The sights, sounds, and feel of the game are so similar to the last two games that you’ll find the entire thing less scary. Enemies will feel less threatening, locations will remind you of past locations, and the whole thing will lose some of its edge.

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.

So it ain't pretty, and it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. But Operation Flashpoint: Elite is still a fairly compelling military sim.

A mostly average button masher that has the good luck of being associated with the hottest kids' property to come along in years.

Harmonix's own "Guitar Hero" is still tops--mainly due to its cool factor--but if you need to entertain a rowdy group at your next gathering, nothing says hours of good times like Karaoke Revolution Party.

To put it bluntly, anyone who values things like tight control and a fair challenge over button-mashing anarchy is going to have second thoughts about getting their hands dirty in Red Hot Rumble.

A mostly average button masher that has the good luck of being associated with the hottest kids' property to come along in years.

Harmonix's own "Guitar Hero" is still tops--mainly due to its cool factor--but if you need to entertain a rowdy group at your next gathering, nothing says hours of good times like Karaoke Revolution Party.

As an action adventure held up against its contemporaries, its gameplay variety, interesting premise, and amazing graphics and sound make it a winner, identity crisis or not.

This game makes you feel like a rock star. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Its difficulty ramps up perfectly, the song selection couldn't be better, and the gameplay is fun and addictive.

And what's with all the text? One thing that continually aggravated our group of casual gamer test subjects (relatives we roped into playing) was the inordinate amount of text you need to wade through while you're playing.

A flawed, yet entertaining game. Like previous 3D attempts at the series, it never comes close to the greatness of the GBA and recent DS versions, but it's fun if you don’t mind wandering.

The game could also benefit from more dynamic camera angles and a more exciting presentation with color stat overlays, sideline close-ups, and so forth. The developers opted for a realistic, on-court feel by removing play-by-play announcers, but the crowd and music fail to pick up the slack.

If the connection to the TV show doesn't make it plain, Battle Network is really intended for younger players.

Trapt would be a decent budget title, with its extremely limited, repetitive gameplay and generally low production values. As it is, this game isn't worth a $50 purchase.

Doomed to be a bargain bin special, Without Warning is strictly middle-of-the-road from top to bottom. There are a few shining moments in the game, but heed our warning and leave this one to rest in peace.

In a lot of ways, these games are starting to mimic the films. They get released semi-regularly and right from the get-go we know what to expect; a reasonably engaging time that we'll quickly forget about as soon as we put the controller down.

It's just another WWII shooter in that sea of WWII shooters we're all drowning in. It's fun enough while it lasts but there's nothing here we haven't see many, many times before.

Like the previous games in the series, the gameplay is incredibly repetitive and uncomplicated, and anyone over the age of 11 will quickly tire of the game after only a few levels.

A competent massively multiplayer online RPG, but not a radical departure from "City of Heroes."

While the production values are pretty good, the gameplay is pretty shallow. If you're into action games, this is worth playing once.

So while only the most die-hard fans should re-open their wounded wallet a second time, anyone who missed it owes it to themselves to play one of the best games of this generation.

While the production values are pretty good, the gameplay is pretty shallow. If you’re into action games, this is worth playing once.

We can gripe about colors and crummy modes till the ninjas come home, but the simple fact is that Soul Calibur III is still a top-tier fighting game.

There’s no feature bloat, and there are no dud missions--just quality gaming from start to finish. That’s just about all we can ask for.

You'd think such an impressive technical base would allow the game to take more risks, but that assumption doesn't prove true.

Typically, the gameplay here is cheap and full of unsatisfying ways to die.

Civ IV isn’t quite light enough to captivate all gamers, but it is the most fun, most engaging, and most entertaining of the series.

The omission of a co-op mode and the lack of longevity hurt Gunstar Super Heroes a bit, but overall it's still a fantastic game that deserves a spot in anyone's Game Boy Advance library.

While the production values are pretty good, the gameplay is pretty shallow. If you're into action games, this is worth playing once.

The beefed-up single-player is nice, but when the main focus of the game comes up so short, it’s hard not to feel disappointed.

Frustration has always been a factor in the GTA universe, but never quite so much as in Liberty City Stories.

The simple controls and short bursts of gameplay make it perfect for handheld consumption, and a wireless multiplayer mode that allows up to eight other flipper-flappers to play with just one game card pushes its value rather high.

While Vietcong 2 isn’t a bad shooter by any means, it’s just not a particularly good one.

Understand going in to this game that you're going to die a lot. And you're going to have to replay the same scenes over many times before you get past them. And if you see Cthulhu, give him our best.

The beefed-up single-player is nice, but when the main focus of the game comes up so short, it's hard not to feel disappointed.

While it doesn't have the depth or complexity of the PC version, The Sims 2 brings a unique and engaging game experience to the Xbox.

Mario Mix is easier than forgetting to put the toilet seat down. If you have any DDR skills whatsoever, you'll trounce it without missing more than a step or two.

Interestingly, the saddest part of The Bible Game is how it manages to completely ignore the core messages of religion in favor of trite Nouveau Christian catchphrases. It's all content without meaning or context.

Shining Force Neo does its job, but it’s a bit too tough considering that you pretty much have to wait for your character to get stronger rather than improving it on your own.

The game’s casual, do-what-you-want approach makes it a safe bet for anyone who’s looking for a few hours of rude racing fun.

A game that aspires to be big, loud, obnoxious, and fun, and it succeeds. Much like the original, there’s virtually no depth here, but the focus on pure, unadulterated explosions is the perfect alternative to the heavy-handed, dramatic shooters we’ve seen lately.

As far as we can tell, Mamodo Battles was made for stupid, uncoordinated kids with poor taste in gaming and a big love of all things Zatch Bell!

Top it all off with a delicious graphics engine and you’ve got an Age of Empires game for modern machines that sports daring new design ideas for the modern strategy gamer.

Technically underwhelming yet artistically stunning, what Shadow of the Colossus manages to achieve is remarkable. Not only is it an engrossing, very playable game, it delivers a thunderous emotional punch with only a handful of characters.

It’s almost a racing game for everyone, but traces of the tad-too-touchy driving the Jak series is known for will throw newcomers for a loop and frustrate even veteran drivers on occasion.

The team-building aspect and gambling mechanics are great, and give the game a bit of a role-play feel, which serves to nearly offset the horrible load times and mediocre fighting action—but not quite.

Sniper Elite delivers the sort of slow-paced and rewarding gameplay experience not usually found on consoles. Gamers with the right mindset will love every mission here, while more impatient ones will be pulling their hair out long before the end of the first one.

Spyro Shadow Legacy isn’t a terrible game, but it’s painfully repetitive and just plain dull.

A fun, if brief game that manages to capture much of the appeal of the original, yet overcomplicates the core gameplay without enhancing it much. The game is entertaining while it lasts, but you won’t be digging it very long.

The visuals hit the mark, and there’s a huge roster of fighters here, but the odd camera work and control issues don’t work in the game’s favor.

While older players will gnaw through Chicken Little in a matter of hours, younger fans will savor the game's bite-sized levels and tasty characters.

Honestly, the gameplay in Stubbs isn't bad. It's just not close to as cool as it ought to be.

Unfortunately, there's very little actual innovation in the gameplay here, and the overall package is just starting to feel old.

If this whole review sounds a little down on what appears to be a competent video poker game, it's because in this reviewer's opinion, World Poker Tour is missing the two key ingredients in any good poker game. Money and intimacy.

In their attempt to dress up a solid brawler, Rockstar actually hurt the experience a bit by adding endless, tedious minigames that pretty much overpower the game in the early levels.

Despite the recycled enemies and the never-ending labyrinth of steel grates, catwalks, desks, and elevators, F.E.A.R. delivers some of the best action this side of Paris Hilton's cell phone.

There is also an annoying amount of trash talking cutscenes after each play, but fortunately they can be skipped or turned off entirely.

In their attempt to dress up a solid brawler, Rockstar actually hurt the experience a bit by adding endless, tedious minigames that pretty much overpower the game in the early levels.

Xbox strategy fans will surely have a great time reuniting our great homeland.

The sheer escapism Fire Emblem offers is nearly impossible to downplay, but it's difficult not to be judgmental of the game's four-years-ago presentation.

If you can live without the slightest bit of action and can forget anything you know about the law (suspension of legal belief is definitely required) then there's a lot for you here to enjoy.

SOCOM 3's entrenched community is huge, so it's a safe bet that you'll always have someone to trade fire with no matter when you connect.

Factor in some respectable online gameplay, and NCAA March Madness 06 is a much more solid game than what we played last year. For once the control additions make sense and deepen the game.

Digital Devil Saga 2 brings the strange story started by the first game to a spectacular, dramatic, and bizarrely calm end.

Quake 4 delivers fast, brutal shooting action, and it looks good doing it. Sometimes, that’s all that’s necessary.

At best, Romancing SaGa is an eight-part RPG miniseries contained in one overflowing DVD. At worst, it's an unbalanced snooze-fest whose surface you won't feel too compelled to scratch.

The tiny, blocky graphics do little to immerse you into the park, and the unwieldy controls make relatively simple actions needlessly difficult.

Yes, lucky shots are really the only way you will kill or be killed in Renegade Paintball.

Split-screen multiplayer is in, but the game completely lacks online multiplayer, which is downright shocking for a racing title in this day and age. L.A. Rush feels like a fourth place finish in a highly competitive field.

Yes, lucky shots are really the only way you will kill or be killed in Renegade Paintball.

By the time you’ve whipped your way through a dozen or so levels, you’ll probably be getting a little bit tired of mashing the square button and twirling your analog stick. You’ll also notice that other aspects of the game are a bit sloppy.

Sega Casino doesn’t make gambling terribly exciting with flashy graphics or sound effects, but it does present solid representations of a number of popular table games, all intuitively playable thanks to the stylus.

Even by today's standards, it's a near-perfect sports game for handheld consumption.

You just have to be willing to look past the technical bugs and the fact that you're paying full price for a game that should have been released as a mission-disc, not a full-fledged sequel.

Everything in the game is too clear and too consistent. There’s no room for ambiguity or context. You’re either a goody two-shoes or a complete jerk.

Dawn of Sorrow has everything that makes the Castlevania series great: excellent platforming, exquisite level and puzzle design, gorgeous 2D graphics, and fantastic sound.

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.

Unexpectedly, the best mode is Wayne on Wayne, in which most of the game's rules go out the window in favor of arcade matchups.

While Doogie Howser may have a better chance of returning to television than you have in learning any real medical knowledge from Trauma Center, the frenzied pace and slick controls easily make this one of the most “infectious” DS games yet released.

Old-school gameplay has never worked quite as well in 3D, and the entire production feels rough around the edges. Action fans risk dying of boredom with this one.

Even without a deep Dynasty mode (we really expect it next year) this is easily the best basketball available on a handheld.

It's tough to keep calling FIFA on issues of accuracy, especially when Konami seems to have soccer realism cornered.

Despite the appealing presentation, it's generally a de rigueur platformer, and no more than par for the series. And with the wildly extreme difficulty settings, this is one for die-hards only.

Many faults in control, AI, and presentation, all of which should be at a higher level considering this is the fourth game in the squad-based series.

It's tough to keep calling FIFA on issues of accuracy, especially when Konami seems to have soccer realism cornered.

It's tough to keep calling FIFA on issues of accuracy, especially when Konami seems to have soccer realism cornered.

The game is addictive, fun, and quite lengthy, but these half-fledged console outings are wearing thin, if only because the franchise has the potential to be something great.

The actual strategy aspect is drastically limited, thanks to the small arenas and abbreviated unit types. With only two short campaigns that interest will quickly turn to boredom.

Strategy players will come up to speed quickly and enjoy the vast array of units and unit abilities, while WWII fans who aren’t too interested in stat tracking will dig the game’s accessibility and--living up to its name--focus on constant action.

For those who aren’t so loyal to this particular brand of gigantic Japanese robot, enjoyment of the game will be seriously hampered by control issues and the payoff--tons of extras and unlockable content--just isn't worth it.

The game is certainly on the short side, but for an entertaining and distinctive modern take on an arcade classic, there are much worse choices out there.

It's not quite the best of the best in its genre, but if you're interested in signing up, odds are you'll have an enjoyable tour of duty.

It's definitely preferred to the average character-based kids' games; just don't expect to cast your Tony Hawk or Katamari aside to play it.

Game Over. And I couldn't be happier.

We can’t stress how much fun we had with Super Off Road. It truly is one of the more timeless arcade racing games.

The perfect rental, lasting only a few short hours and, like most adventure games, doesn’t have much value beyond that.

If ever a game deserved the description of “Xtreme” or some spelling variation thereof, it’s this one. Total Overdose takes every stale action game stereotype and cranks it up to 11, presenting a game that’s lame and self-parodying, but despite that still manages to be fun--fun enough for a rental, that is.