My uneasy feelings on Madden as a premiere example of videogame-as-renewable-commodity aside, the series continues its slow and steady march of progress.

It's over too soon, but that speaks more to Clyde's addictiveness than to the brevity of the game.

Even if Prey’s story didn’t leave me breathless from the masterful blend of sight and sound, I at least remained damned entertained. Sometimes that’s all you can really ask for.

Legend actually has a coherent plot that makes sense, even as fantastical things arise, which is more than I can say for the previous Tomb Raider titles, which seemed to be little more than glorified excuses to eyeball Lara's sweater puppies (nostalgists beware: they ain't what they used to be).

With smooth visuals, a gripping plot (when not relegated to Disney-land), and a mostly-captivating soundtrack, Kingdom Hearts II is a title any adventure/RPG/fun-loving gamer will desire to add to their collection, despite not shining as well as the original.

A truly wonderful and immersive experience.

Fans of the genre will easily get over 40 hours of play. Multi-player fanatics may double or triple that time frame. Simply put, if you are a fan of FPS games, you MUST add this game to your collection.

If you can look past these flaws, you'll discover what I would call one of the best PlayStation 2 games so far this year. As an impressive technical demo it rivals even the next-gen stuff we're seeing on the market now, and the gameplay fills a gap in the genre that has long been craved. If you enjoy FPS games, then I can easily recommend Black for rent or purchase, and anxiously await a potential next-gen sequel.

The game is a solid career sim.

By tying the graphics in so closely with the gameplay, King Kong actually makes strong visuals an integral part of the cinematic experience, and naturally the Xbox 360 port gets the edge over the other platforms.

12 hours ain't bad for a single-player campaign, but I hope that's not going to become the standard for solo action on 360, especially wth that 20% markup in game prices for third-party titles.

It will give you a ton of value as a single player game. It's also a great first effort for the genre on the next gen system.

Gotham also sounds great. although I generally keep the soundtrack muted in the background in favor of Live chatter (when applicable) and the sounds of the race, which are as spectacular as ever.

I cannot say enough about this game. It is hands down the best basketball game I've ever played on any system.

Raises the bar from what to expect from Media Vision, and leaves a lot for Wild Arms: the 4th Detonator to live up to.

It all boils down to the extremely high quality and production values of this title. The gameplay IS a bit old-school and the story isn’t extremely intricate, but that’s part of the magic to behold. Don’t let anything turn you away from trying out Square Enix’s latest blockbuster.

Mario Kart DS takes the best of all of the Mario Kart games and puts them together in a game people will still be playing when the next generation of Gameboy comes out.

While running the studio does boil down too quickly into lather-rinse-repeat patterns of tycoon-style management, the moviemaking part of the game gives you an almost endless supply of replayability.

There are a lot of good things in this game and I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed to see Neversoft revisit this franchise again, hopefully polishing the rough edges.

I would have liked to see a little more variety in the level design, and just a bit more of the “over the top” craziness of the original, but I still enjoyed the single player missions enough to rate the game highly.

If you're a Ratchet fan, Deadlocked is still worth picking up, but rather than being a meaty new adventure in the series, it will probably serve mostly to deepen your nostalgia for its predecessors...not that that's a bad thing. That co-op play sure is nifty, though.

Highly enjoyable and infinitely replayable. It is easily the best game that I’ve played this year.

The true value of Battlefield 2 is in how nicely it panders to a crowd that may never have cared for the military shooter genre before.

Another fantastic script with more one liners and jokes than should be allowed.

If you keep in mind that this is aimed at a younger audience, even an older gamer, particularly a parent sharing the experience with a child, can find a lot to enjoy.

More importantly, they also nailed all the aspects that made the film so great, and the much larger adventure their tinkering yielded is certainly appreciated.

F.E.A.R. is just polished, period. If you have the system to handle the game, it is a must have for all gamers.

Quake 4 is a fun game to play. The action is beautiful and fast paced, and Raven did a great job creating a foreboding atmosphere. However, it does not belong in the current FPS upper echelon.

I wish more games had the voice acting and overall audio quality displayed in Earned in Blood.

It's a hockey sim - a pretty darned good one, warts and all - and having a hockey sim in which I can lose myself has been a dream of mine ever since I first spent a weekend with Front Office Football.

With the tremendous gameplay that is the franchise's hallmark, beautiful graphics and animation, a fantastic soundtrack, and the kind of replay value that makes the phrase "bang for your buck" even more cliche than it already is, it's not even a stretch to consider it one of, if not the best game overall for the Nintendo DS.

While some of the missions are almost tooth-gratingly hard, the consistency and balance throughout makes these missions seem like a decent challenge rather than something that'll make you want to eat your controller.

While some players may be disgruntled by the lack of action and lack of length, fans of the point and click adventure genre will be thrilled with this artistically-inclined entry from Nintendo.

While the game play is certainly more varied than other titles available, and polished to an extent above that to which many games go, the short single player campaign may be all some players will be interested in.

If you have multiple gaming consoles, I’d strongly recommend picking the game up on either the GameCube or Xbox, both of which support four-player mayhem without something as impractical as a MultiTap.

Where it falls flat is in the delivery of the long-anticipated online play that should be the game's biggest selling point. If you've got enough buddies on Live or PS2 Online that you can get together a reliable carnage crew, go for it. You won't regret it.

The lighting and reflective effects are truly impressive, sometimes on par with "Gran Turismo" or "Project Gotham Racing," while the courses have impressive texture work and detailed architecture all by themselves.

If you’ve played the console versions of "Burnout," you’ve played Legends.

I like that causing enough of a mess will give you the opportunity to collect multiple Crashbreakers within the same run, but at the same time, I'm really not fond of the manic button presses needed to secure and enact each Crashbreaker.

"Disgaea" is still the game for which I would re-purchase my PlayStation 2 all over again, but if I get to have two games, Makai Kingdom isn’t bad company.

To award a 10 on this well-crafted but by no means revolutionary game would be a disservice to titles that are out there really trying to rewrite our preconceived notions of videogames, but to go for a 9 also seems like lowballing a title that should be a must-own for so many.

Easily one of the most ingenious games ever designed. Not only is it one of the most fun games you can play, it's one of the most innovative releases of this - or any - generation of games.

Definitely buy this if you have buddies with whom to play it. Even if you don't, you just might have enough fun with it to make it worth the $40.

"Best DS Game" seems a little weak, given the competition, so let me just say this: This much fun (plus multiplayer!) for $29.99 seems like highway robbery perpetrated against Atlus.

Forza is kinda like Danica Patrick: an attractive, rising star that isn't quite ready for victory lane...yet.

An excellent baseball experience, and it's a full $10 less than "MVP Baseball" from EA Sports. Hard to go wrong here.

It won't have the longevity of "KOTOR," and the difficulty factor basically reduces to an enemy health multiplier, but Jade Empire is still an enjoyable romp.

While the majority of gamers kick around inside Gran Turismo 4, I know where my racing allegiance lies. This game even manages to destroy the hallowed Burnout series to easily claim the arcade racing crown, and that’s no small feat. Grab your wallets and, uh, race to the store.

I just be hating on certain aspects of Splinter Cell’s gameplay formula, and I think it’s about time someone threw a contrary opinion into the ring.

God of War isn't just violent; it's gratuitously violent, and the sex, while certainly a part of the era depicted, just serves to reinforce the notion that this is an "M"-rated title for very good reason.

It isn't, you understand, that WipEout Pure is terribly revolutionary. No, the appeal of this game is that it returns to the roots of the franchise, and puts it in the palm of your hand with startling clarity.

What it boils down to is that they fixed the major flaws from last year's game: lefty power, and minor league development. Everything else is merely icing on the cake, but what a cake it is.

Even without the online element, Street v3 is still excellence personified.

Resident Evil 4 is heartstopping moment after heartstopping moment, paced nearly perfectly and executed flawlessly. 2005 has its game of the year, and that game is Resident Evil 4.

I loved NFL Street 2, but in the end it refused to grab my attention as sharply as the original, perhaps because the key single player modes are inherently similar between the two games.

I've seldom had this much anticipation for a sequel, and even more seldom had my high expectations met.

The presentation is completely misguided, and the combat is largely unrewarding. Under all this, the platforming is as creative and addictive as it was in Sands of Time, but the polish and sense of wonder are sorely missed.

Alien Hominid is a shiny, bloody cartoon you can play by a team of guys who wanted to make a shiny, bloody cartoon you can play. It works.

One of the best games ever made. Not getting this game should be a crime.

Just as the SNES is frequently called the "RPGers' console," games like Ghost Recon 2 are giving Xbox an enduring reputation as the "shooters console."

This is proof not only that the first game's greatness wasn't an anomaly, but also that true effort in game design can overcome even the greatest possibilities for a letdown. Samus is back, people; get ready to ride, for the most anticipated GameCube game of 2004 is here, and it rocks the house.

Just because there's everything but the kitchen sink doesn't mean it's a good game. Luckily, Jak 3 is a good game.

Halo 2 met my own lofty expectations in virtually every way possible, minus two small exceptions: first, I would love to have been able to play two-player co-op on Xbox Live; it's unfortunate that this didn't happen. Secondly, while I found the story much more engaging this time around, I also found the ending a little bit jarring.

Throw in a GBA-Gamecube linkup that allows you to load your portable Urbz into the bigger version, and you have a game large enough to keep your interest so long as you're willing. But once the gameplay starts to feel repetitive-and after a few hours, cracks in the façade will begin to show-then you're in trouble.

An enjoyable experience worthy of the Ratchet name...even if we're hoping the next iteration of the series pushes the envelope instead of merely experimenting.

Plenty of variety and a wild sense of speed combined with tight control equals fun for the whole family.

San Andreas is a true epic, but no game should be this frustrating.

The difficulty and audio make the price of entry a bit high, but the story and scale are worth it if you're looking for something a bit different.

This game is smooth and polished enough to feel like it has years of work behind it. Design issues aside, Tin Soldiers: Alexander the Great is staying on this psuedo-grognard's hard drive for a while to come.

One of the strongest titles to be released in 2004. The gripping story, maddening puzzles, and style of the game remains a stark contrast to the Half-Life's and Doom's typically residing on store shelfs.

Where the series goes from here (Please, a cross over with the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" series?), it will have a mighty legacy to live up to.

The environments are expansive and varied, and you can interact (read: destroy) virtually anything you come across. The cel-shading effect is put to good use here.

The simplicity and fairly low challenge bely shockingly addictive gameplay. While big-name, big-budget sequels may dominate this year's holiday season, Katamari Damacy is a quiet, almost invisible candidate for Game of the Year. This is not a game to be missed, especially since it's only $20.

Occasional jankiness is made up for by a ridiculously low price and copious shooter goodness.

A game sequel done right, with only the blatant and unabashed commercialism working against it...or for it, depending on how you look at the game.

Takes a winning formula and makes it better. Gamers looking for a good multiplayer title, or who just don't cant stand another round of "Doom3" should be sure to look up United Offensive.

They don't make action games any tighter than this one; Viewtiful Joe on the PS2 is like a ray of light peering through a dark cloud of cookie-cutter titles.

Treasure will make you believe that robots are your friends.

Worth a play if you didn’t snag the last one. Otherwise, how valuable is online play to you?

GameCube fans can finally put their 20-sided die away, as Tales of Symphonia is exactly what they needed. It's an ace on any system.

The funny thing about that is that there are probably enough sub-par things in this game to come down on it a little harder than I did, but the game is one of those deals where the complete work is greater than the sum of its parts.

What Spiderman 2 boils down to is a lot of "Hell yeah!" excellence with just a little "Aw, damnit" thrown in for good measure. It's still an excellent game, and it's a superb example of how a movie license should be treated, but in the end, it probably won't crack any top 5 lists.

Like a breath of fresh air in the GCN's action lineup. Sure, the fighting can be a little mash-happy at times, and the textures can be a little blurry, and the variety of random tasks can be repetitive...but the first time you leap off the top of the Empire State Building, pull off some aerial tricks while plummeting 90 stories down at high speed, sling yourself via webline around some lampposts, and hurtle into the back of an enemy to begin a merciless web-juggle combo, you'll experience a rush unlike most anything you've felt while playing on the six-sided system.

A scintillating package of retro Capcom goodness; there’s something for everyone to love here, and the low price makes it a killer buy.

Golf vets may be bored, but everyone else will have a ball.

A multiplayer classic, for those with the hardware. A fairly decent game for everyone else.

Holds up well, even after all these years. Plus, it's a hell of a lot cheaper to buy for Xbox than for Neo*Geo.

While pure sim heads may be put off, Rallisport 2 will have plenty for veteran racing fans, as well as beginners. Without being overly complicated in the garage or on the track, Digital Eclipse has served up a pure racing experience.

It's a love letter to Western fans that also happens to be exceedingly entertaining for the everyman gamer.

The game tries very hard, above all else, to leave players with a lasting grin on their face. To this end, it succeeds. There are plenty of flaws, but the 'cool factor' is through the roof.

Fans of the Hitman franchise will have a distinct feeling of déja vu. Newcomers should have a good time, though.

The accompanying hard drive is a neat toy, and there's no denying that FFXI is addictive. $12.95/month after the first one, though? That's a fair bit o' jack.

Perhaps the most interesting feature is that intelligent creatures will not forget Mr. Carver. They may give up on finding Mr. Carver, but they never forget the presence. It's almost like Metal Gear: Twin Snakes on alert mode, except when alerted the guards never do quite get up.

UbiSoft has really knocked one out of the park with this release-I can't wait for the third installment.

The total package isn't as technically impressive as "MVP," but the lack of major flaws makes it a more enjoyable experience.

Although the game features some rough patches from a 3D engine that isn’t entirely seamless, Worms 3D has all the loveable qualities necessary to be worth a purchase.

It's not so much a major 3D advancement or a 3D reinvention of the series as it is a nice 3D sequel, with some little technical qualms that may occasionally prove to be frustrating.

Has everything a good game needs, but the non-interactive scenes overshadow the interactive.