The game gets points for presentation but falls short when it comes to gameplay.

While it's the best Jet Ski game on the Xbox, it's still left soaking wet when compared to Wave Race: Blue Storm. If you have both consoles, leave Carve in your wake.

Engaging, if not innovative.

With the lack of an online death match mode, playing cooperative missions via EA Online (only in the PlayStation 2 version) turns out to be the jewel in EoN's crown. For gamers and Bond fans, this is infinitely superior to nothing.

Scores several points for the innovative control scheme that's destined to replace button mashing as the fighting tool of choice. But it doesn't have the interactivity or variety to back up the chop-socky skills, making for play that's tasty, but about as filling as a trip to a Chinese joint at your local strip mall.

A model for realistic sports across the board, with physics, player behavior, and animations that raise the bar. Seriously hard-core sport is rarely this accessible and fun.

Hits all the whoops with just the right speed. It has a solid career mode and a potent mix of open freestyle tracks and classic lap-based indoor/outdoor tracks.

Gamers who aren't familiar with the show won't find much to like here, but fans will appreciate the chance to control and interact with the characters they know and love.

The music and visuals are excellent. And you know what? So is the core play of the game. There's a lot of innovation here in SpellForce. Although parts of it are rough around the edges, there's too much good gameplay here to pass up.

The only warning you need: Watch out for bugs that range from slight inconveniences to ones that completely stunt your progress.

Nightshade isn't the sharpest depiction of ninjitsu out there. But we can't say it's entirely demanding of seppuku either. Some will enjoy the mindless mayhem, warts aside.

While there are many characters to unlock and compete with, it takes a long time to see any of them thanks to the incredibly slow rate at which you acquire powerful cards.

Sloppy combat controls hamper the fun, and the lack of online play really limits the multiplayer appeal on the Xbox. Just the same, it's a great-looking, enjoyable take on a classic.

It's certainly not a great game, and looks extremely dated, but still worth some shooting time.

Unfortunately, the difficulty level and the enemy AI have been dumbed down, making the game feel even shorter on the Xbox than it did on the PC. With six hours of play for single players and iffy Xbox Live play, go buy "Rainbow Six 3" or wait for "Halo 2" to drop at the end of the year.

An announcer might have been nice, but at least we're spared any potentially awful voice performances. You'll get more out of the game if you can get your GBA in on the action, but the mini-RPG isn't a bad addition.

While not without its minor shortcomings, Metroid: Zero Mission is damn enjoyable and perfect for blasting space pirates on the go.

It's not worth rushing out and buying four GBAs and link cables (you'll probably never use all that equipment ever again), but it's a must-have if you and your friends already have most of the required hardware and love multiplayer gaming. There's no other title quite like it.

So many excellent ideas are incorporated into this last outing, you'll be feeling the title's influence on similar products years hence.

You might enjoy the tough love of the strategy phase, or you might be so furious at unclear missions that the game doesn't feel worth it. The graphics are unimpressive, and the gameplay will be too simple for hard-core flight jockeys, but the good-looking replays are worth a mention.

During gameplay, be prepared to suffer through countless glitches, blurry textures, and clunky animation.

If you expect the budget price to reflect the game's poor online performance, you shouldn't be too disappointed. If you demand the same performance and quality in your games that you do in your cars, you'll probably want to pass this one over.

Some may say that Dark Alliance II is an average hack-'n'-slash outing with minimal replay value. We wish these critics the best with their crack habit.

A challenging, yet rewarding experience that encourages players to explore every nook and cranny. New jacks might want to step back, but seasoned pros will find plenty of challenge.

It's accessible, fun, and technically impressive, making it one of the better strategy games we've played in quite some time. Plus, it has laser weaponry and an angry Scotsman.

When you play it in bite-size sessions, you'll appreciate wading into a sea of overgrown beetles or phosphorescent foes, spiked baseball bat swinging. Despite a few design shortfalls, the gameplay succeeds admirably, as does its presentation.

A rental and possible purchase for fans. For anyone else, "hack Part 4: Quarantine is a repetitive action-RPG that isn't as interesting as its concept and is almost impossible to enjoy independently of the series.

All of these clichéd mission objectives wouldn't be so bad if the play mechanics were compelling. Instead, you just bolt around trying to shoot at enemies with weapons that are entirely too lame.