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I've always been of the mind-set that adventure games are story, puzzles and artwork. The Experiment attempts to break the mold and create a sense of immersion like no other. Can they avoid a stereotypical adventure game and cut out the puzzles and wild stories? Or maybe we should ask, should they?

Despite the horrible acting in the Van Helsing movie I'm still drawn to the story; alright it was worse than horrible, but still. I'm not sure what it is about vampires and vampire hunters that is intrigues me so, but as it keeps on inspiring story after story, game after game, I seem to be at no loss for material.

The late 90's were a particularly fruitful time for strategy games: The Command and Conquer series was in full swing, as was the hugely popular Age of Empires series. StarCraft and Total Annihilation were storming the charts, and myriad other games rode on these titles' coat-tails. The catch? They were all 2D and that brings us, rather neatly, to SunAge — the first 2D RTS title that I've seen in any prominence since, well, almost the turn of the millennium.

After attending the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning developer conference call all I can say is that they live their motto, "WAAAGH!" The media participants had previously submitted questions; this was a moderated call where the developers talked and we listened. Once the floor was turned over to them hilarity ensued with frequent anecdotes of who got caught by whom playing the game instead of working. Among the laughter and ribbing, we did receive some information regarding how the game was progressing.

Have you ever had one of those days? You know, where you’re being transported to death row for your various crimes as a mercenary. There you are, resigned to your fate when suddenly the heavily medicated psychopath chained next to you tells you to get down. An explosion tears open the back of the van and tosses it on its side. As you stumble out into the glaring sun, you find yourself in the middle of a firefight. Your only option is to follow this psychopath in his escape. And it just gets worse from there.

The kitchen work surface is dripping with slime, the lights are going crazy, there's screaming coming from down the hallway and your landlady dropped another of her passive-aggressive little rent demands through the letterbox this morning.

Who ya gonna call?

I don't often play first person perspective games. Even though they seem to be "all the rage," I don't find any innovation in the game style over the years. However, when I saw the premise behind Penumbra: Black Plague, my head turned. Could it really be an innovative and unique first person game?

To describe The Ship, we should start with this passage from the game manual: The Ship is a single- and multiplayer murder game with a unique set of game rules." Actually, multiplayer games are much the same one to the other. I don't really find anything unique about them.

I've never been one for real-time strategy games on a console — I'm far too wedded to my keyboard and mouse. I'm sure that my occasional flirts with RTS demos and rentals on my 360 have been looked upon with disapproval by my faithful PC, monitor, keyboard and mouse, but the marriage has never been threatened in the least. Then Sierra took me into a little curtained-off cubicle in a hotel in San Francisco and let me play a little World in Conflict: Soviet Assault...

Having lived in the Southwest my entire life, Las Vegas has simply always been. I don't remember the first time I visited. I do remember when the Excalibur was built - it was then the FAR south end of the Strip (now it is the middle). I remember playing quarter arcade machines and refilling my cup from my father's - he was playing quarter slots. But my memory of this repeats so often I could have been 8, 13 or 15. Like Los Angeles, Las Vegas is never what people imagine it to be - much to their delight and disappointment. This is Vegas allows you the chance to build the Vegas of your dreams (well, assuming you're a guy - I'd build a pretty raunchy Vegas, too but it wouldn't look quite like this.)

Many of the defining moments of World War II in the Pacific arena were decided by fleet battles. These weren't conducted with battleships, but with carrier fleets. Control of the air was handed to these noble ships against a fanatical enemy determined to win at any cost. Battles were hard-fought campaigns by brave naval personnel and the pilots who manned the fighters and bombers and who gave their lives in defense to win territory and regain control of the islands of the Pacific, with the ultimate goal of the Japanese surrender and ending the war.

I was lucky enough to grow up at the time when arcades and video games were just hitting it big. This meant that I spent a lot of time in front of various games feeding the machines quarters like it was going out of style. Star Defender 4 by AWEM Studios reminds me a lot of a few of the old-school arcade games, and this is a good thing. The game looks like a fairly basic shooter, but it has some interesting features that set it apart. As the name suggests, this is the fourth one to be made, and I would eventually expect a fifth with the gameplay I experienced.

Spiderwick Chronicles is a video game based on the theatrical release by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Films. The five books — “The Field Guide,” “The Seeing Stone,” “Lucinda's Secret,” “The Ironwood Tree” and “The Wrath of Mulgarath” — were written by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. Even though the books were for children, I found them an enjoyable fantasy diversion.

My second outing with Poirot was actually created prior to Peril at End House. Luckily, the stories stand independently of each other so there were no continuity issues in that way. Death on the Nile takes place on a luxury ship (think small, old-fashioned cruise ship) that is carrying the wealthy, their servants, their companions, and the crew, on a tour of the Nile. All of the action takes place on and around the ship. You won't be exploring any pyramids.

My daughter couldn't wait to get I Love Puppies! The way some young girls are horse-crazy ... well, she is puppy-crazy. There was no way we weren't going to get this game. I first opened the game with some trepidation. I was certain I was facing another micro-management style pet-care game, and I don't think I can stand to muck out another virtual stall, clean another virtual cage and scoop another virtual litter box without having a not-so-virtual nervous breakdown. I can't tell you how delighted I was to find nary a virtual pooper-scooper in sight!

Age of Castles sets you as the ruler of a castle with one goal: grow until you conquer the realm. Each realm you conquer pushes you closer to your ultimate goal: a population of 1 billion people. To reach this goal, you must allocate your resources efficiently. It may seem simple enough, but there's always a level of trade-off and the chance you are robbing Peter to pay Paul. By properly managing your population, gold, castle, and army, you will win the realm. Neglect them, and you will find yourself in a bad way.

I don't understand why so many casual PC games style themselves as "addictive." To me, that term indicates a "can't put it down" drive to finish the whole darned thing at once — a level of compulsion that video games generally have to be fairly epic to incite. Games that involve popping colored bubbles or lining up jewels may be fun, and I may like playing them, but rarely do I feel forced onward. Casual games should, instead, be enjoyable in segments — bright spots of entertainment that fight off those little holes of boredom lurking in your day.

Developed by Slitherine and published by CDV Entertainment USA, The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome is a real-time tactical simulation that lets you take command of Roman legions and experience the history of the Roman Empire from its earliest days when it was ruled by Etruscan kings, to the last days of a dying empire. From the very start, Great Battles of Rome pulls you into the story of the emerging republic as you throw off the yoke of the king and established Rome as its own city-state. But times are not easy for your people as Rome is still weak and beset by enemies on all sides. You must recruit troops and lead them into battle to secure Rome's future and seal its fate.

To play Azkend is to immerse oneself in a mysterious journey through the Asian countryside, rewarded with lush graphics and tantalizing music. It's also an incredibly addictive variation of a match-3 game.

On more than one occasion my peers in the games press have told me that I can be hard on MMO designers — almost as hard as I am on children's game designers. I have this nagging twitch that tells me that there is some truth to their criticism of me, but I believe that I should throw difficult questions at a game still in production. If not then, when? I have to give the folks at Cartoon Network credit: I have spoken with them twice about their upcoming kid's MMOG Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall, and they take my questions, criticisms and downright belligerency in stride. In fact, they ask my opinion. I think this bodes well for the game since the target audience — kids 8-14 — is exactly where my kids lie.

If you or your child loves zoo animals, and especially have aspirations to being a zoo vet, you have come to the right place. In Zoo Vet 2: Endangered Animals, you are a new vet at the zoo. You will diagnose and treat a variety of animals with a number of different aliments, as well as feed and maintain the animals that aren't in critical condition.

If you're looking for a brainless casual game to kill 10 or 15 minutes, don't play Democracy. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a thoughtful game that will require you to balance the conflicting desires of a voting populace in a democratic society so that you can stay in power, you might want to give Democracy a closer look.

DiRT is an off-road simulation driving game. It's easy to use and offers a good challenge to those already familiar with driving games as well as to the new player. The options it offers give the player the ability to set difficulty for each and every race they drive — thus, no more annoying restarts halfway through the game when it suddenly becomes too difficult.

My first memories strategy space gaming are from Masters of Orion, one of the best 4X games ever. This is arguably the granddaddy of all space strategy games that followed. Following in its ion trails, we have Sins of a Solar Empire, an ambitious RT4X game, developed by Ironclad and published by Stardock. If you're a space strategy junkie then this is a must have game. Its expansive detail, and easy pace, combined with stunning graphics screams play me. The gameplay is deep and expansive yet the hours will go by fast as you build your empire from a single planet to a mighty empire.

Age of Empires is one of my favorite types of games: third-person perspective real-time strategy in a quasi-historical setting. The game was produced by Big Huge Games, Ensemble Studios and MGS. The Asian Dynasties game is an expansion of the original Age of Empires III and will not play without the original game.

As a person who has tried numerous war games — from board to computer — I'm always amazed at the sheer variety available. I've played strategic, tactical, third-person, first-person and board games in various flavors. I would have to say that John Tiller's Campaign Series is something akin to a tactical to extreme tactical game. Published by Matrix Games, in cooperation with Campaign Series Legion, the game brings you three fronts to get lost in for hours. The East Front, West Front and Rising Sun - with 350 scenarios. Add to this linked campaigns and any war-game fanatic should be able fill his World War II war-gaming needs.

Despite the name, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into when I loaded up Penguins Arena: Sedna's World. Allow me to set the stage ...

Global warming is melting the ice. Garbage and pollution are everywhere. The penguins' habitat is shrinking and there isn't enough food to go around. I know, I know - it sounds kind of like the plot from Happy Feet, but here is where we digress. Sedna, the Goddess of the penguins, informs them that only enough resources to support one penguin tribe remain. The penguins must fight each other in arenas across the shrinking ice until only one tribe remains.

It is rare that Super Columbine Massacre RPG is mentioned in gaming circles these days - though mainstream media appears unwilling to let it go. This is, perhaps, the most interesting element of the history of the title's existence: The controversy, past and present. Danny Ledonne, creator of the game, is a film maker by trade. He has spent the past two years documenting the social phenomena that has been Playing Columbine. Due on DVD this Spring, he spoke to us at MIGS about the film's upcoming release, Jack Thompson and the struggle for within the video games industry.

Oh, the irony of playing a game about flipping houses when the real-world market for such endeavors has basically tanked. If you really have a hankering for buying a house, upgrading the innards and selling it at a profit, all without any sweat or real financial commitment on your part, Build-A-Lot is the game for you. Actually, Build-A-Lot has more to offer the budding real-estate mogul than the average do-it-yourself house-flipper, but in either case, it's addictive fun.

First person shooters have been stuck in a rut since... well, Wolfenstein 3D?. Could have been earlier but that's the first time I remember my body being represented by a gun. Someday, first person will represent two hands, elbows, breasts for those of us who have them, the tips of noses...not just a gun barrel. (No... not an issue with me at all!) That's just the back left wheel of this wagon stuck in a rut; the left right wheel has been stuck in the "spawn, wait 15-seconds and respawn" rut since time immemorial, too. I could mention the "capture the flag, no wait! Go back band re-capture the flag" rut, too but I don't want to flog this horse to death. Timegate is perfectly willing to do it for me. Or rather, they're willing to beat some life into it.