This release does a fantastic job of appealing to the core fans of the series while also making the experience accessible to a new group of players.

Singularity is the very definition of average, and the lack of subtitles knocks it just below. It is the gaming equivalent of white rice, the Ford Focus, and black coffee. Its taste is decidedly bland, but it'll do its job.

Ultimately, any gamer who loves Harry Potter is going to enjoy themselves immensely with this game. While older gamers might not find many reasons to give it more than a good weekend's worth of play, the younger ones will have hours and hours of spell-casting fun.

It's light, accessible, and almost hysterically funny at times.

For the genre fan, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor will be a sublime, smoothly controlling treat. For the novice, it's a fairly gentle introduction to a classically hardcore experience. For Treasure, it's a great chance to addict a vast new audience to their style of game.

Between the vomit-cam, the absurd level design, the serious lack of content and the simplistic gameplay, it's clear to see that the developers have created something that should never have left the drawing board.

Players who enjoy the adventure genre in its most traditional format will likely be pleased with Secret Files: Tunguska, but my take is that this type of approach is simply past its time.

They Stole Max's Brain! accentuates Sam's own special powers. While Max was away, I came to appreciate Sam on a whole new level.

I very much enjoyed the thought and balance that obviously went into the creation of this new mission, and as a true Mass Effect fan, this attempt to return to form is probably the most welcome thing I could possibly imagine.

Duels of the Planeswalkers is a faithful, if watered down, representation of a classic game that excels at drawing in new players and reigniting the old fire in seasoned veterans.

We both agreed that what the game achieves for kids is the ability to transport them into the world of Woody and the gang. For adults, it's a venture back to their own childhood.

Although I can genuinely say that I have great affection for the Disgaea characters and I had a blast going through the game once, the drive to unlock every ending evaporated almost immediately. Watching a game made of cut-scenes isn't bad if they make you laugh and bring a smile to your face, but watching the same scenes over and over and over and over and over because you can't figure out how to get to the new ones isn't an appealing proposition.

For the most part the simplified controls work like a charm, allowing the player to zip around the map, easily locating their prey. It's the maps themselves that are the problem-they're far too small for the number of players that regularly compete on them.

Flawed in its conception, impoverished in its design, and thoroughly inept in its execution, Alpha Protocol is an unmitigated disaster

ModNation Racers has a core of creative multiplayer fun, but it's sadly mummified beneath an irritating career mode and layer upon layer of load times.

For those who thrive solely off of the thrills of putting points into stats and watching numbers go up, Hexyz Force leaves little to be desired. For the rest of us, Hexyz Force has equally little to offer.

Still, stellar gameplay trumps all, and Super Mario Galaxy 2 has that in spades.

Alan Wake puts up a front of being cerebral and deep, but it simply doesn't do the legwork to back it up. I had significant difficulty becoming invested in the events and found it very hard to care about anything that happened from start to finish.

In keeping with developer Rockstar's cinematic approach to game aesthetics, Red Dead Redemption succeeds in allowing the player to inhabit, in some measure, the Westerns on which it is based.

Great presentation, (mostly) great gameplay, and an above-average set of characters combine to deliver what I see as the most diverse, entertaining Trauma game to date in a series that really doesn't have a weak link.

The most clever innovation isn't the puzzles or even the characters, as well-done as they are. The most clever bit is the framing of the game as a film.

Ultimately 3D Dot Game Heroes does exactly what it sets out to do. It's a nostalgic look back at the classic Zelda games sprinkled with some commentary on gaming history, and a great example of retro gaming done right, even if it does keep the flaws along with the goodness.

I can't say that the developers totally nailed it, but with solid mechanics, a strong sci-fi theme, exciting action and tons of large-scale watercooler moments, I do recognize it as an experimental step forward that succeeds far more than it fails.

It may not explore much new territory in the horror genre, but what's here is one of the best small-scale chillers that's been turned out in quite a while.

Although Nippon Ichi didn't develop What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? 2,-NIS America just published it-the game is still a natural, if steep, Nippon Ichi-themed progression in teaching me to think for myself.

Retribution gave me absolutely nothing that I was expecting it to, what I was offered in its stead was amazingly violent and fast-paced action. The game achieves almost everything it set out to do, and I have to applaud that.

With Nier, Cavia has done the seemingly impossible, and created something entirely unique from nothing but borrowed components

After Burner Climax is as close as it gets to getting the full experience short of stepping into a specialized arcade cabinet, and the EX mode gives legs to what would otherwise be a incredibly short play time.