The nine maps available aren’t nearly enough, the lack of rankings and leaderboards provide no incentive to hone your skills to perfection, and the extremely meager offline options drag everything down.

The nine maps available aren’t nearly enough, the lack of rankings and leaderboards provide no incentive to hone your skills to perfection, and the extremely meager offline options drag everything down.

Mario Party should be about fast-paced fun, which is why I prefer to get my kicks with the spastic, oddly humorous "Rayman Raving Rabbids."

In order to derive any worthwhile enjoyment out of Atelier Iris 3, you pretty much have to be a big fan of both anime and dungeon crawling. [June 2007, p.110]

All of the basic attacks have been moved to the Wii remote's d-pad, which is awkward enough by itself. The bigger change is that the special moves are now associated with controller movements. [June 2007, p.113]

There is little in the way of discernable strategy or skill, the controls are never explained, and they’re unresponsive once you do figure them out. If this game had a head, it should hang it in shame for claiming to be part of the 360 library.

Judging the game on its own merits, this is just what a handheld crossword game should be.

It may not be the follow-up that fans of the Mana franchise have been hoping for, but cool visuals and an interesting story elevate it above the level of an everyday mindless button-masher. [May 2007, p.87]

It's simplistic, and unlikely to entertain for too long, but the concept is clever enough to deserve a look. [June 2007, p.119]

Brooktown High is a place where you want to spend a good deal of time, but the barebones gameplay, repetition in conversations, and fact that most of your success relies on exploiting these elements sucks all the fun out of this dating game. [June 2007, p.117]

DJ is a funny guy, but his games have yet to hook me. [June 2007, p.119]

Odin Sphere’s story, systems, and combat mechanics are easy enough to describe, but the game’s biggest strength is the way it cultivates a sense of wonder.

The only area where this game really shines is in its visuals. Developer Eurocom has pulled out all of the stops to bring out the highest level of realism in the character models and lush landscapes. This game may put a twinkle in your eye, but it’s quick to follow it up with a razor-sharp cutlass.

The only area where this game really shines is in its visuals. Developer Eurocom has pulled out all of the stops to bring out the highest level of realism in the character models and lush landscapes. This game may put a twinkle in your eye, but it’s quick to follow it up with a razor-sharp cutlass.

This is a game every zombie fanatic could love, but only the hardest of hardcore gamers can excel at. [June 2007, p.117]

While the PS2 version shines as the best baseball game released this year, this iteration really needed to cook a little longer in the minors to nail down the fundamentals of the sport. With that said, PS3 owners should look to the previous generation’s game.

I have nothing against games that hearken back to old-school sensibilities, but Etrian Odyssey just feels like an outdated game that snuck onto a modern console. [June 2007, p.118]

Innocent Life is a good fit for the PSP, working well in short bursts or long doses, but too many elements drag down the pacing and prevent true agricultural greatness.

With levels that redefine “linear,” there is no need to collect objects in a game like this, but that’s mostly what you end up doing.

A grotesque abomination that should be burned at the stake. [Aug 2007, p.93]

This button-mashing brawler offers decent combat functionality, yet cannot deliver one adversary that you would actually feel good about punching…unless you get a kick out of clocking knights that are as passive as Buddhist monks.

The majority of your time with Infernal (may it be short, for your sake) is spent gunning down goons in the employ of Heaven with one small handful of weapons. [June 2007, p.116]

Part of this game’s success rests on its simplistic design. RTS fans can rant all they want about how it doesn’t come close to offering the same level of micro-management found in Starcraft, or the genre-bending innovations that made Company of Heroes such a hit, but in its simplicity, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars delivers one of the greatest single player campaigns in all of RTS.

The best feature of Driver ’76 is definitely the retro soundtrack, featuring ‘70s musicians such as Funkadelic, Marvin Gaye, David Bowie, and Blonde. Also to its credit, Driver ‘76’s driving and shooting mechanics work well, however recycled and sterile the content may be.

If you liked the boring, archaic gameplay in the first volume of the new .hack trilogy, you can look forward to more of that junk here.

At the most, this game is great for punishing ill-behaved children.

Spider-Man 3’s greatest strength isn’t how accurately it captures the essence of this hero; it’s the game’s ability to keep you in a state of wonder. You never really know where Spidey will be headed next, or what challenge you’ll be tasked with upon arrival. Variety really makes this game stand out above the others.

Spider-Man 3’s greatest strength isn’t how accurately it captures the essence of this hero; it’s the game’s ability to keep you in a state of wonder. You never really know where Spidey will be headed next, or what challenge you’ll be tasked with upon arrival. Variety really makes this game stand out above the others.