The most impressive outlet of Source’s physics engine is the most subtle, that of the corpses left after any particular round of slaughter. Bodies realistically slump into corners, drape over crates, and fall to the ground. I’m sure everyone will have a “coolest corpse” story within a week of playing.

Anybody who enjoys turn-based tactical combat games will thoroughly enjoy this, and with its learning curve, anybody who was curious about playing this style of game will not be let down either.

This is definitely the best game from Oddworld Inhabitants thus far. If not for a few technical issues-such as a dodgy camera and unreliable radar-it would be an unquestionably stellar title.

The new units are awesome...At a retail of $30 USD, Thrones and Patriots is a sweet deal for anybody that even remotely enjoyed the original game.

It has a decent, well-acted story and interesting characters but fails to leave a lasting impression. The Online Multiplayer is hands down awesome and a must have for any Xbox Live aficionado.

It exudes a sense of style that perfectly accentuates the game's over-the-top racing maxim. Still, players and fans who are hoping for something new or different are apt to be disappointed. Beneath the gorgeous exterior lies a game that, while fun, is a bit archaic.

For the Xbox, the game has gotten a bit of a facelift, but only for the characters. The courses are laid out the as the PS2 version.

Doom 3 is excellent. It isn’t revolutionary, but it does bring a simple and exciting gaming experience with near-flawless precision.

Currently possessing the finest animation ever seen in a football game, detailed graphics, speedy gameplay, great commentary, more game modes then ever, and an improved online game, NCAA 2006 has no competition...literally.

Everything a player could want in a game: the story mode is of the perfect length and difficulty, the game is extremely replayable, and the multiplayer offering is both fun and robust. And, arguably most importantly, there are negligible loading times.

This may be the best adventure game you have ever played, or will play in a long while.

The Judge System and a few other gripes do keep this game from being truly excellent. But hey! At least there's no slow text like in the original.

Ridiculous. Infectious. Simplistic. Just plain fun. Saddling Elite Beat Agents for the Nintendo DS with any one description is difficult, as the game marries absurd comedy, entertaining music, and classic rhythm mechanics in a way that is both new and altogether different from anything else available for the platform.

There is so much here that evokes what we know and love about Mario, as well as an equal share of what is genuinely new, and all of this is bundled together in such a wonderful package that this game is destined to be a fan favorite for a long time.

Bully takes the previous GTA structure, puts it to use in a school setting, and in the process Rockstar has created one of the most original and fun titles on the PlayStation 2.

Though it falls short on some of the series' more lofty standards, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops combines addictive gameplay, impressive sound and graphics, and an astoundingly fleshed-out multiplayer component into a package that is easily recommendable to both fans and newcomers alike.

A highly addictive and entertaining game, with hundreds of hours of depth available. The animals are cute, with their own personality quirks. And if they annoy you, just remember they can't read.

So yeah, MGS2 is a great game. It's just a pity that the game is so often hamstrung by its own plot, which, whilst fun to puzzle out, is ultimately quite silly and forces so many frustrating cutscene interruptions.

What it really comes down to is the cinematic experience, and at $30 for ten hours of single player campaign plus a fairly passable multiplayer, it’s roughly comparable to a few trips to the movies.

Psychonauts may not be particularly innovative in any of its undertakings, but it breathes new life into a stale genre by virtue of its humor and creativity alone.

The graphics are stunning, the gameplay is top notch, and the presentation is just shy of perfect.

This sequel magnifies everything the original did right, and corrects nearly everything it did wrong.

The single player game alone doesn't really warrant a purchase-a rental is easily sufficient to see all it has to offer. However, players who are blessed with a broadband connection, network adapter and USB headset should have no qualms about buying this game.

It is the story, with its endearing characters, epic confrontations, and masterful dialog that make the experience work.

Where the game shines is control. Not to say the other features contained in Guilty Gear X2 are not spectacular, because indeed they are, but I have not in recent memory played a fighting game with such fluid control.

The great single player gameplay should help to alleviate any pain that the lack of multiplayer may have caused. In typical Kirby fashion, this is a wonderful title that is fun, addicting, and exudes a kind of charm not found in many games today.

The interesting bit is that it builds on such a well-designed franchise tweaked to near-perfection that its rehash status matters very little. New or not, this is the best that racing experience that the PSP currently has to offer.

It may not really innovate or move the genre into a new direction, but it offers everything most players want from the genre and it does it with certifiable mastery.

Probably the finest first-person shooter to ever grace a console, Resistance: Fall of Man is easily worth your $50, and may be considered by some to even be enough to justify the $650 investment alone.

Let me just conclude by defending this game against those that would say it is a Grand Theft Auto clone. While the free-form functionality and mission hierarchy are similar (as well as the ability to steal any vehicle or man any weapon or turret in the game), Mercenaries is its own, unique title and offers quite a few things that Grand Theft Auto doesn't – like the ability to devastate your surroundings.

Epic in scale, grandiose in presentation, and fun to play. This kind of game comes along so rarely, and when it does it shows off what a RPG can be.

With all the things that "GGXX" had that made it such a great game to play, Guilty Gear X2 #Reload somehow expands that amount of game play even more.

Meatbags should be pleased with the continued storyline, but might find the amount of bugs, loading and framerate issues overshadowing the limited improvements offered.

While not quite as epic as something like "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker," it’s a true charmer. Minor gripes aside (as a recap these are repetitive combat, short length and small scope), this is one of those can’t miss titles that I’m sure most will overlook.

Anyone else with a heartbeat, a DS and forty bucks should pick this game up immediately.

For prior fans of the series, or just fans of fighting games in general, it doesn't get much better than Soul Calibur III.

GalCiv 2 features all of the accessibility and addiction of the higher profile Civ IV, but it also boasts an arguably superior A.I. and a killer theme. Even non-fans would be well served to check this title out—it’s that good.

Animal Crossing is simple and that is its strength. It is also engrossing, addictive, and really, really fun.

Someday, a philosopher will write a dissertation on how rolling things up is as natural to humanity as being in a mother’s womb. All hail.

The responsivness of the controls, as well as the forgiving nature of the action button make this game very intuitive.

The visuals are beyond amazing, doubly so for the Xbox 360 version, and the presentation alone makes this game worth playing, if only to watch a devastating knockout in slow motion. However, the lack of solid A.I. can lead to the game growing boring quickly.

It is most definitely not to be missed, but do yourself a favor and bring a friend, or two or three. Doing so upgrades the experience from the sublime to the superlative.

From a technical perspective Tales does the genre proud, and from an aesthetic viewpoint there are few who could stand side by side and not be dwarfed by its majesty.

Despite long load times and somewhat questionable AI, Rainbow Six: 3 sparkles with the freshness of a newly scrubbed kitchen floor.

The game is pure joy right from the start with its bizarre opening sequence (imagine Monty Python doing the intro for a quirky Japanese game) and continues to be a blast all the way to the delightful interactive end credits.

Stands out by the sheer amount of detail put into each and every unit and action. The opening cut scene is simply stunning in the amount of force and power it portrays and watching the battles is a treat.

With all of the additions Viewtiful Joe 2 introduces, the game is still very similar to the first game, right down to a final showdown prefixed with having to fight all of the previously defeated bosses. Not that I mind terribly, as this is a functional formula that proves it still can deliver in spades.

If the handheld Castlevania games are part of a long-running machine, it's well-oiled and in no danger of breaking down just yet.

Daxter is one of the best experiences to be had on the PSP, and an excellent platformer on any system.

In a few years, people will look back and recognize this as the game that drove the fast-paced shooters that followed.

Causal gamers can log in for an hour or two occasionally, complete a few missions, and have a feeling of accomplishment, while hardcore gamers can mow through levels through ‘street cleaning’, missions and task forces.

The first time I hit the nitrous on the incline of a culvert and launched an El Camino over a short one-story building to win a race, I thought this was a great racing game. But, three hours later when I jumped a motorcycle over a six-lane expressway after popping a wheelie up the extended arm of a utility truck, I knew this game was pure gold.

While there's plenty of new features to separate this game from the other trick games on the market, they're implemented poorly. In the end, it's different, but not much better than any of the other "Pro X" games out there.

In every sense imaginable, Splinter Cell: Double Agent was meant to exploit the platform on which it was designed, and it excels to an extraordinary degree.

Besides the multiple endings that can be reached, defeating the game on a number of different difficulties will yield extras, some of them being playable ones (such as the Adventures of Heihachi) to alternate costumes (yes, Samanosuke’s killer panda suit is back).

A refreshing breath of fresh air in a series that had begun to feel very redundant.

There truly is something for every fan of the genre within the many hours of game play. Fans of the more spoon-fed console RPGs may be a bit turned off by the openness and non-linearity of the story, but you are doing yourself a disservice if you fail to pick this game up at least to try it out.

Most definitely a game that carries the "easy to play, difficult to master" label, but is well worth mastering in the long run.

Where the game begins to lose some of its luster is in the areas of sound and story, and a camera that suffers from a lack of intuition. The music is not so much repetitive as it is boring.

Fable delivers an experience that isn't what some die-hard RPG fans might deem authentic. Instead, I believe that Fable provides a game for the rest of us that has the entire flavor of an RPG, but in a much more streamlined and accessible package.

The game features spectacular presentation, including some of the most memorable music to come along in an RPG in ages.

It is challenging, with enough depth of both gameplay and story to please existing fans, while multiple difficulty settings will keep the title accessible to most everyone.

With all of the additions Viewtiful Joe 2 introduces, the game is still very similar to the first game, right down to a final showdown prefixed with having to fight all of the previously defeated bosses. Not that I mind terribly, as this is a functional formula that proves it still can deliver in spades.

Fantastic – absolutely the best graphic adventure title of the year – and is a game others should aspire to in many ways.

Square Enix finally gave Final Fantasy II the treatment it deserved in Final Fantasy IV Advance, and whether you've worn out two of the old carts from overuse or have never even played a 2D Final Fantasy, you should pick this one up to see what made the Final Fantasy series such a powerhouse of the role-playing genre.

The developers at NCL have done a lot with the original game to give players a considerable amount of new content to keep the experience of playing a title that originated back in 1996 still feeling fresh and fun.

If you plan on seeing everything the game has to offer, which includes six separate endings, as well as Overtime and Infinite modes, you've got a lot of zombie killing ahead of you. It’s been a long time coming but Dead Rising has been worth the wait.

On the other side of the presentation scale, the music is absolutely brilliant. The Star Wars films have set a high bar for any derivative material, but, thankfully, this game lives up to the challenge.

The solo campaign is somewhat lengthy, though nowhere near that of Prime or Echoes, but thankfully it is overshadowed by an online component that is truly the meat of the experience anyway.

It can be absolutely brutal at times, but it is also true to the series' fundamentals, and that alone should ensure acceptance from fans of the series.

In short, this is the current crème of the crop when it comes to 2D shooters. Following the path of "Radiant Silvergun," Ikaruga will long be thought of as a great example of what a 'shmup' can be.

This is not going to leave players breathless or have critics singing praises of innovation, but Thief: Deadly Shadows does the franchise proud by delivering a solid, worthwhile, and memorable game experience.

This is without a doubt the best game based on a book/movie that I have EVER played. You can really tell that EA went to great pains to ensure its authenticity, and they truly went beyond the call of duty this time.

Combining the storyline of the original, with the smoother, more entertaining gameplay of MGS2, Twin Snakes should be an early contender for best game of the year on the GameCube, and gamers new and old should enjoy it thoroughly.

EA has finally managed to make a boxing game about skill and strategy rather than the random flailings of our opposable digits. And it's fun too. Unfortunately the game feels wildly incomplete in its overall presentation with a very short list of features, poor music selection, boring levels and no Xbox online component.

Drop-in multiplayer, replay in spades, and optional objectives give players a reason to continue playing and get their money's worth out of this title. If you like fun, this is a great addition your gaming library, regardless of age or skill level.

The missions are plentiful, and thankfully they never become repetitive.

There is a tremendous community established that is very helpful for the most part, and nothing quite surpasses the feeling of adventuring with friends throughout a world as vast as the one Square-Enix has put together here.

The only real problems are that the game is rather short and it can get really repetitive, as simply mowing down hordes of enemies for hours can start to bore. But it’s still a worthwhile way to spend your cash. I'm serious.

It's everything the first game achieved, but improved, and with more. If you're an RTS fan, you owe it to yourself to play this game. The only possible downside is the GameSpy browser for online play, which can occasionally be buggy and difficult to use.

This game also has quite a bit of replay ability to, with 3 different endings to see, and additional scenes to be seen on replay. My only qualm with this game is that it’s too short, at only 5 hours on your first play through and maybe half that each additional time.

If you like deliberately subjecting yourself to frustration for little or no reward, surrounded by a group of idiots mocking you, super glue a coin to the ground and attempt to pry it away while screaming obscenities at the top of your voice. It'll be cheaper than wasting your money on this.

The lack of content in Advance Tour is a lingering tragedy, because the game excels in most other areas. Advance Tour is fun, addictive, and very relaxing--the sort of game you could easily spend sixty hours on over the course of a year of casual playing. It could have been one of the great games of this generation.

The thriving fan community and huge potential of the movie making tools push this game over the edge and really make it an attractive purchase for anyone interested in the theme.

The ultimate sandbox game. It gives players plenty of opportunities to experiment and explore, but it also has enough meat to really attract gamers interested in strategic play.

Quite possibly the most entertaining survival horror game one the market, and the enhancements Tecmo gave the Xbox "Directors Cut" serve only to enhance that reputation.

Clearly the best game of its kind.

Space Rangers 2 has a ton of content on its own, is extremely replayable, and is one of the most addictive games in recent and nostalgic memory. If that weren’t enough, it includes Space Rangers 1 which is definable by the same list of attributes.

A must own title for the Nintendo DS. The combination of classic puzzling, new twists on the Tetris theme, seamless and lag-free online play, and classic Nintendo touches (including a nice collection of remixed NES tunes), makes Tetris DS a keeper.

The single player campaign, while enjoyable for what it is, pales substantially to its online multiplayer counterpart.

It may not be revolutionary from a gameplay perspective, but everything Radical has accomplished here is done with such care and expertise that the game should be recognized as the wonderful achievement that it is.

Drop-in multiplayer, replay in spades, and optional objectives give players a reason to continue playing and get their money's worth out of this title. If you like fun, this is a great addition your gaming library, regardless of age or skill level.

I didn't find myself level grinding at all, because the amount of random battles is more than enough to raise your characters to the point where the bosses are only moderate challenges.

DMC3, predominantly, is not difficult. It is an exercise in patience—in passing through agonising roadblocks to reach the border between frustration and fun, and the former wins out.

The sequel just seems to abandon all of what I thought made the original unique and special, and has in effect become just another pretty face in a crowded genre.

The visuals are beyond amazing.

Black Arrow's biggest attraction is its many new maps, fourteen in all, most of which are absolutely huge.

When push comes to shove, Rise of Legends is a lateral step for the Nations franchise. The game is sound mechanically and brilliant visually, but it lacks the staying power that kept Rise of Nations in players’ disc drives for so long.