This one's fun, no doubt about it, and the way the beats bang the environment is a must-see. But its lack of fighting depth definitely keeps it on the casual tip.

A competent strategy RPG that sadly doesn't push the genre in any significant way.

But here's where, at least for me, NBA 07 earns the "sports innovation" award at the PS3 launch: Every week, Sony will offer five downloadable scenarios from this year's real NBA season that you can try and re-create (hey, the rest of you sports developers, this is how you give your game some longevity, OK?).

A good -- if not great -- game. Learn to deal with the artificial intelligence on particular tracks, and the experience in an enjoyable one. Just as long as you're not looking for a very deep -- or even all that logical -- career mode.

An irresistible little charmer. It's short enough that it doesn't overstay its welcome, clever enough to be engaging, full of enough action to be consistently fun. Fans of the film series will, of course, want to grab it, but action gamers looking for a dose of sarcasm, zombie guts, and light puzzles will find themselves amused as well.

Combine that frustration with the almost insultingly shallow combat and it's hard to get too excited about jumping back into the game more than once or twice.

So if you don't mind a little bit of slow-paced memorization, there's a solid game here that will provide a lot of fun. It's just a shame that some of the levels don't leave more wiggle room to accomplish objectives in even slightly different ways.

The A.I. is generally good, but constant one-timer goals and did-you-see-my-stick-clip-through-the-goal-post wrap-arounds can get quite annoying.

Both games -- the Wii version especially -- ought to be so much better.

It reminds me of that college professor who taught a fun class but didn't explain things very well -- in the end, you didn't learn as much as you could have. Second Opinion's fun, but in the end, you feel like you didn't enjoy it as much as you should have.

The main game isn't terribly long, and the missions, though sometimes creative, are often frustrating because there's usually only one way to complete them, making them feel needlessly restrictive--something that stings a little more in a sandbox game such as this.

In the end, the sharp graphics trump the competition (2K Sports' "Top Spin 2"), but the oversights in gameplay and the pros-only career mode hold Virtua Tennis back from being a must-play. For a quick knock-around with friends, this can't be beat, but for a deeper, more authentic tennis experience, go with "Top Spin 2."

The game's well-polished; it would have been hailed as revolutionary a few years ago, but now it's just another decent, 10-hour-long hop-n-bop to add to the pile.

It's all a bit dull, gameplay-wise, until you can trudge through at least one season of shutouts. The good news is that presentation-wise, Quidditch World Cup sparkles.

It certainly holds up better than certain other Mini titles, which shall of course remain nameless. Provided you can get past the fact that multiplayer is but a fleeting dream, the solo experience isn't bad at all.

Area 51 is in no specific way a bad game, it's just an exceptionally dated game. The player's objectives aren't much more evolved than an old Doom or Turok game, and the graphic presentation isn't up to par with the genre's best.

The hi-tech gadgets are there - yet you don't need them. The massive levels are there - yet most of them are plain boring. The place is full of security cameras and guards - yet you can easily deal with them once you've familiarized yourself with the gameplay mechanics.

Since the combat already feels almost exactly like the standard Onimusha fighting style with the addition of jumping, it seems like it would fit right into a more robust game's engine.

Trozei offers a decent array of multiplayer support to provide harmless, inoffensive fun. It's an acceptable diversion, provided you don't expect any sort of staying power with your puzzle games.

Like any Mario Party, this one's harmless fun, and it's especially worthwhile if you've got a group of friends and don't have to deal with the cheating computer. But the repetitiveness and shallow, luck-based gameplay just further drive home why the wacky, dynamic WarioWare has been crowned Nintendo's real party king.

Like most third-person action games, Bullet Witch has its share of problems, but it was designed with considerable replay value in mind for those who find the game's sweet spot.

Crashing is probably something you should get used to before jumping into Create & Race, though, which brings us to the primary problem with putting a simulation racing game on a handheld like the DS.

While it's true that things have improved, that doesn't mean it's suddenly a great game. While the downplaying of the storyline does help streamline the game, it also makes your goals seem a little disconnected and random.

The core of the game is simply a fun, great looking button-mashing brawler, and there's a good time to be had with it if that's all you expect.

Like its next-gen stablemate, Madden for the PS3 has a "maybe next year" outing this season, leaving the title of best Madden for the PlayStation to the PS2 version, which is $20 cheaper to boot.

As an FPS, Dead Man's Hand is nothing special at all. As an experience, though, DMH is a blast.

While you can manually toggle the maximum strength of the shot, the analog swing is still enormously more sensitive than in previous versions -- only there's no meter to give you any indication of how strong a putt you're making. Frustrating? You bet.

No, it's not going to go head-to-head with the onslaught of great FPSes we saw at the end of last year (though its slick, well-designed, robust multiplayer should give it some legs). But the unusual premise, solid writing, and nicely varied play make it worth a look for shooter fans looking for that next fix.