Jewel Quest sticks a little too close to the Bejeweled formula for its own good, but it does require you to master a different set of strategies.

With a license as big as the World Series, you'd hope for something more than a merely competent poker title.

With each iteration, the series has offered more and more features, but with Inside Drive 2004, it's apparent that the developers at High Voltage still have a ways to go before catching up to their competitors.

The game's got a distinctive look to it, and some good moments, but some tedious collection tasks and exploration elements drag the game down.

While Locomotion doesn't vary much from "Transport Tycoon"--which itself is a classic game--you can't help but feel that this remake doesn't really feature any of the improvements and enhancements that you'd expect after 10 years.

The strategic elements of the squad-based combat mix well with the explosive action, and enough of the back story is relayed in the mission debriefings that having watched the original series isn't a prerequisite.

The lack of gameplay options also hurts Tennis Masters Series 2003, despite the fact that, fundamentally, it's a fairly sound game.

[It] isn't a horrible game, but its lackluster level design, poor enemy AI, and easy level of difficulty pile up to detract from what it does offer greatly.

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.

Unfortunately, the gameplay feels too much like a mishmash of several other well-known gaming franchises and ends up overly simplistic.

The game is put together pretty well, but the game is very simple and very short. On top of that, the lame wordplay and fart jokes that pass for humor just don't cut it.

Fun and challenging, but the graphics and audio are outdated and the play modes aren't deep enough.

While the gameplay is still as entertaining as ever, the game just lacks too many secondary features--both in comparison with "FIFA 2002" and even with other versions of 2002 FIFA World Cup--to make it worthwhile for anyone but the biggest World Cup fan.

So if you like playing video games to release tension, and you don't care about good stories or online multiplayer modes or any of that stuff, definitely rent this one or something.

All of the problems that plagued the PlayStation 2 version of the original Brothers in Arms are front and center once again, making for a lackluster port of a great game.

It's functional backgammon on your 360, and not much else. But if you're into the game, that's probably good enough.

Another Road is essentially just a remixed version of the original Shin Budokai, offering very little in the way of new content.

It's a simplistic hack-and-slash that tends to get painfully repetitive, but 300: March to Glory has its moments.

A good choice for people who don't already own Namco's two earlier collections.

The story is lifeless, and the circa-2001 graphics and audio just don't cut it anymore.

Chances are a good number won't be able to forgive the incredibly high level of difficulty--or, rather, be forgiven by it, especially considering the inability to save in the middle of the game's long levels.

The Life is a flawed, yet fun basketball game that's worth a look for anyone that's searching for a different take on the sport.

Despite featuring an arcade-style mode, Dangerous Hunts is more of a slow-paced sim. Whether you find it intense or terribly tedious will probably depend on your hunting knowledge and patience.

Scarcely meets average in most respects, although the core gameplay can be very fun.

The game has its share of ups and downs, but if you're willing to overlook the occasionally frustrating fixed camera, it actually gets better the more you play it, just like the characters with whom you'll be fighting.

If you play the game on its own terms, there's a good chance you'll enjoy it. If WWII naval battles appeal to you, or you just like the idea of firing massive cannons, that chance is even better.

The story is lifeless, and the circa-2001 graphics and audio just don't cut it anymore.

There's nothing actually revolutionary going on in Harvester, but it's a creepy game featuring tried-and-true adventure mechanics with entertaining twists and some truly disturbing full-motion video segments that will follow you to bed and snuggle up nice and cozy in your dreams.

The gameplay isn't terribly deep, and the story mode isn't very long, but the game is still mildly enjoyable. What Starsky & Hutch does best is pay homage to the wonderful clichés of 1970s cop shows.

The game delivers genuinely solid gameplay, which is sure to please those who're seeking nothing more than a visually efficient, effectively designed shooter.

Condition Zero is a product that will appeal most to those players who haven't tried CS yet (and how many of them are there?), those who don't want to deal with the hassles of playing the game online, and those who just want to have some offline practice.

These missions are very difficult. They are puzzles with very little margin for error, and as you load one for the second, fourth, and even 10th time, you'll find frustration overshadowing a lot of the game's strengths.

It can be a challenging game, but that challenge mostly comes from having to slug it out through many battles against increasingly strong foes, rather than from having to make complex tactical decisions during those battles.

A good entry point for people interested in discovering the tactical espionage genre, but it doesn't offer anything over and above the older "Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear."

Siren's dreamy, unsettling experience is ultimately marred by tedious trial-and-error-based design that makes it best suited to survival horror fans with a good store of patience.

While PC strategy veterans will find that the gameplay is pretty basic, console owners starved for a real-time strategy game should find Goblin Commander to be a worthwhile experience.

MN 2002 will wear out its welcome in short order if you have any demands on the game as a serious simulation of the sport. Most will want to move on to the current PS2 version of the game, which represents a year of design improvements that this dated port does not.

This PSP port of Ys: The Ark of Napishtim keeps pace with the hack-and-slash action, but long loading times and other issues mar the overall package.

Even if you really liked Infection, you probably won't like this second installment as much, since it's just like the first, minus the originality.

This is a game that is aimed directly at sprint car racing fans. As such, the developmental focus was clearly on the gameplay, seemingly at the expense of the audio and visual aspects of the game.

Your enjoyment of Portal Runner depends wholly on your tolerance for both straight-up, albeit slightly watered-down, 3D platform-adventure gameplay and 3DO's distinct brand of abstract patriotism.

Although this isn't one of the finest-looking games for the Xbox console, those who are even remotely familiar with the characters and stories in a typical Scooby-Doo episode may still get a kick out of it.

The Outfit's aim for a bold blend of action and strategy gets sabotaged by a repetitious single-player campaign, but it is redeemed somewhat by a more-inspired multiplayer.

Raw Danger's recursive storytelling and enjoyably overblown disaster-movie set pieces are undermined by cheap-looking production and often clumsy, trial-and-error gameplay.

A potentially fun, but ultimately frustrating, entry in the series, and fans of the Battle Network universe would be much better off sticking with their GBAs.

In copying the formula of Total War, Pyros Studios, the designers of Imperial Glory, have missed the small nuances and details that made the Total War games, in particular Medieval and Rome, something special.

A fun game that will undoubtedly impress those who've never played the original.

Can be fun for short periods of time. The longest game will last about 45 minutes, at the end of which you'll have little desire to come back for more.

The sights and sounds of Every Extend Extra are quite attractive and varied, and half the fun is seeing how drastically the game's look changes from level to level. The actual gameplay is novel for a while, but it lacks the depth to keep you playing.

It's nothing that we haven't seen before in some regard, but its variations on the established theme make the experience at least somewhat different from the rest.

If you can get around the weaker aspects of the game, Rogue Ops should be a reasonably entertaining experience for stealth fans looking for their next fix.

Definitely a more well-conceived game than The Power of Juju, and there are some genuinely fresh, inventive ideas at work here. The problem is, the whole experience is muddled by an inconsistent difficulty and slapdash level designs, and these good ideas don't quite coalesce into a good game.

Ultimately, what's most impressive about Myst III: Exile is that it combines intellectual challenge with scene after scene of enchanting beauty.

It does give fans of the genre something new to try, though many will surely feel as though they've played this game before.

It's a mostly faithful emulation of the arcade original with a few interesting updates that should please fans of the series.

Action game fans ought to be able to settle in and blast their ways through Total Overdose's relatively brief campaign with reasonable levels of enjoyment. Just be prepared for one extremely cheesy ride.

Had the feel of the weapons been a little better, and had the campaign been more consistently intense, Finest Hour could have been a much better game.

Action game fans ought to be able to settle in and blast their ways through Total Overdose's relatively brief campaign with reasonable levels of enjoyment. Just be prepared for one extremely cheesy ride.

An admirable effort of it with a beautiful 3D graphics engine, but, unfortunately, the end result is hampered by some frustrating gameplay, poor AI, and bugs.

"Cute" is the most appropriate way to describe Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, though "frustrating" may also come to mind as you make your way through the game.

Despite its unrealistic physics, repetitive racing, and insufficient options, the game can, at times, be surprisingly enjoyable.

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."

If you can get around the weaker aspects of the game, Rogue Ops should be a reasonably entertaining experience for stealth fans looking for their next fix.

A basketball game that remains virtually unchanged from last year's version.

Despite its simplistic nature and barbaric difficulty level, Izuna: The Legend of the Unemployed Ninja can be intensely satisfying.

Definitely a more well-conceived game than The Power of Juju, and there are some genuinely fresh, inventive ideas at work here. The problem is, the whole experience is muddled by an inconsistent difficulty and slapdash level designs, and these good ideas don't quite coalesce into a good game.

The gameplay is very much like that of the earliest real-time strategy games. This is a traditional RTS that seemingly ignores all the advances that the genre has experienced over the past several years.

Mystical Ninja will be digital culture shock to the uninitiated. Mystical Ninja is a solid, quirky, and entirely rehashed title that holds its own well against the horde of painful Mario clones.

Action game fans ought to be able to settle in and blast their ways through Total Overdose's relatively brief campaign with reasonable levels of enjoyment. Just be prepared for one extremely cheesy ride.

Conflict: Desert Storm II isn't without problems, but it's not the worst squad-based game you'll ever play, and it's decidedly improved over the original game.

Rogue Trooper is at times a very exciting and enjoyable shooter, which makes it all the more disappointing that it's over so soon.

Strictly on its own merits, this version is an altogether unimpressive action adventure that still smacks of being a watered-down port of a technically superior game. In other words, both GameCube owners and Splinter Cell fans deserve better than this.

Had the feel of the weapons been a little better, and had the campaign been more consistently intense, Finest Hour could have been a much better game.

There's plenty to do in SX Superstar, but the problems lie in the gameplay mechanics--such as the trick system and camera--which could've used a little more tweaking.

Though the game's developers clearly put a lot of work into the way the game looks and sounds, Enclave's gameplay just doesn't measure up to its presentation.

Sports Mogul has adjusted aspects of the artificial intelligence to make play more satisfying in key areas like trading and finance and has tossed in a few sorely needed frills that make the game at least a marginal improvement over its predecessor.

Its slavish dedication to convention will scratch the methodical, cerebral itch all diehard adventure game fans have. As a genre exercise, though, it exerts little energy to draw in new players.

A decent dungeon crawler that invests some energy into lampooning RPGs and high fantasy in general, but like a stand-up act about airline food or the line at the post office, its perspective isn't very interesting, and it lacks any real follow-through.

It's a fairly simple and repetitive action RPG experience that's rough around the edges, yet it's not without a certain homegrown charm that should appeal to fans of the genre who don't expect too much.

These technical problems, in addition to its short length and inconsistent quality, make Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2 the most frustrating kind of game: It's only decent, when it could have been great.

If you're not looking for an unofficial sequel to "Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail," and you can see past a few problems, you'll find that The Bard's Tale is a decent enough action RPG.

The disjointed nature of Orphen is unfortunate, because it's easy to envision great gameplay experiences being the product of its game system.

Conflict: Desert Storm II isn't without problems, but it's not the worst squad-based game you'll ever play, and it's decidedly improved over last year's game.

If you can get past its dense and uninviting interface, Warship Gunner 2 offers unique naval combat and an incredible amount of ship customization.

Rogue Trooper is at times a very exciting and enjoyable shooter, which makes it all the more disappointing that it's over so soon.

MLB 2K7 is a decent game, but it's painfully obvious how little effort the developer put into improving this year's game over last year's.

A few rough spots aside, the main problem with Atlus' snow-themed racing game is that the single-player content is exhausted so quickly.

While this translation of one of the greatest fighting games of all time is mostly intact, its sloppy online mode and bland presentation will leave Street Fighter fans feeling cold.

Unfortunately, some of Crash 'N' Burn's central ideas--the persistent wrecks being the most obvious example--introduce complexity that, in the end, will leave you more frustrated than thrilled.

A surprisingly competent port. Unfortunately, it's a port of a game that most fighting game fans consider to be completely obsolete.

"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.

A decent dungeon crawler that invests some energy into lampooning RPGs and high fantasy in general, but like a stand-up act about airline food or the line at the post office, its perspective isn't very interesting, and it lacks any real follow-through.

It's unlikely that anyone other than King of Fighters fans will find much interest in Maximum Impact, but even they will be disappointed by certain key aspects of the game.

Its lackluster voice acting detracts from the otherwise spooky atmosphere that its excellent sound effects create.

Underneath its flashy exterior, Tron 2.0: Killer App is still a fairly bland shooter whose few memorable moments are overshadowed by unimaginative level design and far too many load screens.

NHL Hitz can be fun for the first few days of play, but its computer AI, which basically chooses which team wins, ultimately zaps the game of long-term replay value.

Extremely similar to the previous games, but if you care more about the series' engaging turn-based gameplay and colorful presentation, you'll find enough in Winds of War to keep you busy for some time.

Its slavish dedication to convention will scratch the methodical, cerebral itch all diehard adventure game fans have. As a genre exercise, though, it exerts little energy to draw in new players.