Its turn-based tactical squad battles are a pleasure to master, even if they tend to be a bit short and shallow.

This game will interest people who are into the series, especially with its story that unravels new details about the Silent Hill mythos...Unfortunately, the game has fallen into something like a rut in most other areas and less fanatical gamers won’t be as forgiving of its faults.

It may not have the built-in fanbase of Pokémon, but in terms of gameplay and visuals, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker puts up a good fight.

Empire Earth III’s handful of units per tech tier, problematic unit AI and pathfinding, and lackluster factional differences between the West, East, and Middle East types do little to give RTS players anything they haven’t seen before.

This game had the chance to go in a different direction on the Wii and do something interesting with the Olympics, but unfortunately merely substitutes remote-shaking for button-mashing rather than offering genuinely fun activities.

Outside of the OR, however, LifeSigns’ bedside manner is far from pleasant.

Despite all of these cool minor additions, the core gameplay feels mostly like one big retread. With all of the great new games coming out this holiday, it’s hard to justify replaying this series. For diehard fans, however, this is the definitive LEGO Star Wars game.

Despite all of these cool minor additions, the core gameplay feels mostly like one big retread. With all of the great new games coming out this holiday, it’s hard to justify replaying this series. For diehard fans, however, this is the definitive LEGO Star Wars game.

Despite all of these cool minor additions, the core gameplay feels mostly like one big retread. With all of the great new games coming out this holiday, it’s hard to justify replaying this series. For diehard fans, however, this is the definitive LEGO Star Wars game.

This first expansion to "Supreme Commander" is an excellent add-on to an already outstanding game. [Dec 2007, p.155]

This is the first SOCOM in a while that I've felt comfortable recommending to anyone. [Dec 2007, p.159]

Unless you feel that the (somewhat disappointing) fight against the Brumak or a minor splash of new single-player content is worth $50, the only gamers that should be thinking about purchasing this are 360-impaired PC owners that never got into the fun last year – especially considering the multitude of superior multiplayer options in the PC action sector.

A nice side effect from playing Scene It is that it makes you want to go back and watch a movie you haven’t seen in a long time or even check out an older film you had never heard of before. (Caveman is going straight into my Netflix queue, btw).

Extraction Point is somewhat better than the newer Perseus Mandate, but even so it’s too short to be truly noteworthy. There are moments here and there that make the experience decent, but the overall package is lacking. Do yourself a favor and wait for Project Origin rather than picking this up.

Little effort has gone into crafting a game that belongs on the Wii – very few upgrades distinguish it from the graphical quality you’d see on that earlier system.

Start to finish, online or off, Call of Duty 4 is solid gold. Some might decry the single-player’s short length or that it’s more of the same, but its amazing quality and the Arcade mode...more than make up for it. Infinity Ward has delivered on every front, and there is no question in my mind that this is the best action shooter that I have ever played.

Start to finish, online or off, Call of Duty 4 is solid gold. Some might decry the single-player’s short length or that it’s more of the same, but its amazing quality and the Arcade mode...more than make up for it. Infinity Ward has delivered on every front, and there is no question in my mind that this is the best action shooter that I have ever played.

Start to finish, online or off, Call of Duty 4 is solid gold. Some might decry the single-player’s short length or that it’s more of the same, but its amazing quality and the Arcade mode...more than make up for it. Infinity Ward has delivered on every front, and there is no question in my mind that this is the best action shooter that I have ever played.

What Hellgate does, it does well – few games have core gameplay this strong. However, it doesn’t venture far outside of the scope of filling an XP bar or finding that next upgrade. The story isn’t much more than a thin excuse to kill demons, and the truly memorable encounters are few and far between. If you like faster-paced combat than you’ll find in the rest of the MMO genre, though, this could be a great fit.

Should you cancel your WoW sub and pick it up? Perhaps not, but blowing away aliens with a laser chaingun sure beats the pants off of farming old content that got stale months ago.

Complaints aside, a much larger portion of your time with this title will be spent enjoying the combat, story, and side tasks than making doomed decisions. The satisfaction of leveling up, expanding your abilities, and unraveling the mystery is enough for The Witcher to pick itself up when it stumbles.

While it may not approach the craftsmanship or innovation of a "Half-Life 2," TimeShift introduces enough interesting elements to its derivative gameplay to make this game worth a look.

While it may not approach the craftsmanship or innovation of a "Half-Life 2," TimeShift introduces enough interesting elements to its derivative gameplay to make this game worth a look.

Not only does this Xbox 360 edition of Virtua Fighter 5 have the online multiplayer support that was sadly missing from the PlayStation 3 iteration released earlier this year, it also features the latest arcade code, so it is the most balanced home edition you can play.

The game looks phenomenal. Vivid colors blanket the backgrounds and characters alike, and the detail work, from waving grass to rippling waterfalls, is remarkable. While the plot and humor at play here rarely reaches for anything beyond immature power fantasy, the gameplay package is far more than you (or I) would have expected.

The races, which conclude each tournament, offer smooth controls and track designs loaded with jumps and tight turns, but given how frequently players get power-ups, they end up being more of a crapshoot of who is dealt the best hand.

This cult classic has lot nothing--and gained quite a bit--in the translation to PSP. [Nov 2007, p.163]

For all of its self-referential humor and nods to gaming classics (there are brief segments mimicking the likes of Frogger, Space Invaders, and Wolfenstein 3D), the process of actually playing The Simpsons Game is unfortunately average. The chuckles along the way make it worth the trouble for fans, but if you don’t know Arman Tamzarian from Disco Stu, most of the game’s redeeming elements will fall on deaf, bored ears.