Even with its minor control gripes Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is another fantastic game in the incredible Metal Gear series that no gamer should overlook.

One of the most commendable aspects of the expansion pack is the inclusion of a revamped version of the War of the Ring turn-based mode.

From the great single player campaign the wide variety of multiplayer options, you should find every dollar you spend on this game well worth it, and then some. This is the best Rainbow Six game ever made.

Just after I beat this game, after well more than twenty hours, I feel like I'm just scratching the surface.

Mark of Chaos probably makes a worthwhile purchase for fans of the universe. RTS fans may also find it entertaining, but not very innovative in terms of the gameplay basics it has to offer.

The combat is very fun. Take that for what it's worth though. Fans of the book(s) will surely want to play it.

It was meant to be the ultimate installment that would bring the franchise closer to the US gamers, but given all the technical errors I'm not sure that's possible.

The variety of units is amazing and it's easy to get caught up in multiplayer skirmishes. Granted, infrequent AI bugs may cause a few annoying moments, but that can easily be fixed with an update in the near future.

One of the best team based multi-player games out there. They decided to build the whole experience around two teams. Instead of doing a lot of different modes "pretty good", they built one mode really good. The game is so balanced and fun you will never have to insist that the teams switch sides, on a poorly balanced map, for the next match.

A good game. It will likely be a very good game after a couple of patches (it is damn buggy on the PC and slow as hell), so I'd advise you to wait a while before you actually buy it.

A great play. It is not the best 360 game or even the best FPS on the 360 (Gears of War owns that title), but if you want a game with a worthwhile single-player campaign and a great multiplayer component (games with 4-player split-screen rock), then you cannot go wrong picking up this game.

An enjoyable experience. However, for all the time they have spent improving the graphics, physics, and new Create-A-Trick, I do wish they had devoted more time and effort into the level design.

Yes the practice mode is awesome, the multiplayer options are greatly improved and the gameplay itself has been fine-tuned. But for most people, it will come down to the songs. I am sure this set of songs will be just what the doctor ordered for the true Rock fans.

The fighting engine is unconventional, but the difficulty is better balanced this time, and eases you in slower.

Obsidian obviously hasn't made any real breakthroughs, which is a bummer, really, seeing as the original brought quite a lot of fresh ideas to the RPG scene.

EA tries to do a lot with NFS: Carbon, but that still doesn't help me shake the feeling that the accelerated pace of NFS releases is in many ways pointless and counter-productive. It dilutes the overall impression of the franchise, rather than make it more appealing to the fans.

It's painfully obvious that the Half-Life 2 engine caused many problems, which weren't ironed out in time by the programming team. Consequently, players with modest rigs won't be able to experience the game in its true visual potential.

Comic book fans will take to this one like a fat guy to an all you can eat buffet (in some cases we are talking about the same person), but players who are looking for an action RPG that offers great visuals, polished gameplay and solid co-op for the roughly 20 hours to complete the game should pick up Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

The game is fun and amusing after so many years of waiting for a decent adventure, but it still doesn't manage to stand up to the traditional and utterly absurd puzzles the old LucasArts game is famous for.

If there is anything that can be learned from Bully, it is how a good RPG should be designed. It captures an atmosphere, gives you characters you can approach with some emotion, and manages to contain itself, while not limiting itself, to a point where the game is acceptable for kids.

Bottom line is I had loads of fun playing BF 2142 in multiplayer.

All train devotees mustn't pass on this one. In all honesty, I believe that a choo-choo addict dwells somewhere within all of us, so everyone should give the game a try or rent it at the very least. You won't be disappointed with the content and gameplay it has to offer.

The single-player campaign is extremely lengthy for an expansion pack. You'll be getting your money's worth in every way. It took me hours just to get to the second act. Really nice job by Ensemble to offer this much quality content for their fans.

Simply put, the random missions are repetitive and they soon get very boring.

FIFA 07 might impress at first, but if you stick with it, you'll realize some fundamental things about the game of football are still eluding the developers in their efforts to make a good game.

Unfortunately, these fun elements simply don't gel well together, so the end product seems rather flat.

If this game was a Roman and it was giving a speech in the Senate, I'm afraid it would likely get stabbed 18 times in the back by a bunch of conspirators just because it was boring all the Senators to death.

I may not be the biggest fan of WWII strategy games, but this one just goes way beyond anyone's affinities towards a certain historical period.

JTF was an experience bordering on mediocre that only managed to rise sporadically above my overall impression of it.

LEGO Star Wars II improves in every way on its predecessors, making the core gameplay more engaging, the audio and visual experience more appealing and the jokes funnier.

The biggest problem that Darkstar has by far is the fact that it simply feels like a pale copy of other, far more successful games in the genre.

Awesome paint job and horsepower, but you might not rack up a lot of mileage on this puppy.

In a manner of speaking, CivCity is the exact opposite of "Glory of the Roman Empire" - while the latter may feel initially more impressive, CivCity wipes the floor with it in the long run. It's an involving and challenging city builder that has more under its hood than what the paint job might suggest.

While not exactly as breathtaking as "Half-Life 2," Prey can rightfully be called one of the best, if not *the* best FPS game of the year so far.

So while the game's atmosphere, its intuitive interface and visual splendor are very commendable, it simply seems to lack more direction in terms of design. It's like the developers had all the tools, but lacked more imagination.

The combat segment of the action RPG experience is spectacular, the game looks beautiful and it offers an epic journey through a massive single-player campaign. Still, I must admit that my interest in it kept waning as time went on.

While the gameplay still has its spectacular moments, with more lifelike character than ever before (simply put, Valve still beats any other FPS developer hands down), none of this seems to justify the price tag. That's the bottom line.

It's a game with a lot of charm and personality. It doesn't bring anything particularly new to the table, but it still has more than enough attributes to impress.

You simply have to have the willingness to learn and give this game a chance. If you do this, you will be rewarded with an amazing strategy experience.

A pretty engaging and challenging strategy, offering a lengthy single-player campaign in a captivating fantasy setting.

Downsides do not outweigh the game's good sides, which are plenty: Solid gameplay design, nice voice overs, and a story that though clichéd, is presented in a way that intrigues you enough to keep going.

A well-balanced amalgamation of RTS and RPG ingredients, set in a unique universe. If you're prepared to shell out 40 bucks for this one, you should know that the game is worth every dime, featuring plenty of content and solid replay value.

Given Ubi's reputation and the game's undeniable success on the Xbox 360, we were disappointed to encounter so many technical disadvantages. This will undoubtedly ward off a majority of gamers, especially those who had their heart set on playing a decent bug-free PC game.

You get plenty of bang for your buck and if you liked the original, you're bound to like Factions. The "sequel" or whatever you like to call it offers a lot of great stuff, albeit for the more hardcore GW fans.

The distinctive setting and novel gameplay mechanics are definitely the strongest points of this title. It's a unique experience, to be sure.

It offers an engaging and imaginative storyline, smooth gameplay and compelling environments for players to lose themselves in. Sure, Dreamfall might not have a lot of replay value, but at $40 bucks, it's definitely worth a purchase if you are a fan of adventure gaming.

A solid title from the ground up. It has a nicely written story, with lively characters and a charismatic and sexy protagonist in Lara Croft. It has great voice acting and music, and the artists have done a marvelous job of creating beautiful and diverse locations for the game's backdrop.

Somehow the guys at EA have worked some magic by reproducing the Battlefield experience without the expense or hassle that comes with today's gaming PC.

Performance-wise, it is a hardware hog, and this seems even less justified than in F.E.A.R., where the special effects seemed beefier and more spectacular.

Overall, however, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the spirit of the old games somehow managed to live on in the FPS iteration.

The type of gameplay has been seen a millions times before. Its sole advantage is that it relies on an extremely powerful narrative, backed up by a serious cast and admirable music. It's all about car chases, street shootouts, controlling diverse rackets and respecting fellow family members.

Even though Oblivion might hurt your PC in ways it hasn't been hurt or overheated before, and barring certain technical drawbacks, (one of which would be an occasional AI quirk from the friendly NPCs or a rough-around-the-edges side quest line), Bethesda just pushes the bar in every possible way.

Regarding graphics, it's really hard not to drool over this game. Seriously. The design and art team did a fabulous job on every single location that appears in the single-player campaign.

Single-player missions are dynamic and exciting, and the multiplayer is excellent, especially when you're playing the co-op.

Worthy of the R6 series, solid single-player and multiplayer, good visuals and sound.

Gamers who are out for classic real-time strategies, might be repelled by the overwhelming Star Wars lore and the relatively steep learning curve. Still, once you get the hang of it, you're sure to find the game a rewarding experience, both in single-player and multiplayer.

The bottom line is that it doesn't come even close to the open-ended gameplay of GTA and the overall quality of Max Payne. Drawing any further comparison with these two well-known titles would be a waste of time. In fact, the entire game is a waste of time and money.

The story, as always, is fantastic. I think that this game might have one of the most interesting and involved plots of many games today.

This is yet another movie-based game that offers next to no replay value and is extremely short. But, like I said before, the game will scare you when you play as a human character and when you're Kong you get to battle huge monsters in a captivating action-packed Jackson-flavored ambiance.

Although Stubbs the Zombie stands as a pleasing deviation from today's genre standards, it still doesn't have enough to engulf players in the long run.

It's safe to say that NFS: Most Wanted is perfectly balanced between real-life steering and physics and arcade-style handling.

Its intuitive interface allows anyone to grasp the tools necessary to start making films immediately, as well as providing an outlet for the future Stanley Kubricks of the world to get busy working on the world's next great film.

Considering that there is no multiplayer mode to speak of, the fact that you can upgrade your hero (buy better equipment and beef up the stats with side missions) and that the main story is satisfyingly lengthy, makes Gun a pretty good purchase for PC owners.

Path of Neo *is* better than Enter the Matrix... for whatever that's worth. It's just that the omissions like the AI glitches, frame-rate drops, flimsy visuals, coupled of course with the abovementioned gameplay issues, do not justify the game's $50 price tag.

Good changes to graphics engine, interesting play on the CoH world, welcome emphasis on SGs and new focus on inter-game PvP.

If you are really-truly hardcore about the Star Wars universe and you scoff at the "silly nuts and bolts weapons" and thing halogen lights are strangely appealing, with a patch here and there, Battlefront 2 just *might* be the experience you are looking for.

Little things like how you need to hold your breath to shoot a sniper rifle and the use of smoke grenades, as well as the much more significant improvements that deal with the technology and the level design in general, show that Infinity Ward has invested a lot of time and effort into this project.

One of the best games I've played this year - a true labor of love; perfectly scalable difficulty levels, great AI, in addition to all of the abovementioned improvements. A definite must buy.

A game with great potential that sadly hasn't been fully developed. No matter how much you may like certain aspects of it, the fact that the retail code feels so incomplete and technically lacking is inexcusable.

Fantastic horror game with great action and everything else that that might imply, you can use your flashlight AND your gun, and the game will STILL scare you! Hallelujah!

Voice overs are (thankfully) done by actors who sound like they give a damn. Music is well done and used sparingly as environmental clues when some pivotal plot point is about to occur or to punctuate dramatic moments like the start of a boss battle.

The levels still feel a little too restrictive, the scripted scenes will break again, and the German AI does tend to show flashes of blinding stupidity.

Black and White 2 might be one of the shallowest games I have ever played. In fact, I am depressed that a developer like Molyneux has been able to continually botch up awesome-sounding ideas so thoroughly for so long.

AI feels way too scripted to be fun.

A worthy sequel to the original and an engaging tactical RTS game. The sequel is more elaborate, comprehensive and technically advanced than the original.

The AI still exhibits some faults during real-time combat. On the 'normal' level of difficulty, they were too easily tricked by my more mobile units into falling into ambushes and subsequently being surrounded. They would often unnecessarily try to cross the river even though that would significantly diminish their maneuverability and effectively take them out of the battle.

Sound is what makes this game unique however. You’re made very aware of gunshots almost everywhere to varying degrees of loudness.

Despite its noticeable drawbacks, however, Ultimate Spider-Man does manage to offer a thrilling blend of comic book and video game action. The way that the game utilizes modern technology to bring comic book characters to life is superb, and so is the fantasy world created by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley.

Despite some of its drawbacks, however, Indigo Prophecy manages to captivate the player in every possible way. It's a very good game, but not an excellent one. A little more function to go with the gorgeous style and gripping narrative, and this would be a game for the ages.

A quality port that adds more content as well as perfects the existing gameplay. Every single fan of great storytelling and compelling single-player fantasy RPGs should own this one.

The sequel is not extraordinary in any way, but it is bigger than the original in almost every way.

It has some clear and often inexplicable drawbacks, and yet it still manages to deliver a deep and immersive single-player gaming experience that had me glued to my monitor screen 'till the wee hours of the morning.

It's easy on your hardware (mid-range rigs will run it without a hitch) and it offers a sufficient number of gameplay hours. Providing, however, you play it with the right frame of mind.

While Battlefield 2 doesn't make any huge leaps over its predecessor, it is a very, very good game, and the more you play it, the more you'll notice how good it is. DICE Sweden knows their stuff.

I intend to play "Gran Turismo" as long as Polyphony decides to make new sequels simply because it's fun. Juiced, on the other hand, is not.

All in all, Area 51 is a pretty standard first-person shooter with little if any original content, an unintelligible storyline, and game options typical for the genre, packed with some intense combat and an occasional feel you're actually onto something, while in fact you will only be browsing levels in search for bigger, badder, and meaner opponents.

It is the perfect crime game.

If I had to describe this game in one word, I'd say it's... decent. Then I'd add that it's at times illogical, unnerving, dull, and painfully slow-paced.

I must say it's a pity that a game with such a realistic feel and a believable atmosphere suffers from several annoying problems, such as the lack of an in game mini-map or an inventory system and the inability to save your progress or use the health packs at will.

In a word, I hate this game. It is horrible crap. Stay away from it, and if you see it in the bargain bin, pour some gasoline over the bin and burn it.

The level design is very poor. All the environments look uninspiring in addition to being loaded with invisible walls and being very, very small. You totally feel like you're on rails throughout the game.

Everyone can enjoy the easily accessible combat, the deep-as-you-want-to-go strategy elements of the skill and spell system and amazing visuals.

The advanced diplomacy options, the solid AI and the inclusion of some realistic elements, such as weather conditions, make it truly enjoyable to play. On the other hand, its complexity will tend to bore you rather than intrigue you after some time, and I cannot tell why it is so.

What truly makes this game so enjoyable is the fact that it is incredibly clever and witty, with a gallery of fantastic (as well as bizarre) characters and some intelligently conceived details.

If you're a hardcore military buff, I might recommend it to you for the fun firefights. Other than that, I think you're better off getting "SWAT 4." That one flows much better and has a much nicer feel to it.

The predictability and low AI of your opponents do their best to wreck the game completely. So although some missions tend to be fun, the effect is completely ruined by the monotonous process of rebuilding your kingdom or performing a set military attack.

If you're expecting "Knights of the Old Republic," or "Baldur's Gate," or "Neverwinter Nights," but with ancient magical Chinese warriors, you've come to the wrong place. This is a very different game. But a very good one.

The gameplay is smooth and the environments are cleverly designed, so with the addition of a solid AI, it creates a realistic and a very authentic feel. While this game may not be remembered as a trendsetter, it gives you quite an enjoyable experience.