Codemasters returns to its military sim franchise, Operation Flashpoint, with a new installment for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. This time around, gamers will be able to control their Marines on the small, oil rich, and hotly contested island of Skira. And while there's a lot to appreciate in Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (OFDR), a general lack of polish leaves the overall experience feeling a little disappointing -- but still one that is worth a look.  

I had always avoided racing games involving 'Rally' in them. For the most part I always got frustrated when playing them because there was little room for failure when it came to over compensating a turn or bumping into a vehicle.  Basically, I blame Sega Rally for most of my distasteful woes towards this genre of racing.  Sega's popular Rally game brought confusion, cursing and eventually the throwing of one's controller. Enter Dirt 2 into my gaming equation. Dirt 2 is a Codemasters published, Ego developed title that helps me forget that I ever hated this type of racing.

As amusing and interesting as it seemed, and apparently was, I never got around to playing the first Overlord title that came out a couple of years back by Triumph Studios and Codemasters. Several of my gaming friends had played it though, and now with Overlord II in for review, I was able to talk shop with them about this new entry into the series. We've come to agree that Overlord II features more than enough minion commanding action to please most Overlord fans, and it also has everything it needs to pick up a new fan base of gamers who haven't played the original (like me).