In spite of framerate drops, inconsistent online multiplayer, and other serious issues that weigh it down, there's little doubt that the five games in this package exude Valve's attention to detail and show off the developer's talent for making great titles.

These new elements seem to have been thrown in merely for the sake of being different, and the result is a confused mishmash of ideas that is more banal and frustrating than fresh or exciting.

A (mostly) pleasant surprise and a return to form. Considering how poorly the original trilogy aged (if you ask me), that's pretty... well, bananas.

I appreciated the places the story took me in the end, but the final series of boss fights not only felt forced into the game's plot, but also were so long and arduous that I wondered if I'd ever beat them at all.

If Call of Duty let you run free in the playground, then United Offensive keeps you on a short leash and yanks hard when you don't do things the right way.

In the end, Crash Mode really saves the game. The problems with translating the fast nature of racing to a small screen are nullified by the high fun factor involved with Crash Mode.

The gameplay feels as though it has mapped exceptionally well to the PS3's controller, unlike many other ports for the console. However, Rainbow Six has traditionally been a multiplayer-focused franchise, and it's here that the game disappoints.

Unlocking all the characters requires beating the single-player arcade mode no less than 16 times, a mind-numbing chore that borders on Super Smash Bros. levels of grind-ness.

I found myself eager for Hotline Miami to end before it did (after about eight hours) and had little desire to return to improve my scores.

Once you get past its unsightly graphics and need for a gamepad, you'll find that Indigo Prophecy is one of the more refreshing and unique titles released in years.

MvC3 tends to emphasize flash over substance... and that's totally cool, for some folks, as MvC3 is going to divide the fighting game audience, including series faithful. Some will like that it's more accessible (if a bit stripped down), while others will decry the dumbing-down of their favorite series and its lack of arcade sauce.

If you can bear some of the repetition in between missions, the missions themselves are a blast. The environment is among the most compelling ever put on a screen this year. And multiplayer is strong. Far Cry 2 may not live up to its full potential, but there's a lot here to enjoy regardless.

Speaking of puzzles, most in the episode are easy and you should have no problem finishing it in less than three hours. Another annoying case of "adventure game logic" rears its ugly head towards the end of the game, though: Lee appears to have the magical ability to fit a full-sized blowtorch and gas canister inside his back pocket and climb up a ladder unaided. In the real world, getting this contraption up the ladder would've been a puzzle in itself. For a franchise that depends on realism to sell the misery and horror of something so implausible as reanimated corpses, that disregard for authenticity is a step in the wrong direction.

If you can bear some of the repetition in between missions, the missions themselves are a blast. The environment is among the most compelling ever put on a screen this year. And multiplayer is strong.

If you can bear some of the repetition in between missions, the missions themselves are a blast. The environment is among the most compelling ever put on a screen this year. And multiplayer is strong. Far Cry 2 may not live up to its full potential, but there's a lot here to enjoy regardless.

Few games in recent years have been laugh-out-loud funny, but The Movies generates so much random silliness that - even when things are going wrong - you can still have a good time.

The minute-to-minute gameplay is tried and true, and when you factor in the long-tailed character progression, well, let's just say it's a wrap. Puzzle Quest's designers are certainly onto something here.

While Civilization Revolution does a great job of introducing the concept and gameplay of Sid Meier's classic PC series to the consoles, it falls just short of true greatness due to a lack of depth in the AI and multiplayer options.

MvC3 tends to emphasize flash over substance... and that's totally cool, for some folks, as MvC3 is going to divide the fighting game audience, including series faithful. Some will like that it's more accessible (if a bit stripped down), while others will decry the dumbing-down of their favorite series and its lack of arcade sauce.

PS2 online has all of the aforementioned flaws and is an overall nightmarish experience and should be avoided at all costs.

Crysis was a fantastic PC game, and Crysis Warhead serves up more content with the same visual genius. If you're hungry for more, it's hard to go wrong with the $30 price tag -- just don't expect anything revolutionary.

Elegant and beautiful and quirky, and shows (in multiplayer at least) flashes of undeniable brilliance. Unfortunately, also like Leonardo's gadgets, Rise of Legends never quite gets off the ground.

My biggest concerns, though, rest with how multiplayer is balanced. The heroes are simply far too powerful; in one game, three heroes utterly destroyed an entire enemy army. Things get even worse when playing with One Ring enabled.

For the right kind of player, the multiple endings, secret characters, extra bosses, and obscene potential for stats and damage (a Japanese strategy guide published a record of over two billion points) could provide a pleasurable diversion that can literally last hundreds of hours. It is, however, something that's definitely not for everyone.

People who play mostly single-player games and aren't interested in scenarios won't find much new stuff in Warlords. At the end of the day, the expansion pack brings some great new stuff to the table. We just wish Firaxis could have taken some chances and offered us more of it.

More importantly, the action at the game's heart is only so-so; it's competent in execution, but just doesn't seem terribly compelling to play through. It passes time, but it's not exciting or fun.

A disappointment. It completely breaks with the first game in everything but gameplay, and even that is sabotaged by annoying, repetitive level design.

The action get repetitive very quickly. The game really doesn't introduce any new gamplay mechanics once you learn how to roll and jump, and the levels are far from challenging. It's a solid game, but it feels like one that could have used a bit more attention paid to the gameplay.