IGN

• PS3
• X360
• 8.6 / 10
• États-Unis

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey has almost all the bases covered. It can be an accessible, forgiving flight combat game for novices, a challenge for veterans, and a true test of will for the ultra hardcore. With some sharp plane models, a number of gigantic and realistic settings, and a flurry of effects onscreen, the game manages to look and sound just as good as it plays. Throughout its campaign and single missions you'll take on huge swarms of fighters in World War II-style dogfights, using your machine guns and tactical knowledge to fly away victorious. It draws you in with its strongly realized setting, gives you plenty of planes to play around with across numerous missions, and offers up four multiplayer modes in which you can test the limits of your piloting talent. This isn't a game that seeks to amaze with some kind of gimmick or flash. Birds of Prey is more subtle and sturdy, where the strength of its play mechanics and attention to detail make it one of the best choices for console-based flight combat.

• PS3
• 5.9 / 10
• États-Unis

This shallow, generic brawler is coasting on nostalgia fumes and the TMNT brand. Ubisoft didn't ruin the original arcade game -- it just wasn't great to begin with. Virtually nothing has been added to the gameplay, so you're paying a premium for updated graphics that many people don't even like. This would have been more digestible as a straight $5 port of the original game. But when you consider that the fantastic Shatter was recently released for $8 and has much more going for it, the Turtles could have stayed lost in time. It's an archaic game design that might tickle your nostalgia bone but won't hold your attention for more than an hour.

• WII
• 9.3 / 10
• États-Unis

Guitar Hero 5 on Wii isn’t a must-own game because of one standout feature or option; it’s the total package through and through. True, some gamers – myself included, to a certain extent – are getting tired of the GH formula after three years and an astounding nine games, but if you’re still down to rock on Wii there’s no better game on the system than Guitar Hero 5. The list of advancements is seemingly never-ending, including better audio quality, better visuals, always online connectivity, no friend codes, first support of high capacity SD cards (up to 32 gigs) on Wii, full album and track packs, reworked, superior online, a new GH Tunes editor, upgraded Mii Freestyle with WiiConnect24 sharing, career mode with a new challenge system, local multiplayer battles with free- for-all and team play – don’t worry, we’re almost at the end here – the new party play mode, reworked fixes based on user feedback from World Tour including band moments and band member saving, and the dominant, must-play Roadie Battle on Wii. Yeah, that’s one hell of a run-on sentence, and if you think reading it took forever playing through all of it is going to dominate your life. The soundtrack has a few misses in there – some songs are just too easy and belong on Band Hero – but for the most part you’ve got a list that’s a more than impressive value. Add in the ability to import music from World Tour and Smash Hits, as well as DLC carryover for the first time in a Guitar Hero game and you’ve got a package that’s well worth every cent you’ll pay. It’s a technical achievement on Wii, it’s a dominatingly deep music game, and there’s more to see and do on Nintendo’s system than any other version out there. Proof once more that when it comes to Nintendo third party developers, Vicarious Visions is in a league all its own.

• PS2
• 4.5 / 10
• États-Unis

While Guitar Hero 5 is a no-brainer on Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360, the PS2 version is definitely one to avoid. The series has moved on from the PS2 tech, with the Wii game now showcasing its own exclusive tech. With no system to scale down from PlayStation 2, fans are left with a game that lacks many of the features and overall polish that make Guitar Hero 5 so good in the first place. If you want 85 new songs on a self-contained disc –- and that’s all you want -- then Guitar Hero 5 is still a fun compilation of songs. With no online play, no downloadable content, no GH Tunes or music studio, and a gimped down Party Play and Career mode, there’s no way we could endorse the latest Guitar Hero offering on PS2. The Guitar Hero series may have gotten its start on the PlayStation 2, but the real rock experience moved on long ago.

• PS3
• X360
• PC
• 8.4 / 10
• États-Unis

Dirt 2 is prettier than its predecessor, has more varied tracks and a functional multiplayer offering. What it doesn’t have is a focus on pure time-trial rally races, which is really what I expect from a rally game. The other disciplines are fun to dabble in, but I’m old school and want a bit more tradition from a racing game. Dirt 2 is a solid racing game with some really fun events and a slick menu system, but it could use a little less of the arcade action and a bit more of the sim. I think the vast majority of racing fans are going to love what Dirt 2 has to offer, but there will be a few who long for the days when a hill climb was considered the ultimate racing experience.

• PC
• PS3
• X360
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Need for Speed Shift is a glorious return to greatness (and even excellence) for EA's seminal racing franchise. Slightly Mad Studios has delivered a driving experience that, while not completely accurate in terms of its simulation aspects, is practically dead-on in terms of what it's like to race around some of the world's best racing circuits. The career mode could (and should) have been a little better, but the act of driving is basically phenomenal.

• PC
• 9.3 / 10
• États-Unis

It may not be a radically new Resident Evil 5, but the PC version of the game still manages to hold its own with an improved control scheme and extra Mercenaries mode. While the addition of costumes is somewhat minor, and you may require a few upgrades to your computer to take full advantage of what the game has to offer, you're exploring a great story and excellent gameplay. Plus, the inclusion of 3D is a harbinger of what gaming will probably become, and the effect is extremely nice if you have the opportunity to take advantage of it. Umbrella's virus hasn't completely evolved, but it's definitely worth isolating yourself with a copy of RE5 for a while.

• PSP
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

The Bigs 2 isn’t necessarily a bad game of baseball, but it just doesn’t pack enough new content to make it worthwhile for those who invested in The Bigs the first go-round. It would have been nice if the developers had taken the time to port some of the cooler features from the console versions as well as added some PSP-centric mini-games. As it stands, those who didn’t play The Bigs on PSP might want to give this one a try, but everyone else should steer clear.

• PSP
• 8.6 / 10
• États-Unis

The first Disgaea game was excellently ported to the PSP, and part two continues the tradition of excellence. It's great to be able to take these fantastic strategy games on the go, and the bonus story chapters provide nice incentive to return if you haven't played Disgaea 2 since it was released on the PS2 three years ago. In a time when many games feel a bit watered down in order to appeal to a wide market, it's refreshing to play an unabashedly hardcore and complex game like this. Hands down, this is one of the deepest and most fun strategy games you'll ever play.

• WII
• 8.2 / 10
• États-Unis

Any retro gamer will want to download this one. Like last year's Mega Man 9, this is both an homage to classic gaming and a respectable new entry in a long-running series that can stand on its own.

• DS
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

• PS3
• WII
• X360
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

The Beatles: Rock Band isn't for everyone. Like, say, people who don't care about The Beatles. If that's you, then move along. For those who have a love or even just a fondness for the Fab Four, Harmonix has created a fantastic tribute. It won't teach you the full history of the world's most celebrated band nor give you even a quarter of their extraordinary catalogue of music, but it's still great. The Beatles went out of their way to do new things. So it's no surprise that a Beatles game doesn't feel at all like the traditional music title. It's special. What Beatles fan would want it any other way? Of course, it's hard to believe The Beatles would want those fans playing with an inferior guitar. The Limited Edition bundle is overpriced and the guitar is one of the worst in terms of playability that Harmonix has made. For this reason, the $250 bundle gets a much lower score than the game by itself.

• X360
• PC
• 3.6 / 10
• États-Unis

Darkest of Days indeed. This first-person shooter from 8monkey Labs fails on nearly all fronts. A promising narrative setup is roasted over a bonfire of mangled mechanics, poor presentation, and sloppily implemented missions and objectives. The dynamics of the large scale firefights the game offers are wrecked by erratic and unbelievable enemy behavior, and with the Xbox 360 version there’s the added pitfall of terrible technical performance. With more development time and a more clever use of the time-traveling concept, this could have been an interesting shooter. As it is, it’s an arduous trip on which nobody should embark.

• SNES
• WII
• 8.5 / 10
• États-Unis

Super Return of the Jedi never earned much of my attention in the SNES age. I'd been hyped to play Super Empire Strikes Back most of all, since it was based on my favorite of the three films -- but its incredibly brutal level of difficulty quickly squashed my desire to spend any more time or money on the trilogy as a whole. Well, that was my mistake. I should have given the series another chance back then, because I would have discovered the considerable improvements made in Super Return 15 years ago, instead of 24 hours ago. With its toned-down difficulty, depth and variety of playable characters, more polished presentation and inclusion of Leia in the gold bikini, Super Return of the Jedi is, in my view, the best of the three Super Star Wars games. Though it's based on my least favorite of the original three films, I have to give it the nod here in game form -- if I were only going to recommend one to download, I'd pick it. I actually recommend all three, since each one is fun even amid the frustration -- but if you're looking to spend just eight bucks, instead of 24, Return of the Jedi is the way to go.

• PSP
• 4.2 / 10
• États-Unis

Do: Buy Dirt 2 for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Don't: Buy Dirt 2 for the PSP.

• PSP
• 8.2 / 10
• États-Unis

I just recently reviewed Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny last week. Also a portable fighting game, Broken Destiny had much better visuals and more polish than Codes, but the gameplay in Codes just clicks with me more. Perhaps that's just my fondness for 2D fighters talking, but the mechanics in Codes feel tight -- even if it can be a bit too easy to execute certain special moves. Although Fate/Unlimited Codes is a bit bland looking (besides the character models) and doesn't have many gameplay types besides Arcade, Versus and Missions, I definitely think it's worth downloading. Despite its problems, it's a really fun fighting game and works well on Sony's handheld.

• WII
• 10 / 10
• États-Unis

• PS2
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

In the end, it comes down to your ability to stomach a storyline that never seems to go anywhere interesting vs. an incredibly compelling item crafting mechanic. Even when I was hating the game's characters, I was hopelessly addicted to synthing new stuff, building up my Grow Book and thumping on enemies for ingredients. The game can't completely overcome the dry, slightly insipid story bits, but it does come rather close, and if you were a fan of the first one, there's definitely enough here to bring you back. JRPG fans would do well to test the waters with Raze's storyline first, and those that can't stand these games are best served just avoiding it altogether.