A pricey expansion with only few additions? Not enough for those who played the original Sins. But as a package for newcomers this Rebellion is a fantastic offering – a complete, refined strategy game that still ranks among the best in the genre.

It's got pretty much everything the community hoped for: powerful combat, tons of loot, cool classes, fun bosses and varied environments. The main downsides are the overall lack of fresh ideas and weak storytelling. But even so, with single-player, LAN and online game modes, a fair amount of content and a mod editor to be released soon, the game comes as a complete package for a ridiculously low price.

If you love to laugh and shoot at the same time, Borderlands 2 is for you. The remarkable humor oozes through the whole 40 hour long game and is the glue that keeps the otherwise not-so innovative game together. Gearbox managed a pimped version of the original game but dared not to try something new.

More accessible and ultimately better than the second game. Far Cry 3 offers incredible freedom in a beautiful world, while delivering a decent main quest with interesting characters, exciting combat and much more compelling player progression this time around. It's not perfect though: Some boring side quests, linear mission design and needless crafting/animal hunting drag the experience down quite a bit.

F.E.A.R. 2 is almost exactly as we wanted it to be: scary and entertaining. Thank you Monolith for sticking close to the prequel and not trying to freshen up the series with fancy new ideas!

Solid old school action, fast paced and entertaining - but far from being a genre revolution. Nevertheless it’s worth the money!

Easily the most recommendable adventure game in years. The production values are top-notch, the puzzles are fair and most of the characters are simply adorable. If only the story would keep up its suspense and finesse after the second chapter, I would consider this game to be an instant classic of the entire genre. Ah well, there is always hope for the sequel, right?

Beautiful hand-drawn visuals, two adorable main characters and a fabulous story that manages to find the right balance between melancholy and humor make for one of the best traditional adventure games in years.

Mafia 2 is a great, story-driven action game which offers great cut scenes and a believable game world. Its characters, graphics, music and sound are outstanding, but it lacks good AI and side missions at the same time. After ten to twelve hours of gameplay you finish the game with no possibility to deal with the game furthermore – compared to other open-world-titles like GTA IV. Anyhow, Mafia 2 is a great old-school-action game, with few faults.

Boring old WW2-RTS? Think again! Ruse combines the tactical depth of classical Panzer General-fame with the action-packed, hectic gameplay of modern day real time strategy games. The story might not make you wet your pants and the main character is a eccentric old prick, but the missions are cleverly designed, the interface is genius in its minimalism and the ruse system allows for strategic gameplay that one finds rarely in modern RTS. If you want to buy only one RTS this year … buy Starcraft 2. But if you want to buy two, Ruse is the game of choice!

Panzer Corps: Wehrmacht is a well done remake of the turn-based-strategy classic Panzer General. You control hundreds of units – tanks, artillery, infantry, ships, aircraft in 4 historical german campaigns. Additional 29 scenarios gives you the chance, to play tha Allies as well. Though the games' graphics isn't up to date, the gameplay is just great and offers great tactical and strategical variety.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

This modern version of one of the best competitive games of all times does a good job in introducing new players to this highly tactical and skill-based gaming experience. If you are a veteran of the old days – CS:GO might disappoint you. It sure looks nice but lacks the precision that made CS 1.6 so damn good. It´s still a very good Counter-Strike, though.

Animation Arts has again created a felicitous adventure in its well known adventure series Secret Files. Secret Files 3 (Geheimakte 3) brings great and diversified puzzles (for experts maybe to easy sometimes) and again mixes a fictitious story with real historical events. Even the mini games are fitting in and leave you the choice of two levels of difficulty. Orchestration, dramatic and cinematic presentation in Secret Files 3 are great and the game even provides several playable characters also as endings - depending on the decisions you make. Although the game lacks optimization of animations and the graphic presentation is getting kind of outdated due to the age of the engine, the game still looks pretty good. Overall it's quite a recommendation for all adventure gamers.

A fun sequel with more content, more variety and better puzzles than in the first game. Featuring a great art style, memorable characters and good jokes (at least for the most part), this second chapter of the Deponia series should not be missed by any fan of point-and-click adventure games.

The sequel of Edna and Harvey: The Breakout again is a cool mix out of crazy puzzles and dialogues, black humor and a pretty good sense of humor and sarcasm. Harvey's New Eyes is even a bit better than the good Edna-adventure before. With Harvey's New Eyes Daedalic proves that they can increase the quality of their even very good games before due to the funny conversations, the bizarre characters and even their deaths.

Lara’s origin story is a terrific, action-packed experience with stunning visuals that sadly has not much to do with her previous adventures. Yet the puzzle physics are cool, the exploration of the island is rewarding and the much-improved combat is easily one of the biggest steps forward for the series – too bad there is sometimes too much of it.

Mythic Entertainment’s approach to topple World of Warcraft accompanies the player on every step and keeps motivation sky high, due to constant rewards. Despite having to deal with some minor bugs and balancing issues, Warhammer Online’s public quests and PvP-focus make it a fair alternative in the growing MMORPG-market.

The Shoot and Loot that Hellgate should have been. The lousy story and the flawed RPG-System do not spoil the fun you will have when frantically mashing through waves of enemies, collecting all kinds of cool weapons!

Capcom did a great job with the conversion of the console hit, especially when it comes down to the very complex controls. Beginners may find themselves frustrated and overwhelmed by the possibilities, but once you learn how to handle your character, the game unfolds its whole fascination.

Only six missions and no gameplay changes whatsoever? Some people will be disappointed by Soviet Assault. But the add-on delivers just what WiC-players need: The new missions fit exactly into the main story and are far more diversified than those of the main game. Whoever liked World in Conflict will absolutely love this “directors cut”-version.

While still a pretty good RTS, Cold War lacks the tactical depth of its predecessors. Just pick a few tanks and roll over whatever resistance there is. The missions are too easy and the engine, although bringing really good explosions to the screen, slows down gameplay to less than 20 FPS.

The Settlers 7 is a daring approach on innovation in a rather old-school strategy series – and it works. The nice graphics and the superb soundtrack border a rapid and entertaining gameplay mechanic that will keep you playing for hours. And although these mechanics work best in multiplayer mode, the developers present a singleplayer campaign with a sweeping story and interesting, demanding missions. If you can look past some graphic glitches and Ubisofts horrible online DRM, you get the best Settlers game in years!

The once great German subgenre of business simulations is brought back to old glory with Patrician 4. This game delivers the same enthralling and challenging experience as its predecessors and tops them with up-to-date graphics and modern-day-improvements such as a drag-and-drop-interface. Patrician 4 has a few design flaws and the campaign is far too easy. But the dynamic trade system, the manifold possibilities of commerce and politics and the detailed depiction of medieval business make for an entertaining game that stands as the best pure business simulation to date.

A huge world to explore, lots of quests and decisions, tons of items and great replay value are reason enough to pick up this fine roleplaying sequel. Sadly, there are some noticeable technical problems, controls could have been better and the graphics look a little outdated. Still, if you enjoyed Fallout 3 for what it is, you will have a great time with New Vegas.

Bulletstorm certainly isn't a revolution amongst first person shooters, but it actually managed to surprise me in a lot of ways. While I expected nothing more than a brainless killing-orgy, Bulletstorm features cool characters, a solid story, creative and fun weapons and foremost a smooth and surprisingly motivating gameplay.

Although Human Revolution neglects to achieve the brilliance of the original Deus Ex, with its dense world, the epic storyline and the open minded gameplay it nevertheless succeeds in reviving one of the most admired science fiction series in the history of game design. Sadly the PC-Version of this great experience is radically handicapped by bugs and excessive loading periods.