Is Gunman Chronicles a good total conversion? For the most part, yes. Is Sierra trying to milk the Gordon Freeman cow one too many times? Absolutely.

Though its easy learning curve and flexible gameplay are clearly designed for the less than hardcore, it is surprisingly entertaining and good for a quick thrill.

A pale shadow of a flawed but fun game. If the designers do not have more in them than this, the Jagged Alliance series should end here.

No longer 2D or turn-based, HOMAM on the PS2 isn't as deep as might be expected, but it's fast, easy to learn and the battles are incredibly fun.

Is EX3 the worst fighter we've ever played? Absolutely not -- however, its mediocre fighting engine and uninspired visuals are yet another example of a once noble series gone sour.

It won't win any awards for graphics or AI, but Away Team is a solid and fun experience.

Neither excellent nor miserable, it's a fairly good racer, but it's not changed much since our last look at the game, and since then a lot of handsome titles have hit the shelves.

All flash and no substance, Gunbird 2 is too hard, too short and too boring to even bother looking at.

It's a hit because it's fun, pretty challenging and relies on a tried-and-true game style -- but if you're choosing a game to show off what your PS2 does -- this ain't it.

X Squad was to be the first squad-based game on PS2, but its AI is so bad that it really becomes a basic third-person action title with only some nice effects and a huge weapons cache to show for it.

Nice graphics and physics and a number of secondary features make for a satisfying ride, but it's ultimately lacking in the innovative thrills we've come to expect from Sony's highly hyped machine.

A great solo experience that'll leave patient gamers with nothing to show for it but sore thumbs and the satisfaction of being truly, totally radical.

Longtime fans of Lara's exploits will find more of the same ride, but we can't recommend paying the full admission price.

It's a gun game without a gun, and there's really no way to get past that one glaring omission.

A tired genre makes its first zombie steps onto the PS2. It's time for a rethink.

A mostly retrograde move -- less impressive in almost every aspect than the gems that inspired it. It's by no means the worst game we've played, but only the most rabid of Star Wars fans (of which there are plenty) should take this one for a spin... hover... whatever.

A must for shooting enthusiasts and fans of the disappearing light-gun genre, but is almost the perfect definition of a rental title to the rest of the gaming community.

Now imagine the whole game, from start to finish, lasting about 15 minutes -- even with limited continues. Oh dear.

Because this game is targeted at the kiddies, and because sometimes a little (or in this case, a whole lot of) simple, addictive gameplay is just what the kiddies need, Kao Kangaroo succeeds marvelously on this level. Just don't expect much more.

Surprisingly addictive, nice to look at and good, refreshing fun.

We see poop in the palm....The 3D third-person shooter offers a visceral thrill that's part unprotected skin in operating blender and part tongue in the gears of life's cruel machinery, a series of unforgivable blemishes damns this beast straight to hell.

Gamers weaned on massive combos and flashy pyrotechnics will most likely find themselves fidgeting, but we've got a suspicion that plenty of PS2-owning gamers out there are looking for a fighter with finesse -- not just for fans of the genre, Kengo fits that bill quite nicely.

Combining an informational resource with a full expansion pack would have been a better idea than this greedy effort.

Plain, cold and uninspired, ESPN NBA 2Night has all the grit and soul of an Egg McMuffin.

The gameplay is as expected -- slow, with a lot of exploration and some tough and sometimes frustrating enemies and puzzles.

The magical animal that provides us with pork, ham, bacon and sausage now gives us a goodly bit of amusement.

Once the game starts up, another problem becomes apparent; the game was rushed out the door before it was finished. From random lockups when loading to a litany of missing features too numerous to list completely, it's obvious that Age of Sail II was released in a beta state.

Just as fun for two players as it is for one, we can recommend Sno-Cross for anyone who likes their racing games with a bit of ice.

It is exactly the same Driver -- and a lot of what we gamers put up with before bears a little bit more scrutiny this time around.

Prolonged exposure to this latest Bond adventure reveals that TWINE is, despite the gorgeous visuals and top-notch presentation, at heart a relatively shallow experience -- decent, but not quite good enough.

It looks great, plays smoothly and comes packed with that fuzzy warm feeling that invariably comes from the Disney experience.

Melodramatic dialogues precede and follow each fight, and they're handled with the same mildly illiterate aplomb as most anime translations -- meaning that they're longwinded, heavyhanded and occasionally unintelligible to all but the most diehard of fans, which is just how we like 'em.

The control is a travesty that could've been resolved with either proper joystick implementation or configurable controls. Shame on Konami.

In the end, though, the lackluster graphics, frustrating gameplay and repetitive actions make it a slightly entertaining romp through a scary theme park, but not fun enough for us to recommend as one of the DC's best.

The sort of videogame that needs to have the epilepsy warning printed in 72-point Helvetica bold. This game is so colorful, fast and disorienting that we came close to passing out a couple of times and poking ourselves on the "Seaman" microphone.

The real appeal of a surfing game is the feel of the board responding to the waves, however, and Championship Surfing captures that beautifully.

Its personality, attractive graphics and RPG elements could've spawned a fun and frantic 3D RTS, but the game ends up feeling like an incomplete action game that's a little "ruff" around the edges.

It's such a banal misuse of a popular franchise that its mediocrity really shines through.

The included events -- Long Jump, High Jump, 110M Hurdles, 100M Dash, Shot Put, Javelin Throw and 1500M Run -- all involve the same control scheme. Each is equally frustrating.

As a pinball game, the tables are too barren and as an action/platform-like game, the pinball control is out of place.

An ugly, hollow mess that disgraces its storied predecessors in every way.

Two-player mode, as well as some nice VMU games, and even a rather uninspired 3D "fighting" game option make Revenge a great rental, but there's just not enough meat (living or otherwise) to warrant shelling out $40 at ye local videogame store.

With its myriad bugs and lack of real multiplayer component, Jet Fighter IV is the sort of game that should have spent a few more months in the hangar.

This version of Sarge's Heroes seems to be the most workmanlike, competent and graphically solid of the bunch.

A decent game that could have been great if it had been released three years ago.

Misses the mark by just a tad, but that shouldn't halt the admiring throngs.

Lacking in gameplay and visual splendor, Evergrace doesn't do enough to provide a quality next-generation RPG experience.

Alas, KISS Psycho Circus just plain sucks.

A thin game that is sometimes fun, but mostly routine, and with less depth and imagination than the great games it is copying.

It's simplistic and mechanical, and just doesn't deliver the feel of a smoky pool hall where skill rules out over luck.

With bland graphics, poor gameplay balancing and -- worst of all -- terrible controls, so much of the game is so much of a drag that it falls short of the anemically rising levels that set the 3D action/adventure standard.

While it graphically looks fairly good, its simulation of the sport places the emphasis squarely on offense, and that's just not how baseball is played.

Though "PGA" plays the simulation angle well, the easy putting, occasional quirks in control and lackluster graphics that actually affect the gameplay adversely all leave this title mired in mediocrity.

As the Whatsit says, " @!#?@!"

We can think of plenty of ways to blow a Benjamin, but few would offer quite as much bang for the buck.

After the first half hour, however, we discovered that while the game does have some mindless aspects, it's a surprisingly fun action title with some worthwhile puzzles and even an intriguing storyline.

Crave's "Sno Cross" is a far better game and is five bucks cheaper at $9.99.

The problem is that its main competition, EA Sports' Madden series, has most of the same features, plays a much better game of football and looks a lot better doing it.

Hey You, Pikachu is bright and saccharine, the videogame equivalent of a "Brady Bunch" marathon with a pre-sugared cereal chaser.

Tomb Raider junkies will like the new levels, but anyone that got sick of this back in 1997 isn't going to have a sudden change of heart.

Pressing alternating buttons as quickly as possible is only challenging (and fun) for so long, but with the exception of a few events, that's all this game is.

If there is such a thing as a low end to a Miss score, this game would be there, precipitously hanging with its arms spinning in comical circles directly over the ledge that drops into Dudville.

What was cute and fun, if a little simplistic, on the PlayStation is unimpressive and difficult on Dreamcast.

Sure, it's got Mario Lemieux in it, but while Super Mario may be able to save the Pens, he can't save this one.

It contains an interesting and cleverly told story and takes great pains to build an atmosphere, then smashes the whole house of cards to the ground, violently, with a cheap cop-out ending.

Some of the controls could have used some tweaking, the enemy AI tends to be pretty bland and, overall, we've done most of this before. However, it's got just the right mix of several other games with touches of originality, and it kept us coming back.

From the moment this underwhelming title stumbles into action, gamers will be hard-pressed not to notice its painful mediocrity --CB2001 makes the annual SCEA father-son hackeysack tournament look like a paragon of x-tremity.

The son of Zeus should not be dropped into the most generic and bland series of environments that make the hellish pit of New Jersey seem as diverse as the Amazon rain forest.

In this confusing and muddled 3D platformer, Buzz just can't run straight, and that makes him one annoyed lead character in a crippled game that's really hard to like despite its eminently likable star.

After a few hours around the track we quickly grew tired of the same shallow driving, no matter how great those courses looked.

It could have been an interesting game with a little more imagination, but it's flatter than month-old soda.

A poor ending to a bad journey.

It certainly does not have the basketball depth of "NBA Live 2001," and we'd only recommend it to die-hard college hoops fans who simply have to play as a Division I team.

The graphics are fine, the options plentiful and the details lovingly polished, but the core gameplay -- the part where you're in a car racing against other cars -- doesn't do much to advance the genre at all.

Those who enjoy lackluster game values, cliched dialog and a motley collection of sophomoric characters will find this a competently produced title that won't be hard to get through.

A pretty vast improvement over the PSOne version, but numerous technical and gameplay problems that were apparent then return to mar the experience, making a mighty big mess of what's still a promising idea.

There are too many nagging problems, from the stuttering animation to the strange, stooped-over look of most of the players, as if they couldn't stand up straight.

It is an utterly routine shooter with a handful of different ships to fly, awkward controls, and robotic enemies that on their worst day aren't so much dangerous as they are sort of "pesky."

Poor graphics and boring gameplay kill a fighter that could have been a contender.

All we can tell you is that the game has mediocre graphics, poor sound, stability problems, an awkward premise and a whole lot of standing around. It may be utterly realistic, although the lack of any falling damage and the fact that wooly rhinos can magically sprint up sheer cliff walls make us doubt it.

Erratic control and graphical limitations on top of too many niggling requirements make this game experience less than enjoyable.

It's not a horrible game, but the one other pool game available at launch, "Q-Ball: Billiards Master," is just a tad bit better.

Unfortunately the grappling in the PSOne version of UFC is quite a bit less complex than the Dreamcast version's, with only one button combination used for most throws and one for counters. This makes successfully grappling an opponent much harder.

The graphics, while not terrible, certainly border on the slightly embarassing.

Potential buyers should already know that it will involve incessant button mashing, and newcomers should be warned that, without a joystick, there's not a lot of fun to be had here.

I'd like to know who decided to make a realtime strategy game, where some of the missions could last a solid 45 minutes to an hour, without the option to save the game.

As it stands on Sega's magic box, there's only the junk of civilization's decay to be found -- and it smells like someone's stinky afterthought that's been left to stew in the sun.

The problem is the gameplay. It's repetitive, it gets old quickly, it's redundant, it drones on and on, it's monotonous, it's unvaried and it's iterative.

Failing to pull through with what could have been a very interesting premise, however, EA has given us the keys to Bond's wheels but included with them jagged visuals, uninteresting level designs and some of the least polish we've seen in a while, making this game something of a clunker.

A waste of an excellent license and a great opportunity.

This horrible travesty might cheat a couple of otherwise unsuspecting parents, who meant to buy Madden, out of their hard-earned money with a game that even a chimpanzee with a transplanted goldfish brain could see was unfinished.

Finally and least forgivable, important terrain features and items pop into existence only when the Grinch comes close, and disappear again if he moves away. This is endlessly irritating.

Stylish and fun despite some repetitiveness, this is one of the better action games you can pick up this year.

The stories, on the other hand, are so boring and unconnected that they must have been based on historical facts that have long since been forgotten, except in some German children's textbook.

A pretty weak entry from Ripcord, Spec Ops II won't overly offend or overly excite anyone.

The graphics reside on the bottom side of ordinary, Quinn Buckner's commentary soon grows repetitive and there just aren't enough bells and whistles to impress us. Add that to the occasionally frustrating gameplay and spotty AI, and you have a team built for boring, sub-.500 play.

It's not the most mind-blowing RPG ever, but it's good, clean, action-packed fun from start to finish.

All of the vehicles control terribly, the levels are uninspired and the game itself is just a port. Why bother?