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.

It's maddening to repeatedly fail a mission because you simply can't maneuver that well...especially when the only control you have over your character is movement. If this is the epitome of cooperative games, then I'll gladly go back to playing by myself.

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

Despite those nice touches, BBB could have been more fun had it adopted a few modern touches and included online multiplayer (co-op is limited to local play only). Instead, it feels like more effort was spent on ensuring that the Team Fortress 2 section looked exactly like the Dustbowl level than on making sure the game played as well as possible. At $15 BBB is just $5 too expensive to justify picking up.

Attractive settings and cute little anime-inspired characters with oversized heads and eyes may distract youngsters for awhile, but Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball is an otherwise messy affair that, like Double D, isn't nearly worth the 800 Microsoft Points it'll cost you.

FaceBreaker is fine if you want to mindlessly mash buttons and beat the hell out of friends, but if you want a deep, balanced boxing game, look elsewhere.

Outside of the charming (and yes, very girlie) story and genuinely humorous dialogue, all that's left is a short, extremely easy, and sometimes confusing RPG.

What would've otherwise been a fun multiplayer shooter is marred by a series of technical issues.

Science of Evil is ultimately a God of War rip-off, but that's not the problem. Rather, very basic game-design flaws keep it from moving ahead of the licensed-game pack. Interesting characters, excellent animation and art direction, and all of the Ron Perlman in the world can't save this one from mediocrity.

Again, those with a mind for puzzles and pestilence may be able to stick with Theresia, but discerning adventure fans -- who at least like their games to move faster than a snail's pace -- can skip it with little shame.

There's a great idea lurking around in Rock Of The Dead's dumb-fun concept, but instead the game winds up being dumb even when it isn't trying to be.

I realize that they're going for a snow and ice motif, but the color is really just a lifeless, ashy grey. Given how colorless the rest of the experience is though, perhaps it's appropriate.

There's a great idea lurking around in Rock Of The Dead's dumb-fun concept, but instead the game winds up being dumb even when it isn't trying to be.

The game does provide a few improvements, bringing revised flight controls and new cooperative mission modes, but For Answer lacks what a great series needs in order to stay relevant: progress.

Despite those nice touches, BBB could have been more fun had it adopted a few modern touches and included online multiplayer (co-op is limited to local play only). Instead, it feels like more effort was spent on ensuring that the Team Fortress 2 section looked exactly like the Dustbowl level than on making sure the game played as well as possible. At $15 BBB is just $5 too expensive to justify picking up.

Instead of providing a streamlined alternative to the more ambitious console iterations, the PSP version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is an abridged disappointment.

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.

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.

Kingdom shelves any cleverness, attaching training wheels to your creativity for the first two-thirds of the game. It's not until the last few islands that you're given an invitation to be creative.

Science of Evil merely borders on decent.

The game does provide a few improvements, bringing revised flight controls and new cooperative mission modes, but For Answer lacks what a great series needs in order to stay relevant: progress.

The greatest problem with Elite Squadron is that it feels like a step back from its predecessor, Renegade Squadron.

It's shame that this port has been borked so badly; I don't think No More Heroes found the audience it needed on the Wii, and Heroes' paradise isn't going to do this franchise any favors.

People who like deliberately campy, cheesy premises (like a Tarantino film) might find some subversive pleasure in this unique-yet-half-baked effort, but those looking for a little more depth would do well to pass this one by.

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.

FaceBreaker is fine if you want to mindlessly mash buttons and beat the hell out of friends, but if you want a deep, balanced boxing game, look elsewhere.

Sometimes, stereotypes exist for very good reasons. Korean role-playing games have a reputation as low-rent incarnations of their more polished Japanese counterparts, and Magna Carta 2 does nothing to combat that perception -- instead, it embraces it wholeheartedly.

I can certainly think of worse ways to spend your time, but that list would pale in comparison to the staggeringly long catalogue of better ways.