Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Kerberos Productions
System requirements: Windows Vista/XP, Core2Duo or better CPU, 512 MB graphics card with DirectX 10 support, DirectX 10 (February 2011 or newer), 2 GB RAM, Vista-compatible sound device, 2 GB hard-drive space
Genre: RTS
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

Fans of 4X games spent last summer waiting in anticipation for the release of Kerberos’s Sword of the Stars II. Given the excellence of the previous installment in the series and its expansions, expectations were high as trailers were released and the developers teased their fans with tidbits about the game. After wrestling with it for hours on end, it’s clear that SOTS II doesn’t live up to the hype. In fact, it doesn’t even live up to the basic promises to be expected of any game that had an original release price of $39.95.

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Publisher: Iceberg Interactive
Developer: InterWave Studios
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7/Mac OSX 10.6.7, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or better CPU, 2 GB memory, 6 GB hard-drive space, 128 MB DirectX 9-compatible graphics card with Shader 2.0b support, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound device
Genre: FPS/RTS
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

My PC brethren, turn in your hymnals to #1337, and sing along with me: “Mods are good, mods are great, mods are things we appreciate.” Some of your favorite games started out as mods, and the others were undoubtedly influenced by them. Indie developer InterWave has been in the Source mod scene for a while now. Both Stargate: Last Stand and Insurgency (which is quite nice) are notches on their collective belts. Tossing the budget-o-meter up from “freebie” to “costs money,” they’ve cranked out the generic-titled Nuclear Dawn, which proclaims to offer a “full FPS and RTS experience within a single gameplay model, without crippling or diluting either side of the game.” Featuring six maps and 32-player matches, Nuclear Dawn isn’t just a funny pun on my mother-in-law’s name. It’s the best multiplayer FPS that you should be playing right now.

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Publisher: Zachtronic Industries
Developer: Zachtronic Industries
System requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Win 7/Mac OSX 10.5.8 (Leopard), 2.0 GHz CPU, graphics card with frame buffer support, 1 GB RAM, 300 MB hard-drive space
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

SpaceChem doesn’t seem to have a lot going for it. It’s a simple-looking 2D game about programming machines to build molecules. Yet, under this unassuming surface lies a game of such seething excitement that it’ll have you shouting and yelling more than when you play an FPS. I myself spoke such dark utterances that Khorne himself shivered. How can a science-themed puzzle game go so right?

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Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1.8 GHz Pentium IV or better CPU, 256 MB graphics card, 2 GB RAM, DirectX 9.0c, DirectX 8.1-compatible sound device, 2 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

There was a time when some part of creator Dick Wolf’s ubiquitous Law and Order TV franchise was on the tube almost every day in the US. Some didn’t last long (Crime and Punishment, Trial by Jury, Law and Order: Los Angeles), while the parent show became one of the longest-running scripted shows in American TV history. These days, only Special Victims Unit remains, but now Wolf and NBC/Universal are pushing the franchise into new frontiers with the help of game developer Telltale.

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Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Developer: Rocksteady
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.4 GHz Core2Duo/Athlon X2 4800 or better CPU, GeForce 8800GT/ATI 3850 HD or better graphics card, 2 GB RAM, 17 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Action
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

Developers take their careers in their own hands when they set out to make a superhero game. If they want the legions of comic-book fanboys to give their game their seal of approval, it has to be almost perfect. All of the canonical i’s have to be dotted and the t’s have to be crossed, over and above the things that the rest of the gaming public want to see (good story, great graphics, etc). Rocksteady accomplished this with Batman: Arkham Asylum back in 2010. Now they’re trying to make lightning strike twice in the same place with the sprawling action/adventure Batman: Arkham City. In most ways, they’ve succeeded. In some others, not so much.

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Publisher: 505 Games
Developer: Reverie World Studios
System requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista, 2.4 GHz Pentium IV or AMD CPU, 1 GB RAM (2 GB Vista), 1 GB hard-drive space, 256 MB GeForce 7600 graphics card or equivalent, DirectX 9.0-compatible sound card, Internet connection
Genre: RTS/MMO
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now
Review by Mindy Hartman

Those darn elves, orcs and humans are at it again: building cities, competing for resources and just plain refusing to get along. Dawn of Fantasy was released a little more than three months ago by developer Reverie World Studios as their first released game. Publisher 505 Games looks like they’re trying to branch out with this publication too, as their bread and butter seems to be cutesy animal games for the DS.

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Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
System requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Win 7/Mac OS 10.6, 1.8 GHz Pentium IV or better CPU (2.0 GHz for Mac), 2 GB RAM, 256 MB graphics card, DirectX 9.0c, DirectX 8.1-compatible sound device, 2 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now
Written by: Michael Smith

For years, game designers have been trying to merge cinematic storytelling with interactive gameplay. Developer Telltale, known mostly for comic point-and-click adventures such as the Sam and Max and Wallace and Gromit series, goes darker and more adult with Jurassic Park, their harrowing and occasionally infuriating attempt to reach gaming immersion nirvana.

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Publisher: Nicolas Entertainment Group
Developer: Intoxicate Studios
System requirements: Windows XP SP2/Vista/Win 7, 2 GHz Intel Core2Duo/AMD Athlon 64 X2 or better CPU, 256 MB graphics card with Shader 3.0 support, 2 GB RAM (Windows XP)/3 GB RAM (Vista/Win 7), DirectX 9.0c
Genre: Third-person shooter
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now
Written by: Michael Smith

It looks like we’re not gonna survive December 2012 no matter what we do. If the end of the Mayan calendar doesn’t get us on 12/21/2012, then the accidental detonation of a fusion bomb on the same date will surely put most of us toes-up, according to indie developer Intoxicate Studios’ debut shooter, Afterfall: InSanity. This post-apocalyptic mashup of several FPS classics has high ambitions, but falls just short of delivering on its promises.

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Publisher: Muzzy lane
Developer: Muzzy Lane
System requirements: Windows XP SP2/Vista/Win 7 (Also available on Mac), 3.0 GHz Pentium IV or greater, 256 MB graphics card, 1 GB RAM, 1 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Strategy
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now
Written by: Ian Davis

You’re something of a nerd. When asked what you read, you say “history.” What upset you about the movie Valkyrie wasn’t Tom Cruise, but the liberties taken with the actual facts. You regularly brag that were you Stalin (as you wiggle your thick mustache), you would have made a pre-war land-grab for Africa. Muzzy Lane Software understands you, unlike your so-called “friends”. “We know of your desires,” Muzzy whispers softly in your ear. “We know you yearn for more than just a wargame, but a mature, full-featured simulator of the mid-20th century.” Muzzy slips a disc from its coat and slyly passes it to you. It’s labeled Making History II: The War of the World. A shiver runs through your body. Can it be?

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Publisher: PETA
Developer: PETA
System requirements: A browser and a keyboard
Genre: Poorly-crafted satire?
Release date: Available now

In a world where seemingly nothing is sacred, PETA has created and launched a new browser-based game called Super Tanooki Skin 2D. In the game, everyone’s favorite plumber is depicted as a bloody, fur-wearing murderer floating away from a freshly-skinned tanuki. Players control the tiny, hairless animal as he chases Mario down to get his fur back.

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Publisher: Intermediaware
Developer: Intermediaware
System Requirements: Minimum System requirements: Windows 2000, XP, Vista or 7 / 800 MHz processor / 256 MB RAM / DirectX 7.0 or later
Genre: Puzzle
Release Date: Available Now
Written by: Ian Davis

Let’s get this out of the way: Captain Backwater is pirate-y. It’s hard to communicate the fullness of this meaning. Backwater takes every pirate cliché in an awkward embrace, leaving you to sit by and pretend not to notice. If cheesy pirate sayings don’t float your boat, worry not; the theme can be surgically removed from the actual gameplay without harm. Once you carefully perform such an operation, you’ll find Captain Backwater a rather charming, straightforward puzzle game.

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Publisher: Nexon
Developer: Eyedentity Games
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, Pentium 4 dual-core CPU, 1 GB RAM, GeForce 7600 or better graphics card, 4 GB hard-drive space, DirectX 9.0c or newer, broadband Internet connection
Genre: MMORPG
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

MMORPGs have become a major segment of the modern gaming landscape, but many of the most successful of them feature content that really isn’t meant for the younger gamer. Publisher Nexon brings PG-13 material to the genre with Dragon Nest, a fantasy/action MMO that tries to tone down the graphic violence while still making the game enticing to adult gamers.

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Publisher: Alawar Entertainment, Inc.
Developer: e-FunSoft Games
Minimum System requirements: Windows 2000, XP, Vista or 7 / 800 MHz processor / 256 MB RAM / DirectX 7.0 or later
Genre: Time Management
Release date: Available now
Written by: Mindy Hartman

Attention fashionistas! Are you ready to style models, put on fashion shows and compete to have the most profitable boutique on the planet? Alawar Entertainment Inc. and e-FunSoft Games present Juliette’s Fashion Empire, the latest time management game for your speed-clicking, action-chaining amusement.

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Publisher: Overhaul Games
Developer: Overhaul Games, Interplay
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 3 GHz Pentium D or better CPU, GeForce GT 120/Radeon HD 2600 XT or better graphics card, 512 MB RAM, 1 GB hard-drive space, DirectX 9
Genre: FPS
ESRB rating: Not rated (original game rated Teen)
Release date: Available now

Old games are like a comfortable pair of shoes that have faded over the years. Sometimes you want to take them out, polish them up and take them for spin. This is what Overhaul Games has done with the 2000 FPS classic MDK 2, a goofy, definitely retro piece of gaming history that’s a simple yet refreshing shooter diversion, even after more than a decade.

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Publisher: Tripwire Interactive
Developer: Tripwire Interactive
Minimum System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/7, Dual Core 2.3 GHz or better, 2 GB RAM, 256 MP SM 3.0 DX9 Compliant/ NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX or better ATI Radeon HD 2900 GT or better, Windows Supported Sound Card, DirectX 9.0c, 8 GB free hard drive space, and Internet Connection for Multiplayer
Genre: Action/FPS
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now
Reviewed by: Mindy Hartman

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is the sequel to Tripwire Interactive’s break-out game, Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45. For those who missed the first installment, Red Orchestra was developed as a mod using the Unreal Engine on Unreal Tournament 2004 and won first prize in the Make Something Unreal competition sponsored by NVIDIA. Red Orchestra 2 gives gamers a chance to look at WWII from a fresh perspective. Rather than coming in as the heroic troops and storming the beach on D-Day, this first person shooter takes players to the front lines in the German-Russian clash at Stalingrad.

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