It has plenty of meat to go along with the sweetness, and is part of your well-balanced gaming diet.

What will dazzle veterans is how complete a package Loaded is.

I honestly don't remember playing a wrestling game with an engine this bad in years, and I've played quite literally every wrestling game out there.

You'll have to deal with a clunky interface and menu, silly single-player missions, brain-dead A.I., bizarre vehicle physics, horrible net code, dull graphics and sound, and more bugs than a Georgia swamp in June.

It faithfully reproduces the classic action series, and the handful of modern conveniences are a nice addition. However, the display method the game uses looks bad and the extras are not quite there.

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

It's so good and so easily accessible that it has replaced my beloved "Final Fantasy Tactics Advance" cartridge as my travel game of choice. And really, that says more than any score could.

An official apology for last year's dreadful "DBZ: Taiketsu." It gives gamers a true sense of the high-flying fighting action that makes up the anime series.

The gameplay is uglier than Paul Bearer in the nude.

For most people, the Music Generator will provide much more creative fun than they expected out of a console.

After my ears finally healed back up from the game's soundtrack, I was pleasantly surprised by IndyCar Series 2005. For a budget title (retail price is about $20), the game really comes across as a solid racing title. The learning curve is definitely steep, but it's still a good enough game to appease most fans of the genre.

It faithfully reproduces the classic action series, and the handful of modern conveniences are a nice addition. However, the display method the game uses looks bad and the extras are not quite there.

We can't forget the single-player game that's over in less than three hours once you've learned the routes of each mission, a series of me-too mini-games that offer no reason to play them, and an offensively small number of rewards. That's the DRIV3R package; all flash and no substance. [*Reminder: GameSpy equates 2 stars with 60/100.]

If you're looking for a thinking person's shooter that'll let you go to all corners of the world and hopefully make it back alive, this is the one for you.

While it's got a few problems, particularly with the load times and frequent checkpoints, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is still a great game. It looks nice, offers enough challenges to keep you engaged, and has the best multiplayer action around.

When you get two equitable teams playing (something helped by the fact that players are randomly assigned to a side when they join a server), Joint Operations is really a fantastic piece of work and easily holds its own alongside "Unreal Tournament 2004", "Battlefield Vietnam", and "Planetside".

The customization element is a definitely a high point, but without interesting and rewarding missions built around them, they just aren't as meaningful as they could be.

While all of this good on paper, the game fails miserably when it comes to execution. Simply put, Evil Prophecy just isn't any fun.

Perhaps the single biggest fault of Shadow Ops is that the game simply offers nothing new to the genre and lacks any personality.

While Psi-Ops doesn't break a lot of new ground in the action or stealth fronts, the addition of psychic powers adds a boatload of entertainment value. Thanks to some of the best ragdoll physics ever seen on the PS2, you'll be happily tossing burning enemies into walls or off bridges for hours.

While Psi-Ops doesn't break a lot of new ground in the action or stealth fronts, the addition of psychic powers adds a boatload of entertainment value. Thanks to some of the best ragdoll physics ever seen on a console, you'll be happily tossing burning enemies into walls or off bridges for hours.

The Blitzkrieg series has some good points, but what historical RTS fans are waiting for is a game with Blitkrieg's graphics, "Airborne Assault's" A.I., and "War Times'" 3D terrain.

And the best part of all -- you won't have to go eBaying for a Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer to play it.

With its well-designed levels, fluid pacing, and hyper-violent combat in eerie locales, The Suffering is a fun way to safely tap into your dark side.

Despite my picky complaints, I still really enjoyed my return to Shining Force, and couldn't stop until I got all the way through it.

The core mechanics and level designs are all excellent enough that the extra characters won't detract from the game should you decide to ignore them. In the end, this is the best and most realized of the Sonic Advance games.

Borderline unplayable.

A unique and utterly enjoyable experience; and thankfully, this is true whether or not you've got three friends around to enjoy the adventure with.