So go ahead, close your eyes and imagine a world where Wiimotes work flawlessly. Even in this paradise, Ready 2 Rumble Revolution would be nowhere near perfect. But at least everyone could enjoy a few relatively engaging rounds of boxing before tossing the controller out the window.

As it stands, however, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume is still a great game for either starved SRPG fans or those looking to get their feet wet with a multi-branching title that lets you choose your destiny.

It's not a perfect game by any accounts, but it's by far one of the better titles in my collection, and one I'm proud to recommend to fans of either action or strategy games.

It’s still an enjoyable experience, but multiplayer is the absolute reason to pick up RE5. It’s the feature that we’ve been wishing for since day one (Outbreak didn’t count), and Capcom delivers a fine show.

It’s still an enjoyable experience, but multiplayer is the absolute reason to pick up RE5. It’s the feature that we’ve been wishing for since day one (Outbreak didn’t count), and Capcom delivers a fine show.

In other words, Uprising does nothing to lift Red Alert 3 or move it in any really interesting direction.

For a game that is so entertaining, because of, or in spite of the copious amounts of gore, having a reason to pause and think at the end is the cherry on top of a brutally exciting, blood soaked sundae.

Its story is light-hearted and enjoyable; its music and setting feel spot-on; and the in-depth alchemy system is perfect for those who love to tinker around in their workshops. Still, it's a love of labor as much as it's a labor of love, and it's hard to feel like a lot more time was needed to fully optimize it for the PSP.

Pikmin virgins and curious Wii owners should definitely take a look at this quirky, satisfying little game, especially if they have a craving for something a bit different. Vets will probably be fine with their dusty GC copies, but this is certainly a game worth experiencing, in its old or waggle-enhanced form.

This is easily worth the $30, especially if you happen to have friends over on a regular basis.

Is it harder? Absolutely—but it's also not nearly as much fun, the witty banter between the Prince and Elika is gone, and the ending leaves the player, and the Prince, wondering just what all of the effort was for. Combine that with the short play time (about two hours) and the recycled enemies and you're left thinking that your ten bucks could have been better spent elsewhere.

Is it harder? Absolutely—but it's also not nearly as much fun, the witty banter between the Prince and Elika is gone, and the ending leaves the player, and the Prince, wondering just what all of the effort was for. Combine that with the short play time (about two hours) and the recycled enemies and you're left thinking that your ten bucks could have been better spent elsewhere.

The differences between Halo Wars and a more traditional PC RTS are distinct. Yes, the controls aren’t as precise nor are there a great diversity of units, structures, or resources—but that's the point. By approaching the game as fundamentally different, the resulting design feels native to the console controller. In the end Halo Wars just plain works, and is a huge step in the development of real time strategy gaming on the consoles.

I think what bugs me the most about this game is that I had my original expectations set pretty darned low before it came out in the hopes of being easily-impressed, and sadly, it ended up meeting many of these low expectations.

I think what bugs me the most about this game is that I had my original expectations set pretty darned low before it came out in the hopes of being easily-impressed, and sadly, it ended up meeting many of these low expectations.

It seems that Sonic Team is emerging ever-so-slowly from the hole it’s dug itself into with the Sonic franchise.

If a truly authentic hitter/pitcher battle is what you crave, for example, this isn’t going to do it for you. If what you really want is to just sit down and have some fun playing something that looks and feels a lot like baseball, even if it’s not the most authentic game on the market, then this game will do the job.

If a truly authentic hitter/pitcher battle is what you crave, for example, this isn’t going to do it for you. If what you really want is to just sit down and have some fun playing something that looks and feels a lot like baseball, even if it’s not the most authentic game on the market, then this game will do the job.

A sports game must, above all else, stay unpredictable. If things start to get stale or if you start losing faith in the design because you’ve seen everything there is to see then a game can quickly lose its appeal. And that‘s what makes The Show special. Things happen.

MLB 09: The Show on the PSP is the second best baseball title of the year, losing only to The Show on the PS3. I don't know if that's more of a sign of how sub-par 2K's offering this year was or a real testament to the handheld developers of The Show, but there's no arguing with the end result, no matter the cause.

Because i[t] successfully brings together a compelling single player campaign and fully realized multiplayer experience, Killzone 2 emerges as a new benchmark for the shooter genre. This is a game that leverages an atmospheric presentation and superb game design for something memorable and lasting. To quibble about a lack of cooperative play through the campaign or the omission of some other feature is to miss the point: Killzone 2 is meant to be a carefully laid out epic. It is a must-have game, a brilliant start for the year, and among the best games of this generation.

The perfect game to port to the DS. Its addictive qualities will keep you staring at the small screen during your lunch break or while waiting for your flight.

Matt Hazard’s designers clearly tried to do something interesting here, and the basic concept of a videogame action star as a washed-up Hollywood type is really quite cool. If only the game actually lived up to its premise.

Matt Hazard’s designers clearly tried to do something interesting here, and the basic concept of a videogame action star as a washed-up Hollywood type is really quite cool. If only the game actually lived up to its premise.

A must-buy expansion. While I badly want to see larger-scale enhancements to the gameplay for future expansions, the amount of content in this release still balances very well against its cost, and those 'turtle'-styled RTS gamers (guilty here) hesitant to get onboard Sins of a Solar Empire due to the lack of any real defensive options will now have a great reason to pick it up.

At the end of the day, if you can look past the utterly stupid story and just enjoy the game for what it is, a fast paced, high scoring, arcade shooter, you'll probably find yourself having a lot of fun.