This is maybe the best stealth game that I've ever played. It seems to be at least a little bit influenced by every other major release in the genre, and it does a wonderful job of borrowing and implementing the best pieces of each of them. I can't recommend this game enough.

This is one of my favorite games. The RPG mechanics are generally superfluous and the story is pretty much your standard anime fare, but it's one of the best action games I've ever played. The dungeon crawling is entertaining, but the game really shines during the particularly brutal boss fights. The game doesn't feature any healing items in the traditional sense, so you have to learn how to fight the bosses or die. Repeatedly. Luckily, Oath is also really good about not wasting your time, giving you the ability to restart the boss fight within seconds of losing. This cuts out the biggest frustration associated with difficult bosses in other games: wading through irritating loading screens/win quotes/dialogue/etc in between every attempt.

Oath also features an absolutely excellent soundtrack. The original game's soundtrack was already among the best in the series, and the team at Falcom has done a superb job of updating it with live instruments.

Well worth the price of admission.

This was the secret best game of 2011. It's easily the most competent Sonic game to come out of SEGA since 1994, and in many ways to level design surpasses that of the classic Sonic games. I think it's pretty notable hat some of my favorite stages in this game are based on games I've never even played (not having played a new Sonic release since 2002) -- this isn't just nostalgia talking. And contrary to everything you'd expect, even the modern style stages are really good.

Be warned that the last two boss fights are pretty consistent with the current image of Sonic games, however (read: awful). The great level design more than makes up for it (and you'll have unlocked all of the stages by the time you get to those bosses anyway), but it's still worth mentioning.

Anyway, give this game a shot. It's worth experiencing whether you're a Sonic fan or just a gamer who likes good platformers.

GOTTA GO FAST.

(oh, and I highly recommend the use of a gamepad of some kind for this game)