Anyone who doesn't own a GameCube, however, would be smoking crack rocks the size of my fist not to buy this game. At forty dollars, it is worth every penny, and given the quality of the translation to the aged hardware of the PlayStation 2, is absolutely one of the best games on the system.

After such an uneven effort, there can be no other assessment made: the game gods must be displeased.

The Soul Calibur fighting system is back, and it's the best it's ever been.

Instead of feeling like a stale retread or losing steam halfway through, it manages to be a blast from start to finish.

May be a slight letdown to fans of the series that enjoy a more well-rounded platformer, but it will thrill those looking for fast action, plenty of weapons, and killer online play.

A game with this much depth, this much strategy, this much replayability, and multiplayer is totally unheard of in this space. Civilization IV stands alone. No fan of strategy games should leave this on store shelves.

In fact, the entire game seems to be pushing the GBA to its limits. This is arguably the best looking GBA game around, with all sorts of scaling, rotation, parallax scrolling, and all sorts of neat, SNES-caliber effects.

It's astounding, almost like a train wreck the player can see coming, but has no power to stop. These unarmed dullards in Warrior do not stay behind their defenders.

It does a good job of emulating 29 games, but a lot of these games are less than exciting inclusions. Meanwhile, some genuinely classic Taito games are left out.

It's definitely not a serious look in to the franchise, but this game has been marinating in fun for months, and the goodness has soaked all the way in.

Pales in comparison to the beloved PC games. On its own, however, the game is an enjoyable, if unspectacular, first-person shooter.

The amount of content in the game is simply amazing and, like the console games, you'll find yourself playing even after you've completed the main story.

There's still something addictive about this game once you get past the initially slow start. There are dozens and dozens of things to unlock, and charting your progress through the title really sucks you in.

At the end of some extensive play time with MPP, I'd have to say that this is one of the more unique gaming sessions you can have on the Nintendo DS.

It starts off promising, but too much of what follows is lamely generic or underdeveloped. The game also punishes you for exhibiting daring or initiative.

This is the first frothing video game form of Cthulhu Mythos that's been done almost completely right, and this year's most frightening first-person adventure. A true cult classic.

Pales in comparison to the beloved PC games. On its own, however, the game is an enjoyable, if unspectacular, first-person shooter.

There's still something addictive about this game once you get past the initially slow start. There are dozens and dozens of things to unlock, and charting your progress through the title really sucks you in.

If you're new to the whole Dance Dance "thing," then you'll have a blast with Mario Mix. Interacting with a game via the dance pad is quite a bit of fun, and there are enough things to unlock and other diversions to keep you busy for a while.

There's still something addictive about this game once you get past the initially slow start. There are dozens and dozens of things to unlock, and charting your progress through the title really sucks you in.

A competent, highly stylized romp through a fading franchise that's appealing to the younger set, not really hip enough for the teen crowd, and not in-depth enough for veteran gamers.

It's essentially the same game in a prettier engine, mowing down waves and waves of enemies with the all-too-infrequent vehicle sequence or boss battle to break things up.

If you spent weeks building the perfect parks, unlocking new content, and wandering around as a guest [in the original], you'll get a little more mileage out of this expansion, but even then, you might find it a little skimpy.

The whole thing is very goofy, funny, weird, and cute... If you're looking for a fast-paced, simple fighter with appealing graphics and an unusual sense of humor, Zatch Bell! is definitely worth your time.

The whole thing is very goofy, funny, weird, and cute... If you're looking for a fast-paced, simple fighter with appealing graphics and an unusual sense of humor, Zatch Bell! is definitely worth your time.

An absolutely fantastic title with superb graphics and tight gameplay. Single-player or multiplayer, no matter what your skill, you'll get hours of joy out of this sucker online or off.

The odds of Sony dropping a first-party title better than this for the rest of the year are slimmer than a supermodel on the Atkins diet.

A solid racer with a few minor game balance problems. If you're able to get over them -- which isn't hard -- you'll be looking at a good online and offline kart-style game slammed with the good stuff from the Jak & Daxter universe.