The difficulty quickly jumps from simple to insane, before you're equipped to tackle the tougher challenges.

Boingz does provide a moderate amount of challenge (especially if you aim for a gold-medal ranking in each stage), and the springy little creatures kinda get under your skin with their attentive oval eyes and adorable aimless humming. The experience just seems better suited to a browser-based Flash game than a standalone WiiWare title.

The battle system reeks of incomplete, unfinished ideas.

Ultimately, this simply isn't the fresh start Sonic fans were so desperately hoping for...but at least it's not as execrable as the last two efforts.

And in the process of keeping it real, I have to comment on Forsaken Gods' combat system, which is -- without a doubt -- the worst I've ever encountered in a game.

And that's a small taste of the poor control scheme. The slightest twitch or turn of the Wii-mote creates a wholly new effect -- and frequently, it's one you don't even want. It's even worse on the Wii Balance Board; by default, the turning is overly responsive, even after reducing the board's sensitivity. However, this makes it harder for the device to register a trick.

Solid controls, multiplayer options, and creation tools stand out, though some jagged textures and their frustrating side effects hamper an otherwise solid execution.

But my biggest problem with Keflings is its lack of...well, a soul.

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

By the time I'd defeated my 10th werewolf, I was already tired of needing to cut or shoot its head off so it didn't regenerate. By the time I defeated my 200th, I just wanted to turn the game off.

Ultimate Band embodies what I call the Grinch Effect -- unwitting parents buying terrible games that mimic popular ones, stealing Christmas away their children in the process. Kids, don't let the back of the box fool your parents -- make sure they know that you do, in fact, need instruments to rock.

It's telling that my main criticism of Band is its meager song count, as it's a feat for any game that actually made me love jamming to Fall Out Boy.

Sega fails to make a good platformer -- pretty much everything Sonic Unleashed does has been done better in tons of other games.

Despite the aforementioned pacing problems and slowdown that occurs when more than a handful of characters appear onscreen, Rune Factory 2 solidly integrates two disparate forms of gameplay in a lengthy, elaborate experience.

As a fighter, Castlevania Judgment employs too many design ideas that are neither well planned nor well executed. It's a strange misstep for the beloved series, one that Konami hopefully learns from.

Underworld is an incredibly abrupt experience, so much so that it makes me question whether content was removed from the complete game to be made available later as the previously announced downloadable content. Six levels in (seven if you count the prologue), the game just...ends. Sure, the last level is a cool showpiece, but it lacks any sense of built-up narrative and even a final boss -- simply a closing cut-scene that wraps up most of the loose ends all too handily.

Underworld is an incredibly abrupt experience, so much so that it makes me question whether content was removed from the complete game to be made available later as the previously announced downloadable content. Six levels in (seven if you count the prologue), the game just...ends. Sure, the last level is a cool showpiece, but it lacks any sense of built-up narrative and even a final boss -- simply a closing cut-scene that wraps up most of the loose ends all too handily.

Still, the battle improvements, presentation polish, and overall cheeky vibe keep the single-player option well worth playing.

You probably won't put too much alone time into the game, but TV Party's an enjoyable pick-up-and-play option if you can get few friends or family members on board.

One of the game's goofier oversights is not telling you where you are on the field. If it's fourth down, a menu will pop up that asks if you want to punt, kick a field goal, or go for it. Yet there's no indication if you're on your own 30-yard line or your opponent's. And no way to call a play, then a timeout, to find out. So bogus.

Lips is the best new karaoke platform to come along in ages.

Metal Slug 7's a mostly faithful sequel that works on the DS, especially considering that there hasn't been a commendable portable installment since the NeoGeo Pocket days. But if you've got an Xbox 360 at home, the ol' "wait and see" approach probably wouldn't hurt.

But decent tech is all for naught when paired with a bland and embarrassingly brief experience like Tony Hawk's Motion, which contains just four settings (two each for skate and snow), each with five total objectives.

World Kitchen tries hard to spice up the already tasty Cooking Mama recipe with new characters, slapstick rescue minigames, and cheesy-in-a-bad-way voiceovers, but the results leave behind a funny aftertaste. It'll do in a pinch, but I prefer Cook Off's well-balanced helpings.

Storm of Zehir may have a lackluster story, and that's OK, because it doesn't need one. It gives you the means -- the freedom -- to make your own story. And isn't that why we like RPGs in the first place?

Simply put, every time the Director brings down a swath of Infected, who then pound me into hamburger, and every time my team and I manage to survive against incredible odds until the end, and we hoot and holler about besting the Director, I do the same thing: I jump into another lobby and wait for a match to start. I love this damn game.

The only thing in Mines of Moria that wholly disappoints is the new "supreme master" tier of item crafting.

As a mashup of :Need for Speed: Carbon" and "Need for Speed: Most Wanted", Undercover is ultimately fairly successful. For many, though, in a post-"Burnout: Paradise" world, the question has to be raised: "What does this give me that Paradise doesn't?" The answer to that is "cops and robbers," a mechanic that has worked well in single-player since the days of Hot Pursuit, and works even better online when played in teams of 4-on-4 in Undercover.