Tomb Raider: Last Revelation - It seems Eidos is just going to keep milking the Tomb Raider franchise for every drop it can. Like many people I enjoyed the first Tomb Raider but the second and third games in the series just seemed to get progressively worse. The technology was looking old and the developers just seemed desperate to try and do something different "hey, I know. Lets have Laura ride around on a snowmobile. It will be cool!". In this final, and hopefully last game in the series, they've junked all the frivolous stuff and gone back to the basics of what made Tomb Raider fun, puzzle solving in an acient Egyptian type setting. Early impressions from the demo hold promise but only time will tell...

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings - This is one game that I've been playing non-stop for a while now. Age of Empires 2 builds upon and in some ways acts as an extension of the original Age of Empires. More civilizations to play as, a more advanced time period (up until the invention of gunpowder), better troop commands and formations, a smarter enemy AI, and much more make Age of Empires 2 an incredible game.

Spec Ops II: Green Berets - Like Age of Empires 2 right above this, Spec Ops II offers up a second helping of an already great game. You're part of a Green Beret unit sent off to various hot spots around the world in order to perform certain tasks and achieve a set of goals in order to help protect life, liberty, and the American way. While doing so you'll find yourself in all sorts of real world, tension filled scenarios. In order to succeed as a Green Beret you'll have to act like one. Running mindlessly into combat and shooting everything in sight ala Quake will get you killed in a jiffy. You need to use stealth most of the time with just a hint of force when needed. Well actually more than a little bit but the point is that you've got to use your head if you want to come home in anything but a body bag.

Total Annihilation: Kingdoms - What do you do after creating a truly genre revolutionizing game (Total Annihilation)? That's easy, you cash in real quick with a cheesy sequel or slightly modified version of the original. I'll bet that's exactly what a lot of you thought when you first saw TA: Kingdoms. Using the same basic engine and gameplay of Total Annihilation it's not a stretch to imagine that it's just TA with with a medieval theme to it. While that may be partially true, TA: Kingdoms has enough going for it to stand on its own merits. Playing with dragons and knights is a nice change of pace from the same old futuristic army motif that keeps getting trotted out in every damn game (by the way, was I the only person who though C&C: Tiberium Sun sucked?) that comes to market.TA: Kingdoms won't have the same impact that the original TA had but it's fun none the less and a nice distraction from all the other scruff currently out there right now.