IGN

As gamers, it's rewards we crave, be it of the narrative variety, in-game items, new options or modes, or something entirely different. Shadowrun completely ducks away from the gaming tenet that sometimes the utterly superfluous can be the most necessary.

Penumbra: Overture -- Episode One isn't the best game I've ever played, but it does have some great moments, disturbing imagery, and enough questions left unanswered for me to be intrigued by an Episode Two. I've certainly played worse titles for 20 bucks. I can't justify recommending the game to everyone, but at around 6-7 hours playing time, it's not a bad deal if you're looking for a creepy adventure title to play in the dark.

In the end, this is Tomb Raider for better or worse. The controls are light-years better than the original but still aren't solid like Prince of Persia's; the graphics are beyond anything the original could muster but still not up to today's standards; and the puzzles are just as tough as the original, but the enemies are just as lame.

The Show manages to bring up the overall shell of Sony's baseball game from the PS2 minors, but as a next gen title, it doesn't have all of the fundamentals to compete with other sports games out there. Funky infielder logic, lackluster visuals and other odd changes to the gameplay formula literally turns a great baseball title on older systems into a good title on the PS3.

Turbine's The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar doesn't breathe new life into the MMORPG genre, but it does deliver an easily accessible, refined, and thoroughly enjoyable experience. It's packed with content, though still a little light on end-game instances.... Powerful story elements, fellowship conjunction attacks, and superb audio-visual elements are merged with numerous small-scale interface enhancements that make it nearly impossible to dislike this one.

If you can, you'll want to play Command & Conquer 3 on the PC. If you can't, the Xbox 360 version is good enough that it is definitely worth playing. The fast paced nature of the game can make things a little bit frustrating in the story mode, especially when you can't quickly reload a mission once things go sour. Even so, the presentation and good mission design work with the decent controls to make for an enjoyable game. The online play has a great feature set and with a level playing field is great fun. When you put it all together, you've got one impressive little game.

F.E.A.R. isn't perfect -- there's glitches, watered-down graphics and crappy load times -- but it's still one of the best experiences I've had on a PS3 to date. The gameplay is solid and will serve as a treat to anyone looking for an entertaining shooter with an excellent multiplayer system.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent is a fun game. Every mission seemed to have something compelling to it whether it was eliminating every enemy on a map or rappelling down the side of a hotel in Shanghai. Although I think some glitches and a weak multiplayer mode keeps the title from being an impressive $60 purchase, a solid story, good visuals and awesome gameplay mechanics have me recommending Double Agent to lock-picking fans of the genre.

The game successfully brings the feel of the MMO world to the racing genre making for a unique game. The driving itself isn't the best around, especially when you get on a motorcycle. Just the way that an MMORPG can be enjoyable without an amazing combat system, Test Drive Unlimited is fun without the greatest driving experience. With a little more polish, some extra customization options, and an improved driving system, you'd have a racer that could compete with the big dogs.

Enchanted Arms is a slightly above-average RPG at best. Yes, it's the first role-player to feature traditional turn-based combat on the PS3, but there are so many shortcomings to the actual game that I can only recommend the $60 investment to the hardest of hardcore RPG fans. There's nothing here that stands out. You've done it all before.