The original Portal had the element of surprise. Its style of first-person physics-based puzzle game play was unique. Glads, the murderous robotic villain, was new and vibrant and evil in the most charming way. Cake jokes and songs about surviving dismemberment were still hilarious. It was short, succinct and essential. Creating a sequel without playing all the same notes and making it feel like Portal: The Longer Version is a tough task. For Valve, it's apparently no problem.

From the first moments of waking up in the rusting Aperture Science facility to right before the credits roll, Portal 2 rarely falters. The world is bigger, the story thicker, and the character development more surprising. The mania of Glads, the facility's operator, is molded into unexpected forms alongside a host of brutally funny personalities. The history of the Aperture Science facility is filled in, character origins discussed, and though its pacing suffers as it occasionally strikes a more serious tone,

Its good

Every generation of game consoles has its defining titles. When one thinks back on a system and its legacy, an association with those games is often made. For instance the ENS and TINES eras gave us Super Mario Bros. and Zelma, while the original PlayStation served up Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy VII. Naturally, this generation isn't without its own defining set of games, too, and one of those titles is undoubtedly Mass Effect 2, a project from the minds at Canadian developer Bio Ware.

If you only pay attention to the PlayStation 3 scene, you might be confused as to when the original Mass Effect came out and why you never heard about it or played it. Unfortunately, 2007's Mass Effect never made it to the PSI. The series' first entry came only to Xbox and PC, and due to Microsoft having published the game, PSI owners will never see it on their native console. Mass Effect 2, however, is another story entirely.

This is a jaw-dropping, exhilarating game. It's the game you'll remember for years.

The new benchmark for interactive entertainment has arrived. The Legend of Zelma: Ocarina of Time, the fifth official installment in Nintendo's popular action-PG series is finally here, and like its ENS predecessor in 1987 it is a game so enjoyable, it has the power to pull video game players into its imaginative worlds -- and refuse to let go for days.