With dated graphics, no unlockable characters, and a "revolutionary" fighting engine that was new in the 20th century, there's no doubt that this game simply, is the Court Jester of Fighters.

Dance games will probably never get any better than this.

It might not look great, but it's pure blasting entertainment.

Inventive and exciting with its flaws safely buried in the adrenaline rush.

It's aimed towards a younger market, but the visuals are good, the controls are great and the game manages to elicit more endearment out of The Phantom Menace than a crate full of unwanted plush Jar Jar dolls.

This is a quality title, and rather unique in its execution -- it's been a while since we've been able to dive into an all-action title with such ease. The web-slinging alone makes this game worth your attention.

In a repetitive mind numbing kill-a-thon manner, it's a good time. Is it a $30 (120 quarters) good time? No.

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.

The biggest problem with the game, aside from the voice acting, is the difficulty. Both the characters and the monsters are capable of getting critical hits, but the monsters seem to have an advantage over Zak and his companions.

MLS again uses that classic fluid passing game found in all the previous Konami soccer titles. The controls, which use the Japanese configuration, are responsive and logical and designed to keep the pace of the game loose and fast.

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.

This new version, in fact, is much the same as the ones of yesteryear. But since that means it still features great gameplay and some of the best multiplayer in existence, you won't hear us complaining.

This game is just terrible. Terrible, terrible crap... Absolutely worthless.

The best game of baseball on any next-gen system.

Those with the ultimate system and mad teamplay skills will eat this up, though; it's a triumph of teamwork, dynamic gameplay and some serious strategy.

It looks pretty, and is an impressive game -- but is ONLY for Pokemon fiends.

We wouldn't eBay one of our internal organs to own this game, but it is fun enough to be worth the price of admission.

The controls are incredibly stiff, the locales are boring and rectangular, and the enemies will stand stock still until you shoot them.

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

It's a tight ride, but there's just one problem -- we expected a lot more control.

While the pack does allow you to throw an amazing party, it doesn't do anything else -- and parties lose their novelty pretty fast.

It's innovative, intuitive, engaging and, best of all, comes jam-packed with action that's fast, furious and totally fresh. It's the first genuine opportunity for anime fans to bring their robotic dreams to life.

One of the most compelling, beautiful and impressive pieces of code we have played in a long, long time. It is also insanely addictive.

The framerate is blazingly fast, even in four-player splitscreen, and there are tons of new levels, new weapons and new characters -- that actually play differently -- to frag your friends with...This is one awesome FPS.

Control issues push this title much closer to Sony's clunker than (EA's) NHL 2001.

A blast to play. The game oozes style in the same way that "Space Channel 5" did, and the control scheme uses the dual sticks of the PS2 controller better than anything since "Ape Escape."

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.

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

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

More than any other single factor, the story and scripting are what make Summoner stand apart.

The best $20 computer game we've ever played.

While the game's nothing less than explosive, it's quite quirky, too -- strange characters, stranger situations and an unusual emphasis on fruit make this... well, the fruitiest shooter we've seen in some time.

When you consider the Army Men franchise's extraordinary commitment to ordinariness, then it shouldn't be a surprise that the game is so utterly banal.

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

There are problems that can and should be addressed, but the gameplay has no equal.

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

For serious gamers who want a long squad-based game -- it's challenging, it has hours of gameplay, the Fallout universe is faithfully recreated and the production values are top-notch. It's not a game for everyone, though; the difficulty and squad-based strategy will turn some gamers off.

Fits like a familiar old glove (or gauntlet), but smoother, better-fitting and lined in fine, Japanese, brocaded silk.

UT fares better than "Quake III" in three of the categories: lag, amount of people allowed to play and levels.

Definitely a cut about the rest. Not only is it one of the best console-based strategy games of all time, it also shows a level of quality that is lacking in many PS2 titles.

The batting and pitching interfaces are as good as we remember them from the stellar N64 games, but the fielding transitions are terrible and there are graphical bugs that are unforgivable. The game looks okay, with nice character models but lifeless environments and stadiums -- but it's just not what you'd expect from a PS2 sports game.

An enjoyable, finely tuned arcade baseball experience that actually plays better than its PS2 counterpart...but this year's version is basically a roster update from last year's version.

With a ton of options, gorgeous graphics running at consistently high framerates and plenty of tracks to choose from, the few niggling problems (like online lag and touchy controls) seem to slip away into meaningless babble in the heat of a close race.

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."

There are a few problems here -- failing to solve a puzzle means having to repeat an entire level, for example -- but the majority of Shadow of Destiny is excellent.

The Bouncer is here and it's not any good. We know how much that hurts, but it's time to move on. The game is less than three hours long -- less than 30 minutes if you skip the movies -- and what's there isn't fun.

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.

A game published by Nintendo where players avoid globs of feces and urinate on flaming demons is something that simply has to make you laugh.

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

There is innovation certainly, but under the startlingly brilliant control scheme lies a golf game every bit as staid and archaic as any in memory.

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.

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

It's a nicely done Diablo clone, which means that it takes all the good bits and adds quite a few twists to make an entertaining romp through some diverse dungeons.

Coupled with the nearly perfect atmospheric music and sound, the game does have its moments of true fright.

Overall, Stupid Invaders is an adventure title that just isn't as much fun as it should be. But it's plenty stupid.

Let's start by clearing up the silly notion that Fear Effect 2 is the games equivalent of a skin flick, shall we?... Creative, deep and addicting, Retro Helix is one of the best action adventures we've ever come across.

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.

The in-game models, landscapes, lighting and explosions are all in keeping with the Star Wars galaxy, and the engine is no slouch either.

So good, veterans may be tempted to replay the whole game from the beginning...a fine product. Unfortunately, the new areas add only about 15 hours of gameplay. While short for a full game, it is a tolerable length for an expansion.

After a fighter has leveled up and gamers have mastered the combos, BoD can be pretty damn cool. The lighting effects are superb, the music is moody and there is plenty of action. Turn up the volume, turn out the lights and you'll have a thick slice of fun.

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

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.

Serious motorcycle enthusiasts might want to give this one a whirl -- to crash really expensive bikes on bland racecourses, if for nothing else -- but the vast majority of Dreamcast owners will want to avoid this game.

The fact remains that if you want to own the best possible basketball game for the PC, this is the one to get. The graphics are, as usual, simply spectacular, and the production values, from the snappy menu system to the hip-hop timeouts, are the best in the business.

A good game on basically all accounts, Charge 'N Blast brings adreline-pumping, arcade-style insanity back to the Dreamcast.

A few problems do exist, such as unrelenting, almost perfect AI drivers and some graphical glitches, but as a whole product, this is the NASCAR simulation to own.

The game simply and consistently provides competency in large doses, and emerges as the Dreamcast's best, most mindlessly fun plane shooter.

Absolutely outstanding, but there's still room for improvement.

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.

When we're this in love with a game about silly four-wheeled pleasure machines for the suicidal, you can bet something really special is going on.

There were a few fun moments while playing this, particularly in the Capture the Flag mode. Unfortunately, the cosmic physics combined with the hit-and-miss controls ripped the huge potential out of its heart.

By combining that ease of entry with excellent controls and just the right amount of innovation, this game marks one of the PSOne's sunnier last days.

If you're severely allergic to overly cute-and-cuddly games, take some Dramamine before heading off on Mario's adventure.

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.

Every aspect from the story to the sound will be completely familiar to anyone who's dabbled with the series before, and while this latest adventure doesn't do much to advance the series, it's a fine little game nonetheless.

With medical miracles and the highest average lifespan known in our short existence on this planet, we have to think that we've evolved beyond hitting each other over the head with frying pans and retractable boxing gloves.

Although it doesn't make full use of Sony's new 800-pound gorilla, it does have spectacular and colorful graphics, ingenious level design, a wonderful cast of characters and an enormous game world to explore.

With one nagging exception, there's really pretty little wrong with the game, but it doesn't exactly push any boundaries either.

There's refreshingly little emphasis on lever pulling or jumping puzzles -- someone out there is listening.

Strangely enough, beneath all of the executive screaming and the terrible main interface beats the heart of a brilliant game.

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.

The Bottom Line: Brilliant.

The characters within the game are incredibly well detailed, but the world they're placed in is bland to the point of boredom.

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

Move over, Mavis Beacon. This Dreamcast typing tutorial blows your tiresome tutorial to smithereens.

More complicated moves like an over-and-under are possible, but nothing compares to working your man down low with Shaq, holding down the turbo button while turning the corner for a gorilla slam.

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.

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

Both the graphics and the driving model are spot-on, but the game is also full of great new ideas, like a time of day setting that corresponds to the internal clock of the Dreamcast, a fictitious car stereo that lets you "make your own CDs" and a brilliant point system.

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.

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

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

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.

Past the point of its strange gameplay philosophy, Acclaim's new racer holds some solid gameplay and excellent graphics.

Thankfully, lackluster graphics and singular thrills do not a poor game make.

Funky and fun, it won't revolutionize the genre, but it's a hardcore puzzle gamer's wet dream.

There's more than 50 hours of continually branching narrative and vicious freeform combat awaiting those brave enough to enter its dark and twisted world.

Avoid this one at all costs, and if your child begs for it after seeing it on store shelves, spare them unending agony by only renting it -- and then only as punishment for misbehaving.