The Serpent’s Curse might be a little bit like the recent Veromica Mars movie, where if you’re a fan of the series then you might be happy enough just seeing what George and Nico are up to. But for everybody else, there isn’t much to get excited about, and there are probably better options out there for your gaming time and money.

All in all this is a great game with solid gameplay, beautiful worlds, tons of customization, and an excellent multiplayer component.

Considering it contains less than two thirds of the number of songs offered in Guitar Hero II, it really should have been at least $10 cheaper.

Its light-hearted approach is suitable to that type of play and I imagine Motocross will find a good niche there because of its Saturday morning cartoon treatment of motorcycle racing.

While it has good graphics, awesome sound and decent play, the brevity of gameplay winds up selling this title short in the end.

The story isn't much, but the game itself is always fun to play - providing a strong, but fair challenge as you progress, while delivering the most thrilling car chases in gaming.

Maybe the only real progress that EA Canada has made this year is the college basketball atmosphere. However it doesn’t make up for the other overlooks.

It’s a classic rainy day rental and in that capacity, as an unpretentious shoot-em-up, it works just fine.

The Conduit is a noble experiment. It's a great engine, and I look forward to future games that use it. The multiplayer, glitchy though it may be, is the real reason to pick it up, and it's fun enough to justify the purchase.

If there were a category for set design and creativity, this game would be one of the forerunners for most creative of the year.

It's imaginative, it controls well, and the puzzles are solid and challenging without being repetitive. It's simply that a basic weakness in the engine makes The Haunted Mansion a far more frustrating experience than it really needs to be.

MagnaCarta 2 is a game with potential that is regrettably marred by its cliché storyline and characters.

It's a solid basis for future 3D games, and the engine itself isn't flawed. This isn't a great fighting game, or even a great King of Fighters game, but I've had some fun with it. I just wish it had been tweaked some on its way to the Xbox.

It isn't an outright revolutionary game but it has a lot of charm. The vibrant graphics and animations really spruced up the presentation of the title. Younger players will find the quaint story attractive.

It's imaginative, it controls well, and the puzzles are solid and challenging without being repetitive. It's simply that a basic weakness in the engine makes The Haunted Mansion a far more frustrating experience than it really needs to be.

It actually felt more like a long DLC than an immersive game world.

So, if you've always wanted to try making a game for the PS2, or are just interested in design at all, then you should consider checking this out. Otherwise it's probably not for you. It all comes down to desire and imagination.

Getting Up is a solid game, but not spectacular in any way outside of the tagging interface. It also does a lot of things well, but features a disturbing amount of product placement that takes you right out of the adventure while also needing some fine-tuning with its controls and camera.

The newly added depth to not only your offensive attacks, but also your defensive options allows battles to feel fresh and rewarding.

The game is literally begging for a random scenario generator. Truth be told, creating one shouldn't be too hard either.

Purists of the comic should take heart, because the infamous sonic clap and ground smashing jump are included, along with a number of other moves that take advantage of his fury. In fact, attacking builds up a rage meter, which allows you to boost your damage or unleash a super-powerful attack towards your enemies.

A fun game, but fans of this type of game might be best to either break out their dusty Super NESes or N64s and play one of the Mario Kart titles ... or wait until Mario Kart: Double Dash!! comes out for GameCube.

A brand-new copy of Earth Defense Force runs you $50, which is one of the best entertainment values out there so far this year. As long as you can overcome your own biases and enjoy some old-fashioned plotless alien blasting, you’ll get hours of fun out of Earth Defense Force 2025.

It’s almost arcade-like, perhaps appealing more strongly to FPS players looking for a change of pace than the average RTS player.

The racing itself is reasonably good as are the graphics – despite them having a lot of little flaws. The sound design is solid, but the soundtrack lacks any soul and that holds true for the voice work. Still, it’s a fun time and fans of many kinds of racing will find something to enjoy.

Most of its challenge comes from scenarios that don't require you to have mastered its individual rules and quirks, but which exploit large and obvious holes in the controls.

There are some mentionable problems with the game, like the sometimes-annoying camera system and overly simplistic gameplay mechanics, but overall this is an entertaining platformer that doesn’t feel like it was rushed out the door in the hopes of making some quick cash.

The game is literally begging for a random scenario generator. Truth be told, creating one shouldn't be too hard either.