And although you can probably get twenty bucks' worth of fun out of it with a little effort, why wouldn't you just drop the cash on a game that did it better two years ago?

Good fun in a nostalgic way, but younger gamers might not get what all the fuss is about.

Another problem comes in how Conflict: Vietnam handles aiming. Whenever I drew my weapon in first-person view, a bulky rifle sight popped up and took over a good chunk of my screen. Making matters worse, the sight proved to be completely ineffective.

With tasty graphics and a finely-tuned battle engine, Dust Strikers is another quality entry into the Guilty Gear series that while not offering anything new (or better) than other DS fighting games, is still an enjoyable game.

Precisely what you'd expect from Wario: tons of juvenile, yet still pretty funny, scatological humor and some passable minigames. What saves it from mediocrity is the fact that it is actually really challenging.

In the end, one of the many cluttered rooms serves as a metaphor for the whole experience: sure, all the stuff in there works, and it serves a purpose, but a little more elegance could have made the whole remarkable.

JF4 introduces several leading edge innovations into the genre that set it apart, yet at the same time it manages to crash and burn when it comes down to just the basics.

Manages to maintain an impressive level of graphical detail, particularly in the enemy models and background environments.

Once you get a few levels into the game, you start to see the purpose and role of each weapon, and Constantine encourages you to think strategically about how to take down enemies.

Complete with more bugs than month-old flypaper sitting outside a slaughterhouse, True Crime: New York City is utterly mediocre.

This port is shameful!

If you can live without high scores and multiplayer, then you'll be fine. Just don't bother if you already own the original Namco Museum and Pac-Man Collection. Rally-X isn't worth $20.

Not a perfect game, but it does a decent job at what it sets out to do.

There are too many times where you'll be asked to complete a goal by an NPC and you'll literally have no clue what to do or how to proceed in order to complete it.

The graphics are crisp and well defined, with everything remaining faithful to the source material. John Williams' scoring is simply some of the best orchestral work ever, and all of the signature Star Wars sound effects remain as amazing and unique as ever.

While it has the series' trademark snappy dialogue, sultry vixens, and more double entendres than a classic Rodney Dangerfield routine, it's missing one thing: the fun. The mini-games dragged after only a few hours, and getting through the game felt like a chore.

Touch Detective has great stylized graphics, interesting-looking characters, a simple interface, and humorous writing, but it all adds up to nothing when the core storyline and gameplay are so lackadaisical.

While the drive-and-shoot gameplay of Starsky & Hutch unavoidably becomes repetitive, the solid level design and great two-player mode combine to make it one of the best budget titles for the PS2.

On its own, it has plenty to keep most gamers entertained for hours. Add to that the connectivity options with Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Revenge and you end up with a surefire formula for success.

It lacks depth, offers minimal incentive to continue playing past the first hour or two, and doesn't do anything with its online offerings that could convince you to neglect the countless other games that offer far richer multiplayer experiences. There's no reason to pick this one up unless you're desperate for something in the space milieu.

The game's lower level of difficulty and varied gameplay styles make it easy for just about anyone to get into the game and enjoy the experience.

The overall integrity of the game has remained intact. So if you're jealous of your DS-toting friends walking around with those giant swollen craniums of theirs due to all of that brain-boosting gaming they're doing, do yourself a favor and give your own melon a workout with a healthy dose of classic chess.

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.

Yeah, it's still fun when you've got three other friends involved, but when you get down to it it's an antiquated game that doesn't have the pizzazz that people expect out of a downloadable remakes these days. Honestly, I'd have been happy with a cheap, no-frills port of the original arcade version (something that this remake doesn't even include, incidentally).

If you don't know a Liu Bei from a Lu Bu, you're not going to be interested, but those who understand the thrill of taking down the thousandth enemy in a single battle will enjoy it. Just be sure to give the new Renbu system a chance.

Even the slightest mistake can lead to an instant beat down from a swarm of CPU-controlled gang members. The aggressive A.I. is relentless in its attacks and, especially later in the game, will easily frustrate even the most hardcore fighting fans.

The "move all over the grid" aspect is really fun, too, even if you do end up fighting the camera a lot of the time.

Between the occasionally spotty controls, the linear quest, and the highly repetitive mini-games, only the most dedicated Potter fans need enroll this term. Oh, and it was very disappointing to find out that the final boss battle doesn't have you playing as Professor Snape. Very disappointing.