Dance Central 2 is better than Dance Central, though that margin will vary significantly depending on how dissatisfied you were with the original's lack of two-player support or a structured story mode to ease you into the experience. Personally, I was happy to just have more Dance Central, but what I got was better than that.

Call of Duty: World at War is a perfectly competent game with exciting multiplayer options and a campaign that's worth playing. But in most of the ways that actually count, last year's game was better.

While I admittedly became less enamored with Monaco as it ramped up its difficulty and turned some of its later missions into tedious exercises in trial-and-error, the vast majority of Monaco's content is simply a delight to play, especially when enjoyed alongside a rogue's gallery of your most deviously skilled friends. It may not best serve the solitary brand of player, but for a cooperative group of would-be thieves, Monaco can be terrific fun.

It's nice to see this series mature and evolve over time, and while Traveller's Tales will need to continue upping the ante if it intends to keep putting out new Lego games at such a rapid clip, for the moment Lego Pirates offers plenty of reasons to jump back in and mash a few plastic bricks together again.

It still doesn't live up to the unreasonable expectations set by those early Sony E3 trailers, but MotorStorm: Pacific Rift feels much, much closer to realizing that vision than its predecessor. As an off-road racing game, the format is simple, but the execution makes for a wild ride.

It's nice to see this series mature and evolve over time, and while Traveller's Tales will need to continue upping the ante if it intends to keep putting out new Lego games at such a rapid clip, for the moment Lego Pirates offers plenty of reasons to jump back in and mash a few plastic bricks together again.

While fans might have a hard time processing the dramatic change in tone, it's approached with a seriousness and conviction that I respect, and frankly, have come to expect from Rockstar.

It's short, sure, but it also doesn't wear out its welcome, focusing solely on the necessary pieces of an adventure that's often as challenging as it is thrilling. In Guacamelee!, DrinkBox has both provided a wonderfully crafted action game for old school and new players alike, and established itself as a developer very much worth paying attention to.

BIG HOPS succeeds because of the developers’ understanding of momentum, accessibility, and expression through movement: its systems constantly invite wacky experimentation with generous restarts, rather than punishing the player for failing, all of which reinforces a core philosophy of playful improvisation.

Tokyo Jungle is bold, well-designed, and very funny. One can't imagine Tokyo Jungle coming from anywhere but Japan, and it's a case where such a statement is an enormous compliment.

The roster is bigger and better, a large variety of fun stages has been added, and some cool tweaks like character customization make their debut. Spotty online offerings, the drawbacks of being on a portable console, and the lack of a substantial single-player mode hurt the overall experience, but not enough to tarnish the series’ name.

There is simply far more content by volume in this package than in the original. The core of Left 4 Dead may have lost some of its newness in the last 12 months, but the wealth of additions in this sequel ought to keep you blasting zombies and munching on brains for a good long while.

The new quests and areas, combined with a "best of" lineup of characters from the other DLCs and other parts from the main game make for a good, exciting mini-adventure. If you're at all interested by the idea of returning to Borderlands, Claptrap's New Robot Revolution is absolutely solid.

An intense, replayable multiplayer shooter that's fully worthy of both the Battlefield name and the price of entry.

What makes Just Cause 2 special is the way those parts are assembled for both the minimum amount of reality, and the maximum amount of fun, the law will allow.

It's unfortunate that it isn't easier to get into online matches, but overall, if you're looking for some more characters to beat around, play Third Strike. It's a good game.

The glitchy technical issues appear across the board in every version of the game. In that, Fallout 4 is universal. As such, a big part of deciding if you want to play Fallout 4 becomes a personal inventory of your desire to either revel in these glitches or your patience at dealing with them, should they appear. As someone who has really appreciated this line of games in both its Fallout and Elder Scrolls flavors, Fallout 4 was still harder to swallow than I initially suspected it would be. It's another one of those games, for better and for worse.

Insomniac gets back to what it does best with this smirking, fast-moving romp through a gleefully silly open world.

There will certainly be some players who find that the specific omissions in Halo 5 are extremely disappointing, and you'll see a rough edge or two, but all in all there's a fantastic big-budget shooter in Halo 5 with lots to see and enough multiplayer options to keep you going for quite some time.

There are some notable feature differences between Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band, and the attitudes are wildly different, but a lot of that feels a little academic in the grand scheme. Guitar Hero has some catching up to do when it comes to the full-band experience, but all the debatable points shouldn't keep you from rocking out.

The new quests and areas, combined with a "best of" lineup of characters from the other DLCs and other parts from the main game make for a good, exciting mini-adventure. If you're at all interested by the idea of returning to Borderlands, Claptrap's New Robot Revolution is absolutely solid.

It's as though the team behind SSX were never quite sure how far toward realistic danger nor straight-up arcade ludicrousness it ought to veer toward, relying on the old school silliness of SSX's snowboarding gameplay to carry the load as the team built a gaggle of new mechanics and concepts around it--some of which don't really gel with that classic SSX flavor. The end result is an experience that can often be tremendous fun, though sometimes almost feels accidentally so.

The new quests and areas, combined with a "best of" lineup of characters from the other DLCs and other parts from the main game make for a good, exciting mini-adventure. If you're at all interested by the idea of returning to Borderlands, Claptrap's New Robot Revolution is absolutely solid.

It's as though the team behind SSX were never quite sure how far toward realistic danger nor straight-up arcade ludicrousness it ought to veer toward, relying on the old school silliness of SSX's snowboarding gameplay to carry the load as the team built a gaggle of new mechanics and concepts around it--some of which don't really gel with that classic SSX flavor. The end result is an experience that can often be tremendous fun, though sometimes almost feels accidentally so.

Uneven pacing and a handful of poor design decisions can't bring down Cradle's unique, sci-fi mystery.

Now, some of you are undoubtedly super-shy and would never dream of letting the world see you, in your bedroom, singing. That's fine. But if you're a little more extroverted and want a sanctioned location to look like a jackass, or if creatively creating 30-second videos to the delight or disgust of an online audience is up your alley, SingStar is kind of amazing.

A tightly designed downloadable game bursting with demanding traversal, surprisingly deep combat, and lush visual design. You can't be a fan of 2D action games in 2011 and not give this game a look.

A tightly designed downloadable game bursting with demanding traversal, surprisingly deep combat, and lush visual design. You can't be a fan of 2D action games in 2011 and not give this game a look.