The first time I played the game, I thought that the speakers on my DS had blown out. Background noises that were supposed to sound like running water instead sounded like a harsh mix of radio static and feedback.

Exactly what I expected it to be -- a perfectly mediocre game with a few good jokes and not a whole lot of gameplay.

The idea is solid, but the haphazard controls suck most of the enjoyment from these rails. We'd like to see more dragons in our games, but requiring the use of an ice pack after bouts with the stylus seems unnecessary.

"Defender II." It's hard to imagine why that one is omitted, since it should use the same graphics as the included "Defender."

Simply put, it has no hook. It offers nothing of interest to an even semi-seasoned gamer. It's as dull a foray into platforming as you'll find on your local store's shelves, and another unfortunate example of this license being diluted.

There's ostensibly a big game in here, but it gets old quick, so your best bet would be to borrow FIFA Street 2 from a friend rather than drop any dough on it.

The game's poor presentation and frustrating combat system make the mystery behind The Da Vinci Code one that most gamers would be better off leaving unsolved.

At least the audio captures a bit of the enjoyably cornball feel of the film. The bugs and guns don't make much of an impression, but troops utter intentionally cheesy lines like, "I'm so bad I scare myself!"

Perhaps the worst offense of all would have to be Wolverine. Not only has Z-Axis managed to take everyone's favorite adamantium-infused Canadian wildman and turn him into possibly the most boring hero ever, they've pinned a sizable majority of the action upon playing as him. Boring, you say? Yes.

A pile of uninspired, by-the-numbers gameplay and missed opportunities.

A disappointment of near-epic proportions. Sega ripped out the very heart of PSO's legendary addictiveness, replacing it with a repetitive, tedious grind that shows no signs of ending.

More of a hassle than a pleasure to play. The glitches, poor controls and shabby visuals leave Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run without much to offer, even if you're an avid fan of the series. It's such a departure from what the series is known for, it could easily be called "Generic Action Game & Car."

Even Ocho Cinco might have trouble keeping up the trash-talking intensity after prolonged exposure to the same old Street feel.

As representations of the End Times go, this one's about as scary as a Sunday school play (and not as well written).

Champions Online too often feels like a professionally assembled Second Life module, where character creation is king and the thrill of being superhuman wears thin once you realize that everything else just feels off. Whether or not future patches can set some of the more glaring flaws right is anybody's guess.

Perhaps the worst offense of all would have to be Wolverine. Not only has Z-Axis managed to take everyone's favorite adamantium-infused Canadian wildman and turn him into possibly the most boring hero ever, they've pinned a sizable majority of the action upon playing as him. Boring, you say? Yes.

Spending 30 minutes aimlessly wondering around because you can't figure out what random part of the environment you're supposed to manipulate or sequence of moves to string together to topple a structure is unforgivable.

A severely flawed game that could have been far better had it undergone further testing. The freeze bug is absolutely crippling and has even caused retailers like EBGames and GameStop to reduce the amount of money they'll offer for the game in trade-in value.

It feels a bit PS1-era, prior to the introduction of the Dual Shock, honestly. Once I messed around with the controls for a while, I got used to them, but I am not enthusiastic about them.

Its sloppy controls and poor presentation will likely turn off even some of the most diehard fans of the ATV Offroad franchise.

The game's poor presentation and frustrating combat system make the mystery behind The Da Vinci Code one that most gamers would be better off leaving unsolved.

Binary Domain looks and plays the third-person, cover-based shooter part, but it's really just a soulless imitation. And I'd love nothing more than to bash its robot brains in.

Only for the truly hardcore street racing fans. It's not a good enough racer to attract the wide base of casual videogame race fans, and we can't recommend more than a rental even for the die-hard gearheads.

Gods & Heroes might have made a passable showing in 2005 in its current state, but in this age of Rift and the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic, Heatwave's new release might as well be a Pompeian graffito in a Rembrandt exhibition.

One gets the feeling that the show's creators are trying to wash their hands of Via Domus, awkwardly placed as it is in the series' now-sprawling legendarium. But above and beyond that, fans should approach it as a lark; it's not very accomplished as a game.

Feels rushed and slapped-together as a low-budget attempt to cash in on the holiday film release and make a quick buck from the fans before word gets out that it's not worth half its retail price.

The basic gameplay of Avatar is so fundamentally flawed that even those few bright spots would only set you up for disappointment. Because, despite the guiding hand of Cameron, Avatar is ultimately just another big-name movie game that doesn't fulfill its early promise.

It's encouraging, though, that in just the week since SOL's been out the developers at Seamless have done a great job patching issues, with three released so far. It's a damn shame there are so many issues that are likely beyond the power of mere patches, because the space shooter genre badly needs a new classic to really get it going again.