If you can get past the out-of-combat menu system and are willing to learn the D&D rules (or already know them), D&D Tactics comes highly recommended. While the graphics may not be the best, this game provides some really fun tactical battles – some of the best I've seen in awhile.

In the end, this meshing of two different styles of gameplay is what makes Rune Factory a worthy pickup for previous Harvest Moon-ers.

In the end, Madden 08 is probably the most realistic feeling football experience ever, for better or for worse.

And that is where Charged really shines – the multiplayer arena. Take it online, knock some people around and have a blast.

The various game modes, customizability of Bomberman and the ability to play both online or offline with friends makes for a package that, at the price, can't be beat.

A silky smooth 60 frames-per-second performance benchmark.

In the end, though, I really can't recommend this game to anyone other than those that are already fans of the Tales games.

In the end, though, the game fails to become a megahit because of controls that are lacking, performance snags in some areas and a story that is really not much more than standard RPG fare (albeit, in a space shooter).

Transformers does have a few redeeming moments, like when you get to play as Scorponok, but there are just way too many long stretches of mediocrity for me to be able to recommend this one.

In the end, though, 2K made the right move to give casual fans a baseball game they can easily pick up and play with their friends.

Considering there have been so few western action games over the last dozen years or so, anyone who's a fan of this style owes it to themselves to at least give Call of Juarez a shot.

If you are looking for a more traditional Pac-Man game, you will not find it with Pac-Man Championship Edition. However, if you are looking for an upgrade to the classic game with some twists, Pac-Man Championship Edition is for you.

It doesn't matter whether you have or haven't played Tomb Raider before: you simply can't go wrong with Anniversary.

Overall, the actual game itself is pretty fun. The magic and tech abilities are good fun and, while the weapons don't have much variety, they are at least balanced. However, the lack of variety when it comes to game modes and maps is what makes this game a mere shadow of what it could have possibly been.

In the end, Mario Party 8 is a fun game that I'd recommend to most Wii owners. Given that, this review was written from the perspective of having multiple people playing the game. With that out of the way, I'll just say one last time – Pick this one up, you and your friends will have a great time with it.

With some authentic music and almost-decent graphics, this game is good enough to fool your kids into thinking it's a worthwhile Pirates of the Caribbean experience. But for anyone looking for a good action/pirate game that stands on its own, this is definitely one to be avoided.

Overall, Freestyle Street Basketball has the potential to be a neat game. The idea is solid, the graphics and overall style are neat and the gameplay is pretty fun. However, the horrible players you have to get through to eventually play with the decent ones will turn people away and the lag will push even more away.

Overall, MLB 07 is one of, if not the best, baseball games ever made.

Overall, Code Lyoko is one of the better cartoon-based games I've played lately.

It feels like a budget game and it really should have been one. Unless you're just dying to play yet another shooter with the same old stuff you've seen in all the rest, then just avoid this one.

The limited amount of driving and action seems to go hand-in-hand with the slightly more conservative story, but it also drains some of the fun as well.

An "easy" difficulty in the single player campaign might have helped make the transition towards the realism in this game a little more accessible, but as it is, be prepared to break a couple of keyboards in the process of learning how to succeed in ArmA. Once you do, though, this game is certainly worth the price of admission.

The sad part is that the most exciting portion of Spider-Man 3 is still the ability to swing around the city at high speeds. And since the swinging system hasn't really changed since the last game, it's frustrating to see the game's best feature be overlooked by the developers.

Overall, though, I really can't recommend this game, even to fans of the show. It almost feels as if the developers spent more time on making this look and feel like a cartoon and just forgot to do much more than a basic game.

There are a metric buttload of Pokemon to catch and you'll be hard pressed to finish everything this game offers in under 100 hours, much less 150 or maybe even 200.

A fun experience. However, don't come into it expecting a pure platformer – there are multiple RPG elements here that can interrupt the flow a bit. The whole 3D flipping aspect, for example – it is a neat idea, but I feel it could have been better implemented.

You're not going to get more powerful guitars or more powerful characters (you will get different skins, though) – your rewards come in with the actual improvement of your manual dexterity and the sheer enjoyment you get from 5-starring a song like YYZ or Psychobilly Freakout on Hard or Expert.

The relatively short playtime and lack of new music or any major Hollywood voice talent are all a letdown, but the gameplay is great and the imagination that went into the Madgod's world really makes this expansion pack shine.

The mostly-open, Fallout-style post-apocalyptic world is really engaging and its basis in a real-life event makes it that much more interesting, but the frustrating gunplay, high difficulty, and lack of transportation can get on your nerves pretty often.

Despite some boring missions, the customization and online fights were great fun, to say the least.

What this game lacks for in screen resolution, it makes up for in its excellent open world, beautiful art design, and grand architecture.

Best played in short bursts. The game is nowhere near as deep as what many have grown accustomed to and is over in a few hours if you just sit down and chew through each of the cooking challenges.

The story won't win any awards, but you can always skip it and just get right to the meat of the game.

If you can get past the goofy presentation and dig into the massive battles, then you'll definitely consider this to be $40 well-spent.

While I have enjoyed the online battles to a degree, the weak single-player story will definitely turn some people off. This isn’t a game for fans of deep RPG storylines – however, if you’re a fan of customizing robots and collecting parts, this game is for you.

But combine all this with an excellent dynamic soundtrack, wonderful action, great voice acting for a pretty big range of characters, and an epic scale that will dazzle any PS2 gamer (and even a few Xbox 360 and PS3 players as well), and it quickly becomes clear that God of War II is just as much of a contender for Game of the Year as the first one was.

While Roads to Victory is pretty polished, it's neither very exciting nor very original. And in this rather tired genre, originality goes a long, long way.

While the environments, sound effects and music are some of the best that I’ve seen in a next-gen game yet, I can’t say the same thing for the fighting system that seems to lack variety.

Peggle is probably the biggest surprise game of the year for me so far. Normally, I avoid PopCap stuff because it is so simple and makes me want more 15 minutes in. Peggle, however is different – while it is simple and seems to not offer much on the surface, there’s a whole other game buried deep within for the hardcore gamer.

With hundreds of great new items, some simple but effective new features, and a dozen hours or more of gameplay (which multiplies with the new difficulty levels), any fan of the game will likely find this to be a worthy addition.

Despite the lack of authentic Disney music and the lack of any sort of online play, Meteos: Disney Magic is a worthy pickup for anyone that is looking for a new puzzler, both Disney fan and non-fan alike.

Virtua Fighter 5's greatest strength is the depth of its incredible fighting. Unfortunately, the lack of online features and not-that-impressive graphics make this one only really worth it if you've already got a PS3 and love fighting games.

It uses the Wii’s main advantage, the controller, to decent effect – there needs to be a good bit of tightening up Sonic’s response, though.

The awesome new Gamebreaker system, revised trick system and incredible graphics make for what is arguably EA’s best next-gen sports title yet.

A fun game. While it is often incredibly difficult, you’ll eventually get through the dungeons.

Once you kick in the mass numbers of units, a great soundtrack by Jeremy Soule, and plenty of challenge from the Skirmish AI, you'll find that Supreme Commander is a great full package.

As a $10 packin, Wii Play does provide a good value, if only for Laser Hockey, Billiards, the Shooting Gallery and Tanks.

Sure, there was a new minigame added (a variant on last year’s pitching minigame) but that doesn’t keep this from feeling like I’m playing pretty much the same game that I did last year.

Class balance is currently way off but is slowly being put back in line - this is mostly evident on the game's two Player vs. Player servers (one of them is a race-based team server, while the other is a free-for-all between any players).

If Hudson had worked on making more compelling mini-games and improved the presentation, then I think the online play might actually be a hit.

Blizzard has really added a lot to the game – a ton of new quests, flying mounts, the ability to hit level 70, fun new zones and more.

An ideal party game. If you’re buying this Wii for a parent, grandparent or other non-gamer in your life, grab this game with it – they’ll definitely get a kick out of it.

While the game is far from perfect because of issues with movement, issues with the grappling hook and cheesy looping of knockdown animations, Lost Planet is still very fun to play through.

Overall, the Metal Slug games are great, and Anthology's biggest plus is that all seven games are here. Beyond that, don't expect much.

While it isn’t the best launch game on the system, it definitely does a good job of showing off what the Wii is about – using a unique control scheme to make a game that couldn’t really be made elsewhere.

There needs to be a way to adjust the computer’s level of perfection to make swing mode usable outside of multiplayer games.

With a much improved frame rate and new gameplay modes, the racing and action are more interesting and fun.

While it doesn’t innovate that much, it adds just enough and gives you a more than satisfactory amount of new areas to explore to make it a worthy sequel.

The great boxing action, high level of tactics in developing your offense and defense, and excellent selection of real-world boxers all come through, and the new first-person camera almost makes up for the toned-down graphics (when compared to the 360 version).

A great return to the formula that helped the series to gain the popularity it has to this date. While the adventure isn’t long, it is definitely fun to play through a couple more times.

Even if you aren’t a fan of Cartoon Network in particular, you should still get the same sense of enjoyment out of this game as any cartoon fanatic would.

The graphics are about as good as we'll likely get anytime soon on the PSP, and a pretty nice set of songs and the full range of levels are here.

While Knights of the Nine certainly maintains a high quality of gameplay that you might be expecting, it just doesn't last long enough.

This one simply has almost no replay value and its action isn't as refined as I expected it to be.

Twilight Princess definitely was not a disappointment, though I really wish there had been a traditional control scheme offered.

The game does a great job of showing off what the system is about and showcasing the system’s abilities.

The combat system, while seemingly simple on the outside, is actually pretty deep.

If you found great fun and challenge in past Super Monkey Ball games, then Banana Blitz will certainly keep you going for a while with its new set of puzzles and tons of stuff to do on the side.

While some of the new control methods weren’t implemented as well as they possibly could have been, they don’t detract too much from the overall experience.

As far as console launch games go, I've seen better (Soul Calibur, Lumines, Halo, and a few Mario titles come to mind), but Resistance: Fall of Man is certainly up there with some of the best.

Even if there aren't any kids in your household, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up if you've got a Wii.

With a ton of match types that will be ridiculously familiar to WWE fans and many wrestlers to choose from, Smackdown vs RAW 2007 is a great first entry onto the Xbox 360.

Whether you just play the missions to get through them for the story or want to beat them all with an S-ranking, there is tons of fun to be had in this game.

Gothic 3 feels like a missed opportunity. It's the biggest RPG tragedy I've seen in years, honestly, as this game could have been so much more enjoyable without all of these issues constantly plaguing it.

Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom is just plain boring.

Gears of War raises the bar for action games and gives the Xbox 360 its first true killer app.

The idea of a focused single player campaign in one country during World War II is interesting, but the execution could have gone better and the action is just about exactly what you'd expect.

All in all, Project 8 looks good but lacks any real innovations in the controls, progression through the story or overall style of gameplay.

Better or equal, Guitar Hero 2 is a must have for any music lover, PS2 owner or person looking for a most excellent party game.

RoboBlitz brings action, puzzles, and physics together to make for a much better game than I was expecting, and its budget price certainly helps a lot.

Beside the impotent addition of music videos, it's the lack of new puzzles, online scoreboards, or just plain online play that really frustrates me about Lumines II.

It has an addictive quality to it that I’ve yet to really find on the DS and it manages to show off just what the system was built for.

Either way, if you enjoyed most GTA games but felt like Liberty City Stories was just missing a few too many features, then you'll really get into GTA Vice City Stories.

In the end, though, Nightfall is the best chapter so far in the Guild Wars package and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who skipped out on Factions or quit shortly after its release.

Between the bugs and lack of originality during the single player campaign, Dark Messiah is a great idea for a game that was executed only somewhat well.

The controls work – and with my experience on the PSP that’s saying a lot! The UI is simple and clean. And it’s fun. What more can you ask for?

Medal of Honor: Heroes delivers a lackluster WW2 experience on the PSP platform. It's got boring combat and some dull missions, but the multiplayer is definitely worth a try if you love online gaming on your PSP.

With that said, though, Lumines Live is still a fun game. It has something none of the other versions will have in the expandability. However, the wrong direction has been taken by forcing you to “buy” the extra modes.

Rockstar has really pulled out all the stops here to make Bully an entertaining game that truly showcases the power of the PS2.

The only thing that really irritated me while I played were the swimming controls – they just don’t feel right. Otherwise, this is an excellent game that you should, at the very least, rent and play through once.

It's a great experience jumping off of an exploding Titan and surviving, knowing it was your DemoPaks that blew up the reactor core.

More focus on the side-scrolling and less on the adventuring would have made the experience better overall.

GUN Showdown is a great game that just doesn't quite fit onto the tiny PSP platform.

I like the game, but unless you’re comfortable with the cost to take advantage of the multiplayer functionality – the entire point of the game – I can’t recommend it.

Dark Crusade, in the end, makes a worthy addition to the Dawn of War franchise.

As Defcon is almost entirely a multiplayer game, bots are provided but not much fun to play against. The bots have very limited strategy and are fairly easy to defeat. While one can battle a large number of bots simultaneously this challenge by numbers is less appealing than the strategic challenge one can enjoy in the multiplayer modes and hardly prepares you to compete online.

Even with its technical and gameplay-related issues, Just Cause's unrealistic, arcade feel still winds up being loads of fun once you start getting creative with the game's stunt system and fiddling with some of the more hilarious options.

This would have been a ho-hum port of a game that's already been ported to at least a dozen platforms over the years, but it's DOOM's online action which really makes it soar.