If you're looking to play the game, stick with MVP Baseball 2003. If you want to manage a team, go with "World Series Baseball 2K3."

It strikes a near-perfect balance between painstaking realism and flat-out fun.

There's a core game here that could've been very enjoyable had it been paced a little better.

The addition of the First Touch system makes the gameplay much more fluid, and it encourages you to improvise more often. Armchair managers will love the new career mode, one of the best you'll see this year.

The new simulation aspects are a good attempt to make this year's game appeal to every type of hockey fan, but the game still feels like it's caught in transition.

It may end with a slog, but I'd already gotten dozens of hours of rewarding tactical play by that point. Especially with the impressive multiplayer mode, I can strongly recommending Wargame: European Escalation as an expert and innovative blend of the best of the wargame genre with the best of the RTS.

I've had a tremendous amount of fun with Dungeon Defenders. Yes there are some glitches but the team has been working hard to iron out theses bugs on what seems like a bi-daily basis. It's great to see this much dedicated support to a game after launch. It's a charming little-big game that's full of challenging adventures that fans and newcomers to the genre will appreciate.

If you loved the classic OutRun and happened to miss OutRun 2, you definitely need to give Coast 2 Coast a try. It's a prime example of how to update a classic video game for a modern system.

The thing that immediately struck me when playing the game was the amazing amount of minutiae that's been included for eagle-eyed fans.

If you're a monkey baller with previous experience, and need those 46 extra stages, or you're looking for a unique puzzle challenge in-between bouts of Halo 2, then it's time to get down to some business: Monkey Business.

A rare and generous package of new visuals, new gameplay, and absolutely crucial improvements to the core game. If you weren't an Age III fan before Asian Dynasties, get ready to be one now.

This is the over-the-top, pick-up-and-play fighter that's we've been missing for so long. It's far less complex than its top-rated contemporaries, but that's part of the fun.

MLB's fielding model exhibits smooth animations and transitions into secondary animations. Guys throw across their body, take their crow hops, and dig balls out of the dirt. It's all über-realistic looking and complements the pitcher/batter duel perfectly.

The interface is especially straightforward and the game is simple to play yet provides a breath of order and commands for your units.

The new title combines strong platforming fundamentals, Assassin's Creed's open-world structure, and some of Okami's wonderful aesthetic flourishes. What it introduces to action games is something truly wonderful. Since the Prince can't die, the pace and rhythm of gameplay is never lost, yet it still offers a challenge even for hardcore gamers.

If you own a previous version of Knockout Kings, there isn't a whole lot new going on other than the graphics. It is very rough in places and misses a lot of the intricacies sport of boxing, but it is one of those games that keeps you coming back for more.

The joy of F1 2002 is that it can play as realistically or as non-realistically as you like.

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.

While Dave Mirra 2 shouldn't be branded with such terms as "unpleasant" or "ridiculous," it is safe to say that the title repeats the same type of quality as its PSOne ancestor, "unfinished" and "hurried" would be more like it.

Hours of engaging gameplay, a solid story and interface, and refinements all around make this a sequel definitely worth the purchase.

[It's] not going to compete with the likes of Zelda or "Breath of Fire." It does, however, provide a friendly role-playing experience with familiar characters in a setting that is easy to navigate.

There's lots of tension, and brief bursts of action, but completing a mission is not so much dependent on tactics as it is on your teammates having much faster, more "aware", and more accurate aiming AI than the enemy. Thankfully, they do.

It's not as polished or flashy as the NBA equivalent, but for a first effort NFL Street is a damn good time, with better multiplayer than anyone else.

Even with all its flaws, Def Jam Vendetta is the best wrestling game currently on the market.

While it won't be winning any beauty contests with its barebones 2D graphics, the play's the thing and the combination of solid controls and lots of content in the form of the technologies, units and variegated civilizations make Civ Rev an enjoyable and entertaining romp through the traditionally staid and somber realm of nation management.

Pass the bongos back and forth between stages and have a blast drumming Donkey Kong on his journey.

It's based on excellent gameplay mechanics that are taken in really interesting directions through gimmick courts. Mastering each player will take dozens and dozens of hours. Multiplayer games are a total riot.

Age of Conan going forward should become a delightfully savage second home for plenty of howling on-line barbarians.