Out of the Park Baseball 12 is a stats and text-based baseball sim where players are given complete control of any baseball club they choose. Unlike other sports games, players take a back seat for the action, but get a plush office as team general manager, with a full set of tools at their disposal to raise their team to glory.

Playing Otogi 2 not only reconfirmed our opinion of the original, but it also disappointed us as it's nearly just as constrained. [Nov 2004, p.108]

Overall, the physics find a solid balance between fantasy and reality, and the smooth controls make running contraband an addictive experience.

Puzzle Dimension feels like the old fashioned cousin of Ilomilo, a similarly Swedish spatial puzzler. Its charming retro aesthetic and upbeat chiptune soundtrack give it a nostalgic vibe, while its absence of story and punishing difficulty recall the puzzle games of yesteryear. It's not going to convert non-fans of the genre and its score system is negligible for all but the most die-hard fans, but the actual puzzle design is fiendishly clever, and plentiful to boot.

There's plenty of fun to be had but the title falls just a little short of the hurdle that it's trying to leap. [Oct 2007, p.83]

A limited camera, slightly wonky unit A.I., and a few absent unit-handling features seem like a retreat from ground already covered by other, older 2D RTS games.

Never before has a college football game been this fun or looked this good. The level of visual brilliance featured in NCAA 07 is unrivaled in any current sports game.

Safe and insatiable, Pac-Man Collection delivers high comfort but low thrills.

You know this gameplay: There’s been a lot of excellent tuning but no mammoth overhauls.

It's outlandishly short (10 hours if you're good), the controls take getting used to, and the multiplayer mode's limited to only two players, but the whole of Baldur's Gate is still far greater than the sum of its parts.

A gripping and action-packed experience that will appease if you’re jonesing for a straightforward FPS.

Mega Man 10 is an extremely fun and worthwhile purchase, and a much better overall value.

For some strange reason one of the best features of the original game, Mission Mode, is absent. Even more disappointing is the lack of any online versus mode. Sure I can thump my brother in 2-player offline whenever he comes over, but fighting games are perfect for multi-player.

All in all, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection is an extremely solid assemblage of some of the Genesis' greatest hits, and with extras and achievements, hidden interviews and an entire museum of concept art thrown in for good measure, it's definitely worth a look from old school gamers looking to re-live the glory days when a hedgehog didn't need a lame Werehog gimmick to prove that he was the baddest mascot around.

Stellar cell-shaded graphics, excellent voice acting (with Patrick Stewart reprising his cinematic role as Professor X), and multiplayer mayhem that make Legends look and feel like the A-list game that it is.

Team Fortress 2 addicts should definitely enjoy the very obvious similarities at work here, while the average gamer will probably appreciate the genuinely unique atmosphere that Monday Night Combat brings to the stage.

It could have innovated, or at the very least, reinvigorated the console RTS genre, but instead, it only achieves a certain level of mediocrity.

With procedures rarely clearly explained, frustration is quick to take over, and the time limit is just annoying. A normal operation has a time limit of 5 minutes, which doesn't seem so hard until you get stuck randomly away at the screen, trying to figure out what to do next.

Fun co-op play, fun weapons, short and sweet.

The writing is hilarious, the variety from level to level is impressive, and the game's chunky 3D art style looks great in action, especially when the game switches to slow motion to show off the destruction you've wrought with your meteors.

When taken as a whole, La Pucelle: Tactics is a great strategy/RPG loaded with hours upon hours of solid gameplay, multiple endings, side-quests, and a high degree of customization. [June 2004, p.91]

Telltale hit it right out of the park with the first installment of the series. It has plenty of humor, fun gameplay, nice puzzles and wonderful music and voice work. The only real setback to the game is that the hint system can be too helpful.

To be sure, it's not a must-buy if you own last year's edition. (Well, unless you're a hardcore Masters fanboy. Do such things exist?) But it's another step in the right direction for the series, and an easy recommendation if you've missed a year or two.

Some of Deadly Alliance's game elements are still very arcade-minded—such as ludicrously difficult bosses and schizophrenic A.I.

The feel of parody is gone; rather than being a wild action game based on hockey, this year’s edition is a hockey game with some wild action.

But these flaws can't keep Trails in check for too long. The game delivers a lot of what JRPG fans want -- a long, epic story (which, it should be noted, doesn't end with this game), lots of fun dialogue, and an engaging combat engine -- and does so in a charming, enjoyable fashion. It might be a crowded market on the platform, but Trails in the Sky manages to soar well above many of its peers.

If you can get past the War Mage's obnoxious personality and the repetitive and equally obnoxious Gothic metal soundtrack, which isn't asking for much, you'll find endless hours of good times in Orcs Must Die.

As difficult as it all sounds, You, Me, and the Cubes is actually one of the few games I can play that actually relaxes me.