This year, if you want to play NBA '08, you'd better make sure that's a Sixaxis or a PSP in your hands. You're not going to have a whole lot of fun with your DualShock 2.

The Forge is a gargantuan achievement that puts game design in the hands of players, daring you to be creative and invent a Halo 3 multiplayer experience all your own. Of course, the multiplayer is every bit as astonishing as it has been in past iterations and even eclipses its predecessors in many respects.

Unfortunately, the creators of Rise of an Empire have managed to make a Settlers game so narrow in scope and so lacking in player control that it's only slightly more interactive than dropping fish flakes in with the Neon Tetras.

Dragon Blade is forgettable fun in its tepid way, but with its lackluster environments, flawed controls and limp storytelling, it's hard to recommend to anyone that isn't a hardcore fan of winged lizards, a devoted reader of Knaak's books or desperate for mindless hacking and slashing.

Finding all one hundred of Dewy's friends, known as the Eaus, on every level is a real challenge, so the replay value is there.

Chibi Robo: Park Patrol retains the fun and charm of its console predecessor even if the gameplay is noticeably different.

With its organic controls, beautiful visuals and amazing presentation, it quickly becomes an addicting experience that's tough to stop playing, even during some of the most frustrating parts of the game.

Veterans players with plenty of Company of Heroes combat under their belt will eagerly dig into the new expansion pack as the new armies on offer are a lot of fun and will throw plenty of new twists into multiplayer games.

A great package.

If you're looking for a quick action fix, and don't mind a shallow story or weak multiplayer, there's several hours of outstanding entertainment here.

Coded Arms: Contagion might stave off boredom for a while with its relatively attractive engine, recycled hacking mechanics and obsessive upgrading, but its virtually pointless encounters and drab, forgettable air conspire to make it little more than fodder for buyer's remorse.

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."

Something completely new in The Sims series and on the Wii. This is not a game for players looking for complex social interactions; it seems more of a tribute to Lego fans who want to exercise their creativity.

MySims is probably more of a game to be enjoyed alone: it doesn't offer a great depth, but its cheerful spirit and light-hearted action are well worth checking out.

As a classics collection (a Namco Museum, if you will), it fails pretty hard. It's lacking some much-needed games, and its meager selection of seven classic titles pales to the 21 in the PSP Museum. Pac-Man Vs., however, is excellent.

A triumph for Massive Entertainment. The developers have managed to take a quirky "action game" take on the real-time strategy genre and wrap it in an instantly appealing, accessible and highly polished package.

A title that every rock lover should have in their collection.

There are some problems with the driving controls and the genetics-based leveling-up system, but the online game is strong. All told, not a bad game to get behind the wheel of.

With its organic controls, beautiful visuals and amazing presentation, it quickly becomes an addicting experience that's tough to stop playing, even during some of the most frustrating parts of the game. Though its online modes slightly tarnish on the experience, the rest of the game more than makes up for it.

Our initial criticisms on the sameness of combat that led to an overall feeling of tediousness have not been completely eradicated, however, as there is still very little variation in the enemies you face, but the improvements to the framerate certainly make the combos and counters a lot easier to perform.

Despite the poor online modes, the rest of the game is nothing short of stellar. With all of the new tweaks and gameplay options, NHL 08 is worth the time of any hockey fan. Not only has EA managed to prove that this is indeed the coolest game on Earth, it's also one of the best sports titles of the year.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of DiRT is the poorly implemented multiplayer portion of the game. Instead of allowing you to try some of the head-to-head events that are included in the single-player game, like the Rally Raids or CORR events, you're limited to single-car hill climbs and rally events against times being uploaded by other players in your session.

In case you haven't been paying attention for the past 1,000 or so words, you have to really like samurai to want to play this. And I mean really, really like samurai.

Despite the poor online modes, the rest of the game is nothing short of stellar. With all of the new tweaks and gameplay options, NHL 08 is worth the time of any hockey fan. Not only has EA managed to prove that this is indeed the coolest game on Earth, it's also one of the best sports titles of the year.

The lackluster multiplayer mode and lame character designs don't take anything away from the main game, though. The swinging play mechanic helps keep things fresh and allows for a lot of technique that you don't normally see in a platformer.

Older gamers will likely find it too cutesy, but younger gamers -- especially budding videogame artists -- will find a lot to like here.

For most gamers, there are just too many other RPGs out for the PS2 to justify picking up something as routine, and routinely mediocre, as the final edition of .hack.

Despite all that's good with the game, NHL 2K8's innovations are a few years behind the times, making it feel like a cheap rehash of what's already available.