IGN

The most frustrating thing about Silent Hill Downpour isn’t the lousy combat, dull exploration, or even the technical gaffes. It’s the fact that every now and then while playing through the game’s story, you’ll see signs of brilliance; sunlight hinted from behind the overcast sky. From the Otherworld sequences to the interesting protagonist as well as the way the very town itself is molded to Murphy’s past all make for a game that could’ve really been something special for the series.

Ridge Racer on Vita is a baffling proposition: a racing game with barely any content. It might be cheap, but it’s inexcusably lazy. You run out of things to do within an hour or two, and after any longer, the prospect of racing any of the three tracks on the cart ever again is enough to make you feel slightly sick. Its social online structure is misguided and shallow, meaning that racing against others is neither easy nor fun, and there’s a total absence of a single-player mode.

Birds of Steel picks up directly where Birds of Prey left off; instantly accessible and yet hugely challenging, depending on how you tune it. The environments are huge, the plane list is long plus it looks gorgeous and sounds great. The action is thick and visceral; aerial stoushes can go from tense, one-on-one affairs to grand, epic encounters against swarms of enemy fighters and bombers.

Wargame: European Escalation won’t set any new benchmarks, but it’s a good RTS game with a strong community. A couple thousand players are usually online during peak hours, and thousands of sessions are run every day, so there’s no doubt you’ll find people to play with. It’s fun, competitive, and features short sessions that normally last under a half-hour. If you’re an RTS gamer looking for a new battlefield, you’ll definitely want to give Wargame a try

Unit 13 doesn't have flashy visuals or an in-depth campaign, but it does have good controls and plenty to do. I think the AI could use a tune-up and the visuals some polish, but if you're looking for a game to sink bullet after bullet into, Unit 13 will keep you entertained.

Every year, developers get closer to showcasing the sport and its dynamic elements, but there has yet to be the perfect representation of the game. MLB 2K12 doesn't step far enough ahead of its predecessor to warrant a great change in the series, but its small polishes represent more distance traveled on the path towards the perfect game. MLB 2K12 has problems and may feel like a carbon copy to fans who only played a few games of MLB 2K11, but it's still a good game of ball.

The kicker to all of this is that I Am Alive looks bad. The animations are stiff, and the dust cloud you get stuck in seems like a cheap way to do away with draw distances. I Am Alive has great ideas and poor execution. It ends up being a flat, frustrating game that isn’t worth your time or money.

One of the surprising things about Crusader Kings II is that, for a Paradox title, it's actually relatively easy to pick up. That said, this isn't for the faint of heart (or short on time), but if you're willing to bust your butt a little in the beginning to pick it up, it will reward you with a very enjoyable game experience in the end.

Street Fighter X Tekken is a fantastic fighting game that nails the basic fighting mechanics while daring to take a few risks with the formula as we know it; the pressure is on Namco Bandai to deliver something better with Tekken X Street Fighter.

Regardless of gaming tastes, Journey's astounding visuals (made more impressive by the small size of the development team) warrant your time. But not all of you will appreciate Journey. While more curious explorers will delight in secret glyphs and clever Trophies, completing Journey only requires a few hours, if that. And Journey's deliberate, melancholic pace might tire those of you accustomed to fast and frantic challenges.