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.

The game feels like it was made a few years ago, took few risks, and was just now released. Now it feels dated.

If you like big-eyed cartoon girls and master/servant fantasies, go right ahead and grab this. They’ll even chirp at you in squeaky Japanese if that happens to be to your taste. Otherwise, though, you can rest secure in the knowledge that you’re barely missing anything here at all.

Even if there are some design tricks here that all developers could learn from, the game's negatives outweigh the positives, leaving this Galleon to be forgotten at the bottom of the bargain bin.

It retails for only $20, which is hard to beat. On the downside, you can probably find used copies of old UFC games for even cheaper than that, and many of them are better than Sudden Impact.

Beam Breakers could have been a fun, arcade-styled racing game, but the stop and start mission structure coupled with a distinct lack of depth really pulls its score down.

But there's nothing in the game that you haven't already heard blabbed around the water cooler. Besides, if you play the modest mess that is Lost: Via Domus you'll never again wonder if the TV series has jumped the shark. It can't possibly get this muddled.

By no means a completely wasted effort, just one that fails to live up to its alluring potential.

Top Spin 2 shares a lot of traits with its predecessor, but they’re overshadowed a bit by the maddening difficulty and A.I. fluctuations and graphics that don’t really scream “next gen.”

The game is too short, and doesn’t sport enough play options to keep it fresh past a few hours of play.

Astonishia Story offers no compelling gameplay, nothing like a gripping narrative, nothing much to listen to (the MIDI-riffic music hasn't aged well over 12 years), and a great deal of waiting.

The biggest issue with Purple Haze for Xbox is that the game simply isn't complete. Why the truncated campaign? Why the revamped levels?

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

Between graphics, story, and gameplay, we want at least two out of three to drive us to complete the large undertaking that is playing an RPG. Lunar excels at none of the above.

It's a budget title plain and simple, and as such it slacks on nearly every aspect. With about three million PS2 racing games and counting -- including Gran Turismo 4 as a $20 Greatest Hit title -- TXR Drift is about as essential as a two-foot high spoiler on the back of your mom's minivan.

Forcing the player to endure 100 repetitive missions just to unlock the meat of the game is an insult, as is the imbalanced fighting engine.

Survival horror veterans will be drawn to Extermination right up to the very end, but casual gamers might find this title hard to swallow because of its inconsistent presentation, low replay value and mediocre story.

Fans of the unjolly green giant will have some limited, isolated smash-bouts, but those who are gamers first and Hulk fans secondly will be better off investigating the console versions based on the film.

Pimp My Ride has that budget-game smell, with its lack of any Xbox Live support and flimsy content.

The dialogue frequently doesn’t make sense, then, and the plot often makes even less.

Someday, the Wii may host its own quality 3D fighter. If it does, though, it’ll be something like Super Smash Brothers Brawl – something built from the ground up for this console. Otherwise, maybe you just can’t teach a new dog old tricks.

Feels as if it's beneath the once-great franchise.

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.

Seems like it is just trying to be a fancy 3-D version of an early-90’s platformer and that just doesn’t cut it today. Too many traps and too much repetitive combat with not enough challenge and fun in the mix do not make a great game.

Everything about the presentation has a rushed, sloppy feel that belies the game’s lengthy development cycle and preexisting source material.

The presentation is weak, the gameplay flawed, and the reliance on insanely in-depth customization will likely end up annoying most gamers.

There’s better acting in a preschool production of Equus than in this game. As atrocious as the voice-acting is—and it is unbelievably godawful—the writing is worse.

Its attempts to stand out are partially successful at best, but solid production values and a lower than average price tag could be agreeable to people predisposed to this type of gameplay.