Good Game: Rock Band 3 Does Joan Jett, Amy Winehouse and .. Milli Vanilli? Plus More Bioshock News!

Good Game is a weekly column about the latest news in video games and casual gaming.

New Releases

Elemental: War of Magic (PC) — The much-anticipated indie Baldur's Gate-meets-Civilization 5 strategy game has generated both positive reviews, and some controversy related to a few bugs that have yet to be worked out.

With singleplayer, sandbox, and multiplayer modes, Elemental is sure to interest anyone who likes tactical PC gameplay in a fantasy RPG setting. You just may want to wait a week until it's completely patched.

Mafia II (Xbox, PC, PS3) — I haven't had a chance to play this yet, but the reviews are all over the place. A few themes emerge: the storyline and character development is solid but the gameplay is pretty linear, despite the open-world setting.

The 1940s environment adds flavor to the game, but there doesn't appear to be much to do in the world outside your main mission, so you spend most of your time in the world driving from one mission to another. But if you're looking for a new game to tide you over until the onslaught of releases in the fall, this might be a good option.

James Cameron's Avatar (iPhone/iPad) — This isn't exactly a new release, but Gamesoft's Avatar game for iPhone and iPad is only $4.99, and definitely worth buying!

This is one of the best games I've played on the iPad. The graphics are gorgeous, and the gameplay is fun, interesting, and very intuitive. Frankly, it's much better than the Avatar console game, and costs much less.