My biggest nitpick is that defense and rebounding is still an afterthought.

A step -- albeit a small one -- in the right direction for the series. The gameplay has been deepened, as has the career mode. Where it still needs work is in the presentation.

It's enough to make you want to hold hands and sing Kum Bai Ya -- if you can put down your GBA long enough.

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.

The old adage about hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror holds true here, and while the terror's fun for a while, the boredom ultimately cancels it out.

It's no ProTools, but for what amounts to Remix: The Game, the package is quite acceptable.

Beats "Tiger 2004" in exactly two respects: prettier graphics and Live support. Every other category goes to Tiger in a Governor Ahnold-esque landslide.

The main problem with Amped 2 is its controls...In practice, most players will find it difficult to learn at best and frustrating at worse.

Though the appeal wears thin a lot more quickly, it still has some thanks to the large amount of content and just the overall polish and humor of the game.

Even with the new systems, the core mechanics are losing their edge and the tournament structured story isn't helping things, either.

Fails to live up to the standards set by the first game. It's not that it's more-of-the-same, which would have been OK, but Syberia II takes characters and a storyline that were deep and compelling the first time around and turns them into cardboard caricatures of their former selves.

The qualifications -- short length, lack of replay value, and control issues -- knock the game down value-wise, even though I think anyone who's attracted to quick, violent squad play will have a good time.

Merely good - hopefully Nintendo will take heed and give us the game we've REALLY been wanting next time around.

You'll have fun fighting in Defiance, and feel lucky, because it happens quite often. But if you've been following the series, you'll also know that it's quite heavily reliant on aimless wandering and boring box puzzles.

An involving graphic adventure, but it's noticeably hampered by its technical flaws and well-meaning attempts at action sequences.

Got a spare 20 to 30 hours, and a hankering for mindless medieval bloodshed? Not been pressing the Square button enough? Go on -- give this an intense weekend rental.

All the features put together make a fun addition to SimCity, but only because the expansion packs in so many different additions to the game.

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.

A decent title. It'll never be one of those "stranded on a desert island" games, but it certainly has replay value and is well worth a look.

A quirky and sometimes frustrating puzzle action title that fails to do its two famous mascots justice.

While it could have been a more inspired finale, the multiplayer aspect makes up for the single-player shortcomings. The aging engine has been used for all its worth.

Soldiers could have been a fantastic game, but in the end is brought down by technical issues, bugs, and a level of difficulty only a sadist would enjoy.

While I wish the multiplayer offered more, as it would no doubt extend the title's replay value, it's just not exciting enough given the current number of quality online action titles on the Xbox. The single-player experience is enjoyable, if not revolutionary.

While the large ship selection is a fun idea, it's no substitute for the essential elements of good level design, consistent game speed, gameplay originality and a smokin' soundtrack.

An interesting twist on the empire-building genre, but a lack of polish keeps it from being truly great.

With all this going for it, it's a shame the single-player game is so humdrum.

It's still not quite on the same level as the highly polished "MVP Baseball" from EA Sports, but it's nowhere near the cellar dweller it was last season.

One of the problems is a lack of meaningful interaction with the rest of the world.