The plotline is simple, the characters are instantly likeable, but more importantly, from start to finish, the action never lets up.

If you're a Black Hawk Down multiplayer junkie, you'll probably get your money's worth just from the three jungle maps. But everyone else should probably save their $20 until Novalogic offers something more substantial.

It's got the core gameplay to be one of the best strategy titles ever made, but failures in execution means that Silent Storm ends up being nothing more than a good game.

The curse of Japanese racer audio lives on in Auto Modellista. The announcer needs a good punch in the face.

An impressive product that's only a patch or two away from true strategy game greatness.

A competent and occasionally compelling hack-and-slash, but fans of the PC games won't give a damn about it, and "Champions of Norrath" is a more satisfying and more technically impressive example of the genre on the PlayStation 2.

.hack does not end triumphantly. A year ago I was optimistic; now I'm just looking forward to playing something -- <I>anything</I> -- else.

A competent and occasionally compelling hack-and-slash, but fans of the PC games will continue to dream of the true RPG they'll never get, and fans of Dark Alliance would presumably rather play "Dark Alliance II."

At its best moments, mediocre. At its worst, it's redundant, unforgiving, and glaringly ugly. You simply have no time to be messing around with this sort of game.

At its best moments, mediocre. At its worst, it's redundant, unforgiving, and glaringly ugly. You simply have no time to be messing around with this sort of game.

An immensely satisfying arcade football game, with huge offense and serious points going to the unbeatable multiplayer component.

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.

NFL Street can't be beat for multiplayer fun on any console, and tweaking rosters will keep fantasy fans up late at night for weeks.

Though it does have its pleasing points, ultimately Conflict Desert Storm II is caught between appealing more toward hardcore military simmers or action fans.

A solid and pleasantly deep arena beat-'em-up with lots of longevity, and through the presence of the Hedgehog and his posse adds absolutely nothing to the game, it's nice to see them getting work in these tough economic times.

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]

The real crux of Condition Zero is simply that it provides a great way to enjoy Counter-Strike offline, old graphics or not. If you're perfectly happy playing the free Counter-Strike mod online, don't bother with Condition Zero.

Has a unique visual style, an involving storyline, and several dozen hours of intensely immersive gameplay.

It's not a matter of the game bringing forth 140 hours of fun, rewarding gameplay, but 140 hours of watching-the-paint-dry monotony. You're better off checking out the wealth of "Diablo II" mods than plodding your way through Blade & Sword.

The perspective is wrong, making combat a chore, and playing against other people is a nightmare. Even if you can ignore these faults, it succumbs to another deadly sacrament that affects even the best fighting game: it's repetitive to the point of exhaustion.

It was already forgettable on consoles, but Capcom completely drops the ball with this malfunctioning PC port.

Max Payne definitely deserves its M rating. Its story, tone, and language are miles beyond what most folks are used to from a GBA title. Happily, so is the look and sound of the game.

Of the three versions, this is clearly the sharpest.

This game remains thoroughly addictive and is worth picking up if you're interested in a fun diversion with a reasonable shelf life.

This was my favorite version of Bustin' Out. Although the graphics are sharper on the Xbox version and the PS2 version boasts online multiplay, the GCN-to-GBA connectivity feature gives this one a notable edge.

Overall, the single-player mode is a blast to play. The controls are fluid, the animations are entertaining, and the taunts are still over the top, as in the victorious declaration: "Invincibility! I am too uncanny!"

A combination of solid Zelda-style gameplay and cinematic excellence push Beyond Good & Evil into the upper echelons of action / adventure games. This is what an interactive movie should be.

Things appear and disappear out of the corner of your eye, and you're never completely sure of what you've seen. Nothing has to say, "Boo," because there's an underlying Boo-ness to the whole experience.