It's the best SRPG I've played in years and crushes just about everything else on portables, straight up... if you don't get that PSP back and give it a shot, you're missing out, bro.

In a world of generic RPGs with cookie cutter plots and characters, Persona 3 is like a breath of fresh air—a game that marches to a different drummer and is worth playing because of it.

Heroes of Mana feels like Dawn of Mana, take two. It's gorgeous and somewhat interesting, but undermined by basic flaws in its ability to let players see what's going on. Here's hoping there's no take three in the works.

It doesn't re-invent the wheel, but it does provide a solid football experience.

The concept of a game that joins dancing and karaoke sounds intriguing on paper, and if Boogie had managed to capitalize on its strange mix of gameplay ideas it might have been pretty enjoyable in practice.

It may sound strange, but the developers of Brave Story: New Traveler have created an above-average experience by taking a perfectly average formula and making absolutely no errors in its execution.

But for those of us who play games with the controllers that came with the system, NASCAR 08 is just too flawed to be worth playing.

So Transformers: The Game is just a complete mess, a game that succeeds in almost nothing that it sets out to do.

Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition is one of the best games available for the Wii. Period.

And the final word must go to that pesky puzzle hook that just won't let your stubborn brain accept defeat.

WarTech: Senko no Ronde is a trite piece of airy piffle with nothing meaty to recommend it.

Plunder-by-panic and slippery experience points are intriguing, but these innovations fall flat without solid, bug-free foundations to support them.

This slowdown often results in accidental death and having to start over, but not before sitting through the game’s load screen, which consists of the now-seared-into-my-brain image of the words “now loading” slowly revolving around an open book.

It's too bad that by over-complicating everything, Touch the Dead gets this simple formula so very wrong.

It's a short and mildly engrossing action romp that, while probably not worth the price of a full game, will make a nice time killer for those long Saturday afternoons when the big game of the month hasn't hit shelves yet

Although enhanced graphics and special effects would have improved the game cosmetically, there's no denying that the mechanics are dialed-in and the developers have some damned good heads on their shoulders. Add in the fact that it retails for a rock-bottom $20 brand-new, and The Red Star and becomes the next surprise hit that's on every B-list hound's radar.

It's well presented and Brave's misshapen but personable face and tape-like hair make him an oddly likeable hero (that one wouldn't necessarily mind seeing again), but for the most part his showcase adventure ranks as an inescapably hollow and forgettable experience.

The finest game yet released for the Wii, as well as my early pick for game of the year.

So Medal of Honor: Vanguard is just a waste of time and money. A tedious plodding waste suitable only for those absolutely desperate for another first-person shooter to play on their Wii.

It's an incredibly rich, unique and innovative take on first-person shooters-yet it's also a flawed game, suffering from a few minor scripting bugs and some rough edges in the gameplay that occasionally interfere with what is, for the most part, an exceptionally engaging experience. But despite its imperfections, it is a truly groundbreaking game, captivating in its complexity, its mystery, and its vividly realized world that stands as a milestone in both imagination and engineering.

All in all, Shining Force EXA is a solid game that doesn't quite compare to its predecessor.

After Burner may be spiritually true to Sega's seminal 1987 hit, but game design has progressed by leaps and bounds since then. Cleaving so closely to its dusty, outdated forefather hurt more than it helped, I'd say.

The worst 360 game I think I've ever played with nothing to redeem it. Earth Defense Force 2017 can't even stack up against the recent Burger King games, and those were little better than minigames on a disc coming in at four dollars each. The only possible future I see for Earth Defense Force 2017 is gaining the notoriety as one of those "so bad it's good" games, but don't be fool yourself - it's just bad.

I wanted so much to experience the same sense of exhilaration that the original had given me, but that feeling never arrived. There were moments that came tantalizingly close, such as the opening battle with the Colossus of Rhodes, but it never got all the way there.

Even if I couldn't set my love for the series aside for this review, I'm sure that Def Jam Icon's problems are so clear and inarguable that even if I'd never played any of the previous titles I would have rated it exactly the same.

But despite its graphical flair and fancy high-tech features, the hollowness and simplicity of the core gameplay ultimately left the experience feeling unbalanced and unrewarding.

At fifty dollars, and with significant locked away on the disc from the people who paid for it, it's the biggest rip-off since Crackdown, and shouldn't be purchased by anyone for any reason.

Based on the evidence, I believe that Deadline Games is capable of putting out something more satisfying—but in its current state, Chili Con Carnage is more like chips and salsa than arroz con pollo.