The controls also suffer a bit thanks to the floaty physics and awkward use of the shoulder buttons for boosting and attacking simultaneously.

A deep and time-consuming game. It isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s fun in a unique sort of way.

This downloadable shoot-'em-up boasts plenty of explosive arcade-style combat, but frustrating boss battles and frantic on-screen action mean it might be better reserved for genre diehards.

For Romance followers, this addition to the series is the best yet. An unlimited number of accounting practices combined with more depth to the lives that you control can be an overwhelming if not humbling experience for wannabe rulers of the land. Just make sure you’re up for a long lesson in advanced bookkeeping.

All in all, I really feel like Puzzle Quest 2 on the DS is very limited by the hardware. While it's unrealistic for this port to look anywhere as good as the Xbox Live and PC versions, I at least would've liked some form of online multiplayer to give the port a little more replay value.

Taken with a healthy dose of tolerance, D-2 really shouldn't be a bad game to add to your collection..

It may not be the deepest or most original action experience out there, but it's hard to deny the cheap thrills, over-the-top attitude, and mind-numbingly brutal mayhem present in Volatile's latest.

The easy tricks provide immediate gratification with a shallow learning curve, but there’s little depth.

There are other, just as capable ways to get your Bust-A-Move fix on the go, especially if own an iOS device, where you can get two different Bust-A-Move games for much cheaper. Or, y'know, the thousands of clones that are also available. But in any case, why not go with the real deal?

The hedgehog species is heavy on attitude but has a hard time with evolution.

Do you love Rock Band enough to play a mobile version with streamlined, touch-based controls and downgraded graphics? If so, then Rock Band Reloaded has all the features you could possibly ask for, and it really is the best that it could be on a mobile platform.

This soothing strategy title's mellow vibe and simplistic visuals make it a neat downloadable distraction, but some frustrating quirks keep it from greatness.

White Knight Chronicles is definitely hit-or-miss at times, and while it finds itself occasionally hampered by a stale single-player campaign and wonky combat system, the overall experience brings just enough fresh content and online innovations to the table to make it a worthwhile purchase for hardcore JRPG fans.

You'll find your comrades oblivious to gunfire mere yards away; facing an enemy gunner, with their weapons conspicuously inert; and haplessly running into your line of fire. Getting penalized for losses incurred like this is annoying enough; having a mission terminate prematurely because of it is downright maddening.

Don’t enter Another Age expecting a full-fledged sequel to Agetec’s giant-robot fighting franchise. This AC2 expansion pack adds about 100 missions and new multiplayer options…but not a whole lot more.

While not nearly as groundbreaking as it's console-based role models, Ubisoft's C.O.P. The Recruit serves as a solid sandbox title with some incredibly fun gameplay and inventive shooting and stealth scenarios.

If you’re really serious about this, better game-creating titles do exist, especially on the PC, offering easier interfaces and more freedom to mess with the basic building blocks. Still, this makes for an entry point into the vast realm of game design.

Although it includes new welcome features like expanded character training and a single map, its conventionality in all other areas fails to make the game stand out.

If tile-pattern puzzles are your cup of tea, this game might be the honey.

The premise of Guns'n'Glory is ridiculous and I'm fairly confident that there are many people out there who'll find the game to be offensive and tasteless, but it's still a ton of fun.

A pretty big step up from "Brotherhood of the Blade." The storyline has been upgraded and fleshed out to a nice degree, and the new attack types are fun to tinker around with and work in to your overall combat strategies. It's just the little things, like the now clunky menu, and the boring levels that really end up preventing the game from being a true success.

The addition of an Impact Player, who can be reassigned on the fly, offers more user control and can entirely change the flow of a play.

Despite the great visual and sound package, Sega GT's gameplay isn't tuned for a fun ride: Competitions can be won only through buying the best parts - and not through your driving.

Although some may be put off by the its slow pace, those with a little patience and ingenuity will feel very rewarded once objectives are completed.

The visuals are quite stunning. The 3D environment is extremely detailed from the cheering crowd down to the reflections off the ice. Everything flows very smoothly with precise control of your player and accurate skating animations.

Soulstorm is certainly not a bad expansion pack, but time has certainly conspired against it. Being released almost four years after the base game much of the game is showing its legs, especially in the graphics department.

As the most challenging Dynasty Warriors to date, 5 is also the most satisfying - but with so little changes over the years this latest installment may feel like a rehash to most. [May 2005, p.96]

Fox vs. Duck is almost a misnomer when you consider how big a part of the game the fish is. Maybe they should've called the game "Mother Nature Vs. Duck," or "Everybody Hates Ducks."

Despite Rayne’s new abilities, you’re still doing pretty much the same thing as before—slashing up wimpy guys, defeating bosses, and then doing it all over again after the next save point. (Even worse, the old camera problems are still there—you’ll get blindsided by enemies all the time simply because you had no advance warning of their presence.)

Even with the clever new “missions” and spruced-up visuals that make watching a ball go back and forth worthwhile, control is the most important part in tennis; and in this game, Smash Court faults once again.

While two buddies playing each other can certainly appreciate FIFA Street, competitions against the computer can quickly turn into a repetitious chore.

"Minor" would be the best way to describe the changes in Nightlife, and only fans will likely lay hands on this copy. Hopefully the career-based third expansion will be Sim Revolution we've all been waiting for.

Okay, so maybe a re-release/upgrade of racing games from five years ago isn't something to cheer about -- but it sure is a slick retrospective, and a fun one at that. Daytona USA is an arcade classic, perfectly preserved.

The game runs a bit sluggishly as of right now, so unless you're a FarmVille addict who absolutely has to have access to your farm all the time, this app isn't going to satisfy you until it gets a second pass under the debug machine at Zynga.

Despite the pick-up-and-play allure, Fight Night Round 3 can quickly tire out of frustration. The PSP's limited number and close-proximity of its buttons don't do this boxer justice--fitting jabs, hooks, uppercuts, blocks, clinches, special moves, taunts, etc. for fast access just doesn't work well on the system.

A totally passable platformer that's fun to pull out and play if you only have a few minutes on your hands.

While not as deep or fine-tuned as it could have been, Endgame is quite fun in a low-budget action movie kind of way.

While the game's aesthetics and design is spot on to the franchises distinct style, gameplay teeters between fluidly fast-pace action and insanely difficult and tedious game segments.

It's hard not to draw the comparison between Fragger and Angry Birds, but the similarities are obvious. Fragger has arguably better level design than Angry Birds, but Angry Birds has a bit more variety because of its different types of birds, so the two coexist well and are certainly not clones.

The same frustrating, albeit unique controls remain intact—resulting in the same inconsistent shot making that was felt last year.

Sticking to a basic and virtually flawless RPG format isn't necessarily a bad way to introduce X and his frieinds to a turn-based style of gameplay. [Nov 2004, p.156]

Confusing level design, repetitive action, and the vile villain called slowdown eventually start to grate on the nerves. [Apr 2004, p.86]

While the quirky game play and novelty of random content may not keep younger gamers coming back for dungeon runs, Izuna will certainly entice old-school RPG fans simply as a challenge to their gamer's ego.

Killer force powers and intense action can't fully save an otherwise inconsistent effort. Still, it has its moments.

Espionage action games have evolved beyond the standards this series helped establish, but Syphon Filter's combat and accompanying controls remain too old-school for their own good. [June 2004, p.65]

An adequate entry into the emerging Vietnam-sub genre that offers plenty of simplistic shooting fun, but fails to capture the depth and grandeur of similar titles like "Battlefield Vietnam" or even "Call of Duty" despite the obvious inclusion of so much historical information.

Slick, detailed visuals are marred by inane camera work, and while the creature, explosion, and limb-whacking sound effects are all boffo, developer High Voltage should have jettisoned the dance beats and synthetic guitar strains for something more along the lines of Slayer.

For its $20 PSN price tag, I'd definitely recommend My Lord 2 to hardcore SRPG fanatics in search of a good (yet brutal) challenge.

I recommend the paddle controller. If you're up the import, Arkanoid DS becomes quite interesting, but otherwise it's a well-done, extremely casual affair.

If the satisfying melee combat was tied into a better game with a compelling story, I'd praise Red Steel 22 as the next step in the Wii's evolution. But the nonsensical narrative, the repetitive nature of the gameplay, and the poor pacing keeps it from being anything more than a promising glimpse at the future of FPS games on the Wii.

The actual fighting is simplistic and repetitive, and takes place in only a handful of non-interactive environments. Worse, truly horrendous load times plague every last element of play, making even something as simple as cruising by the shop a thumb-twiddling chore.

But the frustrations of the game, including its limited replay value and annoying sound and controls, keep this game from being a "must-own" for all action addicts.

By far, the best part of Micro Machines v4 is the level design. There are oodles of levels to speed through, such as a butcher's shop, a pool table, and a hair salon.

It's obvious a game is unpolished when you have to sit through a patch download each time you want to play. Auto Assault may be fun for the hardcore Mad Max fans, but the steep learning curve and frustrating controls are red flags for the casual gamer.

For those faithfully dedicated to Mega Man, such affronts will be perfectly forgivable, but for anyone else Maverick Hunter X proves to be a pretty, if rather pedestrian first outing on Sony's handheld.

The game uses an on-screen d-pad to control movement, but it seems like a slight reworking of the game could've allowed tilt control, which would've really help clean up the screen, which can get pretty cluttered once you start picking up weapons.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 certainly builds upon the ideas of the original, but the minor changes make the upgrade seem more status quo than truly super-powered. It's still (mostly) fun to blast and claw through large groups of foes, but it's also much harder to overlook recurring issues when so much time has passed.

While I think of Dance Central as a better video game (and Just Dance doesn't come close to matching the game's choreography tracking) I'd still rather play Just Dance whenever I have friends over.

This Jet Ski racer looks fine, but it lacks the addictive gameplay of its aqua-racing predecessor.

Even with these few legacy issues and the limited multiplayer functions, Samurai Warriors: State of War is a far better game than its previous Dynasty Warriors PSP brethren, and worthy of checking out for your portable gaming hack-and-slash tactical strategy pleasure.

The "Rocky III" of video games: There isn't much suspense, the acting's cheesy, and the production values could be better, but you can't help but get sucked in. [June 2004, p.70]

Once I got past all of the problems in the collision-detection and accepted the fact that as long as my ninja stabbed the floor within a three foot radius of a bad guy, it was a kill, I had a mild amount of fun.

While the new game-engine changes are a definite added welcome, glitches and all, the omissions of the Story and Create-A-Wrestler modes leave this title rather pale and without substance compared to teh GameCube edition. [Aug 2004, p.68]

Matt Hazard is not a great game. It falls victim to a lot of the cliches that it pokes fun at and Matt Hazard doesn't have the star appeal of a Duke Nukem or a Marchs Fenix. It doesn't take the spoof thing far enough-they totally waste the voice over talents of the awesome Will Arnett-and the action needs three more coats of polish but it definitely has its moments. Despite its faults, I more or less enjoyed it.

It's hardly a masterpiece of gameplay or character development, but it was quite successful in keeping me intrigued and entertained on a few different levels.

Wizardry is still fun in its own way, but you should be prepared for a very slow-paced affair with a sparse story and few bells and whistles.

If you didn't buy SF4 the first time around the horn, you're getting the most value from the newer app.

Is $8 a bad price for a game like Spaceball: Revolution? No. Is putting the game on a console rather than a mobile device such as the iPhone or iPod Touch limiting its appeal? I think so.

When there's dirty work to be done and you're looking for a hired gun, looks and originality don't matter much-all that matters is whether they can get the job done. You can approach Mercenaries 2 in the same way, letting it do its thing instead of obsessing about its shortcomings. Sure, it isn't exactly pretty and it doesn't reinvent the wheel but it does pack a nice satisfying punch.

Showdown's preset camera angles aren't very intuitive--in later levels, players are constantly attacked from enemies offscreen, and Captain Gundam frequently can't see enemies that he is attacking. Also, the item system is clumsily implemented.

Dead Nation may not be perfect -- the imbalance towards co-op keeps it from becoming a truly great solo experience -- but compared to its competition, this is one corpse that still has some fight in it.

While no title as ruthlessly-streamlined as this one will keep you playing for long, ones as well-executed as Nuts are certainly worth more than the asking price.

While the PSP port plays almost exactly the same as the console version, it also suffers from minor graphical sloppiness, bipolar A.I., and extended load times, which are on par with many of the graphically heavy PSP titles.

As far as multiplayer goes, while a couple heroes dispatching entire enemy armies on their own might seem true to the spirit of the films, it hardly makes for a balanced and satisfying online encounter.

Regardless of the system you play it on, Trenches: Generals is a strategy game that offers a unique take on the genre, and is sure to appeal to players of all ages, but only if you can overlook its shortcomings.

WET's sassy style and minimalistic gameplay give it a tasty enough flavor that you won't find anywhere else, but like movie theater popcorn, you can only consume so much of it before you're hungry for something with a bit more substance.

Aerox's mostly starched white environments look fantastic, with a feel most easily comparable to the iPhone cult hit Jet Car Stunts. I was especially impressed by the ball itself, which accurately reflects the surrounding environment.

It's an easy game to pick up and I would recommend it to RTS lovers who game on the go. [Nov 2008, p.104]

Compelling gameplay features elevate True Crime beyond mere GTA-clone status, but a cliché-riddled script and control issues keep it from being monstrously cool.

Taken in small does, NFL Street 3 is fun enough, but despite comic book flourishes and interesting interactive field ideas, it just can't hold a candle to Blitz's polish in it's current form.

Madden NFL is as gratifying and frustrating as ever.

Tries new things with the game’s presentation, but what it really needs is to revamp the fundamentals like the pitching interface and two-player matches.

The game's difficulty curve is a bit too sharp, but it's fun to experiment in the environment, even if it takes a while to get a puzzle right.

A very standard platform game marred by a wonky camera.

Despite leaving me frustrated most of the time, I still enjoyed my time at the Draft Combine. Maybe I'm a masochist but feeling the pressure to play well so I could improve my draft status felt good.

et’s Go Tower Defense Play! is a big upgrade from previous South Park titles. Fans of the show will certainly get a kick out of it, as there is plenty to see for longtime viewers. Eventually however, the game’s flaws come to the forefront, causing the fun to end way too soon.

It might not be worth $40 for some gamers, but series fans will appreciate it.

Those not so enamored by the 'toon may not get past the game's repetitive missions, chintzy AI, and sluggish maneuverability.

If you enjoyed the last Legend of Heroes PSP game, the second one will be right up your alley. You get a fairly long quest, memorable characters, and the addictive Pet System to keep you busy. But, if you're new to the Legend of Heroes scene, you might want to give the game at least a three or four hour grace period.

The battlefield is stained with annoying blemishes, but the game still performs courageously. [Dec 2004, p.104]

This latest HD collections doesn't hit the high-water mark set by similar releases, such as the amazing Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection, but those craving a classic stealth-action romp will want to don the night vision goggles for this three-for-the-price-of-one package.

Auto Modellista’s gameplay doesn’t match its outstanding visuals. Unfortunately, the driving technique at the heart of this driver doesn’t perform well.

Buffyphiles will be pleased; Willow, Cordelia, Giles, Spike, Xander, and Angel are all voiced by the actual actors from the show, and the actress voicing Buffy does a fantastic Sarah Michelle Gellar impression.

The graphics aren’t much different from those in FIFA with players still having that stiff, android feel.

Still, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom has enough uniqueness in its execution that it's not forgettable. At a good 10 to 15 hours, there's plenty of gameplay for the budget price that the game is offered at ($39.99). It's definitely better for younger gamers, but still a solid choice for anyone looking for a good adventure.

It tries everything, and is maybe a bit too crazy for its own good, but it's definitely unforgettable. Your mileage will vary in accordance with your sanity.

Despite leaving me frustrated most of the time, I still enjoyed my time at the Draft Combine. Maybe I'm a masochist but feeling the pressure to play well so I could improve my draft status felt good.

If you're a fan of the .hack universe or have stuck it out through the previous three volumes, you'll find Quarantine a satisfying ending to the series. Everybody else, play at your own risk. [Jan 2004, p.148]