The controls are unbelievable -- they're more fiddly than an Irish wedding. Every button on the PS2 pad is used, and many actions (like firing a weapon) require multiple presses when one could've sufficed.

If you can ignore the gimmickry and the middle-of-the-road visuals, you'll find an entertaining baseball game that'll keep you just as engaged as the rest of the crop this year. MVP Baseball has little to worry about.

There's an undeniable appeal to nailing that perfect drift, sliding in past the finish line with just a few seconds to spare. Especially in a Ferrari with a cute girl in the passenger seat.

The lighthearted, quirky nature of the Worms franchise remains wholly intact, only delivered in a new setting that may take some adjusting to, but will still not fail to appeal.

The original Double Dragon may not be quite as good as you remember, but this adaptation makes up the difference with its major additions and subtle improvements. In a market glutted with lazy Super NES ports, DDA stands out as a bare-knuckle champ.

Sophistication's not UAW's strong suit: It flaunts its influences on its sleeve and thrives on its absurd outlandishness -- an exploitation RTS, suitable for midnight screenings.

More of an afterthought in comparison where a full-scale sequel with more finely-tweaked action would be more satisfying. Battle Out of Hell is more of a "tide me over" game that offers a good value of 10 levels, many challenges, and multiplayer addition for $20.

Fairly meaty, but ultimate a godsend for retro-junkies rather than general audiences.

MTX may be fun to drive, but it's a little short on car-wreck appeal, which probably has to be considered an important factor in an extreme sports game.

Underneath the show there's still a snowboarding game that's fun to hang out with, but only in doses.

Aside from the seemingly requisite handful of games that just plain suck -- including a particularly painful one that has you slamming shut doors (via a shake of the Nunchuk), which sounds simple, but is infuriating as you attempt to find the sweet spot or figure out why it just doesn't respond to your commands sometimes -- the game's biggest fault is its surprising shortage of full-on multiplayer games.

If it had been afforded a little more finesse (especially regarding the Challenges) and a little more authentic Godzilla flavor, it'd be even sweeter.

In the end, it's hard not to fall a little bit in love with Railroads!, because it's just a lovable kind of game. Now if only they'd release some scaled-up maps to match the game's ambitions.

What's most impressive is the way a lot of humor is injected into the actual gameplay.

It attempts a lot of ambitious things and it almost succeeds at every one. But it's apparent that these grandiose ideas may have been a little too much to master the first go-round. But hey, at least the groundwork is laid for a killer sequel -- right, Ubisoft?

Dawn of Dreams is a solid action game with a lot more play in it than its predecessors. More importantly, it's a title that shows that Capcom isn't afraid to mess with the formula.

Mixed with all of the elements that made the PS2 games successes, NCAA Football 2007 for the PSP is a fun hybrid to waste time with while on-the-go, despite some control issues and a serious error in the running game.

DDR: SuperNOVA 2 doesn't bring much new to the table, but it does execute some of the tried-and-true series staples better than its predecessors. As a first DDR or a workout tool, it's a great place to step in, but series veterans should consider it yet another slight tweak on a game that's nearly played out.

The game mechanics are still what you'd expect from this type of strategy game (meaning they work). It's only hampered by slow, slightly cumbersome controls, the occasional viewpoint problems of a 2D-game-in-a-3D-world environment, and some of the most sadistic Achievements seen in a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game.

For most, the biggest turnoff to an otherwise engaging game is that it's downright ugly. Choppy water looks like shaky carpet, characters' faces creep you out with their lack of expressions, and the majority of the areas you'll explore are gray and dreary.

You steer with the analog stick like normal, but then you can tilt the controller in a tight turn for a tiny bit of extra turning boost. And that's just dumb. It's like adding a "turn harder!" button that hardly does anything anyway.

Beyond the reworked graphics, you won't find much legitimately new content here. Patient players seeking an absurd challenge will dig the verging-on-unfair PSP-exclusive Labyrinth of Time dungeon, in which your characters' hit points constantly deplete over time. But truthfully, original additions feel scant.

No matter how hard it tries, Downhill Jam for the DS isn't its console cousin. It's barely a Tony Hawk game. That's why it works best when it's simply comfortable with what it actually is: something new entirely.

If you can ignore the gimmickry and the middle-of-the-road visuals, you'll find an entertaining baseball game that'll keep you just as engaged as the rest of the crop this year. MVP Baseball has little to worry about.

Gas Powered preaches to the choir: They've improved just about everything the faithful could have prayed for -- but they're not nabbing many converts.

Age of Empires III takes the conservative approach to the conundrum of how to craft a new experience that remains faithful to the original. While that ensures fans will immediately feel at home with an old friend, it's questionable whether it sets another standard, or merely follows its own.

An annoyingly expansive world, and reams of stilted dialogue, have all been squeezed onto a handheld system -- with nary a load time to be found! -- and that is a feat nothing short of miraculous.

For serious Nights fans, Journey offers a bittersweet reunion that reminds us of what was so singularly special about Sega's airborne dreamweaver. Unfortunately, attempting to evolve the formula creates a host of new problems and issues that ultimately diminish the game's overall appeal. That said, this still represents one of the finest original third-party games available for Wii, and younger players will find a lot to love in this gameplay-rich adventure.