Delivers exactly what you'd expect from a Half-Life expansion: it returns to the intriguing setting of City 17, delivers lots of tight action sequences and well-crafted puzzles, and is arguably the best-looking shooter out today.

This game simply doesn't belong on the PSP; it's too early for a game of this caliber to show up on Sony's little portable system -- hell, it took nearly five years before "God of War" showed us what the PS2 can handle. Not only is Dark Mirror a damn fine game, it may very well be the best game on the system.

Despite a few minor issues, Morrowind manages to shine on the Xbox. It is the first game to truly bring a wide-open role-playing experience to the console.

Does a good job of capturing the basic flavor of "SotN's" gameplay. Indeed, almost all of the special moves you can obtain have been lifted directly from Symphony.

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.

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.

These new elements seem to have been thrown in merely for the sake of being different, and the result is a confused mishmash of ideas that is more banal and frustrating than fresh or exciting.

The gameplay, graphics, sound, and replayability combine to offer an exquisite mélange that fans of strategy and role-playing games must experience.

If you're a college football fan, NCAA Football 06 is the game you've been waiting for your whole life. It might even be the best football game ever made, professional or collegiate, which, given the competition for the title, is really saying something.

Even if Max Payne 3 does not transcend genre, it is at least an example of genre at its best.

If you have friends who enjoy videogames, this is one to play together. It's made specifically for that -- and yeah, it's got all the painstaking collectibles and supplemental multiplayer challenges you already assumed it did, so you're going to play it for quite a while. And if you just want a serious challenge, play alone and revel in the pure joy of death. Either way, it's a damn fine Mario game.

If "wacky," "quirky," or "freaking bizarre" turn you off, you may not pick up what this game is laying down, but unless you have something against having fun, you really ought to try.

A combination of solid Zelda-style gameplay and cinematic excellence push Beyond Good & Evil into the upper echelons of action / adventure games. This is what an interactive movie should be.

It makes fun of itself relentlessly, yet still manages to be earnest when it matters, and the gameplay around which it's built takes the best elements of the Mario games' trademark simplicity, and constructs out of them a compelling, engrossing RPG.

It's not the most original game this year, but it's one of the best you'll play on GameCube.

I'm so in love with this game. If you liked "Baldur's Gate" or "Planescape: Torment," you'll love this game.

The VR Missions alone could keep you busy for weeks. If, however, MGS2 didn't light your fire, your logs will remain unburnt by Substance.

Has the edge on the management and simulation side of the game. Its franchise mode is excellent and makes "MVP Baseball 2003"'s look like a Johnny-come-lately. On the flip side, "MVP Baseball 2003" has a slight edge in gameplay.

Not only is RalliSport Challenge one of the best rally racing games ever, it may be the most fun ever to rumble on a console.

Battlefield Premium members have access to Armored Kill right now, and everyone else who's interested will be able to buy it for $15 on September 25th. If you're still playing Battlefield 3, or burnt out from claustrophobia or lack of tanks, I suggest that you do.

A (mostly) pleasant surprise and a return to form. Considering how poorly the original trilogy aged (if you ask me), that's pretty... well, bananas.

Drips with style in every possible way. It's a brilliant game, but at times it's more challenging than it is fun.

One of the year's best, because it diverts from "GTA's" hyper-violent barrage of social satire and genital jokes to be something more subtle, but equally meaningful. Young people might not appreciate it as much because they're still living it. For that reason, don't buy Bully for your younger relatives. Buy it for yourself.

Although it's certainly got Infinity Ward's fingerprints all over it, Black Ops is definitely Treyarch's baby. As a fan of the franchise, I'm happy to see that the future of the series is in good hands, and it'll (hopefully) be nice to see the folks at Treyarch finally get some respect from hardcore gamers.

Portable Ops feels like one of the few games to live up to the PSP's promise, in part because it translates the entire Metal Gear Solid experience into something that can be easily digested in small amounts...inarguably one of the best games to release on the PSP, let alone one of 2006's best.

Between its extraordinary collection of cerebral trials, its comprehensive menagerie of shape-shifting animal-tools, and its skilled use of almost instinctual motion control, Zack & Wiki reveals itself as an unexpected, must-own treasure.

By far, this game has one of the simplest, yet all-encompassing interfaces I've seen in awhile.

The squad-based combat is handled elegantly, from the simple control scheme to the ability to switch out to a birds-eye view to strategize, and injects some life into a genre we thought had been milked for good.