As frantic as the action is at times, its drab visuals, control issues and lack of enemy polish brought us to the point of boredom.

For $5 there's enough fun to be had with Young Thor to justify the price, but if you need your games to be highly polished then you'd best look elsewhere. The combat is extremely uneven, and the controls can be imprecise at times.

Dynasty Warriors 8 isn't a bad game--it just feels like a ridiculously deep well of merely average content.

Enjoyable combat and bold enemy design can't save Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. With a dull, repetitive story that abandons any sense of horror, it's a shadow of what it could have been.

Shadows of Almia is longer than the first Pokemon Ranger game, and there’s still a lot of charm here. It’s just that the game backing up that charm is too simple and too familiar for us to recommend to any but the youngest, more easily pleased of pokemaniacs.

It’s really too bad that Afro Samurai is bogged down by nagging annoyances, because the core game is actually decent, if not spectacular. If it had a healthy dose of polish it would be a solid rental (but not full-price purchase).

LEGO Battles: Ninjago will satisfy gamers looking for a change from LEGO's popular action-adventure titles and don't mind looking at shabby graphics.

A fun adventure in the Star Wars universe, badly let down by too many game-breaking glitches.

If you can forgive the game its worst weaknesses and have the Japanese voice track turned on, Dragoneer's Aria can be a decent way to waste a few hours at a time as you slog through the hemorrhaging plot. But don't expect it to be easy even with the bland combat.

Those seeking the goofy humor and weird puzzles you wax nostalgic about, Insecticide could possibly scratch your adventuring itch. Just be prepared to split that 50/50 with ho-hum action sequences.

Too predictable to be a must-buy, unless you're the type of person that wishes Nintendo Landwas more like Mario Party. Otherwise, wait for this one to hit the bargain bin.

We’ve seen some competent shooters on the DS in the past, but C.O.R.E. barely fits the “competent” category. It works (more or less), and some will enjoy it, but its flaws are just too frustrating. With several other, better FPSes already on the DS, there just isn't much reason to go for C.O.R.E.

Eagle Eye Golf would be a decent game for 20 bucks. But at 30, when Hot Shots 3 and FORE! can be had at this moment for eight and 15 bucks respectively on EB.com, it's a tougher recommend.

Ultimately, the repetitive gameplay and limited scope show this old mech could use a tad more oil.

Clunky and unimaginative.

But if you’re not a huge fan of the existing franchise, there’s not much here to make it worth your while.

Is it fun to play for a few hours? Sure, but the novelty is bound to wear off due to all the repetition. As fun as it is to abandon the role of observer and actually jump into controlling your favorite character, not much here feels all that exhilarating.

Ninja Gaiden: Razor's Edge still remains the weakest title in the Ninja Gaiden trilogy, but additions like the Ayane missions and balancing tweaks make the game a decent, gloriously gory action title...The weak story, repeat enemies, and frame-rate issues still hold the bloody title back from the greatness of its prestigious pedigree.

Swings in multiple different directions without ever making a convincing impact. While Mario Golf: Super Rush isn't too rough in most places, it's just not on par compared to other recent golf games.

The newest Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games are perfect for players that adore Pokemon, love the grinding gameplay of dungeon crawling games, but would prefer a watered down version.

This sort of inoffensive and undeniably unique bite-sized offering should play well with families, and for the rest of us, we can only hope it's but a stepping stone on the path to richer and equally affordable Kinect experiences on the horizon.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness wants to be a grand sci-fi JRPG, but its mediocre production values undercut it at almost every opportunity.

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.

At best, Civil War is a weekend rental for shooter fans, history buffs, or Achievement miners who aren't knee deep in this fall's blockbuster military games. Be prepared to learn a little and reload a lot - while the buckshot flies all around you.

Both shallow and a waste of a good property.

If you’re interested in Republique purely as a tech demo, its smooth animations, realistic models, and excellent touch-controls would have you raving. Unfortunately, the story is so shallow and the central character is so bland that, despite a top-notch supporting cast, Republique’s narrative simply can’t carry the weight of the game.

Even with the aid of the magnifying glass, the pacing of Tunguska's plot still crawls at a snail's pace.

Handheld Madden shines brightly this season, just not on the DS. If you're ready for some portable football, the PSP version is by far the best choice.