A gaming experience unlike any other available today, and one that you absolutely shouldn't miss.

Flying around using your grappling hook is dynamite fun, but the actual fighting can be anticlimactic due to the limited number of weapons in your arsenal.

People looking for a loud and crash-filled Burnout experience or something more simish like Gran Turismo will be sorely disappointed, but if you just want to chill out and drive, then this is the game for you. Just don't be surprised if you start feeling a sense of déjà vu if you play it for too long.

The most painful realization will come to owners of "College Hoops 2K6," who will be hard-pressed to find a major improvement in the core game, outside of the roster update. It's hard to justify paying full price for such a similar game.

It's a beautifully immersive game that really takes advantage of the Wii's hardware to create a vivid and memorable experience.

While veteran RTS players may have some nits to pick with the relatively solid gameplay, those same fans of The Lord of the Rings series should find that the game shines as a playable re-creation of Tolkien's work.

Pulse-pounding car chases, lighting-fast races, and a beautifully crafted game world.

Saints Row 2 offers up a shooting and driving experience that is plenty of fun. Its story isn't as engrossing as that of Grand Theft Auto IV, but it's not that kind of game. It's self-consciously funny in its irreverence, and its low-brow humor will definitely appeal to much of its audience.

All of the blasters sound different, as do the game's vehicles. It's a deeply immersive game in a lot of ways, and you'll actually feel like you're in the middle of a huge battle when in first-person view.

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.

DDR freaks have bemoaned the removal of the ultra-difficult Oni mode, but the inclusion of user-editable nonstop courses of up to 20 songs each, which can also be used in the Workout mode (yes!), more than makes up for it.

Unlike many console-to-PC ports, it's clear that the developers loaded up the PC version with as much high-res art as possible, which looks even better than the Xbox version.

After nine versions, there is no question that OOTP is firmly atop the baseball general manager simulation heap. For new players this is stellar material despite its issues, but longtime fans and especially those who own last year's game need to weigh their options a bit more closely. OOTP 9 is worth the $40 upgrade, but just barely.

A handheld shooter that largely gets the job done, if the job is to mindlessly shoot, reload, and shoot again. It evokes the presentation of Resistance: Fall of Man effectively, save for the awful dialogue and voice acting.

For those of us who enjoy a little less seriousness in our golf game's appearance, but don't want some dumbed-down baby's toy, Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds is a uniquely accomplished solution.

Call it 2005's answer to "Unreal 2," another game that mashed together a ton of solid sci-fi shooting but never gelled into anything particularly groundbreaking or memorable.

The attention to detail (such as when Sam slowly reaches for his knife while approaching a foe) makes you forget that you're playing a game at times. It may not look quite as good as the Xbox, but it's still one of the prettiest GameCube games you'll see.

It's not quite up to the shining standards of Mega Man 2 and the extremely underrated Mega Man 5 (and I'm dead serious about that -- go play it before you knock it), but it's definitely nowhere near the bottom of the bin that Mega Man 4 and the non-NES installments so squarely define.

Like a good horror movie, there are plenty of jump-out-of-your-seat scares, but the game is just as effective when you're imagining what could happen.

There's a lot of level grinding to get stats up, and while Neversoft has implemented challenges for all sorts of skill types, it's an experience that might prove too tedious for some. Also, the ergonomics of the 360 D-pad really work against this title.

NBA 2K8 is hands-down the best basketball game available, though it is facing very strong competition for the first time in a long while.

Is this game head and shoulders above Tiger Woods '06? We'd venture to say yes. The annoying gamebreakers are gone, more flexibility is in, and the gameplay is as tight as ever.

The silver lining in all of this is that the game is kept compact, and To the Moon can be finished in a sitting or two, before it really wears out its welcome.

Perhaps what's most amazing is that it plays like the work of a seasoned developer with a rare grasp on atmosphere and tone, a rock-solid set of technologies, and sophisticated ideas about game design.

Combine the simple, addictive gameplay with great use of the DS's abilities (not to mention the great songs that play during Mike, the karaoke robot's intro and spooky goth chick, Ashley's stage), and you have the best reason so far to own one of Nintendo's new systems.

Last year, Take-Two won the Stanley Cup of NHL games hands down. With NHL 2k6, Take-Two is on its way to win the championship one more time.

A heck of a lot of fun, and should be a certified winner if and when Ewanchyna and Matrix Games fix its technical problems.

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.