Destructoid

The game's controls are still piss-poor, and many of the online levels are just as boring as the ones on the game disc, but that's hardly the point. Some of the levels here are well-designed, some are not, but the amazing thing is how little that matters. I've found that level design means nothing next to the amount of personality a LittleBigPlanet level has, and thanks to the game's amazing level creator, the amount of personality users can cram into their levels appears to be limitless.

Far Cry 2 is a great game that does everything a first-person shooter should. It has a great presentation, good shooting mechanics, decent AI, a long single player experience, impactful choices, an enormous multiplayer component, and some of the more memorable injury scenes ever witnessed in a videogame. The pitfalls come with the redundancy of some missions, the sparsely populated world, and awkward saving system that can often throw players miles away from objectives with nothing but a long, pointless drive to look forward to.

Regardless, the overall experience of Fallout 3 is unmatched, and the amount of game Bethesda has packed into this $60 title can’t be ignored. Flaws aside, taken as a whole, Fallout 3 is an astounding effort and easily one this year’s best gaming experiences. With easily more than 40 hours simply based around a main quest and countless additional hours of exploration and discovery, stepping foot out of your vault onto the ravaged Capital Wasteland is a huge undertaking.

While On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode Two makes for a better game in the technical sense, the somewhat ho-hum story drags it down. It's still a good game but falls a bit short when it comes to the elements which made the first so entertaining. It's a bit early to conjecture that the team may be running out of steam and I'm still hopeful for the future of the series but this is not as strong of a release.

Fable II, though incredibly flawed in numerous ways, is a damned good game. The combat is remarkably satisfying, the story is incredibly effective, and there are flashes of brilliance in some of the game's moral quandaries. You'll have to slog through a very frustrating few hours in order to get to the good stuff, but once you've gotten over the game's incredibly obvious flaws, you'll find one of the most emotionally evocative games ever made.

For action junkies, a weekend's rental might provide some distraction. For other people, there is so much better coming out at this point of the year that Golden Axe: Beast Rider is not worth your time, let alone your money. Not even the inclusion of co-op would have made this one any the better, no matter how angry you might be that it was excluded.

In the end, I can live with a lackluster story with this level of combat and game play. Dead Space is a beautiful videogame, showing incredible polish and detail in both the visuals and the control. The amount of love and attention packed into this title is apparent, as scares and action are perfectly blended. What an incredibly impressive way for a new survival horror franchise to debut!

Fracture is a game that has something to offer, but nothing of particular value. The terrain deformation suffices, but it isn’t mind-blowing. The story is standard for a shooter, but not necessarily terrible. The visuals and sound are adequate. The real problems can be seen quite clearly by the short campaign with recycled boss battles and poor shooting mechanics. The bad shooting translates directly to the multiplayer component, thus soiling it.

It's quite obvious that the team behind this title are fellow fans of the series. We expected the worst, but in the end, we were pleasantly surprised by the authenticity of the game's world and the depth of its story. We're glad to say that the little lakeside resort town of Silent Hill continues to be just as messed up as it always was.

The game is a vast improvement on what was already a fantastic product in NHL 08, which is due in great part to this year’s pioneering (and addictive) modes. I had high hopes for this game, but those expectations were exceeded by leaps and bounds with the phenomenal title that EA Canada has delivered. NHL 09 is the pinnacle of hockey gaming -- and it may very well be the best sports game I’ve ever had the sublime pleasure of playing.