The landscape for massively multi-player games (MMOs) contained some new additions in 2012, but only a few of those were high-profile titles. TERA, from En Masse Entertainment, is essentially an Asian-designed game with some changes to reflect the tastes of the North American audience.

While the character and world design sports some unique elements, what makes the game stand out is the combat. For long-time MMO players who remember Asheron’s Call 2 and players’ ability to dodge incoming attacks, that element has returned in TERA. Of course, having such a combat system suffers if there is any lag between the player’s computer and the servers. On several occasions, the game seemed to stutter and combat went from totally owning the non-player character (NPC) enemy to a scramble-to-keep-alive moment.

werTurbine was there at the beginning of the modern age of massively multiplayer online games. The modern (also sometimes referred to as the Second Generation) age of MMOs kicked off back in 1996 with the release of Meridian 59. A year later saw the release of Ultima Online. In 1999, two games were released – Sony’s first EverQuest and Asheron’s Call from Turbine.

Since the first Asheron’s Call title, which is still in release, Turbine has gone on to make Asheron’s Call 2, Dungeons & Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online. What is, perhaps, the most noteworthy of Turbine’s accomplishments is that the latter two games are free-to-play. (Asheron’s Call 2 closed in December 2005 after three years in release.)

The Transformers’ license has been hit hard by too many movies and a slew of video-game titles that left franchise fans with a metallic taste in the mouth—one of those zinc-tablet, ‘did I just chew on aluminum?’ tastes that certainly is not pleasant.

From the moment gamers step into the armor of Bumblebee, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron sets itself apart. This is an intelligent single-player game and enjoyable multiplayer experience that does justice to the license. At first blush, the game may sound a bit on the linear side because players cannot pick a character and just zerg the campaign levels. Every level in the game has a predetermined character to play, and gamers need to rely on the skills of that character—in both ranged and melee attacks, as well as transformed for mobility—to overcome the obstacles in order to accomplish the specific goals of each level.

Every once in a while, a game comes along that changes my opinion about the genre it represents. Endless Space is just such a game. Graphically pleasing, this debut title from Amplitude Studios brings unprecedented depth to the 4X hemisphere of strategy gaming.

For those of you who don’t know what a 4X game is, simply put, it is a turn-based strategy game based on four "X's" – eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate. You are given a small empire, you build it up by colonizing, building resources (or simply ravishing other areas for what you need), researching technologies, building up your military and then attacking other areas.

First in a series of novels, Game of Thrones has been through the proverbial entertainment media ringer. It's been a comic book, a board game, a card game, an HBO series and, finally, a video game. The books were a hit, the HBO series is doing well, but the game… well, it could draw comparisons to Dragon Age, The Witcher or Elder Scrolls, except that it just doesn't measure up to the standards set by either.

The setting is the land of Westeros, and while that seems a decent enough environment to base a game – and it is wonderfully envisioned by the developers, Cyanide – there are only two story threads that the game tracks. The first is the story of Ser Mors Westford, a knight of the Night's Watch working from Castle Black in the shadow of the Wall. Mors is a foul-mouthed veteran with a gruff appearance and demeanor.