IGN

If you're not willing to figure some things out for yourself and the idea of freedom of choice doesn't sit well with you, chances are Risen isn't going to mesh well with your gaming sensibilities. If you're familiar with the genre and are looking to take the next step into a mature, well-realized fantasy world, then this is it. Its combat system isn't the greatest and its pacing is inconsistent, but for those who put in the time to see all Risen has to offer, it's an experience that won't be forgotten.

Awful in nearly every way. The Twin Peaks meets Resident Evil with a dash of Grand Theft Auto formula sounds pretty great, but it was well beyond the capabilities of this development team. Terrible controls. Terrible pacing. Terrible sound effects. Terrible visuals. Maybe you can convince yourself that these things don't matter as you work through this surreal and quirky storyline. The rest of us will be off playing better videogames.

Download Angry Birds while it's on sale right now for 99 cents. You won't regret it. Angry Birds is incredibly addicting, loaded with personality, and is a tremendous value. While it doesn't exactly stake out new territory, the gameplay formula is part of a trend on the App Store right now, it's still a great deal of fun.

Napoleon is an enjoyable addition to the Total War franchise but it's not as a big a game changer as previous sequels. While Napoleon and his armies were probably every bit as terrifying as Mongols, Vikings or Barbarians, the scope of this sequel is a bit more limited. On the plus side, it allows gamers to experience a historically inspired version of one of history's greatest military careers. On the downside, there's not quite as much variety here. Campaign multiplayer is a welcome addition that neatly sidesteps the sometimes passive AI and works to reduce, if not exactly eliminate, the potential downtime inherent in the format.

Even though the game suffers from some visual issues, and save point infrequency can be a huge annoyance, I loved playing Last Hope. The battle system is tremendously entertaining, the cast is a charming ensemble of travelers and the Private Actions continue to fuel proper character development and demonstrate the beauty of optional antics. Although Final Fantasy XIII is right around the corner, Star Ocean: The Last Hope International is a must-play for all you JRPG nuts.

A smattering of memorable moments in 50+ hours of game time simply isn't good enough for me to be able to recommend Star Trek Online to MMO fans. It's quite a gorgeous game, but that novelty evaporates, and what's left is repetitive, and simple in all the wrong parts.

The Misadventures of Mr. P.B. Winterbottom has the looks and the brains to be one of the best XBLA games. You've never seen or heard anything quite like it and the puzzle challenges are wildly inventive. It is extremely difficult, though, and can be exhausting to the point that you aren't motivated to continue playing. It can also be very rewarding when you finally figure a puzzle out. Just take a break and come back, because this is a very clever game that deserves to be played.

Aliens vs. Predator could have been a truly great game. It's there, you can almost feel it, but it's constantly ripped away from you because of some poor design decisions and a general lack of quality that keeps the game from having that triple-A feeling. It's by no means a bad game and will almost certainly please fans more so than either movie effort, but when compared to other first-person shooter titles on the market, the difference is clear.

Tropico 3 combines a very good city building game with an intriguing political game. In that regard, it's fairly unique in the 360 catalog. The city builder portions are driven by lots of logical choices and consequences that leave the player feeling free to explore their own paths to success. This isn't a game where the associations are so rigid that you end up building the same city again and again. On top of that, the political system gives you a motivation to succeed on your own terms without locking you into any specific strategy.

While much has changed it still feels a little rusty, this isn't as slick as a Modern Warfare or Halo and its production values feel like they're from a different age, with poor textures and the occasional unimaginative set-piece belying the fact that underneath the HD dazzle is a core idea that's changed little in over 15 years. But that never truly detracts from how much fun is to be had throughout Aliens vs. Predator's myriad modes as Rebellion leans heavily on the source material, creating a game that's going to stoke the hearts of anyone who ever fell in love with the original films which is likely anyone who's ever picked up a game pad.