Simply another chapter in a thoroughly charming game (OXM rating: 8.0). In other words, fun but not a must-buy.

Where Voltron completely falls apart is in its ridiculously poor boss battles.

The game is solidly entertaining, especially when four competitive players get to whacking each other, racing for powerups, and tossing each other off ledges.

Twister Mania would be a suitable XBLA download at a discount price, but at $50? For this piece of retail fluff? We'll stick with the plastic mat, thanks.

We'd still rather play the first game than this weaker follow-up.

You're left with awkward, stilted voice-acting, serviceable graphics, and rote button-pushing that feel less like a game experience and more like channel-surfing on your couch. Skip.

Cabela's Survival is sold solo or bundled with the Top Shot Elite rifle controller, which offers more exacting aim during hunting sequences. But unless you expect to play (and replay) the bonus shooting galleries - railed shooters that have you blast furred and feathered wildlife in House of the Dead fashion - then a standard controller is preferred. Otherwise, the game can easily be finished in an afternoon, leaving hunting fans wondering why they wasted it playing a lackluster action-adventure game.

The engaging story kept us interested through the end, but, as in the park itself, there are technical difficulties.

Our only complaint is that with such a large roster, many of the characters tend to play too similarly to one another. Facing a team with both Vice and Mature may prove confusing, for instance, as they're both suit-wearing female assassins. Compared to all the goodness on hand here, though, that's a small complaint.

Value is also a question, as the game's campaign spans less than two hours; and even with survival stages and a quirky bonus where you can fight up to four friends who plug in controllers, this hardly feels like a $40 game. But if you're willing to shell out for it and deal with the control flubs and brevity, Kung Fu High Impact serves up some good, dumb fun.

You'll notice WWE '12's wider accessibility right when the first bell rings. Controls are far easier to grasp (they're almost as newb-friendly as WWE All-Stars') and matches flow naturally, which is great given how minimal the HUD is

You can stay busy in the pretty lengthy career mode, where you're competing in tournaments, unlocking various disciplines, and following a well-meaning but rough storyline. And there's local split-screen and online multiplayer supporting up to four players, but good luck convincing anyone else to join you in this seasonal depression.

Overall, YSFE 2012 mixes together components from EA Sports Active 2, UFC Personal Trainer, and the first Your Shape mostly well, but its polish and depth can't hide its irksome design flaw.

The controls are almost always downright woeful - mostly being either way too sensitive or barely responsive at all.

Okay, so you're mostly just blasting away at anyone not wearing your current colors, but it's still plenty addictive.

It's easy to pick nits about the weird Achievement appropriation, the fact that the games lack HD detail such as animated hair and high-quality lip-synching, and that two of the franchise's best games are absent. But the fact that three of the best stealth games ever made look even better in a $50 Xbox 360 package should put this collection on your radar.

Be prepared for a bit of disappointment, though. While Years 1–4 had something new hiding behind every doorway, much of this sequel feels too familiar.

In the heat of battle, Need for Speed: The Run generally serves up a solid and speedy arcade racing experience, with expectedly steady controls and physics. But it's consistently undone by painful rewinds and a dull campaign marked by predictable events, not to mention technical issues.

If you were curious about MvC3 but never bought it, we wholeheartedly recommend this version. But if you own the original, this $40 upgrade will probably leave you feeling more slighted than delighted. There's consolation in the fact that UMvC3 will soon be getting an extra mode (Heroes & Heralds) via free DLC; and if you're interested in being competitive in one of the most frenetic, frenzied games of all time, it's worth paying for this ride twice.

What's available here remains as ridiculously appealing as ever. It's still a thrill unique to the series to be perched six stories high, looking out across miles of meticulously rendered game world - even if that dazzling, danger-filled world has grown overly familiar, having traded what was once revolution for iterative evolution.

This feature-rich ode to the classic that started it all is an impressive upgrade - one that deserves a place in any fan's library.

Ultimately, the strength of this game lies in how it draws on the movie soundtrack: the catchy covers carry the routines, the karaoke, and even the mini-games you unlock. Lifelong fans of the Grease movie, this one's solely for you.

Though far from perfect and using some very standard gameplay mechanics, Rayman Origins is easily one of the best family-friendly games in years.

Skyrim is the kind of game you can completely lose yourself in for at least a hundred hours, even if you somehow manage to complete the main quest in fewer than twenty. If you aren't normally drawn to role-playing games, get over it - to miss out on this extraordinary gaming experience would be positively criminal.

NASCAR fan or no, you'll want to steer clear of Unleashed.

With 30 tracks and only a few dance locations, The Black Eyed Peas Experience feels lightweight compared to the similarly priced Dance Central 2, plus it's not breaking much ground. But once the beat dropped, we couldn't help but dance like fools and have a lot of fun. And damn if those songs aren't catchy.

Most disappointing is that unlike previous Rabbids games, most of the mini-games just aren't fun without multiple players. And even with them, bland activities aren't always enjoyable. With no basic story to hold everything together, anyone besides Rabbids fans will have no motivation to keep going.

One startlingly huge, polished, and downright entertaining shooter experience. Sure, we can come up with a list of things we'd love to see from the series - whether it's a revamped campaign approach or a revitalized game engine and aesthetic - but when everything here is this well-executed and offers so many enduring thrills, it's hard to knock it too much. MW3 absolutely delivers.

Fortunately, nostalgic fans can indulge in four-player split-screen, which - while offering a third as many match types - still manages to recapture some of the fun Bond games have been grasping at for the past 14 years.

The game's impressively creative in parts, but regrettably, the blend of combat and driving never feels very fluid or cohesive.

Feels like a game whose designers have found the note-perfect tone for the series while also wielding their own talents with razor-sharp precision. It's the game Volition - a studio whose successes go back 15 years to the original Descent - was born to make.

War in the North is hardly the most memorable adventure through Middle-earth, but you won't regret any of the time you spend fighting across its grim battlegrounds.

Unfortunately, only a third of the game is dedicated to re-creating Genesis-era stages, and classics like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic 3D aren't represented at all. Even worse, the game's beatable in five or six hours, with little incentive to reach 100% completion. Hopefully, Generations can spawn a sequel that fixes these flaws.

The game features split-screen and online multiplayer, but two people flailing their arms next to each other is a disaster waiting to happen. The real killer, though, is that Phelps isn't a good pick-up-and-play game. It's initially confusing, and ultimately, it's not nearly as fun as it should be.

We're not saying that multiplayer's rippling muscle excuses the solo campaign's disappointing flab. But as long as you're not dead-set against venturing online, Battlefield 3 is a tremendously satisfying way to go to war.

Crusade sports some solid ideas (a "cursed realm" you can switch to on the fly is a neat concept that doesn't quite work), but sadly, it suffers most from ho-hum pacing and rinse-repeat gameplay.

Online multiplayer rekindles fond memories of linked arcade machines, and 30 brief challenges break up the solo routine. But clunky handling and crayon visuals are a harsh reminder of why we rarely visit with the ghosts of videogame racing's past. Daytona USA was once a pace-setting leader; now it's a museum-ready relic.

Enemy paths are obvious, and at times, they'll forget to shoot at you. Meanwhile, you'll die behind cover much too often, requiring you to restart the whole level...If you can forgive these flaws, Blackwater is old-school arcade fun, and a solid step in making a hardcore Kinect game.

Even if you ordinarily shy away from a daunting challenge, give this one a shot. As difficult as War of the Worlds is to conquer, it's also more than satisfying enough to be worth the struggle.

Outside of the core gameplay, the career mode is a bore, the cartoony visual style is ugly, and the voice implementation is super-sloppy. Even as a Live Arcade game, Main Event wouldn't rank high on the fight card. As a fully priced retail Kinect game, it's an embarrassment.

Diamond Mine. This enticing new mode has you catching gems atop gold deposits and untilled earth to earn bonuses and dig ever deeper before time runs out. Don't surprise if you awake in a slack-jawed daze to discover that dawn has come and gone.

Best of all, tantalizing hints of what's to come will leave you anxious for the next chapter in your gruff super-soldier's saga.

The prevailing problem with Rocksmith: defining exactly what it wants to be. It doesn't go all the way in teaching you guitar, in that you're not learning how to read notes or construct a composition. Conversely, as a videogame, its straight-faced tone, added playing mechanics, and high price make it less accessible than, say, Rock Band.

After spending most of your time in Dragon Age II confined to the cramped, dingy corners of the politically scrambled seaport of Kirkwall, the wide-open greenery and lush palatial estate of Mark of the Assassin are refreshing.

The combat sequences feel like afterthoughts and the story is ultimately a bore, boasting no memorable bosses or a reason to be told other than to bring the two Spideys together...sorta.

It's goofy, deeply involving fun.

Sadly, infuriating difficulty spikes--exacerbated by unskippable cutscenes and a lack of mid-chapter checkpoints--occasionally lead to frantic, fun-sucking button-mashing, as do moments of what-the-hell's-happening chaos. [Dec 2011, p.78]

All told, you'll have a hell of a good time blowing up and blowing past your friends. [Dec 2011, p.78]

Nicktoons MLB is fun but frivolous, which should work just fine for kids and families. [Dec 2011, p.75]

Sadly, that's not the case in this tremendously poor adaptation, which nauseates from the outset with obnoxious music and garish menus. [Dec 2011, p.73]

Strip away the campaign's half-baked tower-defense elements, and you're finally free to focus entirely on the heady business of hauling ass and getting air. [Dec 2011, p.71]

Crazy Machines Elements might turn your crank for a day or two, but only if your enthusiasm for Rube Goldberg-style mechanical oddities knows no bounds. [Dec 2011, p.71]

But the only words this adaptation brings to mind are "suck my b*lls." [Dec 2011, p.68]

A week after beating the main campaign (at which point, we dove right back to side missions), its final image is lodged in our heads. And that's okay, because every time we think of Arkham City, we smile.

Don't get us wrong: Orcs Must Die! is lots of hyperactive fun. Just don't expect lavish long-term depth that'll keep you slaughtering for weeks.

Though you can record and upload your own freestyle moves to share them with others, or download other players' custom choreography, JD3's content is slight if you're looking for any real challenge or a true "game"-style experience.

Real Steal's fisticuffs are a half step above the usual movie-based dreck, but the constant rattle of a beggar's tin cup in your face only grows more distasteful over time.

A handful of heinous difficulty spikes will try your patience - especially when you're protecting something other than your own backside - but even in the game's roughest moments, its unexpected diversity keeps you engaged.

And holy cow, if it's sheer bat-guano crazy you're after, you'll love Versus mode. Pick from 45 (!) unlockable characters and square off against 11 other nutjobs (humans or bots) in completely ridiculous battle royales over Live. We'd happily pay 10 bucks just to listen to the chaos in each wild melee.

Dance Central 2 blew our minds because of its artful mix of movement and gameplay; it makes using your body to respond to what's onscreen an afterthought. You just think: "Man, what a great game."

Even at $40, it's tough to recommend the meager additions Off the Record delivers. Diehard Dead Rising fans will like the callbacks, and series newcomers won't mind the recycling, but everyone in the middle will wish the new material was more abundant.

Unless you're a Sesame Street super-fan, playing alone or with another adult will rob those sequences of their full impact. As with the TV show, kids are clearly the center of Monster's universe. But for parents seeking a videogame to share with their children, this game offers hours of joy.

The premise is full of universe-expanding potential, but ultimately, it's undermined by mind-numbing gameplay.

Put simply, though, no other car game on Xbox - and we'd dare say any other platform - even approaches Forza 4's depth, versatility, beauty, and community support. It's so comprehensive that there's probably nowhere for the series to go from here - except onto the inevitable Xbox 720. Until then, enjoy every minute of this ride.

The absence of the PC version's multiplayer modes is a bummer, as is the removal of the penultimate mission from the original campaign. But by the time you reach the conclusion of this exciting bargain, you'll be too amped on adrenaline to care.

Few games have the intestinal fortitude to defy genre conventions and player expectations at the expense of enjoyment, but that's what hooked us. We obsessed over exploring every hidden area, slept less to slay dragons, and probably sustained a bit of psychological damage in the process. But it was worth it.

The 2010 version's numbskull partner A.I., for instance? Fixed. And the even more frustrating opponent A.I. that still makes us angry just thinking about it? Also rectified, although all their old dirty tricks emerge during the masochistic Jambot matches you must complete to earn Platinum medals.

NBA 2K12 is not to be missed, lockout or no.

Puzzlingly, Rage even lacks a competitive FPS multiplayer mode - the very thing id Software is best known for. Instead, you get nine two-player co-op side stories (they're decent 20-minute missions worth rolling through once) and a suite of lackluster six-player buggy-racing modes in which you shoot at someone for a while before someone else swoops in and steals the kill at the last second.

If you can handle the delivery, though, you're rewarded with some of the best flight mechanics on the 360 - especially if you take the time to master the Simulation controls. While completely unrealistic, the combat is fluid, fast, and fun.

The biggest sport in the world. And EA has done it justice with FIFA 12, improving virtually every aspect of last year's game.

The online options are still a little wonky in that they work, but with the Champions League license, we'd like more depth and options in how fans can compete with each other. Nevertheless, the style and impressive ball-movement physics help PES maintain its impressive fidelity.

Even if the controls weren't the work of a lunatic, chaining maneuvers is unnecessarily frustrating. Fail to leave a pregnant pause between tricks, and X-Fighters ignores your input altogether.

As with any vertical shooter, there's no escape from the laborious memorization of unforgiving patterns. That fact alone means that not everyone can fall in love with Radiant Silvergun's unique mix of frenetic combat and fast-paced puzzle-solving. But if you don't mind working for every inch of progress and using your noodle more than usual, you'll happily spent innumerable hours perfecting your patrols through enemy space.

Finding an opponent online is easy, although newbies will find little mercy and even less help. Otherwise, this Kollection is an appealing, if never mind-blowing, package.

Emulating and amplifying the bloodier side of fighting was, conceptually, a great way to separate Supremacy from other MMA titles. But because of its crippling issues, it stands alone as the one clumsy, bad brawler of its kind on Xbox 360.

It's a tasty appetizer that, while offering plenty of meat for the $10 asking price, only serves to intensify our hunger for the real thing.

The rough edges of 11-year-old game design will keep you from losing yourself in the experience, but there's more than enough substance to make this acclaimed adventure from another age worth a fresh look. [Nov 2011, p.85]

This game is a testament to Capcom's genre mastery, and it's as incredible now as it's ever been. [Nov 2011, p.85]

Though its mix of strategy and simulation is something of a console rarity, this franchise endures, thrusting you into a new dictatorial power trip over the burgeoning populace of a Caribbean island. [Nov 2011, p.83]

With its nifty fill-in-the-backstory premise, this downloadable expansion should've been a must-buy for anyone who dug Armageddon as much as we did. And it might've been, it it wasn't so weirdly lifeless. [Nov 2011, p.79]

On the other hand, anyone who enjoys shaving seconds off speed runs and obsessing over scoreboards will appreciate Mercury Hg's focused simplicity, not to mention its $5 price tag. [Nov 2011, p.75]

The evidence is indisputable: Gears of War 3 is the ultimate realization of the Xbox 360 console, much in the same way Halo 2 was for the original Xbox. It maximizes the hardware's horsepower; boasts a fully featured, seamless online experience that serves up both competitive and cooperative gameplay; and it's enduringly replayable online or off. Quite simply, Gears of War 3 leaves no stone unturned - it's everything a triple-A blockbuster should be.

At four hours, Gunstringer's a short ride, but it's a thrilling one you shouldn't miss.

Engaging combat carries Space Marine's campaign and multiplayer a long way, although we can't help but feel like a little more time - or maybe ambition - would have made this game a superstar. Still, it's one heck of an entertaining fragfest, and the ideas here should nicely set up a bolder, hopefully more memorable sequel.

Though Crimson Alliance lacks Torchlight's endless character development and the infinite replayability of its bottomless dungeon, it delivers something that addictive gem didn't: co-op play.

Movement and combat never really come together in a cohesive matter. When you're overrun by the undead or your weapon suddenly breaks and you need to defend and retreat, it becomes painfully obvious that the game can't handle multitasking or movements made in quick succession, and will perform only one (and sometimes none) of the many actions you need to survive.

NHL 12 is an improvement over last year's game, but hardly a revolutionary title. It's the best hockey game on Xbox 360 - though, of course, it's also the only hockey game on 360.

Driver: San Francisco hasn't got much in the way of cutting-edge visual pizzazz or precision physics, but it gets enough online mileage out of the body-snatching gimmick to make up for some offline disappointments.

Betrayal's wild artistic flair alleviates some of its pain, but you'll still grind your teeth at least as often as you sink them into new flesh.

The game's also surprisingly scary at times: in dark spaces, we found ourselves flinching at disembodied moans, and being rushed by Infested (fast, growling zombies reminiscent of 28 Days Later) freaked us out more than once.

It's a decent experience for core genre fans, but not consistently sharp enough to stand out from the competition.

This year's edition quite simply plays better than ever...The gameplay is exceptionally balanced.

A series of very difficult parry and combo trials are what you're given to learn the game. Completing them is a slow process, but it's a fantastic and compelling way to figure out this notoriously complex sequel.

It has some excellent bits, but we're exhausted by the series' rapid-fire release schedule. [Oct 2011, p.82]

The fast-paced simplicity of such a goofy goal made BurgerTime a hit in 1982's arcades, but World Tour tosses in fresh ingredients with little consideration for the damage they do to gameplay. [Oct 2011, p.81]

Finally, we have a Warriors game with some substance. [Oct 2011, p.75]

While so many stealth games equate any sort of detection with total failure, Human Revolution lets the chaotic consequences of exposure play out in all their unpredictable glory. Shoddy storytelling means that all the sound and fury that results ultimately signifies dreadfully little, but at no point short of death do you every truly lose - you just have a different kind of fun. [Oct 2011, p.72]