Civilians steer clear: this is definitely one for the flyboys.

Iron Storm does look and feel dated because of the graphics, and because of the type of gamplay that is offered. While it does feel like a complete game, and while I did feel satisfied playing it, it left me felling like the storyline should have been done justice.

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.

The sound effects are even more disturbing than previous games with crunching bone sounds that will leave most people cringing the first few times.

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

Not only is this the greatest THPS yet, but as always is one of the year’s best games. Period.

More of the same with a few extras throw in. But that’s not a bad thing – not by a long shot.

The shame is that the lousy and simplistic gameplay takes away from the fact that this is actually a nice-looking Xbox title.

It is a bit too short and a lot too linear, but the combination of great graphics, sound, and theme make for a fun experience.

If your house is party central, you can’t go wrong with Mario Party 4. It’s got everything the previous games had (plus more) to keep GROUPS of two or more happily playing.

Like "Max Payne," BR is fun while it lasts and it has enough style to make it worth revisiting.

The seamless and responsive control scheme found in DOA3 just cannot be found in XND.

With good graphics, varied level designs, uniquely bizarre characters, different modes, a lot of pain-inflicting weapons, and decent control to go along with a lag-free and player-taunting laced rock-and-rollicking online play, this game has everything necessary to be a worthy addition to the party videogame scene.

And XND succeeds to large extent, offering a control scheme that makes the fighting easy for beginners to get into the game, while offering enough finesse moves and fast action for fighting veterans.

What accounts for the less-than-perfect score is the extreme amount of tweaking it takes to get everything just the way you like it.

Will satisfy multiplayer junkies’ needs but will leave single player fanatics wanting more.

A must have game for shooter fans! It’s got a large assortment of weapons, tons of action, excellent multiplayer, and lots of replay value.

With the solid on-court graphical presentation, fast-paced gameplay and variety of game modes, many may actually see it on even par with "NBA 2K3."

I haven’t had this much fun with a fighting game since… well, it’s been a long, long time.

The atmosphere is great, the control awesome, the challenge solid, and the eye-candy sweet.

Although the controls are responsive, they’re far from easy to learn (even harder to master but less so if you've spent time with the other versions), especially if you’re just getting into the pool of extreme sports.

Instead of being the Mario challenger it could have been, the overall control, camera issues and the above-mentioned weak points of the game bring it down to good-but-not-good-enough status.

So despite being an excellent sequel to a solid first installment, I believe Silent Assassin to be a better game than "Codename 47," but I think many fans will always love the first game best, as I do.

Drastically improves on its predecessor’s shortcomings and turned out to be one the better games that I’ve played in a while – the presence of the in-game saves that were missing from the previous version alone nearly makes the game 5 times better.

With the poor storyline, unchallenging missions, and poor enemy AI, the single player portion of the game is totally disposable. With enough patience, players could find Rogue States worthwhile, in a multiplayer capacity.

Something that I believe the RPG genre on the PS2 really needs: a hardcore, difficult RPG that appeals to the gamers that grew up playing the classics on the SNES.

This game has it all: a solid story, good graphics, sound, level designs, and the ability to choose different paths to complete your mission.

Fans will love it, but there's no harm with sticking with previous games in the NHL series.

Unfortunately, while they are GrX’s greatest trait, the battles are also GrX’s biggest weakness. The problem is there are simply too many of them.

Every convention of the FPS genre is done to perfection, tweaked, and then turned on its ear. Only the multi-player options of the game disappoint. Still, if the game featured no multiplayer options at all, it does so many things right that it would still be in the running for Game of the Year.

With bigger guns and even bigger levels, Unreal Tournament 2003 seems to say: size does matter.

One of my favorite features is the tutorial called "Offensive Driving 101" where you are taken through a list of all of the best techniques for getting ahead. (Where else can you drive like a maniac in a Student Driver car?)

What accounts for the less-than-perfect score is the extreme amount of tweaking it takes to get everything just the way you like it.

The most important aspect of playing this game is the technique – just driving in the correct lines is dreadfully difficult not to mention maintaining a straight line is dicey at best.

The visuals are top notch – all of the effects look great, even down to the muffler stutter when throttling up.

Delivers some great style but lacks in the depth department.

I am sure if I was much younger or a weak gamer, I would take more enjoyment in the game, but I was left with a challenge-less adventure.

It's hard! On the plus side, it is not frustratingly so, as with some dedicated play, most gamers will likely find it to be a rewarding challenge.

Perhaps one of the coolest parts of this game is that after every level is completed, Sly learns a new stealth move, which helps him get by enemies and dodge traps and ambushes.

Making the experience unbelievably rapturous is the Xbox Live headset communicator.

This game is so bug-filled, I can’t believe they had the audacity to retail this game in its present state of disarray.

A solid, if unremarkable, example of the weirdly successful genre.

Provides a great new breath of fresh air into the game. The pets are so much fun to interact with, you may just start to ignore other areas of Sims living.

A pleasant surprise and a good enough game, but it isn’t anything we haven’t seen before.

Has it all: fun, adventure, good-looking graphics, awesome sound, quirkiness, challenge, and an innovative inventory system. It's not as open as it could be and the constantly respawning bad guys are likely to grate on some nerves, but that's not enough to bring it down.

Where almost everything falls apart is the fumbling camera work, which makes controlling your on-screen character a migraine-inducing experience.

AoC doesn’t exactly bring any shame or disgrace to Empire Earth (EE), but it doesn’t do anything to make itself a must have for EE fans. That being said, most EE fans will like what AoC has to offer.

The digital beaches of the game are so close in look and feel to the real thing that I could almost smell the salt water.

It’s accessible, it’s fun, the graphics and sound are well done, has the crowd is the best out there, and has enough options and stats to mollify even the most rabid fan of “real” hockey.

If it weren’t for the camera, DoF could have been a contender or least a lot better than what we get here.

For some inexplicable reason, while playing Gungrave I couldn’t help but think about old “shooter” games like "Zaxxon" and "Galaga" despite the fact that Gungrave isn’t set in space and there were no aliens to be seen anywhere.

The music is one of those touches that really remind you that this is a Disney property. All of the musical scores for the worlds are either originals or very strikingly similar ones.

The single most impressive feature of Quantum Redshift is its absolutely gorgeous graphics. This is one of the Xbox’s best looking games to date, and that’s saying a lot.

It looks great, plays great, and with the addition of a franchise and season mode, gives you plenty of incentive to keep playing.

It’s accessible, it’s fun, the graphics and sound are well done, has the crowd is the best out there, and has enough options and stats to mollify even the most rabid fan of “real” hockey.

A perfect introduction to the game.

In it’s favor it has a solid variety of modes and offers an arcade experience without totally slashing realism but Freestyle mode only goes ¼ of the way and the invisible walls might have you ripping your hair out.

A good game that isn’t ground-breaking; however, it does add some interesting considerations with the Trust and Fear of your squad-mates and it creates a terrific atmosphere.

Impressions did a good job of refining the gameplay with this installment.

Suffers from poor controls, insufferable repetition, and a decided lack of fun.

A difficult FPS-style game that suffers from a few short-comings that prevent it from being a truly great game.

Not only is it an intriguing game, it’s also fun. It’s like a good book – one that you’ll want to return to again and again.

TE copies the formulaic FPS foundation so much so that gamers will get nothing in the whole package they haven’t seen done better in other games.

There are quite a few cleverly incorporated puzzles and intriguing level layouts for those that like to play with their thinking caps on, but TE still manages to pack in the action for those that like to run and gun.

It simply seems like an animal taken out of its native habitat and dropped in the middle of some alien world. If you have a PC, I can think of no reason to recommend the PS2 version.

Of course, broadband users get the best deal as all the modes benefit from more players. TMB was always about slightly controlled chaos, and it is hard to obtain that vibe with only one other user in the level.

While I didn't appreciate the sudden difficulty of the racing mission, it doesn't wreck the game as a whole.

Without the adoption of 3rd Edition rules, IWD2 is essentially the same D&D game released years ago.

Although I lament the camera a bit, the Mario-less voice acting, and the linear stages there's too much to like, too much to enjoy about Mario Sunshine to really bash it.

There’s almost a complete absence of soundtrack and it really works in creating a sense of dread (coupled with the sporadic nature of the thing attacks, at least in the early going).

It adds multiple innovations to the survival horror formula and improves on that genre immensely. Unfortunately, The Thing also holds on to some of the most annoying conventions of the genre.

An unapologetic action game in the same vein as Max Payne, but with a dog sidekick and hand-to-hand combat.

If you like beat'em ups, horror themed games, and witty (though oft-repeated) one-liners, Buffy is the only stop on the Xbox express.

This game is best for those who want to play a blowout game and not think about defense… ever. This is a good-looking game, and is fun to play, but purists should look elsewhere.

A serviceable expansion pack but casual fans need not apply as it can in no way be considered essential to the original.

The improvement of the computer AI is really felt here – if you tend to blitz too often, the computer will start relying on short out patterns that will burn you for a ton of yards.

An above average football game that will appeal to gamers who are more enthralled with running up the score or having a full-fledged shoot out than an NFL simulation.

I hate to use a cliché, but the number of game modes in Madden 2003 are mind-boggling.

A fun diversion. It isn’t nearly as full-featured as its console big brothers, but it is at least on par with the best console footballers from the 16-bit era.

With the bad defensive AI and awful collision detection problems and the unrealistic every-shot-is-good offensive abilities of the CPU opposition, the only ones who may be interested in buying Street Hoops are players that have actually hooped it up on some of the real-world courts contained in the game.

Although the controls are responsive, they’re far from easy to learn (even harder to master), especially if you’re just getting into the pool of extreme sports.

Where Madden 2003 really isn’t anything special is the sound department.

I’m going to assign Madden 2003 the same score that I gave "Madden 2002." The changes are nice, but none of them mark a truly great leap over last year’s game.

A very good game – not explosive, it won’t turn the gaming world on its head. But it is incredibly easy to pick-up and play.

A solid "racing" game with good entertainment value. It has solid pick-up and play control, wide-open levels, good graphics and multiplayer options, and the return of FMV!

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.

It has a great idea in terms of graphical presentation and plotline, but it throws it all away through poor gameplay design.

Not a single element of this turn-based strategy title comes across as even remotely interesting.

It has tons of replayability and lots of fun, even if it might take a while to grasp the control and get used to the speed issue.

The arcade action is a nice diversion (and fun) for half hour stretches but any long-term involvement is not likely – it’s just not deep enough. And the speed issues…

MoK’s AI swings between moments of brilliance and shear stupidity like a pendulum. The difficulty and game length make this game one of the shortest adventure games in recent memory.

Aside from the inexcusable loading times that totally drag down the Totaled gameplay experience and a short single-player mode, the game’s multiplayer action, decent control scheme and level design make Totaled a better than average title for destruction derby fans not seen in a video games since, well, "Demolition Derby."

If "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind" were stripped of its depth, its open-ended gameplay, its plethora of quests and overarching story, and its hardcore role-playing game mystique, Enclave would be the result, an often entertaining but equally often frustrating game.

It has tons of replayability and lots of fun, even if it might take a while to grasp the control and get used to the speed issue.

That's not to say it's not enjoyable or that it's a bad game – it is very easy to pick up and play for enjoyment in short spurts – it's just average. If you want the definitive Crazy Taxi game, this is it.

I hate to sound like an EA Sports poster boy, but NCAA is a must-have for any sports gamer.

One area the game is really stellar is the challenge given by the CPU artificial intelligence. This game pushes you and makes you sweat to win, especially when it comes to contests against ranked opponents and when squaring off in a rivalry game.

From the tip of the shiny helmets to the grass-wedged cleats, NCAA Football 2003 is a marvel to behold.