The mediocre performance of the PS2 port of Max Payne 2 never makes the game completely unplayable, but it does noticeably hinder it.

This is the only Zelda game I can think of that used experience points to level-up. Other than that, you're dealing with a typical (and engrossing) Legend of Zelda experience.

Progress through Excite Truck doesn't just mean winning races. Performing rad power slides, collisions, tree runs, or massive air will earn you stars...(I can't believe I wrote "rad.")

There are plenty of hidden secrets and scoring/upgrading incentives to replay levels, especially on Xbox Live with a few fellow dungeon crawlers. That combines with satisfying old-school hack & slash RPG action in a dark, dank and deeply buried dungeon realm that's visually appealing along with a not entirely original but certainly captivating story for a completely entertaining XBLA adventure.

Combined Assault feels much more like an expansion pack than a full sequel. The single player game once again doesn’t show much improvement, while the online play shines.

It’s no GTA but it’s a nice change. If you’re really itching for a good sci-fi game with a good sense of humor, then look no further.

It isn’t as much fun to play as Muzzled!, but The Bogey Man’s surprising puzzle-structure improvement and the usual cinema-quality story and cut-scenes do provide a good-but not-quite-satisfying ending to the first season of Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures.

But it more than makes up for that with a smoking-hot single-player adventure sure to provide one last summer sizzle on your Xbox.

Football fans should have no problem picking up U.E.F.A. and enjoying themselves with a layered experience, but for me and gamers like me, I have a hard time even fairly scoring U.E.F.A. because it is so niche, so specifically targeted that a fully “objective” review just isn’t possible.

The control system is great. The punches and kicks flow well together and each character acts and feels distinctly unique.

In a vacuous bubble, the prospect of combining creatures would create all sorts of wacky experimental fun. But in the context of real-time strategy, it becomes an unnecessary chore.

Resident Evil's idea of terror is to give you limited ammunition. Siren's idea is to give you practically none at all.

"NBA 2K3" and even "NBA Live 2003" are better overall choices.

The Getaway has an intense storyline with very little in the way of humor.

A gift to those who spent their school years up late at night with "Illusion of Gaia" and "Secret of Mana."

If you missed Overlord the first around or the Playstation 3 is your console of choice, there's no excuse not to have some fun with Overlord: Raising Hell.

An above-average movie tie-in. If it left some of the exploration and discovery up to the players instead of laying things out it would have scored higher. That said, it's still a good gaming experience.

To give the visual style greater impact Stubbs the Zombie features the best soundtrack this year.

The single-player game basically involves a series of duels and the A.I. can get a bit predictable.

While the Tony Hawk franchise soars once again, it certainly hasn’t flown into the same stratosphere of excellence reached by earlier Tony Hawk games.

Longtime Sims gamers won't mind heading back to school again with plenty of new educational experiences and places to socially explore with a revisiting of those school days gone by or experiencing it in tandem with current college life, depending on the age of the gamer.

Spike has done a great job making a game for Dragon Ball Z fans – possibly the ultimate Dragon Ball Z game, with loads of extras and 120 playable characters – but its shallow fighting engine, extremely difficult Wii controls, and mediocre camera positioning will bar all but the most diehard fans of the series.

As it stands, it feels like Namco just didn’t know where to draw the line on content for this game.

Certainly not as good as GTA IV, the similarly playing Mercenaries 2 still is enough of a blast romping through the jungles and cities of Venezuela with hot and heavy gunplay.

Having an almost two-games-in-one element to it, The Last Resort weaves the best of both gaming genres (point & click adventure and mystery) together seamlessly, expanding the Wallace & Gromit world with even more characters involved in the gameplay for yet more fun folly from the wacky wannabe inventor and his devoted doggie.

By and large, GotL just doesn’t bring enough to the table. The new missions are fun, but the fact that this expansion has been divided from it’s evil counterpart and the overall sense of the game actually being Disciples II Gold Edition 0.5 makes the game feel like a jip when you can get so much more out of the original Disciples II for a fraction of the cost.

Despite having a few rough edges, Sudeki is a very good game that will keep you playing (over and over). There's so much to see and the story plays out like a good movie that keeps you entranced to the final credits roll.

The game doesn’t just look impressive, but sounds impressive too. Every sounds fits the game and some voices are so-so, but for the most part; it’s very fitting.

The environments in this game might be pretty cold but I’m happy to say the game is pretty hot.

The game graphics are alright, certainly not as polished as other fighting games this generation and definitely not a challenger against the Soul Calibur series.

I can't say that I would recommend spending your money on The Club if you aren't already an action fan, but if you are just looking for a fast-paced game with lots of shooting you might want to give it a shot.

There are still chills and thrills to be found in ProStreet’s more organized “underground” racing series, though, as the racing action still very much fills the need for speed for racing gamers.

I recommend Pirates for those that are looking for something more than a straightforward hack and slash game – something a little more engaging.

A good game – almost achieved "great" but, sweet momma, some of those missions are hard – filled with action, challenge, the obligatory references to Star Wars, and a first-rate presentation.

Visually and audibly, The Sims Life Stories has exactly the same presence of The Sims 2 series.

Although the character switching adds gameplay possibilities to Sonic Heroes, most of them are negated by the too-obvious clues.

Good stuff for adventure fans.

For a game that seems to be positioning itself as the anti-Diablo, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing puts in a strong, if kind of rough, performance.

The concept of SOCOM Tactical Strike is remarkably cool, and when the controls aren't getting in the way, it's a pretty fun game.

It’s not the most advanced shooter available, nor the best looking or the best sounding for that matter. However, it brings back a great nostalgic feeling and pays honest homage to the original.

The half-hearted addition of the vehicle-less battles should have either been dropped altogether or made more integral to gameplay.

It's hard to knock this package, considering it does what it sets out to do, and does it pretty well.

Microsoft needs to balance out its AI challenge level, correct some gameplay issues and boost its features in NFL Fever 2004 if it ever wants any chance of beating out the Madden and NFL 2K series.

The $19.99US price point doesn’t make it a complete write-off.

It doesn't feature the same level of changes of most expansion packs, but the strategic elements are sound and the campaign is long enough to justify the paltry $20US price tag.

On the Wii, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 hasn’t completely gotten into the swing of things provided by its Xbox 360 counterpart: namely, online play and precision swinging and putting.

Gladiators is fun. It’s not deep, nor complex. It’s not particularly long. But, the game can be challenging and it moves at a blistering pace from the very beginning.

The best-looking House of the Dead game to date. It’s cartoony, gory, and downright gorgeous. And there’s never a hint of slowdown.

Barely saved only by its sense of strategy, Lost Kingdoms is a lost cause if you’re not into card games.

There's nothing that Nostalgia does that's explicitly bad - the storyline isn't great and the writing is drab, but it's serviceable, and the battle system is solid without doing anything really interesting.

Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage may appear to be a kids game and while it’s certainly kid friendly I think it’s going to appeal to snow boarders of all ages.

Far and away the most humour is found with Captain Quark's levels, which almost makes me wish SCEA would green-light a game focusing purely on Captain Quark.

Overall, accessible and straightforward and worth checking out if you’re a fan of either the genre or source material.

Gameplay additions this year feature just a few new components – driver ratings, the Adrenaline Meter, adjustable car handling – and they really turn out to be tweaks instead of innovations.

Strangely, despite Arc the Lad: TotS being anything but innovative, it has an interesting charm and still manages to be quite fun.

Although it lacks the depth of other portable soccer games, and the AI may be a bit too wussy for veterans, World Tour Soccer 06 is a great choice for less serious games due to its easy pick up and play nature.

GR does little to rekindle your memory of the original Golden Eye. While there are some references to the original title, they aren't enough to make GR more than a mediocre title.

Army of Two’s solo mission doesn’t match the firepower of its two-person co-op play, either in the offline game or online. But it does have plenty enough gun-filled action to satiate any violence-fans fill, and if the online gameplay is functionally free of lag or connectivity issues, Army of Two is one of the better recently released titles in regards to Xbox Live gaming.

It's a fun title that gives the genre some notable tweaks, and it's certainly recommendable to anyone with an itch for a fast and furious dungeon crawl.

This game does a good job in retaining its cartoony look and it does that well.

A great mix of what gamers loved about the original and some welcomed upgrades that don’t detract from the experience.

This writer is glad that games like Shank 2 still get made. While the nostalgia of the genre is there, the developers were sure to make the combat fun and varied enough so there wasn't a mashable way to charge through the game. No, it's almost a science chainsawing dudes or impaling them with their own machetes.

For those of you looking to train hard for the zombie apocalypse long predicted by Max Brooks, and not have to deal with any silly cinematic conventions doing so, Killing Floor might very well be the sort of thing you need to sharpen your training regimen.

While Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades is a very solid follow-up port of the franchise to the DS and the technology to get it working is brilliant - why don't more developers make use of the GBA cartridge port for DS games? - I can really only recommend Decades to fans of the franchise, with the proviso that they have relatively small hands.

For action fans, Dark Sector is definitely a game worth checking out because it hits all the right notes.

With an engrossing story mode and challenging gameplay physics that really do require you to learn proper golf-club swing techniques to be successful, as long as you can get past the anime-inspired, girly-game graphical presentation, Super Swing Golf is worth a round on the virtual links.

As much as Overlord II plays to the fans, I’d still recommend it to anyone that enjoys games or thinks games don’t need to take themselves so damn seriously when it comes to plot or narrative or story and instead has some fun with it.

With basically the same gameplay and modes found in its other next-generation counterparts (sans the upgraded visuals and online gameplay) but with the added bonus of the brilliant Wiimote swinging controls, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 comes up aces and eagles.

As impressive as some of Nintendogs + Cats is on a technological level, I failed miserably to really get anything out of it. However, I'm not the target market in this case and my daughter had no problem awarding the game a very good score.

There have been some new areas and psychos, and weapon combos added, the photography feature from the original returns, and deviations from the original Dead Rising 2 story line (or at least how the events are experienced), but it's all instantly familiar, which makes it easy to recommend for those that appreciated the past meatl-- Dead Rising games.

In the end, Bee Movie is harmless fun.

If you’re a fan of the original game, snatch it up because it adds lots more to Galactic Battlegrounds (including some user-made maps) and should bring you hours of gaming. (Trust me.)

For those who missed the boat on those games and really like the King of Fighters series, or are just looking for a new 2D fighter, this title won’t disappoint despite looking a tad dated.

It’s a good experience even if you have to cope with the camera and constant Xbox Live plugs.

Each environment is fully (and gloriously) destructible and more "alive" than ever. The graphics are fantastic! Equally so for the animations.

Multiplayer modes, particularly played online, really save The Clone Wars from mediocrity. Playing on Xbox Live in a full spectrum of multiplayer modes elevates The Clone Wars to an enjoyment level it doesn’t reach in the single-player campaign.

As impressive as some of Nintendogs + Cats is on a technological level, I failed miserably to really get anything out of it. However, I'm not the target market in this case and my daughter had no problem awarding the game a very good score.

Wave after wave of deftly animated and designed enemies target your ship with a never-ending barrage of laser fire.

A solid sidescrolling action game. It may not be an instant classic, but it might bring back some good memories and it's good for some time-killing.

All in all, Sacred 2 had some interesting twists for the Hack-and-slash RPGers amongst us. It was not without its’ flaws, some of which will be harder to overlook for some gamers. If you can get past those weaknesses, the game itself can get quite enjoyable if not entertaining.

If you're a fan of adventure games, staying away from Syberia II is like refusing to drink water in the scorching desert because it's not cold enough.

The game does present a lot of action and is sure to entertain gamers for at least a week or two, but in the long term, the game will unlikely enter the classic status of vanilla ice cream.

No matter if gamers are a fan of casual PC/Mac poker of just looking for an easy way to score some Team Fortress 2 item upgrades, Poker Night at the Inventory is a great bargain that also happens to be a very good poker game with a most unusual collection of card competitors.

Like I wrote when reviewing "Mario Party 4," "As a single-player experience MP4 lacks in excitement and any kind of addictive fun factor."

Though Aftershock might edge Afterlight for combat and UFO: Extraterrestrials might be a better X-COM clone for purists, Afterlight feels like the most thoughtfully designed and fun of the UFO titles to date.

The Amazing Spider-Man tries very hard to emulate Batman Arkham City, but despite solid controls, especially the well-designed Web Rush, and a good amount of single-player gameplay, the open-world concept doesn't offer much else in the form of any kind of really challenging gameplay and engaging side-mission variety as its obvious inspiration, the award-winning Batman Arkham City.

To push an untested franchise out the door, when the game is full of problems, during the season when we get the most games, in a year where we'll be seeing a system launch, well, that's just silly.

Aside from the camera, the conventions have been nailed, unfortunately, most gamers want a bit more than that.

Billy Hatcher may never catch on as a marquee Sega character, but his debut is a somewhat fun game on the cartoony side of weird.

I thought the game fell apart in the final moments, which is unfortunate only because it clouds my memory of the opening where the vibe and horror clung to me like a wet Hawaiian shirt.

Though Star Wars Galaxies does have the potential of becoming a better MMORPG, the current version of the game is dull and lacks in quality.

Demon Stone’s gameplay cannot match the quality of the game’s presentation.

Red Faction Armageddon isn't the best third person shooter game, but if you enjoy blowing things up, then this is the game for you.

The extremely high level of difficulty will leave some gamers a whimpering heap in the corner... But if you don’t mind a challenge, expect an extremely fun, rewarding experience.

For the more casual player, Smash Hits is a good opportunity to breakout the instruments from On Tour and have some summer fun.

With so many options available and constant re-evaluations about the situation I didn't feel the creep of boredom even if most of the enemies are pushovers.

At its worst, Future Soldier is an uneven experience with some unchecked boxes as they pertain to PC ports (e.g. no option to invert the controls on a gamepad) and an unrecognizable story, but at its best it's a good shooter with a little more thought required than many other 3rd person shooters available right now.

It is simply a purity of attempt to re-create the D&D experience that they share, a purity I ultimately appreciated despite the rushed-out-the-door feel of parts of the game.