If it wasn't for the load times, I would be far more likely to recommend Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat to anyone that liked the television show and wanted a cheap game that called back to Bushido Blade. The gameplay has merit and there's a good selection of weapons to unlock, but I wouldn't want anyone to suffer through thirty second loadtimes for those occasional flashes of depth.

Between the challenge of establishing a comfortable existence out of rough-hewn wilderness, the hunger to learn the game's metanarrative, and the opportunity to de-stress from the worries of real life, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition transformed itself from a dull dirt-digging sim into something challenging, appealing, and far different from what I'd usually spend time with. I never thought I'd become a devotee, but I have to admit that there is greatness here-anyone describing the game as simple creation is massively underselling the concealed complexity of the ultimate design.

This collection is an easy recommendation for fans of the series, who will find it every bit as playable as (and far more attractive than) the PlayStation 2 versions-but it doesn't feel like a definitive edition of the games, and with its near-complete lack of a manual and insufficient in-game tutorials, it makes no effort to ease players unfamiliar with the franchise into the DMC world.

However, when not scratching my head over the wheezy story or gritting my teeth as I retraced my steps from the central castle to the local encampment for the thousandth time, Dragon's Dogma came alive with grand-scale role-playing that I won't soon forget. In between the missteps and oddness, there is an awful lot of awesome on display, and that's a hard sandwich to resist, condiments or not.

Trials Evolution truly is the next step in the outstanding core experience from HD, polishing every aspect of an already-fantastic game to a near-blinding sheen, and then delivering something peerless in terms of technical precision and visceral addiction. They don't come better than this

Almost nothing in Fable Heroes seems well-designed or carefully thought out. Its incoherent visual design is wrapped around a poorly-tuned beat 'em up with an obfuscated progression system, spiced with lousy mini-games. The total absence of story or even silly dialogue is likely to put off fans of the flagship Fable games, and without that draw it's difficult to see why anyone would bother. One or two interesting ideas poke through, but Fable Heroes is a failure.

Xenoblade may not be the greatest JRPG ever, but it's certainly one of the best games on the Nintendo Wii.

It would be easy to not recommend Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 since it's so repetitive and not very pretty, and players spend a lot of time reading scripted events. That said, I love the women-one of the villains included-and these weaknesses are part of the game's charm for me.

Not only is it a great use of classic horror material with top-notch production, it's a superb portable boardgame that doesn't require the effort and schedule coordination needed to gather a group of friends on the weekend.

Though it may not flow as smoothly and simply as something like the recent Journey, Fez is a straight-up, forward-thinking shot of puzzle gaming goodness.

Although it's accurate to say that Prototype 2 is "an improvement" over the original, that's not the same as saying that it's a great game, or that it's even on-par with the kinds of things hitting shelves these days.

Those issues aside, there's no question that The Walking Dead: Episode One-A New Day absolutely nails the spirit of the story that inspired it, and it seems poised to become another winning, must-experience branch of Kirkman's über-franchise.

Behind the Reflection 2 offers a few interesting twists to the HOG genre, but in the end the bugginess and lack of any kind of overarching theme keep it from standing apart from the crowd. That's not to say the game doesn't have its charms, merely that it never really does anything interesting with the bizarre situations it establishes.

Developer Vatra clearly has a fondness for the material and they've tried to address some of the series' more nagging issues with varying degrees of success. There are moments in Downpour that genuinely work and showcase what this franchise could be with a little more TLC. Unfortunately, there are still rough patches to be smoothed over and kinks to be worked out in subsequent sequels-but here's to hoping Vatra gets another crack at it.

Anomaly Warzone Earth is an interesting take on a genre that's become painfully stale at this point, and I congratulate the developers for finding a new angle. It's solid and the reversed structure carries it through to the end, but more depth and variety are needed to make it more than a brief curiosity. It may be different than anything else in its genre, but the trip on this particular train lacks the kind of spark that would make it a memorable one.

In closing, as said before, it's nice for a game to be simple and get right to it, but only the very few combo-obsessed high-score junkies will follow The Splatters all the way to the end.

The characters, the story, the controls, the difficulty, and even the central premise... all of it seems to be on the right track, but none of it hits the mark. I still think there's a lot of potential here, but like any other game, the basics have to be nailed before it can start reaching for greatness.

As is, it's a shallow, irredeemable miscalculation not worth anything close to the $20 asking price.

To adventurous gamers of all stripes, and certainly those that count themselves among the genre's enthusiasts: pick up this one, sine mora.

At its core, it's the same Uncharted game we've all played before, but it's bolstered by sterling presentation, a bevy of secrets, and straightforward tomb-raiding gameplay that feels like a love ode to the series' adventure forebears.

Those expecting a God of War type experience within Asura's Wrath are bound to be disappointed. Hell, those expecting a game are likely to feel some letdown because the bulk of Asura's Wrath is spent watching things instead of doing them. Hardcore anime fans will probably find something worthwhile here, but those looking for a solid action brawler would be well-advised to keep searching.

A jolt of energy that the shooter genre has needed for some time now. The varied and beautiful environments are a slap in the face to brown, repetitive corridors, and the control of both shooting and moving gives stop-and-pop a run for its money.

With its darkly mature subject material and radical re-interpretations of standard play formulas, I Am Alive is both emotionally difficult and conceptually challenging-and those are wonderful things in my book. R

I wound up bailing out on Star Wars: The Old Republic well before hitting the level cap, but not before digging into it more so than any other MMO I've played. Even if it is an unhappy marriage between two wildly different game types, the fact that it kept me hooked for so long at least counts for something.

Although I'm sure most players these days would say they're getting a little tired of seeing the undead shamble across their television screens, I can't think of anything out there quite like Containment: The Zombie Puzzler, and that's pretty high praise in and of itself. Toss in a survival mode and the fact that it's just $5 on Steam, and this unique project's new spin on the walking dead is a can't-miss.

Unfortunately for those returning after an absence (like me) or who are brand new to the series, Soul Calibur V does little to bring a player up to speed with the new characters and mechanics beyond throwing them into the fight and letting them wade through as best they can. Factor in the scarcity of offline single-player content, and this means that multiplayer is the only thing granting Soul Calibur V any longevity; players looking for long-term offline play will be better served with Soul Calibur IV.

That being said, the game still does have its issues-and some of those issues do really mar the experience. The foundation of a solid current gen SSX game is lurking right beneath the surface of this title-let's hope EA unearths it for the potential sequel.

My hat is off to them for being able to bring this hugely ambitious project to such a satisfactory conclusion, and I hope the overall quality of this work is indicative of what we can expect from them in the future.