Naruto: Path of Ninja 2 is a missed opportunity, lacking consistency and polish. Fans may embrace the game for the Naruto brand alone, but the story and unadventurous level designs will fail to keep their interest. At least the battle mechanics are a step in the right direction.

All in all, while Ratatouille has its enjoyable moments, the main missions leave you feeling a bit hungry for something meatier, while the tasks like slides or races spoil your appetite.

For its six-hour playthrough (you can extend that by unlocking alternate characters, but they're so unmemorable and non-gameplay changing, that they provide no incentive to play through again), Wanted: Weapons of Fate is at best a competent, fire-and-forget movie game -- not much more nor less.

It's technically playable and, despite its best efforts, probably won't plunge the industry into a period of navel-gazing and political sanction. Everything else about it is largely forgettable.

It's a shame that Metal Saga's high points -- the humor, the music, and its relative freedom -- are mired in disappointing production values and a concept that hasn't improved since the series' 8- and 16-bit days. It's droll and "different" -- but it's so different, it's the same.

The inconsistencies and haphazardly-borrowed elements keep Headhunter from ever realizing its potential and drag it down to mere "mediocre" status. It has a certain underdog charm... if only it were content to be <I>good</I> instead of clumsily striving for <I>cool</I>.

I figured the move to the PS2 would, at the very least, allow for a bit more detail in the bland levels. I could not have been more wrong. Compared to the PSP version, this is a step down -- that's disappointing enough. But compared to other PS2 Ratchet games, it's a sharp kick in the nuts.

If you're a gamer wondering what all the fuss over 24 is about, the game is not the right place to find out. Without the connection to the characters and the twisting, turning style of 24, you're left with an average third-person action game with simple gadget puzzles and bad driving.

But even with sluttier graphics and hot girl-on-girl-(on-girl-on-girl) next-gen processing capabilities, the reversal-heavy game is unfortunately afflicted by the not-so-sexy slow reaction time. The venues, digital vixens, and excitably slick moves all convey an illusion of frenzied energy that the reaction time just cannot match.

In many respects, it's exactly what I would expect from a follow-up: more of the same with minor enhancements. At the same time, it is just more of the same with some enhancements, but Fatshark seemed to be aiming to make the best damn sequel they could...just without rocking the boat too much.

Even if some parts are lackluster there's not much that's truly awful about it, and its unique elements are more than enough to make up for things like the handful of missions spoiled by suicidal Allies.

If you're up to it, this is certainly the best Spider-Man game that's graced a PC yet, even if it's also one of the toughest.

The minimal presentation, weak interface and comparatively paltry selection of titles hardly seems worthy of a golden anniversary. These games may be classics, but Namco's really pushing its luck here.

Once its player-versus-player elements are fully implemented, Lineage II could become the tense, harsh, and Darwinian experience it's supposed to be. At this point, it's basically an occasionally chaotic, and aesthetically attractive level-grind.

Gameplay aside, in a lighthearted adventure like this, the biggest crime is not being consistently funny...an offense of which Harvey Birdman is regrettably guilty.

Speaking of being taken seriously, the AFL needs more help in the future from EA. This could eventually become a great series, a mix between Madden and Blitz -- but right now it's just $30 you shouldn't spend.

Even if some parts are lackluster there's not much that's truly awful about it, and its unique elements are more than enough to make up for things like the handful of missions spoiled by suicidal Allies.

Without the story, all your venturing through the game would be for naught. It's the redeeming quality that makes the back-and-forth, to-and-fro quests, the battles every five feet, and the unaltered appearance worth wading through. It's just something that you'll really have to want to do.

Blitz II may be well ahead of its most recent competition -- EA's NFL Tour fiasco -- but after the initial wave of gross-out injuries, you'll see this for what it is: an anti-NFL dare reliant on limp shock value and a subpar football game.

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.

As a creative tool Unbound is great, but as a game it feels a little sparse. Despite its seemingly casual nature, the technical side of Unbound shouldn't be underestimated -- it quickly frustrates players looking for a light challenge while rewarding the more dedicated who are willing to invest the time.

King of Fighters: Neowave has so much potential just waiting to be tapped, with new powerful hardware, a fighting engine based on a winning formula, and a dream collection of 43 fighters, but the things that it didn't do would fill up an entire stadium.

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.

Even more painful is being forced to say bad things about a game that, for all intents and purposes, you happen to be rather fond of.

Heatseeker manages to nail the whole "pointing the Wii Remote at the screen" thing, rather than introducing flight-combat gameplay, and as such fails to grasp the idea that you're in a damn fighter jet.

I don't dislike this game. Aside from a few minor graphical bugs and hiccups, BlackSite is unquestionably competent at what it does. It's just that what it does isn't particularly notable, or innovative, or memorable -- in either a good or a bad way. It's not even memorably mediocre. It's just...diverting, for 10 hours or so. You could say worse things about a game.

The marriage of the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe with strategy-based combat is an addictive one, making this game one that even the curious fan should check out.

Multiplayer is certainly better than single-player (the more people, the better), but it suffers from the same pileups and limited variety. Considering how impractical it is to set up a full multiplayer game offline, it's ridiculous that the game's only online feature is comparing scores and leaderboards.