Underneath the show there's still a snowboarding game that's fun to hang out with, but only in doses.

It's clear the team at Renegade Kid has plenty of talent and potential, and the creepy atmosphere and unique controls make the game worth a look for survival-horror fans with lots of patience -- there's not really anything else like it on the DS. Just be aware that the most of the screams the game elicits have nothing to do with the onscreen horror.

Nippon Ichi's RPGs always demand a high level of patience, persistence, and masochism; by that measure, Prinny seems like a perfect adaptation of the Disgaea mindset to an action milieu. It may only appeal to the fanatically obsessed, but it does a damn fine job of it.

As soon as you hit the city, the game's pace drops off, and the sub-par graphics and poor controls steadily bog down an otherwise terrific idea.

Area 51 is in no specific way a bad game, it's just an exceptionally dated game. The player's objectives aren't much more evolved than an old Doom or Turok game, and the graphic presentation isn't up to par with the genre's best.

An annoyingly expansive world, and reams of stilted dialogue, have all been squeezed onto a handheld system -- with nary a load time to be found! -- and that is a feat nothing short of miraculous.

Like any Mario Party, this one's harmless fun, and it's especially worthwhile if you've got a group of friends and don't have to deal with the cheating computer. But the repetitiveness and shallow, luck-based gameplay just further drive home why the wacky, dynamic WarioWare has been crowned Nintendo's real party king.

Play and enjoy After Burner Climax for what it is: a thrill ride.

I just wish the game's signature (and somewhat watered-down -- go Teen rating!) Fatalities ("Heroic Brutalities" for the politically correct DC heroes) appeared in each character's move lists, as I'd rather not look up a button combination every time I want to shoot my opponent in the face or drop a Mortal Kombat arcade cabinet on his head. You know, the important stuff.

Multiplayer has been improved upon as well, with full four-player co-op throughout the entire campaign and a huge number of online dogfighting options. And again, it all works beautifully because the fundamentals of the game are so simple and solid.

Star Ocean contains an interesting plot buried in its depths, but it's incredibly demanding of your time and your patience. The long-winded, poorly conceived dialogue, and formulaic cut-scene, dungeon crawl, cut-scene, dungeon crawl design isn't getting any fresher. I still enjoyed the game and its comforting, monster-slaying grind, though.

UGnG gets the superficial bits right, yet the fundamental elements that have always made the series so compelling despite its esteem-crushing difficulty are either missing, compromised or broken in this sequel. And without those crucial underpinnings of quality in place, the entire affair collapses in a morass of mediocrity.

I can't recommend the weak single-player mode, but the multiplayer left me surprisingly satisfied.

Tiger 08 may not be a must-have if you own previous versions, but it's an exceptionally solid game on its own.

It feels more sophisticated, looks great, delivers tons of cars and racing disciplines, and upgrades what was already a solid online component. But far more critical, it's one of the best <I>drives</I> on the 360.

As a WWII fighting experience, it rivals EA's Medal of Honor in atmosphere and immersion. The in-game graphics are spectacular, with detailed aircraft and some lovely explosions, and the only obvious issue is some pop-in from high altitudes.

If you love Dragon Ball Z -- like, love it to the point where tears run down your face as you stare at your Vegeta wall scroll -- then you'll love Burst Limit. Casual fans, like myself, will be impressed initially but ultimately let down by the fact that -- despite the new name -- this is still part of the Budokai family of fighters.

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.

FlatOut basically feels like a slightly more frustrating successor to the original "Destruction Derby" series on the PlayStation 1 (well, the first two games).

So while I'm excited about the changes to the formula for Galactrix, the downsides aren't sorted out nearly as well as I'd hoped, making this huge bundle of gameplay seem more like a chore than a boon.

Resonance of Fate features some pretty substantial (and fussy) systems made for endless fiddling and tinkering -- which is why it's a shame that the learning curve is so ludicrously steep.

It's not exactly a bad game, but it feels oddly archaic -- the kind of thing that would have been pretty hot 15 years ago on the NES. Now, though, it's mainly interesting as a poor man's "Castlevania."

But whether you're playing online or off, you just can't shake the feeling that the PC version of Blazing Angels 2 is a messy afterthought, made all the more disappointing for wasted potential.

One thing Champions League clearly has over Winning Eleven, though, is the ability to transfer your Treble campaign back and forth between the PS2 and PSP, so you never have to go without. The games are identical, and while the PSP has a tough time with everything, doing transfers on the PS2 will save you time.

When Tactical Strike works, it works really, really well. In spite of the soul-crushing frustration I experienced, those moments of genius made it worth soldiering on for me. If you have an extraordinarily high tolerance for cheap deaths, long load times, and insubordination, you could have a pretty darn good time with this game.

It's a mostly well-built title with seemingly good intentions, but it lacks the weight -- whether it's in the narrative, campaign length, or feature set -- to seem like much more than a quality diversion.

Wolfenstein's plot is little more than an excuse for you to revisit the titular Wolfenstein castle and cause unnecessary mass destruction, but even without the added magical powers, Wolfenstein is built on a solid foundation and packed with hectic action.

Where The Red Star is best is in its combat system, which brilliantly blends melee attacks, shooting, and blocking defenses. There's an almost poetic beauty with the mastery of these, as you unconsciously perform incredible attacks by switching between and blending the three.

At the moment, Champs is a good MMO with the potential to become a great one.

For about half the cost of a lift ticket at a major ski resort, Stoked: Big Air Edition's mountains and riding are an authentic representation of what snowboarding is: a canvas for creativity, where finding a perfect line is its own reward.

A landmark in what some might consider more "casual" fighting games. Not only is it great fun, but it's the best fighting game on GameCube (sorry, Smash Bros is not a traditional fighting game), and one of the best 3D fighters around.

From the custom voice work done by show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, to original artwork for the over-the-top-but-barely-there story, there's a treasure trove of unlockable artwork and hilarious video clips of the show.

It won't light the world on fire, but this next-gen playground of destruction offers you tons to do (well, tons to explode), it's always enjoyable, and I dove right back in after the credits rolled.

It's quickly clear that Dark Messiah is a "Half-Life 2"-style rail ride, but with "Deus Ex"-style character development.

For all its competence, there's no real hook for anyone who doesn't remember the original Rocket Knight game. It appeals mainly to nostalgia for the way platformers used to be. Although it has a lovely next-gen presentation with the hi-res, 3D graphics engine, this is very much two-or-three-gens-ago gameplay.

The events aren't anything mind-blowing, but they're all competent and solid enough to keep me coming back to improve my last run.

Unlimited Codes is a competent 2.5D fighter that's bound to raise interest in the fighting game community, for better or worse. Newcomers will enjoy the game's simplified inputs, but may grow tired and frustrated when learning strategies for high-level play and advanced combos.

It could have been made somewhat better by more accessible, easily relatable songs, but with an otherwise lacking career mode, everything about Warriors of Rock reeks of regurgitated design decisions and a desire to simply make as much money as possible without really trying to add anything new.

Obsidian's attempt at adding story elements fails to impress this time -- which stands out even more due to how plenty of other RPGs (especially Obsidian's) pull off a much better narrative.

The original Halo's story was better.

All of the things EA did right with FIFA World Cup 2006 are overshadowed by the simple truth that what should be the most fun part of the game -- having exciting scoring chances -- is completely negated by shoddy game performance near the nets.

All in all, it's amazing the amount of content that's packed into this game -- this is more than a sequel, even while including a redux of the first game's three movies.

It's not a matter of whether it's challenging or not--the difficulty level you select at the beginning of the game determines that--it's that, despite the juicy subject matter that Stardock could have taken and run with, there's less depth here than there is in the average puddle on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Blood in the Sand takes its missteps in stride. The game doesn't takes itself too seriously and if you try to, it completely unravels. Similarly, go in looking for old school street cred and you'll come up empty.

Both games -- the Wii version especially -- ought to be so much better.

Nostalgia is determined to make its way in a crowded market on sweetness alone. It's charming and competent, but you can do much better on the DS. In this lousy economy, with so many quality alternatives, Nostalgia's attempt at repurposing fond memories isn't quite good enough.

While not flawed, it's devoid of substance. For the rest of us, there are superior options -- from this generation as well as the last -- to indulge in armchair snowboarding thrills.

Whatever the case, it's absolutely perfect for parties.

Ultimately, Secret Agent Clank just feels disjointed. Whereas developer High Impact Games' previous PSP effort, "Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters," played it safe with overly familiar levels and mechanics, this Clank spin-off squeezes a hodgepodge of half-baked concepts into the basic framework of a proper Ratchet & Clank game.

Most importantly, it nails the fun of hitting springboards, bouncing off enemies, and defying gravity with pure speed. While hardly perfect, it's solid enough that even reviving the old "Se-ga!" before the title screen feels appropriate. After a decade of missteps, Sonic has earned it.

Is NASCAR 07 a game, or a simulation? Well, yet again it's neither, and EA Tiburon has failed for the second year running to strike the glorious balance that it achieved with "NASCAR 05."

Hexic 2 is an excellent puzzle game on its own merits, but the original was perfection. For fans of the first game, multiplayer, new pieces, and new leaderboards to conquer should be well worth the 800 Marketplace points (around $10), but those who haven't given the series the time of day should explore the original first.

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.

There are enough MMOs out there that deserve to be roadkill, and Auto Assault isn't one of them.

Still, if you want to play through a good story on the easy or normal difficulty settings, there's a lot to like here.

Adults still captivated by the Lego formula will probably find more to like in the shinier console versions, but if you know a young Dark Knight-in-training, Lego Batman for DS offers enough competent (but largely unexciting) action and unlockables to keep 'em busy for some time.

Hardcore (read: non-American) fans will find it vapid, but those same fans are far better served by "Winning Eleven."

A somewhat archaic, unpolished platformer belied by a novel premise and seemingly interesting world to explore. I enjoyed it enough as an introduction to a very cool, deliberate aesthetic, but it's tough not to desire a Mushroom Men game that executes its ideas more skillfully -- never mind one that takes more than five hours to finish.

Solid controls, multiplayer options, and creation tools stand out, though some jagged textures and their frustrating side effects hamper an otherwise solid execution.

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).

While Army of Two does have its high points (an attack on an aircraft carrier being one), levels often lack excitement and instead deliver much of the same over and over. As mentioned before, it's not bad gameplay, but it never builds to much of anything. In fact, the entire game is rather anticlimactic.

Solid action-adventure gaming for their respective systems.

One warning to potential consumers, though: The bizarrely long cut-scenes (and the baby-game story they painfully tell) will bore any gamer old enough to read them. Avert your gaze.

The game's an okay platformer with colorful visuals, decent (if generic) music, and control that gets the job done. It's just that there's nothing at all special here.

The one killer drawback to Jam Sessions is that you can't play individual notes.

If you can get past the controller and don't mind sustaining permanent hand injuries, Decades is a fun, short rhythm game.

Fairly meaty, but ultimate a godsend for retro-junkies rather than general audiences.

So it's not for multiplayer fans or story fans or innovation fans, but Dark Sector is certainly a good game. When it all comes together and you're ducking in and out of cover while shooting and throwing the Glaive at groups of enemies, it's a lot of fun, and the visual spark and A.I./pacing/combat polish make it worth playing.

Slim on modes (no online), the storyline is poppycock, and the lone minigame requires multiple controllers (while stroke play and match play don't). Still, there's plenty of good here, but for every bit of it, there's a spoonful of frustrating (sounds like real golf, doesn't it?).

The interplay between the A.I. character and the player character for both puzzle solving and combat adds layers to the gameplay, and the story has its moments. But this definitely isn't "Ico 2."

Overlord 2 offers a lot of options for customization, be it in the form of minion upgrades, spell specializations, and purely aesthetic options like how to decorate your fortress and which of your mistresses you choose to favor.

Please God, afford Egosoft the time needed to rework the game via some sort of expansion, patch or Gold Edition so that I may finally be content with existence. As is, this bizarre flip-flop of "Freelancer" that features no interface or enjoyable action but a ton of diversity and extended appeal just isn't any better than all right.

If you can ignore the gimmickry and the middle-of-the-road visuals, you'll find an entertaining baseball game that'll keep you just as engaged as the rest of the crop this year. MVP Baseball has little to worry about.

The control hiccups may cause problems, but most of them can be countered with care. But the biggest bonus: Not once will you see starlight dancing off the ball.

Shiren does a great job of straddling the divide between accessibility and challenge, presenting a roguelike experience that may well appeal to any RPG fan. Or at least, any RPG fan willing to give it a chance.

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.

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.

An incredibly subjective experience, and it certainly won't be to everyone's liking. Yet at its best, the game turns Nintendo's DS into an odd spin on the iPod -- an intimate, portable, personal musical experience that shifts and changes each time you touch the screen.

Despite the moments that Lost Frontier falters, most of the game is a solid sequel that lives up to the Jak legacy. The platforming is a nice homage to the existing Jak games, and the flight combat builds a new element that feels both refreshing and familiar.

The millions of die-hard fans who wanted to get their Kombat on will have no doubt already picked up the superior PS2/Xbox version six months ago.

It might be a worthwhile purchase to someone who needs an object lesson in how not to take advantage of the platform, but for anyone else this is just a more expensive version of a game that's been cluttering bargain bins for a while now.

The other major RPG released this week, the disappointing "Blue Dragon," promised to transport players back to those beloved days. Wild Arms 5 is the game that actually delivers.

The days of Jedi Knight, Rogue Squadron, and TIE Fighter are quickly becoming distant memories of what it was like to sit down and feel like we really were in a galaxy far, far away -- The Force Unleashed on the Wii can't hold a candle to those classics.

Consider Spectrobes a fun opportunity to bond with your kids by saving the galaxy from the latest alien menace, and enjoy these times while you still can. In just a couple years, they'll probably be asking you to buy them the equivalent of Modern Warfare 2.

An open-world zombie game has far more potential than what Techland is putting on display. There's certainly a lot of fun to be had on Dead Island, but don't be surprised if tedium sets in once you've murdered a zombie in every way imaginable (estimated time: 20 hours).

Stomach issues and assumption of Japanese linguistic ability aside, however, Squeak Squad is the most complete conventional Kirby side-scroller in some time. Yes, it may not be a "killer app" like Canvas Curse, but it's not trying to be.

The mere existence of this game means that there are people out there with their hearts in the right place...which makes the end results all the more heartbreaking.

If you've been craving the flavor of hot ion bolts and heat seekers, but can't bear to reinstall Freelancer yet again, DarkStar One should hit the proverbial spot.

All that said, Young Thor -- when you're not repeating the same levels over and over -- is an enjoyable, pick-up-and-play romp-fest.

Bookworm lacks a bit of the addictive magic that draws me to PopCap's other titles, but this spelling game still offers an enjoyable distraction for wordsmithing on the go.

If you love Dragon Ball Z -- like, love it to the point where tears run down your face as you stare at your Vegeta wall scroll -- then you'll love Burst Limit. Casual fans, like myself, will be impressed initially but ultimately let down by the fact that -- despite the new name -- this is still part of the Budokai family of fighters.

It takes a while for the card-based gameplay of Episode III to grow on you, but once it does, it'll get its hooks in as firmly as the other PSO chapters.

Sacred 2 turns out to be a great couch game, largely because you can play co-op with a friend at your side. But the real surprise is that the folks at Ascaron managed to create a mostly-great interface for the XB360 and PS3 controller, giving you faster and easier access to more combat abilities than you could use in the PC version.

The story mode is ingenious, and it's shocking no simulation sports game in this era has taken this on until now. But the execution does have flaws.

It's just a shame that, due to Sega's mismanagement of its properties over the last decade or so, Superstars Tennis comes too late to fully resonate with today's gaming audience.

Shank is the freshest, most unequivocally rewarding beat-em-up game to come along in almost a decade.

So, while I recommend this to anyone who plays golf video games, or used to (this brings me back to my Genesis PGA European Tour days), this is, in a way, a very well-looked-after port.

The microphone mini-game selection is too small to make Mario Party 6's appeal that much wider. But for those who appreciate sitting down for a long night of Star collecting and raucous behavior, Mario Party 6 is a polished upgrade with solid improvements.