A real gem. It offers carefully balanced, elegant gameplay that will challenge your brain rather than your double-click speed.

It's just too damn much content for such a low amount of money and it's sure to satisfy that crawly itch for loot-hunting and hoarding, even up 'til Diablo III.

It's just as funny and entertaining as its older self, if not more, with new music, awesome voice-acting, and great bonus features.

When the online modes work, they really sing, allowing for hours to slip away into tons of entertaining crashes and near-misses. Unfortunately, they can also be extremely broken.

As usual, the Xbox looks the sharpest, with the PS2 and Gamecube just a bit foggier.

A great game, but not a perfect one. The battles and junction system have their flaws. At times you'll be too powerful; at other times, you'll just be drawing spells to gain strength. But the long ending that waits in store will make up for most of the negatives.

The season closes extremely well and develops the overall Back to the Future mythos in some very interesting ways.

It’s a bottom-line, top-notch, kick-ass portable strategy experience that finally breaks the online-competition barrier, and brings some new and long-awaited ‘dark cred’ to the traditionally cutesy series without losing its essential streamlined, battle-hardened goodness.

While the physics system is itself a marvel of gameplay finesse, Fight Night Round 4 also utilizes consistently awe-inspiring animation and stunning musculature on the boxer models.

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

When the online modes work, they really sing, allowing for hours to slip away into tons of entertaining crashes and near-misses. Unfortunately, they can also be extremely broken.

World of Goo pushes the downloadable game cliché out of the window, providing hours of dynamic and unique fun that a lot of fully priced releases fail to do. Get on sliming!

Just like the second map pack, Annihilation succeeds overall in delivering DLC that keeps players happy.

I simply cannot wait to see the conclusion, and am already hoping Season Two comes along sometime next year.

The long and short of it is that COD4 is both short and long: short in its refreshing single-player campaign, long in its deep multiplayer value. That the shortcomings of each should be the strong points of the other averts disaster on both fronts.

It actually offers less new material than "ESPN NFL 2K5", which struck a chord with its VIP system and Weekly Prep. However, Madden’s gameplay is more consistent and more solid than ESPN’s, especially in terms of playbook depth and passing, and ultimately that’s what distinguishes the champ from the challenger.

Dead Space bursts into the holiday season with the pulpy cracking sound of someone being torn limb from limb. Its visual presentation, unique gameplay features, and emphasis on exploration show that this title’s coming into the ring swinging hard and will be a tough contender to beat.

Now players can create their own school. Logos, fight songs, playbooks and, of course, players are all at your disposal in what is the most comprehensively immersive college football game mode I've ever seen.

Even with a few hiccups along the way, most of them technical ones in the Wiiware version of the game, the story and characters more than make up for any of that.

Just like the second map pack, Annihilation succeeds overall in delivering DLC that keeps players happy.

This beautiful, sprawling sandbox title turns the Crusades of the twelfth century into your personal playground of murder.

Despite its random flaws, the game's gorgeous graphics, solid gameplay and top-notch Franchise mode make it an easy All-Star.

When the online modes work, they really sing, allowing for hours to slip away into tons of entertaining crashes and near-misses. Unfortunately, they can also be extremely broken.

It combines engrossing and detailed online play with a smart and difficult single player campaign, and wraps both packages up in style, with solid graphics and great audio. So make like Narcissus, and get lost in this reflection.

It is far more co-operative [than "Ultima Online"], and there is much less player-killing. But this comes at a price. There is also much less interaction with the environment.

A great game. It's got all the goods you’d expect, from solid gameplay to smooth presentation. But where the game comes up short is giving you things you don't expect, and considering that the series is in many ways unchanged since it first hit the PSX back in 1997, that’s a shame.

The most amazing part is the environmental audio. The intermittent background music is great and the background noise is fantastic.

Despite its random flaws, the game's gorgeous graphics, solid gameplay and top-notch Franchise mode make it an easy choice for the discerning Xbox baller.