While some classic arcade games (like old episodes of the "Thundercats" cartoon) are more fit for reminiscence than actual play, Time Pilot proves that what was mind-blowingly awesome back in the day can still detonate brains just as well now.

Its deep customizability and visceral biff-bam-pow make it crazy addictive, and it doesn't get old.

If you absolutely must get your hands on a next-generation RPG now, give it a shot, but don't be surprised if these Arms feel weak.

The sum of these flaws is a total disconnect between what's occurring on the TV screen and what's occurring on your dance pad.

For the few, the proud and the masochistic, however, your game has arrived. Good luck, and for the love of god, use that optional wrist-strap. PSPs are expensive.

Ambition may have outstripped ability, but there's no doubt that fans of the series will find much to love about this entry, flawed as any of the rest of them. That's the best we could have hoped for.

Cheap-looking graphics, pros represented by poorly-drawn caricatures, jerky animations, dark and murky game rooms... visually, this game's a mess. You've seen better maps in any 8-bit RPG.

Remove the generic Matrix-inspired graphics and story, and it's online Bomberman with a new camera angle and less depth. We'd rather play ports of the original on TI-89 calculators.

It's not a great fighting game, but its wide array of characters, scenarios, and unlockable junk could be just the thing for less critical fans.

The sense of danger is there, as are the endless arenas for customization, but the best part will always be the characters and their dead-on voice work.

A mish-mash of things, which basically is the result of this game: a big mess. Unless you're all about Fiddy, you shouldn't purchase this game… even for 50 cents.

ProStroke Golf could have been a contender. But its solid play mechanics aren't enough to overcome the near-complete lack of licensed courses and golfers, or the various other oversights and issues that plague it.

It looks good, plays great, offers plenty to do and it's even funny at times - though in a much cruder way than GTA's more sly, subversively socially relevant sense of humor.

Wi-Fi battles are there, but you're more likely to hang around this furry crew for its intense, tactical battlefields.

It's killer as nostalgia, somewhat crap as a game, and the surprising $50 price will put it out of the minds of all but the most passionate collectors.

It's just puzzling that, with so many internet poker rooms to use for inspiration, many of Texas Hold 'em's elements - play speed, AI, graphics - feel cobbled together and bargain bin.

The current-gen versions of Superstar has the best cameras of the bunch. Next-gen is too close and too claustrophobic.

The game looks the part, but pieces of it just aren't right. The presentation, for instance, is beautiful, but baffling (the play selection menus are downright terrible). It'll get the starting job eventually, but Madden next-gen, like Bills second-year QB J.P. Losman, still has to bow to the veterans.

Add it all up, and you've got a fantastic package that'll keep you fighting for yardage even when you're driving around in your Madden Cruiser.

Playing Madden NFL 07 on the Nintendo DS is akin to coaching a high school chess club in a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers... it's a playable experience and your team's got heart, but you're going to have to work through a few broken limbs on your way to victory.

You know, there's a little thing called the multitap that allows four people to play the same PS2 game. For whatever reason, you PS2 owners only get to hook up with one other gamer, as two-player split-screen is the option you're given. You may not be fighting over who gets to play anyway, but the feature would have been nice.

Platform-wise, the PSP snags a slim victory, as it supports four players on a local connection, while the home versions will only offer split-screen multiplayer.

The developers opted instead for run-of-the-mill hack-and-slash game mechanics, and so they turned out a game that incorporates very little of what makes the system so enticing in the first place.

It's a snap to learn and a breeze to play, whether tackling one of its half-dozen goal-driven scenarios or wrangling with a few friends online.

The average gameplay links the excellent storytelling together in a way that players of all skill levels can enjoy. It’s a great carrot-and-stick model for the millions of Final Fantasy VII donkeys out there.

Sure, Ninety-Nine Nights looks hot, but there's simply nothing there... and you'll undoubtedly tire of its frustrating mediocrity within minutes.

This is one of those games you either love or hate. We're perfectly happy with the story, graphics and simple gameplay Labyrinth offers, especially since there's nothing else like it on the DS, but casuals will probably downright despise the game.

Chances are that your average Joe Racer won’t be able to make heads or tails of D1, as mastering the punishing controls may lead to insane rage.

Fortunately, it's easy to detach yourself from DarkStar One's story and immerse yourself in the moment-by-moment excitement of traversing a sometimes-hostile galaxy in a hot-rod of a ship.

The game also suffers from some of the same problems as its Xbox Live Arcade stablemate Galaga - namely, the removal of two-player mode in any from from the arcade original, and a need for a more precise controller.

It's this severe push for gamers to be determined and persistent enough to explore every nook and cranny in Dead Rising that makes it either a splendid, geeky Pandora's Box full of unrelenting challenge and rewards or controller-smashingly difficult because of its hardcore mentality.

Not only has the game been retooled with the Live audience in mind, but it's still a challenging, rewarding way to pound out your frustrations after a brutal day in the real world.

Don’t be turned off by the difficult controls right away. Once you get used to the steering and can take the corners, FlatOut 2 is an awesome racer with enough destruction and mayhem to last you awhile.

Once you get used to the steering and can take the corners, FlatOut 2 is an awesome racer with enough destruction and mayhem to last you awhile. And if you do get frustrated, the game provides plenty of ways to relieve stress - like launching your helpless driver into really hard objects.

With the failure of its flagship story mode, Super Monkey Ball Adventure becomes a rather dull product that has little reason to exist.

An easy, mildly entertaining grab bag of minigames and missions. Young kids will still undoubtedly enjoy the game, and their parents will find themselves sucked into numerous minigames as well.

This frantic game still delivers the twitch frenzy that gamers crave, and deserves its spot in your quick-fix collection.

This is a racing game that's not fun. It's basic, tasteless, and doesn't use any creativity with its cool cars it's focusing on in the game.

For now, local wireless matches will have to suffice. But with only one relevant complaint, and a staggering list of positives, Dark Resurrection rules the portable fighting ring with an iron fist.

Even when things get repetitive, there's something undeniably awesome about waging war on a grand scale. Warlords may not be the most multifaceted expansion pack ever made, but it is an exceedingly addictive one that adds new content and a new style of play to Civ IV.

While it's not nearly as deep as you'd expect for a game with the Firaxis seal of approval on it in terms of features or gameplay, CivCity Rome manages to provide a significant level of entertainment, despite its obvious and glaring faults.

The Ant Bully isn't wholly shameless about setting the bar low, and kids are bound to get at least a little joy from its small world, but this colony is just too repetitive and dull to be fun for long.

You know the drill: games based on movies tend to bite.

An incomparably innovative combination of hilarity and diabolical puzzles, Cloning Clyde is also a total bargain at 800 Microsoft points ($5).

To its credit, WarPath does contain some of the cheesiest weapon and vehicle names this side of an '80's Dolph Lundgren flick - we're guessing this is the only game where you’ll arm yourself with the Tyrant, Judge, Violator or Wolverine before driving off in your Maverick, Hornet or Razorback.

It's hard not to be frustrated by the poor visibility and abrupt, inconclusive ending (we suspect this is a prequel to the movie), but this still manages to emerge as one of the PSP's better shooters.

It's clear that nobody has plans to create a full-fledged RPG on the scale of any of the PSone or PS2 classics for the PSP, so a port is going to have to do. This game stands nobly above anything else you can buy on the system.

We could still do with more Campus Legend mode and fewer ho-hum drills, but this is nonetheless an excellent sports game, with all the thrills and dynamics of real college football.

The Xbox 360 version is nothing like the PS2 and Xbox versions. Instead of Campus Legend mode, where you can take some hapless youth through his illustrious college career (hiring tutors to teach him math), you get amazingly realistic graphics.

Two-player Wi-Fi games are fun, but there's no true online play or career mode. So while you do get all the stats and most of the gameplay, there's none of the pizzazz of the consoles. It's a compromise, but it works.

Spend a couple of hours coping with the plodding narrative and oppressive gameplay and you'll swear off RPGs for life.

Once you've unlocked Mecha Frieza and have maxed out the skills of your favorite characters, the single-player modes are pure tedium.

Unfortunately, the entire look of the game is marred by choppy graphics.

Despite its repetitiveness and the unfortunate lack of multiplayer modes, Monster House is good game that's perfect for some violence on the run.

It's not complicated, but Frogger holds some serious reminiscence value for those old enough to remember the ancient quarter-muncher even if it doesn't maintain quite the addictiveness of newer casual games like "Zuma" or "Feeding Frenzy."

It could have been much better if only there were more than two modes (deathmatch and team deathmatch) and a couple of maps small enough to play with less than five players, but Prey is still a major blast for shooter fans with strong stomachs.

This game is predominantly about next generation tank combat, which may strike some people as terribly boring, but for those just itching to join the new era of steel-clad, explosive-hurling champions, Chromehounds delivers the most satisfyingly complete experience available to date.

It could have been much better if only there were more than two modes (deathmatch and team deathmatch) and a couple of maps small enough to play with less than five players, but Prey is still a major blast for shooter fans with strong stomachs.

While a few of these games may have some value when played with a group, fans of board games may as well stick to actually playing board games.

The single-player may be over in a day or two, but you'll spend many more happy weeks and months starting skirmishes or challenging friends online.

Walks a thin line between being welcoming to newbies and too basic for your average builder. Even as an intro, it is only useful for a session or two, so you may be better off waiting for the next one to come along.

Bogged down by a host of flaws, but in the end, it's still a passably entertaining sword-brawler. Its relatively short run-time, clever script and Johnny Depp voice-over are enough to justify a rental for fans of the film.

The Legend of Jack Sparrow is bogged down by a host of flaws, but in the end, it's still a passably entertaining sword-brawler.

Eliminator improves on its PS2 predecessor. It has more modes, more customization parts, and makes for a respectable single-player experience. But the sketchy controls and oftentimes sleep-inducing levels and presentation keep it from being the king of street.

A mediocre actioner that's probably best ignored. For what it is, though, it's surprisingly good. If you're willing to give him some time and earn him some cool guns, this budget bounty-hunter has some fun to offer.

There's enough to like about MTX Mototrax's simple-minded fairgrounds and giddy airborne excitement to overlook its value-priced rough edges.

Coast 2 Coast is amazing fun, and for ten bucks, you can’t go wrong.

Even the multiplayer over Xbox Live can't save this title from a near-complete flare-out, and while there's nothing actually broken about Over G's gameplay, it still comes off as stale and tedious.

Other than the painful boredom, there's nothing overtly wrong with the game, and the co-op mode might be of use to fans of the film, along with unlockable art, characters and weapons.

It's Dragon's Lair disguised as a brawler. There are a few extraneous bits like endurance arenas (beat them all to unlock the final boss!) and ship-based multiplayer combat (also not terribly well thought-out) but they can't distract from the fact that the core brawling gameplay is an absolute mess.

Micro Machines v4 doesn't stray one bit from its own gene pool and certainly doesn't impress on any level other than mindless, guilty arcade racing, but sometimes that's vastly preferable to all the stat-heavy, mod-crazy options out there.

With its simple learning curve, snappy controls and quick match times, there's no doubt that World Tour is built for on-the-go gaming goodness.

If you've already completed every sudoku puzzle in "Brain Age" and you just can't get enough, Gridmaster is definitely easy on the wallet. But it should be your second (or even third) choice for a portable sudoku fix.

Wrap a sensible license around a sparkly fighter and you've got a winner.

And heaven forbid you tire of repetitive creature-clobbering - take your game online and swap in up to six players, then keep on playing solo after they've left, or bring them back again later. Come on... how cool is that?

If you appreciated the movie or are aching for more Silent Storm turn-based action, then this game could hit the mark provided you are very forgiving of the disappointing audio, turgid dialog and tired visuals.

While it's amazing that Eidos was able to cram the entire game into the PSP, it simply doesn't excuse the fact that they broke it in the cramming.

MotoGP4's licensed bikes and riders, accurately rendered tracks, and extensive single and multiplayer gameplay options are all good selling points but the unpolished graphics, bland audio, and out-of-date licensing are serious misfires.

Chances are that NFL Head Coach won’t cure your football jones unless heavy-duty statistical simulators are up your alley.

Just like last year's edition, The Legend of Heroes II just about gets the job done... with very little panache.

We're not harping on how simple the game is (in fact, this is great for casual players), but there's only so much brick-busting one can take before it's time to move on.

Chances are that NFL Head Coach won't cure your football jones unless heavy-duty statistical simulators are up your alley. On the other hand, there's so much to do - and gobs of hours that can be invested - that it's likely to keep fantasy football maniacs going for months (or at least until the next Madden comes out).

As it stands, it's for series aficionados only, which judging from the multiplayer boards would be all ten of you.

At the bottom of the City, you’ll find the hardest group instance in the game, called "Nizara, City of the Nayad." We recommend that you take a well-balanced, well-equipped group of level 70 players with you, or the zone will quickly reduce you to a quivering pile of chop suey. But that's the appeal: for just eight bucks, Fallen Dynasty provides low-priced thrills for high-level characters.

It looks underwhelming, but spend a little time with Urban Chaos: Riot Response and it quickly stands out from the crowd.

With amusing unlockable bonuses and three (and a half) solid, good-looking games, you'll get plenty of mileage out of this one if you have the bare minimum one like-minded friend who makes playing fighting games worthwhile.

There's a cool, involving story to check out, and for $20 it's still cheaper than most UMD movies, yet still packs in some great detective gameplay moments.

Armored Core: Last Raven isn't a broken game, and it's actually one of the better titles in the series - it's just that this series has been tragically underwhelming for years now.

If nothing else, this game proves that light gun games can be done right on the DS.

Maybe it's a good thing that there's no online play - it's best to keep these ugly player models, awkward animations and irritatingly short sound loops away from the internet, where they might breed and multiply.

If you're a fan with your heart set on a dragging video game (in whatever sense of the word), you'll probably find enough to keep yourself amused for a short time, even as you hope for something a whole of lot better in the future.

Ultimately, Rise & Fall is about pretty units killing each other in a beautifully drawn environment and little more. It's a good strategy skirmish, but it falls short of eternal glory.

These speed bumps aside, MotoGP '06 delivers exceptional bi-pedal racing action for anyone who likes to roll at high speed and who understands the difference between driving a car and riding a bike. A really fast bike.

AND 1's cool Create-a-Baller and Create-a-Move modes make the game worth playing, if you yearn for the exaggerated, arcade gameplay in the spirit of NBA Jam, albeit with a lot more street style.

The simplified controls, which work with a very minimal interface, won't stymie anyone without RPG experience. But the absence of story and strategy will. This is a game best played on autopilot, if you have to play it at all.

Sure, there's room for improvement in the next edition, especially where some of the ground weather effects are concerned, and it'll have to go up against Gran Turismo in 2007, but Race Driver 2006 is simply the best racing sim you can get on the PSP today.

Just be warned: this game's for the fans, not necessarily someone looking for a quick bus-ride excursion. Gradius has never been easy, and these five selections are no different.

There's no multiplayer, and other GTA games are bigger or have more famous voice actors and more well-known soundtracks. But $20 for a fairly fresh GTA game on PS2 seems amazingly fair to us.