Rebellion removed the most important feature from the game: panic. Instead of being in danger or afraid all the time like in the classic game, it’s now easy to beat aliens to a pulp. It’s still thrilling from time to time, but the single-player-part has lost most of its appeal.

On the one hand it’s like the first game, on the other hand it isn’t. The philosophical background and the shocking moments are gone. But the new game still offers lots of weapons, interesting fights and great environments.

It’s Stalker how it should have been right from the start, even though the graphics are not up to date anymore and the AI has a few problems. It’s a quality game and we can’t wait until Stalker 2 with better graphics.

It’s a unique but half-baked attempt to convert the Star Trek license into an online game. For Star Trek fans this game is still something very special, but it will need regular updates to keep the players motivated.

This is the first great game of 2010. It’s a worthy successor to the first game and a fast paced science fiction drama. Maybe no one except Bioware really knows how to tell stories and create believeable characters. It’s more than just a role playing game and also technically advanced.

Despite the name it’s neither dark nor empty and not even filled with lots of fun, either. Sure, it’s fun for some time, but doing the same things over and over again, using the same weapons in levels that are very similar, too. It could have been much better, now it’s just a mediocre game.

This game shows what most athletes have to endure during the Olympic Games: losing and nervous breakdowns. There are 14 disciplines, each of which is extremely hard to master, mainly because of the bad controls, leaving you to guess what caused the problem. It looks and sounds good, but that’s it.

It's not a perfect game, but the surprise of the year: A lot of great gameplay, lots of fresh ideas and a lot of fun. You may like some things more than others, but where else can you annoy a dragon again and again by shouting the name of his nemesis?

This is the PC conversion of the console game Birds of Prey. It's a bit short for an action game, doesn't offer enough options to be a simulation and still it's worth playing, mainly because there are no alternatives and Wings of Prey has great graphics worth seeing.

The Void has its fascinating sides, lucid colors on dull grey, bizarrely warped beings, floating bodies and bare breast. Surrealism plays a huge role in this otherwise quite simple game. Using an out-of-date function like time limits is simply annoying. But the game manages to surprise from time to time and is still worth giving it a try, despite the weaknesses.

The GTA-clone has his strong points in lots of action and the thrilling setting of occupied Paris during WW2. Amazingly, a GTA-clone can be a great game, too, and if you like a hero fighting Nazis, then this is your game.

What a great obituary for Colin McRae. If you ever need to show someone how today’s game can look like, get Dirt 2. It’s a joy for the eyes and it’s a great racing game, full of action, with great presentation and easy to get into. A few more tracks would have been nice, though. But playing over network alone is worth buying the game.

If you were hoping that Tales of Monkey Island would at least end in some kind of fireworks of ideas, you will be disappointed. Dull and without creativity, this is how Telltale ends the series. It's well meant, but disappointing. It's not bad, but just not enough for Monkey Island.

It's a motivating variation of Portal, but not as good. It's a case of "great idea, bad realization". The use of the glove works great, but unfair trial-and-error puzzles and the tracer battles are annoying. The last third of the game doesn't offer anything new.

This game won’t be published in Germany and that’s no loss at all. The game looks like a game from a few years ago, the single player campaign is finished in 4 hours and if the hero Dick Marcinko really was that kind of inhuman, he doesn’t even deserve a game.

Turbine adds Mirkwood to the game and with it came a lot of things to do for veterans. There are thrilling situations, cool instances and motivation until the end, so boring collect and destroy quests can be forgiven.

Yes, just like in 2001 this game can be fun and will be remembered for consequently reducing the game until there’s nothing left but shooting things. In a way, that’s simple and honest and worth playing – once. This is a modern version, but graphically not up to date.

Camelot instead of Washington, Excalibur instead of muskets and the Round Table instead of Founding Fathers. Lots of ideas taken straight from the Total War series and lots of good own ones, too. If you like to enable more and more things in a game instead of being shown everything at once, this is a game for you. It's not a game worthy for a King yet, but more than worthy for a Prince.

Sequels showing up after less than a year while not showing FIFA in their name usually are a reason for concern. And, for sure, there are only a handful of improvements in this sequel. But each of them makes sense. The dragon is funnier and can do more compared to the spirits of fury, successes have real consequences and shorter ways give the game a new kind of flow.

It’s shorter, shows less creativity in mission design than its predecessor and still has all the problems that showed up with the first Lego game in 2005. It’s still fun in co-op mode, though, but the next Lego game should be done from scratch.

It sounds like a good idea: co-operative missions, heroes, a fresh setting. But Worldshift fails, mainly because of bad design that ignores the standards of the genre. Having to control every single soldier manually because there are no group controls isn't acceptable. Different heights, trees, houses and even whole rock formations are ignored or can be shot through. The three factions are well balanced for multiplayer, but the single player campaign basically consists of "go from A to B" and "try and error". Even the best ideas won't work if you get the basics wrong. Maybe it's better to wait until Black Sea has ironed out the problems.

On the one hand, this could have been a less expensive DLC for Left 4 Dead, just like it was done for Team Fortress 2. On the other hand, we don’t really care, once we’ve chocked someone to death as a Smoker or hit someone with our fist as a Charger. That’s only possible in Left 4 Dead 2.

The first Sims had a holiday add-on, the second Sims had a holiday add-on and now Sims 3 has one, too, and it’s the best one so far. The touch of adventure works miracles for Sims 3, but the stories are goofy and some missions boring. It’s still great, because it’s full of new things to explore.

It’s like a browser game with improved graphics. The upside-down look was a bad choice, everything except the survival mode get boring quite fast. So it’s just the hunt for a new high score or rank. Boring.

This game is a very intense experience, no doubt at all. It mixes fast action with slow passages and perfectly done scripts. But it could have been much better had someone with talent written the story. It’s full of logical errors and gaps the size of the Grand Canyon… and the massacre on the airport only serves to show the missing tactfulness of the developer. But it’s a brilliant game, nonetheless.

It's very thrilling for a short time, but the limited amount of weapons and levels will bring you back down to earth quite fast. It's still a dynamic and action-packed shooter with great graphics, but doesn't offer much in the long term.

This is the best game by Bioware since Baldur's Gate 2. It's a highly motivating and excitingly told adventure for adult gamers. You'll experience rage, anxiety, inner conflict, loss, sympathy, bafflement and joy in this epic drama. Probably the role-playing game of the year.

More than a year after the console versions, the Ultimate Sith Edition arrives for PC. The game suffers from problems with controls and balance and because it’s a quite linear game. But it’s Star Wars, nicely presented, with great atmosphere and new missions. And that’s more important in this case.

It's World War II once again, but this time it's not D-Day again, it's the 22th of September, 1941 and we are Black Jackets, Russian marines fighting Romanian infantry or fighting on virtually every other Russian frontline up until August 1945 against Japan in the Pacific. But it's a hardcore game with no tutorial at all. You will need patience. But this game is a rough diamond.

This action adventure is just like the movies: dark, bloody and always copying itself. The villain of the game and his plots are the game’s greatest asset. But there’s not enough substance behind the great presentation.

Forget logic or the laws of physics, you won’t need them in this game. It’s an absurd action feast where you play a super ninja called Ken Ogawa. The only problem with this game are frequent crashes which are annoying because you the game is only saved after completing a mission

FIFA Manager 10 brings a new visuals with a powerful 3D engine for the matches. We can be a football player, a coach or the president offering many options perfect for the soccer fans. Sadly It has several problems in the matches engine but the game is more focused to the spectacular way than realistic. The best addition is the multiplayer online mode. The best FIFA Manager untill now.

Worldplay, grog and atmosphere, but still quite weak puzzles - the fourth episode of Tales of Monkey Island offers good entertainment, including the well known problems of all episodes so far. Only the great presentation prevents the game from mediocrity.

The game is finished and at least sometimes it' even possible to buy additional content. As far as the shop problems go, it almost seems fitting that the game is called LoL. Still, the fast battles between the heroes are highly motivating.

Torchlight is not just a clone of Diablo, it's a very good clone of Diablo, offered at a very low price. The game feels like a modern remake of Diablo, which is no big surprise, because it has been developed by former Blizzard employees Max and Erich Schaefer. The gameplay is so smooth it makes other games feel like work.

The fourth part of the Painkiller series plays just like the other ones. Using weapons like the painkiller you're fighting lots of weird opponents like axe-wielding monks or pirate zombies. As usual they act dumb, there is no AI to speak of. It's a game to play casually for 30 minutes now and then and doesn't aspire to be anything else.

Gearbox mixed a first person shooter with a role playing game and slightly missed the mark. After 20 levels you've basically seen everything, the story is very thin and still you keep playing to collect more items. The setting and the good graphics deserved more than that.

FIFA 10 offers a few small improvements like new tactical options, but compared to Pro Evolution Soccer 6 it looks very dated. All in all, it's not enough to improve the rating compared to FIFA 09 and the series really needs a graphical update.

Despite the 3D graphics, Tropico 3 is basically the same game like the first version eight years ago. A lot of things are not up to date, but the mix of politics, economy, development and black humor is ageless. If you liked the first Tropico, you will love the new one.

Machinarium is the most unusual adventure of 2009. It's part of the game to find out how everything works and what you have to do. What happens if you turn this machine on or pull that lever? Bit by bit everything makes sense and only at the end of the game you'll understand it. This game is a step in the right direction to evolve video games.

Good ideas, mediocre implementation. There's a lot of blood, a solid story and well done cut-scenes. Dreamkiller tries to be different, but in the end it's just short-lived fun for players who enjoy games like Painkiller.

Cities XL plays like Sim City from 1988 of City Life from 2006: Building streets and industrial, residential and commercial areas. But once you start building, you realize that a lot of things don't seem to work - because they only will after you've bought playtime. And only then you will be able to buy extra packages. To be fair, one month is included already.

The game can't keep up with Operation Flashpoint from 2001, everything seems to be smaller. There is also no real story, just one mission after the other. It's still fun to play and not bothering you with micro management problems.

This game could easily win a title for the most extensive and absurd key assignments. You’d need Jedi fingers to play the game without a gamepad. There are far too many key combinations. The result: pure chaos.

Piranha Bytes stayed true to old virtues and delivered the role-playing game one would expect: very old-fashioned, very German and very good. But this game requires you to be very active, to explore a lot. If you need to taken by the hand by a good story, then Risen is not for you. The game isn't fun because of the story, but despite it.

What did 49 Games do during winter? Summer Athletics didn't change a lot compared to last year. Presentation, the frugal graphic and the disciplines only show slight signs of further development. It's still fun with when playing with others.

It's half-time for Tales of Monkey Island. The third of five episodes is good entertainment, but the puzzles are getting worse. Most of the fun comes from comical situations and the weird characters, not from the game itself. Instead of getting harder, it gets easier.

On the one hand Aion offers great player versus player combat, on the other hand the quests are quite boring, like quests to collect a certain amount of items or to kill a certain amount of monsters. But once you're in a great group fighting other players you'll forget the weaker points of the game.

Order of War is like a popcorn war: fast and tasty, a nice little snack, but not a full meal. It's too easy for veterans and not impressive enough for casual gamers. But if you are looking for occasional fast battles, it's a good choice. It won't get less complicated than this.

Indirect controls, random battles, no diplomacy – can this be fun? Yes. Lots of upgrades, exploring the map and the colorful fantasy setting will get you hooked right from the start, including the just-one-more-mission effect. A real insider tip.

We don't know how many houses, blockades and towers we've destroyed while playing the game, but it never got boring. If the game had a much better story, it would have been a huge hit. But it's still a very good game.

An impressive comeback of the Need for Speed series. The game shows the touch of the experienced team that created the GTR series. It's a clear recommendation for fans of racing game despite of some balancing problems and long loading times.

The free add-on to Runes of Magic offers a new starting area , two new classes, one new race, four areas and a higher maximum character level. It's just more of the same and full of stereotypes, but Runes of Magic is still the best free MMORPG.

Six little ninjas have to save animals and fight an evil samurai warlord. Each of the ninjas has its own special ability, like stopping time, playing a flute to slow down enemies or use a hammer to smash opponents. It's a simple game but it's a lot of fun.

It may be a simple game with unspectacular graphics, a thin story and an out-of-date presentation, but it's still good enough to be played occasionally. If you liked Blazing Angels, you can't go wrong with Heroes over Europe.

It's obvious that the scope of this game has been too much for the first project of an independent studio. More time, money and experience would have improved the game a lot.

Great atmosphere, a great settings, heroes and villains built by the players - and still it's not enough for a great game. Most of the quests are too easy, usually it's no problem to fight opponents up to four levels above your own characters, so there's no need to group with other players. So why play an online game?

It's quite short. The credits were rolling after less than seven hours. The weak presentation is just as annoying as the question why the game deprives the player of lots of exciting situations. There are better games of the genre like Rainbow Six: Vegas.

It may be called like a hard disk defrag program, but it's a fast multi-player shooter The single player campaign can't keep up with the fast multi-player battles, but it's just there to prepare you for the real battles with real people.

This is the second episode of Tales of Monkey Island. It's as good as the first part, no more, no less. It's fun for 3 or 4 hours, but the puzzles are too easy, the graphics and the controls could be better. Where are the long and challenging puzzles? Where's Monkey Island?

One of the most disputed game series is back and expectations are as big as the name. It turns out to be a decent game, but there are not enough innovation to make it a great game. The multi-player mode is entertaining, but not as good as it was.

Windchaser really is like a fresh breeze, with a handful of new ideas for roleplay/strategy games. Using the old game of scissors, paper, stone and enhancing it through character talents, morale, counter attacks and combos leads to complex battles, but can make it difficult to estimate the outcome. The mission design is a good mix of conquering sectors, using the mobile base and tactical battles. Choices have logical consequences and take the player through two well done campaigns.

It takes two or three hours until the game really takes off, but then the thrilling story with lots of objectives unfolds with nightmarish drama. The inventory system is one of the dumbest every created, but if you like thrilling adventures you should give it a go.

Once again Paradox offers a strategy game on a global scale, perfect for retirement, taking a year off or spending your life in solitude. It's dry presentation is full of statistics and details. If you've got enough patience, this game could keep you occupied for years.

Mothership Zeta offers new opponents, weapons and areas. Whether the expansion pays homage to Mars Attacks, Aliens and Star Wars or most of the important elements have been copied from them, it's fun nonetheless.

The fights are fun, but the same opponents and surroundings become boring very fast. There's no story to speak of, which is a shame regarding a license like Watchmen. The arguments between both heroes and the multi-player mode are fun, though.

The basic gameplay is always the same: send your fleet to the east, sell your goods, buy goods, send the fleet home and repeat. Except for a sea battle from time to time, there's not enough diversity, no special missions, no hidden areas, no buried treasures.

It stats a bit slow, but once Nathan has learned all his special attacks, the fights turn out to be quite a show – despite their occasionally high difficulty. Once you manage a jump combination without touching the floor once, you'll feel euphoric.

It's hard to understand why they haven't managed to solve the technical problems. If you don't mind the stuttering, the game is a lot of fun, especially with four players. But it's probably worth waiting for a patch.

Guinea pigs are not the usual heroes. But in G-Force the little animals are part of a secret squad that has to stop the villain Saber. The game follows the movie, almost looks as good, but is clearly meant to be played by younger players.

This new version with polished graphics manages to beat the competition easily. Monkey Island is still one of the best adventures around, maybe still not a 100 percent up to date, but once you're in the Caribbean, you won't care anymore.

The game has been out in Russia for almost two years and now proves to be an insiders’ tip. The maps are huge, up to 25 square kilometers and there are up to 1.500 units on them. The graphics are dated, the background music can be annoying, but the game itself is thrilling and offers a lot of tactical depth.

If you are a cycling enthusiast and need up to date season details, then regrettably there is no alternative to this game. Everybody else should ignore this expensive update that doesn't offer a single relevant improvement.

ARMA 2 doesn't seem to be a finished game. The AI is cheating, physics and controls are out of date and the game is full of annoying bugs. That the game manages to look great from time to time doesn't help much. Hopefully Bohemia Interactive will release some patches soon. The game still has a lot of potential.

It's a good adventure game, but for veterans of the series it's still disappointing. It's obvious that Telltale tried to make the best out of a small budget, but Monkey Island deserves better than that. It hurts to see the greatest adventure series being cut into little pieces.

This game shows how beautiful two-dimensional games can be. Physics, graphics and music all have been created with affection. Trine could have been a bit more challenging and funny, but if you liked World of Goo, this is a game for you.

Street Fighter 4 turns out to be as good as we hoped. If you've never played a Street Fighter game or even one of the other games of the genre, this is your chance to do so. Countless modes and characters promise fun for several months. Similar games will have a hard time trying to be any better.

Beginners will have fun playing the game, more experienced players will be more challenged by the imprecise controls than by the opponents. Technically the game is years behind the competition.

Three Brothers, one woman, one destiny: the tragic story of the McCalls in Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is one of the best ever told in an action game. If you're looking for a diverse (albeit linear) shooter with a great story, duels and chases, this is the game for you.

Even though Ice Age 3 is definitely targeting a very young audience, it is still fun to jump through the levels. But it lacks the funny bits – except for Scrat – and the story of the movie. Still, it's one of the better licensed games out there and probably worth a try if you're looking for a game for the kids.

Rise of Flight offers great and realistic battles during the First World War, but without a story and variety it's short-lived fun. But there's no comparable game out there where you can just go and fly into battle without much hassle. A joystick is recommended.

The game can be quite challenging, especially in the round-bases game mode, but after one week you've seen all the game has to offer. Nonetheless it's the perfect game for small tournaments from time to time and to give elves a good thrashing.

Without any announcement, Electronic Arts released Battlefield Heroes. Why the secrecy? The free online shooter turns out to be an entertaining game. It's a casual game with almost no tactics to speak of, but it's fast-paced and funny.

We did not expect much from this game to begin with – its predecessor only achieved 44 out of 100 points. The second part is clearly better, but that still means nothing more than mediocrity because it fails in areas like AI, mission design and long term motivation.

The huge world of FUEL is fascinating, but not much more than just a backdrop. There should be better reasons to drive around for 30 minutes than just unlocking a new paint job for your car.

It's a very motivating game with brilliantly designed levels, a great fantasy satire. Playing the ultimate evil Overlord again is just as funny as the first time and made us laugh a lot while testing the PC version.

It's the fourth mini add-on to Fallout 3 and if you concentrate on playing the story, Point Lookout only offers two hours of gameplay with no dramatic ending and no real reward. Disappointing.

100 hours of gameplay without being bored for a second. The developers managed to replace routine with variety and long lasting motivation. Despite all the complexity, Anno 1404 never feels like work, but like one of the best games.

America's Army 3 can be really good if you have a good connection to the server and if you can find other motivated and cooperative players. But it can take hours until you are able to find that combination. The US army should fix the problems if they want to make a good impression.

If you know the movies you'll feel right at home. Egon Spengler still talks like a scientist, Ray Stantz still has his love handles and Peter Venkman can't walk past a woman without trying to flirt. The game is also full of insider jokes regarding the movies. But it's to short and the PC version lacks the co-op mode.

As always, Telltale Games manages to capture the atmosphere of the movies, but the story of The Muzzle feels artificial and could use a twist every now and then. There are also some camera problems towards the end. But if you like Wallace & Gromit, go and get it.

We expected much more from this game. It's a bit short with just 12 hours from start to finish, but it has a certain charm. It's fun to play around with abilities and upgrades and the story is entertaining, but the game itself is just slaughter and violence with a lack of variety.

Two friends, two game pads and Virtua Tennis 2009 and you'll have ten minutes of maximum multi-player fun. But the career mode is boring, because it’s too easy for far too long and the game suffers from a sloppy conversion. It's a great multi-player game, but could have been much more.

The series has sold 100 million copies and this version should add another 100 million, because everything has been done right. If you liked The Sims, you will love this new version with all its love for details. It's a real masterpiece.

With its archaic graphics, dull missions and a flawed game balance, only the multi-player part saves this game from being a total disappointment. But that alone can't justify its existence.

It may look a bit dry and Whitechapel could have been filled with more life, but it's fun to hunt Jack the Ripper with both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Watson is more than just a sidekick this time, even though both heroes are played quite similar. The best Sherlock Holmes game from Frogwares so far.

A free roaming role-playing game with pirates? Sounds great, but the developer managed to sink the ship. Apparently the programmers thought it would be funny to force a pirate to use the enter key a lot instead of the mouse, the story is broken and all that’s left is to get rid of this game somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle.

Technically, Damnation is not up to date, it looks like a game from the 20th century with overly complicated controls. It's a shame, because it could have been so much better. Blue Omega, please try again.