Let’s shorten Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed's unwieldy title to just Transformed from here on out. Transformed is the sequel to Sonic & SEGA All-Star Racing, a kart racer that critics didn’t seem to take much notice of. I don’t blame them for being wary. After all, non-Mario Kart mascot racers tend to turn out mediocre. But the first All-Star Racing was actually one of the best kart racers in recent memory, and Transformed is even better.

Hell Yeah! (not to be confused with the heavy metal band I’ve never heard) is an all-new Metroidvania-style platformer. The subgenre name comes from the game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which blended the Castlevania series’ action-platforming with the nonlinear exploration of the Metroid series. Instead of separate, discrete levels, games of this type feature vast, interconnecting areas, many of which require new equipment to fully explore.

2XL Games made a name for themselves with off-road racer Baja: Edge of Control for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. After that, they switched gears to mobile development for several years, continuing to focus on off-the-pavement racing games. Now 2XL is back on consoles with Jeremy McGrath’s Offroad for XBLA and PSN. After coming away bored and disappointed from another recent XBLA racer (Bang Bang Racing from Digital Reality), I’m happy to report that 2XL has a grasp on making a downloadable digital racer both simple and fun.

Bloodforge is an Xbox 360-exclusive hack-and-slash title from UK developer Climax Studios. The story takes place in a cold, unnamed Scandinavian location, probably somewhere in the 8th to 11th century. It revolves around Crom, a warrior who has left behind his raiding days to settle down with a family. When an evil god causes Crom to lose his family, the warrior sets out on a single-minded quest for revenge. Along the way he is aided by a crow goddess and others who seek to shift the balance of godly power.

The Silent Hill series has seen its ups and downs. After part 4, each new title has come from a different developer, some meeting with better critical reception than others. And yet fans clearly long to return to the doomed town of Silent Hill. The latest opportunity to do so - Silent Hill: Downpour - comes from Czech developer Vatra Games. While it may not reach the lofty highs of Silent Hill 2, Downpour is still a creepy game with an engaging story.