Doom is a commendable first-person shooting opus that's still as fun to play as it was fifteen years ago, even if it might seem a bit prehistoric in comparison to "Call of Duty 2" and "Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter."

The inability to pause cutscenes is a bummer, but that's no reason to avoid one of the most unique role-playing titles on the PlayStation 2.

The bad news is that this edition doesn't really do too much new for the DDR series, aside from a nifty planet-cruising mode and a diverse song list. But the good news is that most of the crazy toe-tapping fun that you found in previous games is still present and accounted for, and this is the best the series is going to get for this generation.

An improved version of last year's game with four-player fighting capability and more characters. For some, that's reason enough to celebrate.

It's not the most challenging of games, but I think it's cute and very entertaining.

A pretty decent basketball game. That is, if you can deal with being unable to shoot while double teamed and character models that look nothing like their real-life counterparts. If you're cool with such mediocrity, then this one's for you.

The dunks are emphatic, the court chatter is cool, the sound of the ball striking the rim is excellent, and the action is fast-paced, realistic, and just a hell of a lot of fun. And thankfully, the rest of the modes are also quite entertaining. The franchise mode, dubbed Association, is deep and rewarding.

The game just has a smooth, arcade flow that I really appreciate. The action's fast paced, it's really easy to score, but at the same time, the defense is smart enough to pick off bad passes and swat horrible shots.

Whoever was in charge of programming the AI fell asleep at the wheel. The computer is at time[s] such an unholy bastard that playing against it makes me want slam my PSP against a wall. The AI will do whatever is necessary to make sure that you lose.

The card battle system is still very good, and the game has a better emphasis on character design and storyline. However, some of it feels like it's borrowed from the first game, including various play mechanics and several locations.

The game's not a head-turner in the way of graphics and sound, and the AI can be a pain at times with some odd calls, but the Xbox Live Camera and multiplayer options still make this a game of poker worth ante-ing up to, especially if you're a poker enthusiast.

The visuals are absolutely astounding, like a fine painting brought to life, and the gameplay has touches of sheer genius, including the introduction of the "celestial brush" and an efficient, if simple, combat engine. Okami is one of the best games of the year.

Irresistibly charming.

A moderately engaging shooter with some interesting power-ups and lots of enemies to shoot at. The bad news is that the creativity is muted by underdevelopment.

Between the missions, the tightened gameplay, and the various fighters scattered in the game, there's fun to be had for hours on end...especially if you bring over your fighting fanatic friends and get some old-school SNK brawling on. 2-D, 3-D, who cares? It's about the power of the punch, and King of Fighters 2006 packs a pretty good wallop.

Samurai Warriors 2 only has a couple of things to make it feel different- the addition of a Monopoly-esque board game and a purchasing power-up system that, sadly, has little effect on the gameplay. Past that, it's the same hack n' slash game you've been playing for years, with very little changes or features to signify its presence on a next-gen format.

Company of Heroes should be described as a work of RTS art.

A serviceable shooter that arcade fans should moderately enjoy. But if all you have are a certain amount of points to spend in the XBLA field, I suggest going with "Time Pilot" first. This game's fuel seems to run out quicker than it lets on.

If Joint Task Force is remembered years from now, it will be because it has a really good theme, with some nice ideas, but overall bad execution. That is, unless people are far more distracted by the bad voice acting.

Despite the implications of its poorly designed map, Mega Man ZX is still extremely enjoyable and rewarding.

An odd combination of racing and combat that really doesn't satisfy fans of either genre.

Most of the mini-games are either boring or poorly controlled, and there's so few of them that they all get old pretty fast.

It's not cool getting all the way to the end of a dish and losing because of some tech failure. But for the most part, things work quite well, and Cooking Mama is a steal at $19.99.

This third-person action game is filled with jokes that fall flat, shoddy production values, and offensive stereotypes.

An extremely polished role-playing game, it doesn't necessarily do anything new for the genre, but what it does is handled well.

The stories for both are absolute garbage, but the smooth 3D engine is pretty impressive on the tiny hand held.

The game is easy, and I really enjoyed the graphics and story line. The only things that really bothered me were that when you repeated any missions, there was Alfred saying the same things over and over and over again. That got annoying.

A cute and fun title, perfect for young gamers, and fun for parents too.