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.