Deadlight isn't a poor game, just average. Mediocre. Inoffensive. If Deadlight developers Tequila Works developed another game with some more original ideas, I'd like to play it.

Gameloft's complete incapacity for gameplay innovation and penchant for annoying players into spamming their own Facebook accounts drags Asphalt 7 down, but I'd be lying if I said it's not the best arcade racer available for iPhone and iPad.

Playing Pocket Planes is like driving a car that steers itself. All I want is a wheel, NimbleBit. Give me just one tool that can be wielded in interesting ways to make an impact on the outcome of my play. I want the ability to play your game well, or play it badly. As it currently stands, the only choice you give me is to play Pocket Planes or not play it at all, and I'm going to take option B.

Coordination between teammates seems to be pretty important, but otherwise I felt like each match hinged on whether or not teams could get momentum early and shut buy upgrades quicker.

The elements added to Assassin's Creed: Revelations do make it feel like a more different and occasionally surprising experience compared to Brotherhood, which felt like an expansion pack. But at its core, we're still playing the same game for the third time.

The enhanced interface and new skill system make this 3DS version more than the sum of its borrowed parts. Given the choice between Mercenaries and Resident Evil 5's Mercenaries mode, I prefer the handheld version to its high-res but lumbering ancestor.

Bioware has stripped away the veil of grandiose adventure, and what's behind the curtain is a truly uninspired RPG.

If Nintendo is serious about proving that its polished portable releases smoke competitors' cut-rate downloadable titles, the company should concentrate on producing games that last longer than a few hours.

No matter how much the games dresses things up, the endless battles get repetitive after a while. You're performing the exact same moves throughout the game.

The process moves at a snail's pace, with too much time spent in between the gem-matching fights.

I enjoyed Shooter 2 enough to recommend it, but I don't see myself replaying levels in order to find all the secrets, like I did for the first game. At least not without help.

Bulletstorm is the world's longest dick joke...Despite the fact that it boots you out to loading screens every time you finish a segment or die, it's a polished-enough piece of work. The point system incentivizes you to play the game using all the tools at your disposal...It's just a shame the developers couldn't stop thinking about reproductive anatomy.

Bulletstorm is the world's longest dick joke...Despite the fact that it boots you out to loading screens every time you finish a segment or die, it's a polished-enough piece of work. The point system incentivizes you to play the game using all the tools at your disposal...It's just a shame the developers couldn't stop thinking about reproductive anatomy.

Part of the appeal of the Ace Attorney series is the "Eureka!" moment, that feeling of brain satisfaction that can only come out of solving a particularly grueling puzzle using nothing but your wits. Ghost Trick has no eurekas, only "Oh … is that it?"

The obscure names and redundant dialog can reach levels of absurdity, and sometimes you'll want to yell at your characters to just shut up and get on with the adventuring, but the puzzles and presentation make the complex plot worth slogging through.

A giant leap forward for Sega's mascot. It represents the first time in more than a decade that I have enjoyed a Sonic game.

Gameplay is pure repetition; fun in short bursts but little lasting attraction.

Considering Assassin's Creed Brotherhood as a total package, it's just barely worth full price. There's a decent quantity of content, but the amount that's recycled from the last game is stunning, a purely cynical ploy to squeeze out more money in lieu of preserving any semblance of artistic integrity.

Considering Assassin's Creed Brotherhood as a total package, it's just barely worth full price. There's a decent quantity of content, but the amount that's recycled from the last game is stunning, a purely cynical ploy to squeeze out more money in lieu of preserving any semblance of artistic integrity.

An interesting experiment? Sure. But the changes to the game design have all but removed the most-fun parts while emphasizing the game's weaknesses. Whoops.

If the goal was indeed to create a game that could appeal even to the rawest Transformers newbies, then High Moon has succeeded.

When presented with an infinite number of possible resolutions, any answer is going to feel arbitrary. Alan Wake starts strong but finishes weak; neither the gameplay nor the story deliver on their potential by the time the credits roll.

The other side of this coin is that Nier bites off more than it can chew: It wants to be Final Fantasy, God of War, Zelda, Monster Hunter and FarmVille all at once. And the problem with trying so many things is that every new feature you add is a new opportunity to screw the pooch.

I've never played anything quite like Red Steel 2, which lets you use swords and guns simultaneously, switching back and forth between wild swinging and precise aiming.

The fact that Final Fantasy designers are so willing to experiment is a good thing, because it’ll keep the genre from dying off. But Final Fantasy XIII should be considered a failed experiment.

A ballsy take on literature that worships at the altar of God of War.

The best thing I can say about Overdrive is that it feels just like Blaster Master, with a few great new improvements and a few small new flaws.

But it’s a big game best taken in small doses: An hour or two of clamber up the side of a building, snipe some guys, drive like hell, lather, rinse, repeat was plenty. Any more than that and I started to think maybe the Nazis could just have France, if they wanted it so bad.