If you are a diehard horror fan, you can probably live with the shortcomings.

Some mindless button-mashing fun here, but that's about it.

All video games should be like this [La-Z-Boy]: built so well that you never want to stop playing them. Unfortunately for Turbo Turtle Adventure, I just don't feel that way.

If this particular incarnation of the game were strictly a PSOne effort, it would be a very good one. However, it falls well short of the mark for the PS2.

It may be a blatant "DOOM" clone, but Dark Arena still manages to be a generally entertaining and mindless shooter. Solid controls, large levels, and plenty of evil mutants all add up to a fun time out.

Too simple for its own good, yet somehow likable in the end. While the beat 'em up action is undoubtedly repetitive, it was just solid enough to keep me playing for another level.

It is on the cusp of being a fun game, but the lack of editing capability and the omission of offline bots severely limit its replay value.

SAG offers a quick trip down memory lane, but repeated replaying of all four games will soon get a little stale.

Pretty basic in the gameplay department, but damn, it's a thing of beauty. Unless you're a hardcore fan of the flick, though, it really isn't worth thirty bucks.

In the end, this expansion adds just a few new objects, and though it can be fun for a short while, essentially amounts to a landscaping game.

As a fighting game, Budokai is mediocre at best and annoyingly frustrating at worst.

The constant rattling of locked doorknobs in Nakatomi Plaza makes it obvious and frustrating. Since floors in the plaza are limited in size, why have all the locked doors?

Too simple for its own good, yet somehow likable in the end. While the beat 'em up action is undoubtedly repetitive, it was just solid enough to keep me playing for another level.

The surprising depth of the campaign mode, and the simple pleasures of smashing into oncoming traffic, helps negate the weak audiovisuals and onslaught of "yee-haw!" hee-haws.

The surprising depth of the campaign mode, and the simple pleasures of smashing into oncoming traffic, helps negate the weak audiovisuals and onslaught of "yee-haw!" hee-haws.

A disappointment when held up against its nearly peerless PlayStation 2 counterpart.

A sometimes overwhelming game that lacks the simplicity of the genre's most addictive titles.

It's not terrible, but it's not terribly good, either. It's just good enough (and just bad enough) to qualify as neither; The game is perfectly balanced in a state of Swiss-like neutrality.

At least The Thing starts out strong. It's the sort of game you don't have to feel bad about not finishing.

Despite all its strengths, it's just much too buggy and unpolished to recommend wholeheartedly.

The visuals alone haven't received the facelift they should have. Skyscrapers and other assorted buildings are still boxy and flat, hi-res textures aren't applied to the proper effect, and the creatures themselves lack distinctive bump-mapping and polish.

Utterly formulaic, and like the movies upon which it's very loosely based, ultimately forgettable.

Too simple for its own good, yet somehow likable in the end.

A simple game. It doesn't promise to do much, but what it does do, it does fairly well.

Blitzkrieg can sometimes be entertaining in spite of these problems, but it's not the great WWII RTS we've been waiting for.

If you've enjoyed Zoo Tycoon so far, you should find plenty more to like in Marine Mania.

Not quite great, but far from awful. As a result, you're far more likely to love than hate it.

To enjoy this game properly you are going to need a keyboard and a mouse -- two things that are readily available on the PC -- so you might as well plan on going for that version instead.

The developers deserve kudos for trying something different in an over packed genre, and they nearly succeeded.

Doesn't have enough depth and substance to be great. If you don't like its faux hip-hop style then you won't even find it good.

It's not "Medal of Honor," but if you can get past the first-generation engine and various technical and design glitches, there's still a good deal of fun to be had.

If you thought "Elite" had too much combat and not enough trading, X is probably worth a look. Otherwise, it's probably best to avoid this one.

You're better off getting some PC sound software if you'd really like it, but if you do decide to check out MG2, make sure you bring your patience. You're going to need it.

There are three AI settings, but 'easy' is little more than an excuse to explore the game types without any real competition. 'Medium' and 'hard' pit you against 'way too hard' and 'next to impossible' opponents, respectively.

Playable, but definitely incomplete.

One-shot kills make it hard to appreciate differences among the nuances of firing rate, penetration value, and stopping power.

The game's action is unquestionably fun and a pleasure to watch, but a plethora of minor flaws add up to nearly counteract the off-road ecstasy.

The gameplay simply isn't as tight as it should be. The care and time you take in building your bot is often wasted due to too many quirky design flaws.

A decent game, with both good and bad points. Nothing to wait in line for though, and not one you're likely to lose sleep over.

This is "Soul Reaver Lite" -- undoubtedly fun, but light on puzzle complexity, light on varying action, and unfortunately, more than a little insubstantial in the replayability department.

I'm not really sure just what active Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader gamers are going to make of this title, but I don't see many of them being pleased with the digital version of their game.

Pales in comparison to the PlayStation 2 version.

It might be worth a shot, but only if you've already finished "Shogun: Warlord Edition," "Stronghold," and all the Warhammer games.

Doesn't come close to adding that certain something, and doesn't even fix some of the more glaring AI deficiencies that have plagued the game since it was first released.

An also-ran that's too similar to, but not as good as, the top games on the platform.

The game runs poorly on just about any machine.

It's driven by the sort of maddening adventure game logic that had a hand in killing the genre. But there's no denying this is part of what defined the genre: clever (and often implausible) solutions from some weird corner of the brain most of us never exercise.

The bad news is that a lot of little flaws and a couple of not-so-little flaws seemingly inherent to surfing games keep it from being the kind of game that non-surfers are going to be interested in.

Too complicated to be completely fun.

Fun for a few minutes but gets played out all too quickly.

Extremely difficult. Only hardcore fans need apply.

Running away from dinosaurs may keep you alive, but it just isn't very much fun.

The gameplay is still loads of fun, and continues to deliver great and memorable moments. The sorry state of the franchise mode, however, is a real problem.

One thing that is sorely lacking in Rally Fusion is an onscreen map.

For a mech combat game, Journey to Jaburo isn't terrible, but it is lacking good control and the graphics are pretty sad overall.

It takes a fan to look past K-1's visual and technical shortcomings to find the rewarding game within.

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to drive a balsa wood car full of helium, here's your chance. Slight bumps will send you airborne.

Provides some great online action but lacks in the longevity department.

But while there may be an uneven touch to it, the various game modes and a well-executed cel-shading technique save it from being a dud.

Rather than approaching the controls from a PC-centric point of view, the developers seemed to be trying to graft the Xbox's analog stick control-pad system directly onto a mouse and keyboard setup.

Wakka-wakka-walk-away from this subpar platformer.

The least impressive title in the Legacy of Kain series.

The best advice I can give anyone playing this game is to keep the poorly written manual close at hand, because you'll be referring to it frequently. In fact, I can easily say that this game is almost impossible to play well without it.

The combat system is definitely one of the best I've played with, but that's all there is. If you want character development, or even characters who aren't one-dimensional, go elsewhere.

It is one of the sharpest looking PS2 games out right now, but the lack of actual gaming content leaves it with an overall mediocre feel.

Although the terrible voice acting, bad translations, and poor animations give Prince of Qin a rather unrefined feel, the numerous and interesting locations and quests and the thrill of raising levels are enough to make the game worth a look for role-playing fans.

An incredibly short racing game featuring spectacular crashes and cunning AI, but an alarmingly few cars, no tweakable vehicles, and few track variations.

While it's clearly better than the original, there are still some kinks to work out both from a design and a technical standpoint.

The creators' scatterbrained ideas for ways to improve Rayman 3 over its direct predecessor has left the game shackled with a lot of half-baked, completely non-cohesive concepts and generally dull, repetitive, and tiresome gameplay.

But for all these minor changes, Kohan still feels like the same game. Perhaps worst of all is the fact that the multiplayer community is now effectively split in two. Ahriman's Gift won't work with the original game.

It's hard to get the most out of it with an Xbox pad. Neither the original pad or the Controller S is well-suited to hosting a six-button fighter.

We've seen it all before.

Two thumbs way down... The graphics left a lot to be desired, the interface was painful and the storyline pretty weak.

It takes far too long to get good.

It's just a simple 3D platformer, and not a very challenging one at that, but it'll likely bring a smile to the faces of kids, parents, and Disney fans alike.

The levels themselves are nothing short of spectacular, and in freestyle mode, there's moments of real joy to be had tricking off everything and finding secret areas and high wires to grind down. But for us, the lack of skaters, levels, and actual fun in the Story Mode left us sobbing for Tony.

The major problem with Shadow of Apokolips is its lackluster level design.

It's not there yet (with this version), but we look forward to the elimination of players running through each other, balls landing perfectly in gloves, and a more simplified swing system.

What's missing is Crazy Taxi's sense of breakneck speed, as well as its more clever map design.

Maybe the developers are just using the characters in an average game so people won't realize how average it is.

GameDay will never be mistaken for "Madden," or even a very good game. However, there is that old saying "love is blind." The mere fact that this is the only college game available for either the PS2 or the Dreamcast at this point may be enough.

More often than not, the gameplay mechanics and the zoos themselves are just plain dull. Watching animals circle around in cages while guests amble around on sidewalks offers little to hold your attention or capture your imagination.

Doesn't change much of the [original's] formula, or the graphics, or anything really, but it does offer online play, some different courses, and some fun multiplayer party games.

Maia’s running animation is perhaps the silliest any main character in a game that was not intentionally funny has ever possessed.

Some people still enjoy the outdated and arguably unfair rules of Gradius, and if you're one of them, then you'll probably enjoy this package a great deal.

Compounding the problem is the AI's penchant for playing "bumper cars" if the player manages to pull away from the pack. The computer racers just love to crash into you as a means of slowing you down.

Though configurable enough for newbie play, the subject matter actually makes for a poor tactical wargame.

The AI on both sides just isn't very intelligent.

A lackluster version of the game.

Unless you're a fan of the series, or desperately needing something to play until Square and company bestow some gaming goodness on us, this probably shouldn't be a permanent addition to your library.

The framerate is horrendously bad at times. There's no logical reason why a game representing a sport with nearly as many TOTAL players as other sports have per TEAM should suffer framerate hits.

I can really only recommend this game to those who appreciate and enjoy all the nitty-gritty of the Indy racing sport. If you are one of those people, add about 15 points to my score.

Like getting the ant farm as a gift four birthdays in a row, the introduction of a "new" Settlers game is becoming a trite, if comfortable, old joke.

Unfortunately, when there is a lot of action on-screen, there are noticeable slowdowns, which really shouldn't happen with a machine like the PlayStation 2.

Hoffman is a decent game in it's own right, or would be if it didn't have to live up to the fluidity and re-playability of the excellent Tony Hawk Pro Skater for the GBA.

Has its moments, but too often feels like a conventional, uninspired shooter.

A game that would have been considered mediocre by last year's standards. This year, with every other title cranking it up a notch, MLB 2004 is left in the dust.

Will only appeal to die-hard fans or novice players, which is really bad because with only a little more effort it could have been so much better.