Gothic games have been bemoaned for their graphical bugs and sloppy code but things are a lot cleaner and tighter this time around. Gone is the open-world of previous titles, replaced by mundane, rote, disappointingly shallow RPG that lives and breathes in an engaging, beautiful, and invitingly realized world. But for an RPG-as in life-just being pretty isn't enough.

Ghost of Sparta may not deviate from the usual God of War experience, but it certainly presents those core concepts which made the series a standard exceptionally well and with nearly untouchable graphical and auditory prowess on the handheld format.

In a time when some are clamoring for long, drawn out stories and unfitting multiplayer options, Vanquish shows how its possible to avoid both and deliver a strong, albeit surprising, performance.

Without a doubt, Blue Castle Games and Capcom continue to show us abuse of the undead makes for good gaming-it's just unfortunate Dead Rising 2 accomplishes little else.

Not every aspect of the game is a masterpiece but Enslaved surprised me in a very good way and most important, made me care about what happened next.

New Vegas is a proclaimed non-sequel, and it shows. By bringing little else new to the experience and with it being as buggy as ever, New Vegas could have been adequate as a smaller-sized expansion disc. Instead, it's a game where the play clock is measured in time spent plodding through loading screens and not actually doing much.

Ultimately, as an expansion franchise, Medal of Honor's debut in the Modern Warfare League isn't a championship run.

Castlevania: Lord of Shadows succeeds because of it's stellar art direction, beautiful visuals, and tight, polished gameplay. Sure, it cribs, borrows, and steals from other games, but in the end, it still moves a classic in a great, new direction.

Dark Energy has undoubtedly created some impressive technology and fiction, but neither are expressly enjoyable in what's playable.

As a Halo game it rivals the nostalgia Combat Evolved instilled in us nearly a decade ago due to fully realized online multiplayer components and customizability; as a shooter, however, it feels almost as dated in so much there's little separating the core experience from past iterations.

The game's a bit muddled in terms of strengths and weaknesses, but if you're in the mood for a playable story where your characters aren't overblown stereotypes and you can invest in your protagonist, it's easy to sink a few hours into the follow-up to one of 2002's greatest hits.

The company's philosophy-demonstrated again with StarCraft II-is that innovation and experimentation are less important than taking what's already successful and bringing it to near perfection.

What we've got with DeathSpank is really a pretty sweet deal: a lot of triple-A game for a budget price.

Make time for LeChuck's Revenge because, even after nearly 20 years, it's still funnier, more clever, and well-written than the vast majority of "blockbusters" lining the digital shelves.

Though I'm sure the timetable may have been tight and the work not easy, especially with a newly formed studio, to make this sequel, it's simply disappointing to see such light fare being passed off as a new SKU. Crackdown is certainly a franchise-worthy IP, but if Ruffian and Microsoft plan to green light a third iteration, they need to hit more than a few nails on the head.

Although its core shooter gameplay is enjoyable, Singularity suffers from being far more derivative than original, with elements appropriated from at least a dozen other, better games.

If you've got a powerful computer, a fair bit of OCD when it comes to military realism, and a lot of time and patience, then Bohemia's ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead will scratch your itch in ways that Modern Warfare or Battlefield: Bad Company can't.

Had Naughty Bear been a free or inexpensive indie game or XBLA title, and really taken its absurdist, twisted premise and wicked theme in a more extreme direction, we might praise it for being a hip, ironic commentary on videogame violence...or something. As it stands, Naughty Bear is overpriced and undercooked.

At around ten dollars, Risk: Factions provides a lot of gameplay and another motivation for ditching the tabletop for the console.

While its story sometimes lurches and lunges, and its gameplay mechanics can be quirky, Tranformers: War for Cybertron is, somewhat surprisingly, probably the best reboot of the classic cartoon.

Simple, addictive and fun, with just enough complexity to keep things interesting, Puzzle Quest 2 is a "casual game" winner.

I wouldn't go so far as to call Rock Band: Green Day a ripoff, because the set list is deep and certainly catches the spirit and energy of the band. But the total lack of innovation and the minimalistic presentation-at least compared to the visual and musical feast of The Beatles: Rock Band-makes this feel like a generous helping of DLC rather than a stand-alone game.

There's just no winning with the action element in Alpha Protocol.

Surprises that turn into expectations; non-adventuring; facial animations that can't keep up with the scenery and objects in the game world without weight physics: these are all elements, that if done well, would round out the game to make it the epic it was hyped to be. In the end, I feel safer in Remedy's woods than I do in the actual backcountry of Washington.

One of the most expensive games ever made, it is clear from the attention to detail, lavish visuals, outstanding acting, and rich story that the money was well spent. Red Dead Redemption is the best Western game ever made, and certainly one of the top games of this year.

In short, if Lost Planet 2 was a budget-priced multiplayer-only title, it would be hard not to recommend it; unfortunately it's a full-price game with a seriously flawed single player experience.

More than anything, Heavy Rain is further proof that games have truly come of age and are a viable platform for telling stories that will haunt your dreams and color your days.

In the end, BioShock 2 is a product more corporate than passionate.