Despite its many flaws, there is some fun to be had. Poor design choices, sloppy controls and a lack of any soul or polish keep it from being anything but a brief distraction, but hacking your way through the armies of Sauron to the tune of Howard Shore’s epic soundtrack is enjoyable up to a point.

The game would be much better and more complete with some kind of a competitive experience. Even without multiplayer, Moon is still worth trying out, and hopefully a sequel will polish up the remaining faults and take another small step towards the creation of the definitive DS FPS. It might not be Halo for the DS, but it’s definitely one giant leap towards that sort of an experience.

It’s fast, original, and beautiful – everything you should expect from a holiday blockbuster. If you’re easily frustrated by difficult games it might be wise to rent it first, but be warned; the beauty and addictive race modes might pull you in for a purchase.

There’s a ton of challenge there if your brain is up to it.

For PS3-owning mahjong fans, there’s enough to like, despite the poor multiplayer options.

The story is nonsense, the puzzles are ugly and blurry, the clues are often indecipherable, and the game reeks of laziness, lack of polish and bargain-bin production values. To top it all off, it’ll run you 800 Microsoft Points, which is too much by half.

The constant glitches awful enough to dissuade even the strongest at heart from playing for more than a few hours, and Rise of the Argonauts might be one of the most disapointing games of the generation.

It’s simply too painful. At one point they might have had something special, but the entertaining combat and interesting leveling mechanics aren't good enough to prevent the constant, boring, grinding questing.

As a season closer, 8-Bit is enough is all that you could want from a Strong Bad game. Filled with references to earlier episodes, better and more polished gameplay, and as epic of a story as could be expected.

There are things about Sonic Unleashed that reminded me of how great this franchise could be when done right. It’s just a shame those parts weren’t the true focus of the game.

An outstanding achievement in gaming. There’s no question that this is going to be one of my top games of the year, and any fan of JRPGs should be playing it when it’s released next week.

The later of the 20 unique levels can grow frustratingly difficult, but the amount of replayability due to different challenges and scoreboards are more than enough to justify picking it up, or at least buying it when it eventually makes its way to Xbox Live.

You might have seen that I’ve been using words like adequate and fine often in this review, and that’s really because it’s the best way to describe the game: good. Not great, not bad, but there are plenty of worse ways to spend $20. With over fifty missions and 26 ship types there’s enough to keep an eager pirate playing, but without an online audience the game’s potential is hindered.

While it may not be the game of the year, it arrives just in time to at least contend for it. Who would’ve thought a fresh start on a new console was what this series needed?

While it may seem like the game is being too lenient at the outset, you’ll be thankful for this method of play after a few hours. Nothing kills momentum like having to reload a save, and this feature prevents exactly that.

it's a shock that Puzzlegeddon isn't already on the Xbox Live Marketplace or PlayStation Network. It's a far better game than most of the competitive puzzlers on the systems, and most of the PC version's faults would likely be resolved when moved to the active online communities of the console market.

Here's the only issue – if this game could be so masterfully re-created, so well crafted from a blend of original gameplay and much needed updates, all wrapped in a beautifully hand-drawn package that shines in high-definition wide-screen format – why can't every classic game be remade in such a way?

While Cradle of Rome does have some unique additions to the formula, it’s not quite enough to make it really stand out.

Chrono Trigger DS is a remake done right, and both longtime fans and new players should pick it up.

Sadly, it ends up being a bit of a disappointment, with iffy controls and less than impressive graphics.

Once again, EA has managed to innovate in a genre that had grown stale and tedious. With its numerous graphical glitches, control issues, and overall lack of polish, it’s obvious that Skate It is a first effort. Still, pulling off big tricks (and even small ones) can be very satisfying, and there’s a real feeling that this is a series that will benefit greatly from further iteration.

While there’s no doubt that Inferno is, indeed, the definitive version of the game, it’s still not good enough. It’s short of its own potential, it’s frustrating to play, and while the fixes make it a better game, it doesn’t enhance the flawed experience.

Multiplayer over WiiConnect 24 works surprisingly well, but a functioning online system isn’t enough to get over the broken, unresponsive, and unentertaining fighting mechanics of the game.

The most upsetting thing is the fact that it feels like there really is a good game in Underworld—it’s just masked by all of the game’s technical difficulties.

While there may not exactly be a shortage of RPGs available on the DS, Luminous Arc 2 does just enough right to warrant a playthrough.

With an overwhelming number of party games already on the Wii, including the two previous Raving Rabbids titles, it’s hard to justify spending fifty bucks on this game.

Simply put, Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff is too antiquated, glitchy, bland and feature-poor to compete in the modern sports game market. Even for fans of the series, there’s not a whole lot here that improves on the formula perfected by Tecmo Super Bowl, and there are even a few steps backward to be found.

The microphones themselves are worth commending for their sensitivity and overall appeal, and even if karaoke isn’t your cup of tea it might be worth splitting the game with a friend in hopes that Rock Band and Guitar Hero might have a compatibility patch with the microphones down the road. It might not be the best game in the genre, but as far as a casual singing experience on the system you’d be hard pressed to find one better than Lips.

It’s too short, too lacking in features, and doesn’t give players anything extraordinary to make up for its mishaps.

In the end, NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 is exactly what it advertises itself as – a paintball game made for paintball fans.

When playing with friends, Left4Dead gives the best cooperative experience in gaming, hands down. Nothing compares. The game is lacking a bit in terms of content, and more weapons and locations would definitely add to the experience, but nothing can take away from the sheer enjoyment value. Valve’s newest might be one of their most masterfully crafted, and the attention to detail is impeccable.

When playing with friends, Left4Dead gives the best cooperative experience in gaming, hands down. Nothing compares. The game is lacking a bit in terms of content, and more weapons and locations would definitely add to the experience, but nothing can take away from the sheer enjoyment value.

Overall, while there’s nothing to draw in new players, fans of Lord of the Rings Online should find that the Mines of Moria are definitely worth exploring.

The main problem with Need for Speed Undercover is that even though it is a lot of fun, it’s just not compelling or interesting enough to keep you coming back for more. While playing, I kept thinking, “Man, this would be a perfect weekend rental or budget title”, but I never thought about dropping $60 to get it new.

Luckily, this year, that’s not such a bad thing, as EA’s game has taken a huge leap forward from last year. 2K has some catching up to do once it decides to re-enter the college b-ball arena again.

Is it too soon to ask for Dangeresque 4? This most recent episode has restored much of my faith in the license, one that I felt was strangely being wasted by misdirected game design. Whatever issues Telltale faced early on seem to have been addressed, and the polish of this episode shines through the past few missteps.

Fans of modern fighting games may find the action (aktion?) a bit shallow, but for MK aficionados, this is the game we’ve been waiting for since the mid 1990’s.

It may be a bit light on the gore and ultraviolence, but from a gameplay standpoint, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is easily the best game in the series since "MK3".

Shaun White seems like a nice enough guy. He’s certainly a talented athlete, and a pretty sharp businessman to boot, but slapping your name on a game that not only disappoints and frustrates gamers, but also makes you look like a complete tool through its ludicrous, cheesy, almost offensively stereotypical cut-scenes can’t be a step in the right direction for “the Flying Tomato.”

But no matter how enjoyable it might be, the fact remains that Animal Crossing: City Folk is a sloppy, lazy port of a Nintendo DS title to the Wii.

It’s fast, original, and beautiful – everything you should expect from a holiday blockbuster. If you’re easily frustrated by difficult games it might be wise to rent it first, but be warned; the beauty and addictive race modes might pull you in.

It’s easy to grow frustrated with Mirror’s Edge; the game doesn’t bother being that user friendly. At times, it might feel like pixel-perfect precision needed in old platformers is needed to complete the game, but it’s usually worth the extended effort to try.

Nuts & Bolts appeals to an incredibly small audience; one that I’m not sure exists. To get the most of the game you must know a good deal about Rare’s past titles and their sales records, as well as being a Banjo Kazooie fan that has no problem seeing the past two games sh.t on and ignored in favor of a new, strange gameplay mechanic.

Saying Eternal Poison is a bland, terribly designed RPG is about as nice a thing I can say about this game.

an ordinary game on an extraordinary engine. The faults are mostly swept aside by the gameplay, which is taken straight from Call of Duty 4, and the multiplayer should be different enough to pull those stuck on its prequel away in favor of a change of location and weapons.

While WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 doesn’t reinvent the genre, it may be the best game in the series.

By changing the game to more of a true wrestling game and less of a turn-based RPG, the developers definitely took a step in the right direction.

There’s enough content to consider it a true sequel, and not an incremental upgrade, and it’s an overall better game. The expanded story and new multiplayer modes confirm the purchase, and for fans there’s no way to avoid something this good during the holiday season.

Overall, Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ is a very enjoyable game, with quirky characters, interesting level settings, and a great sense of humor. However, it doesn’t take long for the gameplay to get a little stale, especially when the game slows down when a large amount of creatures are onscreen at once.

Even though the game has its flaws, Tom Clancy’s EndWar ends up being a fairly impressive effort.

It might be a jack of all trades and master of none, but that’s better than sucking.

Valkyria Chronicles is an absolute gem that owners of the system are lucky to have. Even in this crowded holiday season of triple-A titles, this one somehow snuck in and stole my heart, and I found myself putting other games on the back burner to spend more time with Valkyria Chronicles.

There’s about as much to complain about as there is to acclaim, but as a whole, it never rises above the level of an adequate game.

It’s too bad that once again, Bond fans are left with a game that’s more interested in cashing in on a movie license than presenting a complete gameplay experience. Quantum of Solace ends up feeling more like a mod of "Call of Duty 4" than it does its own game, and that’s a shame.

The graphics are solid, the game plays incredibly well, and the story is reminiscent of the best summer action flicks. Add in robust online options and you have a title that belongs in anyone’s library.

Tom Clancy’s EndWar could’ve established itself as a must-own game had it done anything better or more stylishly than predecessors like Advance Wars. Instead, DS owners are given another RTS that brings nothing interesting to the table, and can get easily lost among the dozens of other games it shares so many similarities with.

Though it has its silly side, and the side is definitely prevalent, the game is well balanced and has a good amount of depth that should keep fans of the series happy.

Rubik’s World is a title that had potential, but unfortunately it was lost among the dull and pointless exercises included in this game.

Fallout 3 gives an incredibly bleak outlook on our future and humanity, all the while roping me in closer than just about any title has in the past few years, despite it’s faults. It’s a game everyone should play, if not just to find out who they really are, and to learn what life would be like if we finally had to duck and cover.

Motorstorm: Pacific Rift improves on many of its predecessor’s shortcomings without losing any of what worked so well the first time around. In addition to the visual treats it offers, there’s enough speed, competition, and, yes, strategy, to keep players coming back for more insane, off-road action.

Ninjatown’s gameplay is solid and addictive, its style is wonderful and adorable, and its faults are negligible. It’s obvious that a lot of heart went into this game, and it shows by being one of the best titles on the Nintendo DS. That’s right, you didn’t misread that, Ninjatown is one of the best titles on the Nintendo DS. It’s perfectly suited for the system, the controls are impeccable, and it’s loaded with enough content to justify a purchase for anyone who owns the handheld.

This lack of differentiation between the games and the various technical issues keep the collection from being a “must have,” but it’s still a nice look into the history of 2D fighters, and for skilled fighters, there’s plenty of fun to be had.

Serious fans of motorcycle racing will no doubt appreciate the realism found in MotoGP 08’s Simulation mode. That said, most gamers, who wouldn’t know Hiroshi Aoyama from Thomas Lüthi, will find everything but Arcade mode too difficult to bother with.

It’s fantastic, fun, beautiful, creative, and unique—pretty much everything you would want from any game and everything you would expect from a game that came with so many months of hype and excitement. With unlimited replay value and potential, you will probably be playing it for months—if not years—to come.

Baddest of the Bands is a much better episode than the previous was. The plot is humorous, the writing is spot on, and the puzzles are fun when the game is cohesive, and it is more than it's not.

Fable II is a game that should be enjoyed by gamers, no matter when they get a chance to play it, and it shouldn’t be taken for granted. There’s plenty of content, and even though the actual story is only ten to twelve hours long, there are dozens of more hours of content in the game on each play.

Those of you turned off by MLB Front Office Manager should try this game out to see what a proper management sim is like. I still find a game like Out of the Park provides a bit more depth than this game, but for the price ($20), you sure do get every penny out of Baseball Mogul.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this game, and there are so many things to love about it. Excellent visuals and sound aside, the gameplay is just as great as any Castlevania has been in the last ten years.

BioShock presents moral choices that haven’t been successfully achieved in gaming before. It takes risks, demolishes taboos, and is still one of the most impressive titles ever released. While the game is not perfect I cannot bring myself to give it any less than a perfect score. It is easily one of the best games ever made, and one of the most entertaining experiences ever created. The plot rivals great novels and the voice acting and animation trump some of the best movies.

It may not offer quite as big an initial thrill as Spider-Man 2 did, but Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is probably the best web-swinging adventure so far. With a swing mechanic that rivals the one found in SM2, a combat system that easily trumps any in the series, and solid presentation throughout, fans of the series and the character won’t be disappointed.

It may not offer quite as big an initial thrill as Spider-Man 2 did, but Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is probably the best web-swinging adventure so far. With a swing mechanic that rivals the one found in SM2, a combat system that easily trumps any in the series, and solid presentation throughout, fans of the series and the character won’t be disappointed.

Far Cry 2’s gameplay is solid, and it works as both an open world game and a shooter. Its plot is light, but dense, and will make you rethink the way you look at real world conflicts like the ones represented in the game. As with most sandbox titles, there is a huge amount of content, and there is at least twenty hours of gameplay in the single player alone.

Far Cry 2’s gameplay is solid, and it works as both an open world game and a shooter. Its plot is light, but deep, and will make you rethink the way you look at real world conflicts like the ones represented in the game.

Star Ocean: First Departure is a solid game that has made me want to check out the other installments in the series, but the battle system kept me from really falling in love with it.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles just might be the best racing game to come out this year.

While the world could’ve been bigger, the pop-ups less frequent, and the graphics just a bit sharper, Midnight Club: LA Remix does just about everything else right.

Old and young should have no problem finding joy in the game, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

When you’re finally able to find an animal to shoot, the kills are rewarding thanks to realistic body physics, but those moments are so few and far between that it’s hard to justify the effort spent searching for them.

The point-and-click genre isn’t for everyone, and a port of an episodic PC sequel to a 1993 computer game may not be as exciting for most gamers as it was for me. However, if you’ve ever been a fan of Sam & Max, or point-and-click games in general, then you should play this game.

While it is nice to finally see a graphically upgraded, SIXAXIS enabled version of Sony’s tactical shooter, you feel a little cheated by the fact that there is no single player campaign. Oh, and there are server issues, many, many server issues. Users have had difficuly connecting to games while some haven't been able to connect to a single one.

Saints Row 2 feels like Volition stole the code from a GTA game, dumbed it down by 10%, then let a bunch of 12 year olds decide what kind of stuff you can do in it. I mean this in a good way, and honestly, I wish more games would take this approach.

Dead Space is genuinely frightening, and should keep most gamers on the edge of their seat for at least eight to ten hours of gameplay time. After completing the game, a New Game + option is unlocked, allowing players to restart the game with all of their upgrades and equipment. This feature could be extremely fun, but the option to change the difficulty setting is absent, which makes it a little too easy, and misses the point of New Game +.

Dead Space is genuinely frightening, and should keep most gamers on the edge of their seat for at least eight to ten hours of gameplay time.

Sadly, the lack of replay value, and plethora of better games makes this nothing more than a rental for a weekend when your local football franchise is on a bye week. There’s potential to capitalize on, but I’m not so sure even with improved gameplay if this game could ever be a day one purchase.

The gameplay is tighter, the franchise is deeper, and the online and Be a Pro modes more than match anything Pro Evo puts on the table.

This game is nearly perfect.

A decent attempt at a sports title.

Fracture is a mediocre title released at a time of year when that simply is not good enough. It is repetitive, derivative, and often times boring.

It’s a shame that Mind Over Mutant turned out to be just another so-so Crash Bandicoot game, because it actually did seem promising for a little while.

NBA Live 09 is a massive step forward for the franchise, and, in some ways, for sports games in general. It looks better than 2K’s excellent hoops game, and plays just as well, too. The massive gap in quality between the Live and 2K series has finally shrunken to the point where either option will give you a solid basketball experience.

NBA Live 09 is a massive step forward for the franchise, and, in some ways, for sports games in general. It looks better than 2K’s excellent hoops game, and plays just as well, too.

It’s not completely broken, but compared to the other far superior options available, it might as well be. I can’t even recommend this game to give as a gift to a child.

Hardcore enthusiasts who are looking for a serious challenge will not be disappointed in the least.

Silent Hill: Homecoming may not be a great game, but it’s certainly enjoyable. For fans of the series, or just survival horror in general, this game certainly warrants a playthrough… after the crowded holiday season is over.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is a decent first attempt at giving the speedy hedgehog a new genre to explore, but the game lacks the addictive and challenging elements that make RPG fans want to keep exploring and progressing.

The game itself might also turn people off with it’s realistic combat, so I definitely recommend everyone rent it before a purchase, but that doesn’t detract from the game’s achievements.

Brothers in Arms continues the tradition of bringing realistic warfare combat to gaming, honoring the war without sugar coating the truth.

Pure offers a massive amount of content for the money, and the online multiplayer, which features up to sixteen players, is as intense as any other racing game’s this generation. I cannot recommend Pure highly enough.