Mario Party DS does a better job at retreading the core concept, however tired it may be, than last summer’s Mario Party 8. Barring a complete shakeup of the series, this seems to be the most we can hope for at this point.

What you are really buying when you pick up this bundle is a fun minigame that comes with a packed-in controller novelty. [Feb 2008, p.99]

It’s a fun, fast, and memorable thrill ride, and perhaps the closest video games have come yet to approximating the experience of an interactive summer blockbuster.

It's a very addicting puzler that rewards you for strategy as well as your vocabulary. [Dec 2007, p.157]

Several dozen unlockable outfits can be mixed and matched at your leisure to create the silliest looking avatar imaginable, and the longer arcade shooters from the first game return as brief alternatives to the more frantic minigames.

The one undoubtedly cool thing that ProStreet brings to the table is its online play (except on Wii), where you can create your own race days and invite friends to compete them. The race day will keep a persistent leaderboard of everyone’s progress, so you can always go back and knock off your buddy.

The sandbox gameplay is among the best in the genre, and its lengthy single-player campaign largely makes up for some questionable multiplayer.

Its stunning visual style, high concept story, and wildly open level design are like nothing else, even if too much repetition begins to frustrate in the later hours. It’s a game people will still be talking about five years from now.

There’s certainly a lot here to love, and a lot more that you want to love, but most of your time in Kane & Lynch is spent shaking or scratching your head. The problems are just too visible for it to be taken seriously as a gritty thriller.

Its stunning visual style, high concept story, and wildly open level design are like nothing else, even if too much repetition begins to frustrate in the later hours. It’s a game people will still be talking about five years from now.

The eight new fighting styles for each wrestler in the game are a nice addition that provide some great diversity in the characters, but they destroy the game’s balance.

The eight new fighting styles for each wrestler in the game are a nice addition that provide some great diversity in the characters, but they destroy the game’s balance.

This is a surprisingly big and challenging release, and not one to be overlooked as just another simplistic rail shooter. It may not be the next big release in the franchise, but Umbrella Chronicles deserves its place right beside the other games in this venerable series.

There’s certainly a lot here to love, and a lot more that you want to love, but most of your time in Kane & Lynch is spent shaking or scratching your head. The problems are just too visible for it to be taken seriously as a gritty thriller.

The one undoubtedly cool thing that ProStreet brings to the table is its online play (except on Wii), where you can create your own race days and invite friends to compete them. The race day will keep a persistent leaderboard of everyone’s progress, so you can always go back and knock off your buddy.

Apart from looking like an ugly baby conceived in the back of a broken-down El Camino by a couple of illeterates, tilting the Wii remote translates to your car surprisingly well. [Dec 2007, p.137]

SimCity Societies is ultimately a step down from its predecessors, but it doesn’t fall so far to be considered a blunder. You may not sink as much time into this installment, but the reinvention of the gameplay mechanics results in an inventive array of new problems to solve.

This is both the ultimate Contra experience and one of the best action games in years. Do not let Contra 4 get lost in the holiday rush.

Smarty Pants is fun. It doesn’t pretend to be anything more, nor does it need to. I will say that it’s not quite at the addictive level as the much-missed You Don’t Know Jack series (it’s missing the catty humor), but it’s certainly successful in accomplishing its modest goals.

There is a reason many of the RPG game mechanics this game uses are no longer found in other RPGs – they suck. You may be better off making up your own fantasy game with RPG Maker.

But at least the game supports multiplayer; though the offerings hardly compete with the big boys, Wii owners finally get a taste of just how addictive these matches can be.

In this day and age, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a game based on a movie fares poorly, but for a character who has survived since 700AD, he deserves better treatment than this.

In this day and age, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a game based on a movie fares poorly, but for a character who has survived since 700AD, he deserves better treatment than this.

In this day and age, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a game based on a movie fares poorly, but for a character who has survived since 700AD, he deserves better treatment than this.

This is worth a look for Cooking Mama noobs, but veterans might find it a little stale.

Activision is far too good of a publisher to unleash a game this poor onto the unsuspecting public. Fans of the series should skip this horrid excuse for a shooter and keep their glowing memories of previous Soldier of Fortune battles intact.

Added maps and online features make the multiplayer aspect of the game noticeably improved, but if you're more into single-player sneaking approach this with caution. [Dec 2007, p.159]

Once that nostalgic music rings out and Mario leaps into the air, all your complaints instantly vanish. This is, in my opinion, the best Mario game since the NES classic, Super Mario Bros. It innovates in a genre that we had thought we had seen everything from, and in doing so delivers some of the most entertaining gameplay to date.