Fun and easy to learn, Monster Force is a top-down shooter with style.

Recycled gameplay, overused mechanics and jarring shifts between mini-challenges and exploration will leave you slightly disconnected from the overall experience.

Solid if familiar gameplay here, and the graphics and audio are immensely pleasing if no longer groundbreaking.

Brilliant use of cell shading to create an animated effect and the surprisingly workable control scheme.

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

The gameplay can't hold a match to even the most basic competition, since the distinct lack of modes, oversimplified approach and lackluster execution combine to make a release that's the exact opposite of what a party title needs to be.

Gamers have already seen, heard and played everything Team Factor has to offer - and had more fun doing so.

The game radiates beauty and wonder from every corner, and the end result is something special.

Not without its flaws, Tribes succeeds because of variety and solid design.

Despite its many faults, it remains a solid contribution to its genre, with graphics and music that form a particularly credible environment. That the arrival of its hasty conclusion is so regrettable is only a testament to its many strengths.

The gameplay is gleefully wrought with complexity. However, hardcore strategists will surely find this title simplistic.

Manages to bring a highly developed artistic sense to the table.

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

Brilliantly designed, the waves and riders are appropriately the highlights, as the animations are smooth for both, and every wave's approach is unique enough to keep you entertained for as long as the increasingly sprawling levels of the Tony Hawk games.

Like a college fling: It looks pretty enough, but lacks the substance you'd need for a long-term relationship.

The improvements primarily in graphics and sound in Grand Prix 4 do not seem worth the huge increases in computer power necessary to run the title smoothly.

Despite the laundry list of bugs and the steep hardware requirements, Battlefield 1942 remains as engrossing an online experience as they come, with great graphics and explosive gameplay - providing one has a solid Internet connection.

Fans of the series deserve the same content for far less money in the form of a true expansion pack, preferably one that actually adds fresh content beyond new scenarios.

Everything that surrounds the gameplay is strongly polished, but when you're battling, everything beyond your bot will be visually disappointing.

A textbook movie-to-game cash-in. Everything in it is halfheartedly done; the graphics and sound are canned and formulaic, as is the gameplay.

Excellent AI, controls and sound design combine their respective strengths to make a package that's stronger than the sum of its parts.

One of the best adventure games I've ever played. The near-perfectly crafted combination of story, gameplay, graphics and audio makes it utterly enchanting.

Light on story, heavy on action and gore, Turok Evolution will appeal to fans of the series, but lags a bit behind the design philosophy for most newer shooters.

The graphics are devoid of polish and personality, and the sound will make you fall in love with your mute button all over again.

Anyone coming to Onimusha 2 cold will find brilliant beauty, but baffling execution.

With gorgeous graphics, an enthralling story, nifty sound and music, and fun gameplay, it's a blast from beginning to end.

It's not a standard first-person shooter, and it can't be played as one; trying to do so will lead to failure and frustration. SOCOM is a game of patience, planning and wits.

For a game that's billed as strictly linear, the multitude of possibilities in Icewind Dale II is striking; its breadth is in its depth, not its scope.