Black & Bruised isn’t "Knockout Kings," but it doesn’t try to be, and it certainly doesn’t have to be. All it has to be is fun and engaging, and on those levels, Black & Bruised succeeds.

Like other great physics puzzlers on the App Store, Cover Orange consistently adds plenty of variation to its puzzles as players progress.

The gameplay is where the fun shines in as it mixes twitchy gunplay with a puzzle-like bent to stalking your prey.

The visuals may be on target, but Advance Warfighter's controls in the single-player campaign bites the bullet. It's been an unfortunate and ongoing theme in the Ghost Recon series, yet the wonky control scheme still hasn't been fixed.

Some may yearn for a more complicated gameplay, but for those who do not, Partners in Time is still as funny and enjoyable as its predecessor.

Handsome and smoothly executed.

A light touch on the analog stick will be rewarded with precise control...There’s no multiplayer mode, so the fun doesn’t last terribly long. Worth a weekend rental.

The real meat of the game is the incredibly satisfying tactical combat.

Playing Dr. Mario Online RX for an hour or so virtually guarantees a smile and good mood to follow. Precious few full-price Wii games are that much fun, and a $10 game that delivers and that every single member of your family is likely to enjoy playing - is frankly a bargain.

Overall, Tetris Party is very impressive with all of its modes and things to do.

The controls, however, are a challenge (even with "simulation" turned off) and take some getting used to -- particularly when maneuvering in and out of corners.

There are predictable missteps--the driving sequences are awkward and twitchy, and the camera doesn't always behave itself--but on the whole, From Russia With Love is a convincing and enjoyable ride on the sixties Bond rollercoaster.

Unfortunately, the game shows not only its age, but also the console’s age and its considerable weaknesses.

The game can be really difficult, but, thankfully, you can choose from seven ratings, ranging from "Very Hard" to "Baby."

The best way to describe Disaster Report is "Silent Hill without the monsters."

Another benefit of the DS is the two screens that allow up to eight people to play, and only one player needs the actual game for all to join in. Multiplayer is where Bomberman has always delivered, and the DS version is probably the most engaging yet.

Thanks to a plethora of patches, Magicka is now stable so you can have fun without the frustration. Just one chapter with some of your friends is well worth the $10 cost.

For those with patience, a good sense of direction, and an interest in the obscure, you owe it to yourself to try the game out. If you have a short temper or enjoy the mundane, it's best you avoid making contact with this one.

A very fast-paced game that will test an action gamer's reflexes to the limit, especially on the harder difficulty levels.

If you value gameplay over graphics, there's no just beating the standard Xbox version of Legend -- it's just much, much smoother than its Xbox 360 counterpart.

Yet as innovative and inviting as the Forgemaster system and customization facets are, Curse is slightly hexed by a repetitive play scheme: enter room, kill enemies, exit room, repeat.

None of the game support two-player action, which is downright unforgivable given the PSP's wireless capabilities. Also, the controls can be troublesome with neither the D-pad or analog nub offering up the really fine-tuned controls that I was hoping to have.

A great game in an awful—or is it just nostalgic?—package; a title that would be considered a classic if it had been released, oh, seven years ago today.

Heroes Over Europe--sequel to Heroes Over the Pacific--offers armchair aces yet another reason to climb back into the cockpit, provided you already have a love for the genre. [Sept 2009, p.84]

With NHL 06, EA Sports is revisiting its roots to create a feature-stable game with both style and substance, and it all starts with the controls. Quite simply, they are the most responsive ever. [Oct 2005, p.102]

Portable Ops still has a way to go- it still sucks being gang-stomped for the tiniest of sneaking missteps- but it's encouraging to see that Konami is willing to take chances with one of its main franchises. With luck, they'll take things even further in the future.

The Godfather is one of those films that defined a decade of cinema. The somewhat open-ended world of this game isn't destined to have anywhere near that level of impact, but it is juicy amoral fun all the same, even if its belated arrival on the next generation is more than a little disappointing.

While this shooter hasn’t been a total hit in the arcades, Confidential Mission is right on target for the Dreamcast.