Evolution's new localization justifies this PSP port's existence for fans of the franchise. The PS1 version's overly literal translation and amateur-hour voice work was mercifully binned, replaced here with an expanded, well-acted script delivered by capable actors.

It's a must-have for enthusiastic fans of the original, who will easily recognize the quality beneath the hostile surface. Everyone else may want to proceed with caution, though, because you'll probably be too busy having your butt kicked to have a good time.

Infinite Space is an immensely satisfying 60-hour sci-fi adventure that does a fine job of presenting a sprawling universe, which is no mean feat for a portable game.

Lego Indy's main quest isn't terribly expansive -- you can finish it in a weekend, and that's if you take your time -- but the game's unquestionably built for completists, with a ton of hidden treasure and extra characters (you can unlock pretty much every character in the films, right down to Last Crusade's castle butler).

If only it was a stable product and didn't ship with so many bugs, I would've given New Vegas a higher score.

If anything, Judgment should be lauded for its flawless cover of X2 Reload and for taking the old beat-em-up formula to rock star-like levels.

This year, the game has junked its poorest parts and replaces them with some seriously innovative goodies -- but there are a handful of reasons why we're not jumping for joy and declaring this the must-play baseball title of 2008.

If only it was a stable product and didn't ship with so many bugs, I would've given New Vegas a higher score.

But with an attractive price point ($39.99) and a good number of exercises and routines to choose from, More Workouts is a welcome update to the original.

If only it was a stable product and didn't ship with so many bugs, I would've given New Vegas a higher score.

It's an approachable, enjoyable, but ultimately somewhat insubstantial game, and the 3D visuals add a nice touch but don't have a material impact on how it plays. Hmm...I guess the game and system have a lot in common after all.

Even though I think they ultimately contributed to the Army of Two's inconsistent tone, which moves from "flippant" to "serious business about how messed up people can get," the morality moments are what I'll remember most about The 40th Day. Not the solid cooperative play, nor the snazzy graphics where buildings fall apart, nor even the little flaws that still annoy me at times; but whether or not I chose to look the other way when that one guy closes the door in that one place.

It's enough to keep golfing fans entertained, and it's nice to see Camelot's golf system enhanced with motion controls. But, like I mentioned earlier, players looking for a more true-to-life golf sim on the Wii may want to go with something like Tiger Woods -- or simply just play more of Wii Sports Golf, which comes packed in with the system.

Despite the faults the individual events have, winning the Star Cup in all four sports unlocks a bonus cameo that almost makes all of the earlier tedium worth it.

If anything, DiRT 2 plays it a little too safe, offering only minor improvements over GRiD.

I can't say this is a must-have for golf fans. I reckon there are Tiger maniacs that'll buy it regardless, but if you're not obsessed with the Ryder Cup, I suggest trying to make do with Tiger Woods Online. If it doesn't fill your putt-sinking needs, this absolutely will.

The change in combat options is a welcome addition, I just wish that the story had delivered on the comic legacy of one of Marvel's more enduring heroes.

With a long-running series like DDR, it's a risk to mix up the core gameplay that made the franchise a success. But with this year's tweaks and music refresh, DDR Hottest Party 2 is definitely stepping in the right direction.

The gameplay kept me coming back, making the barely-there story fade into the back of my thoughts. The change in combat options is a welcome addition, I just wish that the story had delivered on the comic legacy of one of Marvel's more enduring heroes.

It stays true to a vision of great game design making great games, and is a swan song for a beloved tale.

"Cooking Mama" does have more recipes than Order Up!, but it lacks that special ingredient that keeps me coming back for more. In fact, now that I've tasted what a fleshed-out cooking-game experience can really be, it'll be hard to go back to "Cooking Mama" -- I'll definitely be coming back for more Order Up.

I can't imagine it becoming the massive breakout hit NIS seems to be aspiring to, but it's bound to satisfy not only the Disgaea faithful, but anyone pining for an inventive take on the Mystery Dungeon formula as well.

The online play -- particularly co-op -- gives HAWX significant replayability. Everything from the picture-perfect planes to the stunning real world environments looks great, even after multiple passes.

Lovers of Formula One will get a huge kick out of the way it wallows in the culture of the sport...That said though, its biggest flaw is that, rather than providing you with an experience that makes you feel like a Formula One driver, it instead seems to require that you practically need the skills of one to truly succeed.

With a thumping sound and sudden cloud of dust, grenades erase whole sections of houses. Bullets, however, stop dead in the thinnest wood slat. But what Bad Company needs isn't a trip to a real-life firing range -- it's its inflexible A.I. that requires the lessons.

Unfortunately, the translation to Wii brings nothing good. The quest and spell text are difficult to read on a standard definition TV, and it lacks widescreen support. Worse, the actual puzzle grid is much smaller than it could be, which only exacerbates the touchy Wii Remote pointer controls.

I enjoyed myself while playing Live 10. It's slick and mostly captures the feel of NBA basketball. I hope that next season, Live takes the new, inexperienced player into account and helps them learn to enjoy the game as much as the hardcore player.

But affixing "Rock Band" to the title leads to certain expectations -- as a Rock Band player who still gets plenty of use out of Rock Band 2 and its ever-expanding setlist, I feel a little cheated that none of these songs are available online for the other Rock Band games.

It's a rarity for any fighting anime game to have any sort of substance, style and especially, playability. Bandai has done an exceptional job in capturing the show's trademark comedy and battles.

If the best we can hope for to mark the silver anniversary of one of the most monumental video game masterpieces is a quick and dirty rerelease with a bit of pretty but insubstantial packaging, it's little surprise that so few people take gaming seriously as a medium.

There's a great deal of game here, which speaks to just how smart Sega is in iterating on a small collection of stages, rather than going the usual route of wasting valuable HD assets on a series of sprawling (and typically unplayable) levels for Sonic to get lost in.

If Sony's smart they'll approach this as a moving target that's ripe for expansion -- the addition of a course editor or (dare we dream?) the return of minigolf could easily bump this up a full letter grade.

Drone Tactics may look like Advance Wars with giant mechanical bugs and an absurd plot, but it's challenging and fun. Just watch out for those damn centipedes.

There's a great deal of game here, which speaks to just how smart Sega is in iterating on a small collection of stages, rather than going the usual route of wasting valuable HD assets on a series of sprawling (and typically unplayable) levels for Sonic to get lost in.

While Umbrella Chronicles doesn't accomplish much of note besides solidifying the Resident Evil story thus far, it provides plenty of point-and-pull-the-trigger satisfaction for your buck (especially with a friend in tow).

Feature-rich and full of worthy diversions, Unleashed's major drawbacks are ergonomically taxing controls (more the fault of the hardware), a horrid soundtrack, some less-than-user-friendly considerations in the various modes, and "Legacy of Kain"-esque load times, which is to say they're really long.

It shows off what the hardware is capable of, it's free (technically), and most importantly, it's actually a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it also highlights some of Kinect's weaknesses, namely the lag and occasional calibration issues.

Even with its quirks, I find it hard to put the game down -- it's so easy and fun to hop back in and whip up a couple quick, satisfying dishes. In its silly simplicity, Cooking Mama does what many can't: keep me heading back to the kitchen for one more snack.

It may not be deep and customizable, but it's addictive and furious and more fun than it has any right to be.

While it doesn't reach the status of a great Western, it's still a marked improvement over its mediocre predecessor (I likely would have given Call of Juarez a C+).

While that all might be good enough to satisfy the core audience, it won't save NCAA 10 from being seen, like its predecessors, as a second-string Madden.

While it doesn't elevate Rainbow Six back to the genre-defining franchise it once was, it's still a solid, fun game; plus, thanks to Unreal Engine 3, it looks great.

I can't say this is a must-have for golf fans. I reckon there are Tiger maniacs that'll buy it regardless, but if you're not obsessed with the Ryder Cup, I suggest trying to make do with Tiger Woods Online. If it doesn't fill your putt-sinking needs, this absolutely will.

Consider that this 989 Sports franchise has undergone the biggest three-year improvement since Barry Bonds went from 34 to 49 to 73 homeruns in a three year span. MLB seems insistent to keep its totals skyrocketing.

If you're new to the quirky, rolling action, Katamari Forever is the best game in the series yet. Even long-time fans, who've already played through all these stages, should enjoy the chance to relive their favorite levels in a beautiful high-def setting. But Namco has yet to fix the niggling camera and control problems, keeping this game from being quite as good as it could be.

The less-technically apt Wii version ends up being the game to move the franchise forward.

While RA3 is still tip top -- featuring vibrant graphics, fast-paced gameplay, hilarious cutscenes, and the best co-op mode in RTS today -- it is absolutely no different in its "ultimate" edition than it was in its PC/XB360 regular edition.

A more general problem is that the gameplay doesn't do much new, or even contemporary for that matter. You do the general flip-switching and item collecting types of missions, and your firepower is very typical.

This year, the game has junked its poorest parts and replaces them with some seriously innovative goodies -- but there are a handful of reasons why we're not jumping for joy and declaring this the must-play baseball title of 2008.

Anniversary edition is a collection of some of the best pieces of Halo. It revives a classic campaign that sports a fresh look. The multiplayer package adds classic maps into Reach's larger framework and re-enables classic CE behaviors for multiplayer fans to revisit the original, and even Kinect brings something unique to the table.

Battles in WAR are not only highly entertaining but also enriching; PVP nets you more experience, money, and gear than any other activity in the game. And that's a good thing: The other methods of acquisition are nowhere near as fun.

Consider Polarium a killer robot sent back into the present to conquer your brain. Might as well enjoy the subjugation...for as long as it lasts, anyway.

This year it's pushed farther than it has ever before by "borrowing" from Winning Eleven. As a handheld, it holds up over time -- but we can't help but to hold our breath to see Winning Eleven head-butt back on the PSP.

Though it has some hiccups, unexciting party modes, and a questionable difficulty curve, All-Stars Racing is a respectable effort that makes a good kart racer at its core (and is at least much more cohesive than Sega Superstars Tennis).

Halo Wars is a solid, if somewhat uninspired and simplistic, all-around RTS package with few faults. Ultimately, it's not an RTS game designed for a console (such as, say, Tom Clancy's EndWar), but rather a PC-style RTS that's been adapted and streamlined for the console. I wouldn't venture to say that it's either a great RTS game or a great Halo game, but it's a really solid beginning towards what could be a really good console RTS.

Block Breaker Deluxe is a little low rent, and it certainly doesn't take full advantage of the Wii hardware, but for eight bucks it's easy to overlook the cheesy decor and enjoy this solid brick-bashing entry.

Super Sluggers succeeds and fails as most Mario sports games do. Its quick, arcade-style action is easy to get into and plenty fun, coming at the expense of the nuances -- and balance -- you'll find in a sim.

Underworld is an incredibly abrupt experience, so much so that it makes me question whether content was removed from the complete game to be made available later as the previously announced downloadable content. Six levels in (seven if you count the prologue), the game just...ends. Sure, the last level is a cool showpiece, but it lacks any sense of built-up narrative and even a final boss -- simply a closing cut-scene that wraps up most of the loose ends all too handily.

Regardless, after only five to six hours of family-friendly trivia, questions start to repeat -- effectively killing the fun. Microsoft promises downloadable question packs sometime down the line, but the jury's still out on the price or size of these additions.

It's far from perfect, but for players who want to get more out of the Spore universe, Galactic Adventures is a worthy addition.

While certainly not the finest racing game ever made, credit must be given where it's due. Climax has squeezed an awful lot of game onto a UMD here. Not only is it vastly improved over last year's game, but you also get a lot of bang for your dirt-riding, dike-jumping, snowmobiling buck here.

LostWinds is a solid, charming little platformer, and it's a really promising start for the WiiWare line.

The most obvious addition was the addition of dual screens and polygonal graphical elements. But the "tension meter," which built as players performed one-button aerial tricks and allowed bursts of even greater speed, is what really made the game so exhilarating.

The Crown feature definitely motivates you to get involved in the entire game, and even the gameplay glitches are tolerable if you're playing on a level where you can drop enough shots to keep up (Starter is probably best). It's not perfect, but it's fun enough that it doesn't have to be.

The Xbox incarnation appears more faithful to the animation, while GameCube and Playstation2 versions look slightly less crisp.

Legendia seems a sure hit among the series' dedicated fans -- provided they don't feel that familiarity breeds contempt. But for everyone else, this flawed adventure's good looks and occasional moments of cleverness probably won't go far enough to distinguish Namco's latest Tales from the last few.

Elefunk is sublime in concept -- ultimately addictive and quite entertaining, despite a steep learning curve.

It's too bad, then, that Custom Robo Arena's RPG elements are so mundane, a connect-the-dots of "talk to this character, trigger this event."

But let's be realistic: if you're interested in picking this up, it's going to be because of the multiplayer. Section 8 feels like it's starting to tap into something, and if you're looking for something just a little different, yet instantly familiar, you'll definitely get your money's worth (on the PS3 anyway).

For all the additions in this game, some sensible, some less so, there's one constant: The gameplay is sharp, and players move up and down the court with purpose and meaning.

Think of it as a racing fling, not asking you for any long-term commitment, and letting you walk away once you're finished so you can pursue something with more depth. Still, it's fun while it lasts.

Divinity II genuinely surprised me; loathe as I am to admit it, I may have entertained the slightest of preconceived notions about the quality of the game, but Divinity II totally shattered them. It may not be ready to take on BioWare's finest, but if you're feeling an RPG (or dragon-riding) jones, you could come up with helluva worse ways to spend your coin.

Prism is unfortunately 10 bucks too much for a must-buy puzzler at its $30 price point, but it's an addiction that's totally worth tracking down if the concept piques your interest and you're looking for a challenge.

With solid, yet incremental, improvements on the field since last year, college football fans will certainly appreciate the more balanced game NCAA 10 puts on the field.

While 2K6 is an excellent game, it's not much different from 2K5, and EA's NHL series is rapidly gaining ground.

Drill Spirits is classic Namco through and through: like "Katamari Damacy" and "Taiko Drum Master," it's a straightforward idea that succeeds on the strength of its addictive gameplay and hyperactive personality.

In a way, the main reason I'm somewhat disappointed is that developer EA Canada has the tough part down: the gameplay and controls. But soccer is about so much more than that -- it's about patriotism, atmosphere, and passion. For the inevitable World Cup follow-up, I'd really like to see those elements shine through -- and it wouldn't hurt to not ship with so many bugs, either.

If not for its impressive graphics and completely insane multiplayer design, Return to Dreamland might be a tough sell. Despite his juvenile appearance, Kirby often plays host to some of Nintendo's most imaginative game design, yet Dreamland is anything but. It's a perfectly tame, perfectly predictable little platformer whose only real edge comes in its cooperative design and, to a lesser degree, in how dauntingly unforgiving the later, "secret" stages can be.

If there's one problem with EA's portable baller, it's that the controls simply aren't responsive enough.

Basically, half of what makes Disgaea unique would seem like cheating in any other game.

The lack of variety is actually a good thing. In an area of game development where being overly ambitious can destroy you, developer Luxoflux has instead created a smart, focused, and (most importantly) polished effort that should delight young fans of the film.

Even for a veteran strategy otaku like yours truly, the learning curve is intimidating -- but if you're willing to unwrap its numerous layers, R3KXI has a lot of USDA Select packed into it.

So merely by presenting the clearest puzzle design and most interesting combat yet seen in survival horror, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly has already staked a strong claim as one of the genre's finest moments.

Still, it's a fresh and generally strong start to a spin-off concept that stumbled out of the gate on PlayStation 2, but makes a case for full-time series status on PSP.

Unsurprisingly, playing through this Anniversary Collection is much like listening to a ten-album Grateful Dead box set: it's very good for what it is, and some of titles included are genuine masterpieces. But taken together, the monotony is almost overwhelming.

While Team GrisGris clearly has a deficiency in game design, they should be commended for their ability to surprise and disgust with the most limited of assets.

A more generous perspective would say it's more of the classic Bomberman multiplayer we've all come to know and love. It's the comfort food of videogames, and if that's enough for you, this is more than sufficient as an 8-player hold-me-over.

Those new abilities feel a little gimmicky at times, but when considered together with the multiplayer, Wolfenstein provides enough firepower and over-the-top storytelling to satiate anyone's desire for occult, alternate history action.

OK, so maybe it is sorta piratey, after all. Either way, assuming you can find some friends to sail with, Booty's more fun than a barrel of grog with a wench on top.

Twisted Metal fans who haven't already picked up Head-On for the PSP should do so now, and potential double-dippers should consider the improved controls, the five new levels (which are all pretty good), and fewer technical hurdles for multiplayer.

Charged seems like an amped-up, carnivalized reincarnation of Nintendo's own classic Ice Hockey.

It's not impossible to ignore the the aggravation on offer, but it's also hard to ignore how much better this Star Ocean could have been.

Lego Indy's main quest isn't terribly expansive -- you can finish it in a weekend, and that's if you take your time -- but the game's unquestionably built for completists, with a ton of hidden treasure and extra characters (you can unlock pretty much every character in the films, right down to Last Crusade's castle butler).

It's an entertaining attempt to revive an old favorite without straying too far from what made it so good in the first place. It's not the most impressive game you'll see on DS this fall, but it's one of the most fun.

Maybe you'll just play online. Maybe you'll spend all day crafting tracks and new costumes for your online avatars using the schwag you win in races. If you do, you'll find ModNation to be a thoroughly enjoyable kart-racing knock-off.

Given the game's low price and close temporal proximity to its forerunner, it's unsurprising that the visuals, sounds, and gameplay haven't changed at all since Portable Ops.

This year, the game's graphical reworking tips off with the implementation of a Face Gen system that churns out countless random players. The effect is massive.

If you like frenetically blowing stuff up with old-school flair, you'll dig Aqua -- if you're looking for a gaming experience that stays with you long after the disc leaves the drive, you're gonna need to spend more than 800 Microsoft points.