Harmlessly addictive, if not wholly derivative. But it's great for the kids, and offers a satisfying, officially licensed Harry Potter experience.

It’s easy to make fun of a game series entirely focused at hitting the seemingly elusive teen and pre-teen girl demographic, yet games like Nancy Drew: the White Wolf of Icicle Creek pull most of the right strings.

Disappointingly dull opposition and having to strictly adhere to the game's go-here-do-this structure keep this title from being a great or remarkable game.

Although the flaky sense of physics and controls bring it down a couple notches, Bandits: Phoenix Rising is still an entertainingly destructive auto combat game.

You may weary of war before you've won the relatively short campaign. And if you do slog on, you'll be "rewarded" with an even tougher difficulty setting.

Big things lie in store for the series -- but not in its first incarnation. Take this beginning episode with a grain of salt and save it for a rental.

There’s potential here, but Capcom needs to put more varied action in this action-RPG.

There's nothing deep in Big Mutha Truckers, of course, but the humorous gameplay makes this a surprisingly fun driving game, especially for only $20. Offbeat, distinctive, and reasonably original, there's nothing else like it on the Xbox.

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

Despite the dull window dressing, Winter Sports does have lots of game modes. There are more good events than bad ones. The good ones actually show some pretty well thought out ways to use the Wii controls to good effect - a solid effort.

While the vibrant color, cheerful sound, and whimsical theme are classic Nintendo, the title’s surprisingly narrow scope will make you wonder if Touch & Go was originally supposed to be a minigame for another title.

The biggest fault of Star Ocean: The Second Evolution is that there's almost no conflict. Everybody in the game is polite.

A nice diversion, but its clunky progression scheme makes tedious what has been natural for far too long.

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

The visuals are in need of an upgrade. It could be that EA is just phoning the graphics in until the next-gen systems arrive, and that's a shame. EA Trax is just as annoying as ever. Please stop it.

Veteran platformers will make it through with little challenge, but that detriment makes it perfect for less experienced, older, or much younger players looking for a cute diversion.

The game really does roughly the same thing as "Dynasty Warriors," but with slightly less complexity, though with some new and flashy magic effects.

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.

A respectable compilation of the blue bomber's other adventures, though it pales a bit in comparison to the Anniversary Collection released a couple of years back.

As a full-priced retail game, it would have been a dismal failure, but it’s a fun, cheap download that offers plenty of on and offline opportunities to kill some time.

New scenery, new enemies, and new quests abound for fans of the third Elder Scrolls game, but the familiar story line and lack of any real innovation keeps Bloodmoon from shining too brightly.

A solid follow-up to "Massive Assault" and "Massive Assault Network," featuring a huge amount of new offline content and gameplay options that will keep fans busy for weeks.

Overall Kane & Lynch is an interesting -- if overly violent -- take on the “buddy” game. The tag-team setup adds something to what would already be a solid action game and makes it that much better.

Driver ’76 offers a number of fun missions playable through an entertaining driving engine that will make you want to set up some heavy duty police chases and go tearing through the city. Unfortunately the miniscule police presence really puts a damper on the fun, and the tired out graphics engine just can’t cope.

Enough depth in its skate tour of Springfield to satisfy most fans of the show.

It's kid-friendly and quirky at the same time, extending its appeal to pretty far reaches. Legacy of the Spirits may not be the king of GBA role-playing games, but it still deserves to hold court.

Like a toaster wrapped in gold leaf under the Christmas tree. The contents simply defy the billing. But if you're looking for some disposable, forgettable fun, this is one Xbox game that'll cure your itchy trigger finger.

As a history lesson it scores high. But as a game, it’s a slow starter with graphics that can’t hold a candle to The Sims. Still, watching history unfold makes it worth a go -- particularly on the PlayStation 2, where there are three more missions than in the Xbox version.