For me, the ultimate success of Guitar Hero II's formula lies in the pick-up-and-play accessibility of its controller, the strong selection of catchy songs, and the game's uncanny ability to make players feel like they're actually rocking out on stage.

Familiarity aside, however, Mizuguchi’s latest experiment in merging simple mechanics with mesmerizing feedback remains an invigorating success, and probably more compulsive and complete than any other he’s conducted, even if it’s not necessarily the final word on the subject.

Although some may claim that the single-player campaign is on the short side, or perhaps that the ability to move the camera would have been a nice addition, there's no getting around the fact that Killzone: Liberation is a better game than the original in every way and a standout title in its own right.

While it doesn't pull off everything perfectly, it injects enough originality into a familiar framework to make it one of the more enjoyable releases since the release of its more auspicious Source engine cousin.

Reservoir Dogs the game takes a groundbreaking film and jams it into a formula it wasn’t meant to fit in the first place. Some heist movies don’t have heists, some stories are told out of order, and some movies aren’t meant to be games.

Bully is the same product I’ve already consumed four-plus times before, and an interesting thematic twist isn’t enough reason to sing its praises.

Even if the game falls apart fairly quickly, and has bugs and interface quirks that make the main story borderline unplayable, it still deserves a measure of attention and admiration.

It really wasn’t made with anyone in mind except for longtime players of the series—who will doubtlessly buy it, enjoy themselves, and continue playing it until DICE decides what era the next game will take place in. Which is what makes this game completely review-proof.

I enjoyed tossing tanks into the ocean with telekinesis and leveling city blocks with my destructo-ray, but there's nothing here to win over people who didn't appreciate this formula the first time.

Though it's been streamlined, simplified, made easier, or even completely changed in parts, it retains all the elements making these games what they are—and the fact is, there is such a thing as being too hardcore. In my eyes, anything that can help Shin Megami Tensei gather a larger audience stateside is a positive thing.

Despite the huge amount of money obviously spent licensing and producing Scarface, in the end, it's nothing more than an acceptable title. Better written and designed than most, but too short and shallow to stand apart from the crowd.

I can understand the logic in trying to craft a sequel that does more than its source material, but the end result is that Mercury Meltdown lacks the simplicity and clean design needed to establish itself as a solid puzzler.

As an admirer of all things unusual and unusually entertaining, Rico's bizarre parachute tricks justify the four to six hours it takes to complete the campaign, but once the novelty wears off, there's not much here to merit a second glance that hasn't been done better by other games - mission accomplished, but just barely.

The frenetic battles in Valkyrie Profile 2 belie the flowerlike way its characters unfold, one petal at a time. The story it tells may not look like the stories a film critic like Roger Ebert is used to, but it's still a story—a good one—nonetheless.

There really aren’t any rough edges or complaints to be lodged against it, save perhaps for the fact that it’s an extremely friendly game and doesn’t present much of a challenge for people who don’t feel satisfied without sweating and stressing out over difficulty spikes.

It's almost as though the developers focused everything they had on the art style and equippable items, but forgot to make sure the rest of the game worked as well. A tedious slog, this sort of project is a risky one to undertake since the potential for boredom to kill the experience is so high.

Rengoku is a tight, focused experience not aimed at the average gamer, but it carves out its own niche and fills it nicely. It's an acquired taste perhaps, but one that I definitely crave.

The sort of inspiration-deficient throwback that wore out its welcome long ago.

The potential is clearly here for another out-of-left-field cult hit, but the charm of sautéing, stewing, and sometimes scorching wears off too soon, and there's nothing to fall back on to bolster the experience.

It deserves all of the accolades it will receive-the game has managed to capture the spirit of Star Wars while maintaining its own style and sense of humor.

Yakuza is the best example I’ve seen in a long time of just how much a great story can elevate a good game.

Mechanically, it's not quite as subversive or original as the presentation and some of its over zealous supporters might have you believe, but the chutzpah with which LocoRoco interprets the platform game's basic tenets is entirely its own and, again like the original Sonic The Hedgehog, it is a hugely invigorating and memorably stylish entry into a genre still awaiting fresh ideas.

If they had trimmed all the meaningless RPG fat and reworked Enchanted Arms into something more concentrated, the experience would have played to the game's strengths and been more successful for it.

And so it is that the series's venerable blend of cut-throat peril and exemplary platform action is not only maintained, but arguably kicked up a notch with newfound levels of visual splendour, hellish level design and structural ingenuity. Though far from universal in its appeal, Ultimate Ghouls 'N Ghosts is quite simply a masterfully executed platform game.

I hope that Nintendo sees the error of its ways soon and pulls Fox & Co. out of this interminable nosedive.

Manages to be engaging thanks to its rich storyline, and the typically luxurious cutscenes provided by Square Enix. I found it challenging enough for my level of twitch skills (or lack thereof) in the genre.

Except for the mentioned flaws it is spot on design-wise and and the enjoyable zombie theme and a tasteful art direction accompanied by a good soundtrack ranging from creepy keyboard-tunes to spot on wishy-washy mall muzak helps to propel a great atmosphere, which is just satirical enough to avoid taking itself too seriously.

One of the PlayStation 2 's best fighters in a portable format, and it made the jump without sacrificing a bit of the quality.