"Cooking Mama" does have more recipes than Order Up!, but it lacks that special ingredient that keeps me coming back for more. In fact, now that I've tasted what a fleshed-out cooking-game experience can really be, it'll be hard to go back to "Cooking Mama" -- I'll definitely be coming back for more Order Up.

I can't imagine it becoming the massive breakout hit NIS seems to be aspiring to, but it's bound to satisfy not only the Disgaea faithful, but anyone pining for an inventive take on the Mystery Dungeon formula as well.

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.

Lovers of Formula One will get a huge kick out of the way it wallows in the culture of the sport...That said though, its biggest flaw is that, rather than providing you with an experience that makes you feel like a Formula One driver, it instead seems to require that you practically need the skills of one to truly succeed.

With a thumping sound and sudden cloud of dust, grenades erase whole sections of houses. Bullets, however, stop dead in the thinnest wood slat. But what Bad Company needs isn't a trip to a real-life firing range -- it's its inflexible A.I. that requires the lessons.

Unfortunately, the translation to Wii brings nothing good. The quest and spell text are difficult to read on a standard definition TV, and it lacks widescreen support. Worse, the actual puzzle grid is much smaller than it could be, which only exacerbates the touchy Wii Remote pointer controls.

I enjoyed myself while playing Live 10. It's slick and mostly captures the feel of NBA basketball. I hope that next season, Live takes the new, inexperienced player into account and helps them learn to enjoy the game as much as the hardcore player.

But affixing "Rock Band" to the title leads to certain expectations -- as a Rock Band player who still gets plenty of use out of Rock Band 2 and its ever-expanding setlist, I feel a little cheated that none of these songs are available online for the other Rock Band games.

It's a rarity for any fighting anime game to have any sort of substance, style and especially, playability. Bandai has done an exceptional job in capturing the show's trademark comedy and battles.

If the best we can hope for to mark the silver anniversary of one of the most monumental video game masterpieces is a quick and dirty rerelease with a bit of pretty but insubstantial packaging, it's little surprise that so few people take gaming seriously as a medium.

There's a great deal of game here, which speaks to just how smart Sega is in iterating on a small collection of stages, rather than going the usual route of wasting valuable HD assets on a series of sprawling (and typically unplayable) levels for Sonic to get lost in.

If Sony's smart they'll approach this as a moving target that's ripe for expansion -- the addition of a course editor or (dare we dream?) the return of minigolf could easily bump this up a full letter grade.

Drone Tactics may look like Advance Wars with giant mechanical bugs and an absurd plot, but it's challenging and fun. Just watch out for those damn centipedes.

There's a great deal of game here, which speaks to just how smart Sega is in iterating on a small collection of stages, rather than going the usual route of wasting valuable HD assets on a series of sprawling (and typically unplayable) levels for Sonic to get lost in.

While Umbrella Chronicles doesn't accomplish much of note besides solidifying the Resident Evil story thus far, it provides plenty of point-and-pull-the-trigger satisfaction for your buck (especially with a friend in tow).

Feature-rich and full of worthy diversions, Unleashed's major drawbacks are ergonomically taxing controls (more the fault of the hardware), a horrid soundtrack, some less-than-user-friendly considerations in the various modes, and "Legacy of Kain"-esque load times, which is to say they're really long.

It shows off what the hardware is capable of, it's free (technically), and most importantly, it's actually a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it also highlights some of Kinect's weaknesses, namely the lag and occasional calibration issues.

Even with its quirks, I find it hard to put the game down -- it's so easy and fun to hop back in and whip up a couple quick, satisfying dishes. In its silly simplicity, Cooking Mama does what many can't: keep me heading back to the kitchen for one more snack.

It may not be deep and customizable, but it's addictive and furious and more fun than it has any right to be.

While it doesn't reach the status of a great Western, it's still a marked improvement over its mediocre predecessor (I likely would have given Call of Juarez a C+).

While that all might be good enough to satisfy the core audience, it won't save NCAA 10 from being seen, like its predecessors, as a second-string Madden.

While it doesn't elevate Rainbow Six back to the genre-defining franchise it once was, it's still a solid, fun game; plus, thanks to Unreal Engine 3, it looks great.

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.

Consider that this 989 Sports franchise has undergone the biggest three-year improvement since Barry Bonds went from 34 to 49 to 73 homeruns in a three year span. MLB seems insistent to keep its totals skyrocketing.

If you're new to the quirky, rolling action, Katamari Forever is the best game in the series yet. Even long-time fans, who've already played through all these stages, should enjoy the chance to relive their favorite levels in a beautiful high-def setting. But Namco has yet to fix the niggling camera and control problems, keeping this game from being quite as good as it could be.

The less-technically apt Wii version ends up being the game to move the franchise forward.

While RA3 is still tip top -- featuring vibrant graphics, fast-paced gameplay, hilarious cutscenes, and the best co-op mode in RTS today -- it is absolutely no different in its "ultimate" edition than it was in its PC/XB360 regular edition.

A more general problem is that the gameplay doesn't do much new, or even contemporary for that matter. You do the general flip-switching and item collecting types of missions, and your firepower is very typical.