Dense, methodical, and maybe even a little bit unfriendly, but there's nothing else quite like it on Game Boy today.

The game offers entertaining car combat with enough car, weapon, and track variations to keep players from getting bored.

If we assume that videogames are partly about realizing control-fantasies, Nintendogs is about the absolute opposite. Coping with the stubborn and playfully anarchic mindset of a puppy can teach gamers an important lesson: learn to let go.

If we assume that videogames are partly about realizing control-fantasies, Nintendogs is about the absolute opposite. Coping with the stubborn and playfully anarchic mindset of a puppy can teach gamers an important lesson: learn to let go.

If we assume that videogames are partly about realizing control-fantasies, Nintendogs is about the absolute opposite. Coping with the stubborn and playfully anarchic mindset of a puppy can teach gamers an important lesson: learn to let go.

For anyone but die-hard fans of the franchise or genre, these two games just aren't worth the price of one.

This could have been a great original title, but instead it's a waste of shelf space with just one redeeming feature: it only takes around five hours to beat.

A whole lot of hot air and buzz with nothing to back it up.

Obviously an effort that the developers poured their heart and soul into, and it shows. Everything about it is high quality and imbued with skill and care.

This could have been a great original title, but instead it's a waste of shelf space with just one redeeming feature: it only takes around five hours to beat.

If there's one thing that the Sonic Gems Collection taught me, it's that Sega is out of Sonic games to repackage. None of the titles here are particularly famous, nor was there any particular fan outcry for their release.

The potential of a ghostly character capable of leaping from soldier to soldier, causing chaos in the middle of a firefight has barely been scratched, not to mention the poltergeist scenarios that could be crafted around possessing exploding lightbulbs, flying bedsheets, rattling pots and pans, or any number of other things that could be employed for the purpose of haunting.

While the Rainbow Six series has disappointly compromised the realistic approach that was once its calling card, the Ghost Recon series remains planted firmly in its one-hit-kill, tactical-action roots and, with Summit Strike, reaffirms its place at the top of the tactical shooter hill.

It's sublimely complex and bursting with potential on one hand, unbelievably limited and shortsighted on the other.

It's a shame that Makai Kingdom has gone largely unnoticed, but as long as Nippon Ichi keeps turning on games of this quality, I'm going to keep on supporting them.

An almost completely successful swordfighting simulation. It does a better job with its setting than any game I've seen, and even though it's a little limited in scope, it's satisfying and effective at what it tries to accomplish.

Nanostray's controls may have fixed something that wasn't broken, but even so, it still managed to provide a pleasing, fast-paced jaunt through the cosmos.

It's unfortunate, then, that such a beguiling front-end is offset by the ruthlessness of the game's ill-fitting emphasis on progression and unlocking new areas.

Indeed, Fullmetal Alchemist 2 has proven to me that its parent anime is a good show. But I've yet to be convinced that Fullmetal Alchemist 2 is a good game.

When a game is as derivative and uninspired as this one, a rotten camera is just another nail in its coffin. Unfortunately, the film franchise graveyard won't let these monsters die.

The story had enough twists to keep me enthralled to the end, which didn't require an epic forty-hour time commitment. There were elements of strategy in the shooting, but it wasn't a first-person frag-fest. I would say that the emperor wears its bloodstained new clothes quite well.

The kinetic running and gunning is there and it has the right style, but Coded Arms in its present form seems more like the first few pieces of something larger, rather than a complete product.

And despite the very real possibility of some people being put off by the huge amount of text to get through, I strongly feel that Riviera has quite a bit to offer-not only to people still hanging on to their GBAs, but to fans of RPG's in general.

Fantastic Four didn't rock my world, but it easily avoided auto-sucking and turned out to be a pretty decent day's work.

Despite these issues, Psychonauts is a wonderfully strange platformer. The idea of perception being a reality in itself is the kind of thing I'd like to see future games explore further.

A technically accomplished, but thoroughly unpleasant gaming experience. I'm sure there's a market for this; I'm just not part of it.

Technically sound but leaving me feeling hollow and unsatisfied, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones reminds me quite a bit of the series I mentioned earlier, "Advance Wars." Both games hooked me immediately and sucked me in the first time around, and both sequels left me hungry by staying too close to the original formula and coming off like add-ons or extended missions instead of being true sequels.

Those who shirk from buying Twisted! because of its quirky production values, one-track design and, crucially, its short core lifespan are those whose preoccupation with value for money and dependable purchases is slowly sapping game design of its freedom and gaming of its ability to showcase the broadest and most experientially distinct body of work of any popular medium.

Playing Finny the Fish & the Seven Waters was about as close as I come to relaxed reverie with a controller in my hand these days, and I'm glad that Natsume took a risk (and will likely take a loss) by bringing such a refreshingly quirky niche game to break up the monotony of infinite WWII recreations, look-alike FPSs, and customizable racing games currently boring the hell out of me.

With the exception of a small item collection scheme which allows players to build their own grenades, Cold Winter offers nothing distinctly new to the FPS market. Instead, what it brings is excellent design, good storytelling, and eight to ten hours of entertaining violence to a console that's never had it so good.

Dungeon Lords provides solid, if glitchy, Action-RPG experience.

I just can't imagine a filmmaker putting me in a situation where, once the movie stopped, I was forced to go onto a website to find out how it ended. I also can't imagine how anyone at Microids couldn't see just what a fatal misstep this lack of an ending was.

While competent enough to satisfy hardcore fans between better games, Pariah never really takes off and brings its ideas to fruition. It is at best at second-tier shooter that rides the waves of its peers instead of making them.

Personally, as much as I have been impressed by Forza, I found it to be just a little too much. It's a fantastic game, but one best suited to those willing to invest some serious time into their racing games.

A wonderful survival horror game. The new control scheme is so good that if Capcom were to redo all the previous RE games in the style of Outbreak they could probably convince me to go ahead and buy all four titles for a third time.

The pieces to assemble a great game are all there, but it just never quite gels into the game it could have been.

With its minimalist aesthetic and focus on customization and combat at the expense of all else, Rengoku might leave a lot of curious PSP owners cold. But, for those gamers looking for something a little further afield than the latest racing or sports update, this niche experience is most definitely worth looking at.

Incredibly high production values can't mask a central lack of compelling gameplay.

A fine package, full of screaming weaponry and loads of options for players who live for this sort of thing, but I doubt that anyone who's not already into the big-caliber/big tits run-and-gun culture will find much to bring them into the fold.

It's not especially big, but the tedium of the action makes it feel overlong. The lack of variety in enemies and gameplay make it feel almost like a budget title.

The main problem is that there is nothing new to see. After a certain point, Obscure shows that there are two sides to maintaining interest in a successful horror game: the lack of early action must be balanced in other areas, and when the action starts it must not dull too soon.

Excepting its peach-perfect fit on the young platform, Mercury is hardly mind-blowing—how many puzzle games are?—and can't match Lumines for sensation and impact. This is simply a very good puzzle game conceit that's been unassailably well implemented into a sensibly balanced and handsome title.

This title has it all—engrossing and challenging gameplay, a plot that rises above the usual clichés of the genre, loads of depth and customization, great graphics, and some excellent audio. This is, hands down, the best RPG I've played in 2005.

It's not the longest game, and it's not the most complex game, but it succeeds at almost everything it sets out to do-which puts it head and shoulders above most other games out there, Star Wars-related or not.

The critic in me tells me this series needs to innovate, but as a gamer I'm once again completely satisfied by the experience. Defying conventional wisdom, Dynasty Warriors is unique in that the gameplay achieves a near perfect harmonious balanced and change would only upset that.

Despite some improvements, the navigation is simply too clunky and unnatural for Revelation to appeal to anyone but fans of the series.

It's not too often when a series can challenge me to think of the endless possibilities for future installments all because of a sound formula established by its flawed first installment.

I can't help but think that a little more depth and soul underneath Kratos' untouchable repertoire of fatalities would have lifted the game into true super-stardom.

Even if its opinion is a little simplistic ("Drugs have short-term benefits and long-term consequences") and awkwardly included in the game, at least there's an attempt at a message, which is more than most games manage.

My advice to Team Soho would be brief: raze the series to the ground and start anew. This engine is long past its better days.

It's extremely unfortunate that the Ac!d team couldn't reshape the opening hours into something more welcoming and tolerable.

Sony Online is really out of touch with what makes this kind of game good. It adds nothing to the genre that hasn't already been done before—and actually gets a lot of it wrong. I'm never leaving my copy of "Lumines" at home again.

It's not going to be winning any awards, but it's an entertaining gameplay experience packaged alongside a virtual vault of nostalgia, and worth at least a glance for fans of the genre or the characters.

What is disappointing about Musashi is that I expect more from Square-Enix. The company seems to be mired in a bit of a rut as of late, and churning out average, if uninspired, games like this one doesn't seem to be a good way to get back on course.

All of the elements that make up a decent survival horror game are on display here. The monsters, the violence, the simplistic, action-oriented storytelling... They're just so shoddily rendered and assembled that all they add up to is a mediocre experience.

Fun, but has only whetted my appetite for more bongo-compatible games. With time and resources, the bongo controllers can be used in better and cleverer ways as time goes on.

While my attention span is getting short and Rave Master: Special Attack Force! never really amazed me, I had fun playing it. I liked the button-mashing.. I liked experimenting with new moves.

The game is perfectly, almost proverbially, meh.

There's one hell of a third-person action game to be found here—quite possibly the best in its class—for anyone willing to look beyond the game's off-putting exterior.

With a little more thought put into the interface, Moment of Silence could have been a graphic adventure classic, but as it stands now, it's a really good story, cleverly locked away inside a series of rooms that need to be clicked through.

A pretty tough game. It's not a long experience, but players will no doubt add a few hours to the final tally from being killed and having to replay missions.

Oh, and in a final note to developers: please don't put pictures of your children in the end credits of your video games. It's not like it kept me from giving Psychotoxic a bad review—I just feel kind of guilty about it.

A totally lush and vibrant experience.There's a palpable sense of energy in the game, and it shines so brightly it's impossible not to see.

Unfortunately, the developers were so focused on reaching their goal they forgot that while accuracy is a noble goal to strive for, it doesn't hurt for games to be a little fun as well.

While it may not do anything new or anything spectacularly well, there's no denying that it's a hell of a lot of fun.

Between NanoBreaker and "Lament of Innocence," I remain absolutely unconvinced that there is any hope for the KCET studio to develop a playable, enjoyable 3-D action game.

I don't think I can stress it enough; I really don't like the overhaul of the battle system in Xenosaga II.

Like a deflated football, 7 Trials doesn't encourage you to play, nor does it promise exciting play, it just makes play possible.

It doesn't try to accomplish very much, and it succeeds at almost all of its very modest targets.

Yes, it feels thin compared to fifty-hour role-playing games and branching platformers that let players choose their own paths. But it's fast and furious; we even get to fly our own spaceships and yell "Ka-pow!" at no one in particular. What more could a ten-year-old boy want?

Playing Shadow of Rome has made me more sympathetic to people who argue that killing fake people can lead to killing real ones. I came to accept Shadow of Rome's violence fully.

It adds a much-needed dose of the kind of quality that is not often seen in these days of safe sequels and formulaic products.

The characters are there—now someone just needs to figure out how to create some gameplay that makes the experience fun and not a chore.

There's no shame at all in putting out a solid effort like this. The only "bad" thing that could be said about it is that it's not revolutionary.

To see a series falter so badly after years of doing everything right is distressing.

Just inexcusably bad. How can a sequel suffer from the exact same problems as the first title?

The game for the first time ever actually has a counterpoint to these [hopeless] moments; the ying to that helpless-and-hopeless yang. That ying is an exhilarating sense of heroic empowerment.

For me, The Minish Cap has marked a point at which I seem to have become blasé to the brilliance of the series, at least in terms of its largely unchanging design foundations.

I wonder if we haven't reached the point where games like this can start leaving out the plot entirely. It's a game about giving the player a gun and telling them to go nuts.

And as a videogame, there's not much in Chain of Memories that I haven't seen before…except card breaks and room synthesis.

If the gameplay was incredibly fun, or the graphics fantastic, then perhaps playing basically the same mission over and over again for ten hours could have been bearable, or even mildly entertaining. Torrente, by comparison, was more like pulling teeth.

Carrying on the same kind of rough, unpolished quality into a sequel without any innovation is completely unacceptable to me, Star Wars or otherwise.

If nothing else, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within proves that good gameplay always trumps bad style choices.

Kojima is both retro and eccentric, and unless you're willing to accept that, his work won't fly for you. But if you are, if you are on his wave-length and able to appreciate all the witty touches that make his games sing, his work becomes rewarding in ways almost no other games are.

This is not the worst game ever made, but it's so inept at so many different points that it inspires more anger than a genuinely awful game.

A game about toy-car-racing with a unique although not spectacular racing system that chooses to imbed this racing, like an egg, inside a pretty bland and lifeless RPG that features toy cars that yell at you for coming into their house. It's not for everybody.

More than anything else, I suppose, Half-Life 2 is the story of a group of developers in love with their physics engine.

The ideas and situations in Bloodlines are so rich they deserve more than just being abstracted into an unwieldy numerical system that can only roughly approximate the nuance of a world so vivid.

Finest Hour is a heavily-scripted experience, almost to the point of being completely on rails. Things happen because they're scripted to happen, not because they're an organic outgrowth of the gameplay.

This is one of those rare experiences where the follow-up actually surpasses the original in terms of playability.

I mean, the game's already five years past being relevant, it would have killed them to take another six months to make it decent?

True, nearly everything in Echoes was also in its predecessor, but the merit in maintaining that game's superb balance whilst still making careful additions (Echoes bears the burden of flawlessly updating the screw attack into 3D with great élan), giving nearly every interface a new lick of paint (dig the sleek new menu design) and imbuing the game with its own uniquely foreboding atmosphere (with a moody synth score that's equal parts John Williams, Kraftwerk and Joy Division) cannot be understated.

I was just plain happy with Terrorist Takedown, and given the cost, and I think there are plenty of action game fans people who'll feel the same way.

Perhaps this is just a pitiful attempt to justify my horn dog instincts and guilty pleasure in playing Rumble Roses behind some twisted logic. But who could blame me? After all, I'm only a man. My wife, while rolling her eyes, sympathizes.

AntiGrav is a superb idea and a very innovative use of a new technology, but the jumping and grinding action of the game wouldn't really be that interesting apart from the interface, and it doesn't do anything that you couldn't do better with a controller.

I can only hope that when Guerilla gets around to making the sequel they obviously have planned for the PS3, they can make it the beautiful, polished experience they obviously wanted this one to be.

Sure, the offline mode can get old fast, but arcade racing fans with an internet-ready PS2 will find that the title's playability grows almost exponentially when experienced with a group of other human beings.

The spinning intensity of "FreQuency" and the glowing, surreal world of "Rez" are perfect examples of the synergy that can be achieved by blending traditional videogames with the energy and visceral response music can command. Arika's effort seems to want to carve itself a similar sort of alternative niche, but possesses only a fraction of the gameplay required for relevance. As a result, it fails vapidly.