Where The Wild Things Are is a fairly straightforward movie tie-in game. Containing some basic art influences from the film, as well as some general story themes, you control Max as he explores the island of the Wild Things, completing tasks and solving adventures, in an attempt to earn their trust and become king, as well as to save their world which is rapidly being destroyed. The game is a fairly straightforward action-RPG (a la Baldur's Gate or the Marvel Alliance franchises - although don't expect that same level of quality), with a lot of hacking and slashing, and some puzzle elements thrown in....more

There just doesn't seem to be anything that Forza Motorsport 3 doesn't do right. The game is set up in an intricate, unique way that allows even casual players to slowly turn into hardcore ones. The presentation is stunning, the online options and community features are unparalleled, and the sheer amount of content available is enough to last years. FM3 sets a bar that may not be touched for a very, very long time. ...more

What do Full Throttle, Psychonauts, and Grim Fandango have in common? They were all designed by Tim Schafer, critics liked them, and you didn't play them. Schafer's first next-gen game, Brutal Legend, will likely rack up as many accolades as his previous games but I'm still not convinced you're going to play it. To Brutal's credit, it has one thing that none of Schafer's other creations had: star power. Film actor and Tenacious D singer/guitarist Jack Black voices the lead character, Eddie Riggs. Eddie is a roadie who longs for the days when heavy metal was king. ...more

Dissidia is the gaming world’s ultimate amalgam. It not only takes characters from ten different entries within the Final Fantasy universe, but throws them into a game that’s a combination of both the RPG and fighting genres. While that mixture may seem a bit odd, Dissidia seems to have something for everyone, and the end result is a delicious Final Fantasy gumbo that’ll have fans of either genre battling it out for months to come. At its most basic, Dissidia is the classic tale of good versus evil....more

Every time I come home after a trip to a Disney theme park, I wish I could recapture some of the excitement, thrills, and fun of the rides, sights, and attractions in my everyday life. While I wait for a home version of some of the more popular roller coasters and simulators, Disney’s Toy Story Mania! for Nintendo’s Wii system will have to suffice. The game adequately replicates the Toy Story shooting gallery ride at Disneyland and Walt DisneyWorld, bringing all the characters and all the scenarios to your home television screen. Now, you don’t need to fly to California or Florida, stand in line, and hop on an amusement park cart to enjoy the game – you can do it from the comfort of your own family room sofa....more

Treasure World for Nintendo DS is an incredibly unique gaming idea. With this game, you and your DS go on a true treasure hunting experience, thus controlling the outcome and directions of the entire game from start to finish and everywhere in between. First you view a cutscene that shows the breakdown of the spaceship. In order for it to fly again, the ship requires refueling with stardust. This leads to the main objective of the game which is to collect stars. Stars are collected and cleaned by your Wishfinder, which is a little robot that you can dress-up and design as you wish....more

While those experiences required Nintendo’s dynamic duo to think outside the box in order to achieve success, their latest escapade requires them to not only venture out of said box, but into the bowels of their greatest foe. Such is the premise in Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, the third Mario role-playing game released on a portable system. This newest adventure of the brothers Mario proves to be an enjoyable experience thanks to a mix of innovative gameplay, clean graphics and a sharp sense of humor....more

When Batman: Arkham Asylum was announced, a lot of video game fans were skeptical because most of the other Batman games have turned out to be very disappointing. There was nothing that fans wanted more than an excellent Batman game (who wouldn't want to be the Dark Knight?!), but they weren't getting their hopes up anymore. Then several announcements came out about Arkham Asylum, including that the voice actors from Batman: The Animated Series would return. Then, a few screenshots were released that rustled up some genuine excitement from the gamers. It looked pretty solid, and everyone knew that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill were the quintessential Batman and Joker voices....more

Dirt 2, a new off-road racing game from Codemasters, features not just great racing, but loads of courses, cars, events, race modes, and actual pro rally racers including Dave Mirra, Travis Pastrana, and Ken Block.  All these things however are not just all thrown into the game in willy-nilly fashion, there seems to be ad deliberate choice behind how the game was structured so that neophytes can easily be brought up to speed while off-road enthusiasts won't feel as though they're experience is overly dumbed-down (it's only slightly dumbed-down)....more

At the end of my Need for Speed: Undercover review from last year, I posed a question: "Why does a racing game need to be something other than a racing game?" I doubt EA read the review but they apparently asked themselves the same question. In making Need for Speed: Shift, Slightly Mad Studios tossed aside all of the clumsy action game/movie elements that mucked up previous installments and focused on making a pure racer. The result is a game enjoyable to hardcore and casual racing fans alike. ...more