Flock! is an interesting, inventive, and mostly enjoyable puzzler, with its own style and challenge.

The standout is Pitch Black mode where only one player is our pal Riddick (who can see in the dark thanks to either surgery or magic depending on which movie you watch) and everyone else hunting him has a flashlight and a gun.

There are scattered elements throughout the game that come across as shockingly unfinished, or at least dismayingly unpolished.

There are scattered elements throughout the game that come across as shockingly unfinished, or at least dismayingly unpolished.

Tales of Valor has some decent content, though there’s not much, all things considered. The previous expansion brought two complete factions, with two complete campaigns, whereas Tales of Valor brings just over five hours of single-player fun and a few imbalanced multiplayer modes to the table.

If you enjoyed Ninja Gaiden, Assassin's Creed, God of War, Devil May Cry, Dragon's Lair, Resident Evil, etc... then you will find something that you'll like in Ninja Blade, because there's a little bit of all of them in here. Just make sure that you have some eye drops handy for after all the quick-time events, since your eyes are going to be dry from not blinking.

Though Rhythm Heaven hits a smattering of flat notes, its composition and concept are simply divine.

If you dig the sort of masochistic experience found in bullet hell shooters and beat 'em ups like Alien Hominid, there is a challenge, albeit a repetitive one, in Dead Samurai.

Guitar Hero: Metallica is exactly what you expect it to be: a solid, offhand reworking of Guitar Hero World Tour with a bunch of Metallica songs.

Exactly what you expect it to be: a solid, offhand reworking of Guitar Hero World Tour with a bunch of Metallica songs.

Guitar Hero: Metallica is exactly what you expect it to be: a solid, offhand reworking of Guitar Hero World Tour with a bunch of Metallica songs.

It’s like an ironic mustache or mullet. Like having a Steven Segal DVD in your collection. You’ll never get any real use out of it. You just have it in with your other games to show you friends you have a sense of humor.

It’s like an ironic mustache or mullet. Like having a Steven Segal DVD in your collection. You’ll never get any real use out of it. You just have it in with your other games to show you friends you have a sense of humor.

It’s like an ironic mustache or mullet. Like having a Steven Segal DVD in your collection. You’ll never get any real use out of it. You just have it in with your other games to show you friends you have a sense of humor.

Legends of Wrestlemania does what exactly what you think it should. Despite some repetition and being short on gameplay content and depth, it’s a casual, enjoyable romp through the good ol’ days that put our childhood heroes (and villians) on a pedestal.

Legends of Wrestlemania does what exactly what you think it should. Despite some repetition and being short on gameplay content and depth, it’s a casual, enjoyable romp through the good ol’ days that put our childhood heroes (and villians) on a pedestal. Then is shines a spotlight, blasts fireworks, and points at them with a giant arrow.

What wasn’t disappointing, though I expected it to be, were the John Woo-style quick-time events.

What wasn’t disappointing, though I expected it to be, were the John Woo-style quick-time events.

The Pitt is a much more fleshed-out expansion than Operation: Anchorage could ever hope to be. Still, its four-or-so-hour campaign does not have as many choices as the original game, making it feel limited in some aspects. However, even after considering these issues, your trip to post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh is worth the ten dollars (or 800 Microsoft Points).

What wasn’t disappointing, though I expected it to be, were the John Woo-style quick-time events

The Pitt is a much more fleshed-out expansion than Operation: Anchorage could ever hope to be. Still, its four-or-so-hour campaign does not have as many choices as the original game, making it feel limited in some aspects. However, even after considering these issues, your trip to post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh is worth the ten dollars (or 800 Microsoft Points).

An excellent start to the planned four-part series. It manages to capture everything that makes the Wallace and Gromit animated shorts so endearing, expanding it to the adventure game genre. Seeing it's just a two- to four-hour long slice of a bigger, fully priced pie, we cannot wait to see what craziness is in store for the folks at West Wallaby Street in the future episodes.

It's the same game as either Pokemon Diamond or Pearl, but now with a few carnival games, a nice big cooperative adventure area, a battle record option, and cooperative cooking.

You can have a good time with Trackmania DS, but just don't be looking for anything close to the Gran Turismo experience.

Those few gripes aside, Resistance: Retribution is fairly long, and after getting accustomed to the awkward use of the face buttons as a supplemental stick, it feels pretty damn nice.

Similarly, PES 2009 is a drunken misstep for the series, but because I’m a sucker for the underdog, I’m hopeful that Konami will get it right the next time around. In the meantime, we’re left with a game that looks, smells, and feels a lot like regret and a hangover.

The whole package is very much worth playing through, even if it doesn't do much of anything outright new apart from the genre combination. This is the title, like Retro Game Challenge, that is helping to keep the classics around. And for good reason: everybody should get the chance to play them.

I haven't played a game that is so finely tuned in ages. The overwhelming love for this franchise by the dev team is obvious.

And come on, Square Enix, I know you want to re-release more of Square's back catalogue, but trying to sneak an FFTA remake past us with another title on the box is just bad form. Try VP: CotP if you like, but don’t be shocked if you end up ditching Wylford and his stupid hair for Marche and his.

Going past its flaws, Bit.Trip Beat is a solid buy for 600 Wii Points. It's a fitting revival of one of the oldest, yet most memorable, games ever - this time for the 2000s.

If Resident Evil 5 is a new flavor of game for the long-running franchise, it's also a strong, spicy one—with occasional chucks of co-op wasabi to goad your inner action hero into fits of running and gunning... albeit, not at the same time.

If Resident Evil 5 is a new flavor of game for the long-running franchise, it's also a strong, spicy one—with occasional chucks of co-op wasabi to goad your inner action hero into fits of running and gunning... albeit, not at the same time.

It's a very easy game to pick up and enjoy.

As disturbing and disgusting as this game might be (remember, don't play it in the same room as your mother... unless she's into this sort of thing, or you're willing to hear her repeat “WHAT THE HELL” over and over again), there is a real beauty to the experience.

Since the combat is so shallow, and the story is rather bland in spite of how different it is, Avalon Code never really sucked me in.

For such a funny-looking little game, it's actually difficult to get 100% on every level.

The main difference between the PSP port and its PS2 relative, aside from the terrible loading, is the inclusion of co-op monster battles. If you and a friend both have copies of the game, you can get together in a fight against a monster.

Pikmin is a creative, original take on console strategy gaming. Not everyone may take to the strategic undercurrent, but as it stands, this Pikmin has already fixed its roots deep in my jaded gamer's heart.

You have to hand it to Mario and Co. – they do what they do very well, even if they don't exactly take big risks. Mario Power Tennis is a reliable, fun game that puts some nice, new spin on an old sport. If you can look past its limited depth, you'll have a ball.

I wouldn't recommend it but if it just looks so crazy awesome that you didn't believe anything I just said at least buy it on sale or rent it.

While Halo Wars is a RTS that's been dumbed down exactly the right amount, it's still been dumbed down. While a good game, compared to some of the intricate tactics of its PC counterparts, it just feels rather thin, and with only two sides, battles always seem to follow familiar patterns.

Since the Total War series repeats itself as much as human history does, it’s not surprising to find that Empire: Total War doesn't substantively differ from prior iterations.

A fun ride. It doesn't bring very much new to the table, but it also works just fine and doesn't make you take your shoes off at the security checkpoint.

A fun ride. It doesn't bring very much new to the table, but it also works just fine and doesn't make you take your shoes off at the security checkpoint.

The King, it hurts me to say, has been de-throned.

Complementing the graphics is audio which simply must be heard to be believed for its sheer inspiration of awe.

There are DS games out there that I can only call 'must-have', and Peggle: Dual Shot is the newest member of their ranks—a rocking 'port' with faithful presentation (right down to the glorious burst of 'Ode to Joy' at the successful completion of each level, which really makes you feel like a by-God winner), a literal double-shot of two complete Peggle games with DS-exclusive coolness to boot... and all of it jammed onto the same tiny cartridge, with no compromises.

The new situations alongside the few additions to the survivor characters provide a lot of new and interesting challenges. In the end, whether you pick this up will be solely based on how many of the problems you are willing to ignore to enjoy it for what it is: an 800 Microsoft Points downloadable puzzle game.

Hopefully, the next expansion will bring some changes to the table that round out the game a little more, and strike a new balance. I’m tired of stalemates.

As for the controls, even ignoring how your character runs like he's trying really hard to hold in a fart at all times, the movement is slow and he turns like a tank in the original Resident Evil.

If the the old school Puzzle Quest is mega-addicting black tar heroin, then the new one is some brown weed that barely gets you high and leaves you with little more than a headache and a bad taste in your mouth.

If the the old school Puzzle Quest is mega-addicting black tar heroin, then the new one is some brown weed that barely gets you high and leaves you with little more than a headache and a bad taste in your mouth.

While I won’t try and tell you this game serves as a replacement for Mass Effect or Fallout 3, it is pretty well done on the whole. I hope this means Radon Labs will be working on further RPGs, as Drakensang is a series with great potential.

The whole package is so bland, boring, and unremarkable (and tedious - moving those guys around so you feel like you have a team that can win!) that it's similar to PB&J on white bread. Bad analogy? Well, it's just as imaginative as Blue Dragon Plus, so it fits.

With shallower gameplay, a dearth of content, and some very distinct repetition, the game feels more like a jumping off point than a complete release.

Street Fighter IV gives the series the slap on the back it needs to catapult into the current and shake the fighting genre to its core.

Street Fighter IV gives the series the slap on the back it needs to catapult into the current and shake the fighting genre to its core.

Building off an already impressive design set by its predecessor, this DLC pack only shows what awesome scenarios can be told in future content packs. Its story can feel disjointed at points, but it is contained between exciting missions and just about the exact amount of time you'd feel comfortable roaming around in a downloadable title.

A humorous, beautifully-presented, straight-up, side-scrolling, hard-as-a-Hero's-honker, silly spin-off action-platforming game that has some serious legs—even if its hero doesn't.

Also, this game is long. As of press time I wasn't able to beat the thing.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is a great entry in the series, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Whether you’re new to the series or genre or you’re a seasoned FE fan this is a great game. It adds just enough new material without making it too different.

If you played the first few FEAR games and you want to know what happens next to the faceless, characterless, protagonist then you could do a lot worse than FEAR 2: Project Origin. I really can’t recommend this to players that are new to either the series or the genre. The lack of reiteration of the first game’s story is rather perplexing.

If you played the first few FEAR games and you want to know what happens next to the faceless, characterless, protagonist then you could do a lot worse than FEAR 2: Project Origin. I really can’t recommend this to players that are new to either the series or the genre. The lack of reiteration of the first game’s story is rather perplexing.

If you played the first few FEAR games and you want to know what happens next to the faceless, characterless, protagonist then you could do a lot worse than FEAR 2: Project Origin. I really can’t recommend this to players that are new to either the series or the genre. The lack of reiteration of the first game’s story is rather perplexing.

For all the Blues Clues color palette, the flowers blowing in the breeze past dancing cacti, and a soundtrack that seems to recorded by the Alvin and the Chipmunks singing J-pop for a kindergarten show and tell on happy brownie recipes, it has the artistic polish that Sony is known for and a redesign that is nearly flawless for a sequel to a successful title.

Retro Game Challenge may not be as genuine as an actual 8-in-1 retro game collection by Namco or Atari, but what it lacks in authenticity, it makes up for by successfully bringing everything that’s awesome yet simple about the classics.

Why keep buying Genesis collections?

An amazingly funny game. It’s not actually good, but it manages to fail in such a stylish, over-the-top way that it’s endearing all the same. Although you’ll probably have no real desire to replay the game ever again upon completion, it’s a hoot the first time through and is absolutely worth a rental.

LIT's emphasis on trial and error might turn off the more impatient player, but if you are the kind that can't say no to a good puzzler, there are unlockable game modes to extend your play.

While eviscerating so many ninjas is cathartic, Afro Samurai ends up feeling more like a slick, hyper-visual arcade experience more than a solid home console experience. But still fun nonetheless.

While eviscerating so many ninjas is cathartic, Afro Samurai ends up feeling more like a slick, hyper-visual arcade experience more than a solid home console experience. But still fun nonetheless.

It's great to play a shooter that contains more than just planes, tanks, and machine guns. The fireworks theme gives the game an excuse to take you around the world, celebrating local cultures with glittery explosions, while still granting you the rare opportunity to blast a hole in a flying squid.

All in all, Skate 2 end up feeling more like Skate 1.5. It’s got more polish and moves than the first, but most of the new ideas don’t feel like they were given the time to be fleshed out properly. There is a lot of fun to be had in the freedom of exploration, but the game lacks proper balance.

Coming in at 800 Microsoft Points, The Maw is conservative platformer that takes some time-tested ideas and implements them in a fun and easy-going game. Difficulty is not an issue here, and in this case, that's not a bad thing. Enjoy it while it lasts, though, because Maw's stay isn't a very long one.

Pretty girls? Check. Effeminate guy? Check. Enthralling experience? Mehhh, not really.

I realize that everything nice I’ve said has been rebutted with a glaring flaw, but this is a really great game. If you missed it on the PS1 and you like classic RPGs, then you really owe it to yourself to play this, though you may want to turn the sound off to avoid the bad voice-acting.

While fans of the franchise will get a kick out of re-enacting their personal favorite battles, most folks will probably be wishing that hacking up hobbits was more like blasting Ewoks. And even if you do get a kick out of it, much like dating a crazy hot chick, the enjoyment will be short-lived once you start to look beyond the surface and see the glaring flaws.

While fans of the franchise will get a kick out of re-enacting their personal favorite battles, most folks will probably be wishing that hacking up hobbits was more like blasting Ewoks. And even if you do get a kick out of it, much like dating a crazy hot chick, the enjoyment will be short-lived once you start to look beyond the surface and see the glaring flaws.

While fans of the franchise will get a kick out of re-enacting their personal favorite battles, most folks will probably be wishing that hacking up hobbits was more like blasting Ewoks. And even if you do get a kick out of it, much like dating a crazy hot chick, the enjoyment will be short-lived once you start to look beyond the surface and see the glaring flaws.

For a “deep”, story-driven FPS - on a handheld console, no less - Moon stands out.

There's no way around it - today's standards for games are way higher than they were years ago. A game comprising of just pixel hunting, and doing that as badly as Interpol, is simply ridiculous.

The amount of backtracking required in Sonic Unleashed is absolutely inexcusable, and this mandatory medal hunting is the nail in the coffin.

One of those rare games that have such a nonchalant, organic, and artful message about humanity that it feels improper to dissect and analyze each of its parts without recognizing the strength of its narrative sum. It shows that a game doesn’t need nonstop, high-flyin’ action or an epic “save the world” theme for it to have lasting impact and purpose.

With over 120 total puzzles, Bruiser and Scratch gives you scads of hours of engaging, perplexing play.

There’s very little reason to pick up Dragonball Z: Infinite World. Even Dragonball fans will likely find that the only allure is the fighting, but if that’s the case, they’re better off popping back in Budokai 3 or anything that doesn’t force them to do side-chores.

It isn't exactly a bad game per se, but it just doesn't belong on a game system that only has one analog stick. If you absolutely have to play it, stick with the Playstation 3 version.

Even if there’s no particular reason for it, Prince of Persia is a fun romp through a desert temple. The parkour-heavy gameplay looks impressive and is satisfying without being too frustrating. So head on over to your local store and pick up a copy of Princess Elika and That Nameless Drifter Guy Looking For His Donkey.

Even if there’s no particular reason for it, Prince of Persia is a fun romp through a desert temple. The parkour-heavy gameplay looks impressive and is satisfying without being too frustrating. So head on over to your local store and pick up a copy of Princess Elika and That Nameless Drifter Guy Looking For His Donkey.

These minor faults—jerky background characters and a lack of add-on extras for the sake of variety—may seem silly when we're talking about a gorgeous remake of one of the arcade's few luminaries. Still, the lack of renovation below the surface might make the celebration short-lived.

These minor faults—jerky background characters and a lack of add-on extras for the sake of variety—may seem silly when we're talking about a gorgeous remake of one of the arcade's few luminaries. Still, the lack of renovation below the surface might make the celebration short-lived.

It's informative, useful, well thought out, and exhaustive in it's attention to detail.

The Last Remnant is better than Infinite Undiscovery if you’re looking for a long, easy-breezy romp through fantastical lands, but RPG fans who care about a challenging combat system or characters who are worthy of your empathy will be disappointed.

The amount of backtracking required in Sonic Unleashed is absolutely inexcusable, and this mandatory medal hunting is the nail in the coffin.

As the basis for a full-on action game, Castlevania: Judgment might have worked, but the dull arenas, limited enemy monsters, and horrible storytelling means that we're only left with a poor fighting game instead.

Both Lara and her series are well past their prime, and both try in vain to look half their age. Though she might be worth a few hours of your time, Lara’s best days are far behind her.

Both Lara and her series are well past their prime, and both try in vain to look half their age. Though she might be worth a few hours of your time, Lara’s best days are far behind her.

For all of my bitching, I don’t hate Metal Slug 7. It’s fun enough, functional, and perfect for short bus rides, but I enjoyed playing it more the last six times it was released. Metal Slug 7 proves that shaking down a series for a seventh installment only works if it stars Ron Perlman.

Even with the controller glitches, which seemed not to bother younger players so much anyway, it's more fun with the Wii remote than with the DS stylus.