Sadly, the gruesome body flinging missions are few and far between. Much of the to-do list in Crusty Demons was already stale on a skateboard.

The vast world with bandits and weapon-packed vehicles is an interesting idea, but being forced to meander back and forth across it just to earn a few scraps of cash makes the whole thing boring.

Fans of a license like this deserve better, though. Whether or not you like the Naruto cartoons, you have to admit that they're pretty great fighting-game fodder -- bright, violent, over-the-top action. We'll have to wait and see if Bandai gets it right the next time.

Can something be entirely derivative and almost great? Why not! Titan Quest does for action-RPGs what "Serious Sam" did for shooters and offers something enjoyable to mouse-poke-poke-poke until Blizzard gets off its collective derriere and dishes up a proper sequel.

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.

There’s something decidedly satisfying seeing your hard work and meticulous planning pay off with a trip to the Super Bowl. But that trip is fraught with so many pitfalls – the most annoying being the rigid scheduling issues – that you’ll need superhuman patience to see it through to the end.

Console-style role-playing badly needs to move forward, and games like this are just keeping it stuck in the last century.

Break ‘Em All was released, rather smartly, as a budget game, and while it’s an amusing diversion with a nostalgic bent, it’s clear that this classic game style isn’t holding up to the test of time.

There’s something decidedly satisfying seeing your hard work and meticulous planning pay off with a trip to the Super Bowl. But that trip is fraught with so many pitfalls – the most annoying being the rigid scheduling issues – that you’ll need superhuman patience to see it through to the end.

Ridiculously difficult.

Gem Fighter for giggles, Alpha for nostalgia, Alpha 2 to see how a few critical tweaks can re-unite divided fans, and finally Alpha 3 for the whole caboodle and sheer pleasure of 2D fighting perfection.

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

It's not as flashy as Black or Farcry: Instincts, but the patriotic vibe and real-life arsenal make up for the graphical inadequacies.

If you ever run into one of the erstwhile developers of Stainless Stell Studios, you should probably buy him or her a beer and let them cry on your shoulder; it’s gotta hurt to see a game you made that obviously started out with a lot of potential get released in such an unfinished state.

Overall Rush for Berlin just feels a lot better than most of the other RTS games out there. It’s a great blend between realism and fast-paced gameplay wrapped in a solid package that RTS fans will love. They’ll love it, that is, if they can get over this being yet another themed WWII game in a sea of olive drab releases.

Moto GP 06 on Xbox 360 is no cheap date, but rest assured that you get what you pay for. This baby puts out like nobody's business.

It’s a shame that the one good idea in this streetball title had to be overshadowed by bad execution and a mediocre presentation.

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 presentation is excellent as well. Though not as sharp as the PS2 version, the graphics look excellent, the audio is solid, and overall, this is a very well-rounded racing simulation with plenty to do.

The rest of the Grand Theft Auto series is dirt cheap now, and offers better gameplay in a far more massive world, with vastly superior graphics. So, unless you have absolutely maxed out on all things GTA, it’s unlikely that Liberty City Stories will be anything but a minor curiosity.

In other words, if you're not the gotta catch 'em all type, this expansion pack feels like it actually expands an already great game.

There’s little variation among the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions of Cars, and each hits the mark in terms of racing game basics such as framerate and sense of speed. Rainbow Studios has performed admirably here.

It's a shame that the one good idea in this streetball title had to be overshadowed by bad execution and a mediocre presentation.

There's little variation among the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions of Cars, and each hits the mark in terms of racing game basics such as framerate and sense of speed. Rainbow Studios has performed admirably here.

There's little variation among the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions of Cars, and each hits the mark in terms of racing game basics such as framerate and sense of speed. Rainbow Studios has performed admirably here.

It's not far out to score Big Brain Academy slightly higher than its predecessor, mostly because the game contains none of the maddening verbal and writing input issues.

The social twist on urban planning is a welcome one. But there’s no escaping the mechanical, almost passionless way you need to play the game in order to be successful.

Episode One offers a unique solution. Smaller, more frequent doses of high-quality gaming for less money. Ultimately, every player will have to decide if 20 bucks is too much for content in the vein of Half-Life 2: Episode One. For us, the quality here is well worth the price of admission.