For all its flaws this one's still fun for a short kickaround, but in the end it's really nothing more than a softcore novelty.

Sticking unwanted attitude onto a couple of characters doesn't create empathy -- developers should've learned that from the '90s.

Quirk enthusiasts will be disappointed, mainstream gamers will only find more to support their suspicions about those "weird" games, and Capcom is in danger of believing that small, strange games like this won't do well.

Street-racing nuts won't get the satisfaction they want, while fans of the original Rush franchise will be disappointed that their favorite series has been reduced to another ride-pimpin' also-ran.

Sonic Rivals 2 is a technically complete game, but in the altogether more important areas of inspiration and design, it's sorely lacking.

That the game outperforms its 3D siblings seems to have happened almost by default: the other games are so poor that this mediocre product seems sterling by comparison. Taken on its own merits, though, it's just not particularly good.

Save for a tedious gimmick level in the Hundred-Acre Wood, each stage follows the same basic structure: work towards the first cutscene, which provides the key to the second cutscene, which provides the key to the boss. There are no puzzles or complex paths to work through -- once you've solved one, you've solved them all.

Malice is so generic and mediocre that its release only serves to spoil what little status it had as the punchline of a joke.

Appreciation goes out to Koei for attempting a new direction for the series, but they could have left out the dull repetition. Struggling with the motion controls in the first few stages, being forced to traverse on rails (and when the rails do come off, dealing with awkward movement), and facing wave after wave of repeated enemies just isn't all that fun.

Too many corners were cut to ensure the timely shipping of this PS2 release, and Rockstar Vienna's lack of care shines through.

The controls -- namely character acceleration -- feel awkward and counterintuitive; for instance, you're forced to hold forward on the left stick to accelerate while also trying to steer your character. The tracks are a mishmash of right-angle turns and jumps that sometimes lead you down random paths, requiring several runs just find your way around the track.

Long stretches of each stage can be severely frustrating and annoying, but when they're not, it's still pretty fun -- and getting "in the zone" to complete an especially hard part in one try is always satisfying.

Malice is so generic and mediocre that its release only serves to spoil what little status it had as the punchline of a joke.

If the idea of playing an absolutely average (and not particularly lengthy) Resident Evil adventure with incompetent A.I. allies is exciting, then hop to it.

But retro compilations are practically a dime a dozen these days, and next to the likes of "Namco Museum Battle Collection" and "Capcom Classics Collection," the games enshrined here show both their age and a general lack of inspiration.

For all its flaws this one's still fun for a short kickaround, but in the end it's really nothing more than a softcore novelty.

On the presentation side, with colorful, cartoony graphics and contributions from the voice actors, it should satisfy the legions of Simpsons fans. But as a game, it's decidedly mediocre-at-best fare, with levels that vary in quality and pedestrian platforming and beat-em-up action.

It's more flattering to look at Killer App as another handheld arcade collection with a great upgraded multiplayer version of Light Cycles and a simply bad adventure game thrown in as a bonus.

Overall, when stacked next to its PS2 counterpart, the PSP version of Ghost Rider is on very weak legs.

In the end, there's absolutely no reason to choose this one over these other versions: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Xbox, or even PSP. If you're a Madden beginner, just play an easy level on a different console.

Never does it become particularly fun, though it's quietly engaging in its own methodical, repetitive way. It's not a full-price purchase by any means, and it's nowhere close to the high action-RPG bar set by Champions of Norrath on the PS2 three and a half years ago.

Take those problems and add on yawn-inspiring and occasionally frustrating level design and a grand total running time of about six hours for all but the slowest of gamers, and you've got another licensed movie game that's decidedly mediocre.

187 basically defines "average." While the graphics err on the nicer side and the story dips a bit below the equator, most of the game is competent but unspectacular. Every good feature seems to have a bad one that balances it out.

The problem with this control innovation is that the game often requires you to perform very particular movements (such as jump in the air, and grab a pole with your whip) with imprecise controls forcing you to playing the puzzles over and over until you are ready to rip your fur out.

Like Mario Bros., the Famicom Mini version of Dr. Mario suffers from a single terrible flaw: it was completely obsolete long before it was ever released.

A disappointing compilation of ambition without practical delivery. It's a game broken into several fundamental components that never work on their own and never contribute to a whole that can be appreciated.

The game feels too labored and doesn't have enough thrills to lock us in. When it comes to handheld baseball, 2K7 isn't even a wild card compared to the champ, "MLB 07: The Show."

I was so frustrated at the game, the entire experience was comically agonizing, sort of like a newer Martin Short "film" that tries to be funny but winds up being hilarious for all the wrong reasons.