Building a Label isn’t deep, but it’s fun and silly, the engine makes for some nail biting fights, everything looks great, and the musically-timed catastrophes are worth the price of admission alone.

Building a Label isn’t deep, but it’s fun and silly, the engine makes for some nail biting fights, everything looks great, and the musically-timed catastrophes are worth the price of admission alone.

What was once a breathtaking daredevil stunt ride is now just a business commute in rush-hour traffic. It might be good business sense for EA to squeeze a few more bucks out of its prior success - just make sure they're not yours.

It doesn’t look like it’s limping, but underneath all the cybernetic equipment and flash, GRAW 2 is unbalanced and awkward. The game looks smart to nerdy; it sounds decent—the soundtrack is far above average for this kind of game; and it has the polish of a next-gen shooter. However, the actual gameplay staggers from bad interface decisions and the weight of its cumbersome support features.

Discovering and learning to use the different disguises keeps Wario: Master of Disguise exciting for a few levels. But once the novelty wears off, there’s really nothing to keep you interested in the game.

All the while, the voice-acting is of adequately Thespian caliber, terribly British and snooty in all the right ways—hopefully something that won’t be changed as the game makes its way to the American market.

While the stylized cut scenes do a decent job of re-imagining the original comic artwork, the in-game graphics are blocky. Worse yet, they’re simply generic, evoking none of the turbo-charged, blood-soaked style of either the comic or the movie.

The hyper-realism is impressive at first, but Championship Edition lacks the flash and fanfare of most racing games. The mild weather conditions and tiring voiceover do little to shake up the core game.

And Alicia is hot, though not sexy as one might expect. Whoever they hired to do her voice work sounds hot, in that she sounds stupid. All of her lines are read woodenly, like a teenager reading aloud in class.

Maybe SSX Blur sums up the first Wii generation - a small-scale game with some interesting but awkward new control ideas, showing the difficulty for developers and players alike in adjusting to Nintendo’s new wave.

It’s hard enough to time your swings offline, but nearly impossible in online matches with their shifting latencies.

There's a lot to appreciate hidden behind Maelstrom's ugly exterior. With any luck, KDV Games will be greenlit for a sequel and will have the opportunity to polish up the aesthetics to match the good gameplay.

It overwhelmingly asks the question: “Why fight?” It can’t be for the rewards, which are boring. It can’t be for the story, which is non-existent. And it really can’t be for pride, since without any online multiplayer, you are confined to fighting only people who probably have never played before and who might not enjoy coming over to your apartment solely to get their ass kicked.

I’d like to get past my seeming bias for the Old Days, but every mistake and death reminds me of some comfortable feature from yesterday’s Sonics that didn’t make it into Sonic and the Secret Rings. Sonic is just too fast for his own good.

While Crackdown isn’t long on story or particularly original, it is as fun and addictive as the first syllable in its name implies. It may not be the biggest sandbox on the playground, but I sure had fun playing in it.

The gameplay becomes repetitive quickly and the campaign is over without much fuss. In the end, this fast-paced game falls victim to its own velocity.

While heavy on the system requirements, Supreme Commander is simply a terrific, well designed game.

It won’t change the way you look at platformers, and it won’t inspire a generation of young gamers. But it’s a well-done, good-looking, and most of all fun game, and it really shows off what the PSP is capable of.

They did a great job with the sound and voices. The key is that they used enough voice to evoke the right feeling, but not so much that you could hear the always-crappy acting and repeated use of the same five people.

Its tone is a perfect balance—not cutesy and not over-serious. The characters may be stereotypical, but there’s a real sense of self-awareness and satirical humor in them as well.

It's great filler if you need a change of scenery, but still a distant second behind "Mario Kart DS."

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes might be a far better game in a few months time, but coming from the company that questionably destroyed one of its most popular MMOs ("Star Wars Galaxies"), nothing is guaranteed.

So, the plot is a little dry and chewy, but the surrounding game is juicy and sweet. With a fairly lengthy, if substandard, main storyline crammed with lots of action and neat extra tidbits, Rogue Galaxy is a taste of the holidays, with none of the hassle.

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is a hell of a tale, even if by day it masquerades as a mediocre adventure game. If you have a strong memory and a high threshold for aimless exploration, this is a case worth solving.

While it’s not flawless, Pirates! still delivers a lot of replay value and a lot of fun. And for my money, that’s a baarrrrrgain. Ahem.

The selection of modes is weak. In the 360 game, you can only play through the dynasty mode or a single game or tournament. There is no single-season option or practice options. No mini-games either.

Sure, you get a new continent, ten levels to gain, and hundreds of quests, but compared to "EVE Online’s" upcoming free expansion (which includes a total graphical overhaul) it’s easy to be a bit under-whelmed, and feel a bit overcharged.

You can’t forgive the absurd health meter, the retarded save system, the completely rehashed gameplay, or the misleading “clues”, but you’ll never forget the charming characters, witty dialog, and bizarre sexual conundrums.

All of what makes the game exciting—the gorgeous environments, the giant VS suits, the epic boss battles, and the neat anchor tool—adds up to a magical action game, immersive in its environment, challenging in its furious fighting, and wide in its balance of both human-sized and giant-sized strategies. The weak, inconsequential story and clumsy, lethargic control are the only blemishes on this impressive and original effort.

I was happy that The Shield made great use of its police officer premise, but the game really wore me down. It probably doesn’t deserve a critical thrashing, but the gameplay and story can’t compete on today’s shelves.

Solid, deep, and full of clever surprises and tricks. Unfortunately, it’s saddled with a song list playing, right now, in waiting rooms all across our nation’s dental and pediatric offices.

The cheeseball presentation doesn’t really do the series justice, but Anthology rocks at delivering Metal Slug games. The arcade-faithful translation should delight fans and purists, putting up a good time and a lot of laughs for you and a friend.

In terms of variety there are deathmatch games, and a cooperative mode in which all players have to tough out waves of never-ending foes for as long as humanly possible… and then, that’s about that. The lack of any split-screen options is also a lamentable oversight.

It might look childishly simple, but Super Swing Golf has great control and a ton of courses and content to offer. So many launch titles offer interesting controls and minimal longevity, but this is a club you can swing well into next year.

Legacy looks great and sounds great, it has a few good hooks and a solid story to tell, but it fails on most levels to be a compelling experience.

A must have, and the latest in a strong 2006 lineup for the PSP. If you see this snake in the wild, by all means, pick it up.

Fight Night Round 3 may not have a spotless career, but with such hard hitting graphics and intense Vs. action, we're willing to forgive its foibles and trumpet its unparalleled successes.

Kirby manages to star in yet another passable game for a Nintendo system. No, Kirby Squeak Squad isn’t ground-breaking by any means, but hey, you could do a lot worse.

This game is so bad its suckiness doesn’t reveal itself slowly, but rather right away. It’s likely you won’t get halfway through your first race before the boredom sets in.

It may not be the most open ended theme park on the planet, but it’s full of different ways to have fun, and that’s what matters most. Buy the ticket, and take the ride.

It may not be the most open ended theme park on the planet, but it's full of different ways to have fun, and that's what matters most. Buy the ticket, and take the ride.

Bryan Singer built his movie around an emotional core; Superman Returns is an empty gaming experience that needs tuning, heroics and a conclusion worth fighting for.

What is remarkable is that, even despite these drawbacks, the steep learning curve, accurate controls, and heated tactical challenge make Vegas’ online game the most complete for the 360 so far.

A time machine that only goes backwards to the age when a glut of no-name shooters clogged the shelves.

Pretty much everything is just like earlier Zelda games, and that’s good from a nostalgia point of view, and bad for originality.

It’s a fun game with great control, a portent of good things to come, but sports a bargain title’s worth of content while asking for a full price.

A fairly well realized evolution of the Tony Hawk series. The streaming content is impressive, but no matter where you go, the rickety framerate comes with you.

We’re glad they resurrected Final Fantasy III, but they also brought back all the problems RPG makers have spent years solving. It doesn’t do anything new for RPGs, but at least it serves to remind us how far they’ve come.

A must for Marvel fans, a good buy for everyone else, Ultimate Alliance is an epic in an old package, kind of like those massy boxes of comics you have hidden away in your attic, gathering ebay value like dust.

How about letting multiple people play on the same team, or even letting us play three-on-three matches? The series is probably headed in that direction, but like an obese ex-coach on a bus, it’s getting there slowly.

It’s silly, fast and kind of fun, but it also features murky graphics and very little play value. So if you’re looking for a game that makes you feel like Weird Al in a muscle suit, or just want to see how well the Wii handles first person shooting, give this unintentional comedy a rental.

I said it last year, "Every console launch will have a Tony Hawk game," and while Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam isn’t the biggest or best, it’s still a decent ride.

A solid game with great multiplayer, but nothing wholly unique in and of itself.

While pretty as a picture, Genji has only managed to strike my wallet for massive damage. My advice is to switch away from buying Genji, and get your giant crab with some garlic butter instead.

It certainly isn’t a game you can just turn on and enjoy any time, but if you plan on throwing many shindigs, make sure and invite Rayman Raving Rabbids.

Mark of Chaos bridges a gap between tabletop and PC gaming, but will leave both sides less than impressed.

A remarkable music game, one that captures the two-handed feel of playing a guitar, pairs it with some fascinating and challenging original music, and, at one shimmering moment at least, successfully fuses music with plot.

Trauma Center: Second Opinion may showcase a few beginner's mistakes, but they're nothing to scream 'malpractice' over, and you're far better off mastering the scalpel than any other blade currently on offer for the Wii.

Though it doesn’t need to be easier at all. Eragon is a breeze in six to eight hours, and no part, even the final battle, really tasks any of your elite or even rudimentary gaming skills.

There’s no online play, which is as surprising as discovering that your Ford Fiesta doesn’t have anti-lock brakes.

No matter how you slice it, rampant dragon destruction is more fun than running around smacking bad guys with a dagger.

If you’re wondering what it would be like to ride on the back of a giant dragon, crushing those who would dare to oppose you, go out and rent "The Neverending Story." You’ll have a better time than you would playing Eragon.

So the world looks great, the people look awful, the factions aren’t paying any attention, the wolves are murderous, the combat atrocious, and the music fantastic. It’s as if a team of good programmers, and a team of evil programmers worked on different parts of the game and then their efforts were combined at the last minute and jammed in a box.

Thin, poorly balanced and not that good looking, kind of like Shawn Bradley. Take our advice, and let this pass go out of bounds.

Eragon is a breeze in six to eight hours, and no part, even the final battle, really tasks any of your elite or even rudimentary gaming skills.

Despite some missed opportunities, Medieval II: Total War is still, hands-down, the best strategy game you can buy today. The scope is epic, the battles look legendary, and the increased use of non-military units and the smart incorporation of the politics of religion are welcome additions.

The DS version is a fun game, but it doesn’t improve on the original enough to break it out of the museum and into your collection.

It seems like the kind of game a child could share with a parent, although there’s enough sugar here to please anyone with a sweet tooth, and a sour sense of humor.

It’s a little easy to die and a little hard to get into a good online match, but the eye polishing graphics and brawny gameplay form a powerful polymer, gluing your hands to the controller, getting you hopelessly caught in the Gears of War.

Every Extend Extra, a game that could have filled the PSP’s need for fun and simple arcade action, blows itself up in a miniscule pop of disappointment.

Call of Duty 3 feels too much like a collection of outtakes from the other two Call of Duty games. It’s silly, fast and hilariously fun, but it’s also sixty bucks.

The streaming content is impressive, but no matter where you go, the rickety framerate comes with you. Still, this is a great big game that lands more tricks than it misses, and is worth a spin on your Xbox 360.

It isn’t for people who own "SOCOM 3," either, because they already own all the best SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Combined Assault has to offer. It is for everyone else, though, being the best comprehensive shooter package available for the PS2, thanks to the beefed up missions (and in spite of the moronic A.I.).

The point is, the game has no context, and it could use one.

A solid fighting game with some cool looking features. But unless you’re willing to dedicate a significant chunk of your life to understanding and mastering it, you’re likely to get bored fairly quickly.

The real problem is that the game is frustratingly hard. The camera is wily, and the tall buildings of New York frequently get in your way.

The old songs mixed with the new, the unchanged gameplay, the redundant difficulty modes, the atrocious inclusion of really really bad music videos.

Elite Beat Agents is a wonderful DS game, entertaining but wound up a little too tightly.

Scurge doesn’t stand out, but it’s comfortable if you need a bite-sized action game to pass the time.

Children of Mana is repetitive, tedious, dull, monotonous, and boring. The only good thing about this game is that it will actually make you want to do something productive, just to stop playing it.

A great looking, well-written beast of an RPG, though some of its technical aspects could’ve operated more smoothly. We don’t like the fact that everything feels unorganized, or that we still have to spend so much time with menus, but we love the story and the world and the humongous levels of customization.

With fifty hours of story, branching down different paths based on your moral choices, Neverwinter Nights 2 would have already been a hefty adventure. But with the thousands of amateur dungeon masters that can’t wait to get in on the action, this quest will truly have no end. Despite a few nagging issues, this trip to Neverwinter is a satisfying experience and a worthy sequel.

A fun but frustrating action romp with some good unlockable content and a really short single player campaign.

Despite some minor annoyances, this game is big fun. Something you can drop in for a few minutes for a quick race, or spend hours upgrading your vehicles.

That new price tag on an old game gives us the willies, but we love the gunplay, the new mode, and the creepiness.

In the end, this race is barely a race at all. The 360 is the winner by a mile, and for the price of those wheels, no doubt it should be. The Xbox comes in a distant second with fewer cars and none of the cool online modes. And trailing way behind that is the PS2, a run-down jalopy that probably shouldn’t even be on the road.

In the end, this race is barely a race at all. The 360 is the winner by a mile, and for the price of those wheels, no doubt it should be. The Xbox comes in a distant second with fewer cars and none of the cool online modes. And trailing way behind that is the PS2, a run-down jalopy that probably shouldn’t even be on the road.

As you cruise around the city lights, it’s hard not to look forward to a "San Andreas Stories," but in the meantime running drugs and running over pedestrians in Miami is one more crime spree you won’t want to miss.

All in all, I found myself jumping for joy after a hard fought goal more often than I found myself wanting to headbutt my 360 out of frustration like Zinedine Zidane.

In the end, this race is barely a race at all. The 360 is the winner by a mile, and for the price of those wheels, no doubt it should be. The Xbox comes in a distant second with fewer cars and none of the cool online modes. And trailing way behind that is the PS2, a run-down jalopy that probably shouldn't even be on the road.

It’s good to see Nintendo keep trying new things to refresh an aging title, and taking advantage of the unique opportunities the DS offers. But by putting a little bit more thought into the music and graphics, they could have made a pretty good game, instead of one that is merely okay.

There’s plenty of game happening in Tactical Assault, comfortably framed in adequate writing and a fair look and feel.

The overall package isn't too little, it's just way too late. The same kind of online content is free in other, better games, so the ten dollar fee is out of the question.

A must for Marvel fans, a good buy for everyone else, Ultimate Alliance is an epic in an old package, kind of like those massy boxes of comics you have hidden away in your attic, gathering ebay value like dust.

A must for Marvel fans, a good buy for everyone else, Ultimate Alliance is an epic in an old package, kind of like those massy boxes of comics you have hidden away in your attic, gathering ebay value like dust.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance indulges those of use with itchy button mashing fingers by giving us the opportunity to smack around a myriad of bad guys with our favorite superheroes.

At thirty dollars, Extraction Point feels more like an overpriced mod than a full-fledged expansion. Unless you’ve really got to prove you can make it through the same haunt twice, you should buy a ticket for a new ride.

There’s a good concept here, and with a little more effort, this could have been a good game.