Even though a few aspects of Warhammer: Mark of Chaos aren't all that they could be, it nicely distills all of the best characteristics of the tabletop game. It's as close as you're going to get to the real thing without spending a fortune on miniatures.

The system of building up your shadows' powers is also irresistible. But the game does lag in pacing when it comes to exploration and battle; a touch more evolution might have launched this from extremely good to indispensable.

Outside of marveling at the graphics in some select stages and bouncing around with four friends on your HDTV, how much longevity does NSMB U have? A good deal, thanks mostly to the dozens of minigames designed to appeal to the more skilled Mario players out there.

You won't find an epic amount of unique content here (perhaps throwing the full price tag into question for some), but while it lasts, Speed Racer: The Videogame is a thrilling, futuristic race experience that succeeds with stylish visuals, incredible speed, and addictive combat.

Don’t make this the third time you passed on Disgaea. NIS is running out of systems to port to.

Not only has the game been retooled with the Live audience in mind, but it's still a challenging, rewarding way to pound out your frustrations after a brutal day in the real world.

Although this is essentially more of the same with a couple new elements, it’s executed well. The photorealistic graphics, edgy atmosphere, and riotous gunplay mix masterfully to create phantasmagoric art.

The game is challenging, visually stunning and is truly a unique experience not found anywhere else. Although you can use the controller, playing with the Move and its use of vibration makes the PS3 version of the game truly a unique experience.

The beautiful settings, excellent puzzles and killer boss battles easily make up for the game's few shortcomings. If you can get past the cover, you'll find an adventure worth taking – one that might just be the sleeper hit of the year.

Though players looking for straightforward, hardcore racing might be let down by TDU 's laid back attitude, the instant online world and impressive attention to detail make this tropical driving game unique and enjoyable.

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.

The purist, PC-RPG crowd will hate it for "dumbing down" one of the last remaining hardcore RPGs, while the console clan will love it for making a fantastic series more accessible. Everyone should cotton to the clever, twisty story and fully fledged characters.

Kingdom Hearts 3D doesn't revolutionize the franchise, and some of its experimental mechanics might not cater to your tastes. But despite any flaws it might possess, Dream Drop Distance still delivers splendidly in terms of unabashed fan service, and the kid in you will be ever gleeful tagging along with Sora and Riku for the ride.

2K10 doesn’t match The Show’s amazing visuals and hyper-smooth gameplay, but it does offer a slightly more fan-friendly approach and a lot of charm. We can see the day when it can match The Show pitch for pitch.

Don’t be turned off by the difficult controls right away. Once you get used to the steering and can take the corners, FlatOut 2 is an awesome racer with enough destruction and mayhem to last you awhile.

Borderlands 4 extracts the essence of a finale shootout and spins it across an entire game, with a staggering amount of guns allowing for pure carnage. While the game's story and tone fall far from those heights, at times it simply doesn't matter as much as shooting six robots out of the sky with an electrified explosive gun.

It's a tough act to pull off, but The WarChiefs manages to walk that fine line between familiarity and new material quite well. Age of Empires III veterans are going to love it.

It’s not so much that it tries to scare you with monsters, blood, or gore that makes the experience so powerful as it is how the game mentally plays with your senses and emotions. Even if you don’t think you’re easily scared, try playing Outlast alone in the dark with headphones on. This intense rollercoaster ride will keep you on the edge of your seat and make you jump out of it a few times too.

Both a great remaster and an enjoyable ‘new’ game in its own right that takes you on a journey in a way few things can.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is a lush, vibrant re-imagining of the DKC franchise, but a barrage of cheap deaths, uneven difficulty and iffy motion controls keep it from matching Retro Studios' previous amazing work with Metroid.

The purist, PC-RPG crowd will hate it for "dumbing down" one of the last remaining hardcore RPGs, while the console clan will love it for making a fantastic series more accessible. Everyone should cotton to the clever, twisty story and fully fledged characters.

System seller? Not quite. Fun, simple flight game that handles great and conveys a fantastic sense of speed and height? Absolutely.

You’ll find all the standard deathmatch and team options available alongside a few unique modes.

Despite the re-hashed ideas, there are more than enough unique tweaks to the formula to warrant giving Gyromancer a spin.

A beautiful recreation of Star Wars, and a solid if simple shooter. This is a game you'll love intensely albeit for a short space of time.

If you think that repeating the same 10-second phrase of a song dozens of times until you master it is fun and rewarding on its own, then Rocksmith 2014 is an excellent way to enhance that experience; and its suite of tutorials, minigames, and other distractions will go a long way towards keeping you interested.

Invincible VS brings the hyper-violent aesthetic of the source material to an exciting, easy-to-learn fighting game, with a healthy roster of playable characters and a decent amount of game modes. While the story falls short of Invincible's peak, and some actors from the show don't feature, it's still a must-play for Invincible fans.

Unless you're still knee-deep in last year's game and can't spare the forty bucks, picking it up is a no-brainer. You won't find a better portable pigskin experience anywhere else.