The biggest problem, if it can be called one, with Phantom Hourglass is that it's too beholden to what's come before it. Innovation arrives in tiny steps, touch screen controls be damned.

While Live 08 is definitely looking better in every respect (gameplay, graphics, and online), the series still needs more time in the gym.

While Live 08 is definitely looking better in every respect (gameplay, graphics, and online), the series still needs more time in the gym.

The Crown feature definitely motivates you to get involved in the entire game, and even the gameplay glitches are tolerable if you're playing on a level where you can drop enough shots to keep up (Starter is probably best). It's not perfect, but it's fun enough that it doesn't have to be.

This may not be entirely fair, but I've already played better Jackass games. I've harpooned a buddy to my truck and dragged him around behind me in Crackdown. I've terrorized pedestrians in my underpants in San Andreas and heelflipped over your mother's head in Tony Hawk. My ideal Jackass game would be a rebranded Dead Rising. There are plenty of shopping carts, bowling balls, and golf clubs to do stupid crap with, and the main character already looks exactly like Johnny Knoxville.

It's hard to imagine a feature of this game that someone won't love... Sure, no one aspect of the game is life-changing on its own, but perhaps the package as a whole is. After all, Halo 3 has enough content to keep you stuck to your controller for weeks, if not months or even years.

Even by simply adding a little waggle to the dancepad, DDR: Hottest Party could have been a great game. Unfortunately, thanks to the god-awful setlist and generally poor presentation, it makes us want to take our dancing shoes elsewhere.

Blue Byte needs to ask itself some hard questions about just where it strayed from the path of success. Until it's willing to confront those questions, its flagship series will continue foundering on the shoals of obscurity.

A punishingly difficult action game.

DDR: SuperNOVA 2 doesn't bring much new to the table, but it does execute some of the tried-and-true series staples better than its predecessors. As a first DDR or a workout tool, it's a great place to step in, but series veterans should consider it yet another slight tweak on a game that's nearly played out.

Dewy's Adventure has some admirable qualities to it, but the control issues keep it from truly shining.

It's proof that developers don't have to shamelessly rip off Final Fantasy Tactics to craft a compelling, addictive strategy-RPG.

If you can handle the game's particular style (provided you live close enough to a Wal-Mart to buy one -- that's the only place you can get it), you'll find this a surprisingly well-designed game that offers significant playtime, will nurture latent gardening addictions, and will give you the goofiest "god game" experience you've had in a long, long time.

Built around utterly convincing physics and animation systems and a unique control scheme that's equal parts challenge and reward, it manages to be realistic without being discouraging and feels completely different from not only the competition, but from anything else out there.

COH's year-old Essence Engine is still the most beautiful, realistic RTS powerhouse on the market.

Like the show itself, Jackass: The Game is something best experienced when extremely drunk, extremely bored, or, ideally, both. But don't go getting the idea that you'll enjoy it with friends.

But whether you're playing online or off, you just can't shake the feeling that the PC version of Blazing Angels 2 is a messy afterthought, made all the more disappointing for wasted potential.

It's the closest thing to karaoke perfection I've seen yet.

And for the eight hours or so you'll spend playing through the story, it's reasonably entertaining. But with such unreliable environmental exploits, the game devolves into little more than a stylish, mindless, unusually destructive shooter.

Multiplayer has been improved upon as well, with full four-player co-op throughout the entire campaign and a huge number of online dogfighting options. And again, it all works beautifully because the fundamentals of the game are so simple and solid.

MySims sits uncomfortably between its heritage and its aspirations. It's not as much fun as The Sims, and it's not as much fun as "Animal Crossing." As the only game of its kind on Wii, it's the best by default -- but that still doesn't mean it's particularly great.

The one saving grace is the presence of Pac-Man Vs., a sincerely cool multiplayer take on the legendary maze-chase game that got a bit of a bum rap when Nintendo tried to transform it into the cornerstone of the company's business model.

The most obvious addition was the addition of dual screens and polygonal graphical elements. But the "tension meter," which built as players performed one-button aerial tricks and allowed bursts of even greater speed, is what really made the game so exhilarating.

World in Conflict packs a dizzying learning curve. Even with a dozen or so games under my sexy cummerbund, I felt like my choices were far too random. Multiplayer is especially exacting, requiring impeccable teamwork and constant communication to keep matches from capsizing into total pandemonium.

It's an addendum to a broader karaoke game, not a stand-alone.

If anything, the engaging battle system shows Eternal Sonata's massive untapped potential -- if the rest of the experience had been as fleshed out, we might be talking about the first great 360 RPG. This isn't a bad game per se; the biggest problem is that there's just not enough of a game here.

Ambitious? You bet. Worthy of your money? Maybe, if you can accept that racing is just one part -- and an inconsistent one at that -- of a very big picture.

Built around utterly convincing physics and animation systems and a unique control scheme that's equal parts challenge and reward, it manages to be realistic without being discouraging and feels completely different from not only the competition, but from anything else out there.