With three friends on a couch with you, this is a solid 7. Considering that friends and a couch don't come in the box, it's more of a 3. I'm going to compromise and call it a 4.5.

Fans into beat-'em-ups will find there's not enough to captivate them, with way too much repetition even for that genre. Likewise, RPG nuts will grow too upset with the unending pattern-like progression and clunky management. And if you happen to like both, the combination just won't be enough to make you squeal with joy.

After the grueling long exploration levels, I found myself craving a good catfight. Unfortunately, the simple combos and lifeless combatants make the fighting in the game more like a catnap.

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.

It attempts to emulate the spirit of its bigger cousin, but it falls short.

Dance Dance Revolution X broadly sidesteps innovation and serves up another entry where enjoyment's purely a function of how much you like the set list. If you own any other DDR games, particularly last year's SuperNOVA 2, it's hard to recommend shelling out cash for this one -- aside from the new tunes, I've seen it all before.

If you're masochistic and don't mind awkwardly paced gameplay, you may actually enjoy Uprising. For everyone else, playing this game feels like paying someone $15 to punch you in the face over and over again.

I figured the move to the PS2 would, at the very least, allow for a bit more detail in the bland levels. I could not have been more wrong. Compared to the PSP version, this is a step down -- that's disappointing enough. But compared to other PS2 Ratchet games, it's a sharp kick in the nuts.

Remarkably shallow and underwhelming.

The game is like Manhunt, except with adorable teddy bears. Wait -- can you compel your victims to kill themselves in Manhunt? No? OK, maybe Naughty Bear's actions are slightly worse.

As a basic XBLA port at half the price, RayStorm might have made for a fun novelty. But it's frankly bewildering that Taito is charging $15 for an extremely marginal upgrade to a game that we played some 13 years ago.

I'm just not convinced that this grab bag of half-baked ideas and gratuitous filler makes for a great videogame. And I learned something about myself, as well: It takes a lot more than sassy books and hermaphrodites to keep my interest these days.

Remarkably shallow and underwhelming.

Missing modes -- no online, no Campus Legend, no create-a-player, and no minigames (which is a must for the target audience) -- further illustrate the game's shoved-out-the-door nature.

It's a terrible system and it's sure to alienate all but the hardcore C&C nerds. But those of you who stick around, those of you who are willing to put up with the ugly graphics, the pointless online-only requirement, and the mandatory grinding are liable to end up as the small dedicated player base for yet another one of Electronic Arts' disastrous attempts at online gaming.

When I'm in the market for an RPG, it's for a select few reasons: I'm looking for an epic story, rad loot, combat that stimulates the tactical chunks of my brain, and beautiful environments. White Knight Chronicles does none of these things well. To top it all off, the game inexplicably ends after less than 30 hours with most of the major plot points left wholly unresolved.

As a stand-alone download, it's a short rendition of the Watchmen brawler experience that features more low points than high points -- but with an admittedly awesome moment of Rorschach punching a fat pervert.

Somewhere deep within Fracture, far, far below its offensively derivative crust, lies a worthwhile, original game. It's very much a game with a gimmick -- terraforming terrain on the fly -- and while that gimmick works well (if a bit too predictably), Fracture is thoroughly unexciting.

The lack of a versus mode is a gross oversight that makes versus battles an uncomfortable chore (the winner can't switch characters without resetting the entire game -- just like in the arcades!).

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.

As a stand-alone download, it's a short rendition of the Watchmen brawler experience that features more low points than high points -- but with an admittedly awesome moment of Rorschach punching a fat pervert.

While hardcore adventure-game fans might find enough here to warrant a purchase, this game's meant for PC, and it simply works (and looks) far better on its intended platform.

As a stand-alone download, it's a short rendition of the Watchmen brawler experience that features more low points than high points -- but with an admittedly awesome moment of Rorschach punching a fat pervert.

Bully's biggest problem is that it's a shoddy port job, rife with technical missteps that wouldn't warrant comment if they weren't so profoundly damaging to the game.

The lack of a versus mode is a gross oversight that makes versus battles an uncomfortable chore (the winner can't switch characters without resetting the entire game -- just like in the arcades!).

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.

Via Domus is fan service through and through, and does deliver one genuinely amazing moment via its ending.

But sadly, the strength of the game's characters doesn't lead to a positive, or memorable, gaming experience.