When all's said and done, NCAA 09 may have some rough spots and bugs, there are ways around it that keep them from hampering the immense amount of enjoyment that the game offers.

It’s a hard, fun, and fulfilling finale to one of the better RPG epics out there. It may not have the workings of a classic like Xenogears on the PlayStation, but it legitimately tries to offer that same blend of religion, psychology, and mythological stories that make the gamer ask questions instead of just sit there like a vegetable taking it in.

Rockstar San Diego has created something good here, so if they release a patch that eases things up a bit, they’ll have something even better. If you are looking for something more beginner-friendly, you may just want to give it a rental first.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is certainly worth picking up. With an adequate campaign and more playable comic book characters than you can shake a stick at, plus bonus side missions for all of them, you’re definitely getting more than what you paid for.

Now that the next-gen is officially something in the present, it’s safe to say that Madden NFL 08 is the first great Madden game to come out since Madden NFL 2005.

Fortunately, you don’t get any mind-numbing puzzles that can only be solved by luck either.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is certainly worth picking up. With an adequate campaign and more playable comic book characters than you can shake a stick at, plus bonus side missions for all of them, you’re definitely getting more than what you paid for.

This is for the true NBA fanatic, and you can only truly enjoy it if you know your way in and out of the NBA what with all the changes that occur and whatnot.

Yet for all the issues with the AI and mission design, Perfect Dark Zero comes together exceedingly well, thanks to huge levels, solid mission objectives, and nifty gadgets that break up the battles with short minigames.

Ninja Gaiden II is a fun, brutal and violent game.

Though it's probably not the best game in the series, Trials and Tribulations could not have ended up any better than it is and it's a fantastic final hurrah for everybody's favorite defense attorney.

The $30 price tag, combined with the huge pile of content added, makes this a must-own for racing fans, Sega fans, or people just looking for a great arcade racer to add to their gaming library. OutRun2006 perfectly fits the definition of a sleeper hit.

Unless you’re a hardcore fan of the Prince of Persia games, you can beat the game in about 14 hours or so in a rental to get all you need out of it during the holiday season.

If you have a love for trivia and want a great quiz game for the PS3, there’s no reason you shouldn’t check this out and get ready for some quality time with the family during the upcoming holiday season.

It will be interesting to see how things develop after six months or so, but as it stands, Age of Conan is off to a great start and it can only get better from here.

Whether it sells or not, this is a great remake of a game that totally deserved one from the ground up—but at that, this isn’t for everyone.

So the verdict is simple: If you’ve never played it, buy it; just don’t expect an engrossing experience. Simply expect to be entertained with a few genuine laughs.

The game is accessible to both veterans and newbies, and veterans should also find new combinations and strategies with the innovative bouncing mechanic.

The 800 point, or $10, price tag is very much worth it for the beefy single-player modes and decent selection of multiplayer modes for when you want to shoot people that are right next to you or over the internet’s tubes.

With the economy on the ropes and gamers finding it harder to purchase game, you will not find a better deal than Assault on Dark Athena, which gives you two single player campaigns and a multiplayer component for one price.

The most engaging and deep strategy gaming yet seen to the DS. While certainly not as immersive as PC strategy titles, this game certainly provides more bang than any available strategy RPGs for the DS or GBA.

The Xbox 360 version offers the best presentation out of all these games, quite simply because it probably has the best announcer of all—and his name isn’t John Madden or Al Michaels. He remains unnamed, but he’s one of those homer-types that we can all live to enjoy.

In fact, games such as these are really losing their style due to the fact that they're sometimes too long—FFTA2 should actually take you 30-40 hours to finish, while taking more than 80 if you intend on finishing every mission and finding every nook and cranny with the job system.

Despite the lack of an online mode, this brand new style works out extremely well for the series and should bring the game a lot more fans.

As it is, Condemned II is a scary, clichéd, sometimes engrossing videogame, with good relay value, personality and, darkness permitting, an enjoyable single-player mode.

Space Invaders Extreme is a wonderful Xbox Live Arcade game.

The fun and charm from the original is back and the improved controls don’t ruin from the experience at all that is to be had with the 12 categories of minigames. In fact, if there’s anything to complain about with the game’s depth, it’s probably the possibility that it might be too much to swallow.

Simply put, it’s everything you expect--another year of football with another year of Madden.

With the economy on the ropes and gamers finding it harder to purchase game, you will not find a better deal than Assault on Dark Athena, which gives you two single player campaigns and a multiplayer component for one price.

Homecourt looks, sounds and plays greatly, but it seems they lost the essence of what made V3 so phenomenal.

Nothing in Darwinia+ is spectacularly breathtaking, but it manages to rope you in with all its charm and subtle nerd humor, and you just don’t want to let go.

If you have an Xbox 360, this version is much improved over last year’s offering.

Offering a ton of questions on the disc, a ton more from the users themselves, and a ton of official question packs available on the PlayStation Store, it’s going to be quite a long time before you find yourself getting bored when you see the same question about Futurama for the fifteenth time.

NCAA Football 10 isn’t really going to bring much that’s significantly new to any part of the game over its predecessor, but it does feature a well-polished game for those that are fine with that that makes it worth a purchase.

Eden's certainly another notch on Sony's belt as far as great, unique PSN games are concerned, but it's also proof that platformers haven't disappeared yet, they've just found a better place to foster their evolution.

An excellent DS RPG that feels like many of the best parts of previous games in the series and its spin-offs that have been streamlined greatly. There are some faults here and there that keep it from being perfect, but DS owners looking for a great RPG to get invested in will find a lot to like here.

If anything, Legend succeeds in assuaging frustration. Puzzles never encroach on the aggravation of yester incarnations due to a RAD (“Remote Analysis Device”) that identifies objects of note. It’s reminiscent of "Grim Fandango" in the sense that you’re not left to hunt around wildly for the key elements in a conundrum.

A wondrous game. There is little to be upset about except its short length and no extra content, but the rest of the game is fantastic.

If you loved the original, or require the online play, feel free to pick up X-Men legends II; just don’t expect more than a continuation of the title you finished a year ago.

Lumines Supernova provides another avenue of getting the great Lumines gameplay to the hands of the people that have yet to try it out

MotoGP 06 is an excellent progression for the series. Fans that have been playing the previous games will have no trouble getting into this one.

Gran Turismo fans that can’t simply wait another year or more just for the full GT5 will find a lot to like here for the reduced price while casual GT fans that have been overwhelmed by the immense depth of previous Gran Turismos can hop in and get the hang of the game without being a huge car nut quite well.

With an endearing, dynamic world and pure unadulterated adventuring, it will leave you with fond memories and a sense of accomplishment.

Castlevania has never had more content packed in than it does right here, taking what many consider the two greatest games in the series and including more dialogue, more playable characters, and other nice little extras, and throwing them into a nice, convenient, must-own $30 package.

Hearing bullets wiz past your head as you hear the crackle of machine gun fire in the background is something that I have yet to experience in any game.

There’s some great multiplayer action to be had here, but depending on your familiarity level with the series, you might have already experienced the best that this title has to offer.

Zen Pinball is a great pinball game. It's easy to jump into and play, but learning the nuances of each table will take a long time.

Dead Rising 2 is leaps and bounds better than the original but it still has its fair share of gameplay problems.

Despite the repetitive nature of the operations by the end of Trauma Center: Second Opinion, it manages to be a worthwhile single-player experience, and more than any other launch title, it’s a great showcase for the Wii Remote.

A great game. However, if you were planning to buy this game for its campaign, you might as well forget it. The campaign mode becomes tedious and shallow quickly.

Despite the lack of an online mode, this brand new style works out extremely well for the series and should bring the game a lot more fans.

The main issue between this version of the game and the console versions is simply personal preference.

If you're looking for an engaging, unique RPG with a great battle system and an enjoyable story, you can't go wrong with Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth.

The Darkness isn’t all that long and clocks in at about 10 hours, but it feels fresh the entire way through and doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip offers a marked improvement over the first Hot Shots Tennis game with a much better single-player mode to anchor its feature set.

A more rounded approach would have been welcome and perhaps a lesser emphasis on giving the computer dozens of legendary catches a game would let some players just enjoy the Bigs 2 and play baseball for fun, which is how it should be.

A great game. However, if you were planning to buy this game for its campaign, you might as well forget it. The campaign mode becomes tedious and shallow quickly.

Geometry Wars Galaxies is an excellent transition from old to new with a bevy of extras that will keep fans engaged for a long time.

Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection is easily the most value that has been offered on one disc since The Orange Box back in the fall of 2007, so this is a no-brainer if you have any interest at all in playing a good number of these games.

Most Wanted brings the police back in force, and the game benefits greatly from it.

As an entire package, Naruto does a good job of presenting an awesome part of the story, but makes enough fumbles that stunts the potential to really be the best Naruto experience out there.

As a complete package, SVR 09 never fails to impress.

There are so many reasons to absolutely adore Kameo: Elements of Power: it’s magical surrounding, fantastic graphics–that don’t even require an HDTV to impress–and its charming characters. But there are so many reasons to feel its six years of development should have offered so much more.

Rock Band Unplugged does a great job of bringing the Rock Band experience to the PSP in a format that fits the portable experience very well compared to other portable ports of console music games.

Loyalists will probably be put off by the game's many (long) low-res cutscenes and the shoddy controls at first, but after about half an hour of play, the pacing starts to really pick up and the game really becomes a joy to play. The game is also pretty hard, and there will be times of extreme frustration when dying countless times, but as long as you can endure that, you're in for quite an enjoyable experience.

The fantastic storytelling coupled with an equally impressive score though will make you forget your grievances with the finished product, and there are just enough extras in the campaign to make completionists return a couple times to get them all.

Like their previous resurrected titles, Nuts & Bolts serves as nothing more than a failed attempt by Rare to blend something "fresh" into an already winning formula.

Its pure size is its greatest asset, but because it occasionally loses focus, its greatest liability too. Even with the inconsistencies on the ground, the galactic map and thrilling space battles fill in the gaps.

The Bigs puts tons of great ideas to life to give players a much more fast-paced and turbo induced game of baseball that everyone will surely enjoy. While the fielding and base running could have used a little more fine tuning, the overall package is fun enough for all fans to enjoy a game of baseball without having to labor through hours of gameplay.

By all accounts, EA Sports MMA is a good game. It has great graphics combined with a solid presentation and good controls.

The title screen alone offers up more fun than the missions portray and the clunky controls will only leave those impatient gamers reeling from the inconsistent layout. Scribblenauts is a brilliant idea that offers up plenty of fun for anyone with a creative mind, and despite some technical flaws, is well worth a sit-down for anyone looking to have a good time.

It’s great for a while, and then takes a steep nosedive into the realm of mediocre shooters. The potential was there, but the sloppy implementation of features is ultimately Lost Planet’s downfall.

Chime does a good job of providing a fun and enjoyable experience that may not have a ton of music to choose from, but it offers enough to make the 400 Microsoft points ($5 US) a worthy expense when most of that cost will be going to charity.

Eternal Sonata is a wonderful ensemble of fascinating characters and a remarkable story about the life (and death) of Frederic Chopin.

The Xbox 360 version stands tall among other collegiate sports games on the console.

Overall, echochrome is one of the most unique puzzle games to come out in a while.

Average at best. The great voice acting and the solid graphics are just not enough to keep the game afloat. Somewhat shoddy controls and the lack of depth just drag this title down too much.

It has all of the major bits, but lacks the little extra touches that could have made it a true must-have. That said, the game is still fun, even if it's got a few nagging flaws.

Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection is easily the most value that has been offered on one disc since The Orange Box back in the fall of 2007, so this is a no-brainer if you have any interest at all in playing a good number of these games.

While there hasn’t been a lot of evolution, the game boasts a nearly perfect presentation with the same challenging and addictive gameplay that made the original so great.

Cuboid is definitely an entertaining game in its own right, but the lack of content, useful leaderboards, and custom soundtracks makes this a game that’s just not worth the $10 price tag.

Despire the lack of an online mode, this brand new style works out extremely well for the series and should bring the game a lot more fans.

To put it simply, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology is what you would expect; a complete, comprehensive presentation of the Street Fighter Alpha series. In other words, it will give you some good fighting times, while never representing either the best or the worst of Capcom's work in the genre.

The cheap cost for a lot of replayability, achievements, and the ability to get a head start on Dead Rising 2 with your save is worth the price.

The game is accessible to both veterans and newbies, and veterans should also find new combinations and strategies with the innovative bouncing mechanic.

DeathSpank certainly isn't a perfect game by any means, but it does a very good job of bringing the loot RPG to the consoles with a good story that made us want to search every inch of the world that Hothead and Ron Gilbert has created.

An engaging experience that’s both easy to pick up and tough to master.

A great game for anyone who enjoys The Lord of the Rings, fantasy, strategy games, or Xbox Live. It’s a surprisingly well ported game that really shouldn’t play anywhere near as good as it does.

Dead Rising 2 is leaps and bounds better than the original but it still has its fair share of gameplay problems.

If Titan Studios can support Fat Princess well and offer plenty of good updates that include free and paid content, there should be a bright future for Fat Princess.

If they can find enough substance for the continuing chapters we’ll continue to advocate their creations. Valve and Ritual, follow Telltale’s lead.

The current-gen versions offer a solid golf game with a ton of content. Whichever version you choose, you’ll be getting a great golf experience.

Simply put, you must play Mirror’s Edge.

F.E.A.R. 2 is a middling shooter at best, and while the bare-bones mechanics are all tightly oiled, you’re left with a stale taste in your mouth. It may be the first big release of 2009, but it’s also the first big disappointment.

If you can excuse the inconsistent AI and the over abundance of explosives, Black delivers exactly what you want from it: a fun, fast FPS that will hold a spot in your gaming collection. Just don't expect it to do much more than that.

Guitar Hero III for the PC is a decent game. If you have a PC with the latest hardware and no consoles but you want to play Guitar Hero, you can’t really go wrong here.

MLB 09: The Show on the PlayStation 2 easily got the least amount of upgrades and new features of the trio of offerings this year.

DeathSpank certainly isn't a perfect game by any means, but it does a very good job of bringing the loot RPG to the consoles with a good story that made us want to search every inch of the world that Hothead and Ron Gilbert has created.