Publisher: Alawar Games
Developer: Alawar Games
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista /Win 7, 1 GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM, DirectX 9.0, 450 MB hard-drive space
Genre: Hidden Object
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

Snark Busters: All Revved Up puts you in the shoes of Jack Blair, a world-famous Formula 0 racer. Jack’s following in the footsteps of his father, who mysteriously disappeared 17 years ago. But after discovering a mysterious green door in his garage, Jack puts his career on hold to try to catch the legendary Snark. As Jack, you have to jump between the real world and the inverted realms inside mirrors to snare your quarry.

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Publisher: THQ
Developer: Vigil Games
System requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Win 7, 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon 64 3800+/3.0 GHz Pentium IV 530 or better CPU, 256 MB graphics card with Pixel Shader 3 support, 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista/Win 7), DirectX 9.0c-compliant sound card, 12 GB hard-drive space, DirectX 9.0c
Genre: Action-Adventure
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

I have to say, while there are certainly a few post-apocalyptic games out there, Darksiders is the first one in which the apocalypse was not our own fault. You get to take control of War, the First Horseman of the Apocalypse. The forces of evil deceived him into prematurely inciting a war between Heaven and Hell without waiting for the Seventh Seal to be broken. The war destroyed the human race, the demonic forces defeated the heavenly host and laid claim to the Earth. War is indicted by the Charred Council (whose self-proclaimed duty is to preserve balance), stripped of his powers and sentenced to death. He gets a last-minute reprieve and is allowed to return to Earth to search for the truth and punish those responsible.

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Publisher: Viva Media
Developer: FAKT Software
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.0 GHz or better CPU, 128 MB DirectX 9-compatible graphics card with Pixel Shader 2 support, 512 MB RAM, 800 MB hard-drive space
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

So you think you’re good at puzzle solving? That’s great, but when’s the last time you built a Rube Goldberg machine? Well, I’d bet most of the people reading this review already know what one is (including anyone who’s already played The Incredible Machine), but for those who don’t, a Rube Goldberg machine is a mechanical device that takes a simple task and makes it incredibly difficult by adding pulleys, rolling balls, dominoes, and all sorts of other things that are completely unnecessary for the task. And that’s basically what Crazy Machines 2 Complete is all about.

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Publisher: Activision
Developer: Beenox
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ or better CPU, GeForce 7800 or Radeon X1800 (w/256 MB of video RAM) or better graphics card, 1 GB of RAM, 14 GB of uncompressed hard-drive space
Genre: Action
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

“Four parallel worlds, one unparalleled adventure.” The blurb on a box cover has never been so accurate. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is one of the best, if not the best, Spider-Man games ever. Of course, for those who’ve read my other reviews, “Beenox strikes again” is equally apt; these are the same developers responsible for Transformers: War for Cybertron. This time, however, they’re bringing us a tale involving not one, but four different versions of an iconic character that recently celebrated his 50th anniversary.

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Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios
Developer: Propaganda Games
System requirements: Intel Pentium D 3.00 GHz or Athlon 64 X2 3800+ or better CPU, 1 GB RAM (XP)/1.5 GB (Vista/Win 7); GeForce 8800 GT or Radeon HD 3870 or better graphics card
Genre: Action-adventure
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

“In a world where the sun never shines, and the streets glow in neon colors…” Ok, sorry. I thought I’d dust off my inner Don LaFontaine for this one, since Tron: Evolution is a direct movie tie-in. More specifically, it’s a sequel to both the Tron: Betrayal graphic novel and the Tron: Evolution – Battle Grids game for the Nintendo Wii and DS, and a prequel to the Tron: Legacy movie. Because some of you might not have seen the movie yet, I’m going to try to avoid spoilers, but a little background is necessary.

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Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Blue Castle Games
System requirements: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 2.2 GHz or better CPU, 2 GB RAM, 8.5 GB hard-drive space, NVidia GeForce 8800 GTS or Radeon HD 3850 or better graphics card
Genre: Action-adventure
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

It has been five years since the zombie outbreak in Las Vegas. Chuck Greene’s wife died and his daughter, Katey, was bitten and infected during the outbreak. Now, Chuck, a former motocross champion, is in Fortune City participating in a gameshow called “Terror Is Reality,” in which contestants kill zombies for money and fame. Chuck’s only reason for competing is so he can afford a drug called “Zombrex” for Katey, who must have a dose of the expensive drug daily. Then things get worse: there’s a new zombie outbreak, and Chuck gets framed for it. Now he has just 72 hours to rescue survivors, find evidence that proves his innocence, and find enough doses of Zombrex to keep Katey alive until the military arrives.

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Publisher: Matrix Games
Developer: Slitherine
Minimum Requirements: 1.6 GHz CPU; 512 MB RAM; Windows XP/Vista/7; 256 MB of hard disk space; graphics card that supports OpenGL 1.1 at a resolution of 1024×600 or higher
Genre: Action/3rd-person Shooter
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Release Date: Available now

Two thousand years ago, the fate of kingdoms did not change at the whim of mythical gods on the slopes of Mount Olympus. Empires rose and fell on the shoulders of real men spilling blood on dusty fields from Britain to Persia. The flow of combat was often the same. In the distance, fierce bands of half-naked barbarian swordsmen waived their iron blades, taunting their clean-shaven Roman foes. The Romans would respond with fleet-footed light infantry, the velites, tossing their javelins into the heart of the enemy formation. Meanwhile, the core of the Roman legions, their short gladius swords gripped tightly behind long shields, moved with precision to flank the enemy shield wall. The Romans only had one lesson for the barbarians: courage may make a warrior, but it is discipline that makes a soldier.

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Publisher: Activision
Developer: Beenox
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo/Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4000+ or better CPU, GeForce 7900 GT/Radeon X1900 or better graphics card, 2 GB RAM, 9 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Action/Third-person shooter
ESRB Rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

Anyone who has played Transformers: The Game or Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, both of which are based on the Michael Bay movies, knows that, while the games were an entertaining diversion, they didn’t quite deliver on their promises. Most people would agree that they were far from the worst games ever to be based on a movie, but they were also far from the best. Enter Transformers: War for Cybertron, which takes place on the titular homeworld of the Transformers, prior to their arrival on Earth, during the civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7; 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo/2.4 GHz Athlon X2 64 or better CPU; 1.5 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista or Win 7); 256 MB DirectX 9.0c-compliant graphics card and sound card; 10 GB of hard-drive space
Genre: Third-person shooter
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

The Sam Fisher you know is dead, asked to make one sacrifice too many, crossed one line too far. An unknown drunk driver has killed his daughter, and one of his best friends has died by his hands. Sam left Third Echelon and has been on his own for years, chasing his daughter’s killer, but the trail leads to the last place Sam wants to see again: Washington, D.C. Sam must work with friends whom he can no longer trust to save a country that used him and threw him away. Unless he can stand against a vast, faceless enemy, he’ll never know what happened to his daughter.

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Publisher: THQ
Developer: Relic Entertainment
Minimum Requirements: Windows XP SP2, Vista SP1, or Windows 7; Pentium 4 single-core 3.2 GHz; 1.0 GB RAM (XP) or 1.5 GB (Vista); 5.5 GB of free hard drive space; 128 MB NVidia GeForce 6600 GT or ATI Radeon X1600 or better (must have Shader Model 3.0 support); DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Genre: Real-time strategy
ESRB Rating: Mature
Release Date: Available now

Welcome back to the world of Warhammer 40,000, and the sequel to the popular Dawn of War. Boy, the Blood Ravens can’t catch a break, can they? In the first game, we discovered that the Inquisition had to perform Exterminatus on Cyrene, one of their recruiting worlds, as one of their Librarians had to be executed for heresy, and they inadvertently released a powerful daemon from its imprisonment. Now a threat from beyond our galaxy threatens their other two recruiting worlds. The Blood Ravens must undertake a quest to destroy one of the Tyranid Hive Fleets; if they fail, it will mean the end of their Chapter.

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Publisher: Deep Silver
Developer: Deep Silver
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7; 2.0 GHz Pentium IV or compatible CPU; 512 MB RAM; 64 MB DirectX 9.0c-compatible graphics card; DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card; 4.5 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

1936: Soldiers of the Third Reich roam the world seeking occult weapons for their insane plans of conquest. When Fenton Paddock, a former British soldier and hapless smuggler, is asked to look for his friend Richard, who has gone missing in Tibet, he has no idea that this search would lead him across three continents to a secret that could turn the whole world upside down. In the process, he gets to participate in various activities, such as escaping from a Hong Kong Triad, sabotaging an Olympic event, and walking across the icy roof of a castle in winter.

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Publisher: P2 Games
Developer: Doublesix
Requirements: Windows XP, Vista, or 7; Intel Pentium 4 1.8 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2000 or better; NVidia GeForce 6600 or ATI Radeon X1300 or better; 1 GB of RAM; 2 GB of hard drive space; DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Genre: Action shooter
ESRB rating: Mature
Release Date: Available now

“Welcome to the char-grilled world of Burn Zombie Burn, where the best type of undead is barbequed. The goals are simple: keep Bruce alive while he tries to keep Daisy alive, and get the highest score possible. Standing in your way is a never-ending horde of the rotting, stinking and stupid undead.”

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Publisher: Team 17 Software
Developer: Team 17 Software
System requirements: Windows XP, Vista, or 7; 1.25 GHz AMD Athlon or Intel equivalent processor or better; 2 GB of hard drive space; 1 GB of RAM; GeForce 4 Series or equivalent video card with 128 MB video RAM; DirectX 9.0c-compliant sound card; Internet connection
Genre: Turn-based strategy
ESRB rating: Everyone 10+
Release Date: Available Now

It’s hard to believe that it’s been fifteen years since the Worms series kicked off on the Amiga, but Team 17 has brought us a fantastic new entry for the PC platform. The new release returns to the original 2D aspect for the first time since Worms: Open Warfare in 2003. Based largely on Worms 2: Armageddon, released via the Xbox Live Arcade last year, Worms: Reloaded adds even more voice banks, weapons, maps, and game modes.

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Publisher: Wadjet Eye Games
Developer: Wadjet Eye Games
System requirements: 1.5 GHz Pentium 4/Athlon XP 1500+ or better CPU, 64 MB GeForce 2 MX 400/Radeon X300 series or better graphics card, 256 MB RAM, 512 MB hard-drive space, DirectX 9-compatible sound card, DirectX 9
Genre: Puzzle adventure
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

“There’s a big secret at Dr. Hugo’s Factory for Making Robots. When the inventors aren’t looking, their tiny robots go on big adventures! It all starts when Zander – possibly the world’s most absent-minded inventor – trips over a metal box buried outside the factory. When nobody can figure out how to open it, the robots sneak out and try it for themselves.” Actually, this info from the Puzzle Bots home page pretty much sums up this point-and-click adventure game. Dr. Hugo has hired five top-notch inventors to design robots to sell that do nothing but chores. Not only are they tiny, but they’re also self-aware, so when they’re put in the “robot habitat,” they decide it would be fun to escape and explore their surroundings.

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Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Realtime Worlds
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.0 GHz Intel Core2Duo/2.6 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ or better CPU, 256 MB graphics card, 2 GB RAM, 256 kb/sec Internet connection
Genre: MMO/Shooter
Release date: Available now

Welcome to San Paro! Twenty-three years ago, Mayor John Derren was assassinated by a 16-year-old criminal. In the aftermath, San Paro went from bad to worse because of a series of weak and opportunistic politicians and a corrupt, underfunded and understaffed police force. Two years ago, the daughter of Mayor Derren returned to the city and, in just a few months, rose to become mayor. One year ago, she passed the City Security Act (CSA), which legalized vigilantism, empowering ordinary citizens to take up the burden of law enforcement. Two factions—the criminals and the enforcers—now fight it out every day in the streets. Both claim to hold the key to San Paro’s salvation. Only one of them can be right. The other could destroy the city even as it claims to be trying to save it. Welcome to APB.

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