If you're hoping to truly break into the higher tiers of fitness, as exemplified by the pro athletes who make video cameos during the game, you should seek real-life options instead. This one's best suited for NikeFuel addicts and people who just need motivation to work out.

Because all three characters play the same despite stylistic differences, and only the final battle proves much of a challenge, there's little reason to get excited about shaving seconds off speed runs or climbing scoreboards. Karateka is fun and beautiful while it lasts, but it's over all too soon.

Laggy texture pop-in dulls some of the shine, and some of the more minor goofball characters are more intriguing than Scarlett herself. But you'll find enough charm, loot, and gritty challenge to merit getting some sand in your boots.

A top-notch physics-simulation engine convincingly handles even the most outlandish shots, while concise tutorials and cleverly rendered aiming aids help you get comfortable with everything from backspin to jump shots. You can even lock in how much power to use, or rewind time if you make a mess.

Beneath its sometimes bombastic layer of blockbuster-level polish, Halo 4 hides a complicated heart filled with intelligent sci-fi and a surprising amount of humanity and soul. Count us in for Chief's next outing. We'll be ready.

Though the game mostly works as advertised, occasional missed moves and finicky menus disappoint. So do the bare-bones campaign and limited array of fighting venues. But with bonus challenge stages, split-screen and online multiplayer, and local co-op beatdowns, this lively Kinect romp packs unexpected (but appreciated) staying power.

Bottom line: does the game live up to AC II? Well, no. Ezio's grand introduction is pretty damn hard to top, at least in terms of story content and franchise innovation. But that doesn't invalidate Connor's journey by any means. Assassin's Creed III's newly refined gameplay and incredibly rich setting are captivating stuff, and we're excited to see what adventures lie ahead for our new hero.

Most Wanted delivers raucous entertainment in spades, whether you're battling Fairhaven City's finest in the campaign or dueling network competition in serious races and silly trick competitions. After years of revisiting Burnout Paradise's recurring playground, we finally have a fresh racing addiction to keep us hooked until Criterion's next seemingly inevitable open-road opus.

Considering you're getting two good mecha shooters at a reasonable price, we heartily recommend this package.

WWE '13 is another great match from Yuke's, but calling it better than WWE '12 is tough. If you're hoping to re-ignite a wrestling addiction, WWE '13 is a great gateway, but the organization's more ardent fans (like us) will enjoy this year's effort while still clinging to their copies of WWE '12 like an Anaconda Vice.

It's a shame Harry Potter for Kinect doesn't quite pay proper homage to the series: the game has plenty of moments that would've been enjoyable if they weren't fettered by uneven difficulty and broken combat. As a game not matched up with a movie release, it should've been held back until it felt more magical.

The star of this show is the new Lost Mission expansion for Doom 3. You'll tear through its mild terrors and pedestrian repair and retrieval errands in under three hours, but the final 45-minute trek through a bloody, lava-strewn outpost in hell is the prettiest and most entertaining part of the package. It's not enough to make the BFG Edition feel like a true bargain.

The real threat to Warfighter's longevity is how its multiplayer maps feel like patchworks of arbitrary buildings and debris instead of bona fide real-world strongholds. Without a palpable sense of place, these battlegrounds never give you enough reason to choose this particular universe of gunmetal and grit over any other.

The fun factor varies wildly. The story mode is mostly a snooze, composed of 31 short missions ranging from rescuing survivors and clearing out zombie lairs to destroying zombie bosses.

Multiplayer is where the real action is...Here, stripped of its stealthy pretensions, 007 Legends is finally free to focus on the mindless but consistently enjoyable twitch action it does best.

If you're looking to change up your workout, Zumba Fitness Core will noticeably kick things into high gear: with a broader selection of dance types and music genres, and an extremely focused approach in its routines, it'll help you tone your body without having to do a single drill or lifting any kind of weight.

None of these issues ruin the tried-and-true fun of four-way deathmatch, but after so many years, we expected more refinement.

Old-schoolers will appreciate the effort put into Origins, even if it reinforces the progress fighters have made since that late-'90s Silver Age.

Horizon may not be the natural successor to Forza 4, but it manages to steer the franchise in a fresh and entertaining new direction. Serious Xbox racers need a lot of room to properly stretch the legs of their Ferrari F-40s and Audi R8s, and Forza Horizon delivers that room - and those wonderfully responsive cars - in spades.

NiGHTS is like the dreams it's based on: it's easy to dismiss as silly nonsense, but when you dig deeper into it, you'll find something beautiful and revelatory.

This Kinect offering works well enough, but Teen rating aside, it's best suited for younger fans looking to live out their anime daydreams.

On the whole, XCOM will keep fans spellbound with its depth, but it could've used a little more time in the cooker to add that something extra.

As with top TV shows like Breaking Bad or Mad Men, a merely good chapter of Telltale's Walking Dead game feels like a great chapter of anything else.

When it works, Fable: The Journey is one of the best Kinect games to date. But far too often, it doesn't work correctly. We recommend moving your couch aside so you can play sitting in a high-back chair, but that's hardly an ideal solution. As fun as it is at times, The Journey feels like a trip that's gone on too long, eventually growing irritating and annoying.

Fleeting moments of decency can't make up for the overall trudge, though. With such better Sonic outings in recent years, this old speedbump is best avoided.

Arkane Studios has crafted what's likely the year's best new IP, and by tapping into elements of so many of this generation's greatest games, this adventure sneaks up, grabs you, and won't let go.

You still get a decent value for your $10, though, including fun (if simple) combat, a several-hour career mode, engaging character customization, and serviceable online matches. Plus, minor hiccups are easy to overlook when you're Marcus Fenix flying off the top rope.

Whereas we loved DC2 and its routines with a fierce consciousness, Dance Central 3 infiltrated our bodies without our knowing it. [Dec 2012, p.80]