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]