Consider Legend of Heroes a satisfying snack that will tide you over until a must-have PSP RPG main course is served.

Even if linking up with friends is a toss, hitting the single-player with Sonic or Blaze is more than enough pandemonium for one person.

It’s pretty clear this is a test lap for Nintendo, and once the kinks are worked out you'll see more gamers gearing up for a race through the Mushroom Kingdom.

All of this together makes for a wrestling game that could easily pin any other grappling contest released in the past few years.

Thankfully, these soldiers move with much of the fluidity of their PS2 counterparts.

If there's a nit to pick with Gun, it's that it's short. Depending on how much you poke around, you can beat it in anywhere from six to ten hours. To us, that's no problem; we'll take a short amazing game over a long lackluster one any day.

You might breeze through it, but it'll be a cool breeze.

Funny, instantly accessible, tightly programmed, and undeniably enjoyable, Guitar Hero earns several encores. Grab your lighter and get ready to rock.

Don't get us wrong: the latest Castlevania isn't a bad game, if you can swallow the endless combat repetition. It just falls well short of this series' legendary heritage, and can't hold a candle to the handheld Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for the Nintendo DS.

Plays more like a kind of arcade light-gun shooter with legs, and feels like it needed a better script and about six more months of development time.

A fun romp that stays interesting no matter how you play it.

There are a few issues with Big Red One (particularly a slow trudge through the Africa campaign and spots of truly artificial intelligence), but fans of the series will find it enjoyable, intense, and an improvement over earlier chapters.

The big selling promise was that you could be a villain, but the worst we could manage was to kidnap ... villains from other gangs. That's not a dark side, that's a shade of gray.

A fun romp that stays interesting no matter how you play it. It has its share of flaws, but for fans, this is the first Star Wars game to have it all.

Play this along with "Shadow Of The Colossus" and you'll remember how bloody lovely life can be.

The Hustle might aim to be an affordable budget diversion, but even a bargain price can't make this deeply flawed game worth buying.

Simply put, Resident Evil 4 is the tightest, most accessible game in the series and one of the best games out there.

At least the second best 3D fighting game on PS2, and possibly the best. If you like graphics, fighting, or even just dressing up paper dolls, buy it.

This multiplayer component caps an already stunning single-player campaign and extends the value greatly.

A streamlined interface, a non-linear tech tree, impressive AI with 18 personalities, a new combat system (no more spearmen defeating tanks), amazing multiplayer features and narration by Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy all give the new Civ plenty of both flash and substance.

Fans expecting something as expansive as San Andreas will be disappointed, but anyone looking for portable craziness at impossible speeds should pick this up.

Consider our fingers well and truly crossed, and let's hope that Metroid Prime Hunters is even better.

There's no question that Age of Empires III is enjoyable, and the strong multiplayer modes make it worth owning. It's just that it doesn’t strive hard enough to truly usher in a new age of the genre.

But if you really want something different and meaningful, you must play this. You will remember some of these battles for the rest of your gaming life, and you may never play another game that blends art and action this seamlessly.

It certainly isn't the first case of a game holding its player's hand too tightly, but thankfully it's a difficult one to dismiss or, indeed, to adjourn.

Beautiful graphics make lording over an entire civilization a treat.

Buy this immediately, and witness why a billion polygons a nanosecond will always take a backseat to rock solid craftsmanship.

It's not that the story is bad; it's just that the surgeries are so addictive that you’ll be anxious to scrub back in to the O.R. and pick up your scalpel/stylus.

But attempting the single-player campaign mode as the Roman Empire, especially the West, will present the greatest challenge to experienced players.

The action is tight, the running time is surprisingly long and the cheerful amorality makes it extremely likable.

The story is tightly linear, so it's hard to make your character's tale your own.

Pass defense is more realistic, and the balance smooths out at higher difficulty settings, but pounding the run is still unrealistically easy.

If you love all things MK, you'll see Shaolin Monks as a special milestone in the franchise and a reward for your loyalty. Otherwise, it's just a fun brawling diversion with lots of gloopy blood and two unlockable characters. Either way, it's good stuff.

Ultimately, Bone: Out From Boneville is probably too lightweight, too easy and unsophisticated for most adventure gamers... but don't hold that against it.

If you're of the appropriate level, there are plenty of riches to be found out in this Desert.

If you don't have the nurturing gene or the attention span to keep a virtual animal alive, steer clear - but if you're looking for something that's totally nonviolent and uses all your DS's whistles and bells, Nintendogs is it.

If you don't have the nurturing gene or the attention span to keep a virtual animal alive, steer clear - but if you're looking for something that's totally nonviolent and uses all your DS's whistles and bells, Nintendogs is it.

If you don't have the nurturing gene or the attention span to keep a virtual animal alive, steer clear - but if you're looking for something that's totally nonviolent and uses all your DS's whistles and bells, Nintendogs is it.

Tack onto all this a robust soundtrack, a comprehensive level editor and a war room filled with new maps and unlockable features and you’ve found one of the longest, most rewarding DS games out there. Put this online and it'd be damn near perfect.

The best way to experience what DSII has to offer is through co-operative mode - you can play the entire game's storyline with other people. There's nothing more enjoyable than storming a dungeon with a party of your friends.

Darwinia 's weird, but it might well not be your kind of weird.

So, basically, you have a pretty average, simple golf game, with a world online that's enjoyable enough to play through with fellow golfers.

If your machine is up to it, you won’t find a better team game than Battlefield 2, period.

You've got a brand new way to interact with a game and a slew of unlockable minigames at your disposal, so there’s plenty to do even after Kirby has restored peace and order to his colorful world.

What does make it great is that it actually delivers on nearly everything it promises while still being fun to just pick up and play.

You won’t experience the same feeling of immersion that you’d get from playing World of Warcraft or EverQuest II as the game loads you and your party to areas separated from the rest of the players online every time you leave town, which makes playing Guild Wars feel more like a 3D version of Diablo II at times.

Staying alive is definitely more challenging the second time around, but the game still feels extremely linear and simply lacks much surprise.

One of the best action titles on the PS2, God of War stands out as an ultraviolent masterpiece.

The first time Lumines exchanges squares for balls your brain will start to slide out your ears. Play it for a week and you’ll start of dreaming falling boxes.

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.

It's no "Halo 2," but excellent level design and the infusion of the augmentations into multiplayer via a class-based player structure adds a welcome bit of variety to the mix.

It's great that you can run and gun without too much squad-commanding hassle, but SW:RC's simplicity is its biggest problem. Gamers hoping to give their brain a workout will be disappointed.

It's no "Halo 2," but excellent level design and the infusion of the augmentations into multiplayer via a class-based player structure adds a welcome bit of variety to the mix.

There's also a huge, gaping multiplayer-shaped hole running right through the middle. The only other fly in Riddick's surgical bruise ointment is its length. Or lack of it.

Buy it for its offbeat originality, and ponder the possibilities once developers really understand that there’s more to the DS than a little plastic pointer.

What does make it great is that it actually delivers on nearly everything it promises while still being fun to just pick up and play.

For people who loved "Gladiator," fans of top-shelf strategy games and history aficionados of any stripe - all roads lead to Rome.

It's the circle of virtual life -- and it's insanely addictive.

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, DRIV3R is all flash and little substance.

That’s a comic-book fan’s idea of heaven -- and that’s what City of Heroes delivers.

If not for the annoying, checkpoint-based, save-game system, it would be difficult to find fault with the single player campaign at all. Multiplayer could use some work, but it will get the job done for deathmatch fans.

This enchanted kingdom certainly has its flaws, but it's still well worth a visit.

Regardless of whether or not you're a hardcore fan of strategy games, WarCraft III's compelling story and excellent balance makes it a must-own.

Morrowind will please both serious role-playing fans as well as anyone looking for a technically stunning adventure that will hold their attention longer than your average hack-and-slash title. This is the good stuff.

Ico's flaws make it what it is, because without flaws there is no beauty, only blandness. Play Ico before you play 'sequel' Shadow Of The Colossus - it's the perfect companion piece.

With lovely gaming references hidden throughout, never better than the Prince of Persia spoofs, it's witty, charming, and forgivably broken.

With three new highly-entertaining maps and several new vehicles (including the tankbusting A-10 Warthog), the extremely affordable, easily downloadable Armored Fury is a must-buy for Battlefield 2 junkies.

Kawasaki Quad Bikes is an example of branding at its most obvious coupled with poor attention to the basics.