It's deep enough and features enough referential material to draw in the diehard fans of the source material but it isn't innovative or interesting enough to stand alone in the action genre. However, if you come in with lowered expectations, you just might have fun with it.

It's an action/RPG, and a pretty boring one at that - a repetitive dungeon attack that feels like an unexciting "Diablo."

It's a fun little title that will prove especially pleasing to those who can't wrap their heads around Rock Band or Guitar Hero. It doesn't have the addictive staying power of those two heavyweight franchises but it's an accessible rhythm game that's perfect for the casual gamer and younger rock-god wannabes alike.

I would never recommend Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 to a non-fan, simply because the gameplay is nowhere good enough to overcome the lack of interest in the toy box. But for the rest of us, we'll take a half-decent English language Gundam title wherever we can get it.

The more you play this half-baked sack of pixels, the more you become convinced that there is no The Matrix game, and the only thing being played here is you.

Even dedicated role-players are better off with a pencil and some paper.

In effect, Front Mission: Evolved is an arcade game on a console platform, through and through. Even its multiplayer component, with its limited loadout of deathmatch and capture the flag modes, feels very much like arcade co-op.

Don't skip this new Spider-Man game, but just be aware that it's a few strands short of a full web.

Despite the signature twitch controls, fans of previous Rush racers will be disappointed if they expect more of the same, so it's hard to understand why the name is used at all beyond mercenary marketing.

The beautifully lit ballparks look great, and the solid audio nicely re-creates the ballpark feel.

The repetitive combat won’t wow hardcore action fans, but committed zombie-hunters might enjoy the challenge and the attitude. Hail to the king, baby.

Tron newcomers probably needn't apply, but those who count the original film among their favorites may want to enter Evolution's grid.

While Samurai Western is a somewhat standard hack-and-slash with a quirky setting, it doesn't hold up for two main reasons: lack of polish and much-needed variety.

The poor gameplay sadly ruins the entire experience. [Nov 2004, p.112]

It's having to help brain-eatingly bad A.I. (alone) or trying to cooperate when you can't communicate (online) that makes survival horrible.

As a top down RTS game, Super Army War would have been great. But as a 2D side-scroller, this game is a logistical nightmare.

A shallow and simpleminded title that holds a faint glimmer of fun. There's nothing here that you'd want to play for more than a few minutes, but ironically enough, that qualifies Dark Kingdom as one of the more tolerable PS3 launch games.

The mediocre graphics do an adequate job of rendering believable jungle environments, but the unattractive artistic style tends to jar with the hardboiled atmosphere. [Dec 2004, p.114]

Bleach: Soul Resurreccion would benefit hugely from multiplayer, especially co-op or a versus mode, but no such addition exists. Even if you're a Bleach fan, just rent it and have a fun afternoon releasing your Bankai.

Although its gameplay is derivative, Yanya Caballista’s ludicrous B-movie plot, wacky animation, and cartoon-inspired zaniness give it entertainment value.

Unfortunately, the stunts which are normally hilarious and cringe worthy on the show come off as dull and uninteresting in the game.

That immersive, macho feeling makes the otherwise just-okay CART Fury worth at least a rent.

Sector3 seems dedicated to supporting Fumes post-launch, so fans of physics-driven racers shouldn't hesitate to pick this one up.

Despite the sluggish controls, the beautiful presentation and groundbreaking team building mode make for a very rewarding experience that Soccer fans shouldn’t miss.

Almost a mirror image of the first game, which is both good and bad. While it has a great story, it also suffers from some of the cardinal sins of action gaming. You'd think that by adding a kick-ass dragon in to the mix that you'd be dealing with a winning formula. It's just too bad, however, that this doesn't end up being the case.

A young fan of the TV show could theoretically search out a modicum of fun from this game, and perhaps they would find the puzzles more brow-furrow worthy. Maybe. I have a feeling, though, that this one will make its way swiftly to the bargain bins.

A frustrating and inconsistent mess that truly disappoints. By the time I reached the seventh episode, which degenerates into a needlessly painful time-sink grind to upgrade Edward with "spectral vision" points, the few things the game had done right had been virtually drowned in a murky sludge of ill-conceived and half-baked failures.

Character animation is fine, but some questionable collision detection and generic explosions rob it of whatever flash it could have had. X2: Wolverine’s Revenge simply doesn’t feel polished—or even complete.

When will ESPN learn the difference between a game worth endorsing and one that’s utter garbage? Not soon enough, apparently.

The fact is that there are games on both the PS2 and GameCube that easily outclass this one in everything it sets out to do.

If someone had bothered to design an original game around this level of technology and artistry, we'd really have something. Too bad we got this mid-'90s relic instead.

The major bones of contention are the clunky controls, clumsy camera, and awkward targeting system.

All the hours of trial and error eventually pay off since the freedom in creating move animations is immense.

Straddles the line between arcade and simulation nicely. Players move, look, and behave in a realistic fashion, but fatigue, substitutions, and playcalling don’t interrupt the fun.

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.

Essentially, Spike could've developed a better game if they used some kind of fusion to merge the original Raging Blast's gameplay with Ultimate Tenkaichi's stellar graphics. But the end result here just falls short of being a memorable experience.

If it weren't for the torrid pace at which you're required to gather edibles, Lost in Blue 2 would be an enjoyable game. The developers obviously wanted to instill a sense of urgency, but really, all they did was rob the game of its fun.

The beauty of Splinter Cell games has always been the flexibility and fluidity of their controls, especially on the Xbox. But Splinter Cell: Essentials fails to adapt the mechanics to the PSP, and the end result is a frustrating experience with lengthy load times -- an overall trimmed experience.

Challenging both in terms of difficulty and convention (you do more than just run to the right), Pitfall looks gorgeous on the small screen, especially its fluid character animation, while the controls respond well and the sounds are sharp.

Surprisingly solid and fun.

She's a good old dog but hard pressed to learn new tricks.

I liked Adventures to Go, though its flaws are hard to ignore. It's a good game to play when you've got a bit of time to kill or when you need a brief break from a more demanding title. AtG doesn't demand extensive commitment to have fun, but it also won't provide much for players looking for a meatier role-playing epic.

All things considered, Fate/Extra simply isn't a game I can recommend to everyone, but those who can accept the game's many imperfections will likely enjoy their time with it.

Bladestorm is a fun medieval experience, and veterans of the tactical action games will enjoy, though it may be a good jumping-on point for those new to the genre.

The game's graphics are murky, blocky, and uninspired, while the soundtrack, filled with monster groans and quiet music, is just as bad. Controls are thumb-numbing and plain.

Though the single-player mode is a drag, Starsky & Hutch features a great two-player mode that fuses aspects of Driver with Time Crisis by having one player ("You be Starsky!") drive using a steering wheel peripheral and the other player ("I'll be Hutch!") shoot with a light-gun. It makes for great co-op gameplay.

Sucks no matter what game you compare it to. [Sept 2005, p.80]

What saves this title is the nostalgia factor you get from playing it. While the love for this genre is the redeeming factor, it still doesn't give it enough oomph to justify downloading it.

Overall, Overlord Minions is a missed opportunity for the Nintendo DS. It had a lot of potential, but it was lost to the inaccuracy of game play.

A puzzle game has to be challenging in order for it to be addictive but TiQal gives players too many chances.

If you needed an excuse to pick up another Wii Remote and you have an extra Hamilton in the wallet, then by all means pick up Wii Play. Just don't expect to fully get your money's worth.

But overall, I had fun with Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion -- and if the 3DS version managed to impress me, I'm officially on watch to see what the upcoming console version of the game is going to look like.

A huge amount of slowdown, even when there’s little going on, detracts from the overall simple shooting-n-slashing frenzy. A sloppy targeting system and the inability to strafe make the controls more of a pain than painless.

Moderately pretty graphics and average sound don't offset the labored frustration that follows playing this stilted title. [Nov 2005, p.146]

Limited button-customization, poor object detection, and sloppy beam-saber execution add to the frustrations. Still, Journey to Jaburo is an enjoyable alternative for fans of giant-robot games.

The video game equivalent of a local theater production—it aspires to be professional but just can’t deliver a high-quality experience. Trouble is, the ticket still costs just as much.

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.

From the random bugs and collision problems to some joke missions that have no punch line, the whole game feels rushed and unfinished.

Wolverine's Revenge also has some haggard camera work and sluggish controls, not to mention retarded collision detection and counter-intuitively mapped commands (have fun trying to readjust the camera while in stealth mode).

The poor gameplay sadly ruins the entire experience. [Nov 2004, p.112]

Most gamers may not want to pay full retail price for only a handful of light features, despite how pretty the game is, but if you love your fighters old-school and 2D, The King of Fighters XII is probably worth checking out.

Those intrigued by the esoteric nonsense of this year's DVD release, Final Fantasy: Advent Children, will likely relish the incoherent sci-fi narrative.

Oh yeah, if you can motivate yourself enough to finish both characters' stories, a secret, you unlock a chess game and secret character. Whoop-dee-doo.

The problem here is that the actual racing isn’t that much fun.

Excellent car models, lighting, and reflection effects help the smooth visuals create a sense of blazing speed, and the beautifully detailed tracks are punctuated by vicious turns and loops that require you to master braking and powersliding without losing too much velocity.

This isn't a game that's going to make you want to abandon your big-screen basketball games by any means, but it can be enough to temporarily satisfy a serious basketball jones.

Ultimately, Naval Warfare is a decent arcade shooter. Unfortunately, the storyline is confusing and the levels are inconsistent in difficulty--many levels are maddeningly easy, while others are suddenly extremely difficult. This makes for a frustratingly uneven campaign experience, and because upgrades are level-specific, there's little reason to want to replay this title. Multiplayer isn't much better, as it's limited by the fact that you're unable to make custom maps or play online.

Still, BaBC is a solid brain-training title that packs a fascinating concept -- one that I hope Namco-Bandai will develop a bit more robustly in later iterations of the title.

The dialogue and plot are more clumsily written than the lyrics to a Christian rap song, which makes it hard to get involved in the tasks at hand. When you don't care, you don't care, ya know?

Continually trying to properly center the cam, however, frequently places you in harm's way. Until you put some serious time into the game, you'll be blown away more often than you like from unseen foes off-screen.

Although there is still work to be done, Showdown: Legends of Wrestling's new look and play style is a big step in the right direction. Fans looking for a walk down memory lane aren't going to be disappointed.

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.

The gameplay itself is unchanged from 18 Wheeler, with your lumbering truck falling out of control at the drop of a feather and the graphics looking just a shade above Dreamcast quality.

Pros: Easy, accessible fun. Song list is varied and interesting. Cons: You can't sing and dance at the same time, there's no online play and the replay value is low.

After playing this game, it would be a real stretch for me to recommend Invincible Tiger at any XBLA price level.

Although Armageddon’s selection of slick, diabolical hardware is great, using it turns into a fumbling experience. Between multiple foes attacking in every direction and the unintuitive button setup, switching between your weapons is a chore.

Explosively paced and tougher than Chuck Bronson, the game is also a suffocatingly linear one whose difficulty hinges upon repetitious trial and error, requiring you to play through levels repeatedly to memorize layouts and enemy patterns.

Even with all the unchanged flaws, Mobile Suit Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam is still the best Gundam game to ever come out, and is highly recommended to fans of the series.

The game gives you too many handicaps and leaves an unsavory taste of an unbalanced fighter. Even with these minor faults, Battle Assault is an excellent handheld fighter and still recommended.

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]

With horrible graphics that look like something an owl regurgitated, broken controls that must be wrestled with at every turn, and level designs that could turn the undead, Robotech: Invasion is an utter waste of money.

Behind the sharper graphics and the bigger kit of options, though, there's still an unfortunately shallow, repetitive game.

That's pretty much Breach's biggest issue: Even if it's a cheaper XBLA alternative, everything it does has been done better elsewhere. If it had contributed something new to the FPS landscape, I'd forgive its attempt at imitation, but most folks interested in it already have immediate access to great games such as Halo, Black Ops and Battlefield.

It's not a gold medal winner, but it finishes the PlayStation invitational with a bronze.

If nothing else, The First Templar is an interesting look at what happens when an established developer moves beyond its comfort zone. Unsurprisingly, the results are mixed: a few glimmering moments of innovation diluted by hours of decade-old design.

Ultimately, Lost Souls will reward masochists and scare off anyone intimidated by the slightest bit of a learning curve. There's a great challenge in store, but it doesn't pull any punches or make any apologies. Know that going in and don't say you weren't warned.

If this is where the series is going, Neverland Card Battles is going to be a tough sell in the future. I'd really like to find something nice to say about it, but the game is so boring, cliche (there's that word again) and badly designed I'd be lying through my teeth.

Don't skip this new Spider-Man game, but just be aware that it's a few strands short of a full web.

An intensely frustrating trial of patience that’s rewarded with only the most fleeting glimmers of fun. [Sept 2004, p.81]

A good brawler disguised as a bad one, and it takes some time to get to the fun underneath.

It's not quite as good of a time as "GameDay."

This mediocre conversion is better than the last Game Boy effort, providing gamers with fairly short-lived button-mashing fun.

Control in this game (using the term game loosely since it suggests fun) is akin to peeling "hair" off of a wet bar of soap - it's slippery work, and almost as difficult to do as it is to figure out why you're doing it in the first place.

The biggest problem with Omium is that there really isn't any way for the player controlling the ship to win; he can just survive until the player controlling the baddies manages to finally take him down with a lucky toss.

This game is the definition of good, stupid fun, and I mean that in the best way possible.

In the end, Dementium: The Ward is a cohesive game with the sum of all of its parts adding up to a frightening whole.

Too routine to stand out from the crowd--especially for Capcom fighting vets. After a few rounds, you should be more than satisfied.

When the final whistle blows, there's just no reason to step onto this ice. Stick with the far, far superior "NHL 2001" for your PS2 hockey cravings.