Its wild premise is surprisingly well-realized, and its shooting is top-notch. Put simply, it is a game that stacks up as well, if not better than many of the classics it's so clearly inspired by.

It’s a great-looking game with really strong sound design. That stuff helped make the campaign worth seeing, and it’s part of why I keep coming back to the competitive multiplayer, too.

I really enjoy the look and feel of Midnight Club: Los Angeles, and there's a good amount of content here, but the severe difficulty level makes it all much harder to appreciate. It's punishing, but if you're up for it, there are some sights worth seeing here.

A decent video game undermined by bad pacing, weak characters, and a wishy-washy world view. Play it cooperatively with a friend, ignore the characters and their motivations, and you'll probably have a good time.

This is a fun sequel spinning its wheels, capitalizing on what worked well before without real progress towards an endgame. Like most sequels, that works once, but it won't a third time.

This is meat-and-potatoes action game design with a few antiquated quirks, but it does what it does well enough--and looks legitimately stunning while doing it--to deliver a satisfying experience, all told.

A streamlined front-end and more clearly spelled-out progression would probably go a long way. But if you're up for digging around and find the idea of a driving game that's a little left-of-center exciting, TM2 is kind of incredible.

WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2010 doesn't fix any of the fundamental issues that the series has had for years, and as this style of gameplay gets another year older, it looks that much more dated.

Perhaps some pockets of the still-large Call of Duty fanbase will enjoy different parts of it more than I did, but as I add it all up, Black Ops III is a pretty even mix of positive and negatives. It's OK.

Despite some aging mechanics, I still had a blast whipping my Blades of Exile around ancient Greece once again. There's something visceral and rewarding about God of War's combat that manages to strike a nerve even after a lapse of several years.

I'd lean toward recommending the Xbox version because, well, I like achievements, and because it's half the price of the DS cart. But whether you want to play on the couch or on the go, Puzzle Quest 2 is a great way to wile away a few minutes, or a few hours.

It clearly establishes a repeating theme of Max gaining and then exploiting ridiculous new psychic powers with each episode, something that, if the quality of the execution stays where it is, should make for a fun season.

While Modern Warfare certainly has its issues, I’m having a really terrific time with it.

While the edges of the action can get a little rough, especially after repeated use, the core of the game offers a lot of solid trivia and a controller that anyone--even a person who has never played a video game before--can easily understand. That makes it a good dose of group fun.

This oddball shooter sequel piles on more of everything from the first game, which is exactly what that game needed.

To put it succinctly: it is more Civilization V to add to your copy of Civilization V. If you still have even a flicker of a desire to play more Civilzation V, that news should be all you need to justify picking up Gods & Kings.

Even though I feel its story is often weak and its action isn't that different from other games in the genre, I still enjoyed my time with Watch Dogs. It turns out that the old stuff still works, and the strong-but-standard mission design kept me entertained, most of the time. It's rough around the edges, though, so if you don't settle for anything less than the best, you'll probably be disappointed...But hey, Watch Dogs 2? That'll probably be pretty cool.

The finished game--which only made it to release thanks to a last-minute rescue from Square Enix--won't be remembered as one of the world's great open-world crime games. But it will be thought of as a good, solid one that did enough right to be mostly fun from start to finish. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

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.

The awkward campaign mode would be completely forgettable if Tekken 6 worked better online. But with it ranging from "almost acceptable" to "pre-patch King of Fighters XII" in connection quality, it's hard to recommend to anyone who doesn't already have a local crew of Tekken fiends at their disposal.

You should know that Rocket Riot will eventually wear thin. But its great looks, clever gameplay, and huge roster of unlockable characters give you plenty to do, and the end result is quite a bit better than the game's $10 price tag might initially lead you to believe.

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.

Credit then to Stoic for crafting a game experience that makes such gloom palatable, beautiful, and yes, even enjoyable.

WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2010 doesn't fix any of the fundamental issues that the series has had for years, and as this style of gameplay gets another year older, it looks that much more dated.

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.

The whole thing feels like a "B Team" sort of feel to it, but there's just enough Uncharted here to ensure that the experience isn't a total loss.

This game is all raw nerves and bloody fists, so if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll find plenty of it in the equally damaging Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Condemned 2: Bloodshot.

It's short and light, but that doesn't mean that Driver: San Francisco is insubstantial. It has a good open world with a lot of options, and its supernatural cop tale builds to an effective climax that gives you a super-crazy ability that's absolutely worth experiencing for yourself... even if it only lasts for one mission.