Terminally flawed, a hollow exercise in empire building -- call it real-time strategy for Dummies. There's nothing wrong with focusing on a particular time period, but the design seems willfully shallow and superficial.

While I can think of plenty of minor tweaks and improvements that would make this game even better, as is, Wrath Unleashed is a bold and innovative concept that will delight both strategy and action gamers who enjoy challenging gameplay, fantasy creatures, spells, and sexy goddesses.

It’s a shame the light gun support just plain sucks and certainly steals away much of the potential charm of this title, but at least the gamepad control is more than adequate to play and enjoy an otherwise simple yet challenging shooter.

The XMP modes are outstanding and the gameplay is fast and furious, but no less challenging or problematic when you take the twitchy controls into consideration.

Aliens Blast: The Encounter never makes any pretense toward being anything other than it is, a simple straightforward shoot ‘em up extravaganza, and depending upon whether or not this is your cup of tea will be the major factor in your purchase decision.

A raucous blend of third person action gaming and light real time strategy to a package that is enjoyable, intuitive and immersing.

If you want a decent space sim with some strategy, I would go with "X2: The Threat." Universal Combat, as a whole, is not worth the effort it demands.

The ultimate tribute to nearly 20 years of platform shooters. The action if fierce, the graphics dazzling, and the difficulty is guaranteed to challenge even the most skilled veterans.

The best thing about these titles was that I didn’t have to practice them in order to beat my son.

Like a bad movie you have to see through to the end, Jack the Ripper will keep you in your seat right up to the disappointing conclusion.

Mafia manages to keep its engrossing story and wonderful audio package but loses everything else. The graphics are laughable by PS1 standards and the clunky controls and frequent load screens make Mafia an excercise in frustration.

Even with its online flaws Sega GT Online is a steal at $20, especially if the 2002 game isn’t already part of your game library... This is easily the deepest racer available on the Xbox. It’s a shame that it’s not the best.

As a solo game, Team Sabre is a bit lacking.

Best of all, Dark Alliance II is just a very accessible game; easy to get started and nearly impossible to stop, there is plenty of monster-bashing spread across some really great missions.

There’s a lot to like here: a wide variety of buildings and themes to mess around with, casino design, landscaping, and just plain wandering around looking at the pretty lights.

A bit of a cookie-cutter game that was simply taking an established engine and an established genre and putting a post-apocalyptic facelift on it.

Just another nail in the Star Trek coffin and proof that the curse is still alive. Even borrowing on the great story concept and tossing in some small fighters in favor of starship battles isn’t enough to save this title from its uninspired gameplay and average presentation.

It’s highly addictive and just plain fun.

This is not a game to be approached by the casual action gamer. There is a lot of strategy, planning, and even some character building required to achieve maximum effectiveness and mission success.

If you’re not a hard-core Counter-Strike player, Condition Zero is definitely worth a look. Veterans will probably want to stick with what they've already got.

Arx should take you around 30 hours to complete, possibly more depending on how fast you are at figuring out a few of the puzzles or how often you have to reload some of the more difficult combats.

Control is one of the most important things to truly let you connect with a game. With OMF I was unable to establish this connection and the game just didn’t really entertain me or draw me in. Fighting, the main thrust of the game, was often a chore.

The enhancements to the single player game are certainly a huge improvement and the multiplayer modes are reasonably fun although you might have trouble finding other people to play with or against.

Everything from the violent visuals, great sound, classic narration, graphics novel presentation, and intense gameplay is back and condensed into one of the best GBA action titles of 2003.

A highly polished game that covers so many genres and styles of gameplay that it can hardly be classified. In less than 15 hours Beyond Good & Evil has become my second favorite game of all time on the Cube and easily one of my top five games for 2003.

A wonderful achievement in storytelling, an experiment in horror if you will, that no “scary movie” fan or gamer should miss.

As good a war simulation as this is, it tends to be so thorough in its attention to historical accuracy that unless you wear a lot of tweed and smoke a pipe, you’d probably do well to stick to your Battlefield 1942 mods. Fast-paced this ain’t.

It’s a unique racing experience that isn’t quite arcade and certainly not simulation. As long as you know what to expect going in you won’t be disappointed and you might even be a bit surprised.