On the DS, this new episode of Harry Potter offers action but also puzzles. That's a good point, but unfortunately the game is way too simplistic... The puzzles are too easy, the action sequences are primitive, and above all the game is visually awful.

This third person shooter is a pure action game, with no adventure or exploration elements like in previous Harry Potter games. No problem about that, but the result is still very repetitive and short (about 4 hours of gameplay). The fans will still be glad to find the young sorcerer and his friends well modeled in 3D. It is a faithful adaptation, but not a good game.

When it was released in 2010 on Xbox Live Arcade, Limbo had everything of the absolute video game gem. A year later, its charms are stronger than ever. Wrapped in its simple yet elegant visuals, with a unique atmosphere, this platformer will challenge your sense of observation, your wits, and your brains... without forgetting to twinkle your emotions. A masterpiece yesterday, a masterpiece today.

With The Cartel, you can see that the developers tried to ensure the atmosphere was nice... but it does not work. The characters are too predictable, and so is the story. The action sequences are too basic... playing in coop can still be nice, but it does not save a game that lacks inspiration.

What a sad ending for the Harry Potter videogame saga this part 2 is. Solely focused on action, in order to give meaning to the PS Move but failing in doing so, this PS3 title a simple port of the Wii version. Visually below average, too linear and too short, this adaptation of Harry's adventures will only have appeal in the eyes of the yonger and most Potter-addicted gamers.

From Dust's answer to the cravings of sandbox god game fanatics may be imperfect, but it would be a shame to deny him his chance, since we didn't have a god game for so long. Its ergonomic shortcomings and underwhelming surprising and renewal abilities prevent it from reaching the heights we'd have hoped, but the beauty of its simulation and the occasional awe-inspiring moments we get while contemplating our own creations are very real as well.

Even though its gameplay remains pretty classical, Bastion shows its singularity through its real time, voiced-over narration. During play of this Action RPG title, which remains solid and rich if not original, a voice will tell of your doings, your failures, every step of the way. Add a nice sense of progress and lush 2D visuals, and you may have the indy game of this summer '11 before your eyes. Even though it's not as remarkable as the likes of Braid or Limbo.

Twisted Pixel started with a lot of ideas and good will for this semi-remake, semi-follow-up to their best game to date, 'Splosion Man. If gamers will get a lot of value, thanks to an amount of content that could put to shame several better-established productions, its implementation suffers too many shortcomings, starting with the basic concept that strayed too far away from the original by design. It's like this good old saying : if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Captain America: Super Soldier shamelessly copies Batman: Arkham Asylum, and even though it doesn't achieve the same excellence, it remains a nice venting beat'em all to dive into before Batman Arkham City arrives in October. You may yet consider waiting a little so as to see its price get a little lower, because it's still not one of those average games that won't leave a mark in history.

Captain America: Super Soldier shamelessly copies Batman: Arkham Asylum, and even though it doesn't achieve the same excellence, it remains a nice venting beat'em all to dive into before Batman Arkham City arrives in October. You may yet consider waiting a little so as to see its price get a little lower, because it's still not one of those average games that won't leave a mark in history.

Most games adapted from famous comic franchises with super heroes are crap. Some very few ones are brilliant. Green Lantern is neither. It's linear, repetitive and it lacks ambition and ideas, ending up below your average action game, but the variety of weapons and overall combat gameplay are still satisfying. They offer a decent way to vent, if only for short bursts of play, either by oneself or with a friend.

Most games adapted from famous comic franchises with super heroes are crap. Some very few ones are brilliant. Green Lantern is neither. It's linear, repetitive and it lacks ambition and ideas, ending up below your average action game, but the variety of weapons and overall combat gameplay are still satisfying. They offer a decent way to vent, if only for short bursts of play, either by oneself or with a friend.

To celebrate its 15th birthday, CyberConnect2 went all-out in order to father a spiritual follow-up to its original game Tail Concerto, full of love and passion. Pretty, with a world that shares some common traits with the work of H. Miyazaki, and an accessible yet satisfying action gameplay and nice characters, it's a perfect game to offer to younger gamers... if you can't bear to play a talking dog yourself.

Very inspired by the Lucha Libre comic, Lucha Fury offers a really polished artistic direction, colorful visuals, and a fun mexican wrestling take on the atmosphere. But once you get your hands on the controller, it feels like you've been suplexed hard : the gameplay clearly lacks smoothness, the characters feel like they're ice skating all the time, collision bugs are legion, and there's latency in the execution of the combat moves... The special moves seem dull and there aren't any enemy really fun to battle. Levels are repetitive, poorly paced, musics can make you crazy... it's the typical example of a beat'em all with a world and atmosphere that would have been perfect for the genre, if only the gameplay wasn't a real mess.

Even though one can't deny what benefits it brings to the body and the quality of the training exercises, the visual and sound of UFC Trainer are disappointing. It also lacks rhythm to appeal to the gamer who's at least a little fond of sports already. It still may be a complementary training tool if you do your sport live, already.

Ape Escape was the first game to require the use of a DualShock controller on the original PlayStation, but this new PS3 episode won't be as important to PlayStation history as his illustrious predecessor was. It's a repetitive rail shooter where you switch from butterfly net to catapult to fan in order to capture monkeys and get as much bananas as possible, but it's mainly aimed at younger kids. With its nice animated sequences and a fair game mechanic, parents can offer it safely, but the lack of a multiplayer mode to share the experience and the overall lack of variety are hard to forgive.

There's no way one can't see Capcom's expedience in this game. Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D is a game mode, sold full price. The experience was tailored to appeal to scoring aesthetes, with a decent challenge for those who want to unlock everything, but the game remains rough and arid for most. With the noticeable exception of the production values and a working multiplayer, the game is a poor one: no story, repetitiveness beyond reason, a level-design based on scavenging previous games, and in very limited numbers... please no more. Resident Evil, as a saga, didn't need such an effort.

If you were to find the perfect illustration of the downfall of Japanese RPGs, it would probably look like White Knight Chronicles II. Its combat system is wonky, trying to find the pieces of itself and finding only the player's weariness, its story and characters are so tasteless that one might wonder if we're still in 2011, and finally, its shameless recycling of maps and stuff from the first one doesn't do it any good. Only the multiplayer manages to linger on in our thoughts, baring a little esteem, but it's definitely not enough to dive into this tiresome adventure. Please don't fail on ninokuni like you ailed on this one, level-5, please.

They say the end justifies the means. With Avadon : The Black Fortress, Spiderweb offers a large choice of both. It falls upon you to get through it.

Alma used to give you nightmares with the previous episodes? That won't be the case here. Action is predominant, and serves well for nice gunfights, let's make that clear. But with production values that are below our usual tastes, levels that are too linear and an atmosphere that is more bloody than frightening, there's disappointment to be had. F.3.A.R is but another FPS that has trouble differentiating itself from the crowd.

Alma used to give you nightmares with the previous episodes? That won't be the case here. Action is predominant, and serves well for nice gunfights, let's make that clear. But with production values that are below our usual tastes, levels that are too linear and an atmosphere that is more bloody than frightening, there's disappointment to be had. F.3.A.R is but another FPS that has trouble differentiating itself from the crowd.

Yet another Party Game from Nintendo. With Wii Play Motion like with other games of this type, solo play is dispensable: the fun comes from multiplayer. But for this one, even multiplayer won't cut it; we're desperately waiting for the spark, the one mini-game that will capture us. This time around, the spark doesn't come. This follow-up to Wii Play will only convince the youngest of gamers during birthday parties.

Incoming movie? Quick, get me a game out there! That's how one could summarize Transformers: Dark of the Moon. With super linear TPS phases and a failed racing gameplay, this episode only has its Mecha license and steam-venting ability for itself. AI's a mess, most of the original sequences aren't really convincing, and its production values are clearly not on par with the rest of the game products of today.

Incoming movie? Quick, get me a game out there! That's how one could summarize Transformers: Dark of the Moon. With super linear TPS phases and a failed racing gameplay, this episode only has its Mecha license and steam-venting ability for itself. AI's a mess, most of the original sequences aren't really convincing, and its production values are clearly not on par with the rest of the game products of today.

DOFUS : Battles is a kind of evolved Plants vs Zombies-like, perfectly designed for the iOS platforms. The characters that will have to contain the waves of enemies and prevent them from reaching the far back of the grid can gain levels and be equipped, in the regular RPG style. Sadly though, the majority of the 12 character classes don't seem to be much useful to obtain victory map after map. That's even more a shame that apart from this game design flaw, there's not much else to blame.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 is indeed an enhanced version of the previous one, but it still holds the same shortcomings. Two in particular are particularly displeasing : no way to personally manage your mana, and no way to create your own decks with the cards of this edition. It still is an affordable and fun way to start playing Magic : The Gathering, or to enjoy casually a game or two once in a while against human players through the internet, despite its limited card collection and the two aforementioned flaws.