A good-looking game with good split-screen multiplayer but a relatively dull single-player game.

Sadly, the shallow gameplay ensures that the game gets really old, really quick.

Should be quite appealing for its intended audience: die-hard fans of NASCAR. However, its laundry list of customization options and relative focus on technical driving may prove frustrating for borderline fans of the sport.

The enjoyment NHL Hitz 2002 deteriorates rather quickly due to its negligible computer AI and simplistic gameplay, but if you're looking for some quick-hit fun from your hockey games, it's an excellent choice.

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.

NASCAR Thunder 2002 on the Xbox is the most visually appealing stock car racing game on the market, and its gameplay will appeal to a wide range of racing fans.

The game was never too solid to begin with--aside from its amusing track design and decent customization elements, there really isn't anything much there in regard to actual compelling gameplay.

A solid and enjoyable snowboarding game that successfully brings Tony Hawk to the mountain.

Ghost Recon has some real strengths, but handholding micromanagement, an awkward interface, bugs, and other problems and weaknesses often sap the fun out of the game just when it starts to get entertaining.

Those [arcade] bells and whistles aren't available in the home version of the game, and what's left is a shell of a game with very little replay value.

[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.

The GameCube version may be less jaggy than the original PS2 release, but its lack of online multiplayer and somewhat sketchy frame rate keep it from living up to its full potential.

Although the grand strategy is a bit misguided, the tactical combat is a splendid twist on the concept of collectible card games.

In practice not all of these new features are successful. In fact, if you enjoyed the original Armada, you might find yourself nostalgic for that game while playing Armada II.

The excellent graphical effects, nonstop action, and nominal helicopter content make this a great game to fire up for a while just as a change of pace.

Hot Date's real additions are its expanded social options and its new downtown area...[It] does an extremely good job of making The Sims a more interesting game.

A huge game to say the least--it's much more time-consuming and involved than the typical real-time strategy game, and its staggering variety of units is as impressive as it is intimidating.

This is one of the most inept pieces of drek ever to be pawned off as a computer game.

Although the new game doesn't represent the jump in production values that some might have hoped for, the gameplay changes should give fans of the first game plenty to work with.

Though you'll undoubtedly get swept up in the game's plot and be dazzled by its cinematics, it's the incredible story and the tense, enjoyable action at the heart of Metal Gear Solid 2 that make it so extraordinary.

The controls and general feel of Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX make it a satisfying product.

It's Gradius done good--if you're into that sort of thing.

The objective-based system works well within this particular environment, the storyline--though incredibly mediocre--is successful in what it sets out to do, and the trick system is easy to get into.

On one hand, sure, it's a derivative real-time strategy game. But on the other hand, it's a tidy little bundle of escapism that's perfect for a generation of gamers raised on Star Wars.

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.

A gripping combination of superb story design, sly artificial intelligence, taut combat sequences, and logical puzzles.

Featuring some of the best graphics seen on the system, a rich quest, and classic RPG gameplay, Golden Sun is a throwback to some of the SNES' best.

It has refreshingly little in common with other games of its kind. Besides which, its great presentation, genuinely likable units, replayable campaign, and flexible skirmish and multiplayer modes are easily enough to recommend it.