Battles in WAR are not only highly entertaining but also enriching; PVP nets you more experience, money, and gear than any other activity in the game. And that's a good thing: The other methods of acquisition are nowhere near as fun.

Consider Polarium a killer robot sent back into the present to conquer your brain. Might as well enjoy the subjugation...for as long as it lasts, anyway.

This year it's pushed farther than it has ever before by "borrowing" from Winning Eleven. As a handheld, it holds up over time -- but we can't help but to hold our breath to see Winning Eleven head-butt back on the PSP.

Though it has some hiccups, unexciting party modes, and a questionable difficulty curve, All-Stars Racing is a respectable effort that makes a good kart racer at its core (and is at least much more cohesive than Sega Superstars Tennis).

Halo Wars is a solid, if somewhat uninspired and simplistic, all-around RTS package with few faults. Ultimately, it's not an RTS game designed for a console (such as, say, Tom Clancy's EndWar), but rather a PC-style RTS that's been adapted and streamlined for the console. I wouldn't venture to say that it's either a great RTS game or a great Halo game, but it's a really solid beginning towards what could be a really good console RTS.

Block Breaker Deluxe is a little low rent, and it certainly doesn't take full advantage of the Wii hardware, but for eight bucks it's easy to overlook the cheesy decor and enjoy this solid brick-bashing entry.

Super Sluggers succeeds and fails as most Mario sports games do. Its quick, arcade-style action is easy to get into and plenty fun, coming at the expense of the nuances -- and balance -- you'll find in a sim.

Underworld is an incredibly abrupt experience, so much so that it makes me question whether content was removed from the complete game to be made available later as the previously announced downloadable content. Six levels in (seven if you count the prologue), the game just...ends. Sure, the last level is a cool showpiece, but it lacks any sense of built-up narrative and even a final boss -- simply a closing cut-scene that wraps up most of the loose ends all too handily.

Regardless, after only five to six hours of family-friendly trivia, questions start to repeat -- effectively killing the fun. Microsoft promises downloadable question packs sometime down the line, but the jury's still out on the price or size of these additions.

It's far from perfect, but for players who want to get more out of the Spore universe, Galactic Adventures is a worthy addition.

While certainly not the finest racing game ever made, credit must be given where it's due. Climax has squeezed an awful lot of game onto a UMD here. Not only is it vastly improved over last year's game, but you also get a lot of bang for your dirt-riding, dike-jumping, snowmobiling buck here.

LostWinds is a solid, charming little platformer, and it's a really promising start for the WiiWare line.

The most obvious addition was the addition of dual screens and polygonal graphical elements. But the "tension meter," which built as players performed one-button aerial tricks and allowed bursts of even greater speed, is what really made the game so exhilarating.

The Crown feature definitely motivates you to get involved in the entire game, and even the gameplay glitches are tolerable if you're playing on a level where you can drop enough shots to keep up (Starter is probably best). It's not perfect, but it's fun enough that it doesn't have to be.

The Xbox incarnation appears more faithful to the animation, while GameCube and Playstation2 versions look slightly less crisp.

Legendia seems a sure hit among the series' dedicated fans -- provided they don't feel that familiarity breeds contempt. But for everyone else, this flawed adventure's good looks and occasional moments of cleverness probably won't go far enough to distinguish Namco's latest Tales from the last few.

Elefunk is sublime in concept -- ultimately addictive and quite entertaining, despite a steep learning curve.

It's too bad, then, that Custom Robo Arena's RPG elements are so mundane, a connect-the-dots of "talk to this character, trigger this event."

But let's be realistic: if you're interested in picking this up, it's going to be because of the multiplayer. Section 8 feels like it's starting to tap into something, and if you're looking for something just a little different, yet instantly familiar, you'll definitely get your money's worth (on the PS3 anyway).

For all the additions in this game, some sensible, some less so, there's one constant: The gameplay is sharp, and players move up and down the court with purpose and meaning.

Think of it as a racing fling, not asking you for any long-term commitment, and letting you walk away once you're finished so you can pursue something with more depth. Still, it's fun while it lasts.

Divinity II genuinely surprised me; loathe as I am to admit it, I may have entertained the slightest of preconceived notions about the quality of the game, but Divinity II totally shattered them. It may not be ready to take on BioWare's finest, but if you're feeling an RPG (or dragon-riding) jones, you could come up with helluva worse ways to spend your coin.

Prism is unfortunately 10 bucks too much for a must-buy puzzler at its $30 price point, but it's an addiction that's totally worth tracking down if the concept piques your interest and you're looking for a challenge.

With solid, yet incremental, improvements on the field since last year, college football fans will certainly appreciate the more balanced game NCAA 10 puts on the field.

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

Drill Spirits is classic Namco through and through: like "Katamari Damacy" and "Taiko Drum Master," it's a straightforward idea that succeeds on the strength of its addictive gameplay and hyperactive personality.

In a way, the main reason I'm somewhat disappointed is that developer EA Canada has the tough part down: the gameplay and controls. But soccer is about so much more than that -- it's about patriotism, atmosphere, and passion. For the inevitable World Cup follow-up, I'd really like to see those elements shine through -- and it wouldn't hurt to not ship with so many bugs, either.

If not for its impressive graphics and completely insane multiplayer design, Return to Dreamland might be a tough sell. Despite his juvenile appearance, Kirby often plays host to some of Nintendo's most imaginative game design, yet Dreamland is anything but. It's a perfectly tame, perfectly predictable little platformer whose only real edge comes in its cooperative design and, to a lesser degree, in how dauntingly unforgiving the later, "secret" stages can be.