It's all down to the style and irresistible cheerful feeling you get when you play these games.

As an enjoyable, pick-up-and-play package with a sublimely simple design, N+ succeeds, and it's hard not to recommend for the price. Just be wary of the inevitable eyestrain, and if you're only going to play it at home, make sure you've exhausted the XBLA and PC versions first. It's still the most badass ninja simulator around...just less so.

If the developer had tried to keep anything from Silent Hill, they should have ditched the faux plot relationship to past games and gone after what makes Silent Hill truly unique: the psychological scares.

If you're willing to overlook a few flaws and the occasional desire to punch a wall out of frustration, this is one of the better puzzle games this year.

Pro Evo feels more like real soccer, but it doesn't really look like it a lot of the time.

A great example of the types of experiences the eShop needs moving forward: It's a fun game that poses a fair challenge without being overly complicated.

As a game steeped in immediacy, Mirror's Edge is an absolute must-play despite its idiosyncrasies. And as a pied piper for progressive design in first-person gaming, it's all the more important.

I've got a tremendous amount of respect for the men behind Blue Dragon...but at the same time, I can't overlook its massive warts just because three developers I grew up idolizing created the game.

These two games are badass. Those of you who remember them fondly from your Osh Kosh days will be swept up in a wave of nostalgia right at the title screen, and everybody else will be hooked from level one.

While MHX isn't a definitive reinvention of a classic along the lines of "Metroid: Zero Mission," it's a solid re-creation that's been given an exceptional audiovisual upgrade.

Charged seems like an amped-up, carnivalized reincarnation of Nintendo's own classic Ice Hockey.

The biggest problem for Madden at this stage in its existence, though, is that it seems to lack a clear direction or vision of what it should be. Instead, it's listing back and forth, rudderless, between attempts at being a serious simulation and trying to attract a more casual audience, and it's not doing great service to either.

Roogoo is simply delightful. Its bright and cheery art style, adorably cute characters, and challenging play make this one of my favorite XBLA titles to date.

I can't say this is a must-have for golf fans. I reckon there are Tiger maniacs that'll buy it regardless, but if you're not obsessed with the Ryder Cup, I suggest trying to make do with Tiger Woods Online. If it doesn't fill your putt-sinking needs, this absolutely will.

While it doesn't reach the status of a great Western, it's still a marked improvement over its mediocre predecessor.

A complete and total rip off of "Metal Slug." But we mean that in a good way.

Seeing as how Tiger is one of the launch titles for the PSP, the game's atrocious load times are understandable, but entirely inexcusable.

Still, while the setting, strategy, and sprite-based visuals -- this wouldn't have been impressive in 1998, let alone 2008 -- are a tad disappointing, they're also all quite serviceable.

Whereas the original Doom 3 featured dense, serpentine level designs that played every bit as much of a starring role in exerting dread and ambience, the environments here lack a sense of coherency, even while it tries to hit you over the head with its own exoticism.

Yakuza 4 provides a deep, unique story that you won't often hear told as well a style of gameplay you don't often get to experience. Do yourself a favor and try something different.

There's just something about raising hell and experience points in Dark Alliance II that makes it more addictive than any of the Dark Alliance clones out there.

The biggest problem for Madden at this stage in its existence, though, is that it seems to lack a clear direction or vision of what it should be. Instead, it's listing back and forth, rudderless, between attempts at being a serious simulation and trying to attract a more casual audience, and it's not doing great service to either.

If anything, this seems to be a great way to see how inFamous 2 plays and feels by only spending 10 bucks rather than the full 60. It's a cheap entry point into some of infamous 2's core mechanics without committing to a full price open world.

If Sakaguchi intends to turn Lost Odyssey into a franchise -- and all indications are that he does -- I'd like to see these refreshingly adult themes expanded on further in future titles.

Namco deserves credit for creating a game so perfectly suited to the handheld format. Each stage is subdivided into multiple sections so that it's impossible to lose more than a few minutes of progress at any given time, and an autosave function makes recording and restoring progress a completely transparent task.

Despite its control and camera issues and the general predictability of the game's structure (and laughable plot), it's a pleasant throwback to some of the better early 3D adventures.

A very respectable entry and a much better game than last year's version, even with a few unresolved issues.

Where Overkill will truly be divisive is in the narrative: some people will love the nonsensical, fast-paced story. But, with its constant stream of expletives and toilet humor, it may turn just as many people away. And as purposefully offensive as it is, I still enjoyed the game. The dialogue is strained, and the barrage of f-bombs is played out by the second level, but there are several genuinely funny moments.