A few poor design choices keep this game from being easily recommendable to all. Everything but the unforgiving boss fights get repetitive quickly; the game can be light on explanations, leaving a lot to your own deduction; and the pathfinding is terrible.

Gears is most likely to appeal to console gamers already in love with the game, who can now see it in glorious high-res detail and at superfast framerates -- with a muscular enough PC, that is.

If you think "Total Annihilation's" still the cat's pajamas, look no further than Supreme Commander. It's the "ID4" of videogames -- a little sleepy early on, occasionally a little baffling, but incontrovertibly epic...and you're here as much for the light show anyway, right?

For this season, consider it the way you would a September game with your team already eliminated from the chase: If you're the type that wants to check out the young prospects called up, you'll probably be right at home. If you've already been watching preseason football for a few weeks and are enjoying the first NFL games, it might not be your ticket.

A game whose lack of originality is matched only by its abundance of... well, pretty much everything else.

It is not in the new interpretation that this package fails to deliver, but in its presentation of a classic that demands a lot more respect and attention to detail than Special Edition delivers.

This time, the changes are a scattering of smaller ones. Track layout tweaks, customization quirks, 3D effects, first-person karting, and a power-up that adds to the general level of kart chaos by letting one player unleash seven items. MK7 isn't a kart game with a defining voice -- it's just a solid little kart game with a bunch of little tweaks.

If you're looking for a game that matches the quality of the previous games in the Ratchet franchise...well, keep looking.

This is clearly the best-playing FIFA game ever made, but that merely puts it above some of the most average-playing soccer games ever made. Even with the improvements, the game remains far too simple tactically.

So even though I had my share of frustrations playing through Monster Hunter, I can finally see what the big deal is...in Japan, at least.

The end result is a good-if-you're-into-it, poorly performing, but interesting social experiment that seems more geared toward determining how players will react to certain situations than challenging them in new and exciting ways to accomplish tasks that are fun and engaging.

As it stands, Race Driver 3 suffers from too much variety and not enough substance.

Crosses the line that separates challenging from cheap. Charismatic and brazen to a fault, it is something of a return to form, but denies the gamer an honest challenge and the eye-opening lack of balance results in a sometimes-electrifying game that isn't especially fun to play.

A game unsure of what it wants to achieve. When it lets itself, it's a fantastic adrenaline rush through well-constructed set-pieces and gloriously fun-to-watch violence. But it too often drags itself down with overly structured situations and restrictive, strategy-heavy gameplay.

As it stands, Race Driver 3 suffers from too much variety and not enough substance.

Branding aside, perhaps most frustrating is the omission of environmental interactivity -- napalm does nothing to bush and tanks are rendered useless by the thinnest slice of bamboo.

Disgaea 2 adds only one significant new feature to its gameplay: the ability of stacked characters to attack.

A game unsure of what it wants to achieve. When it lets itself, it's a fantastic adrenaline rush through well-constructed set-pieces and gloriously fun-to-watch violence. But it too often drags itself down with overly structured situations and restrictive, strategy-heavy gameplay.

NBA 2K10 is an excellent basketball game that's full of nagging technical problems. It's a shame that some players probably won't be able to look past the inconsistent frame rate, online issues, and A.I. quirks, because NBA 2K10 does many things very, very well.

It's still a good game -- lovely, and a little tired. But these days, even a favorite old dog like UT needs to learn more than a few new tricks.

Yes, it targets a small audience, but it hits a bull's-eye.

More than enough fun to last through the main story -- especially if you bring a couple friends -- but whether you'll be returning to it again and again over the course of months is dependent largely on your superhero obsession and tolerance for repetition.

In the end, I'd say Dark Hero Days is mildly recommendable, but with a huge caveat: It's a decent Disgaea... just not anywhere close to the best Disgaea.

As it stands, Race Driver 3 suffers from too much variety and not enough substance.

I'd actually prefer a minigolf version of this series on the handheld systems. Maybe that would get me worked up about a relaxing round of Hot Shots again.

This is clearly the best-playing FIFA game ever made, but that merely puts it above some of the most average-playing soccer games ever made. Even with the improvements, the game remains far too simple tactically.

NBA 2K10 is an excellent basketball game that's full of nagging technical problems. It's a shame that some players probably won't be able to look past the inconsistent frame rate, online issues, and A.I. quirks, because NBA 2K10 does many things very, very well.

The promise of a portable and blockbuster RE is mostly realized, and the control improvements and sense of scale translate effectively, but I sincerely hope Capcom chooses to skew from RE's cheesy past and make more memorable adventures moving forward.