The big downside to all of this frantic fun are the vehicles and heavy armor walkers.

It's a great change of pace form the strict style of traditional NBA games and it's extremely satisfying to take a scrub from the street and posterize Yao Ming. Just don't plan on doing much else.

Battle of the Gods is about standard as an expansion can get. With new units and lands it adds about a third as much content as the original game, as well as some much needed additional depth of strategy.

Dedicated SimCity fans will definitely appreciate the effort, but otherwise, consider this a reminder that just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean that you should.

The decidedly traditional approach that permeates every part of the game makes the decision to develop this as a "new-gen" game all the more odd, to say the very least.

This is basically Guitar Hero II with a new set of songs. That means you get all of its improvements, from practice mode to cooperative two-player jams with one person on lead and the other on bass or rhythm guitar. But that also begs the question: Why does this need to be a full-price title?

If there's a heaven, I think it's full of giant spiders and rocket launchers. It's a place where skyscrapers collapse if you breathe on them too hard and you never run out of ammunition. When I die, I want to go to Earth Defense Force 2017.

Vol. 1 still has bouts of incredible monotony, but with the increased speed of the battles and graphics that don't induce nausea, it makes for a fine -- but not really great -- role-playing adventure.

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.

The difference between Parallel Lines and "DRIV3R" is that while the previous game was a pretty half-assed "GTA" clone, Parallel Lines is more like a three-quarters-assed "GTA" clone. Maybe even four-fifths-assed.

March Madness is decent, no question, but it dashes our high hopes. This one has a long way to go to feel like real college basketball on the court, and not just off of it. Even with all its glitter, it's dim when compared to the shiny "College Hoops 2K8."

A worthy entry in the series that manages to one-up its DS predecessor.

While it's not the most fantastic thing ever, a couple of its components -- namely the stylish presentation and the battle arenas -- are brilliant. Wet has the makings of a universe I'd like to revisit, but I'd want to see the same amount of polish that's been afforded to the wrappings in a follow-up.

In the heat of this action, The Conduit comes closest to realizing its aspirations to become the first epic shooter for the Wii. By comparison, the best moments in single-player only highlight the missed potential for The Conduit to be more than the rather ordinary game it turned out to be.

When compared to EA's monster, 2K9 feels a bit like pond hockey. And while that isn't necessarily a bad thing for newcomers, who'll eat up the wild excitement of the game, those who know better may recoil in their chairs when they realize just how crazy it can be.

In the end, I felt that Discovery was a smart representation of Assassin's Creed on the DS, but the game feels a little incomplete. Ezio, and you, has no real end goal other than to survive and get back to the main quest... in the console version of Assassin's Creed 2.

It might not hold a candle to a certain classic contender once Fall rolls around, HoopWorld is still good, arcade-y fun that particularly shines when you play with a friend.

The action is intense, the off-track duties are compelling, and the overall game is rewarding. And it's definitely one of the first 360 racing titles to prove the standard Xbox gamepad is capable of accurately controlling this level of subtle-yet-complex driving. For that alone, EA should be congratulated.

Its sole commonality with the franchise is Tony Hawk's voiceover "acting" -- but it nonetheless retains the palpable adrenaline of the series, all the while establishing a very high precedent for the future of Wii gameplay.

Both NBA Live 10 and NBA 2K10 offer PSP versions this season, but The Inside hardly suffers in comparison to its competitors. With its more forgiving take on the sport and wide array of simple but addictive minigames, it should be the most appealing choice for more casual sports fans who want some arcade-style hoops with a solid array of minigames on the side.

I enjoyed Blood Rayne in spite of my own frustrations. In part because of its novelty, 2D games that look this good are too few and far between, and those in HD are even scarcer. However, the game goes beyond its novelty and offers a fun yet challenging set of levels.

Sometimes, stereotypes exist for very good reasons. Korean role-playing games have a reputation as low-rent incarnations of their more polished Japanese counterparts, and Magna Carta 2 does nothing to combat that perception -- instead, it embraces it wholeheartedly.

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.

If you like a little more meat to your basketball games, this is surely a great game with plenty to keep you occupied both online and off, but when pit head-to-head against a full field of competitors, what Phenom offers is different, but not quite in a league of its own.

Despite the enemy repetition, you'll insist on plowing throw the stages repeatedly, trying to attain a high score in order to build up your inventory of unlocked items. Between the friendly price tag ($30) and no need for additional lightgun add-ons, it's an enticing value.

Inferno's a significantly less annoying experience in its PlayStation 3 iteration.

This is simply giddy, cartoonish mayhem with an extremely low bar for entry.

Although Sega deserves praise for Secret Rings' innovative single-player adventure, the less said about the four-player party mode, the better. It's another low-budget "Mario Party" rip-off that stretches out a few weak gameplay concepts into multiple multiplayer contests.