The challenges will please more core gamers while the comprehensible level design will likely attract new players attracted to the art style and refreshingly different gameplay mechanics. I recommend it heartily to fans of Portal (either version) as well as gamers who may be suffering from shooter fatigue.

Global happiness just doesn't work, and I don't know if fixing this is even possible, considering that so many other gameplay systems depend on the mechanic. The A.I. still doesn't provide an adequate challenge in combat, nor does it appear to even understand the rules.

Virtua Fighter 5 is a very good game, and Final Showdown makes it better in many ways…but it could have been even better than that with just a few reasonable changes.

Sadly, in this unforgiving age of Metacritic and the rest of the score-aggregation mafia, one number it's going to have to be. Just keep in mind, if all you're about to do is read this introduction and then scroll all the way down to see the score, that the multiplayer game deserves a better grade and the single-player missions don't.

One of the best open-world games available, portable or otherwise. The atmospheric world, likable cast, and clever, entertaining mechanics make it a title that you can easily sink many joyous hours into, even if you spend a lot of them just flying around the city and hunting for gems.

It's an uninspiring distraction from games like Pure and Nail'd. The lack of congruency between the level design and control scheme definitely doesn't help.

Though lacking polish from a mechanics standpoint, it nevertheless presents an awesomely addicting cornucopia of exploration, epic combat, and loot-chasing for hours upon hours of fun.

A frustrating experience for Sonic fans. You can sense the old, creaky bones of what once made the franchise so much fun, but they're surrounded by chewy, rancid meat.

Max Payne shoots more rockets out of the air than Nathan Drake falls off of stuff.

If there has ever been a grimmer, more depressing story in a game, we don't want to play it. Our heroes can find their way to four different endings, and they range in tone from "bleak and uncertain" to "horrific and hateful." Leading up to those endings, every awful thing that can possibly happen does.

A solid mixture of polish, inventiveness, and just plain fun. Its blended style of fantasy and authenticity supplements its accessibility with pleasing flair.

Like its source material, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has no shortage of flaws, but it also provides a wholly unique gaming experience that can last for untold hours, whether you're mining alone into the deepest depths of your randomly-generated world or crafting a giant Starship Enterprise replica with a crew of up to seven other players.

With its bright, cartoony visuals and easy-to-grasp concepts, Awesomenauts serves as a good introduction to the MOBA genre. While it might not have the longevity of a game like League of Legends, it's sure to provide hours of entertainment for anyone with the patience to endure some initial butt-kicking.

The game's best narrative trick - again borrowed from Silent Hill - is its mystery, leaving itself open to interpretation and examination. Who was the Man Who Wears A Box? The Seated Figure? The White-faced Man? Who was the brown-haired girl I held hands with in my dreams? The answers aren't overtly clear, but I can't wait to play again to find out.

It's worth 10 bucks, plus the trouble of getting enough friends together to ensure a properly chaotic loot-grabbing experience.

As much as I enjoy some of the oddball strategy games available, I can't bring myself to recommend this to even the most ardent grognards.

I can forgive The Walking Dead: A New Day's weak puzzles and occasional technical issues because of all the other things it gets right. By focusing on moral choice and character relationships, Telltale has managed to remain faithful to the source material while simultaneously crafting a zombie game that feels fresh compared to its more action-oriented brethren.

Do you like to hack, do you like to slash, do you like to chop heads, do you like sharp fantasy artwork? Then you might like to spend a few hours inside Crom's skull.

The quintessential pick-up-and-play party game, especially now that multiplayer has been added. Anyone can "get it" within seconds of grabbing the controller, and the difficulty ramps up much more smoothly than in the original.

The game's focus is on refining classic gameplay that worked rather than attempting something different to attract new fans, and some may be put off by the limited roster. At $15, however, Skullgirls is still a quality experience that deserves time in the spotlight.

The ultimate knock against Spirit Camera is that it just doesn't have very much content. It's well-produced while it lasts, but it doesn't last long.

It's a neat trick for a game to dish out a real challenge without inflicting a lot of stress in the process. This is not something we see very often, and it would be nice if developers could replicate this experience more frequently.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is not all bad, it's just very bland. For a game that was in development for roughly seven years, the different gameplay systems don't seem all that well-thought-out. And perhaps the lengthy development also explains why Amalur brings absolutely nothing fresh to the table. It simply lacks its own identity.

I haven't played a game to completion twice in a single sitting since Portal 2, which should roughly hint at the quality of experience that awaits: It's short and sweet, with a decent cooperative multiplayer side-story for added value. And by "sweet," I mean you can hang a thug upside-down and rip their intestines out through their ass.

Asura's Wrath commits the cardinal sin of video games: It's not fun. I genuinely commend Capcom for backing such an ambitious, experimental project; I just wish they had read the script first. This was not a story worth telling, and it sure as hell isn't a story worth paying extra for to see how it "really" ends.

Some corners were cut in terms overall production values and the gameplay may be too watered down for fans of more technical fighters, but if you're still on the fence about Naruto, this is the game that will make it or break it for you.

Whether your favorite was SSX Tricky or SSX 3, this latest entry, simply titled "SSX," has virtually nothing to do with the franchise fans fell in love. Voiceovers from DJ Atomika have been slapped on top to reassure you that yes, you're playing an SSX game, but the gameplay, courses, and overall quality are saying something else entirely.

A glossier coat of paint can't hide Bugbear's signature unbalanced gameplay and defective physics. At worst, I barely had any fun no matter how hard I tried to. At best, this game makes me wish I was playing the vastly superior Split/Second instead.