The included historical background is fantastic, if for no other reason than to show just how much research the developers did into recreating this particular battle.

With many new elements to the strategy genre, RoR will be loved by many, while others accustomed to usual strategy gameplay will grow into it.

SWAT3's multiplayer, while nothing groundbreaking, is something special to behold.

No major breakthrough, but it is an exceptional outing suited to longtime RTS fans and newcomers alike.

Yep, you've got to use passwords to continue in the campaign mode. Fortunately, the game's pick up and go nature, excellent visuals, decent simulation qualities, and excellent multiplayer more than make up for those problems.

It also does a great job of channeling the spirit of the game it's based on, unlike the recent remake of "Shinobi."

The game's enemy AI is very good, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that it apparently doesn't cheat -- it plays the same game you do.

A flawed, but stunning piece of work. Etherlords is a gripping game. Yes, there are elements that need improvement, but overall this is the best game ever released in the turn-based fantasy genre.

All about an engaging single-player experience, one that's far better than that of the original game. It's a game where colorful locales, tense situations, stealthy infiltrations, and bloody battles all smoothly go hand in hand.

It combines clever missions, interesting character abilities, and a smidgen of resource management into an absorbing game that fans of the strategy will be playing for quite some time.

The game is a blast, possessing excellent pinball basics, surprising depth, and an addictive collection overgame.

If you are the sort who grabs a baseball game to get down in the trenches and swing that bat, then MVP Baseball 2003 is going to be your game. On the flip side, if you prefer the intricacies of management, "World Series Baseball 2K3" is the better choice.

Challenging, immersive, and highly playable.

The powerful, easy-to-learn in-game editor, which allows players to create new adventures and strategic scenarios, is gravy on this tasty dish, virtually guaranteeing a long shelf life for this product, particularly among the hardcore.

A sweeping 360-degree look at your boat and its surroundings adds much to the immersive quality -- a quality that is sorely needed in other departments of the sim.

With added depth to the on-field action and expanded management options, Madden 2004 is a game worth picking up regardless of whether you're a rookie to the series or a diehard veteran ... even if the GameCube version isn't quite as good as its Xbox and PS2 cousins.

I was expecting a boring and slow-paced fighting title like "Tekken Tag Tournament," but what I found was one of the best fighting games of 2001.

It's not a game style that many can master; in fact it's downright frustrating and not always satisfying. Tapping two buttons like a madman will never feel like Skating, and neither will the twitch puzzle used for Figure Skating performance. But there isn't a better way.

An amazingly fun gaming experience that will completely absorb you, whether you're laughing at the bizarre humor or screaming in frustrated rage.

The best-looking baseball game ever.

As the great sage Ferris Bueller once said, "I must be honest here, I love driving it. I highly recommend picking one up. [It's so choice.]"

This game just might revitalize the genre.

Not only a great racing game, but it's actually better on the Xbox than anywhere else.

A great expansion for aggressive strategy gamers, although some of the subtleties of the original game get lost.

Over a hundred and fifty new objects, new interactions and actions, and a tongue-in-cheek look into the world of entertainment make The Sims: Superstar the best expansion yet.

You won't find an online WW2 sim that even comes close to what Warbirds III offers.

Hot Date breathes new life into a game that hasn't even come close to dying.

I loved Wild ARMs 3. It's a wonderful example of a great sequel and a great game, and I would recommend it to any fan of console RPGs. Since Squaresoft did the translation, even the purists should have few gripes.

Best of all, Eternal Darkness doesn't treat the story as an excuse to kill monsters; you kill monsters as an excuse to advance a great storyline. There's plenty of shock and gore in ED, but it's not afraid to show off its brains either.

This is an addictive, gorgeous, and challenging game that shoves a pie in the face of those that continue to foster the notion that turn-based strategy gaming is dead.

Simply gorgeous. From both a design standpoint and a technological one, Orta is one of the richest experiences you can have involving both your Xbox and your eyes.

It will take players many weeks of gameplay to fully explore all of the twenty new zones, and the new race adds more color to an already rich world.

While not offering much for players below level 46, The Planes of Power, with its smorgasbord of content, is a very good expansion pack for higher-level players as well as veterans who have been around since the beginning.

If I had to choose between the three [versions], I'd go with the Xbox version, purely because of the broadband Xbox Live technology.

A surprisingly good remake of an unsung classic.

A must-have for space combat sim fans - as long as they can overlook the lack of a single-player game.

While Aggressive Inline doesn't boast the same name-brand glitz as THPS or Dave Mirra, it matches or exceeds those better-known games in terms of graphics, environments, tricks, and controls.

Won't wow you with anything really new, but if you want a traditional platformer done right, this is definitely one to play.

Is it compelling enough for Flight Simulator 2000 owners? Your mileage may vary, but for the graphical enhancements alone, I'd have to say yes.

With the opportunity to choose to "save" your mission replay to the Xbox's hard drive after every undertaking, combined with the absolute treat of watching this enhanced, multi-camera replay, Wreckless takes the concept of replay to a higher level.

Held back from being an EXCELLENT game by the fact that it features no really interesting characters or roleplaying, it only has a few simple quests, its story is paper thin, it has a few technical issues, Battle.net is unreliable, and the gameplay is ultimately shallow and repetitive.

Provides a lot of bang for your buck; it's loaded with additional features, tweaks, and is simply a more balanced game from top to bottom.

At the very least, a 72-hole tournament -- the mainstay of PGA Golf -- should have been part of the package.

Fighting game fans will like Throwdown. Mixed martial arts fans will love it.

Solid gameplay and improved online support ensure the only NFL game in town for the PC is an excellent one.

The updates to the user interface make controlling characters even easier, and the overall improvements in design make it a wonderful addition for all players in the Dark Age of Camelot universe.

With fast, violent, and even subtle sporting action all wrapped up in a gorgeous audiovisual package, Deathrow is a real winner of a game.

A wonderful platformer with a fresh gameplay mechanic and a great sense of humor.

A little more actual gameplay would have driven the score up, but the unique combination of music and visuals make it a must play for those who seek something different.

Online play isn't an option here, and the training mode is nowhere to be found. While the core game is still fun, there is little reason to choose the GameCube version unless the little purple box is your sole game system.

Artificial intelligence could be improved, with obvious gaffes affected by opposing boxers in the heat of battle, but overall, it's no slouch.

I really wasn't enjoying it much at first, but once I got to the later levels, the lightsaber combat and Force powers made it a ton of fun.

It looks and plays much like the original, simply set in two new cities. Fortunately, this is EXACTLY what the original needed. The new cities are fun to explore, the single-player challenges will keep you busy for weeks, and the multiplayer is truly unique and fun.

Amped may not be exactly like snowboarding, but it's the closest you can get without equipment.

This is, without a doubt, one of the creepiest, scariest, downright disturbing games I've ever played … and yes, I mean that as a compliment.

This game is well worth its 40 hours, and there are plenty of laughs to go along.

There is no reason to jump onboard its potentially dynamic ride unless you have the time to virtually marry the game...it will also be well worth the effort.

They don't win points for innovation, but this is still one of the best multiplayer games you can buy.

Most gamers should consider playing it on general principal, but the addictive and fun gameplay, tons of personality, and huge replay value are pretty good reasons as well.

It's every bit as stellar as the original, though it's best played and appreciated by those that have gone through its predecessor.

It's fun, challenging, and it left this jaded reviewer as giddy as a schoolgirl -- in this case, a schoolgirl that happens to control a 120-foot tall robot.

A great, if overly hard revamp, of the classic SNES racer.

Overall I found Close Combat: Normandy Invasion a breath of fresh air in a genre where emphasis is often placed on the "amass and swarm" strategies, or resource attrition.

A great expansion pack. It makes Shogun better, adds new units, modes, and campaigns, and yet doesn't disrupt the sweaty-palmed fun of the original.

An incredible technical achievement, and easily the GBA's best retro-collection. If you have even the slightest fondness for the Atari Age, or if you want to begin your game-history self-education in earnest, Anthology is a must.

Sure, it can be rather frustrating at times, but it's always such enjoyable frustration.

It's got a nice open-ended style, a character that fits the gimmick, and plenty of violence.

Black Gold's combination of intense real-time action, gorgeous graphics, and streamlined play make this one of the best real-time strategy games of 2001.

The missions are a wee bit tough, but nothing a veteran player can't handle. This game is realistic enough to satisfy the wargamers among us, and exciting enough to satisfy the most jaded real-time strategy gamer.

Long-time fans of the KOF series may feel a bit cheated by the lack of a voice announcer and background animations.

Perhaps the best brawler on the Game Boy Advance, and a good nostalgia trip for Double Dragon and beat-'em-up aficionados.

It's solid enough, with only minor bugaboos as a single-player game, but it really kicks butt with its multiplay.

While Spider-Man 2 has some issues, nearly everything is outweighed by the fantastic web-slinging and the huge city environment.

Even if you've played the original, SSX Tricky is a fantastic game of fast paced action and tons of surprises.

Forget it if pure action is your bag, but fans of MGS-style thievery owe it to themselves to check this one out. Just keep a couple of puke bags handy if you're a little emotionally sensitive.

Even with multiple solutions to some situations, the game follows a largely linear path. Except for the user's material participation in combat, Bridge Commander can feel like a pure adventure game.

While Spider-Man 2 has some issues, nearly everything is outweighed by the fantastic web-slinging and the huge city environment.

An excellent wrestling game offering enhanced creation tools, excellent graphics, fast paced action and a ton of new (and old) gameplay modes.

Certainly one of the best racing titles for the system, even if there are no foolish spectators to mow down every time you slide a bit too widely around a curve.

It has plenty of meat to go along with the sweetness, and is part of your well-balanced gaming diet.

I thought I had totally burnt myself out, playing for over four hours a day for over a week. I wondered if it was possible to ruin a game by playing it too much. But 60 hours in, I still want more.

Thanks to revolutionary ten-man motion captures, the look of 2004 will impress you. This is the first hoops I've played where everyone on the court acts the way they're supposed to.

Immersive elements are everywhere: You don't just press a button to activate a lever that opens a gate -- you use the analog stick to shift Harry in the direction you want to tug that lever.

The combat system is one of the best you're likely to see in an action game of this sort. It's so solid that Crimson Sea 2's "kill everything that moves" formula doesn't become stale or tedious until quite late in the game, which is a huge accomplishment for a game based on such a simple concept.

Possibly the best game currently available for Xbox Live. Conversely, the single-player game offers very little gameplay and thus the title will likely not be too attractive to offline gamers. But what the game sets out to achieve, it achieves quite well.

It's not perfect, but it's got enough unique style to create thirst for a follow-up.

This game exemplifies the sleeper hit; its unique feel, solid gameplay, and great aesthetics offer up something a little left of center, but it's something that anyone who's remotely interested in the genre should be checking out.

The look of the game is also solid. Creepy catacomb textures and eerie lighting effects crank up the spooky mood of the game. Character models are also solid, with Buffy and crew actually looking a lot like their TV counterparts.

You can buy sexier RTS games, but you won't find a more realistic one than Highway to the Reich. Its 2D presentation may not dazzle, but it's capable of revealing the gritty nature of warfare.

You'll even be willing to endure the frustration of restarting the mission just because you want to try another ghost and see if it works better.

Obviously old school fans of these kinds of games will be impressed by the graphics and fast paced gameplay, but as I mentioned, if this isn't your thing there isn't much else in the way of gameplay.

Oddly, I suspect that those less-versed in the Metroid games will get more enjoyment out of it, as it will seem more original and less stale.

Delivers a much more authentic representation of the fastest game on ice and this is reflected in its tight checking action (low-scoring games are now the norm) and truer-to-life gameplay mechanics.

The latest -- and probably last -- expansion pack for The Sims, Makin' Magic, is easily the most fun of the seven.

Its incredibly diverse control system is implemented into a truly enjoyable game that has enough simulation elements to please boxing fans and strong gameplay that can be appreciated by a diverse crowd.

It's remarkable that EA has managed to catch up to the incredible effort from Sega in a single generation, and if it weren't for an overly trying physics engine on the ice, the two would be in a dead heat.

NFL Street can't be beat for multiplayer fun on any console, and tweaking rosters will keep fantasy fans up late at night for weeks.

Immersive elements are everywhere: You don't just press a button to activate a lever that opens a gate -- you use the analog stick to shift Harry in the direction you want to tug that lever.