you’ll probably enjoy the Strong Bad episodes as well. The Strong Bad episode is also a much better “animated feature” than what just came out in theaters last week, and for about the same price.

While the game does address previous game issues and is a worthy successor to the previous title in its own way, it does make you wonder what the game could've been if it'd straddled the line between light and dark.

Yet it cannot really match the epic scale of "Homeworld" since the entire campaign revolves around the defense of one planet. Strategy fans will find a great game within the box but may end up putting away the disc after a few months, especially if skirmishes aren’t their taste.