Despite the lack of multiplayer support, LittleBigPlanet PSP is just as good as the PS3 original.

No matter how you look at it this game rocks. It offers the action-style of "Wind Waker" with light character & weapon building, world building and a handful of mini-games and quests that make it an RPG experience that PS2 owners shouldn't pass up.

Both “x-treme” racing fans and racing aficionados alike will find something to enjoy, making it the possible Great Uniter of racing videogames.

PlayStation 2 owners that would rather pluck out their eyes than own an Xbox will want to get this game.

An inspiring emotional work of art and perhaps the best role-playing game this year. Square Enix continues to prove that you can take even the most played out source material in the world (Disney's various franchises) and make something wonderful.

Bayonetta is a stunning orgy of sadistic mayhem that surpassed even my unreasonably high expectations, and proved that violence can be beautiful.

Persona 3’s unusual take on the RPG formula takes some getting used to, but it’s well worth the small amount of effort it requires to become acclimated. If you’re tired of the same old RPG shtick, but still want a compelling story and addictive gameplay, look no further.

At its heart, this is a rock-solid, gorgeously drawn platformer with enough new tricks up its sleeve to recommend to anyone needing an excuse to play their Wii.

If there’s anything I’m not a huge fan of it’s the constant trek through the dungeons, which is akin to a first person shooter with crates, but Bethesda seems to be pretty creative with their dungeons so there’s not as much of a sense of been there done that as there is with many other RPGs.

Another thing that I found annoying was the fog effect. I do not know if it is hiding pop-up or setting the mood of the story (which it does an excellent job for since you cannot see 10 feet down the street). I just found it very annoying.

Audio is superb – from the excellent EA Trax to the sounds of metal crashing into medal, you want to make sure you hook up the headphones for this game.

Fight Night Round 4 provides exactly what I wanted - with only a few caveats. The training could be better. The load times could be shorter. The “lucky punch” could be adjusted. However, those are relatively minor points in an overall good, solid boxing game.

Taking the game online is just like taking any EA Sports game online. You get tourneys and ladders and all that but it lacks full league support.

With familiar and entertaining gameplay, a slick overall presentation and multiplayer that still proves to be a worthwhile distraction Call of Duty 2 may very well be in the running for the 2005 action game of the year.

Overall WEPES 2007 is a fun game, but I was expecting more – new additions, a graphical makeover, better audio etc. The ability to link to the PSP version of the game is nice, but I doubt many people will use it.

One of the best PS3 games to date.

From graphics and sound to story and gameplay, Resistance scores on all fronts and gives the PS3 its first killer app. Can it do for the console what Halo did for the Xbox? Only time will tell.

It’s fun, it’s versatile (I’ve found it to be a hit with gamers and non-gamers), and it offers more bang for your buck (ha!) than just about anything else on Wii right now. It’s the best kind of sequel – one that truly “gets” what was cool about its forebear, cuts the fat and elevates every cool feature to the next logical step. Superb.

For those who like a little strategy RPG with their puzzle games, there is no finer game than Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes.

With the Madden 360 version looming on the horizon, the swan song on the current Xbox is a solid game with some of the same old frustrations combined with some sharp new features.

BlazBlue is a new franchise that calls back to the cabinet. It’s what you’d expect out of, and it’s what you want in, a new 2D fighting game.

The true value of this release is how it represents another glorious step forward for the ongoing lean towards of co-operative gaming in the industry. In that sense, it's a huge success.

A game that truly is a playground for the arsonist-at-heart. The storyline is actually decent, the amount of background information is very impressive (the manual is actually handy for a change too), and the large number of weapons, vehicles, and gameplay styles available make for a significant amount of replayability and flexibility in choosing how to play - always a plus.

Ultimately, if you like Metallica (a lot), and if you like the standard Guitar Hero gameplay formula, then this game is well worth the price of admission. If you don’t meet both those criteria, however, you really should move on.

Patapon is a bargain for the price. It’s a fun game that combines many genres into one package and is a great reason to dust off the PSP and start playing again – just make sure you have headphones.

One of the most ambitious game add-ons you're likely to find and the vast majority of these changes are welcome ones that add significantly to the experience.

Longtime fans of the series will appreciate not just the massive improvements to customization and gameplay mechanics, but in the little changes as well.

It's the kind of game that makes you want to go out and buy a geeky t-shirt or a pocket protector with the logo Prominently displayed on to let the world know that you love this game.

This is a great, great pinball game and I'm inclined to call it the best of its genre that I've ever played-and I've played a lot of them, going back to ancient historical artifacts such as David's Midnight Magic up through the obscure tables done by Japanese developer Little Wing.

In the end, it's a shame that the bugs in the game were not fixed prior to release; it is unimaginable that they weren't noticed by the design team. They're pretty blatant.

Treasure hasn't tampered with the overall mechanics of Radiant Silvergun, and doing so would have been a mistake.

As a showcase for the power of CryENGINE 3, Crysis 2 is a gorgeous showstopper. But as a game, it's an average, action-packed shooter that will thrill you with amazing set-pieces, frustrate you with shoddy AI, and confuse you with a fractured story. If there is one reason you have to play Crysis 2, it is for the fantastic multiplayer.

It also ends up being around twenty hours, so there is plenty of fun to be had in it.

Fighting fit and ready to rip off your head, it's definitely the best Mortal Kombat game released to date.

So while Soulcalibur III is a fighting game that measures up in every way to its predecessors, its failure to truly evolve in gameplay or online support – coupled with its under-developed single-player modes – makes it a lesser game than its elder outings.

There are so many things to love about this game. The unpredictable yet vastly improved gameplay, the slider adjustments that actually work (set the quarterback accuracy to zero in practice mode to see what I mean), the AI playcalling, the new recruiting model, the online dynasty tools, and so on; if all you want to do is play the occasional game with a buddy or play one season with your favorite team, or just relax against the AI and play exhibition games after work then NCAA 11 is an absolute must buy. However, if Dynasty Mode is your thing you are better off either waiting and hoping EA Sports patches the game or simply saving your money for next year.

A competent, if not particularly impressive, sequel. It makes some minor technological improvements, but packages them with major new flaws in the storytelling and gameplay.

Pretty much everything you could ask for in a turn based space strategy game: great AI, great diplomacy model, a ship designer, easy to understand techs, multiple races, multiple custom options, good graphics, solid interface, and a replay value that is through the roof.

Animal Crossing tends to take over your imagination and you start wondering what is happening in your town at all hours of the day and night, because life never stops in Animal Crossing. Be warned, it can become an obsession.

As a puzzle game, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is an excellent offering, however, as a Professor Layton game it is simply extraordinary.

Like all the classic games that are a moment to learn and long in the mastering, We Love Katamari will find itself spinning in many gamers’ PS2s and will be the center of attention at your parties long after other games are on the shelf collecting dust.

It’s a shame there couldn’t be a multiplayer for this game as it might have been fun, but for 400 Microsoft points, what do you expect. It’s a great little pick up and play game that you can play with a little time to kill.

If EA Sports wants Fight Night to capture the attention of boxing fans, it needs to dramatically improve the single player game. Online play only goes so far.

It says a lot for a "little" XBLA RPG to be able to hold its own sitting next to Batman: Arkham City, as it did in the Warner Bros. Booth at E3 in June. Now we know why: Bastion is something special, clearly made with love and oodles of talent. Here's to one of the very best games of the summer – downloadable or otherwise.

The real genius in Four Swords Adventure is that it creates the perfect blend of teamwork, competition, and sadism.

Some people won't enjoy the combat system where the greatest strategy is just to keep on grinding your level up. However, if you look past the flaws, there's really an amusing experience laying in wait.

Like the visuals, the sounds rock the house. Besides the incredibly great soundtrack, the sound effects are some of the best around.

Manages to be that most rare thing; a PC-to-Console port that not only retains the quality of the original, but also tailors its gameplay perfectly to the console. This game is a hell of a lot of fun.

What small scratches dot the surface are allowable, because as an overall package this becomes one of the most worthy and required purchases you could ever make. Whatever you do, don't pass it up.

While the story may be from a fever dream, the graphics are straight out of a ’60s acid trip. The colors are bright and vivid. The art style is something between a Monty Python short and The Beetles’ "Yellow Submarine."

The character models themselves are largely devoid of character. There’s not a ton of detail to faces and the models themselves often come off rigid and too similar to each other.

GRAW 2 is stunning to look at, great to listen to and most of all fun to play – especially if you like cooperative multiplayer.

Despite some minor issues (and a couple that aren't so minor), Max Payne 3 still manages to be a first-class third-person shooter and is thus one of the better games of the year. More importantly, it's a welcome return for one of the shooter genre's better series. The years may not have been kind of Max, but it seems he hasn't missed a beat.

The controls are the big draw here, but they are also the biggest hindrance. Given a good amount of time with the game you will get the controls down, but it is hard to guess how long it will take to master. This is not a casual gamer’s game.

After looking back at all these factors, it’s obvious to me that even when it faltered, Mythic poured every ounce of its soul into WAR.

To be fair there are a lot of changes and tweaks made to the NHL 11 design, but many of them are so small to be nearly unnoticeable. As great as NHL 12 is, and it is a great game, it's not a giant leap from NHL 11. Is that enough to warrant another $60? Only you can answer that one.

The game isn’t completely mind blowing, but it does very few things wrong and is easily the best release of the series on the DS platform to date.

DJ Hero will only give you a glimpse into the realities of mixing and scratching, with some of the coolest mash-ups I’ve ever heard to entertain along the way.

The animation is fantastic especially considering this is a port coming off the decade old Neo Geo hardware.

Shatter is a fiendishly well-crafted game available from the Playstation Store for a little under ten bucks where you spend hours smashing blocks and absorbing vast amounts of neurologically-stimulating graphical flair and ambience.

The game may not come with a red hat, but it makes me feel like a DJ nonetheless.

Overall, Guitar Hero 5 is technically a good game; it’s just a bit soulless.

If you were a fan of the first game, you are sure to like the new installment.

In the end Madden 10 is the kind of game that I am willing to look past the shortcomings because what’s good is really, really good. It’s worth putting up with the faults in order to experience what works.

The time-traveling mechanic at the epicenter of this adventure can be as burdensome as it is intriguing, but most of Radiant Historia's faults are easily forgiven. In a genre often plagued by clichés and cutout characters, Radiant Historia's empathic characters and strong themes are surprisingly invigorating.

A great example of what's possible on the DS, despite the fact that the game really doesn't go out of its way to utilize many of the DS' marquee technologies. The game is wonderful simply because it delivers a pure unadulterated classic Castlevania experience that looks great and plays like a dream.

As for the solo game, Conviction is likely to appeal to more people than any Splinter Cell game to date, which is a shame because UbiSoft has replaced the heady silent stealth play with a middling third person shooter.

Project Gotham Racing 4 is one of the rare racing games that have appeal across the board from simulation racers to those who prefer their racing to be a bit more on the arcade side.

The finest NHL game EA Sports has ever produced.

No matter how you slice it, though, UFC Undisputed 2010 is another blissful, brilliant recreation of the sport.

The latest addition is on par with the previous releases and is a definite must have for any fan of the nimble, fleet footed prince.

What you are left with is a great 2-player game, a lot of features that the well established fan base most likely won’t care about (even though Backtrack and Rewind are both pretty good ideas), a half-baked online league system, and gameplay that is at times highly polished and entertaining yet also plagued by AI issues.

No, it’s not nearly as fantastical as the originals, but it’s still not bad. If nothing else, the new guitar and online play make this a worthwhile purchase.

If the online play gets up and running, there’s no doubt that the game should be rated an ‘A’. You could even make a case for it as a system seller for any baseball fan—MLB The Show is just that good.

One of the biggest, and most appreciated, changes is the toning down of the training mini-games. In story mode, you hit the bag every great once in a while but you aren't required to lift weights and run laps in twitch-reaction style as you might expect.

This is a full-featured port on a new platform, and it is without question the best portable fighting game ever released.

The reason I like the Sidekick feature is that you can never be ‘left behind’ by your friends and teammates.

Heck, it's one of the strongest games of the season, period.

The graphics are top notch, the sounds and vocals are excellent. Mission planning, weapon details, multiplayer scenarios, everything is just rock solid.

The difficulty level is pretty high, but it's not so much annoying as it is challenging.

The gameplay mixes up peddle-to-the-metal action with enough thinking stealth elements to provide a fun challenge.

Dawn of War was a finely tuned game with huge battles and many disposable troops. Dawn of War II is faster, lighter, smaller, in some ways more interesting and in other ways somewhat lacking in its execution. But taken as a whole it’s impossible to not recommend the game to 40K fans and to those who are willing to accept that this is not a linear sequel to an aging franchise.

Red Faction Guerrilla’s unabashed destruction is so much fun that the lengthy load screens gave me an unfamiliar feeling of anxiety. I desperately wanted to move on to the next area and come up with a cool, entertaining way to execute a mission.

The only real problem that I had with FFX-2 was that the game seems to flow at a very leisurely pace and not a rush to hurry and stop the villain.

Gameplay is fast and furious. For those who like to build up defenses and massive bases, you're going to find that it doesn't work so well this time around.

In the end Madden 10 is the kind of game that I am willing to look past the shortcomings because what’s good is really, really good. It’s worth putting up with the faults in order to experience what works.

It is one of the great GBA action games for 2004 and shows that handhelds have games equal to, and sometimes superior to, their big brothers.

In the end, the biggest strike against Continuum Shift is that it remains in the shadow of Super Street Fighter IV, much as its predecessor did last year in relation to that game's initial release.

Guitar Hero: World Tour is Activision’s answer to Rock Band, and while adding drums, bass, and vocals was necessary to keep up with the Joneses, a whole host of new problems are introduced with their inclusion.

There’s nothing incredibly new or earth shattering here, but you can absolutely enjoy it for the fighting game that it is.

A sleeper hit.

Soul Calibur IV is one of the best fighters currently available on the PS3 and is certainly the best weapons fighter. The core fighting system is still there and the additions of online play and the Character Creation mechanic really bring more fun to the game as a whole.

In any case, Amnesia: The Dark Descent is an unforgettable survival/horror experience, one that should not be missed.

From the gorgeous arenas to the assortment of returning and new characters – even the Star Wars ones – found in the game, Soul Calibur IV is exactly what the series needed to step up and compete in the next generation.

It has some small flaws and is not quite the open, never-ending quest that the game's hype would have had us believe, but a play through is well worth the gamer's time. And perhaps at least two times through: once as the ultimate do-gooder and once as a tyrant that would make Hitler blush.

So, no, OOTP 11 isn’t perfect but to complain too much about its deficiencies is missing the larger point – which is that no hardnosed baseball fan should be without a copy of this game. It remains one of the best laptop travel games in existence, plays great with a full league of human players and allows you to recreate the entire history of baseball or start over with a totally custom and fictional league allowing you to create your own sense of baseball history.

The down side is that the commentary has seemed to change from endless conversation and good jokes to dry, corny play by play.

Kingdoms breathes fresh life into the Total War franchise, just when it needs it most.