More than anything, Astro Boy is a great surprise for what many would assume is simply some child’s Christmas present. The Astro Boy coating is there so kids ask mommy and daddy to spend their holiday bonuses on it, but High Voltage Software felt nice enough to sneak in a fun game too. It’s like the whiskey Grandpa adds to the eggnog.

This sort of inoffensive and undeniably unique bite-sized offering should play well with families, and for the rest of us, we can only hope it's but a stepping stone on the path to richer and equally affordable Kinect experiences on the horizon.

Devoid of many important modes and features, NHL 15 feels incomplete, and will not appeal to long-time fans.

At only $30, Rio is worth looking into if you're a parent with kids who just aren't satisfied with 96 minutes of endangered animated birds on the big screen. If you're an older player looking for some multiplayer action for parties with your buds, however, it probably goes without saying that you should stick with Call of Duty or Guitar Hero. This bird just isn't meant for you.

A lack of extensive content proves to be the ultimate detractor, as most skilled players will see and do nearly everything on the single-player front inside of five hours. And without Wi-Fi play or even single-card support, the multiplayer experience is hardly a highlight of this iteration.

for fifteen bucks we wanted a lot more game than Madden Arcade delivers. A bland on-field experience coupled with no single-player season/tournament/anything translates into another failed attempt at “extreme” football. Please, just give us our NFL Blitz back!

Crackdown 3 is bonkers chaotic fun but also a case of wasted potential. The series deserved an iterative revival but instead, we have the tried-and-tested Crackdown backbone with remastered visuals and a touch more chaos, sadly squandering the promise of its few interesting additions in the process.

Forgettable.

The multiplayer needs more than one-on-one deathmatches.

Newcomers to the game will enjoy better introductions elsewhere despite the handy suggest-a-move trappings, and veterans don't get any chess puzzles to tickle their fancy, but at least you won't have to worry about losing pieces in the depths of your carry-on luggage.

It’s not that Art of Fighting Anthology is packed with sub-par games; it’s just that it isn’t “packed” with anything. If this were combined with the publisher's upcoming 4-game Fatal Fury collection into one big compilation, the resulting package could be a must-by. But that's not the case, so it isn't.

Both shallow and a waste of a good property.

The lack of tutorials, tedium of grinding, and huge investment of time required will likely scare off a lot of new players not interested in playing through the entire original game first. But for a certain breed of obsessive RPG fan there's a lot here to enjoy, and giant quantities of it.

This is a great building game with impressive puzzle elements, but its main strategy components, tarnished by unpredictable wind-up-and-go gameplay and exploitable elements, cause it to trip and fall a few times. It's a game with plenty of potential, but it definitely has its share of weaknesses.

The best thing to say about Dynasty Warriors 6 is that it's an easy way to kill quite a few hours, but that doesn't make it particularly good.

It's perfect for play in airport terminals and doctor's waiting rooms, but it's hardly of the addictive, "Puzzle Quest" and "Lumines" "I'll sleep when I'm dead!" variety.

But after blazing through the episodes in less than five hours, we've modified our original query to: Where's the gameplay? Call it Phoenix Wright for dummies - the formula has been streamlined and simplified so much that the resulting point-and-click experience is largely devoid of challenge.

The biggest problem with Dimensions, is that is never feels like a full game. It's a couple of rehashes, with two elaborate gimmicks, only one of which feels close to a full game.

A multiplayer game that required the turtles to co-ordinate their efforts and powers could have rocked so much harder. For that matter, so could a camera that chose better angles and thus caused to fewer missed jumps due to misjudged distances.

A decent survival game with a rewarding, if uninspired, grind to its resource collecting and base management.

For those willing to command a room, the little nudges offered towards group interaction are a welcome addition--optional as they may be--and the interplay between the GamePad and the TV makes a faded genre feel just a bit more vibrant.

If you can handle bad presentation and clunky gameplay at times, then the story just may be enough of a reward. Growlanser: Heritage of War is a long game in the end, and while the flaws are obvious and often irritating, it is still by no means despicable.

The newest Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games are perfect for players that adore Pokemon, love the grinding gameplay of dungeon crawling games, but would prefer a watered down version.

But Generation of Chaos is too chaotic and takes an entire generation to play. Most folks will opt for something faster and easier to love.

The weapon variety that defines the series is flaccid at best, the story is forgettable, and the multiplayer isn't even as varied as the last handheld game in the series. It's hard to even recommend this one to gamers who've spent the last six years popping Chimera skulls.

It’s nothing revolutionary or even particularly interesting or compelling, but it’s not broken either. Those bored and desperate for an RPG fix can give this title a shot.

Even more annoying, the majority of the original DDR songs need to be unlocked through clearing the initial track list, whereas all the licensed drivel is available from the get-go.

But with its new fangled attempt at first-person shootage - accompanied with awful zooming, crouching and strafing - makes TC4 a technical failure in addition to being exquisitely ugly.

Spend a couple of hours coping with the plodding narrative and oppressive gameplay and you'll swear off RPGs for life.

It tries to cater to both fight fans and Dragon Ball's frighteningly devoted legion, yet fails to really hit the mark on either side.

Spider-Man 3 is so by the numbers, so average that we just can't muster much enthusiasm. Comic fans'll hate the inconsistent power levels while hardcore gamers will balk at how unfinished it feels.

It's hard to recommend that someone drop ten bucks into a prettier version of a game you might play better on a site like Kongregate or Newgrounds, but there really isn't anything god awful about MicroBot, just nothing at all very good.

There are moments of fun to be had with the game, particularly when the narrative hits its stride, but with little variety in the quests you’ll be taking on, and no real depth to the combat, the experience grows old very quickly, making it a difficult recommendation.

With excellent sailing and naval combat mechanics, it's a shame that Skull and Bones is so hampered by its lack of diversity, odd developmental decisions, and minimal capacity to offer a true pirate fantasy.

There's a good foundation here and some simple fun to be had if you're willing to put up with the bugs and methodical pace.

Functionally broken AI and awful navigation tools makes Epic Mickey 2 a poor experience all around, and worth avoiding for all but the most die-hard of Disney fans, and even they might feel betrayed.

Part of a mixed media web, Unknown 9: Awakening isn't strong enough to pull us further into its universe. Anya Chalotra's Haroona is a great protagonist, and causing havoc with supernatural powers can be a delight. But, lacking in polish, Unknown 9: Awakening feels torn between what it wants to be, ultimately undermining its areas of promise to deliver a janky experience. Despite it all, it can still charm – but takes work to love.

It’s all pulled off better than you’d guess, and strikes a definite atmosphere – whether that atmosphere is right for you or not is another question.

But buried underneath the sometimes slopped-on content is fairly competent strategy game. It's challenging enough for serious gamers, but forgiving enough that you can go ahead a use your favorite Sorceress even if a goblin Warrior would be stronger.

Just more of the same thing: simple dungeon crawling. It's fun online; it's not fun offline. This is a hard one to rate, as it's pretty convoluted.

Stripped down from a car-crime game into a bizarre action-strategy hybrid, The Godfather: Mob Wars actually works pretty well, provided you're not expecting much exploration or any driving. If you've already played through any of the console versions, though, the repeated missions and cutscenes are guaranteed to get tedious.

Unless you really, really dig old-school shooters that will take no more than a day to completely finish, this game isn't for you. Unfortunately, for what Platypus is, a thirty-dollar asking price is hard to accept.

A slower, less colorful Age of Empires. None of the research trees make much sense (you need to go through multiple steps just to get a spearman) and by the time you get to the cool weapons like scythed chariots and elephants you won’t care very much.

Lucidity is an interesting experiment, a beautiful indie-flavored game and a welcome addition to the Steam and Direct 2 Drive libraries. Gamers who appreciate metaphor and meaning will certainly find much to enjoy here. It’s just a shame that it isn’t more fun to play.

FIFA Street 2 just isn't much fun to play, plain and simple.

Various lures like to be jerked and jiggled at different speeds, but it’s still pretty easy for any gamer to pick up and start snagging bass in only a few minutes.

After several years in the wilderness, NBA Live is back and it means business. While it’s not yet ready to take on its 2K rival, Live is a fun game of basketball that’s easy to pick and play.

So, basically, you have a pretty average, simple golf game, with a world online that's enjoyable enough to play through with fellow golfers.

There's no denying that Rule of Rose is extremely pretty, atmospheric and disturbing. Unfortunately, it fails on just about every other level. The gameplay is tedious, the scares are nonexistent and Jennifer is such a cringing, passive non-entity that you'll likely identify more with her malevolent (but strangely endearing) tormenters.

This is not a game that will score high with gamer girlfriends.

Our favorite part of Pac-Man Party was definitely the minigames, which were unique, fun, and challenging. Coupled with variety in other aspects of the game, it would've been a great game with fantastic replay value. However, as it exists now, the game will quickly grow dull even if you're playing with three friends and a few drinks.

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.

There's still life in this old Rogue Trooper yet, but the limitations of its time makes Redux a fun but inessential addition to your library.

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.

The bottom line is that diehard Avatar fans will probably be disappointed with the superficial storyline that lacks the charm of the original show, and newcomers will have trouble finding interest in the loosely tied-together missions.

CCP has a history of making their games better over time. But if you’re playing in the hopes that DUST 514 eventually delivers on the promise of a completely player-controlled galactic struggle, it’s likely to be a long wait--one tinged with equal parts frustration and fun.

Wandering back and forth through the same areas to collect one silly object after another will drive you "This is Sparta" raving mad, especially when you realize that you have to collect every fairy sprite and finish every last side quest just to see how the story ends.

From the Abyss isn't a terrible game, but it offends us with its pure mediocrity.

It's worth checking out, but please, don't let yourself work in this Tamagotchi sweatshop too long.

Armored Core: Last Raven isn't a broken game, and it's actually one of the better titles in the series - it's just that this series has been tragically underwhelming for years now.

HDTV nuts note: the 360 version also goes to 1080i resolution, while the PS3 is limited to 720i. But ultimately, like an import tuner with fuzzy dice and neon running lights but no steering wheel, you can't help feeling that some of the most important parts are missing.

Ugly, last-gen visuals further dampen the fear factor. Muddy textures and low poly counts cause scenery and monsters to blend together into a murky mess.

LEGO Battles: Ninjago will satisfy gamers looking for a change from LEGO's popular action-adventure titles and don't mind looking at shabby graphics.

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 also worth noting Defiance’s death mechanic, which fails to elicit much from the player. You periodically get the ability to revive exactly where you died, but generally you’ll need to "extract," which pulls you just a little bit farther out. Even so, you will rarely revive anywhere that's not in eyeshot of where you just were. In other words, you can always just respawn--and the experience and gold penalty to do so is negligible. It’s too forgiving, and a significant part of what makes Defiance an oftentimes flat and emotionless experience.

Unfortunately, the entire look of the game is marred by choppy graphics.

Granted, Ultimate Band is cheaper than competing music games like Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour, and that would normally be a big plus. But when one considers just how much more game you get with those titles, how much longer they’ll last you, the savings isn’t really worth it.

If you played a previous Lost in Blue and just couldn’t get enough, this will certainly satisfy your craving. If you weren’t too into the last one, this entry is basically more of the same (and even a near-remake in most respects) with a few extra features thrown in, so you won’t be finding some revolutionary new direction for the series.

The newest Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games are perfect for players that adore Pokemon, love the grinding gameplay of dungeon crawling games, but would prefer a watered down version.

The result is a game that’s passable in both sense of the word. Passable as in ‘it’s alright and not completely broken’ but also, ‘you’ll probably want to pass on this one’.

If this truly is the end for our old friend, it ain't the way we'd want to see anyone go out. We all deserve better.

For those who are truly desperate to gain any advantage they can in their vision - all the moneyed falconers and old men crossing the street out there - well, play it for a few weeks, but don’t be surprised if you spot an unwanted space in your wallet where twenty bucks used to be.

The Inpatient excels at immersing the player, and it looks gorgeous. Unfortunately it puts too many barriers between the player and ultimate success.

An otherwise serviceable boxing game on the Wii that doesn't work with the motion controls, which is the whole appeal of playing a boxing game on the Wii.

The best thing to say about Dynasty Warriors 6 is that it's an easy way to kill quite a few hours, but that doesn't make it particularly good.

Whether you consider motion-sensor controls a revolution or simply a novelty, their absence makes for a much more shallow experience. As a whole, the game feels more akin to an overblown supplemental mode that should've been included with "Project 8," rather than a stand-alone edition to the Tony Hawk saga.

There's no denying that, well, this is Solitaire. And while there are a lot of different variations on offer here, you need to really love these types of family games to get your money's worth out of Soltrio.

Rise of the Argonauts has a nice story and something to offer, but shortcomings like this chip away at the fun and ultimately keep the game from matching its legendary sources of inspiration.

There's a few notable characters and story beats in Murdered: Soul Suspect, but they're completely overshadowed by unremarkable gameplay and shoddy production values.

The 3rd Phantom moves through never-ending conversations like a Segway driving on an expressway, and the limited text speed options never alleviate the pain. Beat a battle, chug through the monotonous free time scenes, read boring dialogue (repeat this 19 times every chapter) and move onto the next battle.

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.

If you're mulling over a b-ball game for your 360 this fall, the only direction to look is away from NBA Live 07. It's a disaster from the word go, and never should have made it out of training camp.

Both shallow and a waste of a good property.

The biggest problem is that it just lacks the single-player appeal of a Pac-man, as well as the multiplayer depth and longevity of a game like Bomberman.

The strongest features it offers are the robust customization and nice car models. There are better "underground" racers out there with comparable features (many of which can now be had for half this game's $40 price tag), and if you're a fan of the movies, the movies are what you should watch.

London Heist is the clear winner experience-wise and there’s terrifying joys to be found underwater in Ocean Descent, but it’s a shame that there’s not more to shout about in this uneven collection.

The crowning achievement of failure here, however, is the total lack of multiplayer. Skirmish would be nice, but no multiplayer in a DS version of an intrinsically multi-player tabletop game? Unforgivable.

While there’s plenty we’d like to see fleshed out (especially the skimpy single-player modes and badly out-of-date rosters), it’s a more-than-welcome effort that does right by the DS platform.

A disappointingly bare-bones color-matching game that doesn't measure up to its artsy promise.

But to really enjoy this game without feeling stupid for paying for it, you have to forget all about Champions of Norrath or any downloadable RPG you can go get on the internet for free.

For all the interesting and novel things that Gord brings to the city building genre, it's just not coherent nor determined enough in what it's trying to do to create something with the necessary confidence to compete with the countless options available to genre fans these days. The result is a game with a strong start and a compelling world, but one that cannot build upon those strengths to retain interest over each new settlement and its repetitive gameplay.

Anthem is ultimately severely flawed, and very unfinished. There's half a good game in there, but it doesn't do enough to diminish the overall feeling of emptiness and repetition.

The true winner in Dark of the Moon isn't Autobots or Decepticons – it's excellent pacing. Before any one part of the game starts to truly show its flaws, you're done with it and on to a new section. Sure, it's not the best Transformers game we've ever played, but it's still a good a Transformers game, and that'll be enough for a lot of people.

The Last Case of Benedict Fox could be a great game, but it's let down by its own confused execution.

There's just not enough to do, at least not for the price. We appreciate that Nintendo did something different here, and a system's launch is a great time to be more experimental, but if we're going to pay $39.99 for a new 3DS game, we're going to need more than this.

Overall the game is not great, but better than your average movie-tie-in, and if you like sword fighting or pirates in general, it could be worth your time.

It's not a perfect game, but it has a definite charm, and fans of the SNES era RPGs will probably find a lot to like.

Charm can only go so far in interactive experiences, and in Battle of the Bands, it's not quite far enough.