Though developer Victory Simulations has kick-started things somewhat by adding a flock of new planes and courses--and a none-too-challenging combat mode--Redline: Xtreme Racing 2 otherwise looks the same, feels the same, and sports the same annoying quirks as its precursor.

If you're looking for a relaxed and somewhat mellow foray into the genre, Martian Gothic isn't half bad.

A lesson in boredom. Without a jump command, the platforming elements are all but wasted, while the spell-flinging portions of the game are equally forgettable.

Other than the obligatory roster update and the inclusion of a link mode, you'd be hard-pressed to notice further improvements.

An adequate introduction to arcade racing on the Xbox, but its lack of gameplay depth, its punishing AI, and its conservative graphics keep it from attaining greatness.

A very fun baseball game to play. The game's great graphics, involving gameplay, and great commentary all blend together to deliver an exciting and authentic game of baseball.

Provides a perspective on the Tetris formula that's fresh enough and an adequate amount of gameplay variety to keep puzzle fans engaged.

If a good 16-bit shooter is what you're looking for, you could do a lot better elsewhere.

But it's disappointing to see this rerelease does not match the quality of content seen in Third Strike Online. Jotaro and the rest of the Stardust Crusaders have earned such attention, but what they got was the bare minimum.

Control issues and other frustrations make this a very disappointing version of the classic game of adventure on the high seas.

SimCity (the game) isn't the pinnacle of the series, but it's super fun. SimCity (the service) is a disaster. What you get out of the package as a whole rests solely on how many flaming hoops you're willing to jump through before arriving at your just reward.

Gods Will Be Watching was close to being a must-have puzzler, but it's doubtful that even the gods would have the patience to see it through to the bitter end.

Aragami 2 is a bold and aggressive take on the stealth genre, when it finds the confidence to step out of the shadows. Occasionally, however, it's a little too timid and reverts to playing it safe, cowering in the corner rather than seizing the initiative.

While the memorable battle sequences from the movie trilogy would lend themselves perfectly to a strategy game, this one just isn't put together well enough to do full justice to the source material.

Mushashi Samurai Legend isn't especially hard or deep, and you'll get virtually everything it has to offer on the first time through, but it's still a decent action adventure game with a good dose of quirky charm.

Hardwood Hearts is a Hearts game for Hearts fans. If you don't already play Hearts, you aren't likely to get much out of this one.

Despite solid driving physics, WRC 2 fails to make significant improvements on last year's game, or keep up with its racing rivals.

Its ideas reveal the game Kholat wanted to be, but its aspirations soar far higher than the game it became. What good is a mystery if you don't care about what it might tell you?

Its sci-fi galaxy is mostly abstracted, and its unit models are simple and blocky. It's not those issues that really put me off of Starships, but rather the way it seems to aspire to that narrow, dated idea of what makes a "good" mobile game. I can turn aside the quick and obvious assaults on PC sensibilities--the rough graphics, the lack of options--but it's the cynical design that guts me, in the end.

This is a satisfying hardcore title to help launch the WiiWare service.

This color-matching game is too random and shallow to entertain for long.

Although it may look like a Call of Duty game, Call of Duty: Roads to Victory lacks many of the aspects that have made the console games so much fun.

Wheelman offers plenty of movie-style thrills, although it's hamstrung by terrible on-foot gameplay.

Danger Zone is the beating heart of a concept in search of a full-fledged game to pump life into. While it won't satisfy your lust for chaos the way the Burnout games once did, Danger Zone provides enough thrills to make you want that hypothetical successor more than ever.

Redeemer teeters but never topples over the line into drudgery. For what it's worth, the added mechanics do at least introduce a variety of options for dispatching the legion of enemies Vasily faces in his bloody rampage toward vengeance for his fallen temple.

As unforgiving, repetitive, and frustrating as it can be, the urge to jump back into the game and take out that frustration on hordes of enemies to the tune of the most-proper soundtrack with a toy box of guns is hard to resist. Strafe wears its influences on its sleeve but stands on its own as a fun, intense, and fast-paced shooter with distinguishable charm.

When it's working properly, Dominion Wars still just ends up feeling like a really slick series companion rather than like a full-blown strategy game.

Konami's sights may be locked dead on the retrogaming audience, but Gradius III & IV are both excellent, albeit incredibly difficult, games in their own right.

A game with no real outstanding qualities. That said, if the core gameplay is enough to hold your interest and if you enjoy collecting rare items, the game may be worth a purchase.

GTC: Africa isn't a bad game, but almost all of its components are average at best, and unlike other games in this genre, it lacks any one outstanding feature or notable aspect.

The action is fast and basically satisfying, resulting in what's a simple but fairly good game all around.

Despite being a rough composite of a half dozen other first-person shooters without much personality of its own, Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter is still pretty good.

If nothing else, the experience should last you a while, thanks to the numerous play modes available in WrestleMania X8.

There are hints of inspiration throughout, with the game sporting some good-looking visuals, a catchy soundtrack, and a distinct sense of style. But the game's length, uneven gameplay, and atrocious camera negate these virtues.

This game has more weapons, more tracks, and more cars than you could possibly know what to do with. But for all that content, V4 just isn't fun to play. The novelty of racing tiny cars isn't as entertaining as it used to be, which leaves V4 sitting on four flat tires.

MLB 2K9 is a deeply flawed funhouse-mirror distortion of baseball.

The latest unfinished massively multiplayer role-playing game to be inflicted upon gamers. Its unrefined gameplay is too simplistic to have enduring appeal and yet, paradoxically, its character-development system is needlessly complex.

Tiberian Twilight's online play and persistent unlocks make for short-term fun, but the mediocre campaign doesn't give Kane the send-off he deserved.

Sometimes the game gets in its own way by not tutorializing key points, like how to best deal with status effects and play roles dependably. But once you've gained that institutional knowledge, FBC: Firebreak is an enjoyably chaotic power fantasy, and an interesting experiment for Remedy between its bigger, weirder projects.

It's just plain boring.

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

Phantasy Star Universe almost immediately feels dated, and the monthly fee is way too steep to justify, but at its core, it's still an enjoyable experience.

The latest Armored Core makes up for the series' lack of progress by simply being fun to play.

A strong sense of deja vu and poorly balanced combat loom over The Baconing, but smart puzzles and humorous dialogue entertain throughout.

Tiger Woods takes good advantage of the capabilities of the DS, and it's easily the most technically accomplished handheld golf game to date.

The title may say that this is a new beginning, but Spyro's latest adventure isn't much more than a collection of tired, overused platforming clichés.

Kid-friendly action both on and off the pitch is the main attraction in Academy of Champions: Soccer.

If it weren't for the overly touchy control and the game's overall lack of difficulty and length, X-Squad could have been a contender.

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

Complex levels and a lengthy quest almost make up for the game's derivative design.

If you've been waiting for a game that lets you race watercraft online, Carve definitely delivers. So if you can forgive the generally unremarkable production, it can be worth at least a rental for this feature alone.

A thoughtfully designed, complex, and pretty fun game to play. Alas, a dearth of supplemental features and some flimsy presentation drag down what could have been a more solid overall package.

This $20 game does one thing well: it has a competitive multiplayer mode that blends tactics and action in a way that allows for some exciting and unpredictable battles.

Mundane combat and a lackluster use of its characters prevent Yakuza: Dead Souls from capturing the energy and fierceness of its predecessors.

Adr1ft has an emotional story hiding below its surface. But that surface is coated in laborious movement, forced survival mechanics, and an obtrusive user interface.

Like visiting your hometown after years of absence. Everything's the same, yet off somehow. As you visit all the same places and exchange words with old friends, you're faced with an uncomfortable duality. On one hand, you get the closure of knowing how it all turned out, but on the other, you wonder what could have been, making you simultaneously satisfied and unsettled by the reality that this is the end.

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.

It's easy to imagine how Super Lucky's Tale would be the highlight of a younger kid's weekend, but it has little to offer anyone looking for an enjoyably challenging 3D platformer.

Forspoken is visually stimulating and a musical delight, but boring combat, poor characterization, and loose movement mechanics make for a mediocre experience.

Officers boasts some interesting strategic considerations, including a focus on reconnaissance and realistic supply concerns, which have been lacking in recent RTS games. However, the practically nonexistent multiplayer, the punishing difficulty, the exhaustingly long missions, and a few other annoyances make it a difficult game to recommend.

Zombie Driver HD never grows more complex than slaughtering zombies with a car, but it makes up for that simplicity with sheer fun.

It's a little rough around the edges, and it doesn't break new ground for 3D platformers, but it gives the series the shot in the arm that Wrath of Cortex failed to, and what it does, it does pretty well.

Silly music and controller headaches aside, Intellivision Lives! does a fine job of compiling a huge number of games into one package and presents them in an easy-to-pick-up manner.

Darksiders 3 retrogrades on its predecessors with an unfocused approach that constantly clashes with itself. There are remnants of a good game here, buried within the vivacious combos of a combat style this game doesn't want to embrace. Unfortunately, it's buried far too deep to ever salvage.

Clumsy controls, rocky presentation, and a dearth of gameplay options hinder Worms' return to 2D on the DS.

Despite everything I've just said, I didn't have a terrible time with Shadow Labyrinth. There are way too many frustrating moments, the story is mind-numbingly dull, and a lot of what you're doing is monotonous. Yet, for long periods, it's also merely just fine. It's a by-the-numbers metroidvania woven together with an occasional Pac-Man remix. An odd combination, for sure, and one I wish had a better game built around it, but at least we'll always have that one Secret Level episode.

The character models are excellent while the animation is fluid and lively, but the physics of fighting definitely lack polish and can create some frustrating situations. Yet despite these technical shortcomings, it's still great fun to clothesline, drop kick, and power bomb your friends in and out of the ring.

There are a few cheap thrills to be had in this off-road racer, but loose physics make its excitement a lot less extreme.

Killer Is Dead is filled with Suda 51 eccentricity, but it struggles to stay relevant with inconsistent combat, a poorly told story, and some awkwardly sleazy moments.

Poor controls plague Mr. Esc's first action puzzler romp on the Nintendo DS.

Lacks any real punch and stands as the quintessential middle-of-the-road off-roading game.

Not ideal on every level, but it's good enough on all of them so that it should provide an entertaining experience and a decent amount of replay value for those who enjoy equal parts methodical strategy and button-mashing mayhem.

Just an average action game...The game is also quite short--it will only take you a little under four hours, if even that, to complete the game.

A one-trick pony that boils down to the same basic maneuvers and slow-paced combat. It also horribly overlooks its license. You'll deal with Klingons and Romulans, but the dull story and unrecognizable characters could have been used in any generic intergalactic setting.

The Avatar's DS debut serves up an engaging story and some slick 3D visuals, but it's otherwise just another mediocre brawler.

A fun game with decent gameplay, but the shortage of modes, run-of-the-mill graphics, and lack of variety prevent "Surf Riders" from being to surf games what "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" is to skateboarding games.

A decent-enough platformer with some very nice visuals.

For the adolescent girls it's targeted at, the game does a fine job at capturing the cuteness of the Sanrio universe in video game form.

If you think the idea of a game about driving around in a machine-gun-toting car while completely ignoring traffic laws and blowing away anything in your path sounds like fun, then you'll get it out of RoadKill.

Impressive boss battles aren't enough to save Thor: God of Thunder from its shallow combat.

Rainbow Skies is the RPG equivalent of a store brand Cola--cheaper, but with far less flavor than the bigger brand names, and liable to go flat on you much faster. It gets the job done if you're looking for a real time sink, and there's potential depth there if you're willing to wade through repetitive combat to get there, but it's simply isn't enjoyable enough to justify the commitment it demands.

Don't go into Shadows of New York expecting a choose-your-own-adventure mystery, no matter how much it looks like one. This is a casual dip into another world, a game with big ideas that it doesn't quite follow through on pursuing, but which remains moderately compelling thanks to some strong writing, interesting characters, and gorgeous art. It's far from the definitive Vampire: The Masquerade experience, but it's worth spending at least one long, dark night with.

Cat Cafe Manager is a perplexing game. Its design is deliberately forgiving, but in some cases to a fault. It looks and sounds joyful, but bugs related to actually building the cafe of your dreams can be frustrating. It's still a game where fans of the genre can have fun with it provided they don't mind--or especially if they prefer--something so directionless, but I find it hampers what could've been a lovely blend of cat-sitting and frappe-serving.

It simply exists in an inoffensive and unexciting realm of commonplaceness that makes it incapable of standing out among the pack of infinitely better racers available for any of its chosen platforms.

The Adventures of Tintin is a dull and repetitive platformer that does no justice to the exciting exploits of its titular character.

The video game version of Order of the Phoenix captures none of the magic in the Harry Potter books or films.

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon has lots of explosions and destruction, but not quite enough variety to keep things moving.

198X is a great idea with middling execution. While its games offer some brief enjoyment, there's not enough here for the game to feel like a proper ode to '80s arcades, nor does the Kid's plight, and his longing to escape his current life, totally connect. There's definitely a spark of something here--and Shadowplay, in particular, is a lot of fun--but 198X feels more like a proof of concept than a final product.

While the narrative is still enticing, and the eclectic cast of characters remains a positive, aspects like a horrible seafaring travel system and an often outrageous enemy encounter rate detract much from the experience.

I am optimistic about the swings that Bungie is taking with the expansion, especially those that overhaul the core game. You're likely to find me spending too much time fiddling with weapon mods at the shooting range when The Edge of Fate launches on July 19. [8-Hour Hands-On Impressions]

But without interesting characters or a story the focus falls solely on the gameplay, and Hood's gameplay feels sloppy. It's a heist game that usually devolves into a wild, frustrating melee combat arena. In its best moments, it's a tense, highly cooperative experience, but those moments never last long. I want to believe in the competitive heist Hood tries to pull off and, in theory, a living multiplayer game could evolve into something better over time. (There are already plans to introduce a new game mode, map, and character for all players within the next 12 months). Still, there are too many points of frustration built into the experience to expect that Hood's evolution will be transformative.

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

This moody alternate-history shooter can be a ton of fun--it just doesn't put its best foot forward.

The most glaring omission in Worms Forts: Under Siege! is some genuine enthusiasm.

The addition of the WPT license has given the game a level of focus and direction that the developer's previous effort lacked.

While Brink sits in history as a game that tripped on its path to fame, Dirty Bomb will be fortunate to be remembered at all.

Though occasionally enjoyable, this Force-powered sequel is a mere apprentice to its superior predecessor.

Hardcore Godzilla fans will appreciate seeing the decent renderings of some of their favorite monsters here, but they're unlikely to be terribly impressed by the action itself.