Too many engines!

There are a lot of game developers out there that insist that there is no point in reinventing the wheel. In other words, when making a game, if there's an engine that makes the work easier, use it. You don't have to build your engine from scratch.

And I agree with that, wholeheartedly. If there is an engine that works for the games I want to make, I use it. The problem, of course, comes in when you have to try to decide what engine to use.

You see, there are literally dozens of game engines out there. They range from the small and rather useless to the huge, professional examples of game middleware. They also range in price from free to very expensive. There are plenty of engines that fall somewhere in between, and a fair few that have made my short list for potential engines for several things.

So how does one choose? 2D or 3D? What platforms does the IDE run on, if it has one at all? What scripting language does it use? What platforms can it create games for? What is the license like if I decide to take things commercial? What kind of support is there for learning how to use it? Is it accessible for someone who does not have much experience making full games?

It's a lot to take in, and I'm still wavering. Hopefully I'll come to a decision sometime this year.