Folklore - Playstation 3

    It's been 17 years since your mother passed away. Or has it? Yesterday you received a letter, supposedly from your mother, asking you to meet her in a seaside village in Ireland. You are supposed to meet her on the Cliff of Sidhe near the village of Doolin. It is said that in the village of Doolin the living can meet with the dead. You have great trouble believing that the letter could be from your mother, but what if it is? You make the trip to the island hoping to be reunited with your mother, whom you thought you'd lost forever.

    Many miles away, the editor of an occult magazine's phone begins to ring. He answers it and hears a panicked female's voice on the other end. "Help! Help me! These faerys, they'll...they'll kill me.... The village Doolin....on the Cliff of Sidhe!.....Please!" Ugh, another prank call. Will these childish bullies never cease to leave him alone? Faerys, right, how foolish do they think he is? But what if it was real? What if someone needs his help? Uncovering faerys could make for one hell of an article. Against his better judgment, he to sets off for the village of Doolin.

Costume Quest - Xbox 360 Arcade

    It's Halloween! Tonight, kids all over are dressing up as ghosts and ghouls in hopes of scaring up some candy from their neighbors. I have a lot of good memories of trick-or-treating as a child, and even more of chowing down on my bag of Halloween candy for the next two weeks! Costume Quest brings back these good memories, as well as some of the excitement I would feel as a kid when Halloween came around each year.

Bastion - Xbox Live Arcade

    Xbox Live Arcade has changed the way many people see video games. Previously, games needed to be huge creations backed by a giant budget and hyped up to no end to be successful. Art and creative expression often took a backseat to what would make companies the most money. Xbox Live Arcade's flexible pricing and digital delivery has allowed developers to focus on creativity and narrative rather than shiny effects and hype. Bastion is a perfect example of what developers can do when they aren't shackled by the usual business aspects of releasing a game.

Torchlight - Xbox 360 Live Arcade

    Torchlight is an Action Role Playing Game developed by Runic Games. The game was originally released on the PC in 2009, but was later ported to the Xbox 360 Live Arcade in 2011. In developing their game, Runic clearly was channeling the earlier top-down viewpoint Action RPGS such as Diablo II. It almost feels as though Runic Games couldn't wait for a sequel and decided to create their own!

Dark Souls - Xbox 360

    Dark Souls is an Action Role-playing game developed by From Software. The game was released in the USA in 2012 on both the Xbox 360, PC, and Playstation 3. Dark Souls is the spiritual successor of 2009's Demon's Souls which was only available on the Playstation 3. The Souls games have gained an almost cult following with fans in the past few years. Those who do not enjoy the games are nearly as vocal as those who do, however. What about the game could be so polarizing?

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements - Xbox 360

    Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements, other than being a mouthful of a title, is a First-Person Action game that has some minor Role Playing elements developed by Arkane Studios and Floodgate Entertainment. The multiplayer portion of the game was developed by Kuju Entertainment and the game was produced by Ubisoft. Dark Messiah was released in 2008 on both the PC and the Xbox 360. From what I have read, major changes were made to the game between the PC and Xbox 360 versions, and not for the better for Xbox gamers. All I know is what the Xbox version is like, so I'll review based only on my own experiences with the game.

Dead Island - Xbox 360

    Dead Island is an Action/Survival Horror game developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. The game was released in 2011 on the PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360. Somewhat unique to this genre, Dead Island makes use of a first-person view, putting you right in the middle of a zombie outbreak as though you are seeing it first hand.

Dragon Age II - Xbox 360

    Dragon Age 2 is an Action Role Playing Game developed by Bioware and published by Electronic Arts. The 2011 game is the much anticipated second game in the series after Dragon Age: Origins. Dragon Age: Origins has become known for its tough, strategic combat and inter-character relationships. Dragon Age 2 improves on one of these aspects, and takes two steps backwards in the other.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - Xbox 360

    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an Action/RPG developed by Big Huge Games and 38 Studios (headed by ex-Major League Baseball pitcher Curt Schilling). The game was published by Electronic Arts and saw release in 2012. Kingdoms of Amalur saw a huge amount of hype as it neared release, and got nearly as much media attention after. The game touted an amazing cast of writers and designers such as Ken Rolsten (of The Elder Scrolls fame) working on game design, Todd McFarlane (of Spiderman and Spawn comic book fame) working on art design, and R.A. Salvatore (If you're a fantasy fan that hasn't heard of Drizzt Do'Urden, there's something wrong, love him or hate him, Salvatore has made a killing with his books) writing the game's story. Gamers looked forward to what looked to be the greatest Action/RPG ever to be released (the game was meant to garner attention for the series and a MMORPG was planned eventually), only to find that the game was much less amazing than they had expected. While the game met with a relatively positive reception, it sold extremely poorly and lead to the demise of Big Huge Games and 38 Studios. The closure of developer 38 Studios lead to a $75 million dollar lawsuit levied against the company by the State of Rhode Island who loaned the business money to make the game. Luckily, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is not nearly as big of a disaster as it caused.

Crimson Alliance - Xbox 360 Arcade

    Crimson Alliance is a Cooperative Action/RPG developed by Certain Affinity and published by Microsoft Studios. Released in 2011, Crimson Alliance has caused a lot of confusion on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The game uses the Freemium model of sales in which you can download the game for free, though with limited gameplay. Gameplay time and level limits keep the free game from having full functionality. For a price, you can download one or all three of the game's characters, fully unlocking the game for that class. A huge number of online message board topics have been created since the games release saying that "Microsoft messed up! Crimson Alliance is accidentally listed as free! Download it before they notice!" Sorry pal, while it is free, it is meant to be, and only offers a taste of the full game.

Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga - Xbox 360

    Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga is an Action Role Playing Game created by Belgian developer Larian Studios. The Dragon Knight Saga is a revised version of the 2010 Action RPG Divinity II: Ego Draconis. Released in the US in 2011, The Dragon Knight Saga improves on Ego Draconis's choppy framerate and awkward controls as well as a number of other improvements to the game. It also includes the expansion pack Flames of Vengeance. Many people feel as though Larian's re-release (and re-working) of Ego Draconis saved the game from being doomed to the bargain bin and being missed by many new fans to the series.

Dust: An Elysian Tail - Xbox 360 Arcade

    Dust: An Elysian Tail is an action game with RPG elements created by the extremely talented Dean Dodrill and published by Microsoft studios. That's right, you heard correctly, everything in the game except for the music, voice acting, and a small bit of story writing was all done by one person. The game was released 2012 solely on the Xbox 360 Arcade, but will be released later in 2013 for PC.

Nier - Xbox 360

    Nier is an Action Role Playing Game created by Cavia and published by Square Enix. The game saw release in 2010 on both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. With a mixture of witty banter, mature story themes, and numerous references to other game series and styles, Nier is an incredibly enjoyable adventure.

Retro Review! Live-A-Live - Super Nintendo

    Live A Live is a Japanese Role Playing Game (JRPG) created by Square. The game only saw a release on the Super Famicom in 1994 and was never officially available outside of Japan. An unofficial fan translation allows non-Japanese speaking gamers to enjoy the JRPG. It's really too bad that the game never saw an English release, as it presents some unique ideas in game design as well as a large amount of humor and enjoyable gameplay.