Timothy J. Seppala

Without a doubt, Alice: Madness Returns has the most beautiful and well-realized aesthetic of any game I’ve seen in ages. But, I’m begging you to never play it. Why? Because it’s heartbreaking that a world rife with so many imaginative possibilities ends up feeling so empty, so dull, and so soulless.

Brink (Splash Damage/Bethesda)
Xbox 360 (also for PS3/PC)

Everything about Brink feels like a missed opportunity. I wanted to like it because I'm a sucker for objective-based shooters, and I was jonesing for something new. Instead, it feels too much like other shooters, not to mention the fact that it recycles its own few new ideas ad nauseum.

While movie pundits squabble over whether or not 3D does anything besides eke out a few extra bucks per ticket at the box office, gamers have been reaping stereoscopic rewards for the past couple of months. Sony 3D games started making their way to market this past fall, and there have already been enough high-profile releases to keep those expensive glasses stuck on your face for the rest of the year.

Dead Island came out of nowhere earlier this year; its announcement trailer - the scariest set of reverse-chronology vacation snapshots you've seen in a while - went viral and now has more than 4.7 million hits on YouTube. And then for months we heard nothing. What was it, exactly?

Well, I played it the other week at E3 and can tell you exactly what it is: A first-person action-RPG with a focus on melee combat and weapon crafting. Oh, and you can play it online with three buddies, with drop-in/drop-out co-op.