Illusion of Gaia

Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire

Shadow of the Colossus

Okami

Grand Theft Auto IV

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Jade Empire

Star Cross

Divinity II: Ego Draconis

Flotilla

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning

Crayon Physics Deluxe

Beyond Good & Evil

Hitman: Blood Money

The environments steal the show in the sandboxy stealth-action game, and the open-ended gameplay shines on replay.

*Mini Review* - MINOR SPOILERS I'll be honest, Hitman didn't really appeal to me for the longest time, probably because I'd never played it, and found the reviews to be uninspiring (including Greg's GS review). That s... Read Full Review

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

A worthy sequel, Human Revolution's world is immersive. More beautiful than technically good, it succeeds on spirit.

In Brief: An anticipated "true" sequel of a gaming masterpiece, Deus Ex: Human Revolution had all the potential to be a total wreck. Though there are bound to be valid criticisms of the game, notably technical visual ... Read Full Review

From Dust

Strategy meets emergent gameplay

Like many players looking for something fresh and a bit outside the box, few games this summer looked as promising as From Dust. Developed by the famed Eric Chahi (Out of This World/ Another World), it's worth noting tha... Read Full Review

Trauma

It isn't lengthy, but TRAUMA has the ability to reveal the mysteries of the mundane though simple but alluring clicks.

Indiecade and IGF finalist, TRAUMA, has been on the indie scene's radar for a while now, and has finally been released on Steam. Though you'll likely get an hour or two's worth of play, you'll be rewarded with some surpr... Read Full Review

E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy

This FPS/RPG ought to make any Deus Ex fan drool. Though flawed, it's strong vision carries the player throughout.

E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy Review: 7.5/10 "An Ambitious but flawed game, E.Y.E. has a strong artistic vision, robust RPG mechanics, and old-school run-n-gun shooting (and stabbing and PSI powering and hacking...). Thou... Read Full Review

Pocket Academy

Pocket Academy follows Game Dev Story for an incredibly engaging simulation taking a high school from rags to fame.

Kairosoft burst onto the mobile scene last year with the masterful Game Dev Story, a simulation game featuring the rise of a gaming development studio. Though it's success is attributable to a variety of reasons, most si... Read Full Review

Dungeon Raid

Dungeon Raid, despite the bland title, is a masterful game of puzzle and RPG mechanics wrapped up in high-scoring glory.

I never would've played Dungeon Raid if not for the Gamecritics.com podcast, so kudos to those guys. What seems at first to be a matching puzzle game quickly becomes so much more, as RPG leveling and high-scoring perform... Read Full Review

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia takes from other great horror games to create a fresh experience of powerlessness and dread.

Conceptual video game genealogy has always fascinated me, as seeing a concept grow, transition, and morph over time has tended to provide a better historical narrative for games than franchise sequels ever could, and ser... Read Full Review

Total War: Shogun 2

For newbies to Total War, read on. Shogun 2 is a masterful strategy game that reveals its depth the more you play.

*Mini Review* Shogun 2 is the first Total War game I've played, and so my hope is that this short review will be helpful to new players to the series who have some background in strategy games like Civ. - - - ... Read Full Review

Arx Fatalis

Lots of great ideas, though they all don't come together all the time. On the whole AF is a great classic RPG.

*Mini Review* Known as a cult classic among CRPG enthusiasts, Arx Fatalis was largely overlooked when it was released back in 2002 to PC and Xbox. Though visually, and in terms of contemporaries, it falls into the sam... Read Full Review

Terraria

2D Platforming + Sandbox + Action RPG = Awesome!

2D Platforming + Sandbox + Action RPG = Awesome! Terraria is fast approaching a huge milestone as it's total sales soars ever closer to 500,000. Joining an elite group of indie games, Re-Logic's sandbox-platformer-adv... Read Full Review

The Godfather

Didn't sleep for 2 days. It's been a while since a game did that to me.

I'm clearly a sucker for open world games, and Godfather, while not sandbox GTA style or Oblivion open world style, is open enough where you need a bit of strategy to beat it. And it's totally fun doing it. (+) Fight... Read Full Review

Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is a great game. Now expansions allowing for leveling to 30, its now in "Oblivion-Good" territory.

Below you will find my original review for the game, which in sum stated that it is an amazing game but that after you hit level 20 (max out your character) it got significantly more boring. I still stand by that - exce... Read Full Review

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

The Witcher 2 is not only the best looking game ever, it's also one of the best RPGs in years.

In 2007, CDProjekt treated RPG enthusiasts to the fabulous but flawed The Witcher, based on the fantasy writings of Anderzej Sapkowski. Though it had atmosphere, character, and an "adult" approach to the medium, it was ... Read Full Review

The Witcher

A flawed game, enthralling yet dull, but it's hard not to appreciate the craftsmanship and the ambition.

With The Witcher 2 upon us, I recently took it upon myself to play through the original for the very first time. While I can imagine why it took players by storm in 2007, and though at times it's a great game, I also fee... Read Full Review

L.A. Noire

Despite a climactic finish, much of the game is befuddled with fits and starts, and feels torn between film and gameplay

As a term coined by the French to describe a whole series of American films, which they had not seen until the end of the second World War, Film Noir is one of the true great genres of classic film. Shot mainly in black ... Read Full Review

Cut the Rope

Overhyped, certainly, as it's performative puzzles get bogged down in inconsistency and technical difficulties.

Next to Angry Birds, Cut The Rope is easily the second most-overhyped game for mobile devices. It's cheerful presentation and interesting puzzle mechanics make the early puzzles seem the perfect placeholder for when the ... Read Full Review

Forget-Me-Not

The richness of strategic play and additive high-score runs make Forget-me-not a surprising classic!

9.5 Few games take me by surprise. Chances are, the first hour or two of playing a game, especially a game of performance or skill, gives a good indicator of what to expect from a game. Take Forget-me-not, a game that... Read Full Review

Sentinel 3: Homeworld

Few Tower-Defense Games are better than this. Customizable leveling, multiple game modes, and hours of content.

Tower-Defense may be a well-tread sub-genre, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any innovations to be found in these games. Enter Sentinel 3: Homeworld, available for mobile devices. Thought the same basic gameplay ... Read Full Review

Outland

Outland's gameplay mashup proves to be quite enjoyable, but don't expect a deep "metroidvania" experience.

*Mini Review* Outland, developed by Housemarque and published by Ubisoft, is billed as a return to the "metroidvania" style of game, which would presuppose a number of things but most importantly a discovery of new ab... Read Full Review

100 Rogues

100 Rogues is the best "roguelike" for IP available, and provides a solid dungeon crawling experience.

Roguelikes have come into their own in recent years, especially as games like Desktop Dungeons have won accolades at IGF and elsewhere. Finally, we're starting to see some of these sub-genre dungeon explorers spread beyo... Read Full Review

Far Cry 2

It's almost as if Far Cry 2 wants you to hate it.

* Mini Review * There's already plenty of good feedback for 2008's Far Cry 2, so I'll try to make this snappy... It's almost as if the game wants you to hate it. Of course, it's not as if there's no good ideas here... Read Full Review

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

S:S&S is a one-of-a-kind game of sonorous experience, self-awareness, moon cycles, and time.

10 Toronto-based Superbrothers' "Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP" has been on many people's radar for a while now, even since it won IGF's Achievement in Art (Mobile) in 2010. Finally released to i-devices, it's w... Read Full Review

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

SMT:Nocturne's demon recruitment and arcane aesthetics shine, but it does tend to drag and grind for long periods.

*Mini Review* As some context for my brief thoughts, let me note a few things. First of all, this is the very first SMT game i've had the privelege to play. Secondly, it's clear from playing this game in 2011, that pa... Read Full Review

Frenzic

Frenzic is a game of quick-time recognition, and though it's not deep and substantive, it's good in short bursts.

Frenzic, by The Iconfactory, though available on the DS, is well suited for the iphone. Best enjoyed in brief snippets of play, it's fast paced and eye-blurring puzzles bring together your short-term memory skills an... Read Full Review

Galcon

This real-time "strategy" game is way too short on strategy.

5.5/10 Galcon, by Galcon (amazingly enough), is billed as a real-time strategy game. Sadly, there just isn't enough real strategy here to warrant a glance from enthusiasts. Galcon takes place through mini-battles,... Read Full Review