The lousy racing also means that the reasonably attractive graphics go to waste, and that the only one of the middling engine sounds you’ll want to hear is your own, cooling down. At least the atrocious techno music is easily silenced.

WWII Aces is a decent title that is meant to be played cooperatively. So long as you have another friend close by, the $40 shouldn't sting your wallet too much.

You'd think slamming shells the size of watermelons into heavily armed rolling metal fortresses would be hard to botch, but Tank Beat digs a design rut too deep for even the most ardent artillery lover to climb out of.

And with only average graphics and no multiplayer modes to look forward to, the action quickly grows as old and moldy as the skeletons you're bashing through.

The cities are huge and beautiful, with country-appropriate cars, and while the gameplay is muddy, it’s easy to see how it could have been better. But as it is, DRIV3Ris all flash and little substance.

Screwjumper is another one of those Live Arcade games that feels more like it should be a bonus mission in a more fully-realized title. And not a very good bonus mission, at that.

WayForward’s second Adventure Time game fails to marry the imagination of the Cartoon Network series with a top-down dungeon crawler, resulting in a lifeless quest that does neither the cartoon nor the genre any justice.

We can’t think of any good reason to spend time with Eureka 7 Vol. 2. Even if the story intrigues you, you’ll have to suffer through the rest of the game to see it. It’s just not worth it.

It tries to blend the ideas of its predecessor with arcade sensibilities, and the outcome is a painful punch to the face you have to pay for.

But, if you're buying this game because you honestly think it's going to make you smarter, it won't. And if you're buying this game because you actually think it's going to be fun, it isn't. That's really the bottom line.

If you don't care how broken and rudimentary this game is as long as it's like the show, you're going to be in a fury in no time.

Even the multiplayer comes up short by supporting just four players, though we assume the game would likely collapse upon itself if tasked with anything more. It's a shame to see such a sloppy effort from a stellar independent studio.

If your biggest complaint about previous such entries is that they didn't include horseback riding, hang gliding or skiing, then MotionSports might get you in front of the TV for a weekend of flawed fun. Otherwise, we suggest leaving this one on the sidelines.

The biggest problem with Acme Arsenal is that it doesn’t contain an inkling of the depth on display in the classic cartoons its levels attempt to emulate.

Its biggest flaw is that it lacks spirit, which is ironic, since the game is actually trying to take your character's soul. Without a spark, though - even a stolen one - The Cursed Crusade has ended up damning itself.

A fair package for puzzle fans, but don't think for a minute that gamers who don't already dig sudoku are going to play this and join the numbers in boxes movement.

The game follows a simple beat 'em up formula that will keep you entertained for awhile, but it lacks so much of the depth and creativity that we expect from the comics and movies.

Turning Point's minimalist approach to everything - from its stale levels and sticky controls to its thin plot and absent character development - killed what could've been a really unique and engaging shooter and will disappoint hardcore fans of the genre across the board.

Online minigames and a decent selection of cars don’t save Pocket Racers from being one of the worst rubber-burners on Sony’s portable system.

But, if you're buying this game because you honestly think it's going to make you smarter, it won't. And if you're buying this game because you actually think it's going to be fun, it isn't. That's really the bottom line.

None of the key features really hold up compared to other shooters, save for the appearance of Seth McFarlane and his crew of writers and actors. Even then, this would have made for a weakly written episode of the show. If it were down to a night with your buddies in front of the TV with a few drinks, then it would make for an alright rental.

While we're pleasantly surprised with Flushed Away, that doesn't mean it ignores all of the typical problems for licensed games made on the quick. The camera is pretty crazy at times (especially when you're attempting to control it, oddly enough), and the controls are awkward.

Heavy Fire: Afghanistan is a game that really wants to be Call of Duty on rails, but it simply lacks the budget and creative license to pull any of it off. The game is just a cheap cash grab in every sense of the word. Even the most hardened on-rails gamers will find little to show for their tour in Afghanistan other than a severe case of PTSD.

Repetition, repetition, repetition.

Quite fittingly, Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad is gaming's equivalent of a cheesy B-movie. Sure, the production values stink, but for anyone with a fetish for zombies and/or samurai bikini cowgirls covered in blood, it's worth a few bucks. Rest assured, though, we won't judge as we had a bit of guilty fun ourselves.

With a mediocre story and lackluster gameplay that wastes the potential of its sci-fi premise of big tech and AI, MindsEye is a resoundingly disappointing action-adventure that's neither satisfying as an old genre throwback nor presents a confident foundation for others to build upon.

This is a game you should get free when you buy a bright orange hunting hat. It might offer a brief, quick killin' fix for some hunter-gamers, but won't offer much in terms of videogaming satisfaction, delicious meat or hours of fresh air.

Turn It Around just mixes too much frustration mixed in with the fun. Screw this. Wheel of Fortune's on.

Out of the Shadows, sadly, only flirts with these past triumphs. Heavy flirting, maybe, but it’s too badly built of a game to live up to its strong potential.

If you're going to make a game with ninjas and dragons, it better be larger than a mountain and a couple of rock textures.

Repetition, repetition, repetition.

This is what happens when games go bad... then worse... then are given to another developer to do a sequel in half the time and with a fourth of the budget. This one should have committed the ol' seppuku long ago.

Rock Revolution is inferior to its competition in every single possible way. If you absolutely have to try it, we urge you to think of it as a track pack of guitar-only songs for Rock Band or Guitar Hero and buy just the game (instead of the drums-included bundle).

You’ll need the patience of Buddist monk to progress through the archaic Quest mode without consistently resorting to a cheap “Ring Out.”

Garbage.

Left Behind: Eternal Forces just doesn't play very well. As exciting and even (for at lot of folks, at least) uplifting as some of the content could be, it just doesn't move quickly enough or play smoothly enough to compete with the other, more gameplay focused titles in the admittedly more worldly marketplace.

You would think a game in which you can pimp-slap a moth as a 40ft-tall garbage monster couldn’t possibly be that bad. You would, however, be wrong.

But if you're looking for a fresh new take on the old, bubble-blowing action you remember so fondly, Bubble Bobble Revolution just plain blows.

Garbage.

If the GameCube could handle Metroid Prime's environments and beasties so beautifully, there's no reason the superior Wii can't deliver a first-person shooter worth remembering. Unfortunately, Far Cry Vegeance sure as hell isn't it.

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.

If they had translated the aura of the film through more creative means in the actual gameplay and story, like they did with the art, instead of just recycling old dialogue and tossing in generic mini-games, Napoleon Dynamite: The Game might have been more of a success. As it is, however, we recommend staying far, far away.

You can disrupt the opponent while they “think” about their shot – it’s a nice touch, but they “think” for several seconds before every shot, dragging the game to a crawl. The character portraits get in the way, and if you turn them off, your power meter goes away too.

Avoid this one like the glowing radioactive ooze that it is.

We struggled to find the punch line in this abomination of half-assed execution and complete disregard for modern gameplay innovations.

Giving us eight play mode options to choose from is about as generous as giving a death row inmate choice of execution. Legend of the Dragon plays like a shitty banjo.

The minigames don't play any better with real-world opponents and the few games available for single-cart download play are not worth sharing.

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.

Both an insult to gamers and a step backward for the Kinect. We didn't even get to mentioning the recycled dialogue and animations, the horrendous texture popping, or the out-of-sync subtitles. And a $50 asking price? Must... not... smash... keyboard.

The game’s characters look like poorly-drawn imitations of the classic cartoons, feeling like cheap flash games than any sort of licensed imagery.

It's not fun, and it drives so off course from the show that it should be embarrassed. Graphics are ugly, minigames are dull, and there just isn't any will to plow through this.

There are a ton of fine shooters hitting shelves this year that are good enough to go down in history. It would be a shame to waste your money paying full price for this heap, which instead takes history down with it.

The game tries to mix things up by throwing in tightly-placed bonus gates, hidden branching routes and aerial grind-rails, but the game never really flows fast or smoothly enough to properly invoke the spirit of SSX that it's clearly trying to recreate.

The game follows a simple beat 'em up formula that will keep you entertained for awhile, but it lacks so much of the depth and creativity that we expect from the comics and movies.

The Shield has some unique things going for it, but the spotty enemy (and friend) intelligence and monotony keep it from achieving anything close to greatness.

We have a game that tries its best but still feels a half-decade behind, we have a guitar that isn't, and we have a drum kit so flawed it's almost offensive. Add it all together and take the average, and it comes out to a nice, even 3.

We have a game that tries its best but still feels a half-decade behind, we have a guitar that isn't, and we have a drum kit so flawed it's almost offensive. Add it all together and take the average, and it comes out to a nice, even 3.

It's dull, with rare moments of huge reward, and the only game it's competing with in the graphics department came out about 10 years ago, but it is not poorly designed.

Over the course of playing, we weren’t thinking "God this is terrible." We actually weren't thinking much at all because the game flowed along at an unnoticeable level of entertainment delivery. It was just sort of "there" and then it was "gone."

Even for hardcore Dead Space fans (which we are), skipping Ignition will mean missing nothing of import to the Dead Space canon.

Showtime Championship Boxing would be a lousy looker two console generations ago; in 2008 it’s nothing short of a Mike Tyson-biting-ears-level embarrassment...Every aspect of Showtime Championship Boxing is baffling.

There are a ton of fine shooters hitting shelves this year that are good enough to go down in history. It would be a shame to waste your money paying full price for this heap, which instead takes history down with it.

Unfortunately, GamesRadar's editorial staff doesn't yet acknowledge the Real Time Conflict genre, so Shogun Empires had to be scored according to the narrow standards of fun, successful strategy games.

Ultimately, Valhalla Knight: Eldar Saga suffers from an overall lack of polish, as well as being an all-around boring game. Only those starved for an action RPG should think of treading the lands of Eldar. Everyone else need not apply.

Between the cut down roster of famous faces from the movie's cast, frustrating control mechanics and noticeable lack of polish, the movie tie-in gives few reasons to invest your time and money in a download.

It's frustrating, derivative, at times nearly unplayable, and frustrating.

Avoid this one unless you’re a sucker for dickhead aliens. The Path of the Furon leads straight to disappointment.

March of the Penguins is a horrendous mess of a game, horrible to play in every way, short of severing your hands at the wrists and squirting lemon on the stumps.

A disastrous start to the post-PES era. The only consolation? It surely can’t get any worse from here.

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.

Though largely inoffensive in its sloppiness, Alvin and the Chipmunks amounts to a forgettable budget title priced like a premium release this holiday season - as if you needed another reason to abstain from it.

Ultimately, it's difficult not to come out of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum with a sour taste in the mouth. You can see glimmers of Deadalic's intent to create a different kind of Lord of the Rings game throughout, particularly in the ways it manifests its unlikely hero's unique psychological state, but those bright spots are quickly lost amidst all the other ways Gollum stumbles in its execution. Perhaps there is a Gollum game that could work at both a narrative and mechanical level, one that reframes our relationship with the iconic character to the point where people think twice before doing their terrible impressions of him at parties. Alas, The Lord of Rings: Gollum is not that game. I'm sorry to say it, but those terrible impressions are here to stay for now.

The single-player feels like a series of demos strapped together, and the terrible AI only piles on more mediocrity, leading to an absolutely incomplete experience. The adequate multiplayer offering does give die-hard Call of Duty fans something to be excited about, but even that portion of the game feels slapdash and rushed.

All of their energy seems to have been directed at making fantastic-looking robots that do interesting things, while everything else feels almost like an afterthought.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is too slow-paced, too easy, and too childish for teen or adult Sonic fans, and its control and design issues make it difficult to recommend even for its target audience.

While the puzzles are usually entertaining, the fact that the same question can pop up over and over again regardless of a right or wrong answer previously is somewhat annoying, especially when we kept getting it wrong, with no help as to what was the right answer.

If Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 were a budget game, I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone. At full retail price, it's a disgrace. Labeling this as the fifth entry in the series has effectively backfired: it's a constant reminder of how much greater the originals were, and how much you'd rather be playing them instead.

We can definitely see aspirations of greatness here, so it's too bad Toy Shop is so unpolished overall.

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.

There is nothing inside Fighters Uncaged that makes it worthy of your money or your time. The only other plus to playing this title is the extreme exercise you receive due to over-compensating for the game's inaccuracy.

Though largely inoffensive in its sloppiness, Alvin and the Chipmunks amounts to a forgettable budget title priced like a premium release this holiday season - as if you needed another reason to abstain from it.

Even if you’re a tremendous fan of Marcinko and love his books, rent this one before you spend your hard-earned cash. The season is too full of top-notch games and excellent DLC for you to spend your cash on this stinker.

All signs point to Jumper: Griffin's Story being a by-the-numbers, quickly assembled cash-in, but selecting poor, early-gen original Xbox brawlers as the template was a grave mistake. Those games at least made us chuckle; Jumper only makes us wince.

If you're looking for some mindless monster mashing stick with the versus fight-focused PS2 or Wii versions or, better yet, revisit the arcade classic Rampage.

Even if you’re a tremendous fan of Marcinko and love his books, rent this one before you spend your hard-earned cash. The season is too full of top-notch games and excellent DLC for you to spend your cash on this stinker.

A boring, unrefined, too-short brawler that you'll forget the second you eject the disc. We've already gone blank; what were we talking about?

Any fun you may have teaching Rover to pluck wounded waterfowl out of the water and onto the grill will end fast once you’ve mastered duck calls, shooting, and retrieving. And that won’t take long at all.

We really wanted Bad Day L.A. to live up to its potential, which makes its suckitude feel even more than just bad; it's like a betrayal.

That feeling of cheap, lazy design resonates throughout Dragonball: Evolution, a game that ultimately seems more concerned with how often it displays the faces of the film's cast rather than creating legitimate use for them.

A poorly executed Bomberman clone that is technically broken in almost every respect, Basement Crawl is shambling husk of an online multiplayer game. Avoid as if your life depended on it.

Even if you’re a tremendous fan of Marcinko and love his books, rent this one before you spend your hard-earned cash. The season is too full of top-notch games and excellent DLC for you to spend your cash on this stinker.

Creatively and conceptually bankrupt.

Basically, they're hoping Wii owners will pay full price for the same poorly contrived mash-up of driving and minigames that's been collecting dust in the PS2, PSP, and Xbox 360 bargain bins for a while now.

The very concept of Jenga tilts towards mediocrity, but this game sends it collapsing into utter awfulness.

With an eye toward putting on some beer goggles to make the game better, we turned to the bottle. Ping Cup has the potential to be a decent drinking game but, again, the controls were mixed.

The main offender here is easily the gameplay, which alternates between frustrating and boring. The controls are clumsy and unresponsive, which in a different setting wouldn't be as aggravating, but when paired with lethal foes and unforgiving environmental "puzzles" leads to constant misery.

Saying it's improved is like admiring the silver lining on a nuclear mushroom cloud. This is a series slowly urging its squat, miserable bulk in the right direction, but it’s impossible to recommend.

Games this low-rent and unapologetically busted only come around a few times a year, but don't bother savoring this rare experience - Cruis'n is undoubtedly the worst Wii racer to date, and another blight on a franchise that has long suffered in home conversions.