Hardcore platform players will find little that's new or challenging, but Sly Cooper's definitely good for some quick and easy pleasure.

A no-nonsense, straightforward, old school, GameCube-exclusive RPG.

The new 3D graphical rendering engine and photorealistic environments help to breathe new life to the series, finally trading in the carbon copy backdrops for lifelike and truly beautiful settings.

While UT 2003 doesn’t revolutionize its genre, it contains beautifully presented high-speed action that first-person shooter fans crave.

It's one of those games you can start playing one evening, and then the next time you look up it's three in the morning.

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.

Elegant, complex, and beautiful, Europa Universalis is a class act all the way, and is certainly worthy of being considered one of the strategic greats of our time.

Real-time strategy, intense space combat, intellectual battle tactics and cooperative teamwork are all elements that play major roles in the unfolding of this experience, but it's not this combination that's so surprising; it's that they're combined so well.

The clear focus on fun over realism really makes this title stand out, and while the trick system may not be as deep as that of the competition, the focus on exploration and humor is a welcome alternative to hardcore combo dialing.

Smart gameplay couples with intelligent AI to make sure you're kept on your toes at all times through this deep, stealthy shooter.

The game has great depth in realism and dynamics. Its campaign and scenarios are without equal. It's the best and most complete documented game ever released, and includes fully featured training missions for the novice pilot.

If you're a fan of EA's classic "Seal Team" or loved the semi-realism offered in Zombie's great "Spec Ops," then Rainbow Six will give you a serious case of the gamer's giddies.

When all is said and done, every session leaves you feeling like you’ve just read the latest issue of your favorite comic book. I can think of no higher praise than that.

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

The graphics are fantastic, the score is excellent and the gameplay offers a great variety of fast-paced combat and brain-teasing puzzles.

It all boils down to short playtime with tons of reused content, and a shallow storyline. Whereas I usually spend upwards of 70 hours to finish a Final Fantasy, I had this one licked in under 40, with plenty of side-quests and exploration included.

Even the most jaded fans of the series should be delighted with the enormous strides in quality Sir-Tech took with this title.

Operation Flashpoint essentially has the playability that people were hoping to find in "World War II Online," with twice the excitement and challenge.

Put simply, the gameplay is fun, although the game is so short -- due largely to the shoddy, easily manipulated AI -- that some players will feel somewhat robbed.

It's difficult to come up for an overall score for Tropico as it does so many things right, but at the same time, tends to become a bit repetitive after extended periods of play.

With some character issues from the first game still unresolved, and due to the short duration of play and unintelligent enemies, AVP2 is stopped short of being truly stellar. However, this is one of the best action titles of the year.

If you've ever wanted to manage a front office staff, have an evolving pool of minor leaguers to promote and still get to actually play some baseball, this is the game for you.

Visually stunning, loaded with cameos and dripping with both Square and Disney nostalgia, Kingdom Hearts will grab you from the opening to the end.

Using a trick based system that rewards slides, two-wheeled skids and perfect runs, the player must earn points for the above while still riding the line and achieving exceptional lap times. At first this technique seems fresh, but after a few incredibly disappointing runs down the later tracks you'll find it more frustrating than satisfying.

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.

I felt a kind of primal fear playing it through that I have not ever had before with a computer game, and it is truly a horror fan's most delectable nightmare.

Prettier, deeper, lengthier, and more challenging than any other dungeon crawler out there, Champions of Norrath is the definitive game for hack-n-slash aficionados.

It’s certainly worth playing through twice — a concept that seems to have been forgotten these days, even as the quest for the gaming equivalent of the everlasting-gobstopper has been joined.