The controls do need some work, but while Castle of Illusion is high on mechanical problems, it's even higher on whimsy. It's too charming to dislike.

Rise of the Triad delivers on over-the-top weapons, goofy power-ups, and one of the most sincere deathmatch modes in quite some time, and it's undeniably a retro experience from top to bottom.

For $19.99, it's a fun, easy to play game that demands nothing of its players other than pointing and shooting...at the aliens.

Most of the time, though, it just sort of is, existing as a weirdly generic, blandly acceptable compromise between casual and hardcore that doesn't really go far enough to please either set of fans.

Perhaps the most convenient feature of WRC is its much-appreciated and often-used instant reset. When - not if - you make a mistake and end up stuck behind a boulder or upside down in a ditch, hitting the reset starts the race over immediately - no loading at all.

If you can get past these problems, The Undergarden is a competent puzzle game with beautiful (if a bit samey) art and music direction, a light hearted concept, and an absolutely adorable protagonist.

Sure, the story isn't high-concept, but this gameplay is really all about fighting and collecting increasingly mean and exotic critters. And on that level, Digimon World Dusk/Dawn delivers in spades.

If the developer could have just tightened up a few minor technical issues and injected a little more soul into the proceedings, this might have been Spidey's best game yet. Instead, it’s just a satisfyingly entertaining experience and a big step back in the right direction.

We were disappointed both by the game's wonky physics system and the Kinect's strange lack of sensitivity, which had us constantly wishing we could just pick up on Xbox controller and play without flailing around. It's fun, but just like the castles inhabiting the game's many stages, Wreckateer is full of structural weaknesses that make it way too precarious, and one bump away from collapse.

There's a compelling game in Gotham Knights, but it's hidden away behind a messy UX, needless crafting and customization systems, and combat mechanics that have been stretched paper thin to accommodate four heroes. I do believe that WB Games Montreal is capable of greatness, but this isn't the game that Gotham deserves after the death of Bruce Wayne, and it's not the one it needs right now following Rocksteady's retreat to Metropolis for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

At 12 – 14 hours of gameplay, RPG fans who subscribe to the length = value doctrine may feel shortchanged, but within that short time Rhapsody packs a lot of personality.

There's enough to like about MTX Mototrax's simple-minded fairgrounds and giddy airborne excitement to overlook its value-priced rough edges.

In terms of low-budget games, you could do way worse than MCD. If you're one of the sad few who has missed out on the Modern Warfare craze due to financial issues or you simply want another game that's Move compatible, then MCD should fit well within your budget. The game isn't spectacular, but it has enough bells and whistles to keep you occupied.

But as long as you're cool with the low-frills nature of the experience, the action in Real Heroes: Firefighter is unlike anything else on the Wii - which alone may be worth it for some.

It's hardly the pinnacle of stealth games - the enemies are dumb, and there's not much to do aside from sneaking and killing - but if you're in the mood for something creepy and horrific that'll leave you feeling a little dirty, Manhunt 2's still-shocking murders and eerie, is-it-real-or-am-I-just-insane storyline won't disappoint.

A snappy, fun campaign full of great VO ends too soon, and the game-as-service that comes after is paper thin.

A well-made game at its core, and this is a more-than-competent port of it.

Though very late in this surprisingly long title even pouting became a rote exercise, we still kept at it to see how the comical story would play out. We wouldn't rank it even the third best DS RPG we played this month, but we must admit that it touched us.

This season it doesn't quite have all the fundamentals down pat, but another semester's worth of schooling and polish should help the next outing. Ultimately, it's a solid (if unspectacular) hoops title that deserves a look.

While Power Pros 2008 offers an undeniably massive amount of modes and options at a terrific $20 price, we could’ve easily waited until next spring for a truer, fuller follow-up.

That’s the real root of the problem with King of Fighters: The Orochi Saga. This series barely evolves at all, so this is a grouping of five versions of essentially the same game.

Red River may not appeal to everyone – our sense is that it's too hardcore for the console crowd and doesn't have enough of a unique identity for the PC crowd – but that shouldn't dissuade fans of the series or of modern-warfare shooters from taking a playthrough.

If you want a free, slickly produced FPS with a neat twist, Splitgate 2 delivers. If you want a better but still free FPS, with the same twist but rougher edges, then the truth is you should check out the first game instead.

Transformers: Autobots and Decepticons are essentially one game split into two “campaigns” in a shameless grab for fans’ wallets. All of the fundamental game mechanics, including controls, combat, and mission structure, are exactly the same, and even the first few levels are near-mirrors of each other.

It's a flawed journey, mostly due to the hard-to-use inventory system, but it's definitely an adventure worth taking for anyone interested in an absolutely math journey through Ooo.

Ultimately, Ys feels incredibly unneeded. Its play style is too archaic and too boring, even for old-school fans. The story and dialogue may have once been impressive, but are now just empty and laughable. And the real joke is that this is being sold at full price.

We had trouble getting enough planes into the air, though when we did, the mode shone out as one of the better additions to this otherwise serviceable flyer.

Just don't expect to slip into the gameplay as easily as you might have done with Resident Evil 4 HD. Code: Veronica X may provide many hours of zombie-killing fun, but they're difficult hours, and playing it requires accustoming yourself to the gameplay norms of an increasingly distant era.

It may not blow your mind, but you'll be too busy blasting everything that moves to care.

Yes, Innocent Life succeeds in going in a new direction for the Harvest Moon series, but isn’t as compelling nor entertaining as the best games of the franchise. It’s also not a recommended introduction for folks who haven’t played one before.

A magnificent, authentic, totally uncompromised sequel that crucially ignores virtually every gaming trend of the past 18 years.

If cutesy farming RPG makes you raise an inquisitive eyebrow rather than gag, Harvest Moon DS may be worth cultivating.

Sorry to say it, but the Wii version's at the bottom of the list for Carbon. It's not redefining the street racing genre, but at times it can still hit a sweet spot blend of intensity, danger and style.

Although its puzzles are frustrating and lacking in variety, what's all the more frustrating is there are occasional bursts of brilliance here.

While it's not nearly as deep as you'd expect for a game with the Firaxis seal of approval on it in terms of features or gameplay, CivCity Rome manages to provide a significant level of entertainment, despite its obvious and glaring faults.

Despite leaning a little too heavily on fan-servicing familiarity, Payday 3 proves there's still fun to be squeezed from its well-honed heisting template yet.

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.

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.

We’re absolutely in love with The BIGS 2 on consoles, but just don’t feel it on the PSP. It could’ve and should’ve had more to do, especially in the multiplayer arena. When it comes to baseball on the small screen, you’re better off sticking with the sublime Show.

Code of Princess is still a solid game for the 3DS. Its marriage of role-playing and fighting elements with the traditional beat-'em-up framework adds a satisfying layer of depth to the genre, and the ability to play co-operatively or competitively with your friends helps stave off some of the repetition of its missions. It may not be the biggest release of the year, but that doesn't mean it's any less worthy of your attention.

As it stands, DCUO is just a casual masterwork that any comic book fan should take for a spin, and we fear the $14.99 monthly subscription fee will be the kryptonite that brings this hopeful giant to its knees.

One Piece: Unlimited Adventure takes the scavenger hunt approach too far. You spend way more time chopping up shrubs in search of raw materials than you ever do fighting soldiers or following the story.

The ability to drop seamlessly from a sun-gilded skyscraper-sentinelled skyline to a pedestrian-eye's view of the bustling taxi-clogged street hundreds of feet below is wonderful (SimCity 4 suddenly seems very dry).

The early hours of CounterSpy's stylish combo of stealth and shooting are worth a playthrough, but after it leaves its sneakiness behind, it's a sub-par cover shooter that's half as fun.

The issue, though, is with conflicted gameplay; more specifically, scarcity of ammo and an annoying inventory system. Resident Evil 6 doesn't blend horror and explosive action, it simply sits awkwardly between them, leaving you with facing too many enemies with too few bullets.

A glut of unlockables makes LEGO Star Wars III's smash-and-grab emphasis a somewhat addictive grind. Even so, it lacks the nostalgia factor of its predecessors, and with all of the challenge completely stripped out to cater to a younger slant, it's tough to recommend this one for anyone but the most devout of Star Wars enthusiasts.

Between the NFL Network announcer that has the same canned sound bite for common transactions and the lousy framerate of the in-game action, there’s a decidedly second-class-citizen feel from the get-go.

It can't go without mentioning that 2K8 is available for just twenty bones - a darn good value even if it were just a glorified roster update.

While still quite playable for several hours, the lack of true innovation or noteworthy upgrades makes Mater-National seem like more of a rushed expansion than a full-fledged - or fully necessary - follow-up to a memorable kid-friendly racer.

If you're determined to enjoy Two Worlds II you'll need superhuman pain tolerance and more free time than recess at Immortal Elementary.

While it's got a couple of nagging problems - the animation quality drops when there's too much action going on, for one - it's pretty clear that Battlelines is one of the better early PS3 titles.

Gylt presents some bright ideas in its dark world even as its gameplay mechanics are often much too familiar.

Why didn't they just reprogram the classics to fit the DS properly? Because that would have required effort. This is not about innovation; this is about porting code that's lying around and reselling it for the zillionth time.

Squad Command should please most turn-based strategy fans - specially those tiring of the Japanese RPG dominance in this category - while also offering an accessible pick-up-and-play entry for newcomers to the genre.

Meet the Robinsons already fares tremendously better than its kiddy-fied brethren mainly due to its witty and sharp script. The game has some great ideas and gets points for at least trying to separate itself from the pack of bargain bin mother-friendly games. If it weren’t for the awful aiming system and cumbersome objectives, it might get an extra [10 or 20 points].

Slicker graphics and a couple of exclusive minigames just aren’t enough to make us put down the Wiimote and turn on the Camera.

A lackluster and fragmented game that never really comes together in any meaningful way. In almost every sense that matters, from story to combat, horror, and atmosphere, Alone in the Dark leaves much to be desired.

Our only technical beef with the game is the occasionally spotty touch screen control. Some of the minigame commands aren't as responsive as they could be, leading to bad grades on dishes you know you're nailing. Other than that, everything here works great - just take your time and don't expect too much.

We were so ready to fall in love with 2K’s take on major league baseball again this year, but we just can’t get past the depressing drop in visual fidelity.

A few small tweaks, overlapping missions and a reduction of redundant verbosity and this could be as exciting and addictive as old school adventure games. It'd be destined for the bargain bin if wasn't already as hard to find in a store as objects are to find in the game.

Faces of War wins on several fronts with its attractive destructible environments and solid multiplayer options; unfortunately, it falls short of total victory with frustrating AI and extensive micro-management duties, especially in single-player.

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.

This frantic game still delivers the twitch frenzy that gamers crave, and deserves its spot in your quick-fix collection.

Exceptional when it all works, but for the third year running launch-day gremlins prohibit an even greater score.

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.

Essentially a stew of can’t-miss features and less appetizing filler material. You already own it if you’re a Heroes diehard. It’s just too bad, for all Nival’s hard work and lovely animations, that its legs couldn’t be a little longer.

You can hack your way through nine holes in one bus ride, thanks to fast animations. And, let's face it, if you're a big-time golfer there are not many DS options. Just don't expect much strategy or finesse or beauty.

Transformers: Autobots and Decepticons are essentially one game split into two “campaigns” in a shameless grab for fans’ wallets. All of the fundamental game mechanics, including controls, combat, and mission structure, are exactly the same, and even the first few levels are near-mirrors of each other.

It’s all in good fun, though - like a high school reunion. Characters from Tales of Eternia, Tales of Destiny, and even Tales of the Abyss parade across screen constantly, and even if you’ve never played those games, the ensuing crossover comedy is interesting to say the least.

You’ll need an appreciation for the cube itself to get the most out of this (and you may want to destroy whoever programmed the chirpy music and decided to call the cubes “cubies” and give them a story) but it’s a solid value for puzzle players.

This is one of those games you hate to love. It’s simple and pure fun, but the unforgiving computer and the strange effectiveness of occasionally losing your cool and just randomly hammering the screen everywhere cheapens it. Find a friend to pick it up as well (or arrange some DS download play) and have fun.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is an ambitiously detailed Lovecraftian detective story that makes great use of its supernatural horror source material. Open-ended puzzles across each chapter challenge in all the right ways, giving you the tools to sort through the mountains of evidence. Sometimes overly fiddly, and with more than few technical issues, pondering can be replaced with bursts of annoyance, but this is more often than not a great chin-stroker.

But what’s the point of making your favorite team when they play like beginners?

But we couldn’t shake the “I’ve been here already” déjà vu. By the time you hit the halfway mark, you’ll be sick of spinning in circles.

Utterly charming with a fantastic set of design tools, but it'll make you crave the freedom of more traditional Animal Crossing games.

The Sinking City’s engrossing premise is ultimately betrayed by counterintuitive systems and bleak monotony.

The innovation and surprise goes no further than the dwarves, trolls and magic. As much fun as those elements add to the shooter genre, they're simply not enough to compensate for the absence of everything else.

Despite its flaws and frustrations, FFXI's age gives it one thing that no other 360 game can match: massive amounts of content. You could easily lose 200 hours of your life (not to mention your spouse) during the first month of exploration.

You'll enjoy it a lot while it lasts, but it's just a shame there isn't more Daffy here to love.

Even with the aid of the magnifying glass, the pacing of Tunguska's plot still crawls at a snail's pace.

The whole game only takes ten hours - tops - to finish, and honestly, that’s just long enough before the tedium begins to set in.

Lightfall is a deeply uneven experience that makes a terrible first impression. An excellent new subclass and raid can only carry it so far, especially when new and exacerbated issues run this deep.

Repetitive, formulaic, and downright strange, Biomutant suffers from an abundance of problems that get in the way of great ideas.

Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked does a lot that's interesting - for a little while, anyway - but we get the impression that this is the product of too much thought and not enough work.

Shot-for-shot this is the same game console players had in January - a fantastic, hard as hell shooter that'll knock your eyes out of your head. But with no new content at all and a lack of the ultra-cool bonus multiplayer maps, we've got to dock it a bit.

Walks a thin line between being welcoming to newbies and too basic for your average builder. Even as an intro, it is only useful for a session or two, so you may be better off waiting for the next one to come along.

Kinect Sports: Season Two might be worthwhile if it is one of your first sports game compilations, but for those who own or have played any other motion controlled sports game, it would probably be a good idea to let this one pass.

It's hard to recommend this game to anyone but the most hardcore of flight simulator fans. As in, you have to be unreasonably hardcore. As in, you have Apache-themed bedspread and keep a picture of a Boeing AH-64A in your wallet that you stare at longingly throughout the day.

The second best rally game on current-gen, after Dirt Rally. A straining game engine is its biggest issue, but accept its few shortcomings and you’ll find a fun and engrossing rally sim.

Most of the pieces for an interesting, compelling experience are there, but they simply never come together to create a memorable affair.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a highly ambitious FPS that delivers on its promise to be the biggest Black Ops ever, wearing its psy-op weirdness proudly, but is an uneven package overall. Multiplayer is fast, frenetic, and polished while Zombies feels like a trip to Black Ops 2's good old days, but the co-op campaign and new Endgame mode stretch the definition of a Call of Duty campaign a little too far with repetitive and underdeveloped design that, both in terms of narrative and gameplay, ends up falling flat.

The absolute best part of the game is all of the stuff you can do besides the main plot. Not that the main plot isn’t fun – it’s just that the minigames are limited to chases, jumping puzzles and the occasional weirdness like ballroom dancing.

Chances are that NFL Head Coach won’t cure your football jones unless heavy-duty statistical simulators are up your alley.

If you have a soft spot for the Atelier series, you probably will enjoy Meruru quite a bit. But if the series hasn't impressed you yet, this entry surely won't change your mind.

A decent diversion for the casual fan, though hardcore players are likely to find it a bit on the short side.

If nothing more, this mostly broken game exists purely as a way to cash-in on the latest CG snoozer not starring anthropomorphic animals. At least the packaging has glitter on it. Really, it does.

Octomania is definitely less accessible than say, Dr. Mario or Tetris, but its infectious charm won us over and assuaged a lot of our initial control-related frustrations. From its upbeat theme song, to its offbeat characters, everything about Octomania’s presentation had us wanting to play more.

The Last Tinker tries to ape the best platformers out there, but with boring combat and unchallenging gameplay, it's just a dull one.