While it is exciting to reach each new plateau of intimacy, until the Big she-bang, there simply isn’t enough variation to keep the game going.

What Crusader Kings does not do is expand the "Europa Universalis" audience by making this style of play comprehensible to those who have never played a "Europa Universalis" title.

Parents looking to keep their little ones entertained for a while will appreciate the collectibles and secret areas in the game (which warrant some replay value), and children should appreciate the simple charms of yet another weird Unreal engine total conversion.

Watching the story unfold is engaging, but the pace of Echo Night: Beyond is already slow, and its easy to see how players who get stuck, wandering the hallways of a Moon base looking for a clue, could easily walk away, never to return.

Fighting is entertaining, if simple, and Catwoman can execute some impressive sequences, tumbling and leaping from perch to perch. The game simply isn't particularly noteworthy – it could use more gameplay, a more robust story and a friendlier camera.

A decent game, though the sim aspects aren't as well fleshed out as those in other baseball games available. And the over-the-top elements don't add enough to overcome those shortcomings.

Fundamentally, the problem with Soldner is that it is unresponsive. Even if the game were much less ambitious in scope, it simply doesn't work well.

This game is for someone who wants to turn Indy Racing into a lifestyle, not for a casual player looking for a five minute break from "Halo." It's a good game for its audience, but isn't going to break out of its niche.

Briefly, as good-looking as it is and as interesting and novel as its character skill/profession system is, Lineage II feels much like yesterday’s MMOG. To the extent you’ve enjoyed such games all along, this may not be an issue. But many of what seem like minor advancements in the genre are missing here, such as a centralized market system for selling goods.

The online multiplayer component may not be deeply compelling, but the lighthearted monster design, lack of pretense and serious carnage make this game easily worth the $20 price tag.

While there are some very basic, jam-the-buttons-as-fast-as-you-can, fun moments to be had with the game, in general, there are similarly-styled, better games at comparable prices.

The problem is that Alias should be a stealth/action game, and it ends up using action as a crutch to prop up a merely adequate stealth aspect.

Both the online and offline portions suffer from a lack of depth in the demolition portion.

Given the variety of characters, you're bound to find at least one whose play style is entertaining enough to justify riding out the rough spots.

A solid, though unspectacular, update in the series. While the FielderCam is unique and the Pick-up game is fun, these new additions alone don’t make it a must-have, especially if you’ve got last year’s edition.

It’s a good game with tremendous ambition that often drags you out of an immersive experience and throws your focus on a few, flawed mechanisms of gameplay.

It’s particularly good as a two-player, casual contest. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better alternative for comic, 3D, turn-based combat on a console.

While Corvette may not be particularly innovative, the gameplay isn’t bad, though it lacks bells and whistles. Corvette fans are going to get a nice toy for their ten bucks.

For some people, the story will be compelling enough to make it worth playing through the single-player missions once, but the same effect can be comparably achieved by renting "Goodfellas" again.

Ultimately, the game feels like a solid scaffolding around which a really amazing game could have been built. On its own merits, Gangland isn’t a failure. In fact, it’s a flawed, but solid, game. Gangland simply falls short of its potential and its promises. That’s the pity.

Drakengard is a lesson to game designers everywhere. Variety and color are not things to introduce gradually. Difficulty, sure, but we need fun throughout.

Fundamentally, the gameplay is just too linear. From the mission requirements to the layout of the levels, you don’t feel like there’s any freedom to explore. Constantly hitting buttons to fell enemy troops isn’t enough to draw you completely into the world.

The experience with different human players gives it an edge, but the edge is much needed to counterbalance the lack of moves and environmental interaction. This provides fun but superficial gameplay that succeeds in small doses.

With all of the variables involved, racing is often quite frustrating, and you’re more likely to spend more time trying to get back on track than actually on it.

The major sense of Ghost Master is not one of powerlessness, but one of controlled possibility. Although you can’t throw together any old team and expect to beat every level, the number of ghosts, powers and potential solutions to most problems make it unlikely that any two players will experience Ghost Master in quite the same way.

Doesn’t feel interactive enough to be deeply involving. Much faster, higher level seasons or far more options are needed to make the Coliseum exciting.