While Lost and Damned attempted to mix up the formula set by GTA4 - a focus on motorcycles, a more outright hostile protagonist, and more optional open-world missions - Gay Tony hews much closer to the original game. It isn't a 100% success story; the game's second mission makes you play another dumb minigame (golf!), and it wasn't long before Luis's friend Henrique was pestering me on the phone to "hang out." But it iterates on and improves Liberty City enough to make up for the few bad traits it brought back.

There are a handful of new cars. Nice cars. Fast cars. There's a new combat helicopter with missiles. There's a tank. There are new guns, sticky bombs, explosive shotgun rounds. As a one-up on Lost and Damned's Gun Van feature (which also reappears in Gay Tony), you can call one of Luis's friend for free cars -- and not just for shitty cars, either. In terms of driving and gunplay, this is simply the best in the series.

There are new things to do in the city, too, like optional Drug Wars missions, Base Jumping, and Club Management. Unfortunately these side missions don't deliver very strongly - they all get pretty repetitive, and don't have much in the way of rewards - but it's an improvement nonetheless.

As for the story, it's, well, GTA4-caliber good. Luis Lopez is a strong character, less foolish than Johnny Klebitz, less naive than Niko Bellic. Gay Tony himself is surprisingly well-presented; rather than being a flamboyant joke, Tony's intellect and personal issues make him seem genuinely human.

TBOGT may not have as much length or narrative heft as GTA4 did, but it's denser with fun driving and shooting action. More so than Lost and Damned, Gay Tony proves that the GTA format can work great for smaller stories.

Better than: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
Not as good as: the next GTA, I guess? Arguably, not as fulfilling as Grand Theft Auto IV, but at least as fun
The new Vladivostok FM: is a perfect soundtrack for zooming across the city

Progress: Finally got Bulgarin back

The Minerva's Den DLC was sounding like one I'd actually strongly consider buying. But then, nope! No PC version.

I expect this kind of bullshit from Ubisoft, but come on, really 2K? Not supporting a multiplatform first-person shooter's PC version is kind of inexcusable.

Good news everyone! Crisis averted. Now, don't screw it up!

Progress: Finished on Normal

Apparently, Gang Wars can only be initiated from a bike. So, not bothering with any more of those. Motorcycles are generally better in Lost in Damned than they were in GTA4; specifically, it's more difficult to be thrown off of one. But, due to the laws of physics, they still can't do high speed turns very well. Cars are still more fun.

For that reason, and because the storyline is relatively weak - not to mention, a little spotty (it has a Kane & Lynch-ian quality of some plot points being completely unexplained) - The Lost and Damned fails to meet the high bar set by the original GTA4. But it's certainly still a good deal of fun, and worth playing if you enjoyed Niko's adventure -- not just for the intersecting story points, but also for the new weapons. Two words: street sweeper.

Better than: Overlord: Raising Hell
Not as good as: Grand Theft Auto IV
If you thought bike gangs were scum: TLAD definitely won't change your mind

Progress: Broke into prison

Lords of Shadow looks and sounds great -- the environments are gorgeous, the voice acting is fantastic, the soundtrack is epic, and the story seems genuinely intriguing. It's too bad, then, that the gameplay is so rote and uninteresting. Granted, Metroidvania was getting a little familiar, but you don't freshen up a franchise by turning it into yet another God of War ripoff.

If this becomes a movie or an anime or something, I'd love to watch it.

Progress: Gave Up -- Played the demo

The reviews have made it clear that Dead Rising 2 is more of the same: a pleasant reward for fans of the original, but not doing much at all to fix its many issues. I may not be as downright mad at this as I was at Crackdown 2, but it's an easy pass for me.

Progress: Gave Up

I've been really looking forward to this. I hadn't heard much good about Ninja Theory's previous project, but this one simply looks great: combat and platforming, a genuinely interesting story, and absolutely gorgeous artwork.

After playing the demo, I still think the narrative and presentation is fantastic -- but I'm concerned about the gameplay. While it works, it simply isn't very engaging. Maybe the combat becomes deeper as the game goes on; maybe the platforming and acrobatics become less familiar. I hope so! But now I'm in wait-and-see mode.

Progress: Gave Up -- Played the demo

Take the laziest possible copy of Gears of War, then add the terrible aiming mechanics of Kane & Lynch, remove now-common features like blind-firing from cover (!?), add a completely meaningless melee-combo system, and put a shockingly uninteresting level design around it. That's Quantum Theory.

It's hard to believe how a reasonably professional publisher can, in all seriousness, release a game in 2010 that's nothing more than a bad facsimile of a game from 2007.

Progress: Gave Up -- Finished the demo

Lost and Damned is, I would say, two steps forward and one step back for GTA4. Well, maybe more like two back.

It's pleasing to see TLAD place (much) less emphasis on the insipid parts of GTA4 -- I haven't received any calls from biker buddies about going out bowling, although I have received calls about doing optional side-missions; and the game hasn't even tried to make me care about watching TV or buying clothes. It serves to more strongly emphasize the core action and story, which is basically a good thing.

This generation, Rockstar seems to be all about characterization; but while TLAD has a more consistent stable of characters, none of them are as interesting as the original game's. Johnny's story is a fraction as long as Niko's epic tale of redemption, and as a result, some of the exposition seems hurried and flat. Billy, President of the biker gang, makes his character painfully obvious from the first five minutes, and doesn't seem to have any purpose at all except as a dramatic foil for Johnny. And the other bikers are little more than lackeys, choosing one side or the other in the conflict. It's not a bad story per se, but not as compelling as I expected.

On the whole, gameplay has been improved since GTA4: TLAD doesn't waste any time in introducing you to new weaponry (including a sawed-off shotgun!), and new features like gang warfare make for much more meaningful side-quests than the original game had. But I feel like the gameplay evolution is seriously marred by, well, the motorcycle. Riding a bike isn't always required, but it's always seriously encouraged, and to be frank the bikes still don't work as well as the cars.

So in general I would say I'm pleased with the incremental improvement, but - both because of the weaker story and the goddamn motorcycles - I'm less hooked by TLAD than I was by GTA4.

Progress: Gang wars!

Tilting the stick 'up' to jump bothers me. Otherwise, Muramasa's control scheme and battle mechanics are pleasantly sophisticated and varied. The story is surprisingly vacant, insomuch as, after the first boss encounter, I still don't know the premise; there's a bit of intrigue, but Muramasa is definitely relying on the strength of its action gameplay to motivate me forward.

What worries me the most is the game's difficulty. There are two options to start, and the default selection is the Easy one -- I selected the harder-sounding option, which isn't hard most of the time, but I feel like enemies do an inordinate amount of damage when they hit me. At the same time, I wonder if the game would be too easy on the easier setting. At least I have the option of changing difficulties in the pause menu, should I hit a wall later on.

Progress: Momohime Act 2

Hahahahahaha!!

Better than: Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard (what the foxtrot!)
Not as good as: Rogue Warrior (needs more cursing)
Best ending: ever?

Progress: Finished on Normal