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.