A capable arcade racer crammed with goodies … and a perfect cure for anyone suffering post-"Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4" doldrums.

The gorgeous graphics combined with the terrific sense of speed (at least at higher levels) are certainly as fun to watch as they are to interact with, and the control is accurate enough to allow precise movements.

Once the initial shock value wears off, you're left with a very challenging and rewarding video game. You might, however, want to keep a barf-bag handy just in case.

I think we all kept focusing on the negatives because so much in D&D Online works so well, that it could have been absolutely great.

Midway's got your party covered. The included games are dying to be played in pairs or groups. In fact, many of them -- "Xenophobe" and "Timber," among others -- probably shouldn't be played solo.

Where DTR2 struts its stuff is in the two areas that matter most -- physics and artificial intelligence. Driving these cars just feels right.

It's also almost exactly like "Age of Empires II" with a facelift and a few new perks. It fails to really innovate in any area; instead offering a few new perks and a few things that'll have you saying, "That's kind of cool!"

An excellent downsizing of a cutting-edge game for a lesser platform, retaining the essential gameplay of the original while deftly imitating its audiovisual aspects.

kept waiting for this game to become fun. It doesn't really.

Aside from these few relatively minor negatives, F.E.A.R. 3 is a very solid shooter that covers a lot of the right bases -- I just wish the developers had put as much imagination and creativity into the single-player campaign as they did into coming up with new multiplayer modes. And, you know, actually made it a bit more scary.

With so much going on at once, you'll occasionally lose track of your character (especially during four-player matches), but you'll probably be having too much fun to notice much.

The biggest drawback of this game is the inclusion of Venom as a playable character. He draaaags. He can't web swing (but he can cover vast distances with his leaps), he relies on brute strength rather than finesse, and you must also devour people in order to keep the suit from killing the man inside.

The graphics won't amaze you and you may be under whelmed at the multiplay, but it'll put a smile on your face and give you fond memories of the waning days of the original Xbox.

Aside from these few relatively minor negatives, F.E.A.R. 3 is a very solid shooter that covers a lot of the right bases -- I just wish the developers had put as much imagination and creativity into the single-player campaign as they did into coming up with new multiplayer modes. And, you know, actually made it a bit more scary.

If you're into WWII shooters -- and judging by the sales of every single Call of Duty title ever, you are -- but you're looking for something with a little twist to it -- which, judging by the sales of twisty straws, you are -- and you don't mind the color green -- and judging by the number of Irish people in the world, you don't -- you should get yourself a copy of Wolfenstein.

For most of the game I felt like I was too powerful and things never really felt challenging. Again, I'm thinking that this is partly by design since the game has a mainstream license and will attract many casual gamers. (Damn casuals always ruin everything.)

For all that, though, The Secret World succeeds as a thinking man's MMORPG. Many of its features demand intellectual prowess as well as the usual dose of combat mastery, and none of its competitors come close to matching its affection for the esoteric. It has its issues, to be sure, and all of the investigations and sabotage missions available won't stop a good amount of players from spending 20 minutes with its combat and dismissing it as a substandard World of Warcraft clone.

Hardcore Sonic fans will definitely want to check this one out, as it offers a strong storyline and entertaining writing that's on par with the best fan fiction.

Take away the armored masks and you'd have a hard time telling Army of Two: The 40th Day from a glut of other third-person shooters. It's not bad enough to be especially memorable, and it's not good enough that people will talk about it for very long.

The game clearly leans backward rather than forward in some respects, but it bears repeating: What it does in the tiny PSP world, it does well.

Despite some clunky inventory management and some frustrating camera angles, this'll be a game that you'll go back to whenever you're up for a couple of hours of mayhem and swordplay.

For some reason, the excellent racing engines from TOCA and Colin McRae were seemingly abandoned, replaced by a lackluster arcade-style physics model that feels like you're driving a slot car rather than an actual automobile.

The game hasn't changed drastically since its leap to the PS2, but two years of minor tweaking has made this the most accessible title of the franchise.

If you're a series veteran, or found yourself wishing the previous PS2 entries had less number-crunching and more action, you'll probably love RTK9. I'm squarely in [this] category, but not because I disliked 7 and 8's RPG elements; I just appreciate KOEI's willingness to keep tinkering with a 15-year-old franchise.

With the variety of unique character choices, the interesting level-up method, and rocking multiplayer, Shining Soul II has its charm. Still, I can't help feeling it's still missing something to give it more oomph, at least in single-player mode.

If you want some quick fun and a chance to bring to life that wild race course you've dreamt of, TrackMania might be just the thing for you.

Simple and sublime, Custom Robo Arena was quite clearly developed with the little tykes in mind, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it.

For the hardcore military buff, ArmA's attention to real-world detail is unmatched; comparing it to something like "Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter" is like comparing "IL-2 Sturmovik" to "Combat." If this concept scares you, then run away: ArmA will eat you up and spit you out before you can figure out how to aim your M-16.