While striking visuals and retro-themed music make up the game's framework, Ikaruga's foundation is undoubtedly built on innovative, engaging and downright challenging gameplay.

Even though some of Ion’s design decisions, like the removal of the rope arrow and the inclusion of the third-person camera, will disappoint purists, it would be difficult for anyone to deny what a splendid experience this release is.

Visually striking and completely engrossing, EA's latest for boxing fans is tremendously faithful to the sport. Granted, the artificial intelligence is a little lacking in certain areas and Xbox owners deserve an online component.

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.

It could be compared to "Morrowind" in its depth and scope, but the real people that fill the town squares and gathering halls give Final Fantasy XI a living soul that Bethesda’s hallmark title never had.

Taking the best elements of first-person shooters that preceded it, what we have here is a magnificent homage to the genre rather than an attempt to introduce significant novelty or redefine its boundaries...Clearly superior to its predecessor.

The action falls short of amazing because certain elements, such as the poor A.I., do not hold up their end of the bargain, but Alice is still a fascinating trip that is well worth the tumble down the rabbit hole.

The interesting cyberpunk motif expanded into a whole new set of wondrous lands easily lends itself to hours of fun play, while the multiplayer experience lets gamers enjoy the title with others and offers a sense of satisfaction unseen in other offerings.

I'm not a big puzzle game fan, but this title did contain situations which were able to hold my interest - at least, for a while. The luscious graphics come at a "disk-swapping" price.

Disgaea’s visual and aural components may be somewhat dated, but the gameplay suffers from no such ailment.

Almost infinitely replayable. The fact that its gameplay fits snugly into the difficult to achieve "simple-but-deep" category practically qualifies SimGolf as a barbiturate along the lines of "Tetris."

At its core, this is a title with enough flash and bang, with a high replay value in both single and multiplayer, and enough strategy that it’s hard not to recommend.

It adds a gigantic single-player campaign and a plethora of new monsters, spells, character classes and items. The expansion also significantly updates the overall graphical quality, potentially adding to the life of the franchise without getting in the way of what made the original fun.

The animations are still clunky and jerk the players about spasmodically when transitioning between routines. That aside, the gameplay has maintained its solid core while expanding on the available options.

In a lot of ways, Xenogears seems more like a novel than a game. Partially due to the amount of time you spend reading on screen text while the game plays itself, and partially due to the complexity of the plot.

The title takes everything that has ever been great about the series and elevates it to the next level. The changes revitalize the Heroes formula and provide more strategic gameplay than the series has ever offered.

Those interested in Ancient Japanese culture will also find much to like here, as the entire game is steeped from top to bottom in pure and uncompromising atmosphere.

Not only one of the best games that Westwood has ever created, but is easily one of the most entertaining, visceral, and tactically focused RTS products ever seen, and will likely be remembered as a true classic for years to come.

If you can get a group of mates together over Xbox Live, Wolfenstein should provide a constant and gratifying supply of entertainment well into the future.

Loaded with graphical goodies and flush with many more racing modes than one would normally expect, Moto GP offers an exception experience for two wheeled racing.

These shifts in the gameplay keep it fresh most of the way through, and the excellent visuals keep you coming back for more.

It grabs hold of the intangible elements of interactive entertainment -- atmosphere, compelling gameplay, and emotion -- and runs with them.

By providing an impressive level of detail in a game where detail is essential, and by including intuitive enhancements to the player experience, this is one title that should easily land on the “must have” list for any gamer.

It summons into an already great game compelling storytelling elements, excellent graphical variety, solid strategy, and extremely high polish and production value.

Even though the product has a complicated editor, a huge install size, and an absence of depicted passengers, its impressive graphics, sound effects, and realism make up for its shortcomings.

Compared to other racing games on the market, Wipeout 64 has one tremendous advantage: its graphics are absolutely gorgeous. However, a racer lives and dies by its gameplay, and Wipeout 64 has that locked up pretty well too. The control is dead-on and the courses are well designed.

What I encountered here was a very difficult combination: incredible creative innovation combined with a high degree of faithfulness to the original film.

In a market full of dull sequels, here's a follow-up that shows how expansion should be done.