MLB 2K8 is one of those games that hurts to play because you just know it could have been so much better.

It’s a title for fans of both mystery and point-and-clicks, and, despite its technical shortcomings, is worth the price of admission.

It does some things well and some things badly, and overall it lands somewhere around average. Fans of the first game will no doubt like the sequel, but for everybody else it’s likely to be an iffy proposition.

At the very least, this is worth a rental just to see how well the TMNT franchise translates to the Smash Bros. gameplay style, but it’ll probably take more than a rental if you want to unlock everything.

DOOM 3 BFG Edition is basically an appetizer for the main course that is DOOM 4. Still, it's a fantastic bundle for any horror enthusiast or DOOM fan, or even anyone looking to relive one of the better games of the last generation. It's flawed, sure, but there's almost a bit of charm in that

Brotherhood of Steel can be described like this: "Dark Alliance" minus encumbrance minus magic minus feats plus guns plus grenades. It's "Dark Alliance" for dummies.

The Nintendo DS version of Madden NFL 06 scores 75%.

No part of it worked for me -- the graphics, sound, puzzles and story were all sub-par -- and it actually manages to go to the bottom of the heap of the mystery adventures that I’ve played this year, which is difficult to do given that mystery adventures by and large haven’t been all that good. So avoid this one unless you’re truly desperate.

With extremely linear gameplay, a relatively flawed fear mechanic and basic combat system, Batman really isn't breaking a sweat in this title.

In short, The Sims 4 on consoles is designed to appeal to fans of the series that may not already have a copy on their PC or don’t have a new enough PC to run it. That leaves a limited audience for this game to those who are not hardcore enough to own it on PC, but interested enough to buy on consoles. Add in the fact that EA made very little effort toward making the execution of the game cater to the console audience (and left a considerable amount of bugs un-patched), one begins to wonder how many copies they actually plan on selling. If you can run this game on your PC, save yourself the headache and enjoy it there. If the console version is your only option and you can overlook the multitude of technical issues, the rest of the game does deliver the Sims goodness for which you laid out your precious simoleons.

The low price point and solid gameplay are fine excuses to pick this game up, but compared to other AAA Xbox games, Night of 100 Frights blends inconspicuously into the crowd.

It switches out the series's usual pistols for fully automatic firepower, but its biggest mistake is in replacing previous games' lunatic action setpieces with simple destruction for destruction's sake.

The camera issues and combat problems complicate this version of Sir Dan’s adventures, making this one less than perfect, but more than adequate as a basic platformer.

Nowhere near as good as the original. Gone is the original 2D gameplay, replaced with mediocre 3D platforming gameplay, complete with bad camera system and unimaginative levels.

Since the game is so friendly and upbeat, it might work as a family adventure, as long as you don’t mind a few sporadic instances of profanity.

It's not fancy and it's not amazingly deep, but it does let you chop up an awful lot of zombies. It's entertaining for what it is.

The sum total is a pretty decent value, and a no-brainer for anyone who enjoyed the original F.E.A.R., though that’s about as far as its appeal likely extends.

While there's something to be said about the upfront nature of Rumble Roses as a jigglefest, you'd almost hope there was more behind it to make it more of a guilty pleasure than a gimmicky title.

If you’re looking for a technically gorgeous title that truly shows off the depth of its environments to the limits of the system hardware, X2O does a beautiful job of giving the player amazing water effects.

By employing a bizarre range limitation to artificially enhance its difficulty, though, it means the game, if you'll forgive the alarmingly twee turn of phrase, shoots itself in the foot.

However, the bottom line is that Kinect Sports: Season Two is a lot of fun to play. It's not a game you'll play for hours on end, but instead it's one you'll pull out when friends come over for a fun couple of minutes.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified aptly illustrates my view of the XCOM series, as a whole. All of it sounds fun on paper (Mass Effect-style combat in a 1960s setting) but the execution falls flat. Whereas Enemy Unknown was simply overrated, but still solid for a single playthrough, The Bureau was a struggle to even finish. Every conversation was painful, every trip through the home base felt pointless and every combat mission left me screaming at my teammates’ incapacitated bodies.

I was pleasantly surprised by what I found here. When it wasn't kicking my head in for little to no reason, Twinsanity's a fun and funny game that's well worth a few hours of your time.

Crystal Bearers is a fun game for the short time that it lasts. Though I was very excited about the game, the camera and pacing issues detract from the game’s overall appeal with little to no replay value. It’s worth a rental for fans of the series but those new to the Crystal Chronicles series would feel more satisfied playing the Gamecube original and earlier DS instalments.

Despite its blemished presentation and short-lived overall game time, Disaster Report manages to stay entertaining on a by-the-moment tension-inducing level, and without the benefit of gratuitous violence or paranormal gimmicks to boot.

Suffice it to say, I didn’t enjoy Rise of Venice at all. It crashes too often, it doesn’t explain itself well (and for some reason the tutorial video is hidden in the quest journal), and the endless buying and selling just gets tedious, especially since automating the process seems to remove any chance of actually earning a profit with it, or at least that’s how it worked for me.

Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers delivers a lot of fun, even if the overall package could stand to have some room for improvement. The Way of the Hado mode is mere filler, but the core game is an absolute blast. Using either the original or revamped art works well, and you can alternate between each style along with changing the music from the original to remixes before a full gameplay session. Controlling it with the regular JoyCon setup on either the tablet or the grip works shockingly well – even though the split d-pad is far from ideal. Using the left stick feels natural, and you don’t need to rush out and buy a Pro controller to enjoy the full experience.

Revistronic missed all sorts of opportunities for humor in the game, and so Wanted ends up being pleasant and occasionally funny, but it’s hardly a knee-slapper.