The adventure is of a satisfying size, the writing and characterizations are strong, and it offers an experience that is uniquely different from the main campaign. As a matter of fact, it even includes some surprising revelations that will entice players to play through the other three DLC episodes that follow. From every angle, Dead Money is a winning hand.

Assassin's Creed Revelations is not an outright bad game, but neither is it a good one. In a series that has seen this many interesting ideas, such mediocrity amounts to a disaster. Thanks to slipshod implementation, none of the new features in Revelations improve the Assassin's Creed experience, and some make it noticeably worse. As such, the only thing that Revelations really adds to the series is the feeling of being cheated.

Resistance 3 does plenty. It's beautiful, thrilling, and-quite unexpectedly-contains one of the most memorable campaigns this side of Halo and Half-Life. In a year full of Sony-branded disappointments, Insomniac has produced an absolute gem.

By keeping everything good about the game locked away until players cough up the dough, Real Steel can be dismissed as terrible.

When taken in total, it must be admitted that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim does not deviate much from the established Elder Scrolls formula. However, the painstakingly-designed world in combination with the retooled leveling system represents the most polished version of that formula to date. There's something to be said for sticking with what one knows and refining it, and in Skyrim's case, there's a lot to be said for it.

Sonic Generations is five hours of fun. The gameplay has more excitement than most other games I've played this year, and it sets a template that future Sonic games will hopefully pay attention to-it's just a shame that Sonic Generations, like Sonic himself, goes by very, very fast.

If viewed as an RPG with a tiny world and far too much text, I would imagine players walking away from Fate/Extra feeling unsatisfied or bored. However, when taken as what it really is-a visual novel with a superb level of gameplay-then it can only be appreciated as the fine effort that it is.

From its simple premise Crash! delivers plenty of fun to reproduce a simple childhood joy.

Those two minor criticisms aside, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked is a brilliant game made all the more notable as many of today's games shift towards Hollywood-like narratives.

Despite these minor flaws, Voodoo Chronicles: The First Sign fulfilled my criteria for a quality HOG handily.

It's not a great game by any means, but there are much worse ways to spend an afternoon than making jets explode.

I enjoyed my time with Battlefield 3's multiplayer, and I wish my thoughts about the game could end there. Unfortunately it also tried to force a totally unnecessary single-player game on me, and the browser interface looks like it came straight out of the 90s.

While it may not be the deepest entry out there-its mid-range budget and development schedule means that it lacks the branching plot and multiple endings that encourage replayability-it is unmatched in its ability to draw players into the story, and carry them along right through to the thrilling end.

For players new to Saints Row, I would imagine the experience to be more positive than mine if for no reason other than sheer novelty. However, as someone who's now been through all three games, the formula and content in The Third is dreadfully stale, and well past its expiration date.

I would imagine that anyone who enjoyed the core adventure of Two Worlds II will find much to like in Flying Fortress, and although I wish that the level of polish was higher, I was able to get back into the zone even after all this time had passed.

Bodycount is a bad game. A very bad game. It's overly simple, the setting is dry, and the controls don't even work all that well. There is quite literally nothing good about it.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter is easily the weakest entry in the Professor Layton canon to date. While the gameplay remains as robust as ever, the surrounding elements don't complement or support it quite as well as they have in the past.

While I would not recommend the title to older gamers (unless they were fanatical Disney fans) I strongly suspect that playing as a parent/child team would be of value, and having multiple children playing together would certainly be the optimal situation.

Following the hyper-approachable formula used by Apple in the electronics industry, Naughty Dog has crafted another Uncharted game that a majority of players will feel is a welcoming and praiseworthy achievement. However, in comparison to many of its contemporaries, the gameplay ultimately feels stale and doesn't emphasize the more unique and rewarding qualities that separate video games from other media.

Games have the ability to give players the experience of being a superhero in a very special way that is unique to the medium, and in Batman: Arkham City that experience has been crafted to a near perfection. It's a downright shame that the game has the aforementioned issues, because everything else is absolutely masterful.

Even with all these problems, however, I found the plot interesting enough that I'm definitely hooked. If by some miracle there is a The Cursed Crusade 2, I'd be interested in seeing the story wrapped up as long as this title's wealth of problems are fixed.

I'm always on the lookout for family-oriented games I can recommend to my sister and her husband and son, and I would recommend Go Vacation in a heartbeat-it's a title that utilizes every first-party peripheral a family might have gathered, the games are easy enough for younger children (with assistance) while still being entertaining for adults, and each Resort is vibrant and colorful, with lots of nooks, crannies and genuinely beautiful spots that made me wish I had a "take a screenshot option" for anywhere in the game.

It Came from Outer Space was a good idea that just comes off poorly. The twisting, obstructed area design makes playing more difficult than it should be, the small number of buildings feels even more limited due to the palette-swapping, and the humor falls flat. Players who feel a desperate need for new Kefling action may enjoy this DLC, but nobody else should apply.

Those who missed it the first time around or those who're looking for a strange, beautiful, and challenging throwback should certainly take a look at Guardian Heroes. It's prettier, smoother, and just as satisfying as ever

There's always more to learn of the characters in all sorts of ways, and underneath the goofiness, there was still a thick layer of strong narrative and character development that kept me invested through sixty hours. I don't know if JRPGs will ever return to their previous prominence, but if Ar Tonelico Qoga is any indication, they still have a lot to offer.

In other words, Disgaea 4 continues the tradition of letting us play our own ways while rewarding us for doing the same thing over and over again. As "hardcore" as these games are, developer Nippon Ichi makes them playable in lots of different ways. Perseverance, ingenuity and even failure are all rewarded.

The open-sandbox creation genre is still in its infancy, and Terraria is a good, solid, and inexpensive entry.

Rage is a beautiful, totally decent first-person shooter with some driving elements thrown in to spice it up a bit. Based on it's developer's pedigree, the fact that it's not more than that is exceedingly confusing. There's really no obvious attempt at innovation here minus the marrying of Doom to Twisted Metal.

The setting, urban art theme, and gravity-shifting mechanics give Sideway: New York plenty of opportunities to stand out, but it squanders all of them. Instead, Nox navigates bland levels and takes out repetitive bosses with a set of generic powers. With so much potential, it's remarkable that Sideway ended up being so ordinary. Unfortunately, that's the only remarkable thing about it.

On occasion, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine manages to turn its setting to good use, and Games Workshop fans will certainly relish the chance to grab a chainsword and strike a blow for the Emperor. As it progresses, though, the game loses its brutal, inspired nature and becomes too much of a shooter despite its lack of a cover system.

A game like Red Orchestra 2 is a rare find in this era, even considering that World War II has been done to death as a game setting. An uncompromising title that does not have any qualms about throwing players to the sharks and saying "deal with it", it's a deeply satisfying multiplayer experience if one can suffer enough to allow it to be.

It's really a shame that Rochard hasn't been advertised or promoted anywhere near as much as it deserves, but don't let Sony's oversight stop you... players seeking a fat-free experience with rock-solid fundamentals, polished production levels and cleverly engaging gameplay can hardly do better than this.

While girlfriend-friendly and action-ready, Crimson Alliance needs some beefing up to be a memorable experience. Booting up the similar Torchlight for just a few minutes is enough to show that while simple is good, elegant is better.

The mechanics of Orcs Must Die! are totally solid, the visual style is nice, and the hyper-fast-paced play is a real strength, but the game almost feels incomplete. Without much variation in the gameplay and little in the way of details, characterization and extras, the end result is too lean to be as tasty as it should be.

After twelve long years of waiting, Persona 2: Innocent Sin certainly lives up to expectations and proves that its reputation as one of the gems of the previous generation of JRPGs was well deserved.

With shoddy production values and multiple lapses in judgment with regard to the game's overall design, BloodRayne: Betrayal feels like an amateurish, half-baked XBLI title that should be begging for a buck instead of the ready-for-prime-time XBLA title it's pretending to be. No thanks.

On the whole, Deus Ex: Human Revolution expects the player to handle their own progression appropriately and hand-holding is kept to a minimum. Given the often-commonplace mentality that many modern games should lead players around by the nose to one degree or another, having the guts to return to a philosophy of personal responsibility and choice isn't just smart-it's appreciated.

I enjoyed myself without question, but I think something like this with just tad more concreteness to it could be a real hit.

Dead Island is so close to greatness that it's frustrating. Sure, it's not exactly an original concept and the story is such a pointless, clichéd mess that I forgot to mention it in the review, but the core gameplay is so stunningly well-executed that I'm able to forgive most of its flaws.

Sporadic difficulty notwithstanding, it's certainly a credit to Mr. Cavanagh that a project with VVVVVV's basic graphics and simple controls can feel so completely energetic and entertaining. Much more than it initially appears, I was quite glad to have spent time with the title, and eagerly look forward to what Terry will be cooking up next.

The main game alone is more than worth the budget price, but there's also a series of challenge levels and a New Game Plus option that allows players to go back and find all the secrets they missed the first time around.

Offering excellent driving gameplay to all levels of player skill, Dirt 3 raises the bar for accessibility in a realistic driving simulator. With dozens of unique tracks, cars, and multiplayer games it offers and harassment of content without ever feeling overwhelming. By their very nature racing games are was going to be a little repetitive but Dirt 3 has almost completely succeeded in removing frustration from the mix.

I've played this game for tens of hours, thought about it another few, and now written a review, and I still don't know exactly what the developers intended.

Signal Studios took what was already a great game and made it even better, and that's no easy thing.

In short, Dungeon Siege III is a morass of flat characters, a story as dull as dishwater, and combat that manages to be both frustrating and boring.

NASCAR 2011: The Game feels like a slapdash effort, a rough draft of a game dressed up with a fancy cinematic and some licensed music and sent out to make a quick buck off the fans.

Fuelcell Games displays a savant-like grasp of the material they've created, and the result is easily one of 2011's best games.

It's not perfect, but gamers looking for a title that features lots of quirky humor and some decent gameplay will definitely find both of those things lurking in these Shadows.

It's a fantastic way to scratch the strategy itch, and a damned relaxing one to boot.

Unfortunately, F.E.A.R. 3 is a prime example of a game that can't decide what it wants to be. In trying to be an intense horror campaign and an intricate co-op/multiplayer experience at the same time, it winds up being neither and pleasing no one. I see some good ideas in the story and multiplayer modes, but a distinct lack of focus brings it all down.

From Dust is an interesting, original and creative project... unfortunately, it never capitalizes on its promise thanks to too many technical problems and a feeling of unpolished awkwardness. More frustrating and tedious than uplifting and deific, I'd love to see a revamped installment with the kinks ironed out. As it stands, I was all too ready to leave the islands behind and head back to the mainland at the first opportunity.

After I'd seen the plot play out and was able to mentally put it aside, it became clear that the lion's share of the pleasure I derived from Bastion was of the technical, hack-'em-up kind. In that regard, I salute it. On the other hand, while my hands enjoyed the time I spent with Bastion, my brain and my heart were left untouched.

Those niggles aside, I do want to praise Akimi Village and NinjaBee for again delivering a game without any negative dynamics to contend with: no enemies to defend against, no hurricanes or earthquakes to ruin urban development, and no penalties of any sort.

The formula of play still holds much appeal, and there's a lot of game on tap for the now-lower-than-average price of 800 Microsoft points. Ms. 'Splosion Man may not be a perfect sequel, but it has little trouble justifying a return trip to the lab that spawned 'sploding in the first place. R

Alice: Madness Returns is still a mad ride worth taking, but from start to finish, I never stopped thinking how much better it could have been with help from a strong editor's hand.

At the end of the day, Virtua Tennis 4 is a game that trades largely on its lineage-but given that this game, like VT2009, continues to muck up a really good formula, it's hard to imagine gamers continuing to be forgiving of Sega's recurring missteps.

Red Faction: Armageddon is a perfectly functional third-person shooter, but there's nothing at all to recommend it. The design is incoherent on its own merits, even more so in the context of the series, and the narrative fares even worse.

While it does indeed take a few steps in the right direction, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings doesn't live up to its own ambition.

If Hyperdimension Neptunia's take on the JRPG doesn't break any new ground, it's certainly a step in the right direction for the developers. More accessible than Trinity: Universe while maintaining and expanding on that game's witty style, HDN is another perfect title for anyone looking for an easy entry to the genre, or really anyone who appreciates some laugh-out-loud comedy with their RPGing.

Although it lacks polish, The First Templar makes the most of what it has, and the result is quite respectable.

It's not that Lego Pirates of the Caribbean is a worse game than the first Lego game I played. It is, however, the same game, which means that the wonder is gone for me. Pirates of the Caribbean is still magical in a way, but I've seen all these tricks before.

Brink works fine, yes, and can deliver a competent multiplayer game of shoot-shoot, but as a full-priced retail title it leaves a lot to be desired. A simple, story-less downloadable game would have made much more sense.

Although it's too bad that Gladiator Begins landed with nary a whisper, it's clear to see that the title would never have found a large audience to begin with-it's aimed at a certain hardcore niche, and for those outside of that niche, there will be little here of interest. However, for players who love to take a zeroed-out character and build them up into an overwhelmingly powerful force via grinding, creative equipping and numeric management, this combination of swords, sandals, and statistics is an experience not to be missed.

In closing, L.A. Noire's ambitions far outstrip its abilities, and it's a frustrating failure most of the running time. That being said, the shooting is exceptional, the occasional fistfighting is functional, and the foot chases are endearingly dynamic.

As the first entry in a planned trilogy, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky has technically done its job. The game has built my anticipation for the next installment, in spite of itself. Granting that, I'm not interested in a rerun. A clever battle system can distract for only so long, and the value of semi-persistent society is limited by the appeal of the world in which it exists. I'm sure that it's hard for creators to not fall in love with the product of their labor, but navel-gazing is only entertaining for the owner of said navel.

If the Yakuza series were merely the sole franchise keeping the long tradition of the 3D brawler alive, it would be worthy of praise. The fact that it manages to do that while also offering some of the best storytelling in the industry-and that it accomplishes these things essentially once a year-all combine to make it one of the most impressive series around. Yakuza 4 comes from the best possible video game pedigree, and it does its predecessors proud.

As it stands, it's a fairly empty, unfocused experience that will find a number of fans regardless thanks to the power of the truly killer visuals.

Mortal Kombat has rebooted itself into respectability.

So do we need Portal 2? Do I need it? Maybe not, but I'm sure as hell glad it exists. The portal aspect has probably reached its zenith in Portal 2, and given the way the game ends I don't think there's much room for a Portal 3.

Though short, Swarm lasts a bit too long, if you ask me, being that it fails to expand upon its novel concept. It's a shame, too, because when you get back to what I brought up before, Hothead's marketing is enjoyably irreverent and funny. Take a look at the promotional videos on their website, and it's clear that they really love this concept, and that they're attempting to inject their products with a very particular sense of humor. If only the game matched their ads in its pizzazz and charm.

Clearly, the guys at Access Games understand that games in the Monster Hunter vein are supposed to be punishingly difficult. What they didn't get was that the soul-crushing challenge should come from the gameplay and not poor design decisions. Throwing down your PSP in anger because a boss has outsmarted you is acceptable. Tossing it aside because a fight revolves more around beating the bad game design than the actual enemy is not.

The few design decisions that take de Blob 2 towards skillful play don't produce a robust experience of this kind, and undermine the game's better qualities.

Efforts to align Moon Diver's classic gameplay with an environment 20 years removed from its progenitor have only done it harm. The greatest shame is that the game did not fall victim to the caprice of an indifferent natural order; Moon Diver is betrayed by the deliberate adaptations of rational designers.

Monster Tale introduces a deep, satisfying facet of gameplay into one of the most tried and true formulas in gaming history. There are parts where it feels like it's a slave to the ancient ways of backtracking and suspiciously-placed save points, but none of the sore spots are pronounced enough to cause any serious problems.

Information gaps, repetition, and camera issues aside, Gods Eater Burst remains a faster-paced and more welcoming version of Monster Hunter.

Fans of hand cramp-inducing button mashing or extensive weapon combos might find a lot to like here, but for everyone else there's just a pretty face and some scattered body parts.

Knights Contract reminds me of that friend from high school-I think maybe every guy might've had one like this growing up-who was way too into wrestling. For the most part he was a great guy, except for the times when he'd decide that a casual conversation was a perfect opportunity to throw me into an inescapable armbar, on which occasion I found myself wishing he was a dead person.

Games as an art form are ready for that next big step, I think. We're ready for that true war game that explores all of a conflict's facets and ramifications, but for now we're stuck with drivel like Homefront that's still about Buff McRockHard fighting evil foreigners. Homefront is the most insidious kind of bad game-it's the kind that masquerades as something more special.

In spite of these less-than-stellar choices, I will say that Crysis 2's high points outshine the low ones. Frankly speaking, it's rare that I'm able to completely disconnect from a game's plot and remain interested enough to roll credits, but in this particular case, putting the Nanosuit through its paces was more than enough to keep me playing from start to finish. If the developers tweak a few things and put more emphasis on the free-form parts of play that shine the brightest, I'll be quite interested to see what happens when Crytek starts hyping Nanosuit 3.0. Rat

For a piece of DLC that offers so little, $7.00 seems steep. Save some hard-earned money and watch the videos of it on YouTube instead… the most relevant bits can be seen in a minute or two, and those Microsoft points can instead be spent on something more substantial.

The cover shooter genre has plenty of untapped potential. Vanquish hinted at this by kicking up the pace a few (hundred) notches, but Mindjack is perhaps the first to actively introduce truly new kinds of gameplay, and I had my fingers crossed for its success. Unfortunately, the finished product is about as botched as a game can get.

Ghost Trick is a masterpiece, made by developers who thoroughly understand the medium they're working in and the hardware they're working with.

I don't know what possessed People Can Fly to saddle such an exceptional action experience with such a terrible story, but being surrounded by monstrously stupid, foul-mouthed sociopaths actively lessened the gameplay experience for me. So long as a player can tune out the plot and characters, Bulletstorm is an unmitigated action masterpiece, but damn, does the story work hard to mitigate everything good about the game.

Defying all expectations, BioWare managed to take one of the most memorable Western RPGs in recent history and completely destroyed everything that made it so good.

While it may not be the right fireplace sim for film buffs or lit majors, Cozy Fire may be worthwhile for detail-driven fans looking for a little existential ascension with their fire stoking, and given the increase in agency over its competitors, may even let players learn something new about Themselves.

Dead Space 2 is pretty good at that, and the technical work is almost unimpeachable, but something essential has been lost.

Winning even as one loses is nothing new in gaming-at least, not in how I play-and the way Zettai Hero Project: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman implements it means that nothing the player does, no matter how foolish, is a waste. That implemention isn't exactly groundbreaking (while the game makes grinding for levels easier, it doesn't make it more palatable) but it does force players to think about failure in a slightly new way.

As much as I may admire the concept, I really can't recommend Lost in Shadow to anyone except those who crave simplistic, repetitive gameplay and an unnecessarily bloated running time.

Venetica has a few good ideas and a couple of characters that deserve further examination, but it just doesn't seem to be at all interested in them. That, I suppose, is why I wasn't all that interested by Venetica, either. Ratin

While JRPGs continue to flounder on the home consoles, games like this one prove that the genre is alive and well on handhelds.

Removing the harsh consequences for simple mistakes tears down a wall of inaccessibility that can alienate people from the genre and makes Nail'd the perfect point-of-entry for anyone interested in racing games in general, and the off-road subgenre specifically. I just wish the game had been polished enough that this innovation wouldn't have been such a major part of the experience.

Those who can't get enough of Red Dead's wild west action or zombies might want to give Undead Nightmare a spin. There's a lot of game here for 800 Microsoft points, and while it's rarely as compelling as the main title, there's still some fun to be had in watching John Marsten shoot zombies in the head.

People only be satisfied with "AAA" levels of production will likely gripe, but to be perfectly frank, none of the rough edges diminished my overall experience-the focus and design of Reality Pump's efforts just can't be denied.

Breach isn't terrible, but I don't see anything here that hasn't already be done better by another game, resulting in an instant recipe for mediocrity.

Its reach exceeds its grasp, but at least Disney Epic Mickey is reaching. Occasionally it brushes its fingertips up against something amazing that might have been.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is just terrible.

It may be handsomely made, but that doesn't save Golden Sun: Dark Dawn from being a disappointment.

It was without a doubt one of the most difficult, draining, and stressful gaming experiences I have ever had, but it's also an absolute masterpiece.