For us it was a slow burn; the more we understood, the more fun we had. Once you start getting past the learning curve you'll find yourself more and more absorbed by all the complex little dramas that swirl around your nobles; you'll know you're getting there once you start feeling the urge to fill in other people on your crazy, possibly immoral medieval exploits.

Excellent control options aside, a lack of major platform-specific extras doesn't hold Plants vs. Zombies on Vita back from being one of the best versions yet.

It's well-executed, it's got an appealing look and a sharp sense of humor, and the pacing works well for handheld play.

This aimed for Vanquish and missed – but in doing so it at least made a decent Terminator game that's better than any actual licensed Terminator game.

Escape Plan is a fantastic concept, and one that often makes use of the system's greatest features to amazing success, but the final product left a great deal to be desired, and left us more than a little conflicted.

This is virtually identical to previous Dynasty Warriors games. If you're new to the series and thinking of picking it up with your system on launch day, Dynasty Warriors Next is a game that will keep you busy for a long time. So long as its action-packed gameplay doesn't bore you to death first.

No doubt a niche offering, but it does what it sets out to do really well and is perfectly suited to on-the-go gaming sessions.

I know I sound mad when I say the lack of content doesn't kill it, but it truly doesn't. I can tell I'm going to be coming back to this for months, even without the extra tracks. This is a surprisingly fun game and I'm glad it exists. Good ol' Ridge Racer.

Just one warning: The co-op missions do not scale with player count at all, and they are definitely designed to be tackled with four players. Three players? You'll probably do fine, if you're careful. Two? Really stretching it. And solo? You'd have to be a masochist to even try.

Gamers with more interest in the spectacle of F1 than actually being good at driving will probably like this very much. And at least the good points bode very well for the next one.

Ends up being more inviting than ever to new players, with a clearer plot and goals. The game knows what it does well and highlights it instead of trying too many hit or miss concepts. Despite the sometimes limited scope of its world and objectives, it's a great downloadable that hopefully will introduce a whole new audience to one writer's unique world.

Kudos to Namco Bandai for raising the bar on 3D fighters' frame rates, but beyond that, it's tough to get excited about a game that seems content with the bare minimum.

Warp strikes a good balance between stealth-focused sneakery and brain-teasing puzzles.

The gameplay feels more like an action game jammed into a horror story. It's a good action game, but it never quite feels like it belongs. Don't let the moments of monolithic combat or the lack of terror throw you off, though. The strengths of Alan Wake's narrative outweighs shortcomings that need to be mentioned, but can't ruin the experience.

As potentially deep as it is, though, Shinobido 2 still feels weirdly antiquated next to the rest of the Vita's launch lineup – and while we didn't opt for much grinding, it only took us around seven hours to play it from start to finish.

Feels like a game from a different era, and despite half-steps to make it more approachable, is painfully frustrating in ways that probably can't be changed without altering the core of the game. If you can get past that, NGSP is a deep, lengthy adventure, with combat that's still one of the best in 3D action gaming history.

It never takes any chances but delivers an overall solid beat 'em up. Inconsistent difficulty, nonexistent story and a lack of gameplay variety hold Shank 2 back, but those looking for a better playing experience from Shank's last outing might want to give the sequel a try.

Despite the various quibbles with the port quality, Tales of the Abyss is still a superb RPG. It's got excellent combat, a secret-packed world to explore, and a wonderful cast of characters you'll come to love adventuring with.

While this is visually the best looking Michael Jackson game ever, we find it difficult to recommend this title to anyone but the most rabid of fans, unless there's a promise to deliver DLC in the future. Fifteen tracks does not a King make.

It's the perfect type of game for a handheld, easily playable in short doses or long sessions, and it's a triumph of clever, captivating game design.

A novel experience and one of the few launch games with a real budget that isn't an updated port or half-sequel. And Pikmin fans desperate for anything that copies the series will have a good time for a little while. Yet Army Corps of Hell comes up short in the end, probably thanks to a lack of time or money.

Despite being light on levels, the replayability and charm of Touch My Katamari is likely enough to keep gamers interested for months to come. The changes shrinking and expanding add to the formula shouldn't be downplayed, as they really are the most significant additions since we first laid eyes on the wide-faced Prince, and we're happy to see the developers experiment with great success to create one of the most charming entries in the series yet.

With Lumines: Electronic Symphony, the series grows and expands in ways that render prior games as more spin-offs than true sequels. It reinvents itself for a new medium and showcases Sony's new handheld, just as its predecessor managed in 2005. Mark our words: you will remember why you loved this game so much.

While its character roster is smaller than previous games, and its multiplayer seems disappointingly basic next to its single-player campaign, Twisted Metal is nevertheless a compellingly badass game filled with fun things to discover and unlock. This isn't a perfect Twisted Metal, but as comebacks go, it's pretty strong.

Perhaps due to its simple style Rhythm Heaven Fever is launching at a value price, but it's bursting with addictive content you'll want to experience over and over again.

There's also no denying that Liverpool has overextended itself just a bit with Wipeout 2048. At its best, it's incredibly fast and beautiful; breathless, even. The little compromises chip away at the experience though, from the framerate to the slightly chunkier handling. It's a tremendous racer as always; but as far as grand ambitions go, Liverpool has fallen a tiny bit short.

In small doses, Little Deviants is an enjoyable experience and a great way to become familiar with the PS Vita's new tech. But beneath all that charm and googly-eyed cuteness, there isn't much to offer beyond the 30 minigames, with a chunk of them repeated on a various maps. It seems like Little Deviants would have been better suited as a tech demo, and should have come bundled with the system.

It's a complete misfire, and no amount of goofy skins or nifty track editors can make up for the seriously busted fundamentals.

It gets by just fine with its tried-and-true, user-friendly golfing action, strong multiplayer, and a mostly smart smattering of Vita-specific gimmicks and upgrades.

It's mostly there - the charm, the gameplay, the visual presentation - but there are some key elements missing. The level design leaves much to be desired, and without the cinematic moments the experience simply isn't incredibly strong. It's still an extremely solid cover shooter with a strong story and some fine platforming elements, but as far as an Uncharted game, it comes up short of what we've come to expect.

For some people, the bottom line will be this -- is Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for the Vita a faithful port of the console version? To that question, we would say, "Yes." It looks and plays more or less identically to the original game, and it has all of the relevant DLC as well. For those of you who need a Marvel vs. Capcom 3 fix wherever you happen to be, this game is pretty much everything you could hope for.

It's got enough content for you to get through a few career mode seasons while you wait for a likely iteration timed for the 2013 season that's loaded with features. But make no mistake, it's not FIFA 12, and despite the cover athletes, you'll be disappointed if you dive into this one with expectations of the latest console experience.

With the extra time, the developers were able to truly polish the game, bring forth a game that, while flawed, doesn't have any glaring issues. It's more accessible without losing any of the complexity, it's deeper without being isolating, and it's bursting with content, even if we wish the content was implemented better.

It's not without its flaws, but the good definitely outweighs the bad. The action is fast-paced, the combat is smooth, and the new twists on familiar FPS tropes really do make Gotham City Impostors a game worth playing. Even if it is just to pretend to be a backyard Batman for a few nights.

Ultimately, Simpsons Arcade is much richer with history than it is with content, but we'd easily play this over Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge.

Amalur does a lot of things better than some of the best out there. The combat is stronger than Skyrim's by a long shot, and the world feels more alive than games like Fable. It tells a good story well, and lays the foundation for a series we hope to see more of in the future, fate be damned.

While it lacks some of the openness and emotional pull of its predecessor, The Darkness II is a highly polished, immensely fun shooter that delivers a stellar mix of over-the-top gore, furious action and clever, character-focused storytelling.

The gameplay is a great mix of genres, and the world is fresh, exciting, and full of intrigue. The problem is execution. Both King Arthur games have shared the same unique concept, but Neocore Games may not have the manpower or the budget to fully extract the potential of both sides of this complex dual-genre game.

The story is just supposed to string together the action sequences, which is where the strength of the game is supposed to shine. Unfortunately for NeverDead, it seems to have forgotten that essential element.

Happy Action Theater is a great game for children with plenty of variety in almost every activity – each being different and exciting both visually and interactively. Although the entirety of the game can literally be seen in an hour or two, young gamers are sure to want to revisit their favorite version of their transformed room again and again, and at 800 Microsoft Points ($10), it's well worth it.

If FFXIII was an exercise in form over function, its successor is exercise in working with what you've got – and doing a brilliant job of it (for the most part). It does some things better than its predecessor, some things worse, but what's most impressive about Final Fantasy XIII-2 is how much feels new and different, despite sharing most of its guts with XIII.

With its increased pace, defensive tweaks, and reincarnated fighters, Soulcalibur V feels like a sorely needed reinvention for a series whose formula has gotten too long in the tooth. It feels as accessible and nearly as entertaining as Soulcalibur II and soundly one-ups its HD predecessor. You won't realize how much you wanted this revamp until you've put in a few hours on the arcade sticks.

The thoroughly M-rated adventure fulfills nearly every desire of RE fans, simultaneously fitting the new handheld perfectly thanks to a new episodic approach to storytelling. It's not a huge leap forward for the series, but it does prove that even on a handheld, Resident Evil can still be a good time.

Scarygirl isn't a total disappointment. Sure, the combat isn't its strongest suit, and being steamrolled time and time again by the tough battles later in the game gets old, but it's hard not to be drawn in by this curious cartoonish realm and the weirdos who live in it. This highly imaginative and beautiful game redeems itself with quirky creativity when its mechanics occasionally fumble.

The main offender here is easily the gameplay, which alternates between frustrating and boring. The controls are clumsy and unresponsive, which in a different setting wouldn't be as aggravating, but when paired with lethal foes and unforgiving environmental "puzzles" leads to constant misery.

Like ZEN Studios' previous offerings, Zen Pinball 3D reproduces the best aspects of pinball beautifully, and the 3D truly adds to the enjoyment and gets you that much closer to feeling like you're playing real pinball.

If you like the idea of flying a cool-looking helicopter in a 2D action game that makes you think, Choplifter HD is totally worth checking out. When it works, it's old-fashioned and yet not quite like anything else out there currently. If the chopper had controlled just a bit more nimbly, it's possible all of the game's problems would disappear or at least be reduced to much more tolerable levels.

Massively-multiplayer online games are always a work-in-progress, so it's not surprising that Star Wars: The Old Republic's launch wasn't flawless. What matters is that it's an extremely satisfying experience that sets the stage for a bright future, so long as BioWare continues to support the game for the coming years with constant updates.

Fires far too many blanks. Free is a tough price to turn down, but the city of San Paro is – at best – a vacation spot. We simply can't recommend an extended stay.

It's good to be back with an old friend, even if he's not quite as wild and crazy as he was back in the day.

Between its unique weapons, out-there world, and shocking late-game plot twist, there's a lot to really like even as it occasionally reminds you it's a 7-year-old game. They don't make 'em like this much anymore.

Basically, I love this game. And I love it in a way that both fans and Sonic CD newcomers should be able to love it too. Fans will love the care and attention given to the conversion of one of the all-time great Sonic games.

The Kore Gang as a whole is a fun, worthwhile experience. While flawed, it offers some truly interesting gameplay mechanics and thanks to an eccentric approach to design, actually manages to surprise.

Now that it's finally "finished," Minecraft stands as a remarkable achievement - not only a well-rounded gaming experience, but a chance for players to experiment, explore freely and reshape their environment to an almost ludicrous level. If you own a computer and haven't given Minecraft a try, you're missing one of the most unique experiences of this generation.

The game's just not much fun; the controls are sluggish to the point of being broken, the visuals are bland, the 3D is glitchy and seeing blood in the water does little to make the bare-bones gameplay and story interesting.

Jaws: Ultimate Predator isn't a good game by any stretch (although it's still more interesting than the bloodier 3DS version). It's ugly, clumsy and buggy, and will hugely disappoint anyone who's just looking to play as a giant shark that messily eats people. For all its faults, however, it's still surprisingly competent.

While the game is surprisingly delightful, after a breezy three hours it will also feel surprisingly concluded.

Even though it has its flaws, The Adventures of Tintin never veers from decent to awful, and Ubisoft Montpelier deserves credit for creating a rare wonder - a movie-spinoff that doesn't completely suck.

Perhaps it's the drab atmosphere, ordinary visuals, linear paths, and repetitive dialogue that kept us from loving it. Wanted Corp is decent, but not nearly decent enough for a recommendation this holiday season when there are already so many great titles to choose from.

It's gorgeous, charming, and incredibly fun.

This game should be, at most, a ten dollar download. It would feel even more appropriate at around the fifty cent mark, peddled by a trench-coated hobo in front of a sketchy movie theatre. At forty bucks, it's difficult to imagine any human being, living or dead, getting an appropriate amount of value out of it.

We wish it had gone farther with its extracurricular activities, as its core enterprise requires nearly the same patience and stamina as does real fishing – but of course those who don't like the idea of fishing won't be barking up this tree anyway, right?

Heavy Fire: Afghanistan is a game that really wants to be Call of Duty on rails, but it simply lacks the budget and creative license to pull any of it off. The game is just a cheap cash grab in every sense of the word. Even the most hardened on-rails gamers will find little to show for their tour in Afghanistan other than a severe case of PTSD.

To the Moon's excellent storytelling never veers off course and is one of the best we've experienced this year.

When all's said and done, Shinobi is a solid, old-fashioned 2D action game on a platform that has been surprisingly devoid of them so far.

Despite its minor issues, Corpse Party should be played by those looking for a unique, chilling experience – there's really nothing out there like it right now.

Fortune Street is one of those games that isn't going to appeal to everyone, but those it does appeal to will be totally enthralled with it despite its handful of annoyances. If you like Monopoly but wish the strategy were a little more robust, Fortune Street is game you've been waiting for.

Thanks to the strange combination of one diverting new mode with a slew of rehashed sporting events, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games disappoints as much as it entertains.

The dev team clearly believes "more is more" and the funny thing is that sometimes they're right – other times, a bit of editing on the enemy numbers would have really tightened the experience up. Instead of more enemies, there should have been more colors in the palette and more variety in the level design.

A potentially good rental title for those that fall squarely into the target MTV demographic, Yoostar delivers what it advertises but won't be a game that you'll regret passing on.

Mario Kart 7 is THE game the 3DS has been in dire need of. Sadly, it raises the bar so high for almost everything else, most 3DS games don't even look like they belong on the same system.

There is some fun to be had from time trial, challenges and the tracks that work properly. And with the penalties switched off, it almost passes as some crazy, incident-filled version of F1. But if you're after an authentic racing sim on 3DS, best wait a little longer, cos this most certainly ain't it.

The KOF series has never looked better, and the current gameplay system and mechanics are rewarding for dedicated players. Unfortunately, its old fashioned ways and gaunt presentation make it a much harder sell for casual players.

Unfortunately, and bafflingly, there is no multiplayer in AHL. It's a huge shame, as the quick-paced, finger-breaking dogfights would have lent themselves well to co-op. Even still, there are plenty of unlockables and challenges to keep gamers in the cockpit. If you're a fan of any Ace Combat entries, you'll find something to love on these horizons.

Even if it doesn't revolutionize wrestling games, WWE 12 is the best wrassler around and mixes things up enough to not feel stale. It owes much to SmackDown, but everything it borrows is still great, just slightly used. If you wanted a completely new wrestling experience, wait for the next challenger to WWE to give it a shot (and probably fail).

If everything would have worked as well as it could have, Jurassic Park: The Game would have been a successful experiment into creating a new type of cinematic game.

The new levels are just too unambitious and end up playing like Sonic's recent DS outings, only with polygonal visuals and 3D depth. That's still a worthy experience, but when Dreamcast's 12-years-old Emerald Coast blows its 3DS counterpart out of the water, there's something not quite right here.

We never got tired of watching blocks whirl around in the air to form new objects, stupefying everything in sight, or sitting through the often hilarious cutscenes.

There's still not enough here to keep a kid, a parent playing with their kid, or childish adults engaged for very long, especially since there's so many better (read: deeper) games out there for parents to play with their kids: the Rabbids games, those various dance contests, or any of Nintendo's minigame collections. Sometimes, keeping it simple can be stupid.

While there is plenty to do around the park meeting characters and finding collectibles, the minigame experience is not enough to keep players, even young ones, coming back.

From the full-screen attract mode to the cars-flipping-everywhere 'Congratulations!' sequence on the Expert track, Daytona USA is a joyous, jubilant celebration of everything that made arcade games so exciting and got us into gaming in the first place. Get it.

At a time when games seem to offer a whole lot of everything, Rayman Origins stays focused on pure platforming pleasure, and it delivers. Yes, it can be too tough for some, but we're betting even the more casual players will soon find themselves hopelessly addicted to the finely tuned challenges on offer here.

Die-hard players...will certainly get $40 worth of fun out of this release. 12 new characters is huge, and exploring the interplay between them and the tweaked returning cast will provide hours of fun. The much improved online interface is also a huge draw for competitive players. Ultimately (pun intended), the vast majority of UMVC3's new features will only really be appreciated by dedicated players, and for them it's a must have, for everyone else though, it's a harder sell.

While it brings some undeniable improvements to the series, Revelations feels like one step forward, two steps back. Its gameplay and multiplayer are still fantastic, but they come at the expense of a lackluster storyline and a shorter overall experience. Instead of being the exclamation point at the end of Ezio's story, Revelations feels more like an ellipsis.

It's possible Need for Speed The Run won't provide as many hours of entertainment as previous NFS games, but then it packs in unique events and some incredibly exciting chase sequences, meaning it packs a lot of entertainment-per-hour. It's not very forgiving of mistakes, but then it provides greater rewards as a result.

Regardless of any complaints or criticisms above, we'd still wholeheartedly recommend Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary to any diehard fan of the franchise, and with just minor reservations to everyone else.

As a dance game, The Black Eyed Peas Experience is a decent title with good choreography and vibrant visuals to back it up. At the end of the day, though, unless you really really like The Black Eyed Peas (and we mean really really like them, as you'll be bombarded with BEP facts between songs) this game will be a rental at best.

The complete realization of everything this franchise has set out to do. Yes it's ludicrous and lewd, but it's also a joy to play, a streamlined sandbox that hooks the fun directly into your veins.

A perfectly balanced mix of innovation and classic Zelda gameplay, Skyward Sword truly lives up to the Zelda legacy of excellence and offers the most variety of any Zelda game to date. Its swordplay and puzzles are some of the best in the series, and seeing Link and Zelda's first story chronologically is a treat for longtime fans.

While the game is fun in its own right, the figures and portal make it into more than just the average adventure game. The price may be a little steep, with the game constantly encouraging players to buy more characters, but the figures are well made and make great collectables.

Skyrim is sprawling, generous, gorgeous and ambitious. It does what few games can: thoroughly follow through on its ambitions. It could be possible to play only this game for the next year and still not discover all of its mysteries.

Though it falls slightly short compared to other Mario titles (aka some of the greatest games ever made), it's certainly a release worthy of the character's legacy. It expertly builds on franchise history, has tons of clever ideas, and even with the rare control hang-ups, it stands tall in the realm of 3D platformers, especially compared to the paltry library of games the 3DS currently has.

Each season presents even more new additions and mechanics that will delight series fans. If you can get past the excruciatingly long first season, Two Towns will keep you entertained for a very long time.

It's Pixel's dream realized on a new platform for the masses, and in a form anyone can appreciate.

A great value, even if you only plan to play one of the three games. That it has three you might want to play, plus a bunch of fun extras, just cements this as the best multi-game compilation since 2007's Orange Box.

If you're looking for a new kind of shooter, look elsewhere. Modern Warfare 3 succeeds by doing more – much, much, much more – of what's always worked spectacularly for the series. We still can't get enough.

At its core, Rocksmith is wildly cool, innovative technology sitting on top of a tired formula many of us have played to death. Had the story mode been anything other than the tried-and-true Guitar Hero/Rock Band "play a few songs, unlock new venues, rinse and repeat," it would have been infinitely more fun. Even so, Rocksmith is undeniably interesting, and the potential for greatness in the franchise is there.

GoldenEye lost some charm moving from being one of the few first-person shooters on the Wii to the shooter heavy PS3 and Xbox 360, but there is something here for Bond fans with a variety of gameplay modes each with something to offer – if you can get over a few bumps.