I Am Alive

In a nutshell, I Am Alive's a post-apocalyptic story about a father who was trapped far from home when disaster struck, and is only just now returning to find his wife and daughter. There are a number of things that make this title unique, such as the extremely stark visuals, the dark, mature subject matter and the interesting combination of environmental traversal and highly non-standard combat which is more like lethal puzzle-solving than it is about punching dudes out.

I Am Alive clearly wants to be a serious, adult take on post-apocalyptic survival, and in some respects it is. Unfortunately, the game's treatment of women, among other things, seems to devolve back to the attitudes of a teenaged boy. In I Am Alive, women are helpless objects to be fought over and protected by men.

Mixed Mess Age

HIGH Making it to a safe ledge with just a sliver of stamina remaining.

LOW Staggering around for half an hour with a sliver of life with an irritating "heartbeat" rumble and an ugly red-screen effect ruining the look.

WTF It ends in the middle of th

Brutal, Unflinching and... Important

HIGH Finding a safehouse where colors still exist.

LOW Taking a beating and limping along for two areas on a sliver of life.

WTF Why aren't critics talking about this game? Oh, right. Mass Effect 3.

Without a doubt, Mass Effect 3 going to be one of the biggest, most important releases of 2012. In some ways, it's also a test for BioWare—after developing legions of loyal fans thanks to their high-quality Western-styled RPGs, their future was called into question due to lackluster titles released after being acquired by Electronic Arts.