Coming at the game as a hardcore NASCAR fan, I'm disappointed in a few things. The biggest issue is the lack of a few official NASCAR tracks.

It skews a bit young with its cartoonish characters, but the storyline is surprisingly dark, and the experience is more challenging than you might think. It's a perfect game to play through with your kid or younger sibling, and it's meaty enough for full-grown platforming fans to enjoy on their own.

While the game's a lot of fun, it's easy to get burned out. If this were in an arcade, you would walk away broke after the first few levels, when the game is at its hardest. At home, however, you have infinite continues and might be tempted to try to grind your way through the game. Seriously -- don't.

With bonus songs from Perry's solo efforts and a fully animated Steven Tyler swallowing the microphone, the game's target audience is very clear -- and for them, the game's existence is justified.

So, sure--Beijing may not be gold-quality throughout, but it's the best Olympics game we've had since, well...probably ever.

The big problem is durability. With a fun but shallow physics model, a dearth of tracks, no vehicular upgradeability/downgradeability, and so few options, Revo simply isn't set up for a long run. But it's a hell of a good arcade ride in the meantime.

The paper-thin storyline (you're shipwrecked on a remote island and decide to put down roots there) may be an inconsequential excuse for you to repeat the same core game of the past 11 years, but some small lessons learned along the way manage to shine through.

As someone who was only a light Trauma Center player, I was happy to play a follow-up that actually kept me playing all the way to the end without hating myself.

Osmos' visuals are subtly stunning.

While the factions aspect could have been fleshed out a bit more, the title still stands as a solid update to the game and a worthwhile purchase for strategy fans.

As a mashup of :Need for Speed: Carbon" and "Need for Speed: Most Wanted", Undercover is ultimately fairly successful. For many, though, in a post-"Burnout: Paradise" world, the question has to be raised: "What does this give me that Paradise doesn't?" The answer to that is "cops and robbers," a mechanic that has worked well in single-player since the days of Hot Pursuit, and works even better online when played in teams of 4-on-4 in Undercover.

Even though I think they ultimately contributed to the Army of Two's inconsistent tone, which moves from "flippant" to "serious business about how messed up people can get," the morality moments are what I'll remember most about The 40th Day. Not the solid cooperative play, nor the snazzy graphics where buildings fall apart, nor even the little flaws that still annoy me at times; but whether or not I chose to look the other way when that one guy closes the door in that one place.

While the flying levels are frustrating and the change-characters-to-hit-this-switch mechanic gets old, the great humor and extras make Lego Star Wars worth playing if you haven't tried it yet.

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

Quest for Booty's a fine addition to the Ratchet & Clank world, but what should've been a love letter to fans ends up serving better as a taste of what outsiders are missing -- and, as a fan, that makes me just a little bit sad.

Deadly Premonition is by no means a great game, at least in the traditional sense, but I'll be damned if I didn't enjoy every minute of my nearly 42 hours playing it. The setting and story might have a little too much in common with the early 1990s television series Twin Peaks, but the homage is done with love and admiration.

An entertaining multiplayer romp.

So it's not for multiplayer fans or story fans or innovation fans, but Dark Sector is certainly a good game. When it all comes together and you're ducking in and out of cover while shooting and throwing the Glaive at groups of enemies, it's a lot of fun, and the visual spark and A.I./pacing/combat polish make it worth playing.

I can see myself buying it again for XBLA, just because I enjoy the core game so much. At any rate, it's $5 cheaper than the retail handheld versions, so you're getting an extra affordable edition of a universally-praised shooter.

We rarely see scenarios and story structure this good in a game, and that makes it easier to forgive some of the more hardcore technical game-design issues. It's definitely more of a popcorn game for the action-movie crowd than a hardcore shooter, but there's nothing wrong with that.

If you're in the dark about Roguelikes but still want a taste of one, it's better to start with the more accessible Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Its difficulty is more gradual, it's got touch-screen controls, and it features more than one party member, which is easier to deal with than Izuna's solitary dungeon-crawling. But those who already love the genre -- or want to "graduate" from Pokémon -- will still find great enjoyment from Izuna.

If you're looking for some stealth gameplay in a sandbox environment, this is a great beginner's course into the world of Agent 47. If, however, you're expecting something as revolutionary as the multiplayer in "Pandora Tomorrow," or the high polish of "Snake Eater," this isn't for you.

If you did frequent arcades in the early '90s and remember just how fun X-men Arcade was, though, this is a must-purchase.

If anything, DiRT 2 plays it a little too safe, offering only minor improvements over GRiD.

The "Medal of Honor in the air" description is fairly apt, actually -- although most of your missions (all 30 or so of them) are the standard dogfights and bombing runs, the package it's all presented in makes it feel much more fulfilling than Luftwaffe and the other old flight sims.

The online play -- particularly co-op -- gives HAWX significant replayability. Everything from the picture-perfect planes to the stunning real world environments looks great, even after multiple passes.

If you did frequent arcades in the early '90s and remember just how fun X-men Arcade was, though, this is a must-purchase.

This game's stunning details should keep you engaged all summer long. But the lack of overall gameplay innovation keeps this from making the All-Star team.