Between the core missions and the side stuff, you could easily spend another 10 hours or more going through General Knoxx.

There's nothing especially original about Gotham City Impostors' mishmash of multiplayer modes and character progression, but the game goes to such absurd lengths to distinguish itself from the vast field of modern-military mediocrity that you can't help but love it at least a little bit.

The fights are flashy and full of personality, making the action stand out, and producing a spectacle worth seeing.

It's a Halo game through and through, with the same style and pacing that you've come to expect, but with a new cast of characters that are worth paying attention to and a multiplayer mode that has more variety than it's ever had before. It's not going to change your mind about Halo, but this special delivery for fans of the franchise is a great send-off as Bungie ends its involvement with the franchise to go work on something new.

Dance Central feels very basic and leaves a lot of room for future expansion, but it's also a lot of fun in its current state. It's also one of the best Kinect games out there, so if you've got one of those, make sure you pick up one of these, as well.

The simple fingertip swiping motions of Fruit Ninja scale up to a full-body experience with ease, and while some might balk at the price difference between platforms, Kinect owners hungry for something, anything of quality will find plenty of curiously cathartic, fruit-annihilating fun for their $10 here.

There's something about the return to a standard numbering scheme for Guitar Hero 5 that suggests to me that this is, more than anything else, a commodity, a manufactured product, albeit a very attractive and energetic one. Neversoft seems more comfortable and confident than ever with this series it has inherited, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of passion behind the craft.

I sincerely went into The Lost Legacy feeling like there wasn't much an Uncharted game could do at this point to surprise or impress me, but its tight pacing, likable characters and creative scenarios really won me over and added up to one of my favorite games in the series.

The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is a solid addition for anyone who wants more Borderlands, but the lack of additional items or further opportunities for character building feel like a missed opportunity that could have given this content a lasting effect.

Titanfall's focus on player mobility and big-ass robots sets it apart from other competitive shooters and makes much of the game look like one big highlight reel.

All I want to do is go back and keep trying for better scores and greater progress. In this regard, Spelunky is less a game than an obsession. If it does get its hooks in you, it will get those hooks deep, sending you into a downward spiral of torrential swearing and tear-choked misery the likes of which you may never completely recover from. And I mean that as a compliment.

It may not reach the sublime heights of its predecessor, but Doom Eternal is bursting at the seams with hellacious action.

If you're a fan of first-person action and truly offbeat, unpredictable games, head to your nearest Steam client and check this one out. I'd love to see what ACE Team can do with a bigger budget next time around.

Resident Evil 7 features just the right amount of modern twists mixed into the traditional formula. It may not reach the same heights as an industry-changer like Resident Evil 4, but it certainly ranks among the best entries in the series.

While I have a number of concerns about the overall execution of Split/Second, the lows are well worth tolerating for highs that are so good, so crazy, and so face-numbingly intense.

Ensemble's new Xbox 360 strategy game is heavy on the Halo mythos but occasionally stumbles over its limited control scheme.

Luckily, the game gets close to finding a happy medium between Dead Rising's signature weirdness and a slightly more traditional open-world format that makes this by far the most approachable game yet in the series.

It's still a beautiful game and it's probably the world's best driving simulator, at least for consoles, but a lot of Forza 4's changes feel incremental at best. The game includes many of the same tracks found in previous installments, and I found myself getting a very "annual sports game update" vibe off of it. With that in mind, it seems like the game's most die-hard fans and people who didn't play the previous Forza will get the most out of Forza 4.

The action is solid and the story is interesting enough to make Singularity worth checking out.

All of these changes serve to make Civ V's late-game a much more enjoyable endeavor. The inevitability of victory is greatly lessened, and it's entirely possible to totally throw the established order of things into disarray if you happen to get some big tourism and/or culture boosts later on. For those reasons, Brave New World is easy to recommend to anyone who still has an active interest in the game.

While Sid Meier has been quoted as saying that this is the Civilization game he always wanted to make, Revolution's got plenty of shortcomings, and the scope of its vision can sometimes outstrip its mechanics. That said, this is a really satisfying strategy game, and though it might be old hat for PC players, there are few experiences quite like it on consoles.

If you're willing to put in the time to learn how to actually play it properly, EA Sports MMA becomes a very rewarding experience. When you lose a fight online, you usually know exactly what you need to work on, either in the career mode to get your fighter's stats up or just, you know, as an actual player.

Bionic Commando goes back and forth between moments of great, navigation-based gameplay and a lot of little touches that don't work as well as you'd like. It makes the final product a little frustrating, because you can almost see a better game trying to bust its way out of its constraints.

But it's only truly great if you're playing against like-minded, similarly skilled opposition. If you can rustle up a community of people that fit that bill, go nuts, it's a great time. But if you're a Tekken neophyte hoping to pick it up along the way, you'll probably be brutally rebuffed by what you find.

If you're willing to put in the time to learn how to actually play it properly, EA Sports MMA becomes a very rewarding experience. When you lose a fight online, you usually know exactly what you need to work on, either in the career mode to get your fighter's stats up or just, you know, as an actual player.

The differences between the platforms is something of a toss-up, with the PS3 version taking slightly longer to load your custom costumes up at select time and the 360 version doing that astoundingly annoying thing where it seizes up for a few seconds every time you unlock an achievement.

There's a good possibility that if you're interested in getting a Wii U at all, you'll end up with Nintendo Land anyway, since the game is bundled with the deluxe package that includes the black version of the console, four times as much internal storage, and a two-year discount on eShop games. That whole package is $10 less than buying the basic white Wii U model and Nintendo Land separately, and the good news is, Nintendo Land provides enough rousing minigames--provided you've got the players and the hardware--and a convincing enough case for the new control scheme to make it a worthwhile companion piece alongside your new Wii U.

This is an easy game to lose yourself in for as long as it lasts, and, by the end of the adventure, all I could think to myself was how much I'd like to see these characters again come next All Hallows' Eve.

This is an easy game to lose yourself in for as long as it lasts, and, by the end of the adventure, all I could think to myself was how much I'd like to see these characters again come next All Hallows' Eve.

It's not the perfect Geometry Wars sequel after all this time, but it's still pretty damn fun in its own right.

I think it speaks volumes to just how low the level of quality in most Wii party games has become that all it took was Nintendo putting together a competent, though still largely familiar package, to put everyone else to shame.

Luftrausers is a game that's easy to get lost in.

I don't love every new thing about Dimensions--some of it feels like it's missing the point of what made the original so great--but there are a lot of interesting ideas in here, and holy cow is it nice just to play a new Geometry Wars game again.

But once you start flying one of Luftrausers' myriad ship types around its war-torn skies, something takes hold of you. Hours pass as you mix and match weapons and engines and body types, chasing after difficult goals, elusive blimps, and an ever-higher score.

Between the quality of the content and the release schedule so far, this is probably one of the finest examples of episodic video gaming out there, though it's still susceptible to one of the format's implicit pitfalls--if it doesn't stay interesting, players won't keep coming back. For now, at least, the keen sense of silliness is enough to keep things interesting.

The framework for a raucous multiplayer experience is in place here, and as long as the community's wacky laissez-faire attitude toward user-created content is allowed to persist, ModNation Racers will be an amusing kart-racing sandbox to drive around in.

Oddly, the net effect of the old-school perspective shift is a game that feels more fresh and vital than a Tomb Raider game has in a while. It has a few hitches, but overall it's just a terrifically fun, well-paced game.

D4 isn't what I'd easily call a good game, but it's a good enough one built around such magnificently strange material that I have zero qualms about recommending it to just about anyone. I guarantee half the people I'd recommend it to will find it impenetrably weird, but that other half will adore what Swery and his team have constructed, and hopefully will continue constructing, in D4.

If you don't like Green Day, and you don't want to play their music in a Rock Band game, you're not going to get a whole lot out of Green Day: Rock Band.

The season-based nature of the Texas Heat events give you a reason to stick with it over time.

There's an unassuming thoughtfulness to A Boy and His Blob that, in an odd sort of way, has the feel of some of the better children's programming you might see on public television. It's not educational per se, but it values subdued atmosphere and elementary puzzle design over flashy, merchandise-friendly mascots with prepackaged catchphrases.

The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is a solid addition for anyone who wants more Borderlands, but the lack of additional items or further opportunities for character building feel like a missed opportunity that could have given this content a lasting effect.

Borderlands 2 is a better game in most of the ways that matter, but some of that is brought down by the familiarity of the experience.

It takes the roles of poker hand ranks and applies it to the well-based puzzle game. Then it slaps on some good, evolved control mechanics. It’s a high-quality puzzle game that you should look at.

Dark Moon takes what was basically a really good sketch of a game in the original Luigi's Mansion, and fleshes it out into a more robust, and arguably far more entertaining romp, all while retaining the distinctive flavor of that first game.

As someone who went into Borderlands 2 with a sickness that I thought only more Borderlands could cure, I'm left feeling like I didn't receive a full dose this time around.

The slow start burns up a lot of levels with areas that aren't particularly challenging or effective as tutorial sequences to prepare you for the rest of the game. But if you've already made the investment in a 3DS and you're looking for something--anything--that resembles a must-own game, Super Mario 3D Land is precisely that.

In general, playing with other people is pretty much painless, even on PC, which now uses Steamworks across the board instead of that GameSpy nonsense. The PC version of the game is much friendlier overall, and the in-game menus for inventory are easily manipulated with a mouse. Playing the game with a mouse and keyboard feels just fine, but you can still play the PC version with a controller just as easily.

Overall, Halo Infinite is great but something of a mixed bag. Fans of the genre will certainly enjoy the additional mobility granted by the grappling hook while the rest of the gameplay delivers that well-polished Halo experience that shooter-heads have come to know and love over the decades. It's a bit of a shame that the story doesn't quite stick the landing, but add in the fantastic (and free) multiplayer and you've got a really solid foundation for whatever comes next, be that a story expansion or an eventual full-on sequel.

Trials HD is geared toward a specific kind of game player, one who can put up with the repetition and attention to minute detail required to master its courses. If you're that sort of person, you'll find a lot of satisfying gameplay here.

There's a lot to do in Far Cry 2, and if you can get a good handle on the quirks of the almost constant combat scenarios you'll run into, the weapons variety, stunning visuals, and originality of the story and setting make for a well-rounded and satisfying shooter.

As the story progressed and the combat grew deeper, however, I realized that this sequel is an improvement on The Stick of Truth in just about every way. That game gave us our first novel experience of playing through a world that’s virtually indistinguishable from the show, but this sequel is longer, deeper, and more surprising throughout. It may feel like a cavalcade of poop jokes and easy callbacks in the early hours, but the South Park humor and charm shines through more and more as the story progresses.

This game represents a terrific value, not just in terms of sheer volume, but the level of craft that is so often notably absent from trivia video games.

One of my favorite things about Hell's Highway is the fact that you can spend as much time commanding your squads as you do actually shooting enemies yourself.

On the PC, the game scales to fit a lot of different configurations, so you can essentially buy your way out of the console version's performance issues. On a proper machine, the textures look great and the smooth frame rate really goes a long way.

It's also got some of the most hard-hitting first-person melee combat in any game I can remember, and an optional cooperative element that really broadens its appeal. Dead Island constantly runs the danger of collapsing under its own weird, esoteric technical quirks, but when it's running at full tilt its charms are hard to resist.

Designer Shigeru Miyamoto once said "the first 30 minutes of a game is the most important," and Skyward Sword fails to pass that test. It takes several hours before you're given any sense of real freedom, which is too bad, as the game manages to merge the sublime openness of the sea from Wind Waker (without the Triforce madness!) with the directed fun of most other games, as it's easy to just keep moving forward without much fuss. And by the time you start seeing what the designers really have in store for you..., you actually don't want it to stop, even if you're able to constantly, cynically predict when the game will ask you to find just One More Thing before it's all over.

The speedier pace of combat and the addition of Injustice's background interaction are just two of the things that make Mortal Kombat X a better-playing game than its predecessor. Also, MKX feels like an attempt to move forward into new things, whereas MK9 was one large, albeit rebooted nostalgia trip. And it looks fantastic all the while. All of this is enough to make up for the game's handful of rough edges around story mode and some of its other options.

It's also got some of the most hard-hitting first-person melee combat in any game I can remember, and an optional cooperative element that really broadens its appeal. Dead Island constantly runs the danger of collapsing under its own weird, esoteric technical quirks, but when it's running at full tilt its charms are hard to resist.

There’s something thoroughly satisfying about getting to play out your prankish schoolboy fantasies, though it’s the game’s excellence that makes the technical shortcomings specific to Bully: Scholarship Edition on the Xbox 360 so heartbreaking.

Mortal Kombat X moves forward with a snappier version of the previous game's fighting and some cool new characters, but the story and other features around the edges feel a bit rough in spots.

While I'll always have a fond place in my heart for the original version of Lode Runner and the way it looks and sounds, this is a strong reinterpretation of the original game that pulls off the same tricky balancing act between thinking and running.

It's also got some of the most hard-hitting first-person melee combat in any game I can remember, and an optional cooperative element that really broadens its appeal. Dead Island constantly runs the danger of collapsing under its own weird, esoteric technical quirks, but when it's running at full tilt its charms are hard to resist.

NBA Jam has always been a game that lives and dies by its core gameplay and your desire to play that game at length, and that part hasn't changed in 2010.

The finishers in Mortal Kombat X are more gruesome than ever.

Nothing in The Darkness II's story line feels out of place or unnecessary. It doesn't digress needlessly into side missions or other time-wasters designed to just keep you playing for longer stretches. Instead, Digital Extremes believed in the strength of both its combat system and Jenkins' script to inspire players to play through it again once the credits roll.

Some late-game issues not withstanding, Dadliest Catch is a charming, bizarre, genuinely likable little game.

For the most part, what was great about Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is still good in Assassin's Creed: Revelations, but the new stuff doesn't do much to improve the experience, and all the best moments just feel kind of familiar.

The game is packed with some great moments that subvert the open-world crime genre even further than SR3 did, it's funny, and its references aren't just lazily tossed off, they're earned. You'll feel like you've played some of this before, but if you're at all interested in Saints Row's brand of weird, it's absolutely vital.

Returning to Rapture--even a different part of the city--is naturally going to be less impressive. But the smart additions on the gameplay side make BioShock 2 rewarding in a different way, while those who want to know more about Andrew Ryan's underwater city will find just enough to make the return trip worthwhile.

I hadn’t touched a strategy game with any serious intent until Firaxis turned my world upside down with XCOM. Though Shadowrun Returns assumes too much about the player’s prior knowledge about the universe and too often skimps over introducing key gameplay systems, getting over the hump is worth discovering the deeply gratifying strategy game within.

The Beginner’s Guide offers a personal and sometimes eerie perspective on amateur game development.

Still one of the best first-person shooters of the year...But the whole thing feels old at this point. The new tricks feel more like a distraction designed to make you forget how revolutionary Call of Duty 4 was. I will certainly buy and play a copy of Modern Warfare 3, but there's nothing here that makes me want to shut off the rest of the world and obsess over it anymore. It makes you wonder if the franchise's best days are truly behind it.

The biggest problem with Wipeout HD is repetition. Eight tracks is a fine start, and a decent value for a game that's being sold for $19.99, but after running them forwards and backwards dozens of times, they can get old, though it's nothing that some DLC couldn't cure. Either way, this is more of a nostalgia trip than a reinvention of the wheel, but it's a well-produced one that might just snag a few new fans along the way.

It's short and a bit thin on content, but what's there is pretty, well-produced, and a satisfying if slightly silly curiosity for anyone who remembers the first Resident Evil even a little bit fondly.

If you're looking for a game you can play alone, UFC 2009 Undisputed will probably get pretty boring for you. Even with multiple difficulty settings, fighting the AI doesn't stay exciting for very long. But if you're in a household with multiple UFC fans or enjoy getting online, you'll love it.

If you appreciate the way Battlefield has done this kind of open, spacious warfare in the past, you're going to love it. Fans of the previous game's campaign mode, however, will probably feel a little disappointed.

Red Alert 3 makes compelling changes to the C&C brand of real-time strategy without abandoning the core of what makes these games tick. If you're a longtime fan, that's great news, though if you don't typically go for strategy games, but are still feeling the attraction of the game's stellar cast and full-motion video, you may find that the thrill of the cutscenes isn't quite enough to keep you moving through the missions.

Burn Zombie Burn isn't for people looking for a casual action game; if you can't hang with the demands of something like Geometry Wars, this one will probably stress you out to no end. But if you enjoy getting a grip on fairly complicated mechanics and juggling them as fast as you can while you watch your scores race ever higher, there's a lot of depth in this one.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii doesn't make dramatic changes to the "New" game that was released on the DS, but by offering more substantial multiplayer and a set of new levels to conquer, it stands out as one of the Wii's best.

If you're a fan of playing WarioWare and have no real desire to make your own games, this package is NOT for you. The simple, touchscreen-only nature of the pre-made games make them a bit of a drag, and, as mentioned above, getting other games is harder than it should be. Still, the tools are great and sitting down to build your own stuff is a faster and more rewarding process than you might initially expect.

Overall, the only major problem with recommending Dawn of War II is its minor identity crisis. If you normally don't like RTS games but are a fan of light role-playing that focuses more on the combat than the story, you'll likely find much to love in this game's campaign, and that should be enough to satisfy. However, if you're a fan of traditional strategy games like StarCraft or even the original Dawn of War, you might be underwhelmed by the simplified gameplay of the sequel's campaign, and may want to jump straight to the deeper online experience.

Horizon 2 isn't quite the breath of fresh air that the previous game was, but it's a good open-world driving game that benefits from slow play.

It's unfortunate that Fallout 3 is saddled with so many little- and medium-sized issues, because they get in the way of what's an otherwise fantastic experience. The world is well-realized and full of options. It'll be a struggle in spots, but I'm willing to guess that most people will be able to overlook a lot of the game's problems and still have a very good time exploring the irradiated wasteland formerly known as Washington DC.

There are definitely moments where you can feel its age, and there's the distinct possibility that you remember The Secret of Monkey Island being funnier than it is, but this Special Edition is still a terrific way for both fans of the old point-and-click adventure games to revisit a classic, and for newcomers to get acquainted with it.

Just because it’s great doesn’t mean it’s accessible.

It's an approachable game of football, still complex in myriad ways, but better at communicating those complexities than ever before.

Destiny's biggest expansion to date makes the game a whole lot more enjoyable and easier to recommend.

Maybe the best addition is the Vault, which ties into the in-game achievements/trophies but extends well beyond them with extra challenges like "beat this game using less than 18 continues" or "finish every level with Guy."

The standard gameplay in NBA Jam is insanely entertaining, and if you've got a group of players ready to play at your side, you'll easily get $50 of enjoyment out of it.

It's a much fuller and funnier experience than the first episode.

For the second year in a row, Madden makes smart, interesting changes that genuinely improve the experience.

A lot has changed in The Sims 3, but for all the technical refinements, gameplay additions, and online integration, it still scratches the same basic itch that its predecessors did, though it arguably does it with an improved effectiveness.

Invincible VS is clearly a game by the FGC for the FGC, which results in a double-edged sword. It serves as an incredibly fun and satisfying tool for competition, featuring just enough of that modern fighting game sanding of edges to welcome in new players, while also offering plenty of depth through playing chicken with the combo meter and a combo breaker-esque system of Heroic Strikes, Counter Tags, and Assist Breakers. Disappointingly, this focus on creating a game for tournament players seems to be what has caused the single-player offerings to suffer. The presentation is brilliantly flashy the whole way through, but after playing through a mediocre “episode” of the show and reaching disappointing arcade mode endings, the casual audience is left with little to do in the game other than rematching the CPU in standard matches over and over.

t may fall short if you’re looking for a deep city builder or life sim, but as a piece of absurdist Dada comedy I absolutely love Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. Every day I look forward to booting it up, making a Mii or two, seeing what unlikely friendships are forming, and watching ludicrous vignettes play out. I’ll boot up Stardew Valley or Pokopia if I’m looking for something mechanically deeper, but I know I can count on a good laugh whenever I check in on Kayfabe Island.

The first Puzzle Quest was a revelation; Galactrix is just a complication.

Though the setting may sound a bit edgy, in practice Medal of Honor offers a brief campaign with little story and a smattering of technical issues that range from annoying to decidedly disappointing. It also delivers a multiplayer component that feels like it's desperately trying to split the difference between Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. There are flashes of excitement peppered across the game's modes, but it's hard to get too excited about any of that when it's been done better elsewhere.

Though the setting may sound a bit edgy, in practice Medal of Honor offers a brief campaign with little story and a smattering of technical issues that range from annoying to decidedly disappointing. It also delivers a multiplayer component that feels like it's desperately trying to split the difference between Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. There are flashes of excitement peppered across the game's modes, but it's hard to get too excited about any of that when it's been done better elsewhere.