Mafia II's strong points are the story and believable gameworld, as well as an authentic atmosphere. Unfortunately the game doesn't take enough risk and as a result makes less impact than the original. Players don't get enough freedom to come up with their own creative solutions during missions. It also doesn't help that there is a lot of filler during the missions.

This game makes you feel euphoric and disappointed at the same time. Flying is amazing, but the story line is so short and does not do the mysterious setting any justice. A pity, cause Paris is formidable.

Star Ocean is a good game. But nothing more than that. Because of the outdated graphics it will probably never enter the top of the JRPG genre. Nevertheless, real JRPG fans will be drawn by the strong storyline and the unique gameplay elements and will get enough in return for their interest in the game.

Warriors offers a lot of action for the Fire Emblem series, and Fire Emblem offers tactics for Warriors. This game makes you button bash a lot, which that can be very entertaining.

After Far Cry and Crysis, developer Crytek created a mobile game, in which players control marble-like, cute aliens, by rolling them through levels. A revolution? No, but a nice diversion from 'the real deal'.

Syndicate shows a lot of potential, but never seems to come out of its shell. For that, it just feels all too familiar. It delivers on a delightful atmosphere though, and the coöp mode will keep players busy for a couple of intense hours. A fine snack, but definitely not the cult classic the old Syndicate was.

Quotation forthcoming.

The heart of Dead or Alive 5, an accessible and fantastic fighting system, is still great after a few improvements were administered. Combined with its graphical prowess, that's really all its got going for it. There's not much content, no innovations and our online experience was disastrous. Who doesn't want to play against his friends is golden, but there isn't much else to get excited about.

To move forward, sometimes you first have to take a step back. Colossal Order is laying a foundation that it can build on for years to come, but currently has its own predecessor as its main competitor.

We can't help but compare PlayStation All Stars: Battle Royale to Nintendo's Super Smash Brothers, even though it's not very relevant. Battle Royale creates its own identity quite well by providing great and addicting gameplay. It is far from perfectly polished, but in its base is a gameplay concept that guarantees days and days of fun.

Puzzle Quest 2 improves the Puzzle Quest formula in almost every way and makes us forget the mediocre Puzzle Quest: Galactrix.

This is a nice RPG and a bad MMO. The game is playable without subscriptions and it offers a lot of content to explore. Playing together with other gamers still is not really working properly. It is too bad this game does not impress, even though the development system for characters and the PvP are fun.

Behind the cuddly exterior of Armello, there is a pretty cool digital board game. There is nothing new here, as Armello picks things from different existing board games and puts them into one fun game. The games are too slow and luck is too much of a factor in Armello to make it really enjoyable.

Arma 3 makes big steps forward with a huge world and more vehicles and weapons. This time around its trump card is Steam workshop integration though, making downloading mods effortless. A smart move by Bohemia Interactive because it are those mods that will give Arma 3 its long lifespan. Unfortunately Arma 3 is quite inaccessible and doesn't seem to grow along with modern game design on certain fronts. Space time and perseverance are your best friends here, until Bohemia's support starts paying off.

The developer of The Real Texas was hell-bent on creating an ode to classics, while missing perfection and consistency. The humor is lame enough to actually annoy you and graphically it fails to do anything special. That a few of the best games ever, like Zelda or Ultima, are used as a source of inspiration, doesn't turn this into a good game.

Free Time is so uninspiring compared to some other Sims add-ons. The combination of developing your hobbies, making a career and maintaining your Sims is a difficult one. The add-on adds little to the concept. Only for Sims-addicts.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is a fun platform and action game, but nothing more than that. It's a decent HD-reincarnation of The Sands of Time.

PES 2009 has been beaten by FIFA 09. Of course, EA's game has made tremendous progress in this year's edition, but the fact is still that PES 2009 has little technical improvements above the previous editions. The game is still fun to play and not a faulty purchase, but Konami will need to rethink the concept to beat their competitor next time.

Master of Orion is the perfect game for anyone who has never played a 4X-game, but veterans will not enjoy it as it misses the depth of modern 4X-titels. However, for newbies there is a lot to learn, an amazing design and an awesome soundtrack.

With a few quick new rides, gameplay types and other possibilities to enjoy cars in a huge open world, Wild Run is a good addition to The Crew. The price is a bit high though.

Outriders might not be the best game this year will bring, it is so much fun. This game is definitely a blast with its many weapons and skills. Too bad there are so many connectivity issues.

Never before has a Call of Duty game had this much potential. Ghosts plays like a dream, but there are many thing that degrade the experience. It struggles with some sloppy multiplayer issues, and aims for more action and spectacle instead of tactical teamwork. A lot of these issues will probably be addressed in the near future with a patch. We sincerely hope so, because Ghosts’s foundation is one that craves to be built upon.

Heroes 2 seems to be very limited. There is some fun to be had in the arcade-mode in singleplayer, but it lacks the option to play through with a friend. The game is the first online shooter for the Wii, and 32 players simultaniously at that. In combination with the excellent controls, Heroes 2 is a recommended purchase until the real shooters arrive on the system.

The game means well but comes short in many ways. The simple graphics showing off peaceful backdrops combined with some relaxing music are the highlight of the experience, but the combat is too simple and boring and there’s too big of an emphasis on it. Plenty of good ideas that players don’t need to use during the game. A shame, really.

Army of Two: The 40th Day doesn’t hide that it's all about the cooperative game mode. But for a purely cooperative game, it is quite low on content. The other game modes might be decent, but have been done better by other games many times before. Army of Two: The 40th Day could have been the ultimate cooperative game, but failed because it wanted to be everything else as well.

In a world of ultra short hyper active single player campaigns, Killzone: Shadow Fall delivers a contemporized piece of excitement, that manages to leave a nice taste in your mouth after eight hours of action. The multiplayer simply keeps you going for quite a while longer.

The Saboteur had a lot of potential thanks to the unique setting, but this hasn’t resulted in a good game. The story never gets really interesting and the gameplay is too bare-bones to really make an impression. Not a great farewell for Pandemic Studios.

Black Desert is one of the few MMORPGs that sees all professions as equals. Some days you can have fun fishing on a boat, while others you might enjoy hunting trolls on the ground. This is an MMO unlike anything we have seen the last few years.