And like a boring dinner party, as the game wrapped up I found myself relieved that it was finally ending. Except ... well, the game did indeed stop, but as for a satisfactory ending ... you can decide for yourself.

Overall, I can't totally endorse or condemn Blade & Sword. It's one of those titles that I couldn't help but have a love/hate relationship with.

I was disappointed that no effort was put into the PC version, and it even lacks any of the extras featured on the console versions, but I found it a fun little action game that kept me entertained for 10 or so hours.

It sports superb writing and voice acting, is laugh-out-loud funny, and brings enough originality to the table that it's worth more than a passing glance by action game fans.

If you're in the mood for a shooter with style, action, and lasting value, you're better off with “Serious Sam” than with XIII.

Is this the future of adventure games? If the development community uses this as a launching pad, and what we see here is just the infancy of incorporating interactivity into cutscenes, then we could be witnessing the birth of something truly extraordinary.

Love it or hate it, I believe we will look back in five or ten years and see this as a watershed moment in our brief gaming history, in much the same way as the original 1993 “Myst” is now viewed.

All in all, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is a truly fun little romp. While not as long as some games, it's worth the price of admission just to see the Mummy dancing with electricity or flattened like a piece of paper!

There are a lot of gamers who will want to play this game and a lot who will enjoy it more than I did. Others will come away immensely frustrated.

With very, very few adventure titles can I say: "If this was a book, I'd like to read it." Journey falls into that category.

Understanding the limitations of weak story, consolitis, and mundane gameplay, you may still opt to try yet another survival/horror game with an impressive atmosphere and novel approach. Remember, I’ve given you fair warning!

Did you enjoy “Sanitarium” and Agatha Christie's first mystery? If you can answer "yes" to these questions, then I highly recommend The Black Mirror as a "journey into darkness" well worth your time and effort.

For the moment, Nosferatu is a terrific idea, beautifully realized, that is a just a patch or two away from greatness.

I will say this: those who love “X-Com” will like this game. Those who love strategy will like this game. But no one will ever love this game.

Frankly, Max Payne 2 makes me confident that the best is yet to come for gaming, that the awesome narrative and creative capability of this medium has yet to be explored to its fullest extent.

If you can overlook the annoying aspect of having to start over and only being able to save at the beginning of a new episode or when you quit the game, you will experience an amazingly hard but also wonderfully fun game.

Nothing extra special, not great, not terrible. Just Nancy Drew doing what Nancy Drew do.

If you love the T.V. show and/or have any interest in this kind of detective game, Law & Order: Dead on the Money is a must-purchase.

I don't know why we are subjected to an endless barrage of these kinds of games being fobbed off on us in some kind of misguided effort to turn back the hands of time, gaming-wise.

If you've ever wanted to enter the puerile world of your Sims with a team of bizarre spirits, then this is the game for you.

Despite all my griping, Dark Fall really is an impressive first effort for the one-person design team and is actually better than some recent big-company releases. I'm not sorry I played it but neither am I gaga over it. How's that for decisiveness?

The Great Escape is an enjoyable, thrilling and suspenseful accompaniment to the classic film.

Knights of the Old Republic is fast-paced, linear, and consistently entertaining, and the goals are always clear. This was a nearly perfect gaming experience, at least by my standards.

An ode to "Myst" for all point-and-click lovers, a very worthwhile indie project. Let's hope some of those who enjoyed “Myst” sit up and take notice, as this is a complex and cleverly designed game.

A tremendously valuable expansion to the world of “Morrowind,” adding a new story and an environment of real depth and complexity.

For the inability to save at any point, for obtuse camera and fighting controls, for subpar level design, for irritating crash and sound bugs, and for the failure to make any effort to improve the technology behind this console port, “Matrix” enjoys the dubious distinction of a Rotten Egg award.

The high production values, unique setting, beautiful graphics, and lack of old chestnuts in terms of puzzles make this a refreshing alternative to the usual generic Egypt-Atlantis-maze-sliding-tiles pabulum we've been force-fed for the past few years.

If you're a fan of the show, like me, this may be a "required purchase" for you. If you are more of an adventurer, looking for complexity and character-related puzzles, as well as decent length (more than seven hours), then CSI will likely disappoint.