Every bit better than the original, and in many shiny ways. The multiplayer is a blast, it looks great, the game modes are expanded exponentially over the first, and the game dances on the fine line of being fairly realistic without being too over-the-top crazy.

Far too hardcore to serve as an introduction to the genre, but fans of the genre are in for a treat once they accustom themselves to the game's mind-bendingly unique and tactical paradigms.

Mercenaries 2 is a lot of fun if you don't get bogged down by its rough-hewn minutiae and relish the simple pleasures of blowing things up.

Culture Shock marks a great (if not perfect) start to what will hopefully be a long run for the pair.

A much better game than the original.

This reality has its ups and downs: there's nothing new besides graphics, but it was a stellar package to begin with, but the online is super laggy.

Purists may scoff at some of the on-road physics and the ability to play with time, but there aren't too many games that deliver as intense of a racing experience.

Undoubtedly, the worst thing you can say about Path of Radiance is that it's a bit drab in regards to aesthetics.

Fundamentally, FIFA on PS2 hit its peak somewhere around FIFA 06 or FIFA 07. With FIFA 09, there are a few new features designed for hardcore players, but hardly the many bells and whistles of years past.

The real reason to get the game is to follow Wallace and Gromit through another madcap adventure across the English countryside. In this, the game delivers in spades by capturing the essential good natured humor of a strange little man, an even stranger dog, and the really strange situations they stumble into.

Things may not be perfect this time out, but I do my best, and my reign ends on my terms. I make a beeline for the New Game button, vowing to stick to my proven playbook from the get-go.

All of the blasters sound different, as do the game's vehicles. It's a deeply immersive game in a lot of ways, and you'll actually feel like you're in the middle of a huge battle when in first-person view.

The Dynasty Mode is one of the best you'll see in an EA game, mostly because of the addition of the discipline system, which forces you to walk a fine line between getting the best players and running a clean program.

Granted, the concept of staring at a screen full of black and white squares for minutes on end looking for the correct line to draw may not sound like the most exciting game out there, but for those who appreciate a good mental challenge, it's a treat.

1701 A.D. seems to have struck a nice balance between strategic depth and user friendliness. The game's challenging mix of building management and trading presents a truly enjoyable challenge.

There are some minor gameplay issues, and the weak multiplay -- with no online gaming -- hurt the overall game, but the single-player story is strong.

A remarkably fun and addictive game that, while not without its flaws, is brimming with enough charm, good humor, and depth to keep gamers occupied for a long time. The bad news is the game has a problem with relaying information to the player that is, at best, annoying, and in one case, almost brings the entire product crashing down.

An improved story, questing system, and plenty to do means that if you were a fan of the original and are in need of some good hacking and slashing, you should pick this one up.

What's really nice to see in this installment is that Telltale finally seems to have gotten their groove on with the game's length and puzzle structure.

A rare breed of FPS these days, as it's both high in quality and uniqueness. The mechanics of "Deus Ex" work tremendously well in a high-intensity atmosphere.

It's a little thin on game modes, but the career mode is a kick, as is going head-to-head against a buddy or two. There are far worse ways to spend your summer.

Its original problems are still there, but they're more than made up for by the amount of fun to be had in the main quest line. In its current state, the expansion is already fun enough to justify the $30 purchase, and, like the original, we're sure it's only going to get better as time goes by.

A great RPG with an unorthodox design. There are amazing design elements here. The art and sound direction are unmistakably original, amplifying what could be the game's best asset -- an incredibly active and technical battle system. There's a lot to like, but at times the game is bolder than it is balanced or practical.

If you're into WWII shooters -- and judging by the sales of every single Call of Duty title ever, you are -- but you're looking for something with a little twist to it -- which, judging by the sales of twisty straws, you are -- and you don't mind the color green -- and judging by the number of Irish people in the world, you don't -- you should get yourself a copy of Wolfenstein.

By itself Open for Business may not be a must-have, but paired with "NightLife," the two packs together will probably add hundreds of hours of gameplay to the series. Running a restaurant, building a trendy nightclub, creating a megastore, opening a cozy little coffee shop -- these kinds of challenges will keep you entertained for months to come.

It's a brilliant-looking game, developed by the artists at Square Enix, and it's great fun to boot. Just be ready for something quite different from the NBA.

Even the hidden cards, which seemed like a lame gimmick at first ended up being a, well, pretty cool gimmick. If you're a fan of Contra and its ilk, you should give this one a try.

American McGee has always had talent for crafting some truly original stories, and thankfully, Scrapland is no exception.

The biggest control-related issues arise from the system's imperfect recognition of your motions and button presses.

It plays great, has all the online options you could hope for (though more lag than you'd like), gives us a few really cool new ways to play, and wraps it all up with slick presentation and admirable audio.

It's fun, easy to get into, and quick to master...While it is smooth and the overall graphic effect is done very well the game lacks a lot of substance and is hard to replay.

The interface is especially straightforward and the game is simple to play yet provides a breath of order and commands for your units.

NBA 2K8 is hands-down the best basketball game available, though it is facing very strong competition for the first time in a long while.

The PS2 version is, unfortunately, the least graphically impressive of the bunch and does not support online play, unlike the Xbox. But no matter which platform you're playing on, Most Wanted is still a hell of a value for the money.

Will Wright created a monster -- and he gave it to you to develop. And now he's batting your creative genius in the head. It'll either wake up, or it won't... but whether or not you actually experience all that Galactic Adventures has to offer, you're in for a whole lot of fun along the way.

Simple and sublime, Custom Robo Arena was quite clearly developed with the little tykes in mind, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it.

It's a new Monkey Island game. Play it if you dig the series, play it if you dig Telltale's other stuff, and play it if you dig adventure games in general. And if you're still saying this genre's dead here and now in 2009, you're just plain wrong. And you probably fight like a dairy farmer.

And while the title may never be mistaken for the deepest game on the Xbox, Destroy All Humans! could very well be one of the funniest.

The game is brutally violent, unapologetically vulgar, and simply a hell of a lot of fun to play.

It's got an entertaining story that skewers our reality show-obsessed culture, equal-opportunity offensive humor that could make a Marine blush, and a dazzling visual style. It evokes the better elements of early '90s brawlers and updates them with a sensibility tailor-made for the Wii.

It suffers from a limited feature set compared to its PC brother and the visuals aren't state of the art. It does set the standard for realistic baseball on the PS2.

It makes only incremental improvements to the gameplay formula, as with the first and second sequel.

Amazingly polished for such a dramatic change in design philosophy, and the fun you'll have playing it more than makes up for its troublesome camera, tepid multiplayer, and absence of actual bloodshed.

The beautiful world, smart controls and surprising depth kept us coming back for more.

C&C3 has little in the way of innovation, but that won't stop hardcore RTS fans, and C&C fans in particular, from enjoying the heck out of it. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Even if you make only one trip through LEGO Indiana Jones, it'll be a great ride.

A refined version of an outstanding platformer series, and with games in this genre becoming more and more rare these days (especially good ones), it's hard to not recommend this title.

Offers more of the same fun and addictive gameplay as its predecessor, but no major innovations.

It's the fact that Nintendo continues using Rare's horrible Donkey Kong character designs. I mean, seriously. This is a great game; why am I being forced to look at Diddy Kong while I play it? Or frickin' King K. Rool?! Awful.

The best WWII shooter currently available on a console. It's rich with historical details, colorful characters, and interesting locales, and you'll find yourself immersed in the intense combat sequences.

For fans of the previous Bomberman games, the DS version is easily one of the best in the franchise.

If you're a longtime Unreal Tournament, fan, you'll find plenty to like in UT3 -- just keep in mind it's not the instant classic its predecessor was. With any luck, that will be remedied with the next UT release -- hopefully we won't have to wait another three years for it.

The multiplayer action is fairly solid, although it doesn't seem like it'll be one of those games that people will still be playing on Xbox Live in a few months. Even worse, the netcode is spotty, with some matches running flawlessly and others lagging horribly.

The enhancements on the pitching side and the even funkier Career mode show that development isn't simply in cruise control.

While the majority of the game holds its own, presentation-wise it definitely plays the part of little brother when compared to 2K's NBA game.

Unlike so many other sequels, Overlord II navigates the fine balance between completely reinventing the game and not adding enough features to make it feel like more than just a glorified expansion pack. Aside from the often-mediocre framerates and some painfully spaced checkpoints, I had a disturbing amount of fun terrorizing, killing, and/or enslaving all who stood in my way.

Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty gets Borderlands 2's four planned DLC expansions off to a very good start, and it's well worth the asking price. I just hope there's another Handsome Jack on Pandora somewhere, twisting his mustache while plotting his grand DLC entrance.

The truly frightening part is it's a bit shy of must-have status due to pressing issues with artificial intelligence, item collection, and game balancing.

The story integrates so well with the faux-online theme that it drives you to continue playing almost as addictively as the real social interaction of a legitimate online game does.

The game never strays from what captivated audiences more than thirty years ago, and provides a rich experience that gamers simply won't be able to refuse.

Despite the relatively minor faults, Ape Escape 3 is a heckuva lot of fun, and continues to live up to its two predecessors.

Despite the fact that Madden still has its warts and its share of oddball design decisions, this is the best version of Madden in years -- and the PC showcases it more than any other platform.

The game's minor tweaks here and there do a lot to smooth out some of the weakness from before, and the new gameplay features add just enough to the game's familiar formula to make things interesting.

Age of Conan going forward should become a delightfully savage second home for plenty of howling on-line barbarians.

The difficulty level may have been cranked up a little too high for the average gamer to enjoy the single-player experience, but the robust multiplayer component of the game helps to make up for it.

I can't help feeling that the Super Monkey Ball franchise was made for the Nintendo Wii. The tilt control feels far more intuitive than using analog sticks to direct the motion of your little encapsulated simians, and it works wonderfully.

Between this and MM9, it's clear that Capcom's cybernetic mascot's still got some kick. I don't know about you, but I could do with annual 8-bit meat-grinders from now until 20XX.

The easy difficulty setting and lighthearted tone might cause older gamers to scoff, but there's no denying that Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is a quality game that the whole family can enjoy.

Between the mini-games offered and the challenge of facing lots of different opposing styles, online remains an attractive diversion.

Fans will get a huge kick over how well it recreates Harry's world. I know a lot of multiple system owners are wondering if they should get this version of the game or go for the "prettier" versions. It's a tough call, really. The Wii controls are quite a bit of fun, but the 360 and PS3 versions looks quite a bit better (although the Wii version certainly doesn't look bad).

The story is more interesting and coherent than Halo's narrative has ever been, and the environments make the game feel slightly different at times, in an exciting, challenging way. That said, I wish Bungie had taken it even further; playing as the titular ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, essentially the Halo universe's version of a special forces unit) made me feel like they missed some opportunities.

If you love physics puzzlers -- and, more importantly, don't mind one helluva challenge -- I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better option on XBLA.

Throw away every pre-conceived notion you may have about games involving music mixing, as Frequency is not only strong in its fun factor, but intensely addictive as well.

A worthy, entertaining addition to the Half-Life saga, even if it's a little more inconsistent than its predecessors. It's got plenty of the action, puzzles and set pieces that's made the series so successful to date, and that formula hasn't been tampered with.

It's a little thin on game modes, but the career mode is a kick, as is going head-to-head against a buddy or two. There are far worse ways to spend your summer.

Unadulterated run-'n-gun goodness. Future Perfect is packed with so many features that even the most jaded FPS fans will find something they like on offer; decimating everything or hosting a multiplayer kill-a-thon, this game can accommodate all comers.

The puzzles themselves are very well-done. They aren't outrageously difficult by adventure game standards but they're very organic to the game's unique worldview and can be a bit challenging to those not used to the complete disregard for linear thinking, logic and classical physics that characterize Sam and Max's world.

MX vs. ATV Untamed isn't the greatest motocross game ever, but it's so much damn fun that you probably won't care. Note to Rainbow, though: fire that janky, poorly rendered blonde you have carrying the sign before races and insert some live-action shots of two beauties in your commercial. You'll sell way more games.

It's might not be the best role-playing or real-time strategy game on the market, but when combined, it makes for something surprisingly special.

Exactly what a retro games compilation should be: a celebration of gaming's roots that puts an era in context and preserves it for future generations. And at a mere twenty bucks MSRP, you're virtually guaranteed to get your money's worth.

This isn't a "pick up and play" experience. This is something that requires you to sit down and work with for days -- maybe weeks -- at a time before you start to see the fruits of your labor. Still, once you get a chance to play your game, it's extremely rewarding.

The game is brutally violent, unapologetically vulgar, and simply a hell of a lot of fun to play.

Although the game still leaves a bit to be desired (a coherent storyline, for example), the gorgeous graphics and intense action definitely make it worth picking up if you're a fan of fighting games.

It's hurt by the PSP's awful controls, but that's not unexpected. Fix that d-pad and you'll be set for more Moai-shooting action than you can shake an option at... and that's a good thing.

Oh sure, Denki Blocks might look cute and innocent with its bright, colorful graphics and cast of cutesy cartoon characters, but it's a bonafide, mean-spirited jerk.

It's a solid game, but with EA's "NCAA Football 2003" in stores there's no need to pick it up.

One major failing -- its gameplay lacks the depth and innovation it needs to differentiate itself from its famous predecessor. Don't get me wrong, it's not that it's a poor game -- on the contrary, it's very fun while you try out all the characters and absorb all the pretty visuals.

Spot-on control, great atmosphere, more features than ever and balanced gameplay should send this one to the back of any soccer fan's net.

It took me just under 8 hours to complete 90% of the game, and it's not a terrible stretch to imagine someone rushing through it in 5 or 6. It's a good sign for a game when players want more, and it's further proof that the Tomb Raider series is back in a big way.

If you can survive some occasional stretches of lunacy from your board of directors (something all NHL GMs must learn to do eventually), there's a remarkably compelling hockey experience waiting to be had with NHL Eastside Hockey Manager.

People looking for a loud and crash-filled Burnout experience or something more simish like Gran Turismo will be sorely disappointed, but if you just want to chill out and drive, then this is the game for you. Just don't be surprised if you start feeling a sense of déjà vu if you play it for too long.

It's one of the best multiplayer experiences on the platform, and the single-player is nothing to sneeze at. However, if given a choice, I'd recommend the Xbox version for technological reasons, or just suggest you go all-out next-gen with Double Agent on 360.

It may confuse some and frustrate others, but its addictive nature should keep you hooked until you learn to appreciate the art of the dungeon crawl.

Not only does it adapt the gameplay mechanics of a GameCube title to the remote and Nunchuk, but it makes them pretty easy and accessible to use.

One unique aspect is that, much like in the real world, there are no extra lives. Once you're killed, you're dead. The rest of your team will have to make due without you.

The karaoke system works very well, both in single-player and in multiplayer, and the original music videos improve the overall presentation of the game. The only problem I can see in this title is that 30 tracks won't be enough for whoever buys it, just because it's pretty addictive.

Sure, the 3D remake's a bit lukewarm, but that's only the appetizer. The main course? Two of the greatest exercises in virtual vampire slaying the world has yet seen. We'll pay $30 for that, no problem.

The fighting is hard-hitting, intuitive, and satisfying, and the story-mode is well-developed enough to give it long-term legs despite it's lack of an online multiplayer component.