If, like me, you want a little more story to chew on, you'll probably want to find a game packed with a little less extension and a little more pretension.

One of the best compilation discs on the store shelves.

A rush of horror and brutality from the start, grabbing you by the throat, tossing you into the abyss, and laughing as you try to claw your way back out.

While it's a solid enough game, once the feelings of nostalgia wane, you may feel a bit restricted by the game's linearity and the sometimes difficult camera.

The game is brutally violent, unapologetically vulgar, and simply a hell of a lot of fun to play.

Despite noticeably upping the action level, bolting on co-op, and even charging us extra to cheat, this space-zombie shooter trilogy brings it home nicely with a lengthy, atmospheric, and suitably gory climax for our long-tortured hero, Isaac Clarke.

Although Fatal Frame III will simultaneously delight and scare the bejesus out of fans of the series, Tecmo will need to take that next big step in "Fatal Frame IV" to keep this innovative series at the top of the survival-horror heap.

A game that is equal parts extreme sports action and surreal soap opera, an improvement that should keep it at the top of the wrestling game into the next decade.

Even with the disappointing lack of online play and the utterly unsurprising graphics issues, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection's two superb fighters offer enough outstanding gameplay to keep you cracking skulls and throwing fireballs for a long time to come.

Modern Times' strengths really shine in sandbox mode -- an area Tropico 4 shied away from -- which will provide more than enough hours for $20 of game for those who left Tropico 4 wanting more.

The game is polished, and delivers a satisfying journey while it has you, but loses you with an all-too short experience.

Sure, the game looks like a Dreamcast graphics demo, and its precepts haven't changed much since the arcade original based on similar hardware, but it's the gameplay that sells this title, almost as much as your love of monkeys.

The game's minor tweaks here and there do a lot to smooth out some of the weakness from before, and the new gameplay features add just enough to the game's familiar formula to make things interesting.

We've seen it all before.

It's not incredibly original, either, with a big debt to Diablo-style gameplay, for instance. Then again, it has some great things that the Diablo games don't, like huge 3D environments and a fire-breathing dragon you can ride.

While it might fall short of championship material, it's still an excellent game that will get fans through the upcoming season.

Oddball comedy and action galore -- sadly, it's the same simple action over and over.

With its epic storylines, hundreds of combat scenarios, and open-ended structure, Gladius is one of the deepest games of the year. If you play strategy/RPGs because you're an anime fan, Gladius will bore you; if you play them because they're fun, Gladius will obsess you.

By far the most straightforward and enjoyable version of the series.

Doesn't just do an excellent job of conveying a time-honored tradition's mass appeal, but portrays it in such an exciting light that even haters such as myself can't help but recognize.

At $19.99 you're not going to find a World War II strategic wargame that provides more bang for the buck. However, be forewarned that you're going to have to put in some serious effort to become good at this game.

The Starfighter games for the Xbox simply feel faster than they do on a PlayStation 2. The speedy Xbox hardware simply offers a more realistic feel of what it's like to engage in aerial combat.

The definitive version of the game. PS2 Splashdown players who own an Xbox should consider this upgrade.

A sizeable leap forward for the series. It's still a few key AI tweaks away from challenging Winning Eleven for the arcade soccer crown, but at least EA's game is back in the conversation.

The Xbox's advantage is, of course, graphics. Here the character models don't look as flat and the textures feature slightly more intricate detail. The world is still pretty blocky, but with a decent framerate and solid effects, we can accept that.

Diehards will love the reduced emphasis on checking, while more casual fans should enjoy the new skill stick moves and the ability to place your shot wherever you please. Best of all, every rule change has made it into the game.

I can understand why Modern Warfare 3 has changed so little in the last four years, given that so much money is resting upon its shoulders, but that doesn't make this developmental stasis any more forgivable.

The multiplayer game is subpar and under populated, but the single-player game is slick, polished, frantic, and exciting.