It may not be the flashiest RPG of the year, but it's definitely one of the best, with its solid combination of terrific gameplay and a compelling story.

The Skills Stick alone make NHL 07 a completely different game and one worthy of the new NHL. [Oct. 2006, p.96]

While I personally don't LOVE the overabundance of hard rock and metal songs, every track on the game is more than fun to play along with, and the classic rock tunes are savage, as usual...One of the best gaming experiences ever.

The feel of the driving is what earned the McRae series its reputation, and the controls remain impeccable in this PS2 edition.

The foot-tapping techno music tracks accompany each stage perfectly, and the sound effects shine with a plethora of explosions and other sounds of destruction.

Like taking a trip through a modern art museum…except all of the paintings are moving, all the sculptures are breathing, and every display is shooting swarms of genetically enhanced laser missiles at the thoughts inside your head.

The character is easy to control, but learning the large quantity of combos makes for a highly rewarding game.

The thoughtful and varied designs of each mission are clearly linear, yet somehow avoid a stuck-on-rails feel, whether you're sneaking around in the dark, gathering photographic evidence, or tearing through the occasional action set-piece.

As a more casual shooter, the game is an enormous improvement over its predecessor, fixing all the problems with lag, graphics, and shallow gameplay that kept that game from being the masterpiece it deserved to be.

For one thing, it's 20% cheaper at $20 in comparison to the PC version's $25 price tag. When you factor in the Trophies that encourage you to tackle some of the game's puzzles and conversations in different ways, I offer the same level of recommendation for this iteration.

Regardless of its shortcomings, FFX-2 is an engrossing RPG that’s worth the extensive time investment, although it may be a bit too awkward and saccharine for hardened FF vets.

Smart new theory kicks a dying genre in the butt and makes for a unique single-player and terrific two-player game.

Where Stoked was an impressive if flawed debut, Big Air Edition is a superior semi-sequel that should cement the series as a successful snowboarding franchise. If you missed it the first time around, be sure to grab a lift ticket for Stoked's second run.

Despite the shortcomings, ESPN NHL 2K4 is the Cup champ because it really plays and, aside from the rather sluggish-moving players, feels like a hockey simulation should. [Dec 2004, p.144]

It shows depth, talent, and imagination. Everything any winning team needs.

Siren’s ghouls not only search for you with flashlights and come at you with shovels, but they also skitter along telephone wires and snipe you from rooftops. They don’t die.

Instantly engaging and packed with an awesome four-player mode, F-Zero X delivers high-powered racing with that immaculate Nintendo touch.

It's as addictive as Puzzle Quest, but instead of utilizing an RPG element, EA married the puzzle concept to a platformer. The result is a fantastic title that should appeal to gamers of all stripes.

The fighting world has a brand new and addictive style of gameplay. Kengo pays homage to an art form that's rarely seen, and plays as a well-crafted and fun experience that no fighting-game fan should miss.

This is the best instance of video game flipper mashing since "Pokémon Pinball" on the GBC.

While kids will love the cheerful graphics and cute characters, adults can marvel at the simple but polished 3D levels-such as the reflective floors in Monkey Bowling.

Every once in a while there comes a game that truly defines creativity. Destroy All Humans is indeed one such game; it has all the right elements to make it a smart, intuitive, and hilarious experience.

What Monsters Joker 2 really does best is to create a bright, vibrant world that does a great job of paying homage to the Dragon Quest franchise while also giving it a different spin. It's a bit slow to start -- monster synthesis takes a bit to unlock -- but it's an overall rewarding experience and one of the best Nintendo DS games to be released this year.

The utterly perfect soundtrack delivers exactly the mood you want, from the smooth coolness of the Predator’s snarl to the eerie silence of the Marine’s pinging motion tracker.

Instead of just slapping together a string of mayhem-filled events, Monster created an absorbing and surprisingly unique Career mode that makes the game worth playing for a good while. [Oct 2004, p.78]

The crisp 2D art in Zombie Smash gives it a high-grade feel, but the music (composed by Chris Hülsbeck, who did the scores for the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series) is the real highlight of the show.

Not everyone's going to love the transplanted platform puzzler elements, and RPG purists might be turned off by the wafer-thin town exploration, but just discovering the way your different options fit together is so endlessly absorbing that even wildly divergent tastes will agree that Valkyrie Profile 2 is yummy indeed.

Filled with enough chaos and wicked humor to forgive the slight reliance on platform clichés, Whiplash really is a hell of a game. With a little more polish before release, this game could have been a true masterpiece.