Back in the days of arcades and sweaty men pumping quarters into machines, there was a speedboat racing game called Hydro Thunder that was popular amongst gamers. A few years after it was a hit in the arcade, Hydro Thunder came to the N64, where it was a hit, again. On Wednesday, a "pseudo-sequel" will be released on Xbox Live Arcade. Does Hydro Thunder Hurricane keep the same spirit as the previous games, or should it be with Davy Jones' locker? Hit the jump to find out.

Blacklight: Tango Down is an ambitious game for Xbox Live Arcade. Described by the developer, Zombie Studios, as a "AAA title," B:TD is trying to capture the market of a cheap game with an awesome multiplayer mode. With no single player, does the multiplayer make up for the 1200 Microsoft Point ($15) price tag, or is this tango down for the count? Read on to find out.

With the success of The Conduit on the Wii, High Voltage took another crack at developing a game for the Wii that would push the console into new realms. Instead of creating The Conduit 2 (well, not straight away), they took a huge gamble and took a sharp turn down the 3D fighter route. But does Tournament of Legends really shake things up and makes something revolutionary or is it the same tried and tested formula we’re starting to get a little weary of?

You’ll instantly recognise that Tournament of Legends is set during the time of gladiators and mystical creatures. You’ll recognise the usual suspects, such as Medusa and even a Minotaur. It’s certainly an interesting range of characters and the range and style artwork done by the developers is very unique and looks great on the Wii. The models of each character are sharp and flow nicely. Furthermore, each character has their own set of magical and special abilities, all of which look great on-screen and can really mix up the typical fighting scene.

Do you and your mates like to discuss football? Do you have arguments on who has the most knowledge with football? You can now find out who the football genius is with the XBLA game...Football Genius. Is this game an A+ student, or does it sit in the back of the classroom with gum in its hair? Find out in our review.

Crackdown 2 is the sequel to the popular Xbox 360 game Crackdown. People still speculate if the first game sold well due to the Halo 3 beta key that was included with the game. One thing is for certain; the game was a lot of fun, and collecting orbs was addicting like crack (maybe). Now the sequel is out from Ruffian Games. Does the sequel do a good job of continuing this level of fun, or does it suffer from the sophomore slump? Read on to find out.

Naughty Bear is a new IP from Artificial Mind and Movement and 505 Games. Could this title make it fun playing as cuddly bears, or does the stuffing just fall all over the place? Find out in our in-depth review.

Nintendo had set the bar seriously high in 2007 with the original Mario Galaxy. It was perhaps one of the greatest games ever released so it just seemed so unlikely that Nintendo would top themselves when Super Mario Galaxy 2 was announced. Yet, despite everything, Nintendo have actually made a game so great that it puts Super Mario Galaxy to shame. Not only does the game fix all the flaws that ‘Galaxy 1 had, but it also takes the ideas the original game presented and amplifies it by a thousand.

Super Mario Galaxy opens up with the usual mix of Bowser, Princess Peach and… Cake. There’s certainly no question that the game won’t win awards based on its story, but it’s enough to see you fighting through the 70 stars needed to complete the main story of the game. Of course, where the Super Mario games have shined is through the hundred-and-twenty plus stars that are spread throughout the many galaxies in the game.

If you’ve played the original, then you’ll understand the concept of the game. You plough through world after world, completing puzzles and different challenges which then earn yourself stars. These stars will power your Mario-headed ship and will allow you to explore bigger and more vast galaxies. This obviously means the more stars you get, the more stars open up for you. It’s a tried and tested formula, but one we’re all familiar with, so it gets no complaints from us.

The galaxies in Super Mario Galaxy 2 are, on the whole, a whole lot better than they were before. It’s clear that Nintendo have taken all the ideas of the original and expanded on the game in ways you just couldn’t imagine. Perhaps the original wow factor of going upside down, inside out isn’t there anymore, but the new worlds are crazily imaginative and very, very fun and different from the first. On top of that, the new levels are much more difficult than the original, which is refreshing seeing how easy the original was.

Deadly Premonition is a game that is so bad, it ends up being enjoyable. Developed by the Japanese developer Access Games, Deadly Premonition was released on February 23, 2010 for the Xbox 360. Although the game is a $20 budget title, the campy humor, awesome writing, and weird story keeps you engaged for the 15 or so hours it will take you to complete the game. How do other areas of the game fair? Hit the jump to find out.

When Splinter Cell: Conviction came out, we rewarded the game with our highest possible score. It was a fantastic game of such a high class. The game was fantastic is every aspect, but once we had finished the game, we were left wanting more. Thankfully, our prayers were answered when Ubisoft released The Insurgency Pack map pack for the game. The question is, however, does it justify the cost to download?

The download contains 4 additional maps to the deniable ops mode that came with the game. Deniable ops allowed you (or with friends) to take on various levels in different styles of gameplay. For example, you may be instructed to take out a bunch of enemies in a level going undetected, whilst another mode had you defending an EMP from wave after wave of attacks. The original maps in the game were good, but these new maps are even better.

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The easiest way to compare Red Dead Redemption to any other game out there is incredibly easy. Yes, of course, the game easily compares to Grand Theft Auto and more recently, Grand Theft Auto IV. This is obvious seeing as Red Dead Redemption comes from the same development studio, but does the gameplay from such modern games really reflect well in a game when horses were used instead of cars? There’s only one way to find out, so let’s take a spin back to the early 1900’s and enjoy a good hoedown.

Red Dead Redemption’s story really packs a punch and is easily one of the most engrossing stories this generation. You play as retired outlaw John Marston who’s family has been taken away from him. The only way for you to be reunited with your wife and son is to hunt down and either kill or capture the remaining members of his former gang. One of your bounties you come across is Bill Williamson, who now runs his own gang. Whilst trying to persuade him to come with you, you’re then shot down, but thankfully rescued by the lovely Bonnie McFarlane. Now with a huge debt to repay to her, you take on several missions to help her farm and you’ll soon come across many other characters with very interesting personalities.

Some characters you will fall in love, some you will hate and some you will find plain weird. The story also allows you to pick and chose your path and whether you become known as the outlaw of the land or as the peacemaker. Although the game can feel linear at times, the amount of freedom you have is unbelievable. As you progress through the story, the plot thickens and many other side-quests will open up, as well as mini-games.

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Alan Wake is a thrill ride full of suspense and genuine scares. The graphics of Alan Wake feature some of the scariest wooded areas I have ever seen. The use of shadows and general lack of light looks great. Trees and shrubbery cast shadows that play tricks on your eyes questioning what is waiting for you. The voice acting on all the main characters is well done with great lines throughout the dialog. All the characters are believable during truly frightening times. The sound design during game play is another high point. During your lonely walks in the forests the trees will seem to talk to you creating a haunting atmosphere.

In what is generally a very quiet time pre-E3, Ubisoft has been brave enough to throw an entirely new football franchise out there in hopes it will swim. It is a difficult genre to get into, but the bravery to try and break it is commendable, in the least.

Needless to say, Pure Football hardly had a level of FIFA-level advertising on the television hour-after-hour and so has somewhat fallen under the radar of most football fans, but the game does carry an arcade-y sense of controls that reminds me of past purely-for-fun football games where you're playing as Dolphins or Gorillas, yet with realistic proportions in this case. It's sort of like a cross between Fifa Street and Sensible Soccer, borrowing several traits from these games and other Ubisoft sports franchises.

It has been three years since Travis Touchdown became the world’s best hired gun…and vanished without a hint. It’s ironic: you’d think someone as hopeless as Travis would revel in his hard-earned fame. But he left it all behind, and no one knows why he did it. Maybe he got bored; it’s not fun being an assassin if there’s no one left to fight to a fatality. He got off on taking down worthy opponents, not murdering innocent bystanders. Or perhaps he got a real job, something that could help him afford his rent and unhealthy obsession with animé. Either way, the champ is long gone.

In the realm of competitive assassination - a sport he helped establish - he’s become an urban legend, like some kind of warped, murderous folk hero. Times have changed, though. Travis’s gory exploits made the city of Santa Destroy famous and its televised murder tournaments have made it haven for people looking for bloodshed.

Everything is run by corporations now; between the Pizza Bat franchise and the United Assassins Association, most of the old establishments are getting muscled out. Regardless of how mainstream killing has become, no one has forgotten what Travis did… especially the people he hurt. A lot of folks were killed as he carved his way up the ranks, and most of them had friends or family. Travis never bothered to consider that after he abandoned his title. That lack of common sense cost him. Payback was inevitable, and the results were grisly. They didn’t go after him directly. Instead, they butchered Bishop, his best friend. That was a big mistake.

You’d be forgiven if you thought Blur was just another one of Activision’s cheap way of attracting your money during the summer season, but let me get this clear from the word go: Blur is a very fun, entertaining and enjoyable racer that actually leaves many others of this generation in the dust.

The main idea around Blur is not just the core racing. Giving the genre a much needed breath of fresh air, Blur requires you to use many different power-ups to help you or destroy your opponents. The latest comparison is Mario Kart mixed with Burnout and I fully agree with this. Blur mixes realism, thanks to the fully licensed cars (and there’s quite a lot) and realistic handling, but also adds an arcade twist on it by providing these outrageous power-ups. You’ll be able to pick up mines, shields and homing missiles to take out the enemies, all of which look beautiful in full HD.

Blur’s main story takes place in some sort of virtual reality television show. During races, show-downs, elimination and other types of gameplay modes, you’ll be competing for “lights” and “fans”. The “lights” allow you to progress through the campaign, whereas the fans will allow you to unlock new cars, as well as mods for your cars. These mods allow you to shoot more items or allow your car to be faster than the rest. There isn’t much of a story, but it flows well and the game will require you to complete in-game achievements before you unlock face offs against other racers.

Before there was Halo and Goldeneye, a little series on the PC called Doom helped sparked interest in video games in the 90's. It also caused a lot of controversy over the gore in the game, which compared to today's video games, it is nothing. This 1994 gem was released on Xbox Live Arcade recently. Does it stand the test of time, or should it have remained in the vault?