Truthfully, the entire game feels like a defiantly kickass celebration of music. Combined with the complete success and undeniable innovation of Pro Mode, how could anyone resist Rock Band 3?

Truthfully, the entire game feels like a defiantly kickass celebration of music. Combined with the complete success and undeniable innovation of Pro Mode, how could anyone resist Rock Band 3?

Although Fable III's streamlined approach to the traditional Fable concept might feel a little odd to franchise veterans at first, this iteration is every bit as engaging and rewarding as its predecessors. Moreso, in fact, given that Lionhead's subtle but deeply effective changes to character and world interaction add such a tangible sense of attachment. Big, clever and funny, you'll rarely have enjoyed going through such punishing emotional torment.

Takes nearly every complaint we had about the original and fixes it or gives us something better. We finally feel like a proper, force-wielding one-man army. It's still short and doesn't take us on a truly grand tour of the Star Wars universe, but the storytelling holds up in quality and fits right in to the existing mythology.

If Costume Quest was a full-retail game, we'd recommend it with a few caveats. But seeing as its fifteen bucks, fans of RPGs/Halloween/Neglecting their children should pick it up without hesitation.

If Costume Quest was a full-retail game, we'd recommend it with a few caveats. But seeing as its fifteen bucks, fans of RPGs/Halloween/Neglecting their children should pick it up without hesitation.

A great introduction to the realm of Hip Hop based karaoke gaming. As a party game, both viewers and participants will be entertained with the song selection and visuals and most, if not all, of the songs are familiar enough with today's Hip Hop fans to yield entertaining results. The technology incorporated makes the game much more challenging than it looks.

Even for hardcore Dead Space fans (which we are), skipping Ignition will mean missing nothing of import to the Dead Space canon.

For the perfectionists out there, there are tons of missions to accomplish and most gamers will never have to touch a fortune cookie.

The game tries to mix things up by throwing in tightly-placed bonus gates, hidden branching routes and aerial grind-rails, but the game never really flows fast or smoothly enough to properly invoke the spirit of SSX that it's clearly trying to recreate.

If it weren't for a lack of online play, NBA Jam would be virtually perfect. Even so, Jam is our favorite sports title of the year.

There's no reason why any J-RPG fans, or those with a particular penchant for blocky cutscenes, won't feel their 30 bucks was well spent on Awakened Shadow.

Medal of Honor's campaign is well-scripted and well-acted, and parts of it are superbly nerve-racking, but its uninventive missions and premature ending left us wanting. The multiplayer, however, is a different game. No, it's actually a different game, and it's what DICE does best.

While not a huge departure from the original Dead Rising template, Dead Rising 2's concession to friendlier game-saves and excellent addition of a creative and funny weapon-crafting system make it a rewarding and gleefully entertaining experience. But alas, the corpse-killing hijinks are noticeably marred by some inexcusable hark-backs to archaic game design. A lot of fun then, but with some definite frustrations.

If you can overlook the control issues and often totally uneven difficulty (the second boss should under no circumstances be way easier than the first, in any game, ever), and turn a blind eye to the asinine plot and characters, Shank does have its moments.

The bottom line though is that Guardian Signs is a great game for small children, but is too simplistic for the rest of us.

For those who enjoyed the first two Layton games, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is a must-have, period. And if you haven't played a Layton game yet, what are you waiting for? This is easily one of the strongest series on DS in every regard, from the brilliantly crafted puzzles to the exquisite art.

It's not just another yearly update with some obligatory back-of-the-box modifications; it's a loving study of the greatest player of his generation and his biggest rivals, played out with beautiful sights and sounds that remind us just how great the Air Jordan era was.

It's not just another yearly update with some obligatory back-of-the-box modifications; it's a loving study of the greatest player of his generation and his biggest rivals, played out with beautiful sights and sounds that remind us just how great the Air Jordan era was.

Enslaved is a bit scrappy in its presentation and would have benefitted from more polishing time, but its heart is in a place few games even try for. Its world is original, fascinating, beautiful, and daunting. Its characters are alive and full of real emotion and they're truly loveable. Its simple combat is spare but elegant, and its climbing sequences get the blood pumping. It tells a story unlike any other, and it tells it with maturity and confidence.

Enslaved is a bit scrappy in its presentation and would have benefitted from more polishing time, but its heart is in a place few games even try for. Its world is original, fascinating, beautiful, and daunting. Its characters are alive and full of real emotion and they're truly loveable. Its simple combat is spare but elegant, and its climbing sequences get the blood pumping.

It's deserving of your time and your money despite its length. But more importantly, it's deserving of the name 'Sonic The Hedgehog 4'. That was always going to be this game's biggest challenge, but it's succeeded with aplomb.

So while Wii Party manages to remain entertaining by the sheer numbers of minigames and occasional clever Wiimote usage, the bland presentation and lackluster board games bring it down.

So after this glowing review why isn't it a 10? Mainly because Super Meat Boy may turn off some players who aren't looking to be tested, even if I believe that the quality of the SMB earns it the right to be that difficult.

This is a charming, beautiful, and accessible title that dares to be different while paying homage to the original. It will make a fine addition to the collections of both its fans and action-RPG enthusiasts alike.

These problems aside, there is a genuinely good time to be had with portions of Front Mission Evolved, provided you bring with you a certain love for mechs. It's probably not the high point of the series, but fans of the Front Mission universe and/or giant robots might find something to like here.

A great package overall and especially for long time MMA fans. There are some minor sticking points in the controls and some will miss their favorite UFC fighters, but if you want a fuller experience of what mixed martial arts is coupled with superior online modes, you can't do better than EA MMA.

A great package overall and especially for long time MMA fans. There are some minor sticking points in the controls and some will miss their favorite UFC fighters, but if you want a fuller experience of what mixed martial arts is coupled with superior online modes, you can't do better than EA MMA.

Insanely fast and relentlessly fun, Vanquish manages to keep up a breakneck pace almost throughout its entire runtime, never quite slowing down enough to get boring. Of all the Gears of War-alikes we've played, this may be the best.

Insanely fast and relentlessly fun, Vanquish manages to keep up a breakneck pace almost throughout its entire runtime, never quite slowing down enough to get boring. Of all the Gears of War-alikes we've played, this may be the best.

Our suggestion? Turn off the volume, and get your fingers ready to mash some buttons.

Make no mistake - this is straightforward, walk-right-to-win platforming. It's not re-writing the book on anything and it's probably not game of the year material, but it's just plain fun, and acts as a charming antidote to the M-rated avalanche we can't seem to pull ourselves out of.

A fantastic game. It approaches puzzle solving in a very open-ended manner that increases the game's replay value dramatically and the overall novelty from the first title continues to entertain in this sequel with the new adjectives system.

Invizimals won't be toppling the house that Pikachu built, but it's at least an innovative competitor.

I need to emphasize that my problem isn't that Comic Jumper is difficult – I love difficult scrolling shooters – my problem is that Comic Jumper is difficult for all the wrong reasons - and to top it off, the game constantly insults your incompetence with grating voice work.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow reinvigorates the franchise by borrowing from other games, adding its own wonderful magic system, and ratcheting up the epic factor to ludicrous degrees. It's huge in scope, length, and depth, and it's polished with obvious love and passion.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow reinvigorates the franchise by borrowing from other games, adding its own wonderful magic system, and ratcheting up the epic factor to ludicrous degrees. It's huge in scope, length, and depth, and it's polished with obvious love and passion.

So, maybe this isn't really a Final Fantasy game. It doesn't really matter, because 4 Heroes is supremely challenging and occasionally inventive - and what recent, successful Final Fantasy game can you really say that about?

The perfect platformer. It's proof that the 2D side-scrolling formula still holds up after all these years. The characters are fun and quirky, the story is weird and loose, and the game as a whole is a pleasure to play. If you were waiting for this year's "must-have" app from DSiware, look no further.

From the game-stretching fetch quests to the clanking camera to the clumsy cliffhanger ending, Hydrophobia just doesn't feel like a finished game. The water is truly unique and special, but everything else feels too much like a soggy, overblown tech demo.

While not a huge departure from the original Dead Rising template, Dead Rising 2's concession to friendlier game-saves and excellent addition of a creative and funny weapon-crafting system make it a rewarding and gleefully entertaining experience. But alas, the corpse-killing hijinks are noticeably marred by some inexcusable hark-backs to archaic game design. A lot of fun then, but with some definite frustrations.

Including the famous CBGB venue feels like a desperate grab for legitimacy. Problem is, it doesn't fit with the Simmons-narrated rock 'n' roll fantasy theme at all and therefore comes off as little more than a cynical ploy for street cred.

Including the famous CBGB venue feels like a desperate grab for legitimacy. Problem is, it doesn't fit with the Simmons-narrated rock 'n' roll fantasy theme at all and therefore comes off as little more than a cynical ploy for street cred.

These problems aside, there is a genuinely good time to be had with portions of Front Mission Evolved, provided you bring with you a certain love for mechs. It's probably not the high point of the series, but fans of the Front Mission universe and/or giant robots might find something to like here.

There are still a few issues with the online side of things so if you're thinking of picking this up solely for multiplayer purposes then you might be left a bit cold right now. But offline there's more than enough to sate any footballing hunger you've had since the World Cup and you'll be hard-pressed to find a better football game for a long time.

The game has a frankly obscene amount of content to discover, all of it measured and absorbing. Whether the more arcadey difficulty levels will be entertaining enough for casual racing fans is debatable. You'll undoubtedly get the most out of it if you have the patience to approach it as a serious racer and learn to use gears, brakes and progressive throttle.

The game has a frankly obscene amount of content to discover, all of it measured and absorbing. Whether the more arcadey difficulty levels will be entertaining enough for casual racing fans is debatable.

Blade Kitten is simple, but simple is fun when such a fantastic world surrounds you. Kit's characterization makes immersing into Blade Kitten's world difficult, but at least attempt the adventure. You may not want to kill Kit the whole time. Maybe.

Sadly, it's just a pretty face, and there's not much below the surface. As a result, exploring doesn't yield much in the way of rewards, so odds are, you'll just stick to your daily routine of repetitive levequesting and crafting. And then you'll log out. And then, one day, you'll probably just decide to omit the part where you log back in.

It's still not very accessible to non-grognards, and it's still fairly boring when it comes to multiplayer (turn-based games just involve too much waiting around for other people to finish up). But it's also still incredibly addictive, begging you to stay up just five minutes more, just to see what happens in the next turn.

It's a ridiculously challenge old-school RPG experience to be sure, and you can expect to have your party wiped out frequently amidst streams of curses and a few rage quits. But even so, it's a dungeon crawler we heartily stand behind.

For the perfectionists out there, there are tons of missions to accomplish and most gamers will never have to touch a fortune cookie.

Blade Kitten is simple, but simple is fun when such a fantastic world surrounds you. Kit's characterization makes immersing into Blade Kitten's world difficult, but at least attempt the adventure. You may not want to kill Kit the whole time. Maybe.

Do you buy Halo mostly for the multiplayer? Then Reach is everything you'd want and expect from Bungie's final contribution to the franchise – perfectly polished familiarity with exactly the right amount of fresh features and bold risk-taking. If you're counting on an epic, sweeping and satisfying campaign story, however, you might want to keep waiting for Halo 4.

Deceptively simple. Don't be fooled by its cute-sy look and playful trappings. This RPG is hard as hell and incredibly addictive. Plus, with the extra post-game modes, it manages to deliver an excellent amount of value for your gaming buck.

A shame then, that marvelling at the cartoon tennis racquet pretending to be in your hand is immensely more enthralling than anything you'll actually do with it in the game.

Filled with enough fan service to make it an undeniable treat for Spider-maniacs, Shattered Dimensions is a fine game that's a little too uneven and repetitive to be more that the sum of its parts.

Filled with enough fan service to make it an undeniable treat for Spider-maniacs, Shattered Dimensions is a fine game that's a little too uneven and repetitive to be more that the sum of its parts.

We didn't expect a lot from NHL Slapshot, which may explain our delight at what we found. With the right audience, it's a superb hockey game with its own unique charm and "this is all about having fun" vibe. There ain't nothing wrong with that.

NHL 11 continues to dominate the sports landscape. It's a no-brainer must-have for any modern sports gamer, whether you can successfully discuss the nuances of the Left Wing Lock or can barely name a couple of players on your favorite team. There's enough here for everyone to have a blast.

NHL 11 continues to dominate the sports landscape. It's a no-brainer must-have for any modern sports gamer, whether you can successfully discuss the nuances of the Left Wing Lock or can barely name a couple of players on your favorite team. There's enough here for everyone to have a blast.

Fantastic showcase for Move.

So while series fans who've been waiting to play the first full-featured Kingdom Hearts in almost five years may find their loved returned tenfold, PSP owners who simply desire to play an A+ exclusive might not get what all the fuss is about.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold takes place over four chapters, each separated into a handful of levels. You can grab a second controller and team up with a friend or family member, but you might not want to subject them to the boredom.

For the lady gamers out there: if you like cute things at all, don't be afraid to pick this up, and don't be surprised if your man ends up cooing at that damn monkey-dog right alongside you.

Other M divides its attention among too many viewpoints and gameplay styles to nail any one of them. Thankfully, the entire game soars so high in the closing moments that it ends up a must play for franchise followers.

Had Joint Assault been released on PS3, 360 or even PS2 with all these features intact, it would have been a good, if derivative game. On PSP, it's a good game marred by control problems and real world visuals that are limited by the hardware.

The biggest downside to Valkyria Chronicles II is that it doesn't quite have the same charm as the original when it comes to the story and characters.

If you can overlook the control issues and often totally uneven difficulty (the second boss should under no circumstances be way easier than the first, in any game, ever), and turn a blind eye to the asinine plot and characters, Shank does have its moments.

While its story and action are fantastic, Mafia II is an open-world game with an "open world" that never becomes anything more than an elaborate backdrop for the story. It's a lot of fun while it lasts, but don't expect to be playing this months from now.

While its story and action are fantastic, Mafia II is an open-world game with an "open world" that never becomes anything more than an elaborate backdrop for the story. It's a lot of fun while it lasts, but don't expect to be playing this months from now.

That's not to say that this game isn't a good choice to play with a friend – we'd actually highly recommend playing the main single player game and just take turns handing the controller back and forth.

Big kudos to Ivy the Kiwi for not killing the joy of discovery by overexplaining.

A complex story attempts to give meaning to each quest, but even the most hardcore 4Xers will feel betrayed by Elemental. There's very little to love here, and it's so unbalanced and frustratingly crippled no magic will fix it.

A superb blend of twin-stick shooting, platforming, exploration, and tactical combat.

While it's an improvement over the first game, Kane & Lynch 2's high production values and streamlined focus are overshadowed by its thudding repetition, narrowly linear design, five-hour campaign and hugely unappealing protagonists. It's still a decent shooter, but it's definitely not for everyone.

While it's an improvement over the first game, Kane & Lynch 2's high production values and streamlined focus are overshadowed by its thudding repetition, narrowly linear design, five-hour campaign and hugely unappealing protagonists. It's still a decent shooter, but it's definitely not for everyone.

Overall the frustration factor feels very low for a competitive shooter, yet at the same time it's very hardcore skill-based, so it can appeal to all skill levels. Even when we lost matches or got crappy kill/death ratios, we were still having fun, which can't be said for a lot of shooters out there.

It's not a standout season, unlike some past hallmark Maddens that hold up well today. The guts are there for greatness, but there's still some work to be done until it reaches that high level.

Like the movie and comics, Scott Pilgrim the game speaks perfectly to a specific generation of people that will absolutely enjoy this breezy blast from the past. And anyone who's wanted a new yet classic brawler will be satisfied by this no matter how they feel about Scott Pilgrim getting a life.

Would we have preferred a new 2D, HD Castlevania that employed stunning new sprites instead of recycled heroes, villains and environments from the past 13 years? Hell yes. Does that make this game inherently bad for not being what we hoped? Definitely not. Just be aware of what you're getting yourself into.

It looks like racing junk food, but is in fact totally hardcore. We're betting many players will give it a whirl and dismiss it as shallow before ever getting to the serious, beautifully crafted design underneath.

It's also not like there are many JPRG options on Wii right now, so if you're really eager to play a traditional, if uninspired, RPG on Wii, Arc Rise definitely offers a respectable 40-ish hour experience – just don't expect it to throw you any curve balls.

Continuum Shift improves on Calamity Trigger in every way, and it's undoubtedly one of the best fighting games available; it oozes style, incorporates some truly radical ideas into its gameplay and sports a level of polish not always seen in fighting games.

Continuum Shift improves on Calamity Trigger in every way, and it's undoubtedly one of the best fighting games available; it oozes style, incorporates some truly radical ideas into its gameplay and sports a level of polish not always seen in fighting games.

The wait was worth it. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty delivers on all fronts with unique singleplayer missions, a gripping story for the campaign and excellent multiplayer. Prepare yourself for the definitive RTS of the decade. StarCraft II is the new standard and will cast a shadow over all RTS titles that follow for quite some time.

The problem is that it's all very rote, all content we've played before in better games, and all the promise seeded in that term, MMO, goes unfulfilled.

If you like clever game design, intelligent horror, or well-realised artistry, you really have to play through Limbo. It's an immaculate production, as close to perfect as it gets, and it will stay with you for a very long time.

For $5 there's enough fun to be had with Young Thor to justify the price, but if you need your games to be highly polished then you'd best look elsewhere. The combat is extremely uneven, and the controls can be imprecise at times.

At least Alien Swarm doesn't try to be anything other than what it is. It's an online action shooter with plenty of things to shoot at.

If you've played any Diablo-style RPG and any Monkey Island-style adventure and enjoyed them, you know you'll like DeathSpank. It's a hilarious and seamless combination of the two genres more than worthy of your 15 bucks and a couple weekends of your time.

Even with our small list of complaints – add sluggish menus and lack of meaningful updates to Road To Glory and TeamBuilder to them – NCAA Football 11 is a triumph. It's the best college football game we've ever played, offering a tremendous experience to gridiron fans.

Even with our small list of complaints – add sluggish menus and lack of meaningful updates to Road To Glory and TeamBuilder to them – NCAA Football 11 is a triumph. It's the best college football game we've ever played, offering a tremendous experience to gridiron fans.

If you've played any Diablo-style RPG and any Monkey Island-style adventure and enjoyed them, you know you'll like DeathSpank. It's a hilarious and seamless combination of the two genres more than worthy of your 15 bucks and a couple weekends of your time.

While this could have been an awesome game to geek out on, its numerous technical problems kill the mood pretty quickly.

Though certainly not a huge shift for the series, Dragon Quest IX has a near-perfect mix of classic JRPG style and grand (for the DS) visuals to make a great portable adventure.

For longtime fans, that commentary track alone is worth replaying Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. For everyone else – even those of us who aren't entirely enthusiastic about the methodical pace and heavy exploration of the genre – the wonderful art, stellar cast of characters, challenging puzzles and killer comedy warrant at least an attempt at adventuring.

If you're bored with what's currently on the table, the visuals (while not jaw-dropping) are certainly pleasing if you're into the whole dystopian future Russia fetish, the familiar controls are very easy to master, combat is fluid and fast-paced, and the customization options and wide range of player modes keep the game continually interesting. If you're not convinced, consider this: for all you get, it's really hard to argue with fifteen bucks.