Area 51 is in no specific way a bad game, it's just an exceptionally dated game. The player's objectives aren't much more evolved than an old Doom or Turok game, and the graphic presentation isn't up to par with the genre's best.

The hi-tech gadgets are there - yet you don't need them. The massive levels are there - yet most of them are plain boring. The place is full of security cameras and guards - yet you can easily deal with them once you've familiarized yourself with the gameplay mechanics.

It's a game populated by animatronic mannequins, its plot driven by flat, unsympathetic characters. Worse, the dumb AI destroys any sense of danger, so the tension that runs through great stealth games never materializes.

If the difficulty curve were balanced a bit better, and the production values were higher -- meaning graphics, because the dialogue is awesome -- Raze's Hell would fare better in the score department.

The humor will make you laugh, not smile: the writers tend not to go for the obvious joke, and the uniformly spot-on voice acting -- not just for Raz or his immediate supporting cast, but for virtually every character in the game, which number in the hundreds -- gives each out-of-left-field payoff the impact it deserves.

While it's apparent that Studio Gigante toiled away long nights to perfect character realism, it's equally obvious that perfecting the remaining chunk of the game didn't keep them quite as occupied.

It's a brilliant debut for Double Fine, and here's hoping it's just the start of what we can expect to see from them.

If you're prepared for the steep learning curve and the insane load times, Trails is yet another extremely competent PSP title that's certainly worth checking out.

If you're like most gamers, however, it may be too much like a post-graduate MBA sim of life running a distribution center of some sort.

Consider Polarium a killer robot sent back into the present to conquer your brain. Might as well enjoy the subjugation...for as long as it lasts, anyway.

What seemed really cool back when Namco first announced the original Dead to Rights -- the sweet disarming animations -- just aren't enough to carry another repetitive action game for more than a few levels.

A linear, abbreviated experience that, while ambitious and gorgeous to behold, is not Bioware's finest hour.

What seemed really cool back when Namco first announced the original Dead to Rights -- the sweet disarming animations -- just aren't enough to carry another repetitive action game for more than a few levels.

It's the first game where I've actually felt a sense of attachment to my customized car, and it's one of the most entertaining racing games around.

It's the first game where I've actually felt a sense of attachment to my customized car, and it's one of the most entertaining racing games around.

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.

Aside from the dynamic object interaction and music, the graphics and gameplay made me feel like I was back in high school, playing Resident Evil 2 after doing my homework. But that was then, and this is now, and Obscure just doesn't make the grade.

Aside from the dynamic object interaction and music, the graphics and gameplay made me feel like I was back in high school, playing "Resident Evil 2" after doing my homework. But that was then, and this is now, and Obscure just doesn't make the grade.

If you're a competent gamer with a steady hand you'll be able to complete every challenge eventually, but beating the game "clean" is going to require quite a specific skill set that may ultimately not make this entertaining for everyone.

The one bit about Spy vs. Spy that really shines is the presentation. Each level looks radically different than the last, and comes complete with its own, unique challenges.

Aside from the dynamic object interaction and music, the graphics and gameplay made me feel like I was back in high school, playing "Resident Evil 2" after doing my homework. But that was then, and this is now, and Obscure just doesn't make the grade.

If Irrational is able to speed up the player speed just a tad so that run speed and player movement is faster, if server admins are able to control the abuse of non- lethal equipment, and if server admins are given remote server control, then SWAT 4 would be just as spectacular for Multiplayer.

Those who make it to the end might be disappointed to learn that they'll have to play the upcoming Digital Devil Saga 2 to find out how the story turns out.

How can you really appreciate the glossy perfection of a "10" if you never play the intermittently brilliant/frustrating games like Rise of the Kasai?

Whereas the original Doom 3 featured dense, serpentine level designs that played every bit as much of a starring role in exerting dread and ambience, the environments here lack a sense of coherency, even while it tries to hit you over the head with its own exoticism.

The GameCube version adds yet another setback on top of what's in the PS2 version: no versus mode altogether. This wasn't unexpected given that the GameCube isn't an online-friendly console, but this missing feature limits the overall package a bit.

While ancient China seems forever destined to bust apart at the seams, and Koei seems forever destined to remind us of this, DW5 rejuvenates the series with a series of subtle changes that make it worth taking the plunge yet again.

At its core, Spikeout is what "The Bouncer" always wanted to be, but never was, a fast, action-packed brawler with little pretense to being anything else.