Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Developer: Vanillaware
Genre: Action RPG
Release date: Available now

Call me a relic of the cold war: I was trained to fight in 2D, and I love ninjas. It’s why I’m afraid of sharks, James Kirk, and people who are really good at Counterstrike. It’s also why I love games like Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

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Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios
Developer: Disney Interactive Studios
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

So I’m a grown man who knows exactly in which house of Hogwarts the students at his law school belong. It takes a real nerd to admit that. I used to be a little cheesed at J.K. Rowling for not giving America its own school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Wizards of Waverly Place shows us why J.K didn’t bother: such a school would be run by Disney and populated by the daughters of country music stars, with most of the magic used to prepare and convey food.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Powerhead
Genre: Pet Simulator
Release date: Available now

As a man who strives to avoid giving the impression of decency, there is very little I find morally abhorrent. Still, I’m a lover of both animals and the English language, and when I rule the world, two crimes will still be punishable by death: dressing animals in human clothing, and pluralizing words with a “z” instead of an “s.” Alas, I am yet a humble journalist, so I tried to approach Petz Fashion: Dogz & Catz with as little bias as possible.

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Publisher: Koei
Developer: Omega Force
Genre: RPG/RTS
Release date: Available now
Review by: James Dolbeare

Before playing Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires, my only experience with the Dynasty Warriors series lasted about an hour, five years ago, in Japan. Even based on such a fleeting contact with the series, I can say that very little has changed since then. Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires is designed for people who know and love the series. Even with the addition of strategy elements and a character creator, this game is still an action RPG that’s all about mashing buttons.

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Publisher: Tik Games
Developer: Creat Studios
Genre: Puzzle
Release date: Available now
Review by: James Dolbeare

It takes a lot of staying power for a game to remain popular for more than a century. Mahjong has been around for about 2500 years, so by any account, the game has enduring appeal. But can a game like Mahjong succeed on a next-gen gaming platform such as the PS3? TikGames and Creat Studios think so. With Mahjong Tales: Ancient Wisdom, the developers have brought Mahjong to the Playstation Network, and have added some new flourishes to boot.

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Publisher: Konami
Developers: Zoe Mode, HB Studios
Genre: Rhythm/Music
Release date: Available now
Review by: James Dolbeare

You’ve played every song in Rock Band and Guitar Hero three billion times and you never want to hear those songs again, but now Konami has released Rock Revolution to entice you to drag out your plastic instruments once more. You can use your old guitars and drum sets with RR, but the game doesn’t feature any karaoke-style gameplay for singers, so you’ll have to find some other way to torture your neighbors.

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Publisher: SouthPeak Interactive
Developer: Lexis Numerique
System: Nintendo DS
Genre: Action/Adventure
Release date: Available now
Review by: James Dolbeare

One of the beautiful things about the Nintendo DS is that it allows designers to create games that stretch traditional and familiar interfaces. With Mister Slime, Lexis Numerique has taken full advantage of that capability.

Mister Slime is a 2D side-scrolling platformer with puzzle-solving elements in which you help Mr. Slime defend his village from an enemy tribe, the Axons. You won’t find yourself running or jumping around, however, as Slime doesn’t have any legs. He moves by climbing across pegs placed throughout the maze-like levels. When you tap a peg with the stylus, Slime grabs it. When you tap one of Slime’s arms, he releases a peg, allowing him to move forward.

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Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
System: DS
Genre: 2D Platformer
Release date: Available now
Review by: James Dolbeare

I sometimes wonder if my favorite games would seem as great now if I played them for the first time today. Are the elements we loved in the classics now tired and cliché? For instance, in the age of 3D graphics, epic plotlines and high-quality voice acting, would Castlevania: Symphony of the Night still capture my interest so effectively that I could hardly pull myself away to go about my daily life? After playing Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, I can emphatically say yes. The game smacks of everything great about the Castlevania series, with a few new tricks added to keep things interesting.

Ecclesia is set shortly after Symphony of the Night, and involves neither the Belmont clan nor our favorite backwards vampire, Alucard. Instead, players take control of Shanoa, a member of a secret society devoted to destroying Dracula once and for all. Shanoa has the unique ability to absorb and command glyphs, magical weapons she conjures from thin air. The Order has created a glyph called Dominus that they believe to be capable of defeating Dracula, and Shanoa has been chosen as its host. When Albus, a young colleague of Shanoa’s, discovers this, he becomes enraged and steals the Dominus. Shanoa is then sent to recover it.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Magic Pockets
System: Nintendo DS
Genre: Sim
Release date: Available now
Review by: James Dolbeare

Every once in a while, I come across a game that seems designed for people too young to read the instruction manual, the characters’ dialogue, or my review of it. I don’t claim to be an expert on child development, but I think Imagine Teacher fits squarely into this category. The game is a cute and clever concept from Ubisoft that stands apart in a medium of entertainment dominated by violence. For that, Ubisoft should be commended. If you’re a parent who likes to play the DS with your child, Imagine Teacher provides a great opportunity to do so.

Imagine Teacher throws you into the shoes of a new teacher in a small elementary school. Your classroom starts out with four students, and your mission is to shape these young minds with great skill, prompting the school to send you more students to fill the empty seats. Your eccentric principal offers some loose guidance, but for the most part, you’re on your own.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: From Software
System: PS3
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now
Review by: James Dolbeare

Ubisoft and From Software have had a giant robotic brainchild and named it Armored Core: For Answer. As it follows the previous game in the series, Armored Core 4, you might be tempted to call it Armored Core 5, but it’s actually the 13th game in the series. This newest addition returns you to the violent yet elegant world of mech-based combat.

For those of you new to the series, in the distant future the world has become so polluted that people have been forced to move into floating colonies far above the Earth’s surface, the only place where the air is fit to breathe. In the chaos caused by diminishing resources, the economic gap has widened and corporations have become all-powerful. They have turned their prosperity into military might and toppled all of the world’s governments. Their primary weapon is Armored Core technology, gargantuan robotic suits of armor, the most elite of which are called NEXTs. But the corporations have begun to fear the power of the NEXTs, so they have abandoned them on the poisonous surface, where the weapons have been salvaged by mercenaries of an organization called Collared.

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