It's all about the gameplay, and Gears of War delivers in that department so completely that it wouldn't matter if you were playing the game in 16 bit graphics. But you're not. And Gears of War's glorious presentation - everything from the sound effects to the art direction to the awesomely dark storyline - only enhances what lies at the heart of Gears' destroyed beauty: the gameplay.

This game is quirky and cool, but just isn't substantial enough to make an explosive impact. For the best of both worlds, buy Lumines II and play the included Every Extend Extra demo.

Casual players may find the game entirely too complicated. It’s not an easy game to pick up if you haven’t been playing the series since day one.

While there isn’t a lot of innovation since the last version, there is enough action—both new and old—to assure the series’ place as one of the premiere online shooters on the system.

Even if you don’t find all the vulgar, absurd, and criminal stereotypes of Italian-Americans in the Sopranos offensive, the number of brain cells you’ll lose due to the idiotic gameplay, terrible graphics, and headache-inducing frame rate is enough to enrage anyone.

Take it all together, though, and it's a pretty clear snapshot of what made Sega's 16-bit console worth remembering. It's a great nostalgia trip, an even better history lesson, and hopefully the first in a long series of Genny revivals.

But the truly useful game play additions show that this publisher actually listens to its fan base – the superb new music lineup is just icing.

The real problem is the bland graphics, micromanagement, and repetitive gameplay. Good RTS games know that and tend to create missions you can complete in a variety of ways. Not so here.

If the next installment once again offers only incremental improvements, we're knocking somebody's lights out.

Dodgy track list aside, this is a consistently fun and often funny title that keeps the charm and oddity of the Japanese original intact. It's also one of those games that could only work this well on the Nintendo DS, and it's difficult to resist these Agents' combination of charm and dance prowess.

Though less challenging than "1503 AD", 1701 AD is a much more engrossing game.

The major control issues are a hurdle many gamers won’t want to overcome. They ruin what would be an otherwise fun game.

As for the adventure, it demands to be savored and not discussed. Amazing graphics power gorgeous cut-scenes filled with sky-choking ships, huge vaguely futuristic cities, and stunning natural landscapes. And, as beautiful as it looks, it plays even better.

This game, unfortunately, tries too hard to play true to its D&D roots to be able to offer much appeal to casual gamers.

Gameplay as a whole is woefully unbalanced, leading to death after death for no good reason. Each time, you will question your desire to persevere; it's a losing battle.

Our beef is more with the choice of porting it to the PSP and then skimping on multiplayer. Without easy multiplayer match-ups, the game just doesn’t have legs.

Most weapons, like the enemy-seeking suicide hamsters, are worth the effort.

The story doesn’t make much sense, and there are many truisms at work here, but the gameplay and presentation are phenomenal, and both the single and multiplayer aspects of the game are impressive.

A good puzzler, but not a great one. The biggest problem is the learning curve. It’s not that steep, but it’s bad enough to leave the player feeling sour after the first couple of plays.

A gorgeously fast racer, with plenty of compelling action and a surprisingly meaty single player game.

The game makes no attempt to advance the gameplay or design of the series—it’s simply a smaller version of the original "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City."

FIFA 07 will still please enthusiasts with its enhanced ball control and realistic play, but it’s hard to validate this game as "the season" when it would have benefited from more seasoning.

Dungeon Siege lovers, however, might appreciate the accurate look and feel of Throne of Agony, but won’t appreciate how the core RPG elements like in depth character creation and party-based exploration have been discarded.

For now, though, PSU’s online half gets a thumbs-up. What made the original PSO a hit is still there – fun cooperative combat, smooth social interaction, and lots of loot to grab.

There’s a little Crimson Skies, a little Starfox, and even some Diddy Kong Racing. They took a bunch of good ideas from those titles and assembled a rock solid action game for the younger set.

The entire franchise starts off with a very clever notion that’s then buried under layers of boring, familiar ones.

Where most super-hero games are satisfied with mediocrity, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance aims high and blasts its target into smithereens. 'Nuff said!

Simply put, if you disliked Empire at War, Forces of Corruption isn’t going to change your mind. However, if you want to get a little more life out of this quirky little strategy game set in the Star Wars universe, Forces of Corruption is a perfectly adequate expansion pack.