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.

The experiment is a success and testament to the fact that EA really has been spending more time crafting these games as the movies and books become more ambitious. If "Half-Blood Prince" produces the same leap in concept as we've seen here, Potter fans will really be in for something.

This is one flawed gem of an adventure that perhaps only the most patient of us can enjoy.

Dewy's Adventure has some admirable qualities to it, but the control issues keep it from truly shining.

Crosswords is simply a game about word puzzles made for people who love word puzzles -- and that's OK with me.

The venerability of these selections combined with the substandard interface (exiting out of a given game is performed inconsistently and tends to be very confusing) and paltry selection of titles makes this one you can skip over without losing any sleep.

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.

No, it's not going to go head-to-head with the onslaught of great FPSes we saw at the end of last year (though its slick, well-designed, robust multiplayer should give it some legs). But the unusual premise, solid writing, and nicely varied play make it worth a look for shooter fans looking for that next fix.

Supersonic seems a tad overpriced at $15 -- especially considering the nigh-featureless multiplayer and bland aesthetics -- but the single-player is short and sweet, and the core mechanics are simple and rewarding.

Despite the faults in character variety, you get a good Ninja Turtle fighter using a proven engine, but maybe Ubisoft will do one better than the Konami of 1994 and produce a sequel worth wishing for.

Tons of content, beautiful graphics, outrageously enjoyable gameplay -- these make up for its couple of foibles.

There's a certain obsessive-compulsive appeal to unlocking goals, and the surprisingly good text guarantees that there's always something interesting to read. But these positive traits seem wasted on a dumbed-down, ill-conceived butchery of a perfectly respectable franchise.

Most importantly, though (especially for fans of the PC Fallout), you've got an RPG without any sort of enticing story.

The stealth fails, however, in at least two significant ways. The first is a near-total lack of choice: there's almost always one prescribed way to navigate a given situation, and player improvisations are promptly curtailed by unsustainable gunfire.

It may not be the flashiest or most technically astute, but it's entertaining, well-suited for portable gaming -- something the competition still hasn't been able to figure out.

At its basic level, Transformers on the DS is a pretty average game. But at least Vicarious Visions tried to bring something unique to the table. It's kind of lame that you have to purchase two full-priced games to experience the entire saga (each title is about four hours long), but these are still the best Transformers-movie games you're gonna find.

The overall effect is that you're playing an unholy union between an old -- and not very good -- point-and-click adventure and a five-year old first-person shooter.

A colossal waste of an opportunity. The game throws together over 10 years' worth of characters from eight of the previous entries in the series, but for some inexplicable reason it sends these fan favorites not on a grand adventure but on a series of tedious fetch quests.

All successful cities tend to necessitate more or less the same choices, which in turn leads to City Life's biggest problem: lack of replay value. Expansions are typically created to remedy that issue, but 2008 Edition just doesn't. And that's a shame, because the solid city-building engine still has legs -- just nowhere to walk.

There's no question that Crisis fans will want a copy of Crisis Zone for their collections, if only to give their dusty GunCons a little workout. But it's ultimately a mild diversion from the more substantial offerings of its predecessors.

One of the game's goofier oversights is not telling you where you are on the field. If it's fourth down, a menu will pop up that asks if you want to punt, kick a field goal, or go for it. Yet there's no indication if you're on your own 30-yard line or your opponent's. And no way to call a play, then a timeout, to find out. So bogus.

Worse than simply being tedious, though, is how jaw-grindingly frustrating Zombie Apocalypse becomes.

The vaunted cross-platform play works mostly as advertised (including Achievements associated with killing/resurrecting users from the alternate platform), but we still have to question whether it's worth the hassle and cost for PC users.

So whether you're an FFXI veteran or noob, rest assured that this story is far from over. Based on the evidence at hand, we're quite confident that it has only just begun.

It's actually funny and creative -- a rare combination.

Prey the Stars looks cute, but it isn't a cakewalk. Balancing the rhythm and the type of food you eat can be overwhelming, and with so many wild-card moments, frustration can trump fun. In multiplayer, though, Stars begins to shine as its complexity emerges in an engaging and extremely competitive game.

An irresistible little charmer. It's short enough that it doesn't overstay its welcome, clever enough to be engaging, full of enough action to be consistently fun. Fans of the film series will, of course, want to grab it, but action gamers looking for a dose of sarcasm, zombie guts, and light puzzles will find themselves amused as well.

If you like a strict challenge and don't mind fighting the camera, by all means have at Aeon Flux. Just remember that your good friends here at 1UP warned you.

The environments lack the rich visuals 360 owners have grown accustomed to since seeing Gears of War. Surfaces all appear to be flat, with muddy textures and stark lighting that only heighten the effect. By comparison to current standards, the thought that it could be an original Xbox game may even cross your mind.

How two quality ops managed to screw up Theatre of War is anyone's guess.

For video game vixens to look as hot as these do is almost disturbing.

Despite the minor flaws, I loved most every minute of Wolf of the Battlefield. This is a great game to pop in when you're sitting around with only a few minutes to spare, or when a couple of friends are looking for a quick way to kill some time.

The battle system reeks of incomplete, unfinished ideas.

Sure, it does have some taxing level-design problems, but its presentation and sheer wackiness and randomness saves it from being just another statistic.

Talk about the old sound and fury saw -- you'll finish Lost Planet too soon and won't go back for seconds. That's really the definition of why not to buy something, isn't it?

It looks pretty, there are quite a few game modes, and there's a very long campaign. However, for those of us who don't find enjoyment in watching paint dry, building a city in real time is too laborious to be fun.

If you're looking for just having some dumb fun driving in a big sprawling city, smashing and shooting every last thing in your way, then Wheelman is a great pick. However, it never even attempts to reinvent the wheel from any other free-roaming action-adventure.

All of this is handled well enough, but there's nothing special to it.

Even with the flaws, The Bigs on the Wii is still fun thanks to the good implementation of the batting. The cocky presentation alone makes it hard to set down your Remote, and you simply can't swing -- really swing -- for the fences anywhere else. But the fielding and baserunning need some more work down in AAA before they're ready for the big show.

This game is funny, fun to play, and is a definite improvement on the claustrophobic linear levels of games past.

Dragging the game out with endless fetch quests and terrible combat makes getting to the end more of a chore than anything.

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.

The level of depth and complexity in the gaming is substantial for a handheld title, and in some ways is a bit more forgiving than its console brethren, but casual gamers should be warned.

The only reason you'd buy Wanted is in a (possibly misguided) attempt to support The Adventure Company with your game-buying dollars. Which is fine, of course, but if any TAC game is skippable, this is definitely the one.

The Sims 2: Castaway doesn't accomplish anything particularly compelling in the long term (and sadly, it's got very few ways to torture your Sim when you inevitably tire of the mundane), but what is there is solid, and it's a decent way to fill any lingering gaps in your DS schedule (the younger you are, the better).

The most frustrating thing about Octomania isn't the awfully voiced rapping tree with a rainbow 'fro or having to play through the same few short story mode battles over and over in order to unlock new characters -- it's that winning not only takes a bit of patience and strategy (as you wait for enough colors to be available for large combos), but it also takes a heaping help of luck.

I still had a good time gunning down hordes of undead, but I can't emphasize enough how disappointing it is to get really close to the end of the game, only to be sent back to the beginning because you've run out of your allotted amount of continues.

Universe at War does what they said couldn't be done, and it makes a large-scale real-time strategy game -- of the sort thought to be exclusively a PC domain -- fun to play from the couch.

Is it a mediocre racer with some fancy tech, or does it want to be a mediocre racer with some fancy tech? All signs point to the latter: Beautiful visuals and interesting vehicles that look like they were stolen from the set of Mad Max -- but on the flip-side, the game offers nothing in terms of customization aside from a few minor cosmetic changes to your driver and vehicle.

A good JRPG that tries to do something new with its battle system. It's not altogether successful, but any PC Square fans should at least check it out and experience it for themselves.

Lights Out more resembles a student project for a gaming college than a finished retail product (and not necessarily a passing one either).

The extra ten bucks buys you much better looking planes and light effects, no slowdown during particularly busy fights, and access to your 360 Live list.

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.

Playing against a real person, the strength of the pitcher-batter face-off carries the game; playing alone, you're more likely to send this one down to the minors before the end of the season.

If only HVB wasn't so difficult and limiting at the start; being stuck with below-average bowlers using below-average bowling balls while trying to navigate oil patterns and control ball-spin is more than enough to dissuade anyone looking to simply, well, bowl.

Blue Byte needs to ask itself some hard questions about just where it strayed from the path of success. Until it's willing to confront those questions, its flagship series will continue foundering on the shoals of obscurity.

Undeniably dated and simple, and the action is a bit plodding and straightforward. Fortunately, the underlying gameplay is good enough that it won't betray the fond nostalgia of older fans.

Since aiming and movement is too difficult to track enemies as they appear, a typical mission will have you die on the first enemy, learn his location and kill him before he can strike back, only to be felled by a second enemy, and so on.

Though not a great game on its own, Patrician IV has all of the things that make good trading games interesting and challenging.

Ultimately, Star Trek Online's problem is that it doesn't put enough emphasis on its own ground combat abilities. The action feel much better in space, where properly combining a Tachyon Beam and a boost to auxiliary power can result in the swift annihilation of your enemy.

There is still a better product for consumers to pick up this year, and this is not it.

The all-new telemetry system and be-the-receiver feature are interesting additions that enhance the fun derived from Arena Football, but they are not enough to push the game over the top.

The game should be called "Harry Potter and the Half-Assed Game."

The problem is, there just isn't that much game there, and you'll either grow sick of it in short order or finish it in even shorter order.

Even with the issues, 3 on 3 NHL Arcade's a must-play for fans of arcade sports, and I want to commend the makers for mercifully extracting the pointless bloat of pre-game intros and a circling zamboni between periods.

Only a revisit after about six months will reveal whether or not Sword of the New World manages to reach its potential...if anyone's willing to wait that long.

Despite the minor flaws, I loved most every minute of Wolf of the Battlefield. This is a great game to pop in when you're sitting around with only a few minutes to spare, or when a couple of friends are looking for a quick way to kill some time.

Aside from the dynamic object interaction and music, the graphics and gameplay made me feel like I was back in high school, playing "Resident Evil 2" after doing my homework. But that was then, and this is now, and Obscure just doesn't make the grade.

It's damn near a flight sim, with tons of controls and HUD elements (a bar for your health and your shields, and a bar for the charging time for your special weapon -- which is more special if you shoot it with your main guns).

It's addictive, funny, and will make you feel more than a little sad when it's over.

A true classic. The Souvalou moves at a somewhat glacial pace and the graphics are hopelessly flat, but besides those shortcomings it's still a phenomenal action game.

While the uninspiring adventure mode is excusable, the camera and the framerate problems are not; those two factors break the game.

Maxis hasn't changed the game drastically and shouldn't have to for an expansion pack that is adding a new (and cute!) perspective to an already solid game.

Ultimately, it's a passable RPG for your PSP, thanks to its collection mentality and good dialogue. But the lack of an overworld and short game length that's due to the dialogue-to-game ratio keeps it from being anything special.

Manages to be solid, yet terribly underwhelming, and ultimately poorly-designed for its intended platform.

Sega fails to make a good platformer -- pretty much everything Sonic Unleashed does has been done better in tons of other games.

At 1,200 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live and $15 on PSN, Madden Arcade simply isn't the bargain of the $10 NHL Arcade. While it's $5 more, the experience isn't appreciably better -- in fact, I'd peg it as slightly worse.

Tecmo Bowl Throwback is exactly what it claims to be, and it freshens up the classic version of the game without completely changing it (read: ruining it). Publishers working on remakes of older titles would be well-served in taking a page out of Tecmo's book in keeping the changes minimal and the nostaligia-factor high.

If you're in the dark about Roguelikes but still want a taste of one, it's better to start with the more accessible Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Its difficulty is more gradual, it's got touch-screen controls, and it features more than one party member, which is easier to deal with than Izuna's solitary dungeon-crawling. But those who already love the genre -- or want to "graduate" from Pokémon -- will still find great enjoyment from Izuna.

If you enjoyed the previous iterations, Battle Network 5 is a worthy successor to the line, but if you were turned off by the kiddie-veneer, the deep strategic gameplay goes a long way towards making it tolerable.

Burnout Crash's ability to underwhelm is actually rather frustrating. The game would fit right at home on an iPhone or iPad, and it can be rather fun. But with all the amazing games available for consoles, it's hard to see why anyone would choose to invest their time in Burnout Crash.

While the experience is definitely fun, blazing through the game's six levels (plus four bonus games) only takes about an hour. So, unless you're absolutely hungering for a short, cooperative experience, just wait for the real game to release in January.

While Re:coded never does anything that's particularly groundbreaking, it does what it sets out to do very well and adds some fun and interesting twists on the standard formula.

Hardcore RTS fans probably won't enjoy Heroes of Mana's simplified design. And fans of more traditional RPGs probably won't appreciate its chaotic, large-scale engagements, either. Taken for what it is, though, Heroes is an enjoyable little excursion.

Beneath the whimsical packaging -- punctuated by the overenthusiastic (possibly underage) air-traffic controller on the front cover -- lies a fearsome beast ready to sink its teeth into your challenge-seeking jugular.

There's just nothing new at all on the gameplay end, and nothing very compelling on the external-polish end. It's hardly the first GBA game to be guilty of this, but it won't do much to compel people to buy it.

The most depressing issue, however, is the four- to 10-second load time you'll suffer each time you enter a new environment, but methodically engaging gameplay helps make up for this.

The graphics aren't sharp, HD models, but Mario Power Tennis looked good when it first came out, and it still looks good today. It's not perfect, and more carefully retooled port would have been preferable, but Mario Power Tennis provides what's important: fun.

The selection of missions is a little sparse, and the game demands a near-perfect performance to unlock extra content, but that's far less of a problem compared to a control scheme that just isn't any fun.

AC4 feels like a house that's been added onto so often that it's a maze of twisting passages, oddly shaped rooms, and doors that go nowhere. There may be something worthwhile hidden within, but it's not worth the effort to find it. Time to tear it all down and start over.

While it maintains its easily accessible, casual gameplay, obsessive players (like myself) can still work hard towards getting 100% on all dishes. This blend is exactly what makes me love Cooking Mama in general, and Cooking Mama 3 is a great, if occasionally exasperating, addition to the series.

Too Human is also not a good action game. While it deserves some applause for a reasonable translation of PC classic Diablo's mouse-driven controls, its reliance on the right analog stick as a means for attack only works at the most basic level.

Even when considered as an action-driven arcade game though, the awkwardness of controlling the namesake swords takes too much away from the overall enjoyment.

The graphics are almost painfully cute, and the pseudo-physics system that causes enemies, objects, and heroes to ping-pong around the screen with abandon can make combat entertainingly chaotic. It's good, clean, dumb fun. There's just not much to it, or of it.

While you can manually toggle the maximum strength of the shot, the analog swing is still enormously more sensitive than in previous versions -- only there's no meter to give you any indication of how strong a putt you're making. Frustrating? You bet.

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.

Ultimately, Afro falls into the same pitfalls as almost every other game based on a movie/television license: It presents an edited down version of a story that's familiar to fans but indecipherable to newcomers, wrapped up in a generic game housing. It looks great. It sounds great. But, otherwise, it's a mashup of characters and situations that makes little sense.

The move to a new console is rarely without a few bumps, but Gust seems to have weathered the transition nicely; as such, I'm happy to recommend Atelier Rorona to anyone looking for a good JRPG or slice-of-life sim on the PS3.