It might be a suitable family game, but there are certainly better family games out there – games that won't leave a five-year-old yawning. For Fable fans distraught about Peter Molyneux's departure from Lionhead, I would recommend pretending this title didn't even exist. And for the unlucky few who can't resist and buy it anyway, I'd wager a nickel that you only ever play the game once.

Awesomenauts does more than simply adapt a successful formula, it does so with humor and panache. It has taken a genre typically dripping with grim fantasy and turned it playfully on its ear. Even without the delightful presentation, the simple fact that developer Ronimo Games has effectively fused a MOBA with the trappings of a 2D action title is laudable on its own. Give it your money, and it will give you its love. You can probably hang on to your cheese though.

Attempt to play this style-over-substance offering as thoughtfully as its creators intended, and you'll wind up disappointed. Accept it as a button-masher, rather than the deep brawler it wants to be, however, and working out Crom's anger issues might become your next go-to guilty pleasure.

By and large Legend of Grimrock's penchant for walking the incredibly fine line between chin-stroking challenge and hair-pulling frustration is superbly impressive. It will absolutely pounce if you let your guard down, but that's a major part of the appeal.

How much you get out of Prototype 2 depends on how much you enjoy its wonderful mobility and its particular brand of mass destruction, and how much you're willing to forgive its more brain-dead moments – both in terms of repetition and witless dialogue.

A great adaptation of Robert Kirkman's comic, one that isn't a chore to play and is genuinely absorbing across its two-hour entirety, even with its hiccups. Also, if you're looking for the most depressing dad sim on the planet, The Walking Dead: Episode 1 is for you.

In short, every addition RedLynx has made to Evolution serves to bolster the offerings of Trials HD, while continuing to highlight the game's base: a fantastic physics engine that drives a flow that is simultaneously simple, addictive and frantic. Now if you'll excuse me, I have another nine years of mastering Trials Evolution ahead of me.

Doing tricks and nailing tough shots can be rewarding, and the movement and sliding of the Splatters helps it feel more unique than the multitude of Angry Birds clones out there. The simplicity of the mechanics, however, doesn't always translate to addictive gameplay, and you may soon grow tired of performing the same actions over and over again, especially when it feels that success is owed more to luck than skill.

When it works, the walls between reality and the Diary of Faces melt away, exposing an adventure truly suited to the 3DS. Unfortunately, the hokey story and technological limitations do the opposite, reaffirming the reality that you're just standing in your living room, spinning in place.

Skullgirls should have spent another year in development. What we got is good for what it is and will adequately fill a very niche void for serious fighters pining after a non-Blazblue Guilty Gear methadone, but it could have been so much more.

I haven't smiled as much while playing a game since my first multiplayer run of LittleBigPlanet, and even then I was only smiling because I was terrible and enjoyed frustrating my friends as they ran gracefully through the levels. Fez is comparable to Braid or Limbo in terms of recent indie platformers, but it is infinitely more heartwarming than Braid and less terrifying than Limbo...There's a lot to be said for a game that can make a grown woman squeal with glee dozens of times in a playthrough.

A good tower defense game is an addictive and beautiful thing, and Anomaly: Warzone Earth is no exception. It offers a couple of twists on the familiar formula, but more variety and perhaps a few more missions could have pushed it over the top.

Throwing a thunder ball often took multiple attempts, while calmly aiming for a headshot felt much more accurate and satisfying. Ultimately, as great as Diabolical Pitch's zany concepts are, the inconsistency of the controls dulled the overall experience -- and my pitching arm.

A charming cast of characters that interact constantly, a uniquely designed and fascinating setting, forward-thinking gameplay systems that combine the best of East and West, and the exhilarating feeling that comes from taking part in an adventure that feels truly epic.

There are some enjoyable bits here and there -- notably the flying sections and Rancor Rampage -- but for the most part, the Force pull of Kinect Star Wars far exceeds its Force grasp.

If you don't skip any cut-scenes and follow the story closely, Yesterday is an experience unlike any of Pendulo's previous titles, and one you'll be unlikely to forget, no matter how hard you try.

Closure offers up a unique puzzle experience set in a wonderfully moody environment caught somewhere between the designs of Dan Paladin and Edward Gorey.

MLB 12: The Show is an excellent experience that honors and respects one of America's oldest institutions.

Ninja Gaiden 3 is all murder and no execution. It places utmost importance on the periphery, neglecting the mechanisms of combat while splashing blood across the screen and desperately sniffing the air for just a hint of remorse from its protagonist. The franchise has never been more accessible as a result, and never more disposable.

I already know reactions to this game will be polarized, and it basically comes down to whether people can get used to those (again, admittedly) uncomfortable controls... But I can't help but be glad I stuck it out through the overlong adjustment period. The upbeat, funny, deep action game that comes after is totally worth the investment.

Sine Mora's unique time mechanic serves a dual purpose. It gives less dedicated players a chance to enjoy one of the industry's more vibrant genres while simultaneously giving hardcore players a new spin on an age-old formula. I heartily recommend it to either group without delay.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is everything I hoped it wouldn't be: a mediocre shooter hoping to be bolstered by the Resident Evil name. It takes what is arguably the series' best setting and wastes it, forcing players to plod through generic underground facilities and the occasional, oddly vacant street from one boring encounter to the next.

Unit 13 has its shining moments, but there's an odd inconsistency to Zipper's execution. There are A.I. issues and, thanks to the lack of story, an air of meaninglessness to the proceedings, though the actual shooting is well-executed and fun.

It's just as raunchy, absurdist, and most importantly, Japanese, as always. And that makes it a welcome addition to the marketplace, warts and all.

It's the series' tried-and-true mix of campy charm, fast action, and a borderline-artistic knack for wringing entertainment from time-worn cliches that keeps fans coming back for more. In those areas, Tales of Graces F truly excels. It's far from a bastion of genre progressiveness, but as far as achingly traditional JRPGs go, you could do a whole, whole lot worse.

Spinning around an opponent is fun enough, but the lack of of variety in game modes leaves you hanging after a few trips to the court. The latest FIFA Street could be the foundation of a great game down the line; it just isn't one now.

Seasoned Party-goers and newcomers looking for an entry point into the prolific franchise, however, should consider crashing Mario's latest shindig.

The complicated controls and frustrating difficulty make Shoot Many Robots tough to enjoy on your own and only slightly less so in a group. If you're really craving the next Alien Hominid then this one might do for a quick fix.

While the journey in Downpour is one of the most interesting in the series, some of its most significant beats fall flat.

So long as it's consumed in an environment where all you're doing is playing offline, like at an arcade or in someone's living room, Street Fighter X Tekken's excellent engine is enough to carry the game. Delve any deeper, however, and that excellence serves only to highlight each tragic decision that frames it. Capcom has spent countless hours meticulously crafting the gaming equivalent of a Ferrari 458's V8 engine, only to shove it under the hood of a 1987 Chevy Caprice on cinderblocks.

Like messy upper lip hair, MLB 2K12 is so bad at times that it's good. Learning to play along with its imperfections reflects the sport well, but that doesn't excuse its rough patches. This year's edition doesn't do enough to truly stand out from past games in the series, save for the welcome added strategy in pitching.

Core ideas that exist in I Am Alive show an exceptional amount of promise, but the title shows its hand far too quickly, running out of captivating tricks within the first few hours.

With a better matchmaking system and more multiplayer options, it would be easier to recommend. As it stands, with so many quality shooters in the budget download market (or even the free-to-play market, for that matte), the few intriguing pieces of Nexuiz aren't enough to lift it above the crowd.

I don't want to be misconstrued as generic or uninspired when I say that Journey is an awesome game. In the most classical, archaic sense of the word, Journey is a beautiful, evocative and unequivocally transcendental experience.

Devil Survivor 2 isn't an anime, and it more than makes up for its lack of originality with well-drawn characters, a branching storyline and excellent mechanics. For that, I'm more than happy to accept any similarities, overt or otherwise, to the most popular -- and most screwed up -- anime ever made.

When SSX wasn't trying its best to push me away, I loved every minute of it. From a mechanical perspective, it's the best treatment the "extreme sports" genre has received on the current generation of systems thus far. Unfortunately, it's wrapped in a dirty old program from X-Games '98 and punctuated with frustrating moments.

Asura's Wrath is a glittering, golden starchild of incredulity, and I love it.

Of all the issues with online play, the lag during matches is the worst. Even when playing against people in your local region, and even with the stereoscopic 3D effect automatically turned off for online battles, lag manages to stutter into bouts more often than not, typically at the worst possible moments.

My absolute favorite feature of Escape Plan is the ability to skip levels. As the game helpfully, and humiliatingly, tells you after a few failures, you can skip any level and move onto the next one.

Syndicate manages to mesh the spirit of the old with the style of the new. It's not the return some fans would have hoped for, but it expands the franchise into new territory where business is booming.

It's gorgeous, even if it's built in an aging engine (the same engine that powered 2008's Dark Sector, in fact). And it's a first-person shooter with a story that's worth a damn, something we don't see very often in general (and especially not with shooters, specifically).

I actually wish I had stopped playing after about, oh, five hours. Up to that point, Army Corps of Hell is a novel experience. After that, it burns out all that novelty. And not in awesome heavy metal hellfire, either.

As he writes his own escape from the Dark Place, the tale ironically lacks the narrative punch of his first trek into the shadows. Even so, it invites us back into Alan's world, takes us on a new adventure and sheds new light on his predicament. The writer is correct: we love our characters, and if you love Alan Wake, you really don't have a choice. You must survive his American Nightmare.

The game's ultimate failure is that it doesn't quite create an identity for itself. Beyond some entertaining moments, Warp isn't particularly memorable.

My time playing Lumines has been the only time in the last week during which I wasn't panicking. I come out of a 45-minute session feeling rested and kind of euphoric. How's that for an endorsement?

The constant struggle of trying to take out enemies and keep your own rig in check is as entertaining today as it was when it was first introduced back in the mid '90s. I just wish there wasn't so much muck to wade through before I got to Twisted Metal's gooey, rocket-blasted center.

THQ and Yuke's bring the sport to life, and it says something about their efforts when the worst aspects of their product are minuscule in comparison to its overall value. UFC 3 makes it easy to get wrapped up in the tactical strategy of MMA fighting while maintaining the pace and difficulty at a challenging level.

The largest issue is that the games simply aren't much fun. It's clear that players are expected to repeatedly play each game, hoping for a high score and the elusive gold rating, but I found myself intentionally failing after achieving a bronze, the minimum requirement for unlocking new games. "New games," might be a little generous, actually, considering many of them are simply new levels for game types you've already played.

Though Uncharted: Golden Abyss brings a little too much reality to Drake's day-to-day by making him polish artifacts in gimmicky touchscreen nonsense, there's still a good, if formulaic, adventure to be had. In other words, this might just sell you on the Vita ... whenever it's not selling you on the Vita.

Shank 2 doesn't do much that's new or original. It's a refinement of what came before it, from the original Shank to manic classics like Metal Slug. But there's a lot of quality fun packed into this inexpensive download, making it a perfect choice for simple, fast-paced action.

If you approach it as a series of challenges to be overcome with skill, you will be driven into a rage (trust me). The correct approach is to just have fun, enjoy the funny animations and noises when you screw up, and keep playing until you can keep up with the rhythm naturally.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning presents a world that is immaculately crafted and beautiful, yet still simple and accessible. Every corner reveals a person in need, a treasure to collect, a secret to uncover, a battle to wage. I don't know how much more time I'll spend in Amalur (dozens of hours? hundreds?), but I plan on savoring every minute.

NeverDead's immortality mechanic is certainly intriguing, as are its destructible environments. You may even develop an attachment to Bryce by the end of his quest. If the combat was more involving, and the destruction more deliberate, the developers at Rebellion might have been on to something. For now, in trying to tread new ground, NeverDead's greatest success is in finding the middle.

I'll never have the kind of relationship with SoulCalibur 5 that I did with SC2, but I still plan on the two of us spending as much time as possible together. I love this game, I'm just not in love with it.

Ultimately, if Final Fantasy XIII took the series five steps back, Final Fantasy XIII-2 takes it one hesitant step forward. Features like non-linear dungeons, optional side quests and NPC-populated towns are wonderful and all, but they were RPG staples twenty years ago. While Final Fantasy XIII-2 does quite a bit to fix the mistakes of its predecessor, it does very little to stand out on its own merits. It's enjoyable, but it's also disappointing in many ways. Final Fantasy deserves better.

It's almost unfair to review Amy, given the state it's in. On the other hand, it's sort of unfair that it was published at all. The thought of anyone spending money on Amy -- possibly drawn in by the promising trailers -- only to wind up with this mess, is quite honestly a little enraging. There might have been a decent story here once, or even good survival horror, but it's gone now.

Overall, Q.U.B.E. isn't on par with Portal 2, but it offers a delightful on-screen Rubik's Cube to puzzle-lovers and perfectionists everywhere -- maybe just don't tell anyone you played with blocks all day.

It's a digestible version of football that even the biggest sports cynic can enjoy. And, in the unlikely event you don't have a good time, the typical game only lasts around 15 minutes, so your stint in hell is at least guaranteed to be brief.

What little Lautrec does, it does competently but not compellingly.

If you can look past some of the more awkward elements – especially if you can do so with a couple of friends – there is definitely some meat to be found in Trine 2. You'll just have to crack a lot of shells to find it.

It seems odd to slam Serious Sam 3 for a lack of restraint, especially if you've spent space arguing that it's not as mindless as it appears. So, a piece of advice, rather: play it in spurts, play it with friends in sixteen-player co-op, and shoot many monsters.

The game-breakingly slow pace of a game that isn't that exciting to start with took its toll. Fortune Street has no respect for players' time, turning what should be a breezy pastime into a languid, dull experience.

An exquisitely polished game with few flaws.

WWE '12 is fun. It's a great combat game, and excellent for those that aren't marks for the innards of wrestling. You know, the "real" stuff. There's no doubt that THQ and Yuke's could make a game for those purposes, where stories are better told and interacted with, and the actual business of pro wrestling is out there for players to toy with. That's not on the cards here, as wrestling stories are told through action, and players have to connect a few dots themselves.

Despite its small annoyances and ancillary shortcomings, King of Fighters XIII is hands down the best, most polished and solidly constructed King of Fighters game there's ever been.

It's a solid effort to be dour compared to Telltale's cartoonish games, but the cinematic illusion comes to a halt every time someone pulls an odd face, or when the music stops abruptly between scenes.

Rather than variety, Shinobi embraces the daunting challenge leitmotif seen in games like Super Meat Boy, but it does so absent any particular charm.

Saints Row: The Third doesn't play like recent THQ efforts have -- all bark and no bite -- but instead feels like a labor of love. It feels like the developers had fun, and they wanted you to feel it too. And I promise, you will.

Need for Speed: The Run's biggest problem is how much it has in common with a real drive from one end of the US to the other. There are a few bright spots here and there, but it's mostly full of unexpected stops, lots of flat tires, and too many assholes on the road. This isn't the worst Need for Speed, but it can't place against other, better racers from the last year.

It's an Assassin's Creed game wearing blinders that focus it on covering ground it's already traveled, albeit more effectively. While it's always good to see iterative improvements, some bold new territory would have been a real revelation for the series. Instead, Revelations does almost everything its predecessors have done slightly better. Which, as it turns out, is enough just one more time.

It is a game punctuated by near-constant moments of genuine exhiliration, dishing out a stream of physical and mental satisfaction which moves between taxing and rewarding the player with an almost flawless equipoise. It is, however, a stream that's tragically interrupted by the filler which has reared its ugly head in so many of the series' past iterations.

Every nuance is positively dripping with goofy, heart-swelling joy.

This is the deepest, lovliest world ever created for a single player to explore, and one that no one should deny themselves. This is a game about following Emerson's advice, leaving the trail and finding that the most powerful force on Earth or Tamriel isn't fire or sword, but the ever-insistent desire to know what lies beyond.

And while it takes a while to build up, and lacks the rich variety of secrets you know from games like Mario 3 and Super Mario World, Super Mario 3D Land eventually becomes a demandingly hardcore, addictive platformer. It's also easily the most beautiful game on the 3DS, and one of the best-looking Mario games.

Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer is some of the series' strongest, and the co-op offerings have been expanded tenfold. But the campaign will leave you yearning, wishing that the characters were differentiated by more than thick accents, or that the gameplay tried something more than aim, shoot, take cover, reload, rinse and repeat.

The tale may not be as finely crafted as Tolkien's, but it's reverent of his work and worth experiencing – just keep in mind that you'll have to kill a lot of orcs to do so.

Compared to Colors, Sonic Generations is a weaker, above average effort. Even taken as fan-service, the game's wavering quality, apparent lack of creativity and meandering filler feels like it's stalling until next year's birthday, and next year's game.

The ability to do a celebratory dance (as reflected by the mimicked movements of your Xbox Live Avatar) upon even the most minor successes never, ever stops being entertaining -- if only there were more in Kinect Sports: Season Two to celebrate.

The War of the Worlds has the trappings of a solid game. But because it's such a frustrating chore to play, in the end it only proved extremely effective at stressing me out with little reward. Good games just don't do that.

As a solo game, Battlefield 3 on consoles is even less the sum of its parts than the PC version, due to compromised visuals and a legion of technical issues, some of which might stand in the way of actually finishing the game. When Battlefield 3 does its damnedest to go toe-to-toe with Call of Duty are the times it stumbles the hardest. But when DICE is doing what it's always done best, Battlefield 3 is a uniquely mesmerizing multiplayer game with a seemingly endless number of ways to feel like a success.

As a solo game, Battlefield 3 on consoles is even less the sum of its parts than the PC version, due to compromised visuals and a legion of technical issues, some of which might stand in the way of actually finishing the game. When Battlefield 3 does its damnedest to go toe-to-toe with Call of Duty are the times it stumbles the hardest. But when DICE is doing what it's always done best, Battlefield 3 is a uniquely mesmerizing multiplayer game with a seemingly endless number of ways to feel like a success.

Festival of Blood is campy, vampy fun and an absolute steal for $10. Best part: you don't even need Infamous or Infamous 2 to play it. Happy Halloween.

But the complete lack of difficulty makes what should be an enthralling game sometimes boring.

Moment to moment, it outshines just about every other game on the market, and while it doesn't exactly break the action-adventure mold, it fills it with such practiced substance that you don't really mind the familiarity of its shape.

If it's survival-of-the-fittest thrills you want, Skylanders can do that.

If solo play is your primary motivator, then it's hard to recommend Battlefield 3 as anything more than an audio-visual treat. The times where Battlefield 3 does its damnedest to go toe-to-toe with Call of Duty are the times it stumbles the hardest. But when DICE is doing what it's always done best, Battlefield 3 is a uniquely mesmerizing multiplayer game with a seemingly endless number of ways to feel like a success. It's not revolutionary, but it's the best Battlefield game, and that's saying a lot.

It's one of the most frustrating kinds of games that a company can possibly release: The disappointing thing about PowerUp Heroes is how much I like playing it, and how very little there is to play.

If players walk into this game wanting a simple multiplayer game with Ratchet qualities, and not a Ratchet game with co-op, they will get exactly what Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One is trying to deliver. It's a standard, linear action game with high production values.

And that's probably the best summation of Dungeon Defenders: a great (virtual) place to hang our with your friends.

Rocksmith doesn't teach the player anything; they teach themselves, and there are much more entertaining and fulfilling ways to be a self-taught guitarist.

The cel-shaded graphical style and kid-friendly characters keep the game from delving into morbidity and the message, overall, is one of positivity and joy. Nox and his friends aren't hoodlums, they're just young artists caught up in a dangerous situation. It's just a shame the game's frustrating design makes it so hard for you to help them.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter improved on its forebears, in both perceptible and imperceptible ways. I like all the other Laytons, but I like this one just a little better.

This team of rhythm game veterans have proven once again that they are, as they always have been, masters of progressive iteration.

Rocksteady has made the greatest Batman game ever crafted, and they've done that before. But breathing life into a staggeringly beautiful world; one which hums not only with opportunity, but ambition? That's a new trick altogether.

Infestation feels like what would have happened had someone made a good Aliens game in the mid-1990s. It's a cleverly structured take on the Metroidvania style of game that forces careful, methodical play. Despite those aforementioned issues, WayForward completely nailed the dread of Aliens.

Speaking as someone firmly on the casual end of the flight spectrum, I've never had more fun in the Wild Blue Yonder.

The post game has been tweaked to be more responsive and allow for more subtle movements over last year's effort, and an improved shot stick means players have more options when trying to put the ball in the net. Last second fakes and finger rolls rule the day and are easily accomplished with a little practice.

A Game of Thrones: Genesis feels cheap. The unique focus on treachery politics might have been enough to compensate for the lackluster graphics and gameplay a decade or so ago, but it's on the fast track for the bargain bin by today's standards.