The weather effects are beautiful (the storm sequences are downright scary), and pulling off a successful ship capture is an exhilarating experience once you manage it.

What makes Ape Escape 2 rule is that it simply feels like no other game, thanks to an intuitive analog control scheme in which pressing or rotating the right stick both aims and activates your various gadgets.

Although hardly original (it's "Jeremy McGrath" with a next-gen facelift), SX Superstar is a well-built arcade bike racer with pretty-enough graphics and the trademark dead-on Climax control.

Delivers a burly extreme experience that doesn’t feel like it was cloned.

It's a flawed-but-fascinating curiosity and addictive despite itself thanks to the truly awesome monster generation. [June 2003, p.113]

A mix of intense head-bashing against smart A.I. and an occasional crate-smashing balance out to some solid gameplay.

More than a decent scaling down of a seminal game, Jet Grind Radio is an accomplished and guaranteed time-killer.

Though flawed and not very much like previous Arc titles (Random battles! In an Arc game!), Twilight's fast-paced fighting and decent story save it from RPG oblivion. Don't worry—it does pick up after the beginning.

If you're not a Mega Maniac, there's no point in bothering with this game. [June 2003, p.96]

Just like its predecessor, Advance Wars 2 is a great, excellently balanced, and super-fun strategy game, but it feels more like an expansion pack than a sequel. If you never played the first one, skip right to number two.

The graphics are crisp and astonishingly smooth, but the game is terribly short—the mission mode is too easy and the auxiliary racing bits are uninteresting.

In an age when platformers are searching for the next gimmick, Wario World stays addictive by weight of sheer design innovation. Shame it’s so short.

A big, huge game of half-baked ideas. There’s a ton of gameplay and a pretty interesting story here, if you’re willing to deal with bugs, control problems, and lots of loading screens.

An interesting action/shooter and a worthy side story for the series. Forget about the ill-fated "Survivor"— Dead Aim is a first-person Resident Evil game that works.

Sometimes enemies take time to notice you, but once they do, the A.I. is fairly impressive.

A deeper, more interesting game than its sequel, but the camera and collision problems hurt the overall experience. [June 2003, p.104]

Sloppy controls, meandering pace, Ginsu-choppy frame rates, generic environments, and beat collision detection.

The game feels cramped and limited. Linear levels where there’s little room to explore on your own attribute to unchallenging gameplay.

Even basic navigation is difficult in this game—it will take you an hour or two before you have any idea how to get anywhere.

Really short and super-easy. Mini-Ulala works mostly as a neato novelty act.

Although the core gameplay’s still pretty mundane, nearly all the faults of the original have been fixed. The control’s much more forgiving (you can actually land combos now), the graphics aren’t so drab anymore, and the music’s a dead ringer for the anime soundtrack.

The terrible A.I. is a big culprit behind the sense of lackluster repetition.

A refreshing multiplayer showing overshadows the humdrum single-player game.

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.

Little room for personality, not many instances of clear level design, and not a whole lot of time before the game gets dull. [June 2003, p.104]

If it weren’t for the low frame rate—evident especially in the outdoor environments—and the really dumb A.I., the action would have been more pleasant. Even the sounds of weapon fire and panicking victims should have been refined.

Has enough variations to satisfy extreme sports fans, and 11 levels, countless goals, and highly replayable two-player modes are sure to keep you busy for a long time. Still, if you’re a gamer jaded by the genre, the game lacks the level of innovation that would have left a lasting impression.

Visually, the Xbox version smokes its PS2 counterpart, but it won’t blow your doors off.