Less splatter than before, and yet much more enjoyable, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 manages to save the NG series from oblivion. Good settings, good graphics, good animations, good control system, good AI, good gameplay. No need to add more.

Structural balance, evocative graphics, inspired character design. These are just a few of Aion’s assets. It is a game that has definitely met most of the highest expectations we all had. As such it is possibly the best available alternative to some of the most important MMORPG out there, including his majesty World of Warcraft!

Far more than a simple expansion, Halo 3: ODST offers an intense gaming experience, and an unusual one too for a Halo game, with a well-balanced switch between action, exploration and strategy, where the player is always the main character.

Fallen Earth is truly a nice MMORPG. In spite of its mix of well-known and overused gameplay formulas and storyline ideas, some of which are very close to Fallout 3, the end product is really various and immersive, and its 5000 square kilometres map is simply astonishing.

Wet was a difficult project from the start, and that has undoubtedly affected it, in spite of Bethesda’s intervention. The hectic gameplay and the nice “Tarantino” atmosphere are not enough to cover up the poor texture and animation quality.

Need For Speed: Shift is a great racing game. At last! A top quality game from all perspectives, it can suite both expert racers and rookies. It is also quite involving thanks to the new cockpit camera views, and has a superb multiplayer mode.

Perhaps NHL 10 won’t deserve to be remembered as a revolutionary step in this series history, but it should definitely be considered as a self-proclaimed sovereignty over the icy hockey fields. The graphics, the gameplay, the AI, the online mode, everything has been slightly but significantly improved, resulting in the best NHL simulation out there.

Heroes Over Europe could have been so much more... The arcade approach to its gameplay has huge potential, but this very approach ends up affecting its structure with far too many unrealistic outcomes shaking your wings as you fly and fight in the crimsom Ubisoft skies.

NHL 2K10 is just above sufficiency. In spite of Visual Concepts’ experience, it still lags behind NHL 10, especially as far as the online mode is concerned. There are some animation glitches too, affecting the overall gaming experience.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 combines both action and RPG elements together pushed by the wind of innovation and the ever so strong appeal of the Marvel universe. Complex but easy to play, it guarantees hours and hours on end of real fun.

There are only a few shortcomings in Scribblenauts, but they are not enough to spoil an incredibly original gameplay, which will put the player face to face with his/her own imagination. In fact, the more imagination you put into solving its riddles, the more this game will surprise you, one level after the other.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is definitely one of the best RPGs on Nintendo DS ever made. An admirable plot guides the player throughout the whole game, introducing a complex system of characters interaction and a series of very enjoyable fighting sessions against incredibly huge enemies. This is a game destined to stay in your DS for quite a while.

The Beatles: Rock Band is a great tribute to music’s history. As such, it has an undeniably strong appeal that should suffice, alone, to obtain a wide consent. Fortunately, it’s a great game as well, with loads of extras and exclusive features such as the new replicas of the band’s original instruments!

Muramasa: The Demon Blade is the state of the art for modern 2D graphics. Although it is a bit repetitive at times, it offers quite a few interesting gameplay solutions, alongside the possibility to play two different stories depending on which character you choose.

At first glance, a game like Mini Ninjas seems more suitable for casual gamers and children. But when you actually get a chance to play at it, you suddenly realize that you are either the former or the latter… Or both at the same time! In spite of some gameplay limits, this is just plain fun!

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey wisely mixes both action and simulation elements with realistic graphics and awesome effects. Thanks to that, it gives players an intense and realistic gameplay experience, including real flying techniques (with different difficulty levels) and an immersive WWII atmosphere.

Colin McRae: DiRT 2 pushes further the boundaries between simulation and arcade, giving as much importance to the car’s set-ups as to an easier approach to the driving experience, serving players a dish they can enjoy whether they are driving pros or simple beginners.

At first glance, Section 8 won’t make you scream out of enthusiasm, mostly because its graphics are not entirely up to next-gen expectations. But design was not the programmers’ purpose. They rather had in mind to tailor up a brand-new multiplayer gaming experience, filled with loads of new ideas and original solutions. And that is what they have definitely obtained!

Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny effectively manages to translate the home console experience into a portable one, preserving both the original gameplay and characters. Nice to play and to look at, thanks to the great graphics, it has a limited longevity, though.

One thing one could blame Guitar Hero for is its difficulty level – that is of course if you were an absolute beginner… Guitar Hero 5 is the proof that game designers do listen to players’ opinions: the game is now more adaptive to one’s skill level, welcoming casual gamers as well for the first time in its history.

Champions Online may pose no threat to WoW, but it still is a solid MMORPG. We were quite happy with the action-oriented control system, the mission pack and the overall gameplay structure. The graphics is good too, but you’ll need high specs to really enjoy it.

Cursed Mountain is one of those rare opportunities to see the horror genre on the Nintendo home system, so all fans should at least try this game. Having said that, we cannot ignore the unrefined gameplay and the unreactive controls.

Batman Arkham Asylum is a high quality product, and most importantly the best Batman game ever! In spite of the somewhat excessive fights one has to endure in the game, it has a well-crafted structure, greatly supported by sounds and graphics effects.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy is a must-have for all FF fans, a dream come true after all those years spent wishing to see all the characters of this huge saga fighting one another! All other players too should play it, having in mind that this is also one of the best fighting games on PSP ever.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is a game suited for everyone. With more than 150 among riddles and conundrums, it places you into a nicely drawn world full of extraordinary characters, with an involving story worth unraveling one puzzle at a time.

Wolfenstein is a standard FPS, nothing more, nothing less. As you know, good sounds and graphics don’t make up for an overall lack of variety – not entirely at least. This lack affects most missions and some aspects of the gameplay resulting in a repetitive action system. It is still a good game, but we’d have probably thought better of it if it wasn’t for the expectations a name like Wolfenstein carries within.

Madden NFL 10 doesn’t leave anything to chance. All NFL fans will most certainly appreciate the work done in developing such a feast of graphics, gameplay, statistics, and presentations. The game is fun to play throughout, thanks to the easy to master but thorough tactics system.

Gears of War 2: Dark Corners is nothing more and nothing less than a well-tailored Map Pack, yet it’s absolutely a must-have for all GoW fans. For your 1200 MS points you also get to play part of a previously cut scene from the single player campaign.

King of Fighters XII would be a great game had it been made a few years back. Unfortunately, sleek and very well-drawn characters are not enough to make up for a 2D fighting game nowadays. Yet if you like this kind of gameplay, you’ll most definitely appreciate the huge list of attacks and combos, and the rich backgrounds.

Unbound Saga looks like a great game, but the looks ain’t everything! Once you enter in its the comics-inspired world you soon realize that the nicely painted environments are too crammed and claustrophobic. After a few missions you also realize that the only variables in the gameplay are the enemies and the very environments.

The long wait since Battlefield 1942 was well worth it: Battlefield 1943 is real value for money. It is a quality shooter, finely made and highly enjoyable thanks to its gameplay solutions and the flawless on-line experience. It’s available via digital delivery, and it’s cheap!

War simulation games fans should be grateful to the Bohemia Interactive dev team. ArmA 2 is an incredible title, technically impressive, often a marvel for the eyes. Realistic, absorbing and immersive, it puts you straight into close-to-real war action throughout its 225 square Kilometers, villages, people and armies.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince didn’t really manage to offer something new when compared to its previous iteration, and we suspect not much effort was even made in that direction. It still preserves most of its appeal if you are a big Harry Potter fan, though.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood represents a big step forward on many issues in comparison to the previous episode. It is not a top-class FPS overall, but it certainly has interesting characters and a nice atmosphere. Yet it could’ve been much better… In fact it suffers a few glitches and rigid gameplay.

Fight Night Round 4 is a masterpiece of boxing simulation. Our vote didn’t reach 10 mainly because there are no real terms of comparison out there, and we would’ve liked a new career mode as well. Other than that, the new collision system, the real-time calculation of the boxers’ body weight and arms extension (not to mention the superb graphics!) translate into an as-close-to-real-as-it-can-get boxing experience.

Fight Night Round 4 is a masterpiece of boxing simulation. Our vote didn’t reach 10 mainly because there are no real terms of comparison out there, and we would’ve liked a new career mode as well. Other than that, the new collision system, the real-time calculation of the boxers’ body weight and arms extension (not to mention the superb graphics!) translate into an as-close-to-real-as-it-can-get boxing experience.

The technical differences between the Wii and other next-gen platforms are well known to everyone, so don’t expect from The Conduit the same graphic or level design. Yet, you may well expect polished textures, great effects, and, most of all, a superb control system which perfectly fits into the typical FPS gameplay approach. And as we said, it’s an FPS. On the Wii!

Anno: Crea un Nuovo Mondo is a good strategy game for your favourite console. It may be not too innovative or deep, but its intuitive controls, a fresh look and a solid gameplay make it enjoyable for hours and hours.

The dev team of Overlord 2 has focused a lot of its attention and efforts to getting rid of the tearing, clipping and aliasing issues which afflicted the previous game. The result is quite good: very nice environments, characters, effects and sounds. And a real laugh while playing!

Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires didn’t meet the target. Non significant innovation has been introduced, to the point it risks to be just another forgotten warrior. Being a fully priced expansion, we recommend it only to real fans.

Yet another expansion for Fallout 3, and yet another success! We particularly enjoyed the new settings and characters, and the fact that we did not encounter any glitch whatsoever. Unfortunately, the main story – well worth playing – and a few side missions won’t last you much more than 4 hours.

Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is a quality product. It offers a thorough and interesting gameplay - albeit not so various - thanks to a considerable amount of collectibles and monsters. It does have some minor glitches here and there, but technically speaking it is worth the money. It also boasts an excellent co-op mode worth hours of shared fun.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a great game, a fact that actually came as quite a surprise taken into account its numerous problems and delays. Enjoyable and immersive, it does have some defects such as the not-so perfect AI, but once you have put down the pad and turned off the console, you are left with a nice flavour in your mouth. A flavour mixed with the memories from the original movie.

Guitar Hero Greatest Hits doesn’t add too much to the GH franchise when compared to World Tour, Metallica and Aerosmith, although its pleasant cosmetics, made of cartoon-style characters and colorful effects, and a well-known control system are a guarantee. Either you are a huge fan or have never played at GH before, this is your meal of the day.

Prototype had had to come to terms with some technical limitations in order to favour its open world environment and sandbox structure, but it did keep up the pace with and actually proved even better than some of the most spectacular productions, thanks to its Titanium Engine, which guarantees a solid frame rate throughout the game in spite of its unpredictable, hectic and fun-to-play gaming experience.

Virtua Tennis 2009 is like a missed chance. Technically speaking, the programmers have done a good job, and who has never played at VT before could really enjoy it. But if you’re an aficionado of this franchise, this will look to you like nothing more than a restyling. And a polished look just isn’t enough for a fully priced game.

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings doesn’t reach a level of excellence, but it does offer good textures, a plausible illumination system and a good serving of effects, all very effective in reproducing the movies’ typical atmosphere. The original implementation of the control system is also another great asset.

Rock Band Unplugged has managed to translate the home console experience into a “live” portable performance, adapting its control system to the PSP quite effectively. The tracklist is no lame either, with several nice songs included in the UMD and many more available for download from the PlayStation Network.

Better graphic, better environments, better textures, better animations, better effects... all in all, a better Tiger Woods PGA Tour. The tenth edition introduces several improvements and loads of new features, including the new rules introduced by the United State Golf Association, the Tournament Challenge, the Weather Channel, and a solid multiplayer mode. There are no real rivals for a direct comparison, yet this doesn’t make Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 anything less than a must-have!

Red Faction Guerrilla uses its Geo-Mod 2.0 engine quite flawlessly, obtaining a stable frame rate and a good level of detail. Its wide support of animation routines recreates a realistic experience, especially when collisions are involved. Going around its open-world system destroying environmental elements is quite a pleasant experience of its own! This game came definitely as a nice surprise.

The Sims 3 proves more evolved and less repetitive than its predecessors. Given the graphics restyling for granted, we have found – and mostly appreciated – an improved management tool: forget the slow obsolete processes of the previous iterations and welcome a smoother gameplay, a wider freedom and an overall better experience.

FUEL didn’t meet its goal. Actually it went quite far from what Codemasters had promised. Although it is evident that the dev team has put a lot of effort in creating an innovative and fresh concept, and has produced a vast free-roamable terrain of proven technical quality, some unfortunate gameplay solutions and a improvable AI have mined the overall experience.

FUEL didn’t meet its goal. Actually it went quite far from what Codemasters had promised. Although it is evident that the dev team has put a lot of effort in creating an innovative and fresh concept, and has produced a vast free-roamable terrain of proven technical quality, some unfortunate gameplay solutions and a improvable AI have mined the overall experience.

Sucker Punch Productions have done a great job with inFAMOUS. First they have created a proprietary engine, that manages – quite naturally – a vast and detailed environment, where particle effects and exquisite textures make you indulge on the surroundings more than you should; then they have put an action-packed game into it.

UFC 2009 Undisputed is a deep sports gaming experience. Extremely realistic and aesthetically polished, it reproduces its 84 athletes with an extraordinary level of detail. Sweat, face expressions and movements are as close to reality as polygons and effects can be. It is not an easy game though, so expect to be spending quite a few hours on it before you can call your-self a true fighter!

Terminator Salvation could have been much, much more than this. Far from being a mere spin-off, it offers a satisfying technical level, a nice atmosphere and all the robots previously seen in the movies. But it’s way too short to be worth the ticket. It would have probably been a hit had, it been on XBLA or PSN.

Action games lovers will find that Bionic Commando tastes like their favourite piece of cake, but not quite so. Fun to play, difficult enough to keep you motivated and technically valuable, it is unfortunately mined by a narrow structure, an improvable control system and a set of bonuses and objects that are a bit too difficult to obtain.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is nothing but a mediocre title. In spite of its hack & slash action and effective multiplayer system, it doesn’t make you feel as involved as it should, due to a shallow storyline, a poorly adapted interface and a number of bugs deriving from the bug-filled PC version. Yet its RPG gameplay is quite rich, partly compensating the poor technical level.