Driver: Parallel Lines is a mostly competent GTA clone, but the dull storyline and remedial gameplay prevent it from being recommendable.

The pint-sized Daxter is every bit as good as its console counterparts, bringing all the best elements of the action-platformer Jak games fluidly to the PSP.

Metal Gear Solid 3 returns with a vengeance in this special edition, which significantly improves an already great action adventure game while adding a solid new online mode and some great extras.

A kid-friendly platformer with more heart than your average film-to-game marketing tie-in, Ice Age 2 can be quite fun--for as long as it lasts.

Regardless of what you might think of Powered Up's ubercute presentation, there's no denying the addictive challenge the game provides.

Red Orchestra is an enjoyable, team-based online shooter for those who like the Battlefield-style games but want a more technical and realistic experience.

Driver: Parallel Lines is a mostly competent GTA clone, but the dull storyline and remedial gameplay prevent it from being recommendable.

A kid-friendly platformer with more heart than your average film-to-game marketing tie-in, Ice Age 2 can be quite fun--for as long as it lasts.

Rainbow Six Critical Hour's brief campaign, poor presentation, and broken multiplayer make it almost impossible to recommend, even to longtime fans.

A kid-friendly platformer with more heart than your average film-to-game marketing tie-in, Ice Age 2 can be quite fun--for as long as it lasts.

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.

The new content and cheaper price make Remix the definitive version of Midnight Club 3, but there's not enough new to draw in those who already took the plunge last year.

The new content and cheaper price make Remix the definitive version of Midnight Club 3, but there's not enough new to draw in those who already took the plunge last year.

Eat your heart out in this undersea action game, in which you guide a fish around as it swallows up anything smaller. Fun, simple gameplay makes this one a fine if brief diversion.

Advanced Warfighter is the best-looking game to date on the Xbox 360, and it offers exceptional tactical shooting action to back up those great visuals.

The graphics are only OK, even for an Xbox game, and compromises in the gameplay design hamper the experience, making GRAW feel like just another military-themed shooter.

Scratches is dull, ugly, a bit short, and a perfect example of exactly why traditional adventure games have fallen out of favor.

From the New World keeps the series' bizarre flavor alive and well, matching it with a great battle system and a myriad of side quests to explore.

College Hoops 2K6 for the Xbox 360 is a late entry that maintains the same great gameplay from its previous versions, but doesn't have enough new features or content to justify the new price of admission.

Pursuit Force's high-risk stunts and brilliant production values are complemented nicely by a gameplay style and structure that feels well-suited for the PSP system.

Offers a lengthy new quest, five different playable characters, and a good amount of replay value, not to mention that distinct anime-meets-soap opera style.

The racing in Burnout Revenge is more intense than ever on the Xbox 360, but there's probably not enough new stuff here to get you hooked if you've played it elsewhere.

State of War makes a couple of marked improvements to Koei's first PSP Warriors game, but the action remains just as tedious as ever.

Though it's missing some of the stylish action that helped make Budokai 3 so exceptional, Shin Budokai still stands as a fun and accessible 3D fighter.

Fans will appreciate the good-looking characters and hard-hitting attacks, but Clash of Ninja is an experience cut short by a pervasive lack of depth.

A meager selection of gameplay modes keeps Trozei from being essential, but the core gameplay remains engaging, regardless.

Tales of Phantasia still distinguishes itself with its action-oriented, side-scrolling battle sequences. Other than that, it's a pretty standard RPG filled with random encounters that drag down the pacing and pad out the playing time.

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.

The Battle for Middle-earth II improves on 2004's game with a better strategic mode and a much broader scope that encompasses the whole of Middle-earth.

It's unsophisticated controls, stingy list of gameplay modes, and lack of depth are bolstered only slightly by a couple of funny character designs and some decent physics. The result is a game that even diehard bowling nuts should avoid.

Black's first few levels are exciting, but the action movie formula wears thin fast, and the game's over not long after.

This online role-playing game lives up to its namesake as far as the quality of its action-packed quests is concerned, but it doesn't have all the features you'd probably want.

Like the show's action, 24's gameplay tries to throw in everything but the kitchen sink, but in this case, it couldn't make any one of these attempts work well enough to be fun.

Final Fight: Streetwise doesn't look good, doesn't play well, and it can't even get its unlockable bonus--the original arcade game--right.

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.

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.

A significant improvement over its predecessor and is fun for solo players and small groups of friends alike.

The PSP version of FIFA Street 2 plays about as well as the lackluster PS2 version of the original FIFA Street on which it's based.

The Stetchkov Syndicate's additional weapons, aggressive suspects, and new multiplayer mode breathe new life into an already great tactical shooter.

Not to mention that Street Supremacy includes quite possibly the most perplexing and seemingly broken ad-hoc multiplayer mode we've ever seen on the PSP.

All of the little improvements, and there are tons of them, make MLB '06: The Show a masterful follow-up to last year's game.

Despite not having a few of the features that its PS2 counterpart has, MLB '06: The Show for the PSP is a rock-solid baseball sim and a delight to the senses.

By introducing new job-related skills, the ability to hire and fire employees, and a healthy number of new items, Open for Business makes it fun to put your sims to work.

Putting this game into your Nintendo DS could seriously jeopardize the special relationship that you enjoy with your favorite handheld.

If this haphazard collection of minigames was the best the developer could muster for an Apprentice game, The Donald may be due for a firing spree.

An unplayable, buggy mess.

Black's first few levels are exciting, but the action movie formula wears thin fast, and the game's over not long after.

Final Fight: Streetwise doesn't look good, doesn't play well, and it can't even get its unlockable bonus--the original arcade game--right.

FIFA Street 2 is a significant improvement over its predecessor and is fun for solo players and small groups of friends alike.

FIFA Street 2 is a significant improvement over its predecessor and is fun for solo players and small groups of friends alike.

It's an interesting bit of role-reversal for Peach, and it does a good job of defining itself outside the Mario formula, but the game is just too easy for its own good.

Captures the zippy arcade spirit of the console versions, but doesn't always hit the mark.

Admittedly, most of the improvements and updates found in Round 3 are merely incremental, but they're still enough to warrant stepping into the ring for another bout.

TOCA 3 boasts an awesome variety of racing disciplines, and it backs that boast up with some really excellent driving mechanics.

TOCA 3 boasts an awesome variety of racing disciplines, and it backs that boast up with some really excellent driving mechanics.

TOCA 3 boasts an awesome variety of racing disciplines, and it backs that boast up with some really excellent driving mechanics.

A strategy gamer's dream, boasting a rare mix of depth, customizability, humor, and replayability.

The interface elements in the game are also fairly well conceived, but the overall package suffers from gameplay that doesn't offer much challenge, eliminating any sense of tension.

Sonic Riders can occasionally be quite entertaining, but too many of those entertaining moments are overridden by bouts of frustration and weak mechanics.

The game may feel a little too familiar as many of the stages are lifted right out of previous games, and the touch-screen control can be a little awkward to adjust to, so you'll likely find yourself falling back on the D pad to control your monkey.

MS Saga looks and feels dated, but it makes good use of the license and manages to deliver a decent--if unremarkable--role-playing experience.

Kingdom of Sky is best-suited to existing EverQuest II fans, but those fans will find new adventure, advancement, and PVP combat in this expansion.

RF Online has a compelling player-versus-player component, but the rest of the game is tedious and uninspired.

Sonic Riders can occasionally be quite entertaining, but too many of those entertaining moments are overridden by bouts of frustration and weak mechanics.

Sonic Riders can occasionally be quite entertaining, but too many of those moments are overridden by bouts of frustration and weak mechanics.

Admittedly, most of the improvements and updates found in Round 3 are merely incremental, but they're still enough to warrant stepping into the ring for another bout.

Admittedly, most of the improvements and updates found in Round 3 are merely incremental, but they're still enough to warrant stepping into the ring for another bout.

If you can manage to get a handle on the controls, you may find a likeable boxing game in Round 3 for the PSP.

While the list of games may look enticing, the package has a sloppy, thrown-together feel to it that significantly nullifies the nostalgia factor.

Lockdown for the PC is more tactical than the console versions and definitely a lot of fun, but it's still got a noticeable arcade flavor.

If you're into AT-ATs stomping around battlefields, Darth Vader knocking over 20 soldiers with Force push, or space battles thick with dozens of fighters swarming in between gargantuan capital ships, Empire at War will deliver all that in a fun, compelling package.

State of Emergency 2 replaces the first game's ultraviolent and fancy-free nature with a cavalcade of lame trial-and-error-based missions, a lousy plotline, and dated technology.

The end result is an interesting and often-exciting adventure that should be appealing to most action-game fans, but will probably hold extra appeal if you're at all interested in graffiti and the culture surrounding it.

The hit PC real-time strategy series goes turn-based in this well-designed and addictive translation, which packs a surprising amount of historic battles into a small package.

Full Auto is a neat idea, but unfortunately it's just one neat idea, stretched across the entire game. And that wears thin pretty quickly.

The end result is an interesting and often-exciting adventure that should be appealing to most action-game fans, but will probably hold extra appeal if you're at all interested in graffiti and the culture surrounding it.

The bad news is that the story's a bit uninspired, and the game itself doesn't last very long. Despite that, the experience is still sustained well by its character interactions and enjoyable combat, and it's a nice option for role-playing fans looking for something unique.

While the second installment in this relatively new franchise does slightly improve upon its predecessor, it's still noticeably rough around the edges.

The puzzles will put your logic to the test, but without being condescending or overly punishing. And, the puzzles stay varied and interesting, which make them a nice reprieve from the well-worn Tetris-derived puzzle games and the infuriatingly dense item-based puzzles common in adventure games.

This budget action game has its moments, but it's also a very shallow experience with very little depth or replayability.

The developers at Mad Doc Software balance every good feature in this expansion with something either uninspired or ill-advised.

The end result is an interesting and often-exciting adventure that should be appealing to most action-game fans, but will probably hold extra appeal if you're at all interested in graffiti and the culture surrounding it.

Thanks to some crucial new control mechanics, the introduction of star impact players that can blow a match wide open, real clubs and players, and a faithful re-creation of the high-impact sport of rugby, Rugby 06 improves on last year's effort and remains an engaging and fun game.

While The Rub Rabbits has a stylish and pleasing look to it, the the simple, often tedious minigames are too shallow to hold your interest.

Some blemishes exist, most prominently in the tuning of the encounter rate and how world travel is handled, but genre and series fans will find it easy to like this otherwise well-crafted adventure.

Using a tweaked version of EA Tiburon's Madden engine, Arena Football at the very least manages to nail down many of the intricacies of the sport. But the actual gameplay feels like too much of a nebulous gray area between arcade and simulation, and both the presentation and the features set are lacking.

One of Capcom's last great fighting games is now fully intact on the PSP, right down to the last pixel. It even boasts some extras not found in previous versions.

The PSP game lacks a lot of its console counterparts' features, but on the field of play it's still the most realistic soccer game ever made.

The PlayStation action adventure classic makes an unlikely appearance on the Nintendo DS, complete with some surprising new twists and all the gory scares that made the original so memorable.

A lot of what made Command & Conquer great comes through in this package, but a few rough edges make it all seem a little sloppy.

Winning Eleven 9 plays an incredibly realistic game of soccer and is the first game in the series to support online play.

But the actual gameplay feels like too much of a nebulous gray area between arcade and simulation, and both the presentation and the features set are lacking.

Even if he had brought home the gold, it wouldn't have changed the fact that his skiing game is a shallow cash-in on athletic idolatry.

Drill Dozer proves to be a great action game for the Game Boy Advance thanks to some creative, well-designed platforming elements and a number of classic-style boss battles, which keep the game uniformly intense throughout.

Playing Chibi-Robo can sometimes feel like a chore, but the game is redeemed by a great sense of humor and colorful cast of characters.

A solid game that could have used some better presentational aspects. When put up against the surprisingly deep competition for this style of game on Xbox Live Arcade, it falls a little flat.

While the gameplay in THAW is still sharp, this installment just seems to lack that special spark that made the series so much fun in the first place.

Curious George may be squarely aimed at a younger audience, but even they will likely tire of its overly repetitive minigames and extremely simplistic platforming.