Dark Sector is a good game that has some great hooks, such as the wonderful glaive and a powerful shotgun. It's unfortunate that other elements, such as unpolished combat and some very generic NPCs, undermine its ambition (though they don't render the game unplayable).

Teases more than pleases. It feels like half of what a good expansion should be, but at the same time is a great buy for those new to the series.

Most people will find Sword of Mana to be a mediocre game, while staunch series fans will find that it gives them exactly what they want.

It plays a good game of Blitz, but a lack of gameplay modes, average graphics for the console, and few appreciable improvements over last year's game make it hard to recommend to anyone but the most ardent fan.

The fundamental gameplay is good, but thematically the game is not aesthetically pleasing.

There's not much new here.

There aren't as many playable characters as we'd like, and the visuals really aren't up to snuff, but the voice actors from the series bring the characters to life, and there's plenty to unlock and accomplish. Best of all, it's good fun for head-to-head competition.

The combat is fun, and you're allowed a pretty satisfying level of leeway as to how your characters develop. But it ends there. All the other things that make a great RPG are absent. No memorable characters, no clever dialogue, no rousing story.

For me, the biggest shortcoming of Amped 3 was the lack of any decent multiplayer gameplay. There's nothing happening with Xbox Live -- save for some cool, but basic score tracking -- and the offline multiplayer is limited to the rather disappointing co-op two-player sledding events.

As much as you'll wish for more variety in setting and situation, what you do get is so smooth, creepy, and darkly pleasurable that you'll be left with a smile and a twitch, if not necessarily satisfaction.

But while the combat and destruction portions of playing as the Saboteur are fun, the story and effect you have on the world are disappointingly underdeveloped.

It feels like we've traveled these claustrophobic corridors a million times before, and there's really nothing here to make you want to put down one of the far superior shooters that can be found on the Xbox.

The bugei gimmick is really clever, and kept driving me to play more. I can't say as much about the actual gameplay and story, however.

Young players will immediately point at the lack of some "obvious" features such as a full multiplayer mode (the current mode only consists of visiting other players' parks without any real way of interacting with them).

Its wide variety of game modes and options lets you create a multiplayer gaming experience to suit any time frame, and the huge number of mini-games sets a very high, very consumer-friendly bar.

It starts off fun, but once you've played enough rounds of Sub-Zero versus The Joker, there's not enough substance in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe to give it the longevity of better fighting games.

Blazing Angels 2 is superior to the original game in every respect, but it's still not as amazing as the Xbox classic "Crimson Skies."

It's a rare old-school follow-up that furthers its roots without selling out.

It's the weak multiplayer that keeps us from recommending The Club with full enthusiasm.

The franchise has always been a strong one on the PSP, but it looks like development might have done a little coasting this year.

Honestly, we still prefer Most Wanted to ProStreet even though ProStreet offers significantly improved tire smoke that actually wraps around the wheel wells of your car, because Most Wanted had cops that chased us and provided a really compelling reason to drive as fast as humanly possible.

Pirates' great mix of excellent control, superb presentation, fun third-person action, and ship combat make it far more interesting than most of the third-person adventures hitting next gen systems.

I was pleased with this Romance, but less than fulfilled.

It emphasizes the bad side of console games: unlockable planes and maps, cartoony characters and situations, a lame checkpoint save system, and no multiplayer support (something the console versions of the game actually get). Missing are the imagination, innovation, and style of the best console games.

The lack of characters combined with the relative lack of gameplay modes makes the overall package seem a bit shallow, as if the inevitable sequel will feature more content. Even so, Burst Limit is a quality fighting game. Non-fans will be lost within the convoluted confines of the Z Chronicles, but the improved battle engine can't be denied.

I was happy to find that the game is well-balanced, requiring even use of all three abilities, and multiple pathways can be accessed by exploring areas with different team leaders. [*See GameSpy for their new 5-star conversion scale]

Even at $30, NHL 07 on the PC is overpriced. It's a budget title, plain and simple, almost exactly like last year's game with a minimal effort to include the new Skill Stick.

Like peanut butter and chocolate, the combination of classic puzzle gameplay and RPG game mechanics results in something greater than the sum of its parts.