For as long as I’ve been playing games, about the highest praise that I could give a title was to say, “I can’t wait to play it all over again.” Some of my all-time favorites, like last year’s Uncharted 2, have excited me enough to replay them three or four times within mere months of their release. Mass Effect 2 manages to be something entirely… different. It marks the first time I’ve ever loved a game in such a way that I am staunchly opposed to playing it again, in deference to the unforgettable adventure Commander Shepard and I created.

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About our scale… the number of words in our review reflects the score of the game. In practical terms, you could assume that games reviewed in 49 words or fewer should be avoided, games reviewed in 50-75 words would make a decent rental, and games reviewed in 76 words or more would make a solid purchase.

So few games are truly for mature audiences—and I’m not talking about tits, dismemberment, and profanity-laced dialogue, here—that you really have to doff your cap to the rare experience that is. The story and themes in Shattered Memories strike just the right tone for grown-ups: it made me feel anxious, frantic, and desperate, in just the right measure. And the story wraps up in an eyebrow-raising ending that’s not so much “OMGWTFBBQ!” as it is, “Wow—that’s pretty goddamn smart.” So, how’s it play? Kinda shitty, honestly.

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About our scale… the number of words in our review reflects the score of the game. In practical terms, you could assume that games reviewed in 49 words or fewer should be avoided, games reviewed in 50-75 words would make a decent rental, and games reviewed in 76 words or more would make a solid purchase.

The folks at Q may understand better than any other developer how to squeeze maximum impact out of the minute details of a “small” game. Every sound effect, musical refrain, or graphical flourish is a delicious little treat for the senses—and they retain that impact seemingly indefinitely. The gameplay in Shooter delivers in a similar fashion. Equal parts game and science experiment, the fun with physics in Shooter sticks with you long after you’ve completed the game. I only wish it were slightly tougher and lasted a bit longer.

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About our scale… the number of words in our review reflects the score of the game. In practical terms, you could assume that games reviewed in 49 words or fewer should be avoided, games reviewed in 50-75 words would make a decent rental, and games reviewed in 76 words or more would make a solid purchase.

While it’s relieving to discover that The Saboteur is a fun and fitting send-off for Pandemic (after the trainwreck of Mercenaries 2), it’s also frustrating—because it could have been something truly memorable. The volume of things to explore, drive, scale, and blow-the-fuck-up (and the beautiful WWII Paris setting) are a joy to experience. However, the nagging meters, zones, gauges and other inorganic artifices never allow you to feel like you’re in the world, or completely buy into the story.

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About our scale… the number of words in our review reflects the score of the game. In practical terms, you could assume that games reviewed in 49 words or fewer should be avoided, games reviewed in 50-75 words would make a decent rental, and games reviewed in 76 words or more would make a solid purchase.

On paper, Borderlands has everything I could ever want in a game. You say “Diablo-style, loot-grabbing dungeon crawler done as quasi-cel-shaded, co-op FPS,” and I say “SOLD.” Who could have guessed that the loot would be so uninteresting, the environments so relentlessly bland, and the enemies so brain-dead (especially the bosses)? It’s really a shame that while the concept is a solid A, the execution is a total Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

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About our scale… the number of words in our review reflects the score of the game. In practical terms, you could assume that games reviewed in 49 words or fewer should be avoided, games reviewed in 50-75 words would make a decent rental, and games reviewed in 76 words or more would make a solid purchase.