Branding aside, perhaps most frustrating is the omission of environmental interactivity -- napalm does nothing to bush and tanks are rendered useless by the thinnest slice of bamboo.

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 Xbox enhancements aren't all they could have been. The great majority of Tenchu is still the same as before -- the camera's still tough to wrangle sometimes, guards still forget about your presence six seconds after spotting you, and aiming thrown weapons like shuriken is still a crapshoot.

Me, I'll dish out a just 6.5 and demand that the next time a scant offering of maps and modes are going to be released, they'd better cost exactly $5 or exactly nothing.

Nearly everything about the new MVP, from basic gameplay to the advanced Dynasty mode, oozes quality.

This game is the first to go beyond the major leagues and include all the AAA and AA minor-league clubs, adding a level of detail to the Dynasty franchise mode unrivaled by other games.

Since aiming and movement is too difficult to track enemies as they appear, a typical mission will have you die on the first enemy, learn his location and kill him before he can strike back, only to be felled by a second enemy, and so on.

The stealth-based gameplay that MGS introduced has rarely been equaled, and it's as perfect here as it ever was. If I seem disappointed, it's only because there are signs everywhere that this could have been a remake of epic proportions, but the extraordinarily talented creators settled on a port.

Nearly everything about the new MVP, from basic gameplay to the advanced Dynasty mode, oozes quality.

Despite offering some memorable moments, relatively unrestricted gameplay, and the occasionally satisfying play mechanic, Gangland should still be packaged with a bottle of Valium and a straightforward, "your brain has the potential of spontaneously bursting" warning, as it can be damn frustrating.

This is a very serious rally game, much more so than RalliSport Challenge -- tackling a turn incorrectly, or having the wrong tire and suspension setup for the track at hand, will destroy your stage times. As a result, both your driving skills and your car-configuration know-how will be tested at every stage of the game.

It's hard to imagine Battle Chip Challenge appealing to anyone but the tiny, dedicated group of MMBN link battlers to whom it's a love letter.

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

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.

The predominant problem with Drakengard is that it's boring to look at. The level designs don't seem designed much at all.

It's just unfortunate, though, that the camera mars a game that is so brilliant and tops everything else in the action/beat 'em up genre in so many ways. Ninja Gaiden is a landmark title that's better than anything similar you'll find, but it also serves as a reminder that even the best isn't necessarily perfect.

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.

It takes a while for the card-based gameplay of Episode III to grow on you, but once it does, it'll get its hooks in as firmly as the other PSO chapters.

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.

There's just nothing new at all on the gameplay end, and nothing very compelling on the external-polish end. It's hardly the first GBA game to be guilty of this, but it won't do much to compel people to buy it.

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.

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 a great feeling seeing something you shoot explode into tons of little chunks (which looks similar to when buildings explode in "Return of the King" -- another EA blockbuster title), and some of the racing scenes define the word "epic."

It's a great feeling seeing something you shoot explode into tons of little chunks (which looks similar to when buildings explode in "Return of the King" -- another EA blockbuster title), and some of the racing scenes define the word "epic."

It's a great feeling seeing something you shoot explode into tons of little chunks (which looks similar to when buildings explode in "Return of the King" -- another EA blockbuster title), and some of the racing scenes define the word "epic."

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.

A disappointing compilation of ambition without practical delivery. It's a game broken into several fundamental components that never work on their own and never contribute to a whole that can be appreciated.

The game's main "problem" is that it badly needs four players. I say "problem" because that's only a problem if you don't have three friends to play with.