Lacking in virtually every area. The graphics are terrible, the controls are clunky, and the gameplay is uninspired.

Even the most hardcore DBZ fans will feel ripped off if they purchase Dragon Ball Z: Sagas, and non-rabid fans will be angry to the point of violence.

Tactics isn't unplayable--especially in multiplayer mode--and it has some decent play mechanics. But it's all overshadowed by the poor production value. It feels like a waste of the source material.

The action and violence are satisfying enough to make the game marginally recommendable, but only barely. Add in the complete lack of any multiplayer options, a terrible ending, and Clive Barker’s Jericho feels like a game where the good parts are overwhelmed by the shortcomings.

This is a simply another lame attempt to attract young fans and unknowing parents to buy something based on the license. Rise of the Silver Surfer has all the gameplay value of a bad Streets of Rage clone.

Even the most hardcore DBZ fans will feel ripped off if they purchase Dragon Ball Z: Sagas, and non-rabid fans will be angry to the point of violence.

Given that all you're doing is shooting everything around you, it's almost essential to give the player a continual sense of progress and achievement by opening up new locales frequently. Otherwise the whole exercise collapses under its own redundancy.

If you don’t care too much about precise game play, Chosen One is a good, brainless time. Otherwise, the game just becomes infuriating.

Playing through 18 holes takes way too long. Because you have to wait while everyone takes a turn, you’ll spend too much time doing absolutely nothing during these multiplayer rounds.

The one shining moment through all this is the decent online multiplayer mode included. It’s pretty vanilla, but it runs great. Plus it’s possible to turn into a nightwalker should you be a bit too slow on the draw. It’s a very cool feature.

The Infinitrax track generation system is interesting. By making use of six user-defined inputs such as curvature, hilliness, and track width, Infinitrax generates new courses on the fly.

To be breezily blunt, it’s possible to be Over G Fighters after a few hours’ worth of play.

A broken expansion pack for now, but even if everything worked it would still be a meager addition to such a large game.

Tedious and frustrating. The emphasis on repeating each mission until you figure out the puzzle is exactly what strategy gamers don't want.

Unlike the sublime, budget-friendly "Katamari Damacy," this game sells for full price. It may be worth a rental, but Under the Skin proves that being simple, weird, and quirky just isn’t good enough on its own.

The lackluster presentation combined with the clunky and often frustrating gameplay makes Fellowship of the Ring more of a chore to play than anything else.

The story mode is boring and full of repetition, the controls are overly simplistic.

Though the Wayne vs. Wayne mode is an interesting, if not disturbing, idea, it’s not enough to justify a purchase for most hockey fans.

Long on promise and short on delivery. Had the developers opted for a real-time combat engine, strategic 3D battlefields, or some other interesting twists, MS Saga could have been worth a look.

What ultimately makes or breaks NBA Jam is its computer AI, which is every bit as nasty and unfair as previous games.

What should have been a fast-paced, movie-fueled action fest is bogged down by overly sluggish controls, Vaseline-smeared graphics, and a general lack of polish.

Consider Spy vs. Spy a third-person parody of the genre that doesn't add much to the equation.

New players are likely to feel totally lost in a sea of hostile troops and jittery unresponsive allies who can walk through walls but not fire through hedges. Not a game for the uninitiated.

Dynasty Warriors has a rabid fan base, and so it stands to reason that Koei doesn’t want to mess with the formula too much. It’s disappointing that seven years and endless games later, this latest iteration feels like such a miniscule step forward in the series.

Deserves kudos for being such a meticulous translation of the card game. Unfortunately, there is little else to attract anyone other than the hard core fan base.

Although it's good that the game tries to stay true to its '80s roots, the unnecessarily complicated controls, distracting plot, and bland visuals keep it from being much fun.

Instead of saving anywhere, you’ll have to – that’s right – use a spell to teleport to the inn, where Tao can record his progress. In most DS games this isn’t a problem, since closing the DS will pause play. But not here – the game just keeps running even with the system closed.

Its erratic jumping controls and annoying camera issues will ensure that even the little ones will become frustrated.

Falls into the same sequel trap that many other games tumble into, where the emphasis in development is placed more on improving visual aspects rather than addressing flaws in the gameplay.

The biggest problem with this game is that it emphasizes the weaknesses of the original's gameplay, and tones down or eliminates many of the strengths.

Battle of the Bands simply has no legs. Once you’ve learned the basics of the game, there’s nowhere else to go.

The camera is even worse than in the main mode -- odd, when it could've just taken a zoomed-in version of the isometric view that games like Baldur's Gate have used for eons.

The gameplay is limited in scope and the maps are repetitive in theme, if not design. The visuals are decent enough, but definitely not up to the standards of most modern releases.

I was looking forward to it, but left very disappointed. It’s completely playable. Being about 7 hours long helps but I spent the entire game waiting for it to get good, to make sense, to make a case for all the incongruous elements of design, gameplay and story, and then it ended.

An unfinished, bug-ridden game. Blame Core for being too ambitious. Blame Eidos for shipping it too soon. But don't blame us if you buy it.

Controlling one gladiator is simple enough, but as soon as you add a few more, the game becomes almost impossible to manage.

Successfully taking down a fleeing opponent is almost enough to make you forget how many times you wanted to chuck the controller straight at the TV.

One look at the out-of-date rosters (frozen in time at the original release date) will show you how little attention was paid to the development of this game.

What could have been the modern equivalent to classic bizarre Japanese shooters like Parodius is instead a one-trick pony.

If you've played "Warship Gunner," you'll probably have seen it all before from a more interesting on-deck perspective.

This is the eighth Yu-Gi-Oh GBA release in a little over two years. Not much has changed, and not much will. If you're not already firmly on this bandwagon, turn around and walk away.

The game doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look good enough for an action game whose major draw is its audiovisual presentation.

Valhalla’s a well-meaning blend of old and new, but most of us have come to expect a little more from an RPG.

But the game runs clean and looks nice enough in action. For a budget price, you could do worse. Yeah, it’s not a ringing endorsement, nor is it meant to be.

With copious patience and enough time, a path through the bugs and design flaws might lead to an enjoyable experience for some persistent players of ToEE. However, digging through garbage to find a gem is still digging through garbage.

The novelty of the premise wears thin after about an hour. This is not good, especially for a game that takes about 25 hours to complete.

More like an expansion team than a Stanley Cup contender. With a sharper focus on either realism or arcade play combined with more standout graphics, next year's version could be bumped up to the first line.

There is a single-player dynamic campaign that you should stay far, far away from. The campaign appears to be an afterthought, as does the AI, which does a fantastic job killing itself.

In fact, this game serves as a great example of how wonderful the original games would be on the Xbox 360 Live Arcade service, at an even better price.

Larry's longevity will be directly proportionate to the amount of laughs you derive from bodily functions great and small.

Kimmunicator might be good for a few kicks for fans of the show, but it’s so short and unremarkable you shouldn't feel bad for missing it.

In a world where light-gun games need to change or die, Ninja Assault is an evolutionary dead-end for the genre.

It still plays too much like one of the old games to feel like a real online title, but the one thing that could have been done to make it better -- namely, a workable communication system for players -- was skimped on.

A sequel isn’t supposed to be softer, poorer, slower, weaker, but that sadly sums up FIFA Street 3's questionable content.

Fans of F1 racing may be able to put up with the game's lack of features and frustrating nature. This simply isn't a racing game, however, that will appeal to a mainstream audience or win any new fans for the sport.

Proves one thing--Sega needs to stop tinkering with its past and start respecting its illustrious history as much as its core fan base does.

The loading times are annoying, there’s a ridiculous maze of menus to wade through to get to the races, and, when you do hit the road, the controls are poor and the racing system is just bizarre.

The highs of the added features are sacked by the lows in basic gameplay.

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam isn't a sell out on par with hawking Bagel Bites but it's close.

Dragon battles break down to attack-block-repeat. Ships appear from nowhere. Boss fights are more “follow the leader” than actual epic battles. Lair is not a broken game, just one that overcompensates to hide all its flaws rather than fix them.

The lack of variety in the levels was a major factor. But even more so was the constant loading and unnatural, abrupt transitions.

Improvements to the solo adventure and the addition of some basic multiplayer modes elevate the game above its predecessors, but it can't turn the tide of battle in the franchise's favor.

The game borders on tedious.

But character-based fighting games using characters no one cares about is never a good idea, and Blade Warriors is nowhere near as fun or deep as its inspiration.

Eidos looks stupid for accepting the AO rating, yet covering up the genitals with fig leaves. And the IDSA has only succeeded in making its own rating system appear useless.

One thing NFL Tour is great for is padding your Xbox gamerscore. Otherwise, don’t bother with this one.

Only those gamers in it for the puzzles will get a kick out of this one--those who don’t get overwhelmed, that is.

A great concept for an EyeToy standalone title, but the quality and variety of minigames simply fail to do the theme justice.

Legend of Heroes needs more innovation in the areas that actually matter – scenario writing, game design, the tricky stuff like that – before it’ll spawn an installment worth playing.

Game Arts still knows how to draw neat-looking spaceships. When it comes to making them interact in a real 3D space, though, that’s where they still have a whole lot to learn.

And urgency is desperately what this game needs, but sadly doesn't have. Boredom is sure to set in during the very first level.

Clearly an experimental game that, through a combination of laziness and sometimes punishing difficulty, is actually capable of really pissing just about everyone off.

As a pure action game, it’s too slow (it often feels like Ed is moving against a strong wind) to satisfy those used to such titles as Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, or Prince of Persia. As a role-playing game, it’s too shallow and short to satisfy those expecting the next Final Fantasy.

The result of meddling with Joe's mechanics is pure mediocrity. Though lefties will scream in frustration, the action is never bad, merely bland.

If you absolutely need to have every single collection of mini-games for your Wii, at least the content in Ninja Reflex is entertaining. There just needs to be a lot more of it to justify the price.

Now, if "Rebirth Mode" was more than just the original game with some half-hearted minigames tacked on -- if it sported updated graphics and a more intuitive control scheme, things would be different.

There’s a multiplayer mode to be had, but it’s hard to recommend Juarez solely based on the fact that you can share the misery with friends.

The visuals hold up fairly well, and the controls are solid, if simplistic. What's here is the underlying base of a game. They just forgot to include meaningful gameplay or a storyline.

A decent party game with a great cast of cheesy giant monsters, but it’s just not scaly or radioactive enough to command much respect.

There's no sense of continuity since you have to keep stopping and starting. And where are the puzzles or something other to do besides shooting at hard-to-see robots?

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects on PSP feels like it was made by a bunch of Madden jocks as a way to screw with comic nerds.

Maybe our blue buddy needs to take a breather for a little while, replace his outdated circuitry, and make another run in a few years' time.

Mind-numbing button mashing with unremarkable stages can only be used to help you forget about the six hundred dollars that you blew on a system to play a game no better than its PSP cousin.

It's just one gruesome kill after another until the violence loses its punch. Too bad that happens after the first couple missions. If you want a stealth game, there are better ones out there. If you want blood, do yourself a favor a buy a tube of red dye #5, instead.

First on the menu is Big Bumpin’, a bumper-car romp through four different game modes that totally sucks if you’re playing with yourself, but loads of fun if you’re playing with a few friends. So Big Bumpin’ is pretty much a metaphor for life in general.

If anything, Battle Nexus is a really uneven game. Some sections last two minutes, others last about 10 and culminate in a huge battle.

It takes a little effort, maybe, but you can make a game for kids that doesn’t bore a more experienced player.

It's a shame that the one good idea in this streetball title had to be overshadowed by bad execution and a mediocre presentation.

If the colors were more vibrant, the tilting felt more responsive, and some of the stages weren't such an outright pain in the saddle, this game would easily get the X-Play stamp of approval. Not this time.

Avoid this one; it's a hairball that's not worth coughing up the cash to play.

No amount of clever quips and Master Chief parody characters is worth slogging through a shooter that makes Dark Sector look like an inspired stroke of genius. By the end of the game, no amount of clever enemy character names or profanity-laced outbursts by Neil Patrick Harris can distract you from the fact that you’re simply not having much fun.

Astro Boy would've been better as a straightforward genre game; instead, it's neither a full-fledged actioner nor an exploratory adventure game. It feels like a pasted together hybrid that never jells.

The story could easily have been told in a third of the time, leaving room for more substantial narrative and perhaps even more inventive level and game design.

If you still own an Xbox or PlayStation 2, there's absolutely no reason to purchase this game. Especially since it'll cost you $10 more and offers about 25 percent of the content.

If anything The Shield: The Game is true to the spirit of its source material. Much of the game may be poorly designed, cruelly difficult and obnoxiously unfair, but none of these flaws are necessarily show-stopping.

Even the most hardcore DBZ fans will feel ripped off if they purchase Dragon Ball Z: Sagas, and non-rabid fans will be angry to the point of violence.

For the second time in under a year, EA fails to impress with a next-gen football game. 2006 FIFA World Cup comes off as a quick cash-in to make a fast buck before the big event in Germany this June.

A huge step backwards for the series.