The single player is a complete waste despite the hefty amount of content put into it. If you're going to enjoy Kid Icarus: Uprising, it's because you can stand the awful controls and really badly want something to play online. If you're considering the game for any other reason than that, I highly recommend catching the next updraft and tossing it into the sun.

However, Mr. White's wild ride isn't the only thing included in this package – there are also a few new schematics for making new weapons. These can be accessed in the regular game as well as the DLC. This is a cool feature if you're new to Dead Island or are on a new playthrough, but there's not really enough there to warrant paying for the DLC. Dead Island is still a game that deserves to be played if you missed it last year – but Ryder White can be safely skipped.

I'm all for developers extending the life of their games by offering post-release content, however in this case, the Genkibowl had the exact opposite effect. Once I finished it, I didn't want to play more Saints Row 3, much less buy more content for it.

Because of the technical ineptitude and the lousy level design, I can't recommend the game for those looking to have a good time with its mechanics. I suppose someone less desensitized could still find Postal III offensive in an enjoyable way, but the odds are if you've been through the previous games this will disappoint on that front as well.

Just a couple of button presses away from Amy on both the Xbox and PlayStation marketplaces is a little game called Resident Evil 4 that does this idea brilliantly with a girl named Ashley instead of Amy. Sure, it costs twice as much but you'll be buying and playing one of the best games ever made-not one of the worst.

Even with a budget price, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is tough to recommend. The mediocre graphics and monotonous gameplay bring down an otherwise solid premise. This is only worth playing if you have friends to play with, solo players should take a can of Raid to this repetitive mess.

I honestly don't know why anyone would buy Tekken Hybrid. If you love Tekken Tag Tournament, there's no reason to drop $40 on this head scratcher when there's a likely superior, current sequel in the cards that will offer the online play and other mod cons that this remaster doesn't. The "prologue" should have been a free download.

All things considered, WWE '12 is a step backwards for Yuke's. Luckily they can return to the RAW vs. SmackDown brand next year and pretend like this game never existed. I encourage them to do just that. More importantly, I encourage you to avoid WWE '12 because games are supposed to relieve stress-not cause it.

Say what you will about the 2005 Spielberg film adaptation turning the invasion literature into an explosive action romp, it probably would have been a better starting point for the game adaptation. Then again, maybe this is a project that should never have got off the ground to begin with; after all, some pages are better left unturned.

3D is used to good effect in some puzzles, but the same effect could be had by staring at a lamp and walking around it, furtively searching for hidden messages before finally quitting and seeing if there's any pie in the house.

There is not, however, any real drive or immediacy to the gameplay that you'll actually want to take Ultimate Tenkaichi up on its generous offer of playtime.

As it stands, if you want to get a swimming workout, take my advice and go sign up at a local YMCA instead.

More specific classes, skills, and specializations would have been nice. Matchmaking is sporadic at best, which stinks because the game is almost useless as a single player exercise. The ally AI won't touch any of the mission-specific objectives, which means you've got to babysit that drill by yourself.

Sure, each faction has a special unit but nothing stands out to make this game feel like a game based on Martin's works and that's something that , more than anything else, many fans will have a hard time accepting.

I don't know who decided to come up with another Spider-Man game so soon after Shattered Dimensions but that person should get a tongue lashing because the year it took to make this game resulted in nothing but a waste of time and money for all involved.

For any oomph it delivers, Rage relies on the same familiar gunshot sound effects and the same ridiculous ragdoll fatalities and the same silly enemies rolling left and right. Rage is a reminder how thin the line is between old school and old hat.

X-Men: Destiny fails as a game and as an X-Men property and there isn't an X-Gene in the world that can fix it.

Give this throwaway a miss and pick up a five dollar copy of 2006's Burnout: Revenge instead.

I'm all for experimentalism and maverick design, but there needs to be a game there and a sense of purpose to back it up. El Shaddai has neither.

Those of us looking for a grind are better off with nearly any other grind game, and anyone who wants to make robots fight might as well stick with Activision's plasticky straight jacketed Transformers shooter. At least those games understand the concept of accessibility.

On just about every level it could, Call of Juarez: The Cartel fails to be anything other than a frustrating experience you can't wait to end. Usually a game like this can be redeemed by providing a co-op experience that pulls players together, but the game intentionally tries to drive them apart and does so without making a point of it.

On an exclusively conceptual level it is possible Dead Block could have worked. However a thorough misunderstanding of what makes the zombie genre enjoyable leaves this feeling far more like work than it should. Tower defense fans are better off sticking to their tower defense games, and zombie killing fans are better off sticking to games that emphasize killing zombies.

Likewise, I wouldn't touch this game again over the higher quality Capcom and Tecmo offerings available on the same platform. I'd advise other push-button martial artists to do the same.

I could go on at length about the bad level design, the repeated attempts at humor, the shockingly poor and limited multiplayer and more examples of the "nothing new here" gameplay but it is best just to forget about Duke Nukem Forever. Forget about it entirely, because you're missing nothing.

After War for Cybertron released there was a brief moment of hope that licensed games would no longer be sub-par experiences. High Moon has dashed those hopes against Transformers: Dark of the Moon and erased their earned good will in the process. If the promise of a quality movie tie-in still exists, it'll take a lot more than this incomplete, graceless game to keep that promise alive.

Dream Trigger 3D is off-putting and inaccessible at worst when coupled with the difficulty level and crude production values. If this game had a more casually approachable tone and a greater focus on one core mechanic (or two simple and complementary ones), then there might have been a great game here. As it stands, it's a muddled nightmare, in 3D.

I am a huge fan of co-op games, and believe very strongly in the notion that a poor game can be made better by having someone else to play it with, but Daggerdale isn't just a poor game, it's a frustrating, shoddy, broken mess of a game that never should have been released in its current state, made even more upsetting by the fact that you have no recourse to get your money back. Do not buy this game.

Moon Diver simply can't compete with recent entries like Outland, Vampire Smile, or Hard Corps: Uprising. Although fundamentally similar, those games offer much more variety and dynamic gameplay that combine retro and modern sensibilities to far greater effect. I would have loved to have seen Mr. Yotsui come forward with a game at least as good as Strider, which was one of the best action games of the 16-bit era, but this title feels more like one of the also-rans from that period that no one remembers or plays any longer. I suspect that it won't be very long before those descriptors can be applied to this miserable game.

Overall, Rayman 3D is a competent platformer but it's sinfully old. Rather than sprucing it up and developing a truly great re-release, Ubisoft was happy to repackage ancient materials and ship them as new content. If you've played the game already there is very little reason to redo it on the Nintendo 3DS. If you haven't played the original, it's likely too old to be worth your time. However, if playing tragically outdated platformers with more back story than you'll know what to do with is what you're after, Rayman 3DS is your game.

Rather than a careful exposition of Persian themes and stories we get a shambling mess of a game that fails to deliver on any front. What's most disappointing is that rather than making the classic text accessible, Garshasp's narrative just mires too deep in forgotten lore to be interesting to anyone who doesn't already know what it's about. This is definitely a game about Persians and by Persians but it lacks the fundamentals to be enjoyed by anyone, including Persians.

In the end, 3rd Birthday disappoints Parasite Eve fans and provides a rather mediocre experience for new players. It would be hard to suggest this game as an entry point to the series, or really suggest it at all.

Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot feels very much like a game that was pulled out of the 'canceled projects pile' of 1997 and touched up with a few layers of Bondo. It's outdated, with features from other games haphazardly bolted on, and other concepts that simply don't work. There are a handful of exciting battles and set, but a few thrilling minutes can't make up for four hours of boredom.

Steel Diver is a very odd choice as a launch game. It's a new IP, which is great, but it doesn't exactly scream mass appeal. The 3D is used effectively, making it look like you're peering into a fish tank, complete with beautifully done dynamic backgrounds, but you can also turn it off and not have the experience change much at all. Mostly though, the biggest problem is that it's short, dull and entirely too easy. While any one of those would cause the game to spring a leak, all three sinks it right to the bottom.

Asphalt 3D is nothing more than a checked box on the Nintendo 3DS launch lineup list. Apart from its genre there's nothing that makes it stand out in the launch library, and within its genre there's nothing that makes it unique. This game is entirely skippable unless you're desperate for a 3D arcade racer, but even then it's best to wait to see what else the 3DS has in store down the road.

It's disappointing that Battlegrounds has more in common with a 30-year old Atari 2600 title in a number of ways than it does with the generally likable Red Faction franchise. Really, it doesn't have anything to do with it other than as a source for the vehicles and a couple of logos.

It's disappointing that Battlegrounds has more in common with a 30-year old Atari 2600 title in a number of ways than it does with the generally likable Red Faction franchise. Really, it doesn't have anything to do with it other than as a source for the vehicles and a couple of logos.

Maybe with better tech this one could become a box office smash, but for right now, you should leave it on the cutting room floor.

Maybe with better tech this one could become a box office smash, but for right now, you should leave it on the cutting room floor.

CreaVures garnered a considerable amount of attention with its distinctively colorful visuals, and for some people that may be enough to look beyond the game's failings. It is pretty. It also has excellent potential, but at the moment, it's eye-candy that requires too many concessions in gameplay to fully enjoy.

The combination of its weak story setup and the arduous grind to see it through completely killed the single player portion of this DLC add-on for me; thankfully, the multiplayer additions allow me to cautiously recommend it for those who enjoy playing AC:B online and have ten bucks to burn – everyone else, there's nothing much to see here.

The combination of its weak story setup and the arduous grind to see it through completely killed the single player portion of this DLC add-on for me; thankfully, the multiplayer additions allow me to cautiously recommend it for those who enjoy playing AC:B online and have ten bucks to burn – everyone else, there's nothing much to see here.

In the end, if you are looking for a modern day Dungeon Keeper, this isn't it, whether or not Realmforge tried to design that game or not is immaterial.

Hyperdimension spends too much time engaging in fan service and in objectifying women and not enough time on making the core gameplay compelling enough.

For the most part, Knights Contract is a monumental disappointment mainly because there are occasional glimpses at the fact that it could have been so much better. The frustrating combat, dull graphics, uneven acting, and insipid A.I. make it ultimately impossible to recommend even as a rental.

For the most part, Knights Contract is a monumental disappointment mainly because there are occasional glimpses at the fact that it could have been so much better. The frustrating combat, dull graphics, uneven acting, and insipid A.I. make it ultimately impossible to recommend even as a rental.

Holding Legends of Troy in comparison to other brawlers on the market, the game feels paltry, cheap, and empty. Koei games are often criticized for their repetition and wafer-thin gameplay, and this game absolutely represents the worst traits of its modus operandi.

Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Osbourne House is neither pretty good nor as good as any of the games in the Professor Layton series that it's trying to emulate. Why you'd play this game, when you could play any of the games it draws inspiration from is the real mystery.

If you're following all the marketing promotions and tie-in products, you might enjoy seeing Gabe and Lexine in the game and the Oracles might mean something to you, but for all but the most diehard fans this is definitely a download to skip.

Unfortunately, as soon as the game starts to get your hopes up, there is always something-like the fact that you need to constantly manually save your progress since the game does not feature an autosave whatsoever- that rears its ugly head and immediately reminds you that sometimes you get what you pay for.

This is a game that tells a story that's meaningful only to people who have played all of the games beforehand, but does so with repetitive, sometimes frustrating gameplay.

The game really needs either a slower pace or better situational awareness.

Fans of Lucha Libre might enjoy seeing their favorite fighters in action, but even the most dedicated aficionado will find the turgid gameplay disappointing.

During this Christmas season, please don't take the chance and inflict Sonic Free Riders upon unsuspecting players as gifts. Christmas morning should be about joy, not pain and tears.

It's obvious this $60 piece of fanservice was meant to sway old and new DBZ junkies into a purchase, but as the entire game feels more like an expansion pack or a cheap cash-in attempt, there's nothing here to recommend over importing some of the more polished 2-D sprite fighters or at the very least checking out Budokai on the PlayStation 2.

It's a bad time to release a new music game property -- and an even worse time to release a bad one.

The only thing that Naruto Shippuden: Dragon Blade Chronicles has going for it is a decent story, but everything else about the game makes it practically impossible to enjoy. It's dull, it's uninspired, and it's shallow in the extreme.

It's enough to make a fellow pine for the innocent days of yore, when Activision's Blur may have been a vehicle for Facebook nags, but at least it had the courtesy to include an actual game.

With such a strong creative vision and almost unlimited access to Disney's archives, not to mention Mr. Spector's innovative and undeniable talent, it's an utter disappointment that the game has reached the public as an unpolished, uninspired effort riddled with slapdash technical qualities, dated gameplay concepts, and a surprising lack of direction.

Ubisoft has had a great year with gems like Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, R.U.S.E., No More Heroes 2, and Red Steel 2 to name a few – but the sooner this truly awful game is buried and forgotten the better.

I could go on about the terrible voice acting, the bad graphics, the abysmal enemy AI and the random bugs that forced restarts and locked up my Xbox but that seems like piling on so I'll just end this as I started it with an emphatic "don't play this game".

Retailing at $40, it's clear that Activision understands that this is not a AAA title but that doesn't excuse the lack of polish and content.

Likewise, Quantum Theory is a technical disaster but I don't think it's impossible to have some fun with it- as long as you don't pay full price for it and know what you're in for from the start.

The simple fact is that New Carnival Games is not an enjoyable game.

The execution and the boring gameplay coupled with the heavy handedness of the humour combine to make the game a true exercise in tediousness.

The mech combat is fast paced and brutal, but once that veneer wears off you find that under the hood is a slap shod mix of broken balance, goofy game mechanics, and an abject lack of the tactical gameplay for which the franchise is known.

The only leg it has to stand on is its cartoon style that will certainly attract less demanding gamers as well as the merely curious. If that's worth $15 to you, more power to you.

I can tell the game is really trying hard to be something fantastic, and maybe for the Russian side of the market, that's how things have actually turned out. For us Americans however, I'd recommend taking the money you might spend on this game, and instead blowing it on an awesome discount joystick (if you don't have one already) and copies of Freespace 2 and the Independence War series. I guarantee you'll have a superior experience.

There's almost nothing to like about Sonic Adventure. It's clunky and awkward at best, painfully buggy and broken at worst. Its most unforgivable sin, though, is that it's just not fun.

Maybe if Morrigan's ending had been a satisfying one I would have been fine with paying for a 45 minute side quest through places I've already been but it wasn't-so I'm not.

With its strict linear nature there is next to no replay value, unless you want to collect Playboy bunny pictures. The sad part of all of this is that there is a good game lost inside the driving, the save checkpoints, and the silly time wasting missions.

The world needs to push back; the missions need to get more serious more quickly and there needs to be greater stakes than whether you make 150,000 bucks this year or 200,000. I think Nitro has that game in them. Alas, this is not it.

Truth is, everything that is novel about Disciples III was already in Disciples II, and the new stuff is basically a retread of features from other games.

It's admirable that the guys who made Crackdown 2 have created a sequel every bit as good as the original. It's just a shame they don't have that insight into the genre at large. Because there's almost nothing in Crackdown 2 to recommend it over the competition. On the whole, I'd rather be in Panau.

The bargain price may tempt you to give the game a try but trust me, it's no different than the shuckster me-too fighting games of 15 years ago only this time you'll be losing a lot more than just a quarter.

Sadly the result is a forgettable game that might be worth a weekend rental, but nothing more.

I simply wish the team had built a better game around the concept, or that someone had the foresight to release the game as a "budget" DLC title, instead of a $50 game.

Even at a commendable budget price and with the developer's commitment to support the game, I can't recommend Sniper: Ghost Warrior. Even as a cheap stopgap, the game is sure to disappoint all but the least discerning fans of the genre.

While the underlying game might be straightforward, nothing about it is simple, because the interface always wants more sacrifices.

All of this hammers home the notion that you’re playing a really nice tech demo and not a complete football game—and the $10 discount price of $49.99 isn’t enough to warrant a purchase.

All of this hammers home the notion that you're playing a really nice tech demo and not a complete football game-and the $10 discount price of $49.99 isn't enough to warrant a purchase.

The abysmal AI, the absolutely disastrous PC controls, boss battles that all but throw out the gameplay style that got you there in the first place, and the complete and total illogic of some of the gameplay systems (like the aforementioned “shields”) all serve to derail what should have been as memorable a game as I’ve played this year.

But even the most generous, gameplay-not-graphics players will have a difficult time locating where the fun and value is in this title because it’s just so sloppily presented and at least ten years behind practically everything else on the market.

I’m only recommending this game to the patient—desperate for something they’ve experienced before.

I’m only recommending this game to the patient—desperate for something they’ve experienced before.

By the time the game ends, well after you wish it had, and with a cliff-hanger no less, you'll be more than happy to have it over, and not because a murderer's reign of terror has ended, but because your time with the game has.

Ultimately, Tiberian Twilight is a poor end to a long lived franchise. Its core design violates the major tenets of RTS sharing and openness, and this alone is enough to make me hate it.

Racquet Sports takes one slice of a quintessential game for Wii-owners, Wii Sports, and does absolutely nothing to improve on it, leaving players behind with one sport type, terrible A.I., lazy movement translation and superfluous accessories.

I hoped this game would be full of schlocky, 50's style monster movie fun but it ended up being a tedious, strategy-less brawler.

While it's true that this specific genre, namely the mature, police adventure genre is underrepresented on the DS there are plenty of other more worthwhile adventure games that focus on investigating crimes such as the excellent Hotel Dusk: Room 215 or the long standing Phoenix Wright series.

If you've got $20 burning a hole in your pocket and you're looking for a good adventure, do yourself a favor—steer clear of Model Mysteries.

Unfortunately the game's premise, mechanics or characters don't help either as they aren't interesting enough to make you overcome any indifference you feel towards Eike's plight.

From glitches to repetitive dog-fights and long stretches sans jet-pack, there is always something to ruin your fun as you trudge toward a wholly disappointing boss-battle and an inconclusive, patchwork ending.

From glitches to repetitive dog-fights and long stretches sans jet-pack, there is always something to ruin your fun as you trudge toward a wholly disappointing boss-battle and an inconclusive, patchwork ending.

From glitches to repetitive dog-fights and long stretches sans jet-pack, there is always something to ruin your fun as you trudge toward a wholly disappointing boss-battle and an inconclusive, patchwork ending.

If it wasn’t bad enough that the game pokes fun at its previous release, saying it can be picked at a bargain bin near you and continues the self-deprecating with a quip at the end dealing with the dreadfulness you just played through, one can’t help but agree and have a sort of resentment that the developers knew the game was not up to par with other XBLA - or even Xbox Live Indie games - but still went ahead and released it, which is probably the most humorous thing the game has going for it.

If it wasn’t bad enough that the game pokes fun at its previous release, saying it can be picked at a bargain bin near you and continues the self-deprecating with a quip at the end dealing with the dreadfulness you just played through, one can’t help but agree and have a sort of resentment that the developers knew the game was not up to par with other XBLA - or even Xbox Live Indie games - but still went ahead and released it, which is probably the most humorous thing the game has going for it.

In a world where The Beatles Rock Band exists, the paltry effort put into Guitar Hero: Van Halen is, quite simply, deplorable. If you're going to devote the time, money, and effort to developing a band-themed game in this franchise-then do it right. Don't embarrass yourselves by passing something like this off as a legitimate, full-featured game.

In a world where The Beatles Rock Band exists, the paltry effort put into Guitar Hero: Van Halen is, quite simply, deplorable. If you‘re going to devote the time, money, and effort to developing a band-themed game in this franchise—then do it right. Don’t embarrass yourselves by passing something like this off as a legitimate, full-featured game.