The voice-acting is noteworthy, but there are some just rudimentary audio effects and the music is sometimes dramatic, sometimes just unexciting...Good, basic RPG fare.

While Drakan II handles the tomb-raiding controls better than "Tomb Raider," what you’ll find in the game’s horrendously monotonous dungeons rivals watching paint dry in terms of excitement.

By combining solid pixel animations with awesome scaling and rotation effects, the developers have achieved an impressive, psuedo-3D effect.

Even if you played the original Onimusha on the PS2 within an inch of its life, Genma provides enough new elements to merit repeating the adventure. But beware newbies: This game is tough.

The addition of two-player modes makes PaRappa more of a party experience and extends the game's life beyond novelty. The story is just plain weird, but it's still a great hoot.

The animation is startlingly fluid—game replays are absolutely uncanny—and you’ll spot nice details like tires getting dirty when you leave the track.

Though the game’s gliding feature is an inspired concept, trying to execute it, as well as most other moves, can be incredibly irritating due to extremely temperamental and unresponsive controls.

Cheap deaths, a bland story, and questionable boss balance hold Forever Kingdom back from being a completely satisfying experience.

It is an update of "Robotron" with a fantasy backstory. If you’re looking for a new kind of shooter, NightCaster will do—but RPG fans, you’re still in the dark.

The two-man commentary is frequent, but Marques Johnson’s color jabber starts out funny only to get downright stupid fast.

If you’re just looking for the best shooter for the PC—a game that engages your senses, thrills your nerves, and impresses your neighbors—stop reading this right now and go get MoH: Allied Assault.

Mindless, twitchy, quick-shot FPS fun...but it’s so hyper-generic it seems like a clone of a "Doom" clone.

Fans of the animated series will definitely be delighted to experience the One Year War from the side of the Principality of Zeon.

The game features physics that wouldn’t be caught dead in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Features large, crisp player models with smooth animations. For once, the crowd in a basketball game looks halfway decent, and the bench players are full polygonal models.

The real star of the game is the stellar A.I. No game rewards you so much for playing smart basketball or punishes you so badly for playing high school ball.

It’s basically a port of the PS2 version, but on the Xbox, its graphics are so much sharper and—despite the beating the Xbox controller seems to be taking—the joystick-dependent interface feels just right.

Where March Madness really falters, however, is in its startling lack of gameplay modes.

Ultra bass-thumping tunes that magically mesh with the game’s ever-changing sound effects will draw you in and keep you enthralled...Unfortunately, the game is super short and seems more like an experiment than a full game.

In no other game, however, will you be cleaved in half by a bull who screams, "Long live vegetarianism," and love it like in Cel Damage.

A fun, fast-paced RTS that boasts lots of nifty features and a few annoying flaws that keep it from beating up on its bigger PC cousins.

There are no continues and no in-game saves, a turn-off to anyone without the time to memorize boss patterns and an effective way to kill the point of that whole “portable” thang.

The visuals and sounds keep up with the pace, although you may be too busy with the controller to notice.

This is one of those “look at what we can do with water physics” games, and in that regard, it’s cool—but the standard mission-based gameplay isn’t nearly as deep as the ocean it takes place on.

In the PS2 version, the game’s depraved humor is intact, and the gameplay is still a refreshing variety of action and strategy, though the RTS aspects of the base-building missions have been simplified.

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.

With cinematic camera angles, a grime-infested aesthetic, and gruesomely glistening monsters, Silent Hill 2 improves on the original in every way.

Simple strafing would have been preferable to Obi’s clumsy acrobatics, and the sloppy, inaccurate controls require too much work for a game so shallow.

The 3D visual and audio style is topnotch, and the cinemas are a blast—even if some camera views are awkward and some areas are a little too dark and muddy.

Different, rewarding, intelligent, funny, and filled with memorable characters and weird creatures. It’s damn fun, too, and will keep you performing the repetitive duties required of a monster raiser for far longer than you’d ever imagine.

A memorable, fantastic adventure that falls short in key areas that could have benefited from fine-tuning—namely control tweaks and unpolished graphics...The last must-have title of 2001.

Despite the re-appearance of the game’s fresh visuals and unique play aspects, the lifeless narrative doesn’t provide the immersive experience that you’d expect.

Payne’s finest feature on the Xbox, however, may be its controls...Every function in the game is perfectly placed for intuitive control.

A predictable plot and linear gameplay are the minuses to this otherwise well-crafted dark RPG.

Turns in a superstar performance with its addictive gameplay, authentic hockey feel, and exhaustive features.

A truly solid entertainment package with a wide variety of characters, cool gameplay, and a host of visual and audio candy.

The Dual Shock organizes controls logically and offers the sharp response, especially considering the cool Bullet Time and Shootdodge aspects, which slow down time for Matrix-style gunfights.

Its premise is straightforward, yet there’s so much to do and see, along with some sizeable challenges that will test even the brightest adventure veterans.

Ultimately, MMX6 will appeal to fans of the series, but gamers looking for more than strict jump-n-shoot fare should look elsewhere.

The slow, unintuitive controls underlie awful, slapped-together graphics and a bargain-bin soundtrack that features MIDI-rock sound-alikes of the wrestlers’ classic themes.

NFL GameDay is the Detroit Lions of the league.

The most complete multiplayer console package to date--an absurd, wild, and wickedly fun game with lots of variety, unbelievable visuals, and more longevity than most of the gods of Olympus.

Plays a decent game of PS2 football, but it’s at least number three behind "Madden NFL 2002" and "NFL 2K2" this year—and that leaves little running room.

The visuals are flat out gorgeous with environments that are both intricately detailed and quite enormous...[though] it’s short for an RPG (about 11 Hours) even if its main focus is action.

Every minute that you play, you constantly feel as if you’re discovering something new and different, and the game’s puzzles feel very organic, intelligent, and open-ended, forcing you to think and rethink your strategy as you make new realizations about your place in the world.

The sequel doesn’t stray far from the original, but SSX Tricky has far more personality and the ultimate tricks wired—rewarding gameplay and a high replay value.

Astonishingly average. Tsugunai scores for hosting some original ideas…but then compensates with truly boring presentation.

An inexplicably rewarding, utterly bizarre, and impossible-to-put-down battery-sucking gem that feels like it was born to live on the Game Boy Advance.

The pixelated graphics won’t immediately rock your world, but the more you play the more you’ll marvel at the smooth animation, cleverly designed levels, and awesome infrared effects.

In the end, though, the gameplay is repetitive and sadly uninteresting.

Most WipeOut race fans will play Extreme G3, say, "wow, cool," and just drool over how potentially cool "WipeOut Fusion" is gonna be.

The excellent tracks alone are worth a look.

For those with dedication and a love for repetitive gameplay, DW3 gives you a lot of bang for your buck. It will take weeks to unlock everything, and you can even get chunks of historical info.

Despite this unique premise, Dark Summit sadly fails in every category.

It’s the execution that lacks. Laboriously slow gameplay leaves little to get excited about—there’s no real sense of speed.

The hook of the Xbox version is that the multiplayer missions are playable from the beginning, and new games like Tag and Detonator Drop have been added.

The main problem is that you will roam freely to the point that you’ll wander around, trying to figure out what to do for much of the game because your goals are not laid out in a clear and linear direction.

Nothing more than a third-rate "Crazy Taxi" knockoff, but minus the technique, slick visuals, and overall fun of its source material.

About as much fun as watching your tomatoes grow...If you’ve got an agricultural attitude, patience, and a hankering for steady and safe gameplay, you just might be a Harvest Moonie.

World Cup–level graphics and realism have to struggle to make up for controls that keep getting yellow cards.

The action here is more cerebral, emphasizing teamwork and accomplishing specific objectives over twitchy combat—it’s great fun.

The controls are tight, and the gameplay is on-target even if there’s a slightly frenetic, arcade, unMadden-like feel to player movement.

With a four-player mode and user-created remixes, the replay value goes through the roof.

Between the overly simplistic fighting system and weak enemy A.I., the game is way too easy to beat—you can successfully complete the Tournament mode by doing nothing but mashing the A button.

A solid, enjoyable snowboarder with a fairly high difficulty factor and lots of gameplay.

By far the most ambitious and complete wrestling game in history...but its weakness lies in the attention to the game, not to the details.

Boasting fantastic graphics and awesome transparency effects for water and fog, Wario Land 4 pushes the GBA to its visual limits.

The player models and animations in NBA Live are simply jaw-dropping.

Exciting missions, unbelievable visuals and sound, and, like the first Rogue and Naboo, a replay factor through the roof.

The GameCube controller responds well, and both the silly speech quips and the Offspring punk tunes sound great.

A great game...But if you're looking for the best jet-skiing game this fall, keep an eye out for "Splashdown" for the PS2...it has the potential to smoke Blue Storm.

It's not quite the flagship title you might expect for a Nintendo launch, but Luigi's Mansion is still a must-have.

What's so super about SMB? The added multiplayer games that turn this enhanced arcade port into one of the the best party games ever.

Might not be real NHL hockey, but it might be all the hockey you really need.

The Fun Factor directly corresponds to your level of Potter fandom: The joy of this game comes from experiencing Harry’s universe, not from the repetitive, trite gameplay.

Pottermaniacs will love exploring even a 2D version of Hogwarts, but be prepared for challenging and sometimes frustrating gameplay.

The newest Oddworlds feel rather canned, confined, repetitive, and contrived, and Munch and Abe control more stiffly than most characters put in similar situations.

This immersive sci-fi epic delivers both an expansive story and electrifying first-person combat, making it one of 2001's best games.

You can actually feel one with the waves as the water elegantly moves your board across the serene, beautifully created ocean.

The wonderful level designs and slick character animations are hampered by draw-in, some slowdown, and poor collision detection.

Wants to be the PlayStation 2’s "House of the Dead," but it lacks creativity and spooky bite.

This sickly 3D adventure is plagued by endless repetition, frustrating controls, bland graphics, and just plain boring level design.

It's a sweet package for your permanent library, bu tif you've played any earlier version and aren't a Tony junkie, you can get by with a rental to check out the new stuff.

Shrek himself is a visual marvel. The thing is, once you’ve taken your jaw off the floor, you’re stuck with a dull and frustrating game that’s too difficult for younger players and not engaging enough to hook older gamers.

Good but unspectacular graphics and above-average sounds almost forgive the simple-but-clunky controls.

This speedster is definitely much better [than "Metropolis Street Racer" for the Dreamcast] in every respect.

The gameplay, however, isn’t anything that hasn’t been done already, and the paint-by-numbers seek-and-destroy missions can get pretty dull after a couple of hours.

Minor audio issues aside, DoA3 nails its Xbox debut and firmly establishes itself as the best home console fighting game of 2001.

The "funny animals in footraces" genre tends to feel forced. In that tradition, Mad Dash Racing lacks emotional appeal; it’s a character game without likeable characters.

One of the freshest, funniest car combat romps to date.

Beat the Heat games are the best part of this speedster, cleverly mixing a variety of cool driving techniques with engrossing competition.

Hitz’s greatest hit is its fluid control, which makes the hockey fly by. It’s no NHL 2002, but Hitz should be a blast for arcade sports fans.

Tight and enjoyable, even if it doesn’t take advantage of the X factor.

Despite Thunder’s minor imperfections, it still has the most engaging gameplay of any NASCAR game.

Clothing rippling in the wind is just one of the smooth graphic touches, and the aggressive punk/hardcore soundtrack matches Palmer’s bad-boy persona—but the sound effects aren’t terribly impressive.

Ghost Recon’s in-depth gameplay closely resembles that of the previous Tom Clancy games—but it also has its faults, such as some weak A.I. pathfinding.

The action has a "vanilla" feel. Although the missions are engaging and fairly exciting, you've played ones just like them dozens of times before, and the hefty helping of silly, ornate gadgets and Bond-girl quips is cumbersome.

It delivers all the clever, addictive gameplay that a THPS game should, and in higher resolution than ever before.