These days when most people hear the term "music game", they mainly think of games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Colored icons falling down the screen. Tapping various buttons as the icons pass a pre-determined point. Success demonstrated by the ability to make the song you're playing sound like it does on the original recording. A pile of plastic instruments. I've been playing those kinds of games since they were first published, and I still play them on a regular basis. However, Orgarhythm is not that kind of music game. Instead, Acquire and Neilo decided layer a strategy game on top of the beat-matching to give a less familiar experience.

For better or worse, and to the chagrin of some of the series' more outspoken fans, Capcom stuck by their decision to shake up Devil May Cry and try something new. Understandably, news of this reboot set off major concerns from loyal followers, some of whom have painted a bleak picture for the future of the series. In their eyes, Dante should always have white hair, a cocky demeanor, a touch of Japanese wackiness, and a deep arsenal of weapons and combos to use in his fight against demons. Nothing could ever change it.

As someone who enjoyed the first and third installments of Devil May Cry immensely, I couldn't help but feel conflicted by this change. Our first look at the new "Dante" had a disturbingly beat-up and dark motif, but one the developer has subtlely dialed back over time. Just take a look at Dante now! New developer Ninja Theory has wisely toned down some of the off-putting characteristics their rebooted hero initially displayed, making him a much more approachable leading man. As far as looks go, he still bears similarities to professional Portuguese soccer player Cristano Ronadlo over Hillary Swank and Twilight, but he also retains the same irreverent attitude as ever -- not to mention a collection of fantastic weapons and fighting styles to use against his demon opponents. And, most importantly, he's still cool.

Anarchy Reigns can look like a scatterbrained mess of a game at times. Its art direction wanders all over the place, with character designs culled from a wide palette of visual styles. Imagine cybernetic burly dudes, skin-tight vixens, robots, and a dash of Dynasty Warrior costumes, and you'll start to get the idea. Its use of hub worlds and a scoring system to unlock new missions can appear obtuse and even arbitrary. Some may even think the single-player feels a bit tacked-on, mostly due to a oddly implemented campaign structure that can feel like a perfunctory way to unlock the remaining 16-player roster. And then there's the middling graphics, which range in quality from up-rezzed PlayStation 2 visuals to an almost-but-not-quite-Unreal-Engine-3 level of detail. If you can't handle these types of flaws, you probably won't find Anarchy Reigns that impressive or fun -- even at the tantalizing price tag of $30.

But there's more to Anarchy Reigns than these surface level flaws, and if you're willing to look a little deeper, there's actually a fun game to enjoy here. Anyone disappointed by its presentation and campaign structure will still find a surprisingly deep brawler to play with, and for developer Platinum Games that's kind of the point: Sure, Anarchy Reigns presents a handful of irksome single-player design decisions, but it ultimately succeeds in resuscitating the multiplayer brawler and applies a modern sensibility to a forgotten genre.

First impressions are important in art, but they're certainly not everything. I really despised my first few hours of pain in Dark Souls. I couldn't imagine why anyone would put themselves through such an arduous gauntlet of pain and suffering. Of course, I now know that my ignorance of FromSoft's language was at the heart of this misinformed opinion, and upon learning Souls' inherent lexicon, it became one of my favorite games of 2011. But for every game that builds like Dark Souls, there's an analogue that makes a fantastic first impression, only to show its cards far too early. So it goes with Black Knight Sword, the newest downloadable title from co-developers Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality.

For better or worse, you kind of know what you're getting into when you enter a game with Suda's name on it. With this in mind, Black Knight Sword starts with a fantastic opening that exudes the uniquely strange style and vision that we've come to associate with the eccentric creator. You begin this dark fairy tale where most childhood stories start -- at the business end of a noose. Upon wiggling your corpse off of its not-so-final resting place, your titular knight stumbles upon a cursed blade, and thus begins a three-hour tour through a hellish nightmare. It's a great first few minutes, but the game sadly heads in a downward direction after that.

I honestly have no idea how I continually missed out on Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath over the past decade. Despite recommendations from friends and colleagues, I never managed to sit down and give it my full attention. Being a huge fan of all manner of westerns, I was promised that I'd love it. I was aware of the oft-cited twist that it held, but knew nothing of the specifics. Lucky for me, having Stranger's Wrath HD (yes, technically it's not really HD) ported to the Vita right before I embarked on a two week vacation provided the fortuitous series of events necessary for me to finally discover just who this Stranger was, and why he was so damn wrathful. After barreling through the adventure in a manner of days, I'm glad to report that this trip into Oddworld ages quite well, save for one huge design flaw courtesy of the Vita's most unnecessary functionality.

You play as The Stranger, a bounty hunter who roams the world collecting blood money in order to pay for an unknown operation. The basic structure plays out in a similar vein as GTA III, in which you visit larger towns, accept a mission, then venture forth to find and capture your bounty. While there's nothing new about this general structure, it's in Oddworld's action where its originality shines. With a tap the Vita's front screen, you'll transition your view from 3rd-person exploration to 1st-person combat. Your weapon throughout the adventure is always a crossbow, but it's your ammunition that makes all of the difference. The world is quite literally crawling with a variety of living creatures that you hunt, collect, and eventually fire at your enemies -- spiders lasso your unsuspecting victims, while a barrage of bees turn you into a gatling gun-wielding Stranger With No Name.

I'd like to describe Crimson Shroud as an acquired taste, but I'm not sure that term really conveys the nature of the game. For one, it implies someone could learn to like it, whereas I'm fairly certain you come into this world either loving or hating Crimson Shroud. You're either going to dig what director Yasumi Matsuno aims to do here, or you're going to despise it with the burning passion of a thousand fiery suns. Even those who have enjoyed previous Matsuno projects like Final Fantasy Tactics may find Crimson Shroud entirely too opaque for its own good.

I don't really get the tower defense genre. That may sound strange, but there's no other way for me to begin this review. I usually cringe when its introduced as a gimmick in other games, as it was in Assassin's Creed: Revelations. And though I appreciate the elegance of something like PixelJunk Monsters, I just can't seem to wrap my head around the mental strategy and mechanical prowess needed to withstand waves upon waves of oncoming marauders. Maybe the two halves of my brain don't actively communicate well enough to handle the multitasking required to create sufficient fortifications. But with that being said, know that I really want to understand these games and be able to complete them without ripping out my hair.

It's with that in mind that we come to Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault, the latest adventure starring the genocidal Lombax and his pet robot. A bit of background -- I really do love what Insomniac has done with the Ratchet & Clank series over the past decade. From its pair of fantastic PS2/PS3 trilogies that continually evolved the universe, to the Pixar-esque writing that managed to appeal to kids and adults on completely different levels, and even to the side-installments that toyed with new genres to varying degrees of success, it's a franchise that has never rested on its laurels.

Few feelings measure up to the general satisfaction that follows after you solve a challenging puzzle. This is especially true if, like me, you've wasted more than 20 minutes (or even a few days) doing it wrong. Crashmo thrives on your ability to reach this happy place. Developed by Intelligent Systems as the sequel to Pushmo -- a phenomenal puzzle game quietly released late last year -- Crashmo explains its core concept with more more confidence than its predecessor.

Success in Crashmo depends on your ability to make visual connections. A player must rearrange blocks until they find a clear route to the top so they can rescue a small bird and clear the stage. It's all very cute, and it has a story-driven purpose, too.The playing field itself is much wider than the previous installment, and each stage begins with a set of blocks crashing down into a pre-arranged stack. I suppose nothing really crashes in Crashmo, since pieces quietly fall to the ground as the player shuffles them back and forth. Don't count on realistic physics as a defining aspect of Crashmo. As long as block stands on a single support piece, adjacent pieces will remain held up as well.

Warning: the following review contains significant, life-shattering spoilers. You have been warned.

Bob Mackey: I've been following Telltale's efforts since they revived Sam & Max in 2006, and while I've played and enjoyed nearly everything they've put out so far, none of their productions to date would have ranked as my favorite game of their respective years. Yet here we are, just a few weeks after the release of Episode 5, and I can't think of a single game of 2012 -- or in recent memory, for that matter -- that drew me in more than The Walking Dead. Granted, it reduced the classic adventure game formula down to a series of choices and QTEs instead of the typical mind-bending puzzles, but this humble little game did for me what the bombastic and high-budget Heavy Rain could never do. Telltale made me care about each of their flawed characters, and forced me to make some very tough choices -- choices that many games wouldn't be brave enough to force on an unassuming audience. At the end of Lee's journey, it took minutes for me to recover from the emotional exhaustion of watching this compassionate character meet his undeserved end. Most game stories -- regardless of their ambition -- have me feeling seriously disconnected from the players on screen; with The Walking Dead, I eagerly anticipated each episode just to see what would happen next. That's damned impressive.

Marty and Jose have also been playing along with The Walking Dead since its summer debut, and our excitement over Telltale's latest project inspired us to write this review as a group. So guys, how did you feel about the overall trajectory of the story? Did it sag in any particular areas? Do you think Telltale earned the game's bittersweet ending? And how about The Walking Dead as a game: do you think this medium was the best format for its story?

As someone who adores stealth action games, I guess I shouldn't be surprised how quickly I've warmed up to Hitman Absolution. Naturally, the thrill in stealth games comes from staying hidden -- much like playing hide-and-go-seek many, many years ago -- and from the art of carefully bypassing a series of obstacles in order to reach a heavily guarded destination. In line with prior games in the Hitman series, Absolution tailors its stealth experience around fun, flexible game mechanics that empower players to experiment with different approaches -- offering dozens of options and opportunities in order to complete a given task. Unfortunately, as much as Absolution nails this core concept, the story and characters present the silliest and most unlikeable cast of folks you've every pointed a gun at.

Absolution's stealth mechanics may seem difficult to wrap your brain around at first, but developer IO Interactive gets things rolling quickly and confidently tosses the player into a fairly open second mission, titled "King of Chinatown," with nothing more than a pair of silenced pistols and intuition -- a feature that slows down events in the world and highlights enemies though objects to show their intended patrol routes. Using a careful mix of environmental distractions, social camouflage, and intuition to maneuver around enemies, players can carefully creep through Hitman's heavily guarded areas without a lot of the guesswork that typically comes up in stealth games.

Undoubtedly you've heard of the Chinatown level, as Square Enix has used it as their go-to for public demos at events like E3 2012, and for good reason: It's possibly the single best example of Absolution's freedom and the surprising number of ways protagonist Agent 47 can MacGuyer his way though any scenario. Carefully searching through the environment reveals a variety of different approaches to take out the target, from poisoning his meals to blowing him up along with his exotic sports car. In the end, you decide how to best handle the murder, but Absolution tends to reward the one that looks least incriminating and injures the fewest bystanders -- i.e., poison, construction accidents, or some other natural-looking phenomenon. Of course, you could bypass all the exploration, locate the target, and take the obvious trigger-happy approach, but doing so comes with its own set of consequences -- in this case, a dangerous shootout against the local police and SWAT. Regardless of what you decide, improvisation becomes a core element of Absolution and always needs to be taken into consideration.

PlanetSide 2 isn't interested in explaining itself. Want to know why the planet Auraxis is caught in a three-way tug-of-war between red guys, blue guys, and purple guys? Go read a wiki. Having trouble understanding some basic gameplay systems? Tough luck. Not sure where to go or what to do in general? You're on your own, pal.

No, Sony Online Entertainment's free-to-play MMOFPS doesn't deal in explanations. Mostly, it's in the business of serving up carnage on a ridiculous scale, as well as constantly dishing out amazing, player-driven moments that you'd swear were scripted -- a flying gunship exploding because a somebody steered an orbital drop pod through it, for instance. And though it might be jarring the first time PlanetSide dumps you into its massive world, those who brave the learning curve will discover a gorgeous, dynamic shooter with bigger firefights than any other game of its kind.

Very few games have ever left me in a state of frustrated awe quite like Pid, a new puzzle-platformer available through a majority of digital download venues. The inaugural effort by Swedish indie studio Might and Delight, Pid pays unerring homage to the 8-bit platformers we all grew up on, even if that means bringing over some of the archaic design decisions that games have long-since moved past. It's this unflinching love of that specific era of gaming that contribute to Pid's greatest successes, while simultaneously guiding its most massive failures.

A bulk of the action in Pid involves guiding a young child through a gorgeous 2D world by using his ability to create gravity-defying beams of light. Upon throwing small orbs at specific surfaces, a light will shine out that acts as a quasi-tractor beam. These allow you to hang from the ceiling, float above the ground, and just generally avoid the game's many, many obstacles. When Pid just tasks you with solving environmental puzzles free from enemies, it feels great. With only a finite number of beams that can be open at one time, your journey is filled with small moments of friction, that with a little bit of thinking, prove to be the precursors to those satisfying "aha!" moments. But when these environmental puzzles are filled with Pid's various enemies, the game quickly delves into the realm of madness.

There are a lot of sour elements in our industry that I wish would go away, despite being fully aware that they're here to stay. Quick cash-grabs based on popular licensed products always have, and sadly, always will exist in video games. Alongside this is the trend of making something retro without fully understanding why these things worked in the first place. Jeremy tackled this strange world of 8-bit parody in his fantastic review of Retro City Rampage. But despite those two blights on our medium, there are games that can exist as both and still remain exciting and entertaining.

Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!! works because it doesn't hinge on the cheap thrills of pointing at something old and saying, "Look, it's something old!" Instead, it delivers an experience that remains faithful to the source material through the guise of a classic mold that fits the experience quite well. Much like Telltale has done with The Walking Dead, WayForward has managed to successfully transition a popular franchise to our medium by taking a look back at gaming's past.

You have fun games, and then you have games that have fun. In Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, this is apparent even in the audio options. If you begin to turn down the announcer's voice, you'll hear his increasingly faint cries: "You're going the wrong way!" "This is my only job!" It's the tiniest of details, but it's representative of the sort of fun Transformed has, on top of the overall celebrations of Sega's history.

And it is a fun game, too. Coming off of 2010's Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Transformed is another round of Mario Kart-style racing featuring a cast of Sega characters past and present (mostly past), and a suite of courses based on the worlds they come from. In Transformed, this is all bumped up a notch: the graphics and sound are better, the courses more varied, and the cars aren't always cars. Indeed, the hook of Transformed is that you frequently go from driving to flying to boating -- or any combination of those -- in the course of one race, with characters' vehicles morphing instantaneously.

The premise of Far Cry 3 plays out like a fantasy from the darkest recesses of Nancy Grace's subconscious: seven wealthy, white Americans find themselves kidnapped by locals when their tropical vacation mistakenly dips right into the thick of civil war. With his friends kidnapped by an enigmatic slave trader known only as Vaas, protagonist Jason Brody must adapt to the harsh law of the jungle -- with the help of the native Rakyat people -- and forget his cushy Southern California lifestyle, if only until he makes an escape with friends in tow. Of course, as Brody goes to further lengths to reach his goals, he puts his humanity at risk, which paves the path for Ubisoft to craft a tale with themes ripped straight from the pages of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.