Unlike the previous Crysis entries, you don’t start off in the famous Nanosuit or the elite government agency that uses them. You play a marine named Alcatraz who is being shipped out to New York for a mission that you’re not fully briefed on. En route, you're attacked and the submarine you’re on is sunk by aliens. Barely surviving, you are pulled out of the water by Prophet, the main character from previous Crysis games. It's not long before he gives you his Nanosuit; it’s the only thing that can keep you alive in this new urban battlefield.

Like many games, you start off with a quick tutorial showing you how to crouch, sprint and jump. You’ll also learn about the Nanosuit's capabilities, including the ability to cloak, use heat vision and activate an armor mode. There’s also a tactical visor that can show you the locations of objectives and the closest ammunition stashes. I’m happy to report that the ammo stashes are plentiful in Crysis 2.  My biggest complaint in the original Crysis games is that there was never enough ammo. Grenades are a little harder to come by, so I usually stock up on them.

In 1985, Stephen King admitted his reluctance to publish his 1983 novel Pet Cemetary, saying, “I don’t like it. It’s a terrible book … it just spirals down into darkness.” Reading the book revealed a story that told of abject horror, because its themes grappled with love and death, dealing with the nature of grief and mourning. It is not a happy or light book, in other words, but it’s still plenty gripping.

Alan Wake, developed by Remedy Entertainment (the acclaimed Finland-based developers of the Max Payne series), finds its inspiration in not only King’s novels, but also King himself.  And like Pet Semetary, Alan Wake spirals into darkness. The story is one of insanity and obsession, and there aren’t any easy answers here, nor should there be. Horror is terrifying because of what isn’t said, not because of the obvious. Sure enough, Remedy’s game leaves a lot of things unanswered, and that’s exactly the way they wanted it. Like the horror novels that it takes its inspiration from (as well as TV shows, like Lost and Twin Peaks), Alan Wake is a game that leaves more questions than it solves, resolving things with an ending that is more opaque than anything else.

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation was originally released only in Japan for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, where it became a best seller with 3.2 million copies. An additional million copies were sold in its DS re-release form in 2010. The US finally got it for the first time ever in 2011 and it concludes the Zenithia trilogy with some story line references from Dragon Quest IV and V.

Like a country road, the story is long, winding and a bit confusing at times. The game starts with you being woken up by your sister and as you begin to explore the world it becomes apparent the real world is connected to a dream world. As you learn to travel between the two it can become confusing as to which one you're currently inhabiting.

It's like Resident Evil, but in space. That was the first impression I had of Dead Space before I took the time to sit down and actually play through it. After finishing the game, Dead Space became one of of my favorite mature-rated games for the PS3. Not only was it a unique experience that warranted multiple playthroughs, it took place in a cool universe and was a solid gem from Visceral Games. I did have some quibbles with it though, like the Zero Gravity segments and with backtracking. With Dead Space 2 shipping  recently, let's see if it's worth reliving the horror a second time.

It's been three years since the USG Ishimura incident. CEC Engineer Isaac Clarke is being held in a hospital on the Sprawl, a massive space station constructed on one of the moons orbiting Saturn. It doesn't take long before the Sprawl spirals out of control with a Necromorph outbreak, the same kind that wreaked havoc on the doomed Ishimura. As Isaac sets out to escape the Necromorphs flooding the hospital, he meets up with a handful of other survivors who guide him throughout the infected metropolis.

Arguably speaking, the most memorable scene in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather happens towards the end of the film, where Michael Corleone witnesses his godson’s christening. When the priest asks if the child renounces Satan, Michael answers for him: “I do,” he says. At the same time, the heads of families that rival the Corleones are executed, at Michael’s order.

The juxtaposition of the holy and the unholy, as shown in The Godfather, the mob film which most influences Mafia 2, is exactly the problem with the game. In it, you have a beautifully imagined world, set against an almost entirely linear story, and gorgeous graphics, with serious flaws in animation and collision detection. It is a game that works best when it’s not trying to be as violent as it can be, yet for some reason loads the back end of the entire experience with boring, frustrating, combat-heavy moments, none of which actually add to the game itself.

While the world is still recovering from a nuclear apocalypse, the reconstruction of New Vegas is underway. New Vegas is by far the best looking area since the war happened. Of course, it's a huge moneymaker and quite the tourist trap. Whoever can control New Vegas has the world in the palm of their hand.

Surrounding New Vegas are run-down towns with gun and drug dealers, prostitutes, gangs and independent thugs. The Mojave Desert is no safer; escaped convicts, giant scorpions, and other unnatural creatures are on the loose. In these circumstances, how can a person expect to survive?