Shatter is best-suited to people who have a friends list full of scoreboard fiends. That's what'll bring replay value to a game that's only going to take you a couple of hours to see in its entirety. But even if you're not that type of player, Shatter still has enough style and action in it to be worth checking out.

Just fun enough and charming enough to make it worth gritting your teeth through all the tough spots. It's a great second effort from Twisted Pixel, and a tidy little value for the money.

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.

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

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

I was really satisfied with the three or four hours it took me to get through Launch of the Narwhal, and the episode ends on a delicious cliffhanger that has me eager to see what happens in next month's episode.

Trine's got the gameplay and the looks to make it well worth your time and money.

Makes for a good diversion. It doesn't last too long, tells a decent story, and offers enough multiplayer to give you something to mess around with when the single-player's done. It certainly isn't the most ambitious game in the world, but if you're looking for a competent western shooter, Juarez fits the bill just fine.

Makes for a good diversion. It doesn't last too long, tells a decent story, and offers enough multiplayer to give you something to mess around with when the single-player's done. It certainly isn't the most ambitious game in the world, but if you're looking for a competent western shooter, Juarez fits the bill just fine.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is probably a game best suited for people who have been playing fighting games for a long time, but even then, its style seems to be deliberately divisive. It's certainly worth trying out if you're a fan of the genre, but it's entirely possible that you'll find the whole thing to be a big, loud mess.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is probably a game best suited for people who have been playing fighting games for a long time, but even then, its style seems to be deliberately divisive. It's certainly worth trying out if you're a fan of the genre, but it's entirely possible that you'll find the whole thing to be a big, loud mess.

Some of the things surrounding the boxing in Fight Night Round 4 are kind of annoying, especially if you're planning on primarily playing the game by yourself. But the fighting itself is fantastic and the online feels sharp enough to substitute for local opposition.

Some of the things surrounding the boxing in Fight Night Round 4 are kind of annoying, especially if you're planning on primarily playing the game by yourself. But the fighting itself is fantastic and the online feels sharp enough to substitute for local opposition.

If you're just comparing it to other action games released on the Wii, The Conduit does some interesting things with its control and with its multiplayer modes. But other aspects, like the poor story, bland design, and awful voice acting, would be just as bad on any platform. It's that stuff that drags The Conduit down into an area where it's tough to recommend without providing a boatload of caveats.

If you're just a regular Joe looking for a great action game, you could do better. But if you've still got a special place in your heart for the Transformers series--despite what Michael Bay may have done to it in recent years--the game is fun enough to be worth taking a look at.

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.

Funny games are still something of a rarity, so even though these episodes of Sam & Max originated on the PC two years ago, they still totally stand up against more recent releases. Also, with six different episodes to move through, you'll probably end up spending something like eight to 12 hours playing through them all.

Perhaps most baffling to me about my experience with Ghostbusters: The Video Game is, as problematic as I found the single-player experience, how much I found myself enjoying the multiplayer.

There are definitely some quality songs on the list, but I think I would have rather been able to pick and choose a few of them as downloadable content for World Tour than be forced to buy them as a package.

Prototype is really all about player empowerment, ramping up the number and intensity of larger-than-life superhero abilities consistently as you go. If you've ever harbored fantasies about soaring over skyscrapers and going on destructive urban rampages involving wantonly thrown automobiles--and who among us hasn't, really--odds are you'll find a lot to like about this game.

Prototype is really all about player empowerment, ramping up the number and intensity of larger-than-life superhero abilities consistently as you go. If you've ever harbored fantasies about soaring over skyscrapers and going on destructive urban rampages involving wantonly thrown automobiles--and who among us hasn't, really--odds are you'll find a lot to like about this game.

It's an imperfect package, but even the sporadic frame rate chop and well-worn track list couldn't conspire to keep me from really enjoying most of my time with Rock Band Unplugged. There aren't many rhythm games on the PSP, but this is easily the most satisfying experience I've had with the genre on the PSP, warts and all.

Maybe if Starfy had been around in the Western market for years and engendered the same sort of nostalgia that we older gamers feel for franchises like Mario, I'd be more forgiving of this game's simplistic nature--but as a newcomer to the series, I found myself wanting for a platformer with a little more meat on its bones.

While there are clunky bits at the fringes of Red Faction: Guerrilla that give it a handful of frustrating or disappointing moments, the core moments of the game are exciting and well-conceived. Factor in a thrilling multiplayer component and the sheer satisfaction provided by the wholesale destruction of huge structures and you've got more than enough reasons to get your ass to Mars.

While there are clunky bits at the fringes of Red Faction: Guerrilla that give it a handful of frustrating or disappointing moments, the core moments of the game are exciting and well-conceived. Factor in a thrilling multiplayer component and the sheer satisfaction provided by the wholesale destruction of huge structures and you've got more than enough reasons to get your ass to Mars.

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.

It's the quality of the central action in InFamous that I keep coming back to. Everything else would be fancy window dressing if Sucker Punch hadn't nailed the basic gameplay elements, the simple moving and shooting, as precisely as it did. InFamous feels like a game designed from the very ground up to be fun to play, so I guess it's no surprise that as soon as the credits finished rolling on my good version of Cole, I started up an evil one to play it all over again.

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.