Visually, the game is lacking, with muddy textures and graphics that hail from a long time ago. The Kinect controls are also unreliable at times (but also work brilliantly well most of the time). Overall, though, Kinect Star Wars fulfills most of the promise of a one-to-one lightsaber game, with enough variety (including that goofy dance mode) to make for a solid Star Wars experience.

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.

We’ve rarely been so conflicted about a baseball game, but MLB 2K9 is a paradox. It’s undeniably fun and accessible, offering plenty of addictive options for hardball fans. It also suffers from too many gaffes that are impossible to ignore.

Okay, the story isn’t winning any Pulitzers, but Kirby Squeak Squad will certainly please the kiddies, yet may only whet the palate of those aching for the next great side-scrolling throwback.

Skylanders Giants is essentially more of the same. Developer Toys for Bob has added more characters, collectibles, and mini games to the already solid offering of the original title, but if you were expecting the giants themselves to make a significant impact on the gameplay, you might be a little disappointed. Still, the lengthy campaign is fun while it lasts, and gathering Soul Gems, leveling up your figures, and grabbing hats is as addictive as ever.

If you want to see an action/RTS hybrid that actually gets the strategy part right, then Guilty Gear 2: Overture will deliver the goods. Unfortunately, even though this one element is great, it’s the only gem that stands in this title.

The story may turn off fans of the first two Parasite Eve games, but if you can get past the inane plot and characterizations, there's still a solid action-RPG underneath.

NHL 21 is the best hockey game around by default – but it seldom genuinely stands out from this generation's pack.

After Us combines stunning vistas of environmental decay with a dreamlike flow to its light platforming challenges. Despite some missteps, such as ill-fitting combat, exploring and affecting its world is a gratifying process that comes with a wave of emotional ups and downs.

F1 2014 is a fun, accessible and authentic racing sim. But the differences over last year's game are slight and with the classic mode removed, the package it offers is inferior to F1 2013.

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.

Sure, it lacks the depth of something like Dead Space: Extraction, but if you're just looking to blast zombies with old friends, it's hard to do much better... on the Wii.

Yes, the action can get tedious over time, as you realize that strategy takes a back seat to cheap super-moves and quick fingers. But there's something here.

The story campaign entertains and the multiplayer modes entice you to come back after the credits roll, but the out-of-place melee segments, polish issues, and dropped features from the first game make it fall short.

Much like a lot of the arcade games back then, Golden Axe is fairly short and doesn't have a lot of replayability, as every enemy will appear in the exact same spot every time you play, and there are no branching paths. But for 400 MS points, a classic brawler with functional online play is something that belongs in your Live Arcade library.

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.

Not remotely as long as its title. Rather, it winds down after about 12 hours or so, with no multiplayer options. Nor is it the most original. But the story is above par for a game or a TV show, and the sum of its parts equals a good, old fashioned, popcorn gaming experience.

As a game, MLB 2K6 feels more than competent, but it fails to excel. Much like last year’s Cubs, it has its shining moments, but in the end you’re left with the distinct feeling that it could have been so much more.

Rogue Trooper may not be cutting edge, but as a simple, straightforward shooter, it’s more than capable of delivering a quick action fix.

Vibrant and full of personality, but has also tightened up the series gameplay so you’ll actually need to pay attention, strategize, and conserve your resources to defeat its challenges.

Traditionalists will cringe at the new controls, but we applaud EA's attempt to simplify things so more folks can get involved. It may not work perfectly, but it's the right thing to do (and the right console on which to do it).

In 2D, it's a damn fine platform game. In 3D, it's a surprisingly good showcase for the hardware. Put them together and you've got by far the best modern version of the game, with better controls than iPhone version and better graphics than the old DS.

It might not make a great first impression, but it’s going to be awfully hard, even this early in the year, to find a downloadable game that can offer this much content. You’ll always find more and more excuses to just keep digging away.

All the trudging, mundane puzzles, and hours spent on air vents are worth it at the end when secrets are revealed and the scattered memories all start to make sense.

This is about as solid a next-gen port as we’ve seen on Wii, but it’s probably going to take an act of God to make us think a downscaled port is better than the original. Other than an earthquake, we mean.

Perfecting a true-to-life golf swing resembles an experiment in OCD, akin to trying to tie your shoes while turning the stove off six times. But it's nothing short of a tragedy that it doesn't live up, both visually and in approach, to what came packed in with the Wii at no charge.

Ultimately, Rise & Fall is about pretty units killing each other in a beautifully drawn environment and little more. It's a good strategy skirmish, but it falls short of eternal glory.

De Blob 2, like its predecessor, is an undeniably cheerful, whimsical, and infectiously amusing venture that's impossible to dislike unless you're Ebenezer Scrooge (pre-spiritual epiphany, that is). It has some creative gameplay and it satisfies that primitive need to finish a page in a coloring book once you've started it. It's not as deep as it wants to be, but it has enough substance to pick up and play after buying it for your kids (or younger siblings).