If you enjoyed your time with what was undoubtedly the best strategy game of 2005, but eventually moved on to other things, Warlords is enough to get you hooked all over again.

At its peak, Vanquish is a beautifully fast and intense fusion of East and West third-person gameplay -- it just isn't quite as good as the director or the studio's previous work.

At its peak, Vanquish is a beautifully fast and intense fusion of East and West third-person gameplay -- it just isn't quite as good as the director or the studio's previous work.

Tiger 09 is remarkably improved across the board.

The notion of hopping into an X-Wing, shooting down a flight of TIE fighters and then boarding an enemy Star Destroyer to disable its shields is one that has been deeply rooted in many a Gen X'ers mind. This is now possible, and while space combat is not as refined or complex as say X-Wing Alliance, it opens up the game beyond ground-based combat.

Darwinia isn't just a good game. More importantly, it's a place you've never been.

I've always been a hater of this series (far too arcadey for my tastes) but this time around, I'm completely sold. There are a few issues standing between it and true wrestling perfection (a better targeting system would be nice), but they're hardly anything to tarnish the experience.

The PSP version does have a bug that prevents your companions' special abilities from actually working, but that doesn't have much impact on the gameplay.

It's a great feeling seeing something you shoot explode into tons of little chunks (which looks similar to when buildings explode in "Return of the King" -- another EA blockbuster title), and some of the racing scenes define the word "epic."

At times, Jak 3 seems to be scraping the bottom of the idea barrel...While this final chapter is not the platforming clinic of the first, nor the trendsetter of the second, it is an extremely satisfying finish for the series.

Extreme's wonderfully remixed gameplay comes at you in fluid, seamless waves that offer a surprising amount of freedom and replay value.

If you can look past the story, the game is a lot of fun, and it's definitely worth experiencing. Once you start to get good with telekinesis, you'll wonder why more games haven't exploited the power.

A game unsure of what it wants to achieve. When it lets itself, it's a fantastic adrenaline rush through well-constructed set-pieces and gloriously fun-to-watch violence. But it too often drags itself down with overly structured situations and restrictive, strategy-heavy gameplay.

With hundreds of puzzles, even more available for download over wi-fi, and an editor to make and share your own, Picross 3D is just too clever for a DS puzzle game fan to pass up.

A consequence of this darker approach is that that game loses part of what made The Sands of Time unique. Instead of a charming and almost silly character like we saw previously, the Prince here is more one-dimensional.

Like a vine bursting with ripe fruit, TOAU may be in need of some balancing, in addition to some major feature tweaking (Besieged), but for all intents and purposes, it's like an injection of the lifeblood that once made this MMO so addictive in the first place.

New for some and familiar for others, 1943 will once again keep players up well into the night for just one more round. Before long, the greenhorns will be wily vets, experts on the ins and outs of all three maps, and eager for more.

EA did their homework and pulled together a solid basketball game this year. There isn't much to complain about in NBA Live 2005. And with the addition of the Slam Dunk Contest, the replay value is huge.

While it lacks that magical little something to make it a classic, it's a stupendous example of design competence. It looks great, sounds great, it's well written, witty, and fairly well paced.

What seems to be at the root of this problem is the game's story. The further in you get, the more plot holes open, until by the end of the game you have the nagging suspicion that none of this makes very much sense.

While 2K6 is an excellent game, it's not much different from 2K5, and EA's NHL series is rapidly gaining ground.

Just as the visuals are perfect for the PSP's display, the mechanics are perfect for the PSP's button configuration, and the game design is perfect for the PSP's portability (it's easy to pick up and play at any given moment).

Quite easily, the best baseball game on the system. Even with its minor flaws, it combines all the simlike statistical realism true ball hawks crave while throwing in additional modes of play to keep those with shorter attention spans enthralled.

The only compelling reason for Halo fans to buy this version is for multiplayer, which is so much better than playing split-screen on your television. Otherwise, it's the same old space opera.

If you already own "ESPN NBA 2K4" basketball game, 2K5 is probably not worth the dough -- prettier graphics aren't enough. The $20 price tag puts it in reach of most everyone else, though.

If it weren't held back by a few severely annoying technical issues, it might be the best Arcade title yet.

No More Heroes is practically two entirely different games mashed together. One is a funny, smart, stylish action game that never fails to entertain. The other is an open-world game that fails so completely in every regard that, despite all appearances, it's easier to question the developer's intent than it is to accept that it's what they were going for. Fortunately, you barely have to play that second game to enjoy the first one.

It's far more than just a really, really good-looking boxing game; it's a little glimpse into the future, and a remarkably good yardstick for ongoing reference.