Digital distribution may never replace retail sales, and episodic content may never become the standard for all games, but the future of both is startlingly bright. Sin Episodes is among the first to fling itself into that future. Though common in its gameplay, it is also enjoyable: had it been ten bucks instead of twenty, I'd be raving.

Wild Earth picked up three prizes at the 2003 Independent Game Festival: Game of the Year, Innovation in Game Design, and Innovation in Visual Arts. All well-deserved. Even three years later, it remains a stunner.

The overall quality of the game far outweighs every one of its shortcomings. In my humble opinion, this game represents a labor of love from people who wanted to pay homage to Lovecraft.

These won't quite fulfill your old-school needs, but they are about as close as you can get in these times when cookie-cutter games reign supreme in the adventure world.

With an original concept and less cliché-mongering, we could be bearing witness to a rising star. For now, though, it flickers with dim promise on the horizon, catching our eye but not holding us long enough to do much more than raise a finger and point.

While I really like this sort of game, I do not like the fact that the game's difficulty is so unbalanced as to make playing the latter stages a study in frustration. If I want aggravation, I can attempt to cancel an online service.

Fritz 9 expands upon the excellent versions of the past two years with updated graphics, broader tutorials, helping tools and an expanded database. If you're going to buy one program, this is the one, especially since it includes a $35 value PlayChess.com membership.

The short version is that Ubisoft has continued its storied tradition of doing nearly everything wrong yet somehow managing to produce a great game. Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is awesome.

But the fact is "X-Com" is twelve years old, and memory has a way of polishing off the burrs and nits that flaw a game, leaving you with only the hard candy shell of perfection. UFO: Aftershock cannot measure up any more than "UFO: Aftermath" did, but it hits a lot closer to the mark.

Moving to the highest rank of film-game complements (it's more than a "spin-off"), King Kong comes highly recommended. It's best to see the film first, but the game also stands alone in its own right as a fantastic experience. It's gorgeous, wonderfully scripted and acted, extremely tense and involving.

How much do you enjoy puzzles in your adventure games? Do you really, really love them? You had better if you're going to play Rhem 2, because your answer to that question is critical to your enjoyment of this game. Rhem 2 is a game geared toward a very specific audience: adventure gamers who love puzzles and don't need a story.

And Then There Were None is, as the developers hoped, a "loving tribute" to the classic Agatha Christie novel on which it is based. With a sterling script, fascinating characters, superb voice acting, beautifully detailed graphics, and sensibly practical puzzles, it ranks among the best adventure games of the last couple of years.

The overall quality of the game far outweighs every one of its shortcomings. In my humble opinion, this game represents a labor of love from people who wanted to pay homage to Lovecraft.

Simply put, this game is so brilliant that it ought to be fined. Created by the same team responsible for 2001's critically acclaimed "Ico," it follows a similar sort of theme and demands even more sentimental investiture than its predecessor did. Its elegant simplicity, its beauty, its unbelievable capacity to draw you in are without peer. I have never played a game like Shadow of the Colossus, because there are no games like it.

Trace Memory is a cracker-jack adventure game developed and beautifully suited for the DS system. It's not at the level and complexity of the best adventure titles for the PC, but it's not reasonable to expect that from a handheld title. What it does bring to the table is an engaging, wonderfully done and integrated story with facilitating puzzles.

As it is, my enjoyment was tempered by a concern that the production crew is losing focus on what makes the games work. Though I remain a fan of the series, and am giving Train a Thumb Up, I am hopeful that Her Interactive will proceed with care in tampering with a formula that has, so far, served them well.

Clock, with its sunny exteriors and perpetual daylight, feels like the adventure game equivalent of a beach book. It's light, bright, and fun.

ER is not a terribly complicated game, with a setting and tasks that are limited in scope. Yet fans of the show, and those desiring a bit different sim experience, will undoubtedly find laughs and enjoyment in this light-hearted depiction of an intern's first days.

Overall, Heretic Kingdoms is fun, fun, fun and destined to be a sleeper hit. The few niggles never really affected my enjoyment of the game. With its engaging story and completely different skill system, it's definitely worth your while to pick it up and play.

Tactical enough that your play style will be drastically different from a normal shooter, but it's not so ridiculously tactical that they forgot to include a game with the game. In many ways, SWAT 4 strikes the perfect balance between action, tactics, and challenge

If you didn't like DOOM 3, well, you won't like Resurrection. The Grabber is fun, but there's one in "Half Life 2." But it still looks amazing, and it's still an enormously gory, satisfying experience for those who just want to blow off some steam.

Chaos Theory gives a compelling gameplay experience that suffers a bit from a weak narrative and a failure to make consistent use of the graphical power of the Gamecube. Even with its flaws, it's one of the best games available for the Gamecube.

It's safe to say this game has more monkeys than any game other than Ape Escape. These aren't just any monkeys, either. There are zombie monkeys, robot monkeys, mutant monkeys, lab monkeys, disco monkeys, ninja monkeys and plain old throw-feces-at-you monkeys. If you love monkeys, this game is for you.

From involving story to eye-popping graphics, very funny script, incredible characters, great voice acting, ultra-smooth gameplay, and an unusual range of extended play options, FFVTR brings it all together better than any PC game I've played in the past year.

One of the best adventure games of 2004 and likely the best ever to deal with a futuristic, Orwellian theme of corruption and conspiracy. Story, dialogue, character development, settings, artwork, acting, and music are all superb.

An example of what a company can do when it takes an existing genre and reshapes it into something refreshing. If you want to experience a game with a great story, you like FPS games, and you have an open mind, then I highly recommend it.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is pretty amazing. I have an Xbox 360 and I just got a shiny new PC. I'm on the cutting edge of technology. But when I think of all the games I've played over the past six months, The Minish Cap-a Gameboy Advance game-rises right to the top of my list. It's just that good.

For those who've never played the original, Bad Mojo Redux is a must-have. Load it up and see what all the shouting was about. For those who've played the Win3.1 version, Bad Mojo Redux is what the game should have looked like and, when coupled with the companion DVD, is the deal of the year.