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.