IGN

• PS3
• 3 / 10
• États-Unis

No matter which angle you decide to look at Vampire Rain: Altered Species from, the game is bad. The graphics scream PS2. Sounds such as the death groan and boss grunts are laughable. The story is boring. The acting is hammed up in the worst way. The HUD is hideous. The levels are linear. The majority of weapons are useless. The AI is retarded. The enemies are too powerful while the bosses are too weak. Although it's true that I wasn't falling through the floor like my 360 counterpart was last year, and PS3 owners do get extras such as an additional mode on their second play through, there's no reason to touch this game.

• PS3
• X360
• 2.5 / 10
• États-Unis

If development studio Fun Labs was going for an arcade fishing experience, it missed the point. There are no exotic fish species and the action that comes with hooking a fish is mundane. If the objective was to make a simulation, they forgot to add any features to make it feel real. This game feels like it has no identity and that the only plan the developers had was to make the graphics shiny and hope that people don't notice that they left out the rest of the game.

• X360
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

• DS
• 8.6 / 10
• États-Unis

Lock's Quest is by far one of the most original, inspired, and entertaining experiences we've had on DS this year. Everything from the unique build mode to the impressive audio/visual offering, the immersion found in cinematic intros and story-developing cut scenes throughout, and even the random tongue-in-cheek dialogue lines thrown in to remind players that this is a game, made by gamers, are very welcome. We're not going to go overboard and claim that Lock's Quest is some conquer-all, greatest game on DS (it isn't, though for a second DS title, 5th Cell has proved its place among the pocket greats already), but instead will only break it down by saying its classically inspired fun, and we loved every minute of it without exception. We could think of 100 things we'd love to see added to a future version (four player multiplayer, online play, and co-op modes at the very least), but this original IP has delivered an extremely impressive package in its first offering, and is hopefully only going to get better with future versions that we can only assume (and hope) are on the way. Any game that can be thrown in with the likes of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy IV, Heroes of Mana, Rocket Slime, and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin and still feel unique and fresh among some of the top DS strategy/RPG games deserves its time in the spotlight, and Lock's Quest is exactly that. Buy it, and love it.

• PS3
• X360
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

NHL 09 isn’t just a great hockey game, it’s one of the best sports games to be released in the last decade. It takes the right analog stick controls first pioneered in last year’s game and pushes them forward ever so slightly while pouring on features that everyone from newbies to diehards will appreciate. The only question remaining is how they’ll follow this sports game of the year contender once next season rolls around.

• PC
• 7.3 / 10
• États-Unis

• X360
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

Shred Nebula can be a near-mindless experience at times but it is completely functional, and while it fails to be very exciting it often presents the same moments of enjoyment found in a quick game of Asteroids.

• WII
• 5.5 / 10
• États-Unis

King of the Monsters is a perfectly acceptable game to find included in a compilation package of multiple Neo Geo classics, but standing on its own as an individual experience it just doesn't rate highly enough to warrant a 900 Wii Point investment. If you missed its debut in the Wii Shop over the summer, you didn't miss much. Let this one stay lost in the shuffle and save your digital dollars for some of the better, newer releases hitting the Virtual Console this fall.

• WII
• 5 / 10
• États-Unis

Classic gaming completionists out there are no doubt pleased that one more of the original NES launch titles has now arrived in the Wii Shop, but it's hard to imagine that too many more of you are all that excited about this release. It was a fine diversion when it showed up as a freebie to play in Animal Crossing, and it certainly even entertained the few gamers who got on board with the whole e-Reader thing when it showed up again in card form a few years ago. But at 500 Wii Points as a Virtual Console title, and with so many other, better games already available at that same rate, it's safe for you to spin right on past Clu Clu Land. You could even choose to buy Pac-Man instead.

• DS
• 7.8 / 10
• États-Unis

Spore Creatures isn’t intended as a replacement for the core PC Spore experience -- it’s meant to compliment that design with a unique experience that lifts many of the core elements. And for the most part it succeeds in that task: this is a fun, involved, albeit more linear DS experience with a few quirks that get in the way, but even with those quirks it’s great to experience a game on the more limited handheld with a similar sense of creativity that PC gamers will have in Spore.

• X360
• 6.3 / 10
• États-Unis

Do you like playing gin? Does no one else you know own a dollar deck of cards? Then perhaps Gin Rummy is for you. More could have been done with creating a cool look and adding some incentives for playing. Still, Gin Rummy can get addictive. There's just not a whole heck of a lot here.

• PSP
• 5 / 10
• États-Unis

• WII
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

• PS3
• X360
• PC
• 7.9 / 10
• États-Unis

Mercenaries 2 is like a newsstand; it has a lot of issues. Still, I can't deny that there were some hootin’ and hollerin’ moments. For every time I cursed the stupid AI, I cheered at the demolition of another building. For every bug that got me stuck in some bushes, there was an attack chopper waiting to be jacked. If Mercenaries 2 had more polish, it would have been a great game. As is, it’s still worth playing –- and enjoyable –- but falls far short of its promise.

• PS3
• WII
• PS2
• 6.8 / 10
• États-Unis

Ferrari Challenge does a handful of things right, especially the core racing engine, but the experience isn't nearly robust as it could, and should, be. With Ferraris being your only option to drive, there isn't a ton of variety to speak of, and you don't get the same feeling of progression as you do with other racers. If you're a hardcore Ferrari fan, it may be worth checking out, but only do so if you're looking for the driving experience and not the bells and whistles that you'll find in other racers.

• PS3
• X360
• 5 / 10
• États-Unis

Overall FaceBreaker doesn’t deliver on many of its goals. It’s designed to provide a rock- paper-scissor style gameplay experience, but players will likely end up feeling cheated and overly frustrated by the core gameplay. There are too many balancing issues and cheap moves given to some characters to keep players around for more than a couple of hours. The multiplayer options help a bit, but not enough to pull FaceBreaker up from the lower tier of fighters.

• X360
• 4.5 / 10
• États-Unis

Some people may have balked at the idea of spending 1200 Microsoft points ($15 US) for games like Braid or Castle Crashers, but when the alternative is this game at 800 points it makes those games look like a complete steal. By adding new rules to the game of dodgeball, Blazing Lizard has removed everything that made the schoolyard game fun and replaced it with a bunch of arena brawling game ideas we've seen done better a thousand times over.

• WII
• 1.4 / 10
• États-Unis

The redeeming thing about Myth Makers: Trixie in Toyland is that it’s difficult to find in stores -- most retailers have gotten wise to Conspiracy’s tactics at this point, and are smartly preserving the reputation of their businesses by not stocking too many of these “games.” If you do happen to see it on a shelf somewhere, do yourself a favor and steer clear. You’d be better off with Ninjabread Man than this, because even though it’s the same game under the surface, at least the surface is more appealing.