There's no doubt that Patapon 2 is as graphically stylish and addictive as the first game. It retains the core gameplay that you love while adding a ton of new features and concepts.

Dark, brutal and hilarious in just the right way, MadWorld is a title that has rocketed to the top of every staff member's must buy list. Don't let the fact that it's on a "kiddie console" fool you-this is one title every "hardcore" gamer needs to play, provided you're over eighteen years old, of course.

The good news is that piecing 'coasters and parks together is easier than ever; between the flexible camera controls and the effortless new terrain-building tools, RCT 3 squeezes tremendous functionality out of its elegant drag-and-drop interface.

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.

Graphically, it's difficult to find any real differences between the two versions- in other words, they both look pretty good- but overall, I'd have to give the win to the Xbox 360, which comes out slightly on top with visuals that were a wee bit crisper.

Even though it's yet another take on Tetris, Pokemon Puzzle League has enough game modes to give it extra depth, and learning the art of advanced chains and combos will take a long time.

A fine expansion with fun locations and seductive opportunities, but it needs a bit more gameplay balance before graduating to the "real" world.

It's hard to put the sheer size and brilliance of Assassin's Creed into words. It is an epic game that you have to experience for yourself. I will caution that the game is not for the impatient or the faint of heart.

But EA Sports Active has a great core--it will motivate you to work out and have you doing it the right way.

It's a ton of fun, especially if a friend gets involved. The motion controls really adds to the competitive experience of the game and should lead to some intense living room battles. But the game itself has a distinctive retro feel, with its lackluster graphics.

What makes Dawn of Discovery unique is its art style, which makes gameplay look like a moving painting.

Those who paid the $10 fee when it was an iPad exclusive are essentially getting the iPhone game for free, and those who haven't purchased the game yet should jump at the 50%-off price, because it might not last long.

Developers have been consistently improving upon touch-based platformer controls on the iPhone and Pizza Boy offers a wonderful continuation of that trend with a large, yet unobtrusive control panel forming the bottom of the screen.

It's a quick and challenging puzzler that delivers gameplay we haven't seen before on the App Store, and I'd call it one of the best original puzzlers I've played on my iPod Touch.

This is the breakout, must-buy hit that WiiWare needed to justify its existence. LostWinds is a beautiful and unique exploration-based platformer that takes full and natural advantage of the Wii's control setup.

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.

It's an interesting addition to the Final Fantasy franchise and proof that Square Enix can deliver a good title that doesn't fall back on RPG conventions. [Dec 2007, p.132]

But expert scribblers will no doubt find Super Scribblenauts' enhanced approach a major net positive over simply receiving a larger batch of levels, while the rest of us finally have a user-friendly way to experience this immensely creative idea.

But for all the genre-requisite spike avoiding, platform hopping, and ghost dodging, the stars here are the levels themselves. They are, in essence, entire puzzles to be solved by leading Mario mites into toy chests, finding keys, and backflipping onto triggers that make some walls or walkways materialize from the ether, and others magically disappear. Me likes.

Deception's drop-dead gorgeous graphics are loaded with clever details (Mileena's thinly veiled mouth or razor-sharp teeth, for instance) and vibrant colors. The Xbox version has the edge over its PS2 brother with sharper graphics.

Doesn't quite surpass the gameplay standard set by the recent "Perfect Dark," but it does have better audio and the graphics are a notch above its predecessor, "GoldenEye."

My only qualm with the demon was that he never really veered us off the beaten path, for the most part we were always trying to get from point A to point B; I would've loved to take in the sights more.

One of the better games to come out on XBLA in the last few months.

But Jamestown doesn't get bogged down in its devotion to the classics of the genre, nor does it try to attract a certain crowd with its art style (yes, I'm talking about Deathsmiles and its ilk). It instead focuses on giving you as many ways to grit your teeth as possible, and doing so with a solid shooting base. It's easy to fuss about the missed potential of playing the game online (a genuine problem), but what you get here is plenty. It's also a decent excuse to get that group together, provided your friends are as crazy as you are.

A deep and engaging title that makes a worthy capstone to the epic series. Like Return of the Jedi, it brings the trilogy to a satisfying close; here's hoping that they don't mess it up by releasing a bunch of prequels.

With an equal amount of attention to detail across the board, Midnight Club: Los Angeles is a fun racer that won't bog you down with menu after menu of tuning specs and testing screens.

Given a few caveats, Great Little War Game fills the void once filled by Advance Wars, and that's honestly one of the biggest compliments I could pay it.

You can't help but wonder if the game could have been even better if they had decided to slightly re-design the gameplay for 2D.