Timeshift is a first person shooter in which you control a guy wearing a time traveling suit. You can slow time, stop time, and reverse time for a short bit. Your fabulous suit also keeps you healthy. Apparently someone evil has stolen the "alpha suit" and is doing bad things in the past. Against the better judgment of those around you, you take the "beta suit" and go after him.

Based on the demo, I honestly expected this game to suck. Dropped right into combat with no idea what the heck is going on. Oh look I died. And it's raining. As it turns out, the game is actually lots of fun. While it's maybe a little repetitive (go, shoot. go, shoot) and the story, such as it is, is presented in choppy, short flashbacks, I'm having a blast.

I played the first Soldier of Fortune game on my PC way back when. I didn't buy it, mind you. It came free with my Razer gaming mouse. It was fun and was notable for being one of the first games to have localized damage. So, with all that in mind, I was looking forward to some over the top terrorist killing fun when I picked up Soldier of Fortune: Payback.

Wow. What a disappointment. The only thing, and I do mean only, that this game has going for it is some nice graphics. They're not remarkable in any way, they're just nice. You know, they basically live up to current generation console game graphics expectations. In all other respects, Soldier of Fortune: Payback is one of the worst FPS games I've played in recent memory.

Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe is one of the many classic games available for download via Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA). Following in the footsteps of games such as Time Pilot and JetPac Refueled, it has both a classic mode and an "evolved" mode. Classic mode is the Asteroids you remember. Evolved mode is the same game with modernized graphics and sound, but otherwise identical gameplay.

In 1979, Asteroids was new, exciting and fun to play. But you have to remember, the competition back then was Pong. As much as I loved Asteroids as a kid, the game just hasn't aged well. The controls are clunky and the gameplay, well, it lacks the kind of depth we've all grown to expect in arcade style shooters.

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is the latest release from the same people that created Hitman. And quite frankly, I expected better of them. As a shooter it's weak. As a squad based game, it's weak. The controls suck. The graphics can't possibly justify the pathetic frame rate. The story is weak. The characters are both hateful and hateable. And the dialog is a continuous stream of invectives.

This game is an example of just how awful a so called "AAA" title can be.

Assassin's Creed is a great new game just out from Ubisoft's Montreal Studio. Most of the time, you play a twelfth century assassin named Altair (al-tay-ear) in the Holy Land. Jerusalem. Damascus. Acre. The rest of the time you play a confused bartender named Desmond in what appears to be approximately modern times.

There is a wrong way and a right way to play Assassin's Creed. If you play it the wrong way, you'll hate just about every minute of it. If you play it the right way, you'll love just about every minute of it and call it Game of the Year.

I have a huge stack of games to both play and review, and it's going to take me a while to get through them all - especially the good ones. But, since I know holidays are coming up and people are starting to look at what games to buy for themselves and as gifts, I figured I'd at least give you my first impressions.

That way, I can play Assassin's Creed without feeling guilty.

Every Extended Extra Extreme (E4) is another unusual game from the people at Q?. It's loosely related to the PSP game Every Extend Extra, which I suck at. This new version, instead of being on a tiny screen, is available in wondrous HD glory as an XBLA download for the 360. Also, I don't suck at it, which is nice.

One of the great things about this game is that you can play it forever if you get into the right groove. One of the problems with this game is that you can play it for-freakin-ever if you get into the right groove.

Of all game genres, shooters are the hardest for me to finish. So, when I tell you that I beat the single player campaign in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, you should know that something beautiful has happened. While the single player campaign is shortish (average is 4 to 6 hours. I'm slow, took me 7), it's totally fantabulous and I never once thought "oh man, this is stupid".

The multiplayer is also excellent, even if it does incontrovertibly prove certain rules.

In Blazing Angels 2, you play Captain Robinson, an elite fighter pilot during World War II. And by WWII, I mean a somewhat alternative reality version of WWII which includes German boss monsters like giant zeppelins and Tesla installations. Given that such feats of technology (not to mention the ability to repair fighter planes mid-flight) didn't exist, those concerned with an accurate telling of whatever secret missions actually took place during World War II will most likely be disappointed.

If, on the other hand, you like flying around and blowing shit up, this is a pretty cool game.

Crash of the Titans is a 3D platformer/beat-em-up in which you control Crash Bandicoot. Based on the demo, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but didn't I certainly didn't expect to like it. Luckily, that's hardly ever been a reason for me to not buy a game. So, despite my misgivings, I picked it up, and I really like it. Up to a point.

That point is about three and a half hours into the game, depending on how fast you go, where the difficulty level begins to increase at an exponential rate. This may be less of an issue for people that don't suck at video games.