Everything about Star Fox: Assault comes across as competent, yet, frustratingly bland.

If Spirits & Spells were Halloween candy, it would be those weird peanut butter flavored taffies wrapped in orange and black wax paper. The ones you eat after all the good stuff is gone and it's either that or the jelly-filled hard candies.

It's not that the game is terrible -- heck, it's not even bad -- it's just that it fails to do anything to claw its way out of mediocrity.

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."

The car never really feels grounded, but rather appears to float at a high rate of speed. It doesn't take much more than too much gas and too sharp a turn to start spinning, adding unnecessary aggravation to some of the longer missions.

Unless you fancy yourself a hardcore DC comics fan, you'll find little to hold your interest in DCUO in its current state after the first several hours of gameplay.

As a stand-alone release, Puzzle World basically consists of one very good (though very dated) puzzler and a handful of boring filler material.

Without the story, all your venturing through the game would be for naught. It's the redeeming quality that makes the back-and-forth, to-and-fro quests, the battles every five feet, and the unaltered appearance worth wading through. It's just something that you'll really have to want to do.

Even if some parts are lackluster there's not much that's truly awful about it, and its unique elements are more than enough to make up for things like the handful of missions spoiled by suicidal Allies.

As an RPG, it's pretty standard, yet it manages to be just plain comforting thanks to its quirky looks and sounds -- and even its easy one-handed control option.

Interpol doesn't do enough to create or maintain interest or excitement. If you're already into the idea of finding hidden items, Interpol will keep you busy for a few hours (including bonus "spot the difference" puzzles, ala QuickSpot on DS), but if not, the bland interface and narrative are unlikely to win you over.

Vaguely addictive.

It's also a travesty that the original arcade games aren't included in this collection (though, perhaps Sega felt those would invalidate these new installments -- especially in the case of Golden Axe, which just plain sucks).

It's huge, nicely-reproduced and sells for a great price. But the genuine classics part? Well, not so much. To be frank, there are two types of games in Treasures 2: decrepit hits, and obscure leftovers.

Without the story, all your venturing through the game would be for naught. It's the redeeming quality that makes the back-and-forth, to-and-fro quests, the battles every five feet, and the unaltered appearance worth wading through. It's just something that you'll really have to want to do.

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.

It's huge, nicely-reproduced and sells for a great price. But the genuine classics part? Well, not so much. To be frank, there are two types of games in Treasures 2: decrepit hits, and obscure leftovers.

While Ratatouille has its enjoyable moments, the main missions leave you feeling a bit hungry for something meatier, while the tasks like slides or races spoil your appetite.

The game should be called "Harry Potter and the Half-Assed Game." Even though Endless Day mode allows you to visit the Hogwarts grounds at your leisure after the primary game finishes, letting you round up the rest of the collectibles and deal with any unfinished dueling or Potions challenges, I felt as though EA delivered only half the game I had hoped for.

LOH III ends a series that at first was tolerable, but with a frightening flatline in the level of quality, it only cements itself as dead-center average.

While the uninspiring movie didn't help matters, it's the lethargic gameplay that winds up making King Arthur an equally disappointing game. Repetitive and frustrating, it fails to live up to the potential of its cinematic presentation.

All the extra content and intriguing exploration aspects are rendered null and void by the fact that you'll spend the majority of your time babysitting health bars, though. The developers at Hudson nailed the survival aspect a little too well -- now they just need to work on making it fun.

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.

It's fun, perhaps, but fun in ways that are so odd that it's hard to say whether any given player will get the joke.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a standard licensed game -- it's got just enough content to make a virtual reenactment of the Human/Goblin war worthwhile for fans of the franchise.

Godfather II suffers from a lack of design foresight. Instead of delivering a movie-quality narrative, it presents a frustrating, accidentally comic world.

Naruto: Path of Ninja 2 is a missed opportunity, lacking consistency and polish. Fans may embrace the game for the Naruto brand alone, but the story and unadventurous level designs will fail to keep their interest. At least the battle mechanics are a step in the right direction.

I've been willing to somewhat forgive the series' unbalanced gameplay until now, but after three games on two distinct platforms, the developers should be full-fledged M.D.s by now...so why do they keep making the same med-school mishaps?

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 mediocre kart racer on a system where that genre is already well-represented. There's really no reason to play Surf's Up on the DS.

With friends or smart online players, D-A-C can provide a couple hours of mindless fun, but it just doesn't provide any reason to keep playing beyond that.

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.

A series of random mini-missions pushing you further away from feeling like you're a Corleone.

Manhunt's biggest problem is pacing. Like Richard Nixon, it peaks too early. It has a lot of smaller problems, but all of those issues contribute to the unfortunate fact that I was tired of Manhunt long before it was over. I was tired of its violence, certainly, but I was also tired of its AI quirks, tired of its repetitive level design, and tired of the growing impression that I was just the main character in a geek show.

Finally, the multiplayer component isn't bad, though there are two things that are glaringly missing. First, there's no straight-up deathmatch mode. Players will be taking the side of either the cops or the criminals, and the sides aren't particularly well balanced. Second, there's the inexcusable absence of splitscreen play.

The game's biggest hang-up is that it's simply too hard to tell what's going on half the time. Infantry dissolve into bombed-out backgrounds and balk at inexact selection, and enemy AT and artillery always crouch just out of sight and in perfectly staggered waves, reliably razing your shrewdest scouts.

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.

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.

Best taken in short bursts, the King's solo effort is a decent romp through the world of fast-food capitalism, but only if one can stomach the incredibly frustrating camera and challenges that don't quite test the ol' reflexes.

All in all, while Ratatouille has its enjoyable moments, the main missions leave you feeling a bit hungry for something meatier, while the tasks like slides or races spoil your appetite.

Even the most hardcore Star Wars fans will be disappointed in what could've been an opportunity to highlight the true power of the Force.

A desert island game, but only in the literal sense.

I suppose that some gamers out there are willing -- nay, perhaps even eager -- to play a long game of uninspired levels strung together with an inconsequential character-creation system. But then, some people also like to watch "Friends." In reruns.

If you've got the patience for a slow-burn party game and tolerance for hands-off interaction -- and you're cool with indirect mayhem and humiliation instead of constant head-to-head brawls -- I can see the game growing on you. Dokapon Kingdom may well hook a certain type of player, but I will say that it just didn't grab us.

Those coming in clean to the series will wonder what the fuss is about, though -- and should probably wait for the next installment in the series instead.

It's huge, nicely-reproduced and sells for a great price. But the genuine classics part? Well, not so much. To be frank, there are two types of games in Treasures 2: decrepit hits, and obscure leftovers.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a standard licensed game -- it's got just enough content to make a virtual reenactment of the Human/Goblin war worthwhile for fans of the franchise.

The core gameplay is sound, so it's a shame that it's burdened by a derivative plot, generic characters, and archaic visuals (reminiscent of the 32-bit era in a bad way).

For a game with so many features, its greatest accomplishment may be using them to be so mundane. Even for fans of the stealth genre anxious for something new, this piece of Spy Fiction makes only an amusing diversion at best.

While the gameplay does have its high points (again, mostly surrounding Nightcrawler), it's also quite often littered with monotony thanks to seemingly nonexistent enemy A.I., confusion (poor level design), and frustration (glitches, a sometimes lack of checkpoints, and uneven challenges).

Older and more seasoned players, however (along with PETA members), can safely abstain from this simple critter-caging diversion.

From a game design standpoint, Extreme Challenge isn't bad, it just feels lazy; it's a collection of shallow minigames of variable quality that grow progressively more repetitive with time. Namco Bandai takes players on a monotonous minigame excursion that has some bright points but is simply attempting to to cash-in on the casual Wii demographic.

Intermittently, flashbacks are thrown into the game's progression by heavily blurring the screen and overlaying some audible forgotten memories. This style isn't very effective -- the blurring gets old and it's a forced narrative that gets old fast.

Ultimately, this is a missed opportunity through and through. I would have expected better from a Codemasters published game.

This just doesn't feel like basketball: there's no drama, you'll go full quarters without bothering to glance at the scoreboard, and even the swish of the basket on a long 3-pointer feels off. Live 07 tries to bridge the gap between itself and its rival by adding features, but it doesn't come close to this year's clear basketball champion: "NBA 2K7."

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a standard licensed game -- it's got just enough content to make a virtual reenactment of the Human/Goblin war worthwhile for fans of the franchise.

Click-click, kill-kill, click-click, kill-kill. You'll maybe get a naval battle or an occasional siege on the side. But once you've done this a few times, Rise & Fall has pretty much exhausted its novelty, leaving you with a bland and clunky RTS.

Well, now, this is disappointing. I wasn't expecting a full-fledged GRAW experience on PSP, to be sure, but Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 comes off feeling like a slightly more high-tech knockoff of SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo...only without teammates, online play, a reliable lock-on system, solid level design, or online play.

This expansion pack is not for every fan of the series, and therein is Uprising's biggest flaw.

Ratatouille is otherwise a very charming game...when you're not playing it. Its biggest failings are, in the end, the built-in limitations of the hardware, and the genre that most developers keep trying to superimpose -- sloppily -- on top of it.

While the uninspiring movie didn't help matters, it's the lethargic gameplay that winds up making King Arthur an equally disappointing game. Repetitive and frustrating, it fails to live up to the potential of its cinematic presentation.

While the gameplay does have its high points (again, mostly surrounding Nightcrawler), it's also quite often littered with monotony thanks to seemingly nonexistent enemy A.I., confusion (poor level design), and frustration (glitches, a sometimes lack of checkpoints, and uneven challenges).

Another major issue is the game's tragically stupid A.I.

Fuzion Frenzy 2 isn't terrible, so if you're desperate for a simple, safe party game, it fits the bill. Unfortunately, it fits the bill in so lackluster a manner, it's hard to see why they bothered.

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.

A decent buy for those of us who desire a competent, if not great, karting simulator. The fact that there's so little in the way of options and series to run can be forgiven considering the low price tag.

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.

Unfortunately, it also features some questionable design decisions, an A.I. that can't play the game Firaxis has designed, and the need for a couple of patches.

Decidedly average and forgettable. While you can extract some fun from taking down large swaths of enemies with a friend, the repetitive combat can't sustain the 20-plus hour campaign.

What we didn't expect is a game asking for $50 and giving you nothing new.

Godfather II suffers from a lack of design foresight. Instead of delivering a movie-quality narrative, it presents a frustrating, accidentally comic world.

If you're like most gamers, however, it may be too much like a post-graduate MBA sim of life running a distribution center of some sort.

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.

A little Crysis here, a little Half-Life 2 there, TimeShift's patchwork construction definitely shows. What you wind up with is a standard shooter where you blast away until things go sideways, and then it's time to mash the "easy" button.

Total Destruction also offers a multiplayer mode, with the GameCube version allowing four players at once, while the PS2 version offers only two players. This clearly makes the GameCube version one of the best choices in frustrating entertainment.

In the end, it's fun to play, and will keep you engaged. But the muddy visuals, lack of Wi-Fi, and undersold Gamebreakers will throw you for a loop.

One half of the time, Frontlines won't work. The copy I downloaded from Steam crashes to the desktop soon after I click start. The retail box, running on Vista and branded Games for Windows, craps out three-fourths of the time I try to join an online game. No joke.

Vandal Hearts may be competent at what it does, but its derivative throwback nature doesn't do much for a genre that's in desperate need of innovation.

Developer A2M gets a thumbs-up for effort on this focused iteration, but Iron Man's on-the-go heroics are largely average in practice.

It'd all be mitigated a bit if you could unlock the arcade version, but you can't. I hate to say this, given the comparative effort that goes into a full remake versus a simple port, but if you're really jonesing for a turtle throwdown, get the XBLA version of the first arcade game. It's cheaper, less jarring, and every bit as much fun.

The Guild 2 works just fine with its original four classes, but toss in three bor-ing derivatives and it veers toward generic.

Middle age is looming, Disgaea. Maybe it's time to consider the video game equivalent of moving out of your parents' basement and getting a job.

Instead of creating a wide variety of situations, the dev team relied on key-card hunts, escort missions, and (surprisingly pointless) vehicle-piloting sections ad nauseam.

A more appropriate name would've been "Star Wars: The Force Mildly Contained" -- rarely does the Force truly feel like the ultimate weapon, something that separates you (Darth Vader's not-so-secret apprentice) from the rabble of stormtroopers, Rodians, and Felucians.

Overdose doesn't look as good as the original Gungrave -- less texture detail, less variety to the environments -- and the soundtrack is a bad joke.

The classic games are completely underutilized due to the time limits placed on them, causing each to offer no more than a few minutes of gameplay. There's fun to be had -- just don't expect it to last very long.

Useless analog steering, weird collision issues, and the lack of a decent multiplayer mode keep it from being a winner.

Sadly, aside from the malaise-inducing offline modes, most of Vigilante 8: Arcade's issues are technical in nature. Framerate drops, floaty steering and physics, a shaky camera, and environmental clipping are all things you'd expect to be addressed by release (some are likely leftover from the earlier releases), and with just five total arenas available until the premium DLC comes out, it's hard to believe that gamers will stick around long enough to make Vigilante 8: Arcade an essential Live Arcade purchase.

This might make a good present for your nephew's upcoming birthday, but for those looking for a good Naruto game worth sinking your teeth into, you're better off plunking down for one of the Ultimate Ninja games.

The problem is that every positive quality is hopelessly undermined by a single flaw: the game just doesn't work.

It's all not as bad as it could have been, but nothing you can't get from dozens of other games...as average as they come.

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

Stacked does have one hook (aside from the Negreanu name), but it's not a terribly compelling one. You're in control of a customizable avatar, and you can convey some basic poker information through your character via frowning, smiling, calling tentatively, or raising aggressively. Trying to simulate body language and table presence is a fine idea, but with such limited options it's more a gimmick than a viable gambit.

Ultimately, this simply isn't the fresh start Sonic fans were so desperately hoping for...but at least it's not as execrable as the last two efforts.

It feels like a grab bag of ideas, none of which got fleshed out enough to work perfectly. There's fodder here for a much better Guilty Gear sequel -- it would be a shame if the old Factory closed for business after this game -- but for now, there's not quite enough in the grab bag to justify a $50 asking price.

It's downright cruel -- the fans who might be able to stomach the interface are exactly the ones who will be let down by the A.I. And the casual players who might not realize how bad the A.I. is won't get past the interface.

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.

Unless you're hung up on the prospect of collecting the entire NES Classics/Famicom Mini sets, you're definitely better off with Namco's "Pac-Man Collection." Or better yet, the fantastic NGPC version of the game.