From the minute motion gaming became all the rage, I wanted a Star Wars game. Thanks to Kinect Star Wars, I finally got one! Sadly, the motion tracking is just too slow for you to accurately use the lightsaber most of the time, and you’ll find yourself just swinging at the air while you try to reflect blaster bolts back at your enemies. The good thing is that being a Jedi is not the only thing the game has to offer. You also get the chance to podrace, dance, and rampage through countless Star Wars locales. Podracing is fun, but it still has serious motion tracking problems, especially for actions that require precision, like steering. Thankfully, dancing and Rancor Rampage are both as near perfect as can be. Dancing is especially fun as you get to dance to Star Wars parodies of various popular songs that are so completely awful, they’re awesome. Rancor Rampage plays like a Hulk Kinect game, which makes it one of the most adrenaline-pumping good times I’ve had. Definitely pick this up; just don’t expect much from the Jedi levels.

After playing the awful Iron Man 2, I decided it would probably be best to skip all of the other Marvel movie tie-ins. Then I was seduced by the fantastic Captain America, and I could not have made a better choice. Super Soldier essentially plays like Batman: Arkham Asylum 1.5, with the same combat and dodge mechanics. The only area that the game doesn’t rip off Arkham Asylum is the hacking, which is so stupidly simple that it really begs the question: “Why the hell did they even include this?” After using much of the same stuff from Arkham Asylum, the game actually takes a second to make sure Captain’s acrobatics play out in a fun way by making all platforming sections feel like a mini rhythm game. And it is SO FUN. It’s crazy simple, but when you get into the rhythm of the platforming, it just looks and feels great. Really, I don’t have much bad to say about the game other than the voice acting can be completely horrid, but if you play it on mute, then you’re sure to be treated to a fun, action-packed, cinematic experience.

Red Faction: Armageddon is the sequel to the amazing sandbox destruction wonderland, Red Faction: Guerrilla. But instead of once again unleashing you into a wide-open area, the game keeps you on an extremely linear and somewhat small path. It doesn’t matter so much at first, but as time drags on, the game’s environments begin to feel more and more claustrophobic, especially when you’re constantly seeing the screen being overrun by enemies. Thankfully, due to your high-powered arsenal, you’ll rarely find yourself knee-deep in enemies for long. Something new and awesome to the series is the ability to rebuild entire structures that you destroy by using the nano-forge. This new level of destructive freedom really feels fresh and liberating, since you can outright destroy any structure and rebuild it if you actually need or want to. The only real downside to the game is that a good majority of the dialogue is pretty lame, making Mason seem like a complete dork. If you don’t mind a dorky main character and want to have fun breaking stuff, then definitely give this a try.

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is a third-person action game in which you defend the Earth from gigantic bugs and robots. To assist you in defeating the ridiculously huge enemies, you’ll take up arms in the form of all sorts of rockets, lasers, machine guns, and turrets. Most of these work great, but a few of the guns feel woefully underpowered. Luckily, between the awesome campaign and survival modes, you have plenty of chances to really learn the weaknesses of each weapon. The survival mode works like Horde Mode from the Gears of War series and has you facing off against waves of enemies either alone or in co-op. The only real problem with this is that there seems to be a serious upgrade in difficulty between the survival mode and normal campaign, which I suppose makes sense since it is “survival” mode, but the difficulty can sometimes feel cheap.  If you don’t mind some frustrating moments, though, then you’ll no doubt find a lot to love about this, especially since the co-op can be an absolute blast.

I haven’t seriously played a wrestling game since the N64, but with the amount of legends in WWE ’12, I felt compelled to play it. While the controls are more complex than the N64 games, it still offers the same high-impact action that was the norm in games like WCW/NWO: Revenge. Despite being super fun, the game’s attempt at mimicking a live WWE event by frequently changing the camera angles and doing away with life bars completely fails. I can’t even begin to count how many times I was in the middle of the match, and out of nowhere the game changed camera angles and totally threw me off my game, costing me the match. Outside of the poor camera angles, though, the single-player story mode is actually pretty great, and the ability to hold multiplayer championships and the sheer number of different match types are not only fantastic but will no doubt provide hours of fun. If you are now or have ever been a professional wrestling fan, then you’ll most likely find a lot to love about this game.

My love for sandbox games has diminished over the years. The fact that it’s always in a normal world somehow makes the experience less fun. Thankfully, Saints Row: The Third manages to reignite that passion, because every aspect of the game’s world is completely not normal. In The Third, you can roam freely, doing side missions and challenges as you see fit, all of which carry a great comedic undertone. The story missions play out like you’d think; you’re building up your gang to face off against rival gangs. It may sound boring, but the writing and the ridiculous enemies you’ll face off against make sure that everything you do is entertaining. A big part of why the game is so good is the writing, which guarantees a laugh a minute as you wreak havoc. Sadly, there are glitches galore. Falling through vehicles, the game world, and even enemies happens a lot, and screen tearing appears so often that it should be given a credited role. Despite these issues, the game still manages to be a riot and one of the best this year.