While the multiplayer party games are fairly fun, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz's single player mode suffers from a serious imbalance teetering between average and mediocre, which results in a title that is hardly a rightful heir to the successful simian puzzle/platformer series.

Apart from housing the much desired Sonic CD and the arcade only Sonic the Fighters, Sonic Gems is a collection of past Sonic titles (most of which appeared on the Game Gear) that shine forth with about as much brilliance and polish as a piece of coal.

Nothing but a shameless rehash of previously released titles repackaged as a new release. With only five games, this latest "classic" leaves you feeling a bit gipped.

The realistic un-arcade slant is a welcome addition to someone who has been wallowing in golf games that largely feature humongous green pipes and strippers as caddies.

The gameplay itself is nothing more than a fancied up button mashing tournament with a sense of claustrophobia so apparent, you'll be looking to open a window after the first ten minutes, just for some fresh air.

It's almost like a Jekyll and Hyde syndrome. On one hand, you've got the worst load times found in the entire PSP library, yet you've got a decent game underneath this mess that, while not reinventing the genre in any way, seeks to provide the game with an entertaining experience and it's a struggle I don't believe many people will be able to deal with.

I’ve had fortune cookies that have told better tales and I’ve had better gameplay experiences with a yoyo.

In the end Blacksite is at times a fun shooter, but in a gaming landscape where games like Halo 3, Orange Box and Bioshock are currently available, Blacksite does little to make itself stand out.

It is incredibly shallow and repetitive, offering up a fair amount of wasted potential and providing the gamer with little or nothing to really go on, but manages to still be fun.

Do yourself a favor, save the $60 and rent this one instead.

This one feels like a road rash after a nasty spill and should be avoided unless you have plenty of Bactine on hand.

The AI is incredibly slow, the weighted use of units in battle is tilted in favor of quantity, the overall economic basis for the game is completely dull and the historical events that manage to spring up during the game do little to further make the game entertaining.

While this version of "Super Puzzle Fighter II" is available for the first time on North American shores, it simply isn't enough to make you want to drop the dough to pick it up.

X-Blades is not a horrible game, it just feels incomplete.

Visually dull, painfully boring and completely short of Capcom's usual high standards.

It offered up an RPG element, a deeper plotline and the chance to take monsters on more interesting adventures; however, it didn't do any of these things WELL and worse than that, it seemed to remove many of the elements that made the originals so damn fun to play.

The new style of gameplay, which is best described as Baldur's Gate: Post-Apocalypse, could have been interesting, but simply falls flat on it's ass in terms of overall quality and should be apprehended for identity theft.

While the game certainly has its own distinct feel and charm, the overall experience is quite forgettable. It represents mediocrity at its finest.

All in all, it's a game you'll more than likely want o pass on, even if you're a die-hard fan of the original.

All in all, it's a game you'll more than likely want o pass on, even if you're a die-hard fan of the original.

There is replay value, as you can go at it again within another team, but you won't feel compelled to, which is a damn shame. The monster collecting element is certainly fun, but battles are far too easy and you'd have to TRY your hardest to actually lose, which easily makes the game less attractive.

On the whole, the classic Midway canon is represented fairly well, with only a handful a few wacky choices that seem out of place and seemingly thrown in randomly (perhaps drawn out of a hat).

It's a shame, as this title feels completely dated and lacking in almost every possible way and it made me want to bust out my old copy of "Stadium" and go back to the days when battling was fun.

An exercise in mediocrity. The visual and aural presentation is great, but the single player game is riddled with moments of sheer tedium and you'll soon find yourself in situations you've seen over and over again. It's beyond repetitive and lacks any real fun factor.

With so many good children's games in store, it looks like LarryBoy, even with his attention to morality, simply doesn't live up to the quality of the rest of the series.

Another mediocre title that has the Shining slapped on it and packaged for sale. Bearing no likeness to the past masters, the series remains blissfully ensnared in a vile web of putridness that keeps it from being anything other than mediocre.

One of those titles that simply straddles the fence, basking in an overall sense of mediocrity with some flashes of visual brilliance.

A so-so racer that was super fun in 1997, but pales in comparison when stacked up against the plumbers DS iteration.