Right now, playing FFXIV is like playing with a toy stuck in a plastic bag: it can be fun for a while and you can get the general idea, but you can't appreciate the full experience. Future updates will no doubt open the bag, but for now, it's sealed frustratingly tight.

The game's main hook is that it's entirely played with the stylus. If only said stylus mechanic was actually responsive.

An example of just how much the little details matter in game design. They're what make Gears of War work so well, and where Quantum Theory stumbles just too often to be worth much of anyone's time. The experience of playing it is something like watching a student copy off of an answer sheet for a test...and somehow getting the answers wrong, anyway.

An example of just how much the little details matter in game design. They're what make Gears of War work so well, and where Quantum Theory stumbles just too often to be worth much of anyone's time. The experience of playing it is something like watching a student copy off of an answer sheet for a test...and somehow getting the answers wrong, anyway.

The only challenge comes from the occasionally imprecise controls.

And the core game is familiar territory these days -- familiar to the point of contempt.

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.

Assuming you have dipped your feet in the pool of endless Dynasty Warriors content, it's almost absurd at this point to have to pay 30 bucks for either the PS2 or Xbox 360 flavor of what is barely more than preconceived, half-assed, tacked-on downloadable content.

Assuming you have dipped your feet in the pool of endless Dynasty Warriors content, it's almost absurd at this point to have to pay 30 bucks for either the PS2 or Xbox 360 flavor of what is barely more than preconceived, half-assed, tacked-on downloadable content.

The game looked promising, as it employs the Assassin's Creed engine and offers an expansive world to explore. But the intimidating controls and lack of direction will scare away anyone hoping for some quick and easy fun, and sports-game enthusiasts looking for the next SSX or a snow-themed Skate won't find it here.

It's a shame that the actual boxing is so bad; with a little more time in development, Prizefighter could've been far more enjoyable. As it is, you'll need to take quite a few blows to the head to have much fun with this one.

On the whole, Haze isn't outright terrible or broken -- it's just unsatisfying and misguided and would have been merely average on the Xbox and PS2.

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.

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.

Viking: Battle for Asgard falls far short of its potential.

My advice: If you ever want this series to evolve into something better, stop buying every iteration that comes out -- you're just encouraging Koei to crap out another.

Casual players will have a hard time jumping in and having some quick fun due to the game's rigid combo system, unforgiving CPU, and lackluster training mode, and the competitive fighting community has expressed no interest in this game at all.

The more leisurely Wii version is designed to the hardware's constraints, condensed into small, manageable lands, but the DS version's spread thin. Traversing the kingdom on foot causes hours of aimless wandering, and with the surprising lack of direction, I quickly became dismayed that I'd never rebuild the Sims' land.

It's the wide-ranging lack of polish that really damns Emergency Heroes to a forgettable existence, as the player vehicles have all the floaty steering and shaky physics of a shovelware budget title (but with twice the price tag), and I even managed to crash the game by falling through the ground during one mission.

Axing every bit of multiplayer content -- not just the online modes -- from the original games is a baffling move on the part of the developers, considering that other Wii shooters have included both local and online multiplayer options.

"Ultimate Destruction" was on the PS2 as well, but it still had a beautifully rendered, detailed city that was fully visible from any rooftop -- and a blast to wreak havoc on. Instead of building on that better game, though, Incredible Hulk is a weak attempt at mimicking it.

The real shock is that, nearly 14 months later, Chosen One doesn't live up to the tech, the style, or the ambition of EA's "Homecourt." The game has far too many flaws -- and far too little polish and juice to make it worth playing.

Bodycount feels like something a developer would hand to a publisher as a proof-of- concept, not an actual game that should be on store shelves. Its brief moments of fun are overshadowed by poor controls, laughable story, and limited environments.

Bodycount feels like something a developer would hand to a publisher as a proof-of- concept, not an actual game that should be on store shelves. Its brief moments of fun are overshadowed by poor controls, laughable story, and limited environments.

I'm taking Blue Dragon Plus for what it essentially is: a flat, RPG-like outing, which is mostly the fault of a design platform that needs revising.

The Rise of Cobra's biggest problems aren't in the way it uses the license -- the problems are that, on anything but the lowest difficulty setting, the game is unnecessarily unforgiving and uses a completely counter-intuitive health regeneration system.

Viking: Battle for Asgard falls far short of its potential.

Domino Master's a bit like going to Baskin-Robbins and noticing the employees refilling the containers with generic grocery-store-brand ice cream.