Genre: Action/RPG
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Iron Lore
Release Date: June 2006

Your Own Private Titanomachy

It was neither difficult nor rare to catch developers using words like "accessibility" and "casual" to describe the titles on display at the THQ pre-E3 summit. Talking with Iron Lore Entertainment, co-founded by Age of Empires veteran Brian Sullivan and currently putting finishing touches on PC action-RPG Titan Quest, those words came up plenty often, too, but this time, they were frequently accompanied by the word "Diablo," which of course makes all the difference.

In the years since Diablo's arrival, no truly satisfying

Genre: Puzzle
Publisher: Majesco
Developer: Taito
Release Date: Q4 2006

Cooking Mama is poised to take over the US in a whirlwind of Japanese-influenced culinary awesomeness. This title, a hit in Japan, is quite possibly the first in a new genre of cooking games, being followed up later this year, of course, by Devil May Cook and World of Foodcraft.

All kidding aside, Cooking Mama features over 76 real recipes for Japanese dishes such as yakitori (meat and veggie skewers) and okonomiyaki (a kind of Japanese pancake). The game is laid out as a series of mini-games which divide up

Genre: Action
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Release Date: Fall 2006

The year is 1944. Thirty-three years ago, John Morris and Eric LeCarde defeated Dracula's niece, Elizabeth Bartley, and in so doing, saved the world. As usual.

Now, in the middle of World War II, another vampire has raised Dracula's castle. Two mysterious girls are using the chaos of the war as cover to raise Dracula yet again. John's son Jonathan – the current wielder of the Vampire Killer whip – and his childhood friend Charlotte Orlean are the only people who can prevent Dracula's newest resurrection.

If history is

Genre: Action/RPG
Publisher: Eidos/Warner Brothers
Developer: Snowblind
Release Date: Fall 2006

This is Snowblind’s last hurrah on the PS2 and Xbox, and they’re trying to go out with a bang. Justice League Heroes is a two-player beat-‘em-up running on the fifth version of Snowblind’s famous beat-‘em-up engine, allowing you to step into the shoes of the members of the Justice League of America.

The game’s more based upon the comics’ version of the Justice League than the cartoon’s; for example, the JLA’s Watchtower is a lunar station rather than a satellite. You’ll be able to play initially

Genre: Action RPG
Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment
Developer: Sony Online Entertainment
Release Date: Fall 2006

Why Do Kings Always Listen to Really Bad Advice?

Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom is an action role-playing game due out on launch day for the PS3. Dark Kingdom places a clear emphasis on the action half of that genre tag, though from what SOE revealed about the story at E3, it sounds like there will be no shortage of drama. You play as one of your king's elite soldiers who's been on a long journey at the kingdom's edge, conquering new lands for

Genre: Fighting
Publisher: SNK-Playmore
Developer: SNK-Playmore
Release Date: Q3 2006

SNK's playing a sort of three-card monte game with their games' titles. The King of Fighters 2006 began its life as the sequel to last year's KOF: Maximum Impact, SNK's slightly underwhelming first entry into the 3D realm. In Japan, KOF2006 is, simply, Maximum Impact 2.

As such, KOF2006 features a slightly larger cast, with MI's boss Duke becoming playable, 14 hidden characters, and the 3D debut of KOF favorites Billy Kane and Kula Diamond.

What does this all mean to you, the casual player? A classic fighting

Genre: Action
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Quicksilver Software
Release Date: Fall 2006

Space Cowboys

If you're among the Trekkers/ies who hold up Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as the pinnacle Trek achievement, you've been waiting a long time for a return to old-school form. As we mark the 40th anniversary of the original series' appearance on television, fans – at least those with a PSP or Nintendo DS – may get their wish at long last in the form of Star Trek: Tactical Assault, a tactical action game that promises a trip back to the

Genre: Action/Platform
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team/Sega Studios Japan
Release Date: Fall 2006

2006 is Sonic the Hedgehog's 15th anniversary, but he doesn't get any days off. Nor would we want him to.

Sonic Team's hard at work crafting his first next-gen adventure, and we got to play an extremely early build of a few levels on the show floor. Sonic Team's claimed to have "re-invented" the blue blur for his new game and to have brought him back to his roots. This statement is both true and false, but whether or not you agree with its

Genre: First-Person Shooter/Real-Time Strategy
Publisher: Freeze Interactive
Developer: Digital Reality
Release Date: November 2006

Field Ops is one of the first titles to successfully merge both FPS and RTS into a single coherent genre. This is not the first game to attempt this – Battlezone and Battlezone 2 in the late '90s had similar approaches – but this is one of the best attempts at combining the best aspects of both genres without compromising either. This is neither an FPS with RTS elements nor a RTS with a splash of FPS – it works equally well as

Genre: FPS
Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Insomniac Games
Release Date: November 2006

If there were no World War II, how would the world be today? The team at Insomniac decided to ponder this scenario in their upcoming launch title for the PlayStation 3, Resistance: Fall of Man. Picture Great Britain in 1951, and in your mind's eye, you'll probably see nice cafes, tea parties and quiet civility. The truth is that the world is just not a happy place, even in this alternate history, where WWII never occurred. An alien force has attacked the planet; Asia and most