Since the inception of Platinum Games, they have done a great job of taking a specific genre and making it completely over-the-top and intense. MadWorld, Bayonetta, and now Vanquish, are all great examples of this. In the case of Vanquish, players are presented with what can best be described as a third-person shooter on steroids. The action is fast-paced and intense, the control fluid, and the strategy layered and complex. What's most impressive about Vanquish is that it manages to merge the concepts of a modern third-person shooter with the classic appeal of an arcade title.

FlingSmash is the latest Nintendo title to be packaged with a new peripheral. Like Wii Play and Link's Crossbow Training, FlingSmash is predominantly a game focused on achieving the highest score possible. Though similar, FlingSmash is more clearly a complete adventure comprised of eight worlds, each sporting their own gimmick to vary up the simple concept of the game.

Dream Chronicles is an odd point-and-click adventure title, wherein players take the role of Faye, a woman who has just awoken from a horrible nightmare, only to discover that her dream has become reality. Her husband, Fidget, has been captured, her daughter, Lyra, is trapped within a deep sleep, and along her journey Faye discovers that her husband and extended family are actually fairies. The culprit of the chaos is Lilith, the Fairy Queen of Dreams, who has cast a spell upon Faye's home world, Wish Town, which has caused every mortal to fall into a deep sleep. Thus it is up to Faye to crack Lilith's spell, as she travels throughout Wish Town on a strange quest based on unique, yet convoluted puzzles.

The Bit.Trip series has taken its star character, Commander Video, through a variety of different experiences all of which hearken back to gaming of yesteryear. Fate, the latest title in the series, carries the aesthetic of the titles which precede it, but makes a leap into more modern day gaming experiences with its bullet hell shoot 'em up based gameplay. Like the other games in the series, the concept is not without a twist, and a rail would be Fate's. This rail winds around the screen, allowing players to only travel forward and backward along whatever path the rail has set, and shoot in any given direction. As we've come to expect from the series, this makes for a tremendous challenge that will take players a significant number of replays to conquer.

It's really a shame the way Flip's Twisted World worked out. As someone who sorely misses puzzle platformers, I was incredibly excited at the prospect of getting to play a brand new game within my beloved genre. Sadly, it doesn't take long to realize the flaws within Flip's Twisted World, since each is apparent nearly immediately. Between the major issues such as a temperamental camera and constant glitches, lie countless other problems, including rough platforming, boring combat, and a severe lack of direction.

Franchise necromancer, Team 17, is back and they want you to play their latest reiteration of a game they already made in the '90s. Alien Breed 2: Assault is a semi-fixed camera shooter that doesn’t try to do anything fancy and stays painfully true to the original Amiga classic. Like most in Team 17’s library, it’s a value priced game with equally low production that tries to do exactly what the game before it did with just a couple new features added on, primarily, Survival Mode.

I guess Ron Perlman wasn’t joking when he said, “War never changes.” At the very least it seems to stay pretty consistent in Fallout: New Vegas, the sequel to Fallout 3 the 2008 video game of the year. Rather than developing the game in-house, as they did with 3, Bethesda Studios turned over the production of the game to Obsidian Entertainment, the spiritual successor to the original creators of the Fallout franchise.

The sport of bowling is a social game, often played with friends when knocking back a few beers. It's a great alternative to an evening movie if there's nothing good playing at the local theater, though the enjoyment of it is mostly dependent on the group. The experience just can't be replicated in a bowling videogame.

It looks nice out today. I think I'm going to go to town, perhaps meet up with some friends. Leaving my room, suddenly, it hits me. POW!

Cutscene.

Well, now I know some random person I've never seen before is unhappy and needs help in one random area. Guess I'll leave the building. Then, it hits me. Pow!

Harmonix continues to impress with their latest mainline entry of the Rock Band series. Rather than revolutionizing the genre through complete and total change, they have managed to keep the same general structure while adding the brand new Pro mode that brings players closer than ever to truly playing the instrument they are emulating. As a matter of fact, if players choose to take on the Expert variant of Pro mode, they will actually be truly playing the exact notes that comprise the song. Couple this with keyboard support and an eclectic set list and you have the best rhythm game available on the market.

It is a rare occurrence these days to come across a game that truly feels unique, and while Enslaved: Odyssey to the West definitely borrows from other games that have come before it; I feel it is safe to say Ninja Theory has definitely made something original.

Konami always tried really hard with their sports games, but they generally ended up as mediocre efforts. Bottom of the 9th is no different. Not only does it have little to offer, but the basic gameplay isn't solid; the interface is a tad confusing; and the presentation is a mess of bland graphics and incessant commentary. Quite a few baseball games were released onto the Nintendo 64 over the years, and this one is no doubt the bottom of the barrel.

At this point, the Guitar Hero series has undoubtedly overstayed its welcome. While the series saw some definite innovation in its transition from 3 to World Tour, and moderately so from World Tour to 5, Warriors of Rock brings almost nothing to the table. Sure there's a new track list and they added the mediocre Quest Mode, but the only thing that truly stands out is the Quickplay + Mode that began in the last iteration of the series.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has many fond memories spent playing countless hours of the original NBA Jam titles. The over-the-top antics were undoubtedly the attraction; breaking the backboard, playable mascots, the Clintons, "Boom-shaka-laka", "He's on Fire!", rampant fouling, and fast-paced down-to-the-second gameplay. All of it is back in this latest edition of the series now under the control of EA Sports after the closing of originator, Midway.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is yet another quiz show turned video game, designed for multiplayer casual gaming environments. While the single player is challenging and the multiplayer supports up-to-four people, the bland nature of the game doesn't make for a compelling experience, even with a group of friends.

There's just no creative way to say it; Alpha and Omega is your typical video game based on a movie. It's shallow, repetitive, and excruciatingly boring. However, with many other similar titles I'm at least somewhat able to understand the appeal it will have for smaller children, especially considering the gameplay's relative ease. But the redundancy found within Alpha and Omega is sure to turn off even the youngest fan of the movie.

When the previous Jewel Master game, Jewel Master: Egypt, released over one year ago, I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least. I finally had a puzzle game that was far more difficult than any of the bargain flash games available online, and it had a sub-plot based on strategy that was actually intriguing rather than feeling tacked-on. Happily, its recently released brethren, Jewel Master: Cradle of Athena follows in its predecessors footsteps, although the difficulty has certainly been toned down.

I never played Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, the first game in the Kane & Lynch series. Like most I was very familiar with it as being one of the worst games to be made available in this console generation. The game made more headlines for allegedly causing the firing of a GameSpot reviewer over a bad score, than for anything particular about the game itself. I assumed, incorrectly, with the tarnish of shady company ethics along with horrible story and production quality that the franchise was dead and gone, ready to be buried in the desert with E.T. for the Atari.

During my playthrough of Super Scribblenauts, I summoned 1582 objects and customized them with 430 adjectives or adverbs, or whatever one might call general descriptive words. Which words do I remember? Micro, tiny, massive, bridge, jetpack, wings, cat, mouse. To save space, allow me to say there's approximately fifty more, a hundred at the most. Why is it that in Super Scribblenauts, I can express a diverse vocabulary, but at most, only about 1/20th stand out?

Ah Kirby, the adorable pink squishy ball that captured the hearts of millions back in the day with his inhalation and flying capabilities as well as his unique copying ability. Despite the mainline Kirby series being on hiatus for numerous years, the little round protagonist has exploded back onto the gaming scene with an experience that is utterly fantastic. Kirby's Epic Yarn is a testament that good games aren't about fancy 3D graphics or flashy cinematics, but rather it is innovation and passion that are the cornerstones of a mind-blowing gaming experience. Put simply, this game has it all; fantastic gameplay throughout dozens of beautifully unique locations, an unbelievable amount of side-quests, and an art direction so full of personality and charm, it just might literally blow you away.

As I played through my first Pokémon Ranger title, Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs, I tried to think of what childhood game it reminded me of. Then it hit me: Red Light/Green Light. Just as the game let me take the reins and venture out on my own for five minutes, it stopped me dead in my tracks with unbearable amounts of text and bland storyline. Despite a few charming aspects about this game, few will find any significant entertainment value, aside from very young children who won't notice the game's redundant nature.

Sid Meier's Pirates! for Wii is a port of a remake released last generation for Xbox and the PC. Being based on the Commodore 64 title of the same name, it's no surprise that the game is somewhat limited in its design. The port adds several mini-games along with motion-based controls and pointing, which leverage the unique strengths of the Wii platform. Despite the new additions, at its core, Pirates is no more than a collection of mini-games tied together by a rough, open-ended story.

As if Hudson finally came to a decision, Bomberman Hero is a full-blown platformer featuring the iconic white bomb dispenser. Playing the role of intrepid hero, Bomberman must blast, bomb, and explode his way across five planets with a dozen or more stages each, to rescue Princess Millian from the evil clutches of Bagular and his minions. It lacks the traditional multiplayer battle mode found in most Bomberman titles, which will likely disappoint many fans of the series.

Hollywood Squares is your typical video game based off of a quiz TV show. It's the show itself stripped down to the bare concept without any added flair.

Have you ever wanted to hack and slash apart hundreds of enemies all at once? How about alongside a friend? That's exactly what Koei-Tecmo offers up to players in their latest Warriors title, Samurai Warriors 3. Though this particular entry doesn't provide a drastically different experience than what has been made available in the past, players will have a strong set of objectives throughout each of the levels to make for a more directed and smooth flowing experience.