Publisher: Raptisoft
Developer: Raptisoft
Compatibility: iOS 3.0 or later
Genre: RPG/Action
iTunes Rating: 9+
Release date: Available now

Solomon’s Keep is my favorite iOS game so far. It’s one of those items that I want to tell all of my iDevice-owning friends to buy. Heck, I even bought a copy on iTunes as a gift for a friend. Keep was developed by Raptisoft, a company of which I had been unaware, but judging by this game and the offerings on their website, they’ve got a good thing going. Keep takes elements from dungeon-crawlers, rogue-alikes and RPGs and wraps them up into a package that’s perfect for mobile gaming. If you’ve played and enjoyed hack’n’slash RPGs such as the Diablo series, then you must play this game. And if the items I just mentioned are unfamiliar, you’re in for an eye-opening treat.

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Publisher: Legacy Interactive
Developer: Legacy Interactive
System requirements: Windows XP (SP2)/Vista/7; 1.5 GHz CPU; 512 MB RAM; GeForce3 Graphics Card with 64 MB VRAM
Genre: Puzzle Adventure
Release date: Available now

Robin Hood is a story that nearly everyone over the age of 5 can tell you without a second thought. There are a myriad of versions, re-tellings, re-imaginings, spinoffs and based-ons that approach the tale from more different angles than can be counted, so it’s not surprising that Legacy Interactive took a slightly unusual approach in making Robin Hood a puzzle adventure game.

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Publisher: Tripwire Interactive
Developer: Teotl Studios
System requirements: Windows XP SP2/Vista/Win 7, 2 GHz or faster CPU (dual core recommended), 1 GB RAM, graphics card with Shader Model 3 support, DirectX 9-compatible sound card, DirectX 9, 1.5 GB hard-drive space
Genre: First-person action-puzzle
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

Sometimes small developers can provide the only avenue to deviate from dominant gaming fads, even in their very first release. First-person shooters have fallen into a rut of late on the personal computer, what with an emphasis on ultra-realistic simulation of real-life human-to-human combat. In that context, Teotl Studios—a small Swedish game developer—has released an innovative twist on the genre. Reminiscent of two Valve games—Half-Life 2 and Portal—this new release with the unusual name The Ball attempts to provide us with a decidedly different set of fun challenges.

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Publisher: IslandJohn
Developer: IslandJohn
Genre: Strategy/Puzzle
iTunes Rating: 4+
Release date: Available now
Review by: Matthew Booth

The bees in North America are disappearing and no one is really sure why. My theory is that there is probably some god-like being swiping his finger across the sky and controlling their paths, but this bee god isn’t really paying attention and the bees keep colliding with each other and exploding into shimmering clouds of pollen dust. Oh, wait. That’s the gameplay for Bee Patrol by IslandJohn. Really bad bee jokes aside, the title is a new strategy game that draws inspiration from iDevice classics like Flight Control, where you control flying objects by tracing their paths with your fingertips. If that style of gameplay sounds monotonous, read on before you write it off completely.

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Publisher: Scholastic Interactive
Developer: Scholastic Interactive
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

As a parent, I’m called upon to spy a lot of arcane minutia, with my precious little daughter using almost every situation we find ourselves in as perfect fodder to train my brain. In reply to her inquisitive “Daddy, I spy something red,” I hand her a laundry list of items, from a friendly neighborhood ladybug to a squished ketchup packet. “Nope—it’s those little red lines in your eyes.” That’s right, those stinging crimson rivers surging through my optical orbs are nothing but child’s play to my little princess. That being said, the hunt for hidden objects remains a tantalizing prospect for us adventurous gamers, who stare at a monitor for hours hoping to ferret out a carefully concealed platypus hidden in a bed of bottlecaps—a pastime that Scholastic Games looks to explore with their latest Wii release, I Spy: Spooky Mansion.

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Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Alfa System
Genre: Action RPG
ESRB Rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

I was surprised to learn that the original Phantasy Star series has been around as long as I have, debuting in North America in 1988 – the year I was born. With such a long legacy behind it, any Phantasy Star game has a lot to live up to. Phantasy Star Portable 2 is the latest action RPG in the series set in the Gurhal system. Does it make the cut?

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Publisher: Namco
Developer: Gaijin Games
Genre: Adventure/Music
iTunes rating: 4+
Release date: Available now
Review by: Matthew Booth

One of my favorite moments in the movie Funny People is when Seth Rogen’s character, Ira, asks his would-be-girlfriend, Daisy, if she likes music. Her response is, “Did you just ask me if I like music? That’s like asking me if I like food.” So, to avoid a well-deserved quip from you, I’m going to assume that a) you like music, and b) you like gaming. Guitar Hero: Van Halen is proof that not all music-based games are successful, but Bit.Trip Beat developer Gaijin Games has created a game franchise that harmonizes the gameplay of Pong with 8-bit graphics, chiptune soundtracks and elements of action/adventure games. The result is a fresh approach to music-based games that avoids the status-quo and deserves the attention of all mobile gamers.

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Publisher: Konami
Developer: MercurySteam
Genre: Action-Adventure
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

In a generation when so many beloved 8-bit properties have made the leap to the third dimension, revitalizing their brand and teaching gamers new tricks while showcasing their fancy new looks, it’s quite jarring that the venerable Castlevania series has stumbled hard whenever it has stepped aside from its usual 2D platforming action. That damned third dimension has haunted the series like a grim specter, cackling madly each time some foolhardy developer has dared to take a Belmont to the big time – with notable failures marring the series on the N64 and PS2. And while the games have lived long off their 2D Metroidvania design, producing a series of stellar items for the handhelds, their big brothers demand something more. Usually the news that Konami is at it again would leave fanboys laughing maniacally in the dark, but the addition of Kojima Productions, as a guiding light to developer MercurySteam, has made Castlevania: Lords of Shadow one of the most anticipated titles of this holiday season.

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Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team
Genre: Platformer
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

Sonic the Hedgehog is the MC Hammer of gaming. In the mid-1990s, the blazing blue hedgehog blasted onto the scene and dared Mario to keep up. After fumbling for years, Sega finally captured lightning in a bottle, producing a star character they could send toe-to-toe with Mario and crafting a game that measured up to the classic Nintendo action-platform design while in some ways sprinting well beyond it. Mario and Sonic ran neck and neck in the early part of the decade, but eventually hubris kicked in. Following a successful series of inventive sequels, Sega lost its way and began sending Sonic down some perilous paths, and when the time came to leap into the third dimension, Mario stuck the landing while Sonic floundered. Somewhere around the time the rodent went “gangster” and started packing a piece, it was obvious he’d hit rock bottom. All it took was a cameo appearance by the speedster, flying by some familiar looking emerald environments at this year’s E3, to remind players why they chased the hero in the first place. With Sega’s first installment in their new digitally-distributed release, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Sega hopes to set him back on the right track.

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Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Genre: FPS/RPG
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: October 19, 2010

After the huge commercial success of Fallout 3, the post-apocalyptic action role playing game set in the ruins of Washington D.C., another game in the franchise seemed almost guaranteed. Fast forward to a couple of years later, and gamers are getting their wish with Fallout: New Vegas. Not a direct sequel to the previous title, New Vegas is simply a new chapter in the same world that has been expertly crafted by Obsidian Entertainment.

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Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: EA
Genre: Sports
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Release Date: Available now
Review by: Benjy Ikimi

I can still remember so clearly, sitting back with that large black controller that barely fit within my youthful palms, playing FIFA 94 on the Mega Drive. Back then, I believed video games depicting this beautiful sport would consist only of short men given obscure fictional names, running around scoring impossible goals and making unrealistic passes. Ah yes, those were the days. Fast forward to the millennium and we have FIFA 11. It’s quite amazing how far EA has come in seventeen years. I never would have imagined back when I was playing games on cartridges that we would reach a stage were you pretty much control players that look, feel and move like the real thing.

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Publisher: Her Interactive
Developer: Her Interactive
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1 GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM, 1 GB hard-drive space, 32 MB Direct X 9.0-compatible graphics card, 16-bit sound card
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Everyone 10+
Release date: October 19, 2010

Shadow at the Water’s Edge is Nancy Drew’s 23rd PC adventure. Releasing just in time for Halloween, the game is a true horror mystery pitting Nancy against a vengeful ghost at a haunted inn.

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Publisher: Namco Bandai
Developer: Ninja Theory
Genre: Action
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

The best games, like the best movies or books, take you on a memorable journey with likeable characters to places you’ve never visited. Too often, however, developers spend more time and effort on the journey and not enough on the characters. Heavenly Sword creator Ninja Theory reverses that trend with Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, a game that gives you not just an exciting trip, but also two compelling traveling companions.

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Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: EA Montreal
Genre: Sports
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release Date: Available now

Boomshakala!!! If there’s any phrase that brings me back to midnight marathons spent in my college dorm hunkered around the Sega Genesis and a Multitap; it’s that infectious rallying cry that signaled another monster jam by my dynamic duo of Bill Clinton and Shaquille O’Neill. NBA Jam may have been a mainstay of every early-90’s era arcade, movie theater and bowling alley but it was the home edition and its casual pick-up-and-play game mechanics that solidified the title’s stance as one of the all time greats. Like its kissing cousin, the Midway-produced Mortal Kombat, these titles changed the industry – turning their home console launches into marquee events and bringing more people into the gaming fold. This brought sports games to the masses; making it accessible to anyone who could jockey a control pad and a few measly buttons. Looking to tap into that nostalgia, EA Sports has raided the vaults and handed NBA Jam another shot at the big time.

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Publisher: Aksys Games
Developer: Goshow
Genre: Action RPG
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

The time of ancient Rome is one of those historical eras that fiction seems to really like: a fascinating mix of what we would consider highly civilized and savagely barbaric, captivating the imagination of most everyone. Nothing quite embodies that strange combination better than the gladiatorial games, and Gladiator Begins takes a new approach in trying to deliver a satisfying dose of those games in this visceral, bloody action RPG.

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