Although Mission: Impossible puts strong emphasis on espionage tactics, some of the puzzles you are required to solve are rather obtuse, resembling mindless busy work, while others are downright (forgive the pun) puzzling.

This is the best platform game that I have played in a long time. Of course, it follows the basic formula of a platformer - kidnapped female, evil castle, jump on enemies, etc. But the reason the formula still exists is due to the fact that, occasionally, it works really well. Banjo-Kazooie is a case where the cliche works to perfection.

Half the time you're playing you find yourself staring into the screen at the same old scrap of evidence, no music, no sound, no action. If you like the X-Files, you're better off watching reruns on the television program or going out and seeing the movie.

The amazing part is that GT takes all of this into account and represents it in the performance of your car. This includes traction, weight, load balance, gear ratios, downforce, and lots of other technical racing jargon. For example, buy a racing suspension, and before each race you can modify the car height (front and rear), spring rate, shock damping and camber angle.

A solid 3D action game for your more-talented-than-average gamer. While the story is a bit irrelevant, the impressive graphics and good single and multiplayer support should help get your money's worth.

With everything that the arcade version has and more, this is one of the few times that a console game outshines its arcade counterpart.

Combine equal parts Super Mario 64, Japanese soap opera, Telly Tubbies, and LSD freakout. Shake (don't stir). And pour into your Nintendo. This will approximate the effect of Mystical Ninja, the most incomprehensible of incomprehensible anime games I have ever seen. Confusing, obtuse, ridiculous and very, very mediocre.

All in all, if you buy StarCraft, you're buying it for the multi-player. The single-player is just too short and disappointing...The game just doesn't live up to the lofty goals of its predecessors, and for that, it suffers.

This is the real problem: Of Light and Darkness just isn't fun. Unless you're new to the idea of a using a mouse, the game's basic gameplay, boring puzzles and average graphics won't keep anyone in front of the computer for very long.

Best if all, its just fun to play! Need For Speed 3: Hot Pursuit is certainly among the best racing games to hit the market yet.

I usually prefer the speed of real-time strategy, but FFT has made me go both ways (you know what I mean).

Now, I hear what you're saying: "This Zombie is chewing on my foot, it deserves to be shot." But that's just the response that society has conditioned you to have. So even though this is a great game with good graphics, terrific sound, riveting action, and puzzles that will keep you entertained for hours... As a favor to our Zombie friends, do not buy this game.

Lara is still beautiful, the gameplay is still great, the action will still make your heart skip a beat. It's just not quite as good as the first one, and it's no longer a new and amazing type of game.

There is some good stuff here. It's a shame they had to ruin the rest of the game.

Using graphics that are (pardon the pun) light years ahead of the competition, Colony Wars has the best graphics ever seen on the Playstation to date. Graphics aren't all, however, and Colony Wars is not just another pretty boy. With gameplay as fun and addictive as any other good game, Colony Wars is the brightest star in the galaxy.

I would only recommend this game to someone who would like to try out an adventure game without too much challenge, or who really likes the artifact-chasing, save-the-world type of adventure. For the more experienced adventurer, I would recommend that you pass this one up.

This game is a masterpiece and is worth every single penny. If you've been excitedly waiting for Riven, never fear, you'll love it. This game has proved itself in all aspects, the only way someone could not like it is because it's too intellectually challenging, or they simply don't like these types of games.

The graphics and realism are breathtaking, if only the single player game wasn't so difficult! Experienced gamers will certainly get their money's worth out of this one, but novices should run screaming.

Jedi Knight combines all the good aspects that a game should have: good graphics, interesting story, innovative game-play and superb multiplayer support. Anyone who has a good system (fast w/ a 3D accelerator) will definitely be pleased with Jedi Knight.

The story is so well developed in this game you'll wonder why you've been playing mindless shooting games like "Quake." When you start the game you'll be treated to with one of the most chilling, well-written introductions a game has ever been blessed with.

It's tremendous fun and very addicting, despite the uninteresting plot and the bad acting. I only wish it were larger because I enjoyed it so much.

The selling point of Postal is still its best feature - unabashed anarchy and a willingness to go where other games haven't. The gameplay is average; really no new ground is broken, and at its core this is just arcade style action. But the fact remains that Postal has upped the ante as far as what is accepted in the mainstream gaming world.

Despite its flaws, Age of Empires is great fun to play. The graphics and sound effects are of high quality, and the computer plays a respectable game. In fact, there is a very large selection of AIs to choose from in the scenario editor.

The kind of game that comes along only once in a long while. By pushing the boundaries of gaming, it has secured a warm spot in my jaded reviewers heart.

The biggest problem is that you cannot die. Sure, your cars have shields, but I never noticed any difference from using a heavily shielded car as opposed to a light one. The penalty in the unlikely event that either your shield runs out or you fall off the track is that you have the start from a stopped position, losing a few places in the race. I'm sorry, but if you drive your car into a pit of molten lava, you're not getting back out again.

Hundreds of hours of visually beautiful gameplay, but its frustrating incoherence will make many people cringe and put the game aside before they have even finished.

One of the best first person shooters ever.

Several interesting twists on the classic arcade shooter bring this game up a few notches.

Simply put, adventure games just aren't meant to be so narrowly (literally) limited within the confines of a train. On the other hand, anyone who's played this can't argue the fact that tremendous amount of effort was put into the game design and production.

This is easily the best first person shooter for any non-computer system to date, and it ranks up there with the best that a high-end PC can offer.

The music is the best I've ever heard in a game. I'd buy the soundtrack even if the game never existed.

Mario Kart 64 is really just a souped up version of the SNES game with added graphical power. No new ground is broken, or even scraped.

By far the best fighter out there at the moment. While it doesn't do anything "revolutionary," it's a damn good game that any fighting game fan should definitely buy.

A deep puzzle game, and is in many ways better than "Myst." It takes the genre one step further, upping the ante if you will. If you enjoyed Myst, or are just yearning for a good puzzle, you'll love Obsidian.

The hundreds of beautifully rendered monstrosities, items and labyrinths will keep you on your toes for months. Blizzard is also one of the first software companies to offer FREE MULTI-PLAYER GAMING.

Unfortunately, I discovered a serious flaw in the game after a few days of play. The best strategy is not to intelligently place and rotate gems. It actually works better if you just drop them as quickly as possible and let the great god Chaos sort them out.

One of the coolest features in Master of Orion 2 is the ability to do research. There are over 200 different technologies that you can acquire by the use of scientists in your empire. You get to choose many different technologies to research at any point and time.

A lackluster second offering when so much more could be done with the Command & Conquer universe, but just see how much damage I do to you if you take it away from me.

The fact is that Tomb Raider for the PSX/Saturn looks like a 64-bit game on a 32-bit machine. It is incredibly good (revolutionary, in fact).

The sound is wonderful. You can almost hear the gearshifts as your jet-ski accelerates. Do a barrel roll in the air, and hear the crowd scream.

Since it's fairly easy to find all the necessary objects, and you can safely talk to every character about almost every object, it's not much of a challenge to finish the game. There's only one storyline, one ending, and one mode of play (i.e. easy), so you're not likely to play the game through more than once.

An improvement in nearly every way over the original, which was arguably the best racing game previously made for the PlayStation... This game is beautiful, even hypnotic to watch, and fun to play.

Overall, there's not much to this game, if you can call it a game. If you're looking for a game with a point or a plot, keep looking.

While we've seen some more creative and impressive world design, no game yet has had this kind of crystal clear 3D graphics, remarkable texture mapping, absence of pixillation, and a frame refresh rate that makes your PC look like the toy.

A good game that maintains the excitement and feeling that made it's predecessors classics, while adding enough improvements to insure it's niche in gaming history.

The finest strategy war game I have played to date. The interfaces are seamless, the learning curve is short, and the gameplay is totally engrossing. The variety of forces, options, and the powerful campaign editor will keep it interesting and playable for years to come.

Another twist unique (I think) to Tekken 2 is the infinite fighting area. If you hate the cheap 'Ring Outs' in "VF2" or "Battle Arena Toshinden" or if your irritating friend keeps pinning you against the wall when playing X-Men, you'll love the unlimited fighting area.

While all of the weapons are fun, the best part of the combat is the enemies. There have got to be well over 100 different kinds of enemies to fight against. Each one is beautifully designed and animated, from saber toothed tigers and cavemen to robots and alien cyborgs.

Quake is not just another 3D shoot-em-up game. It's a whole new level of gaming. The amazing performance and features of Quake are the future of gaming. Whether you are new to this type of game or you are an old "Doom" hack, you will fall in love with Quake.

This is exactly the kind of revolutionary title that we applaud. Sure, others like it will come along, some will even surpass it, but hats off to Resident Evil for getting there first.

Where Duke really excels is it's beautiful backgrounds. The game settings are magnificently rendered. They have all kinds of animated objects built into them, and the attention to detail is terrific. Hopefully, with Duke Nukem on the scene, the days of endless identical looking corridors and rooms are finally gone for good!

With its uninspired maps, lack of new weapons and missing Special Forces content, Armored Fury would be a little disappointing even if it were free.

Battlefield 1943 is an impressive feat - it's a fun and gorgeous-looking downloadable game. If its rigid online structure can somehow be made more user-friendly in future patches, it'll be even more of a sure-bet that many of us will be playing for a long, long time, especially if this type of co-operative unlocking of features becomes a standard in future content.

Even though there's quite a bit to complain about in Red Alert 3 Commander's Challenge, the overall package is worth the 800 Microsoft Points (or ten dollars).

Offers a lot for what it is- a children's game where you raise and battle monsters. I found it entertaining for a while but I soon tired its repetitive nature. But then again, you might enjoy raising virtual pets.

Get used to the controls and level shortcuts and you should have no problem leaving the cops with their donuts and the Mafia alone with the fishes.