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.