While solid in its presentation and adequate in its basic gameplay, it's little more than another individually-wrapped snack in the great and majestic adventure of human flight.

Trace Memory is basically "MYST" for kids, offering a short trip through puzzle-ville with occasional stops at the lame story station.

Though this particular invasion doesn't really change the scope of the battle, it certainly adds some berserk energy to your armchair strategizing. Trust in Crom.

Like a fruit fly bred to eat other fruit flies, Far Cry: Instincts injects some really good genes into the morass of first-person shooter DNA. In its next evolution, we'd like to see more appendages and, of course, more tail.

But take heart, horror-inclined gamers. Any random two minutes of Ties that Bind’s blood-soaked gameplay is likely to give your parents, stuffy friends or sensitive authority figures of your choice the dribbling shiznits, and pretty much all the first game’s good stuff has remained intact.

Misguided multiplayer and somewhat unfocused plot notwithstanding, this is a fitting end to a great adventure.

It’s fine, decent, entirely competent, but who wants that again? We want bite, and even though this game has Marv Albert, it barely manages to break last year's skin.

This is the most complete NBA game out there, dominating the court with its new control options, good A.I. and strong delivery.

But take heart, horror-inclined gamers. Any random two minutes of Ties that Bind's blood-soaked gameplay is likely to give your parents, stuffy friends or sensitive authority figures of your choice the dribbling shiznits, and pretty much all the first game's good stuff has remained intact.

NBA Live 06 is fine, decent, entirely competent, but who wants that again? We want bite, and even though this game has Marv Albert, it barely manages to break last year's skin.

This is the most complete NBA game out there, dominating the court with its new control options, good A.I. and strong delivery.

NBA Live 06 is fine, decent, entirely competent, but who wants that again? We want bite, and even though this game has Marv Albert, it barely manages to break last year's skin.

The new style is breathtaking, although the heavily tweaked gameplay will leave most Spider-fans hanging and the horrible pace will make them want to cut the thread.

The new style is breathtaking, although the heavily tweaked gameplay will leave most Spider-fans hanging and the horrible pace will make them want to cut the thread.

The new style is breathtaking, although the heavily tweaked gameplay will leave most Spider-fans hanging and the horrible pace will make them want to cut the thread.

Despite its cinematic aspirations and genuinely unique approach, Indigo Prophecy is little more than a short adventure that relies too heavily on the same, bad mini-game when it should be mixing up the contextually-controlled goodness like a dyslexic DJ.

Inarguably, it’s a sucky game. Once you’ve taken Marvel Nemesis through its paces, you’ll pierce its glinty armor with your newfound eye beams of license abuse and try to toss it into the local penitentiary for the rest of its unnatural born life.

Just as addictive as its crackhead father. Like any good drug, the entry fee has gone up (to $30, still fairly cheap), but you don’t get any significant gameplay additions for that. Instead, you get another mellow jaunt through one of the two weirdest and entertaining games released for the PS2.

You'll be finished with the main game by the time breakfast is over, although it’s a helluva ride. The lack of satisfactory length or significant replay value hurts what is otherwise an impressive, stylish action romp through ancient Japan, leading to a game not quite worth its weight in yen.

It nails most of the important things, like the gameplay and the online content, but the game’s beefy, versatile Franchise mode is a technical wreck. Still, its sheer depth makes it a relatively safe choice for patient fans of video gridiron.

There's not a great deal here that you haven't played before - like, last year - and we can't help but feel that this particular dungeon-crawl epic needs more updating and fewer characters. A little more, shall we say, mutation?

This year they tried to futz with the gameplay, but the changes are so minute that most veterans will seamlessly transition from last year’s game to this one. Whether or not it’s worth the green fees depends a great deal on your love of the game, but chances are you’ve already aced this course.

Inarguably, it's a sucky game. Once you've taken Marvel Nemesis through its paces, you'll pierce its glinty armor with your newfound eye beams of license abuse and try to toss it into the local penitentiary for the rest of its unnatural born life.

There are certainly some good ideas here, but its attempts at cinematic effect undermine themselves through sheer repetition, while the story goes from creepy cool to Fox Kids' Club silly faster than you can say "WTF."

There's not a great deal here that you haven't played before - like, last year - and we can't help but feel that this particular dungeon-crawl epic needs more updating and fewer characters. A little more, shall we say, mutation?

Kudos to Tecmo and Team Ninja for adding some great enhancements to an already great game. We just wish they would have released it like this in the first place.

This year they tried to futz with the gameplay, but the changes are so minute that most veterans will seamlessly transition from last year's game to this one. Whether or not it's worth the green fees depends a great deal on your love of the game, but chances are you've already aced this course.

Inarguably, it's a sucky game. Once you've taken Marvel Nemesis through its paces, you'll pierce its glinty armor with your newfound eye beams of license abuse and try to toss it into the local penitentiary for the rest of its unnatural born life.

There's not a great deal here that you haven't played before - like, last year - and we can't help but feel that this particular dungeon-crawl epic needs more updating and fewer characters. A little more, shall we say, mutation?

This year they tried to futz with the gameplay, but the changes are so minute that most veterans will seamlessly transition from last year's game to this one. Whether or not it's worth the green fees depends a great deal on your love of the game, but chances are you've already aced this course.

Most of the game is as tedious and exciting as burning ants with a magnifying glass.

A fairly impressive beast. It might not be smart, polished or new, but it's wonderfully violent, varied and bloody. Plus, it’s proof that two heads are better than one.

A fairly impressive beast. It might not be smart, polished or new, but it's wonderfully violent, varied and bloody. Plus, it's proof that two heads are better than one.

Whereas University added a new age group, new careers and the ability to influence others, Nightlife simply enhances the social interactions that were already there by fleshing out the Attraction system and making it more user-controlled.

But while some will dig the new chaotic maps and aggressive traffic-checking, others may be turned off by the loss of precision and the dependence upon blind chance.

You have to credit Evil Dead: Regeneration for almost living up to its name by breathing some new life back into an abysmal video-game franchise. Still, this regeneration is a far-cry from a revolution and must be content with being familiar, satisfying, and diminutive.

Had it been given a little more depth pretty much everywhere, this may have been a sleeper hit. Instead, it’s just a sleeper.

The only other notable problem with Burnout Legends is that it doesn’t really offer anything new to fans of the series. If you’ve played "Burnout 3: Takedown," expect a remarkably similar game.

But while some will dig the new chaotic maps and aggressive traffic-checking, others may be turned off by the loss of precision and the dependence upon blind chance.

You have to credit Evil Dead: Regeneration for almost living up to its name by breathing some new life back into an abysmal video-game franchise. Still, this regeneration is a far-cry from a revolution and must be content with being familiar, satisfying, and diminutive.

The new arcade-style squad control may make things quicker, but it short-circuits the one thing that made Rainbow Six different: intelligent squad strategy.

Square-Enix manages to spin a good yarn and populate an interesting world full of fantastic characters, but a plethora of inexcusable design decisions threaten to unravel everything. Despite its promise, some serious growing pains prevent this adolescent from truly coming of age.

The new arcade-style squad control may make things quicker, but it short-circuits the one thing that made Rainbow Six different: intelligent squad strategy.

A better option is to stay in that comfy office chair and check out the thousands of free poker games on the Internet, most of which have a slicker presentation and interface, anyway.

A better option is to stay in that comfy office chair and check out the thousands of free poker games on the Internet, most of which have a slicker presentation and interface, anyway.

Despite the disturbing moniker and somewhat unintuitive front-end, the booty of this beast is a dancing joy. Clearly a step up and to the right from "DDR."

Despite the disturbing moniker and somewhat unintuitive front-end, the booty of this beast is a dancing joy. Clearly a step up and to the right from "DDR."

With minor gameplay upgrades and some significant graphical tweaks, Day of Reckoning 2 feels more like a patch than a true sequel. Then again, patches usually make games better. This one damages the gameplay and commits a huge oversight by failing to let players import their custom characters from the last game.

The dialogue is wretchedly forced in its unrealistic, overly ghettoized slang penned by writers who have read every stereotypical hip-hop street language book on the shelf. Expect something like: "My big dog G-gangsta Buck, dog! You blaze down the streets and show them that I'm the real street O.G. Ya heard?"

If you define yourself to be ghetto in the first place and are attracted to 187’s roughneck outer shell, prove you’re a hoodlum and blow your money on more dubious material instead, like a bottle of Old English. After spending some time playing this poser, I could use a swig myself.

Sure, the Hulk is really just a one trick pony of destruction, but what a satisfying pony ride.

I cursed plenty while playing, and it came straight from my own beat down heart. Get your revenge on bad games and leave this stinker in the shadows of the bargain bin.

If you’ve already made up your mind that your futuristic PSP is incomplete without the attendance of old farts like Pac-Man and Dig Dug, this does the trick by providing a smooth, glitch free emulation of the selected games. Just make sure to take off those rosy glasses before you slap any cash on the table.

You have to appreciate the fluid control and decent gameplay, but the lack of depth and marginal delivery should keep it from gobbling up your cash.

Sure, the Hulk is really just a one trick pony of destruction, but what a satisfying pony ride.

Other underachieving facets of the game, such as the awful, wildly repetitive music and the atrocious voice-acting, probably deserve comment, but I'm all out of apologies.

Sure, the Hulk is really just a one trick pony of destruction, but what a satisfying pony ride.

Nintendogs captures the essence of puppydom in its adorable stars and genuine charm, but focuses so much on being a cutie that it forgets to be a game. DS owners thirsting for companionship will certainly find some here, although it’s really just a virtual pet without enough interesting gameplay enhancements.

Nintendogs captures the essence of puppydom in its adorable stars and genuine charm, but focuses so much on being a cutie that it forgets to be a game. DS owners thirsting for companionship will certainly find some here, although it’s really just a virtual pet without enough interesting gameplay enhancements.

Nintendogs captures the essence of puppydom in its adorable stars and genuine charm, but focuses so much on being a cutie that it forgets to be a game. DS owners thirsting for companionship will certainly find some here, although it’s really just a virtual pet without enough interesting gameplay enhancements.

It builds on one of the most solid foundations in recent gaming history, expertly incorporates the second screen, puts the stylus to good use, tells a decent story, and magically transforms your dust-collecting Nintendo BS into the powerful and creative Nintendo DS we had been promised all along. Talk about playing with power.

Neither multiplayer scheme makes or breaks the game because the single-player is better than both of them, offering a fast-paced, good-looking first-person fragfest for either system.

The original Dungeon Siege was a study in gameplay refinement, introducing a multitude of simple concepts that really changed PC role-playing for the better. Though some of that is still here, it's not so thrilling anymore. Dungeon Siege II is so streamlined that it has lost its hardcore edge.

This is a tired, dull platformer that only manages to avoid the pitfalls of purgatory by way of its groovy style and decent character design.

Deathmatch and Capture the Flag are online stalwarts, but the unpopular Soulhunter game - which has you collecting soul marbles around the map - is the only new addition. It all feels a bit bland.

It certainly has something going for it with the unique possession mechanic and clever puzzles, but the linear gameplay, mediocre delivery and short story makes it a house more cursed than haunted.

At least the game makes you feel more like a quarterback than ever before, and that's reason enough for one hell of an end-zone celebration.

At least the game makes you feel more like a quarterback than ever before, and that's reason enough for one hell of an end-zone celebration.

At least the game makes you feel more like a quarterback than ever before, and that's reason enough for one hell of an end-zone celebration.

We’d like to give credit to Graffiti Kingdom’s designers for sticking with a daring concept, but then they went and surrounded it with a mindless action shell. Overly repetitive, simplistic gameplay dominates the landscape, and only the monster creator saves this game from running out of ink completely.

While not a spectacular failure, Delta Force: Black Hawk Down is just another ho-hum first-person shooter, offering a big multiplayer canvas but little else. I wouldn’t call it as unattractive as a live grenade, but I wouldn’t go jumping on it, either.

While not a spectacular failure, Delta Force: Black Hawk Down is just another ho-hum first-person shooter, offering a big multiplayer canvas but little else. I wouldn't call it as unattractive as a live grenade, but I wouldn't go jumping on it, either.

Actually, it’s just bust. While the game's heart is in the right place, its head is severed by incredibly repetitive, basic gameplay and a control scheme nastier than Nero. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but Colosseum probably was.

I just about guarantee you’ve not experienced a game like this before, and while it stumbles in its gameplay, it soars in its style and whimsy.

I admire the daring look and crazy design of Flipnic, but the sparse tables and occasionally frustrating missions dull its polish.

It’s silly to think that a team like USC, with so many returning stars, would have the same number of impact players as Cal. Instead of picking a lucky number and binding every team to it, the designers should have bound the number of impact players to some transitional stat, like returning upper-classmen.

It's silly to think that a team like USC, with so many returning stars, would have the same number of impact players as Cal. Instead of picking a lucky number and binding every team to it, the designers should have bound the number of impact players to some transitional stat, like returning upper-classmen.

We admire the effort and love the style, but we expect our video games to be first and foremost good games, not good art. That's a bonus, not a foundation. Despite our appreciation for those that push the boundaries of game design, Killer 7's lofty ideas come crashing down in a flurry of bad gameplay decisions, proving that sometimes weird isn't quite enough.

Coded Arms is such a weak rendition of a first-person-shooter, it makes us wonder whether such a thing is even possible on the single-analog PSP.

The clunky control and pathetically simple gameplay just doesn’t cut it, and so little effort went into the decent “changing history” angle that it winds up falling flat.

Though it doesn’t quite match the intricate strategies of Lumines, it isn’t supposed to. Meteos manages to be interesting and engaging without feeling like just another Tetris clone. Not bad for a new drug.

Tough aiming, repetitive gameplay and totally uninspired story elements send the game into a downward spiral, one that ends with a very short single-player mode and few extras. This cop should be kicked off the force.

While the DS is a very versatile machine that can adapt to different play mechanics thanks to its stylus and touchscreen, there are some things it obviously shouldn't attempt. This is one such thing. Avoid like a trip-wire.

Even though kicking enemy butt can be satisfying and there are a lot of big, menacing monsters to face, Fantastic Four is merchandising at its finest, a hollow game that's beatable in eight hours and isn't replayable at all. We don’t expect you to enjoy it.

What’s here isn’t really worth the insane load times. While it manages to emulate the console version in terms of content, Midnight Club 3 comes to a screeching halt in its technical problems and overly simple racing.

Even though kicking enemy butt can be satisfying and there are a lot of big, menacing monsters to face, Fantastic Four is merchandising at its finest, a hollow game that's beatable in eight hours and isn't replayable at all. We don't expect you to enjoy it.

Even though kicking enemy butt can be satisfying and there are a lot of big, menacing monsters to face, Fantastic Four is merchandising at its finest, a hollow game that's beatable in eight hours and isn't replayable at all. We don't expect you to enjoy it.

While there’s some good stuff here, its sense of humor and playful vision doesn’t extend to its repetitive gameplay.

Now if only DICE can figure out how to address some of the issues that have plagued the Battlefield games since 1942, like bad single-player content and a pervasively noob-hostile atmosphere, we'd be in gaming heaven. As it stands, we're slightly below that.

While its single-player is a little shady, this is certainly an explosion worth investigating.

A schizophrenic game. On one hand, you have a satisfying, complex online shooter, but on the other a port of a four year-old N64 platformer. Why Rare decided to update this port when they should have made a sequel is beyond us, but you can't argue with the breadth of the package.

While there's some good stuff here, its sense of humor and playful vision doesn't extend to its repetitive gameplay. Must be another Commie conspiracy.

Just playing RYL for a week made me want to die. If the game had emotes, my character would have been weeping constantly.

Although its blend of stealth and action is clever, it's also derivative and boring.

Although its blend of stealth and action is clever, it's also derivative and boring.

Although its blend of stealth and action is clever, it's also derivative and boring.

Simply one of the best DS games released thus far and an easy choice for DS owners griping about the lack of strong software for their tech-heavy handheld.

Sure, the instant replay feature was left out, but this is a mostly untouched Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, one of the best games ever made, and now a version of it can be played on the PC with the best controls and graphics available.