I have not felt so freed from the artificial complexities of modern releases -- and so nicely transported back to the pure joy of the old days -- for a long time.

A multimedia feast for the senses and a compelling interactive movie. As an action-adventure game, it doesn't offer much of a challenge beyond furthering the story, but it is certainly a story worth experiencing.

There are people that say a good game must have good graphics and some that say its gameplay is the most important. TRL has both. Great graphics and a superb gameplay make this game a true jewel.

What with gorgeous graphics, sumptuous music, compelling story, elegant interface, and a really well conceived hint system, it stands out from the pack.

The multiplayer, however, is where this release shines. This is by far the most successful implementation of Nintendo's WFC service as of so far, and stands as an essential buy for anybody interested in experiencing the online capabilities of the DS.

What Maverick Hunter X does is provide an intensely enjoyable and expanded alternative version of a classic game, and I suspect a product like this will appeal to two kinds of people. For the old fans, it'll be like an old friend is stopping by to introduce you to his cute sister. For the newbies, it's a great starting point to see what the big deal is.

Pinball Hall of Fame has a lot going for it, what with numerous tables accurately reproduced, excellent physics, and decent controls.

Perhaps it's the beat-em-up aspect, and maybe it is the satisfaction of pulling off the difficult power shots, but the game seems to have gone an extra step beyond some of the other titles.

Full of novel ideas and ultimately is a magnificent action title. Unlike most formulaic games based on movies, what you experience here is always fresh and exciting.

Perfect Dark Zero offers up a great combination of stealth and action using vehicles, AI teammates, the concept of shadows-versus-light for cover, and intelligent enemies who respond to both visual and auditory stimuli.

If this would have been released sans the law enforcement and Pursuit inspired aspects of the game, it would have been titles Need for Speed: Underground 3, because really that is powering it.

The offering does well with what it chooses to present, but it should have incorporated a more multifaceted play experience. Going back to try to get gold medals can only keep you going for so long. Nonetheless, the pure thrill of frenetic combat, interspersed with the humor, makes this title well worth trying.

It is refreshing to see the DS stand up and do some things that can't be done on the GBA, allowing it to stand out as its own system rather than being used to play GBA titles on.

If you want compelling story with dynamic gameplay, and are in the mood for some good old cowboy action; get Gun. You will not be disappointed.

Smart in its game design, a brilliant melding of software and hardware, this is a game which achieves what all games shoot for, but so few manage, to transport you somewhere better, if only for a few moments.

The unbearably monotonous levels, by themselves, easily killed it for me.

A fun and frenzied shooting romp, but -- as a longtime fan of the franchise -- beneath my expectations.

This game is pure, unadulterated fun.

It's short and sometimes repetitive game play with limited multiplayer doesn't exactly ooze with replay value.

F.E.A.R. has by far the best tactical combat I have ever experienced, and has super-high production values throughout. The sense of dread never lets up throughout the game.

I had a great 15 hours playing this game, and to get the coveted 100% finish I look forward to the next five or so.

Quake 4 really delivered on all fronts for me in terms of purely frenetic gameplay. I jumped at the cutscenes, I cried out expletives when I was getting owned by the Strogg, I gasped when the storyline took a major plot twist, and I was moved by the stunningly beautiful graphics.

With the various methods of strategic growth, tactical conquest, and diplomatic gains, Diplomacy lives up to its table-bound namesake’s reputation. It is easy to learn, play, and master.

It’s one thing to put original characters into an old game type, but it would be another thing entirely to use those same characters and impose new standards on the genre.

A great new twist on a genre that I have a hard time classifying, using an established and mature backdrop.

While it ventures into new territory,it does so in an interesting way.

The crashes all by themselves are an absolute blast. You will never get bored here, and everyone will find points of challenge at some point in the racing.

It is limited in a few ways, namely in the number of characters (a total of 16 with unlocks) and the depth of the fighting system, but it is also something I can see as a great party game for groups of casual gamers of any age.

While there are some interface concerns that all versions of this game seem to suffer from, on the whole it's pretty darned awesome.

Possesses the single most important quality for a game: it’s fun. Controlling my party of characters to victory over the hordes of enemies that would flood the screen was a blast. Yes, there was a large amount of repetition, but I found myself faithfully returning to the game to move to the next area, or to achieve the next goal.

Cute and charming in a macabre way. The opportunity for reaping rewards from the creative premise is, however, largely squandered. The control problems are almost enough to sound the death knell by themselves, and other issues of balance or polish also interfere with player enjoyment.

The game delivers exciting combat in all forms with intelligence and style.

This is, by far, the best installment in theMadden series and despite the higher price tag is worth purchasing.

With the style of game being more action and side scrolling then RPG makes it playable on it's own regardless of having even seen the original, however I was feeling alienated as the story just throws you in; no major introduction or conclusion.

There's plenty of great stuff to be found in this offering, but it just doesn't feel like it's all been pulled together in a tight enough fashion.

A fun racing title with excellent graphics, good music, and a novel use of rag-doll and environmental physics that work quite well during races and bonus games. Its tracks are challenging and varied.

If you are looking for a deep story-driven experience with lots of innovative twists parallel to the latest non-handheld computer and console releases, then you are doomed to disappointment and should not purchase this title.

Despite a few shortcomings, such as a disappointing ending, a hard-to-read scanner, and a run-time glitch, Area 51 is ultimately a high quality title worthy of shooter enthusiasts' time and money.

A strategic tour de force. The graphics fit the theme and setting, the gameplay is deep, challenging and rewarding, and there’s enough variation between warfare, economics, and diplomacy to suit most players’ personal styles. The replay potential is mammoth.

ER was too short for my taste and replayability is a problem as well, but it was easy to forgive these issues. This game offers rich and engaging gameplay and is adequately priced, so I feel confident in giving it the score.

What redeems LSN from being an exercise in tedium is that the touch of a master’s hand can be felt in almost every brushstroke.

After playing this title I personally felt let down. This was an amazingly solid title and is well deserving of a good deal of the surrounding hype, but I might have entered the game knowing too much.

The absence of sandbox mode, an uninspired multiplayer mode, and rapid difficulty increase in the levels all detract from an otherwise spectacular offering.

Its graphics, excellent sound, intense gameplay, and strong multiplayer, coupled with its random character placement make it a title definitely worth checking out.

The addition of the double-barreled shotgun, grabber, and artifact, the introduction of the ominous Hunter bosses, and the injection of a multiplayer capture-the-flag mode all significantly enhance the gameplay in this title.

While for me not quite as addictive overall as another recent PSP racer, "Wipeout Pure," Ridge Racer is more than worth the money. If you are a fan of the series or if you just love arcade racing, you certainly cannot afford to pass this one up.

An absolutely inspired and enchanting title. Playing puts you into a deep trance, and you just cannot quit. Transfixed by mesmerizing visuals and music, you are sucked into a unending web of block matching mania.

Its additions are fine and I enjoyed the game overall, but too many elements are the same as its predecessor, giving the program the feel of a very-polished expansion pack.

With the atmosphere and mood so sensationally presented, Shadow of Rome exceeded my expectations, which might have been questionable since I am avidly interested in the history of Greece and Rome.

While not the best RPG to hit the GBA, and not the best Zelda game in the series, it remains a strong game on both fronts in my mind.

If you were a fan of GTA then you'll love the non-linear run-and-gun style of play that is made available. On the other hand, if you prefer the Tom Clancy series, you will find yourself at home with the constant attention to detail and possibility for tactical maneuvering.

With the radar screen gone and the camouflage index, stamina gauge, inclusive healing system and a whole host of new gadgets in, the series is more tactical than ever.

Valve's inclusion of an interactive physics-based environment and the wonderful gravity gun lends itself to fun gravity puzzles, making use of good old-fashioned common sense and intuition - something I've found to be absent in the average first-person shooter.

From a purely objective standpoint, the poor use of the Source engine's capabilities makes for a disappointing offering. Speaking subjectively, I've enjoyed Bloodlines more than any other RPG since "Knights of the Old Republic" or perhaps "Morrowind."

I can say with complete honesty that no other first-person shooter can touch Bungie's epic in terms of level design, gunplay, sheer action or multiplayer entertainment.

Micromanagers and fans of "Pharaoh" have cause for celebration with the arrival of Children of the Nile, and should be thanking the god of their choice for the abundance that has been provided.

It's got frenzied action, a thoughtful storyline, and gameplay that will swallow you whole.

By injecting massive doses of fun experimentation into typically mundane inventory management, you find you just cannot wait for each challenge to come your way.

It’s somewhat ironic that The Bard’s Tale, which satirizes conventional medieval epics and romances, suffers from such a conventional adventure.

A major leap over its predecessors and is a huge success. With attractive full 3D graphics and an ability to fully experience your own rides, the level of play fulfillment has gone up significantly.

Entertaining, but not for the hardcore fighting fan. Every move is very easy to pull off, it's more a matter of learning the best combos, and what each character will throw at you so you can properly defend yourself.

Atlantis: Evolution hangs its hat on being an adventure game, but it doesn’t present the fine challenge that those who are serious about the sport expect, plus it includes too much tedium for those who are casual players.

The single-player campaign is a great addition and will be of benefit in training those who are new to Tribes and in entertaining those who have been around since the beginning.

The single-player campaign does a great job of going against the build-a-base-and-kill-everything grain that is the stock-and-trade of the RTS scene. Plus, it infuses some inspired missions into the mix, keeping you interested and coming back for more.

With near perfectly balanced hybrid gameplay, and thoughtful, intuitive controls, Kingdom Under Fire is sure to surprise even the most jaded player.

A fun, yet brief detective adventure that will occupy several evenings of play, but like a watched episode of the show, will probably never be picked up again after completion.

Combat is occasionally entertaining, but more often than not you're mindlessly blasting or backtracking huge stretches of land on the poorly implemented motorcycle. Invasion simply becomes uninteresting, and it can't be redeemed by an equally tired multiplayer component.

Instead of puzzle and chess mini-games and a story mode, why not spend time and resources developing another dozen levels and resurrecting the series' classic characters?

With fantastic visual and audio elements (setting a new standard), an engrossing story, an intuitive interface, and amazing overall polish, Myst IV Revelation has all the makings of a real winner. However, the tortuous difficulty posed by many of the puzzles, even for those with considerable logical abilities, detracts from the mainstream appeal of this offering.

It’s not often you have such a personal interest in your digital troops' survival and treat them as anything but grist for the meat mill, but Stormregion has managed to make it so you feel like a mother hen and take it personally if one of your guys buys the farm.

Easy to pick up and really, really hard to put down. It starts slow, and initially, building your empire will have you playing in short bursts rather than in blocks. As your realm gets larger, though, you'll find yourself spending more time tweaking and massaging, exploring and conquering.

Extremely effective in immersing you in the world of world domination and espionage, while maintaining a wonderful sense of humor... Nonetheless, the slow pacing, imperfect sense of direction, and extensive micromanagement can interfere with your enjoyment.

A tour de force of chronometric detail and almost bottomless options, but the glaring lack of a tutorial, criminally sparse documentation, paucity of things you can directly control and frequent crashes to the desktop doesn’t make playing it any more fun for the uninitiated.

It seamlessly combines real-time and turn-based gameplay, gives the player ultimate control of their experience, and provides a level of depth that verges on bottomless.

Its updated graphics and method of control breathes some new life into a well-worn building-conquest genre, even if the mission types are the same as most other RTS titles on the market.

The combination of a fantastic story, clever puzzles, strong (albeit psi-lite) combat overcome any gameplay nitpicks or deficiencies.

Ultimately, it's better to think of Legends as a deep action title more so than an RPG or dungeon crawler, and in this respect, you can't go wrong.

While it is fun for a short while, once the novelty wears off its lack of polish really shows through. It completely lacks innovation, doing nothing at all different than what we've seen a 100 times over by now.

There is just so much promise that it's almost unbearably painful to see that potential crippled by a complete and utter lack of content.

It is so well crafted that it transcends my usual blocks, and is arguably the most fun I think I’ve ever had playing this style of game. It’s beautiful, it’s easy to use, difficult to master, and extremely replayable.

The graphics could use as much TLC as the physics received, the sound and music could be fleshed out, and the controls could use some tightening to work more organically.

It has everything that I believe is integral to a classic success: It looks amazing, sounds fantastic, and offers more immersive entertainment and replay value than any other single-player game I’ve ever seen.

Those who saw Call of Duty's multiplayer as being too similar to "Quake" or "Counter-Strike" should be impressed with United Offensive, which plays like "Day of Defeat" and "Battlefield 1942" with better graphics.

The failure here is a general lack of content on nearly all fronts. It's too short, the world is too small, there aren't enough monster types, missions, NPC designs or dialog.

It may control like a three-wheeled dump truck on ice, but that’s only scratching the surface of the problems in Conflict: Vietnam.

This title has incredible depth and play value, absorbing you into the ins-and-outs of the economic strategies of transportation management.

Burnout's World Tour circuit is both lengthy and addictive. However, once you've beaten all the competition, filled your garage to its fullest, and amassed a complete collection of trophies, the single-player game does lose some of its luster.

The pacing set for this release is one that I can maintain, and with the focus set more on laughs and fun instead of tactical brilliance, I can play this and not feel like I should be wearing a pointy, conical dunce-cap.

Alpha Black Zero isn’t a bad game, but it’s hobbled by so many execution problems that it never really catches wind in its sails.

The vehicle customization feature is engaging if not as deep as it could be, but when it comes to actually racing your creations, the title scores a big DNF.

Overall, this release tries to add a fresh spin to the Anarchy Online universe and succeeds to a certain extent, though it would have been better to open the doors of the expansion a bit wider to let more kinds of gamers through to experience it all.

Even without the jaw dropping visuals of "Final Fantasy" or "Knights of the Old Republic," the deceptively deep but instantly accessible gameplay proves that Star Ocean can hang with the big boys as more than just a niche title, but as a top-tier franchise.

If Nippon Ichi’s last three releases can be considered a trilogy, then Phantom Brave is without a doubt "The Empire Strikes Back" of the series.

It pushes the PS2's hardware to incredible limits as it creates very atmospheric environments using amazing graphics and sound; however, Ghosthunter also features poorly conceived puzzles and level design that make for some frustrating moments.

Rejecting pressure from pseudo-sophisticated snobs who want to graft on artificial complexities that have been so trendy in recent computer action titles, Doom 3 is a far cry from the pattern of the latest shooters, and to me, that’s a real blessing.

Zoo Empire does add depth to the "Zoo Tycoon" formula, but plays it safe and doesn’t make any effort to change the established norm. If you tried "Zoo Tycoon" but didn’t think that it had enough options or graphical punch, Zoo Empire is for you.

Had the absurdity of the setting been more efficiently exploited for humor value, the many shortcomings might be more easily overlooked. As it stands, this title comes across as a last minute, off-the-cuff port from consoles to PC that skimped as often as possible.

Like the similar P.N.03 for the GameCube, however, extremely repetitive levels and generally bland design detract from the overall experience.