Thanks to a borrowed "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" engine, Luke's moves are fluid and smooth. Whether he's hoisting himself up on crate or wielding a lightsaber his actions are lifelike and accurate.

The amount of recycling involved in the level design here is abominable -- some areas repeat the same pair of linked rooms as many as three times in rapid succession, and the problem gets distinctly worse as the game progresses into its later levels. There's rarely an organic, realistic feel to most of the interior stages.

If you're a longtime fan, Redemption simply gives you more of what you want with no radical changes -- so in that regard, aficionados will likely be satisfied. Generally speaking, .hack has a neat idea, but the games just can't quite balance the concept with an action-RPG play style.

The combat is too difficult for young fans of the books to enjoy, but the adventure lacks the depth that experienced gamers crave. Because of that, it's impossible to recommend this game to anyone.

Avatar's not a bad-looking or playing game -- it's just very average. You may have the whole planet to explore, but your primary objectives boil down to "go to a point, push a button and or kill some guys, then go back to the start." The framework's in place -- a wide array of weapons, big enemies to take down -- but Avatar just doesn't put them in an interesting setting.

I love animals and enjoy trying to figure out and fulfill their every need, but Zoo Tycoon 2 lacks personality and depth. It doesn't even serve as an educational tool for aspiring zoologists.

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.

The amount of recycling involved in the level design here is abominable -- some areas repeat the same pair of linked rooms as many as three times in rapid succession, and the problem gets distinctly worse as the game progresses into its later levels.

It's not an awful game. It's just utterly inferior to Lumines and costs just as much. What's the point?

The looseness of Conflict: Vietnam, from the lack of comfortable and immediate controls to the boring progression of the game, just doesn't cut it. While the idea of squad-driven combat set in the tense, emotionally-charged setting of Vietnam has potential, Conflict: Vietnam falls short in execution.

Despite the changes made to simplify Dust Strikers' core fighting engine, the combo system is surprisingly comprehensive.

Poorly made platformers were a big part of the 8- and 16-bit eras, too, so maybe things are just coming full circle. Fortunately, most of us still remember how not to spend our money on crap like this.

My issues are that this game is so damn generic, shallow, and content with being nothing special, it surprises me that it asks you to pay full price at the door.

Fans of the system should have no reservations about picking up a copy; it was put together under the supervision of several of the console's original programmers, and their love for Intellivision shines through in the detail and polish of the package.

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 seems to be perfectly suited for a casual audience who just wants to push buttons and watch things happen. But those looking for anything more had best look elsewhere.

No single aspect will blow you away, but there's enough variety, the puzzles are fun, the controls work well, and you keep moving quickly, so it's a fun ride that's unlikely to bore you unless you try to play through it a second time.

So, sure--Beijing may not be gold-quality throughout, but it's the best Olympics game we've had since, well...probably ever.

If framerate problems doesn't annoy you, then the stupidity of the A.I. may force you to say, "that sh*t is wow, bananas." Enemies are stricken by stupidity, as they'll simply stand there and allow you shoot the living daylights out of them.

Reviving Dreamcast games for the HD generation should involve a little more effort than putting out a slapdash port of the original.

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.

Touch Detective's greatest failing -- winning is rarely a rewarding experience.

Perhaps the biggest issue with the game from a hardcore perspective is a lack of precision. With many weapons, you only have a small amount of control over where you can fire -- at your opponent, just to the left of them, or just to the right.

The most remarkable thing about Space Siege is just how utterly unremarkable it is.

Populous DS floats somewhere between a time-waster and a strategy game, but it never provides the addictive "hook" of either genre.

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.

As I played through Dynasty Warriors 6, the series' first entry for this console generation, one thought kept permeating my head: "This is exactly the same game I played in college."

With its slick visual polish and ample bone-crunching sound-effects, Urban Reign could have come out on tip. But thanks to an endless series of increasingly maddening and increasingly boring stages, you'll find yourself saying "No thanks," and turning off your PS2 and bringing this game back to the store. Xbox owners, be thankful you were spared this agony.

There's simply very little allure to Cube, outside of the slim satisfaction you'll glean from solving the more challenging levels.

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.

If you're a longtime fan or just looking to get into the show, check out the DVDs instead. Or hell, just go on the Adult Swim website and search for free clips from the show -- you're guaranteed to laugh more, and you won't have to plonk down $40, either.

It's just a damn shame that the nigh-amazing "The Rocketeer versus UFOs" premise crashes hard into "tepid Gears of Uncharted knock-off" ground.

BlackSite the narrative and BlackSite the game never meet in the middle.

The game does look good, though. And control is tight. Which means that while it may not be inspiring, it's perfectly playable -- arguably the best handheld racing game ever made.

If you want a good dungeon crawl, play the punishing-but-oh-so-satisfying Shiren the Wanderer. If you just want to collect 500 cute little guys and power-level the hell out of them, you can't go wrong with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.

Here's the major problem: You're only allowed to control the main commander during the skirmishes. When you're not issuing seemingly useless orders to your head honcho, you're forced to sit and watch your nameless grunts swing wildly until they eventually hit something (the enemy, if you're lucky).

It's got a solid, enjoyable core experience, but Hudson isn't able to deliver enough quality content for the context.

Time Crisis 4 isn't broken, and the GunCon3 generally works as advertised; it's just appallingly unentertaining after ten minutes, insultingly expensive for what it offers, and has absolutely no place in the PS3 library of anyone but the most desperate gun nuts and Time Crisis devotees.

The game's a bit short and doesn't provide much beyond the visceral glee of running over craploads of people who actually have it coming, but that's probably more than enough for the lean, $10 price tag.

The thread holding Jericho above that pit of legendary awfulness is thin and fraying. Mr. Barker, you're better than this.

You know that "PS2 game with shiny characters and lots of bloom lighting" look that plagues PS3 and 360 ports of last-gen titles? It's dripping all over Spider-Man 3. Except it's not a port. Which is almost okay, until it throws in some vicious slowdown whenever you make the mistake of breaking environmental objects.

Ultimately, Mister Slime feels like a decent level-traversal concept in search of a more attractive, ambitious game.

As a mashup of :Need for Speed: Carbon" and "Need for Speed: Most Wanted", Undercover is ultimately fairly successful. For many, though, in a post-"Burnout: Paradise" world, the question has to be raised: "What does this give me that Paradise doesn't?" The answer to that is "cops and robbers," a mechanic that has worked well in single-player since the days of Hot Pursuit, and works even better online when played in teams of 4-on-4 in Undercover.

Reviving Dreamcast games for the HD generation should involve a little more effort than putting out a slapdash port of the original.

Okabu would be a much better game if it only had the confidence to display itself proudly to the player. Until it gains some courage, we are left with a hampered game that never quite play as good as it looks.

I understand that the game is meant for a younger audience, but there are quite literally hundreds of other titles out there that provide a far more enjoyable experience.

It's just a damn shame that the nigh-amazing "The Rocketeer versus UFOs" premise crashes hard into "tepid Gears of Uncharted knock-off" ground.

For all of Atlus' hype about the game's "full HD support," SF3 looks no better than your average PS2 title.

A throwback to the good ol' days of "Diablo 2"-style dungeon exploring, PSU is a value-packed, worthwhile action-RPG that finds its biggest challenge not in its modern-day peers, but in escaping the shadow of its predecessor: "Phantasy Star Online (PSO)."

Saw's derivative gameplay -- which even includes sliding around crates (or racks of frozen pig carcasses) and searching dressers for hidden valves to shut down nearby pipes spewing hot gas (did that happen this often in the movies?) -- has all been done before, and done better by titles like Silent Hill and Condemned.

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

It's got a few design holes, but in part because of those, Lucidity presents a type of game you don't see very often.

Soccer fans will find it boring because it's too fast and too vapid, while nonfans will probably find it little more than a mildly distracting ball-themed action thing. It's reasonably well executed for what it is, but it could very well be something that no one wants.

While it might not be worth the asking price for veteran Sega Bass junkies, this is a great opportunity for all you would-be Wii fisherman who happened to miss the boat the first time around.

Sorrows nails the controls, making the repetitive hack-n-slash action enjoyable in a Dynasty Warriors kinda way, and multiplayer is mostly successful. Unfortunately, the graphics fail to impress, the story isn't anything memorable, banging buttons is as effective as making use of the combos, and what should have been an epic quest can be completed by a novice gamer in around eight hours, with not much reason for replay.

Shot Online's execution is just poor.

A triumph of botched execution, with almost every element it introduces to the game serving to undercut it.

It's hardly the deepest game around, but its combo system, barrage of enemies, and difficulty all dovetail with the endless brutal carnage to recall, in some ways, the Ninja Gaiden remake: If you're good and quick enough, you'll avoid getting hit, but when you get cornered, you'll be walloped.

Lunar DS isn't really up to the thrilling and dramatic heights the series was synonymous. Worse, the changes and tweaks the developers made, trying to bring Lunar into the 21st century, are irrelevant at best and annoying at worst. That said, this is a better-than-average handheld RPG with a likable cast, a charming story, and appealing graphics.

So, here's the thing: without the dynamic water effects, Hydrophobia is just a passable Live Arcade title. The game ends abruptly (an out-of-nowhere "To Be Continued" flashes on screen), it leaves something to be desired visually, and in some ways feels rushed; the only element raising Hydrophobia from pure mediocrity is its interesting use of water.

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.

Aladdin is just as solid now as it was then; jumping is still precise, the visual package is bright, colorful and well-animated, and the game's score and sound effects are all dead on.

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

Coming back to the franchise after several years away has been frustrating for me, because it reminds me how good these Mega Man RPGs could be... and also how little Capcom has actually done to realize the concept's potential. There's the foundation here for something great, but the games continue to plod along in unambitious mediocrity.

The gameplay is classic run-'n-gun style, creature designs are as uninspired as the environments they inhabit, and the unintuitive controls mean shooting often leads to frustration.

In short, it's your typical platformer -- with all the good and bad connotations that term holds...It's just not very engaging.

In short, this is a completely standard beat 'em up with nothing innovative, nothing that stands out, and a number of features that have been less than ideally copied from other games. Beyond that, it's a decent title.

When a game about giant robots flying, shooting, and fighting with each other makes it this hard and unpleasant to actually do any of those things, it's time for change.

A good -- if not great -- game. Learn to deal with the artificial intelligence on particular tracks, and the experience in an enjoyable one. Just as long as you're not looking for a very deep -- or even all that logical -- career mode.

It's hard to even say what's good about the game, because every attempt to get at the fun parts is like swimming to shore with lead weights on both feet.

It's by no means a bad game, and is certainly a very admirable effort in the context of the Rush franchise, but its contemporaries ultimately outclass it.

Ultimate Band embodies what I call the Grinch Effect -- unwitting parents buying terrible games that mimic popular ones, stealing Christmas away their children in the process. Kids, don't let the back of the box fool your parents -- make sure they know that you do, in fact, need instruments to rock.

Though Lost in Blue 3 will probably never be anyone's first pick for their ideal "desert island game," it manages to be more enjoyable than the sum of its repetitious parts.

If you want a good dungeon crawl, play the punishing-but-oh-so-satisfying Shiren the Wanderer. If you just want to collect 500 cute little guys and power-level the hell out of them, you can't go wrong with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.

On the presentation side, with colorful, cartoony graphics and contributions from the voice actors, it should satisfy the legions of Simpsons fans. But as a game, it's decidedly mediocre-at-best fare, with levels that vary in quality and pedestrian platforming and beat-em-up action.

Lockdown got rid of everything that made its predecessors stand out and kept the bad A.I. and even worse backstories. Even without the burden of living up to its predecessors, Lockdown is -- at best -- a generic shooter with pretensions at realism.

The presentation is straightforward and functional, but it doesn't pull any punches about what it is -- a training application with a very specific purpose. It accomplishes that perfectly well -- just make sure that you're expecting gratification through progress and not just mindless enjoyment.

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

As an eye toward where Playboy came from, The Mansion is a compelling lesson--even the loading screen factoids are fun to read. But as a game, the unpolished graphics and stale gameplay keep the title mediocre at best.

While the multiplayer may be passable, the rest of VBR is so flawed that it tests your patience more than your boxing skills. If you've been waiting for a Wii boxing game, you should just keep waiting and go back to Wii Sports for now -- at least that was free with your Wii.

As I played through Dynasty Warriors 6, the series' first entry for this console generation, one thought kept permeating my head: "This is exactly the same game I played in college."

As a creative tool Unbound is great, but as a game it feels a little sparse.

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."

It's by no means awful, as it's smartly-designed for what it is, but it asks for a certain amount of dedication that those who don't have an affinity for early '80s arcade hits may not have.

The inconsistencies and haphazardly-borrowed elements keep Headhunter from ever realizing its potential and drag it down to mere "mediocre" status. It has a certain underdog charm... if only it were content to be <I>good</I> instead of clumsily striving for <I>cool</I>.

Saw's derivative gameplay -- which even includes sliding around crates (or racks of frozen pig carcasses) and searching dressers for hidden valves to shut down nearby pipes spewing hot gas (did that happen this often in the movies?) -- has all been done before, and done better by titles like Silent Hill and Condemned.

But decent two-player co-op's just ketchup on a crap sandwich. The game's buggy as hell, with severe slowdown, characters getting hung up in the level geometry, and stuttering audio. Those problems are amplified in the PS3 version, whose only other major differences are unneeded Sixaxis flight control and a noticeable lack of Trophy support versus the Xbox 360's Achievements.

While this won't replace MLB 08: The Show -- the best portable hardcore baseball game out there -- it's tailored for tots and casual seamheads on the go.

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.

This series serves no viable purpose anymore, nor does it really warrant yearly release.

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.

The game's mash-up of a story never amounts to anything meaningful or groundbreaking, and the single player campaign is pretty short -- clocking in around five hours or less.

Compared to the majority of kiddie-oriented crap that's clogging up the GBA's arteries in its advanced age, MQ3 is downright fantastic.

The core "side-scrolling submarine action game with a bit of realistic physics" campaign is either way too short or frustratingly padded.

Sure, it's cool that you'll find references to some of the more popular third-person action titles, such as Prince of Persia's balance-beam act and hand-over-hand wall crawling, but nothing in here screams innovation.

Coming back to the franchise after several years away has been frustrating for me, because it reminds me how good these Mega Man RPGs could be... and also how little Capcom has actually done to realize the concept's potential. There's the foundation here for something great, but the games continue to plod along in unambitious mediocrity.

As a casual rhythm game, Battle of the Bands gets big points for charm and humor, and the intended audience is sure to appreciate the ability to actually play this without too much difficulty. Guitar heroes looking for their next challenging digital wankery, however, are advised to move along. This one's just for laughs.

A competent, if not actually great shooter that introduces some novel ideas that don't always work all that well.