This shallow, simplistic beat-'em-up is stuck in the past.

Underneath the religious overtones is a mediocre party game that shouldn't get much play, even at a Catholic school retreat.

While it may be tinged with an insubstantial campaign and a few other minor problems, How to Survive is a worthy game built on a strong foundation of exciting experiences.

These puzzles may not be pretty, but they've got the brains to make up for it.

Unfortunately the game grows stale rather quickly and is hampered by a ridiculous difficulty level and repetitive gameplay.

Cube's decent premise is diluted by its dull visuals and uninspired puzzles.

Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem is frustrating to play for the majority of its campaign, leaving you with little motivation to dedicate more time to endgame events. There are many technical issues that can be fixed to alleviate some of this frustration, but it's the deeper ingrained problems with difficulty balance and character build viability that keep Wolcen from fulfilling its enticing promise of a free-form ARPG. It has all the elements in place to become another engrossing time sink, but it doesn't execute well enough on any of them to make it worthwhile.

A forgettable experience, pushing players through the same three minigames over and over again, without ever capturing the thrill of being a wizard. The story lacks focus and is difficult to follow, giving players only the faintest motivation to continue on before it finally ends on an emotionless, anticlimactic note. The Half-Blood Prince squanders its impressive license; you're better off reading the book again.

It nails the show's insanely enjoyable brand of humor, but can't quite pull out a gameplay design to match.

Has the same great gameplay of the previous two Cossacks games, but is it really enough to justify another expansion?

A perfect example of a game that doesn't have any serious problems but doesn't do anything to really set itself apart, making it difficult to recommend because there are better alternatives available.

Even though Speed Kings doesn't stray very far from the "Burnout 2" formula, it's a solid racer that does a great job of conveying an insanely fast sense of speed and requires you to think and react in an instant.

Avatar: The Last Airbender had the potential to be an enjoyable game for both children and adults but most of that potential went untapped, and the extremely repetitive and tedious gameplay isn't likely to appeal to either audience.

Zooming around with your jetpack can be a lot of fun, but routine shooter action and long flightless sections keep Dark Void from flying high.

With IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover, a beloved series crashes and burns.

Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions includes some great games, but that's not enough to make it a great compilation.

TMNT has some legitimately neat platforming sequences, but it's more frustrating than a kid-oriented game ought to be, and the combat is completely brain-dead.

BlackSite: Area 51 is an ordinary first-person shooter that's held back by a collection of bugs and other issues.

Metal Gear Survive feels oppressive, demanding, and obtuse, and needlessly so. It's a shame because there's actually a good survival game in there, but the pressures it places on you make uncovering and enjoying that unappealing.

Karateka is an attractive remake of a classic, but simplistic combat and limited replay value keep it from greatness.

Does a competent job of letting you sing a bunch of songs and occasionally earn points doing so.

This is the B-list version of a big budget RPG. It’s almost inspiring how plucky Spiders is in its execution of The Technomancer. It's clearly trying to emulate the range of worlds and playstyles of games like The Witcher 3 and Dragon Age in a sci-fi setting, but isn't quite up to the task. It’s buggy, flawed, and, frankly, kind of cheap. This is absolutely a SyFy Channel-grade RPG, with all that implies.

The gameplay is fast and accessible, and there's enough variety in both the single- and multiplayer modes that you could spend a lot of time with the game.

A decent strategy RPG that ultimately gets weighed down by some frustrating game mechanics.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness/Time recycles the aging Mystery Dungeon formula, but it's still worthwhile for fans of dungeon hacks.

Generation of Chaos is a unique and interesting strategy game that manages to be somewhat enjoyable despite its technical shortcomings and exceedingly steep learning curve.

Tarr Chronicles is the painful combination of incomprehensible and insipid.

Burning Skies leaves little doubt that the Vita is a comfortable home for first-person shooters, but the platform's first FPS is disappointingly dated. Toothless enemies and simplistic level design make for tepid campaign action, and the solid multiplayer suite is too limited to be a big draw.

While Cold War features some pretty impressive graphics and a decent story, the predictable enemies you'll face and the limited number of environments you'll visit prevent the game from being particularly exciting.

Extremely dated appearance and poor performance.

It's easy to learn, nonviolent, and focuses on miniature cars--something kids can relate to and car-loving adults can always enjoy, too. Just hope a patch is released in short order.

Spyro's newly expanded roster doesn't manage to save A Hero's Tail from monotony, and even the title's targeted younger demographic will probably soon tire of the game's reliance on boring collectible gathering.

Doesn't really do anything to differentiate itself from these older foot-racing games and doesn't bring anything new to the table.

For the game's target age group, the combination of a humorous plot, unlimited continues, and solidly average gameplay makes for a great, non-gory initiation into the 3D combat genre.

Naruto's latest outing is yet another simplistic, mediocre brawler.

A bland first-person shooter mode does little to freshen up the stale taste of this aging light-gun series.

Despite various minor improvements, Mega Man Star Force isn't significantly different than the GBA Battle Network games.

It's not a very deep game; it's kind of ugly, and the voice acting is atrocious. But Heatseeker can be fun in small doses--especially if you don't mind taking down wave after wave of enemies, level after level.

Blade Dancer plays by the book as far as the narrative goes, but an interesting crafting mechanic and an adaptive battle system with real-time elements help set it apart.

Poor level design poisons Jericho's awesome but unrealized potential.

Raging Blast 2's good looks and fan service can't conceal the shallow combat at its heart.

It's an intriguing experiment that ultimately suffers from shallow, simplistic gameplay and an uninvolving story mode rife with bland characters.

Jump Force is a worthy celebration of the legacy of Shonen Jump manga, but it honors its source material a little too well with how filler-heavy the middle of its story arc is.

Sure, it throws in a few new wrinkles to the combat system and adds some crazy God of War-esque contextual actions into the mix, but the core game is functionally the same as previous Spider-Man games, and the changes are a mixture of positive and problematic.

The PSP version of Rainbow Six Vegas manages to condense some of the action that made the Xbox 360 version of the game so cool, but it's also very short.

Kingmaker is a more-of-the-same expansion for Majesty 2 that adds little to the original game's formula aside from intense difficulty and a map editor.

A few neat elements help keep this tepid dual-stick shooter afloat.

A soccer game that boasts far more style than substance and has more in common with the FIFA games of old than it does with "FIFA Soccer 2005."

Final Exam often feels too much like homework for its own good, but it still proves enjoyable in between the monotonous fetching and the too-long corridors with nothing to see, particularly when played with a friend or three.

Mister Slime looks about as simplistic as it plays, displaying gameplay on the bottom screen while relegating Slimy's health, points, and menu items to the top screen.

Need for Speed returns to its roots with hokey cutscenes, wild cop chases, and solid racing action.

It's as cute as a button, but dull, simplistic dungeon exploration drags Gates to Infinity into mediocrity.

A lack of depth prevents this Inazuma Eleven Wii spin-off from living up to the legacy of its DS cousins.

The most frightening aspect of Resident Evil 2 for the GameCube isn't the zombies that walk the hallways, the enormous spiders lurking deep within the sewers, or the other horrid denizens of Raccoon City--it's the fact that a mediocre port of a 5-year-old game retails for nearly the same price as an entirely new product.

Even if you forgive the flimsy story, cliché characters, and derivative gameplay, it's impossible to look past the myriad game-stopping bugs, frustrating glitches, and glaring technical problems that plague this game.

Despite YIIK's stunning art direction, kicking soundtrack, and occasionally interesting plot point, it suffers as a result of its clunky combat, tedious grinding, and poor puzzle design. Postmodern texts aren't always enjoyable--Wallace's Infinite Jest features walls of text that list every chemical name for prescription drugs under the sun, spanning pages upon pages at a time. However, Infinite Jest has substance. For the most part, YIIK doesn't.

Really, the comic book presentation of Liberated makes the gameplay portions feel like an afterthought, shoehorning some weak gunplay into a tale that's really more about political intrigue and moral quandaries of balancing safety against the preservation of personal freedoms. The best parts of Liberated are the character beats in the comic panels, and the worst are the moments when you have to shoot a bunch of dopey, stilted bad guys in order to get back to more comics. It's nice to look at, but Liberated's uninspired levels and often-frustrating design make it feel more like a cage.

Okabu is a colorful and fun puzzle adventure, though it suffers from a few technical issues.

Finny's tone and relative simplicity make it clear that it was designed for the younger end of the lunchbox spectrum, but vague mission structure and some unusually punishing elements work against the rest of the design.

Like The Asylum's film oeuvre, Mind Zero is capable, at times, of at least holding your attention, but it's rarely entertaining, and when you're done, you'll be wondering why you didn't invest your time in a superior alternative instead.

"Rayman 2," "Klonoa 2," and "Jak and Daxter" are all members of the same genre as Tarzan Untamed--adventure--and each does the two things Tarzan Untamed fails to do: impress visually and last beyond a weekend.

Fans of traditional adventure games will enjoy the puzzles and will likely be able to bear with the awful voice acting and the underdeveloped story.

Its focus on blowing things up gives it a bit of a distinction, but since there's little context to the game and the levels seem thrown together, you'll probably lose interest quickly.

Despite some rough edges, it makes for a fun ride that justifies the budget price.

Despite the company's lack of experience with this sort of game-making, and a few noteworthy miscues, the designers have traced the footsteps of Resident Evil as carefully as a chiropodist. This leaves the end result without even the tiniest smidgen of originality, though it is a convincing memorial to a classic genre.

Perhaps with some additional gameplay modes, or less-archaic graphics and sound, World Race might stand out a bit more, but as it is, the game is only worth playing if you have a specific affinity for the Hot Wheels series.

A thoroughly generic combination of beat-'em-up and platforming gameplay that draws upon only the most rudimentary elements of both genres and does nothing particularly interesting with either of them. Both exceedingly trite and exceedingly brief, Shadow of Aku is pure mediocrity from beginning to end.

Those who missed out on the PlayStation version could still find a good bit of entertainment value here, but this dated title simply can't compete on the same level as current software.

A worthy enough "sequel" to the original and can deliver an adequate number of thrills, though nothing unique or surprising.

A dull and repetitive platformer that does no justice to the exciting exploits of its titular character.

For every promising moment--which are few and far between--there's a commercial for candy, or a series of mini-tasks and menus that drag you back down. Chibi-Robo is a sleepy trip through a forgettable world. Plead with it to go faster, beg it to surprise you with new experiences, but don't be surprised when it answers back with the merits of biting into the center of a Tootsie Pop.

This Force-powered sequel is a better port than its predecessor, but it never jumps to lightspeed.

Zooming around with your jetpack can be a lot of fun, but routine shooter action and long flightless sections keep Dark Void from flying high.

It's simply not worth suffering through hours of punishing game design to discover the occasional moments of nostalgic joy. Sadly, The Power of Two is another failed attempt at revitalizing Mickey's career.

It isn't as comprehensive or glamorous as any of Nintendo's Pokémon games, but fans of the show will still probably enjoy it a great deal, since it will let them gather and build their own set of fighting spirits while also experiencing firsthand many of the stories told in the show.

The new battle system is mindless and repetitive, and the online multiplayer does nothing to mitigate the weak single-player campaign, lifeless characters, and dull presentation of the game.

Spectral Force 3 is a functional and predictable strategy RPG without a lick of personality.

This no-nonsense motorcycle racing simulation is punishing and inaccessible, but it's still fun.

A competent action role-playing game and a decent movie tie-in.

The puzzles can be fun and challenging, but the anemic gameplay and generic presentation will leave you feeling unsatisfied with Frantix.

A decent game. Better graphics and sound would have really helped the game to feel a lot more modern and be enjoyable to a wider audience.

Even if you can play with others, Godfall's meaty combat eventually begins to wear thin after the umpteenth version of the same fight. This is a shallow game bolstered by decent combat that struggles to bear the weight of an entire game. Uninteresting loot mixed with a monotonous and grindy structure is not a good combination, and for as satisfying and fun as it can often be to hack your way through one battle after another, there's not enough here to sustain that enjoyment for more than a few hours.

Not even the allure of shiny robots with guns for arms can liven up this mind-numbingly simplistic and repetitive over-the-shoulder shooter.

This flawed horror adventure gets the atmosphere right, though it isn't as sharp as it could have been.

Worms: Ultimate Mayhem delivers a high quantity of underwhelming content that does nothing to improve the 3D Worms experience.

"Myth" fans may enjoy the novelty of new solo missions and multiplayer maps that add a good number of new units, but veterans in the community could likely name a number of free mods that match the quality of Green Berets on a smaller scale.

While its overall production isn't quite up to the level of "Ace Combat 04," it's technically up to par, and its gameplay is distinctive and entertaining.

Suffers from a series of problems ranging from stilted animation that adversely affects its gameplay to downright poor AI.

Action fans will have little room for complaints, however--Soldier of Fortune promises "action movie" gameplay and delivers. Each firefight is a challenge, and the detailed, though gruesome, enemy model animation enhances the realism.

Though it has some startling moments and a few fun sections, it's mostly just a mediocre version of a mediocre game.

A thoroughly generic combination of beat-'em-up and platforming gameplay that draws upon only the most rudimentary elements of both genres and does nothing particularly interesting with either of them. Both exceedingly trite and exceedingly brief, Shadow of Aku is pure mediocrity from beginning to end.

An interactive murder mystery that could use a lot more mystery. Go buy a five-dollar paperback detective novel ... it'll probably take you longer to read the book than to solve this game.

This package contains the major hits that most fans are after.

Its different modes, which feature a relatively unique approach, are undermined by the substandard gameplay.

In setting out to make a wrestling game for people who don't like wrestling games, THQ has turned in a game that nobody will like.

The absolutely awful camera control that all but ruins the game. But despite these very apparent flaws in the action portion of the game, the turn-based strategy portion is somewhat enjoyable while it lasts.

Platypus is a simplistic, short-lived shoot-'em-up with visuals and gameplay that are adequate rather than impressive.

Don't expect any grand, over-the-top treatment of Spartan history, as Sparta: Ancient Wars is a very generic real-time strategy game.