It's a shame that combat in Children of Mana is so mindless. The ingredients are there to make this a really excellent action RPG.

The action gets fast and frantic, and that's what keeps you interested and engrossed.

In short, it's your prototypical Armored Core experience, which remains as flawed and fascinating a series as you're ever going to find.

If nothing more, this mostly broken game exists purely as a way to cash-in on the latest CG snoozer not starring anthropomorphic animals. At least the packaging has glitter on it. Really, it does.

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).

It's disappointing drop in quality for a series that we'd held in high esteem, but 'Catch a Ride' does enough to make sure that the next episode should be considerably more interesting.

It's a stark demonstration of what a lack of confidence in your core vision can do. There is a good shooter in Immortals of Aveum, maybe even a great one, but you'll have to do some digging to find it.

As a pure idea the game is very interesting, but poor execution held this one back.

If you haven’t spoken Similish in a few years, or are head over heels enamored with motion controls, this Sims 2 Pets could be a right neighborly slice of homemade pie. But for anyone else with a Wii and $50 bucks, we suggest you hold out for the upcoming "MySims."

No matter what nominally noticeable technical changes are happening under Madden 24's hood, they don't represent the gargantuan changes needed to bring the NFL series in line with various yearly sports game competition.

Ratatouille’s defied our expectations by dishing out a solid adventure with loads of extras and minigames. If the missions felt a little less repetitive, then we’d really have film-tie in greatness here. Either way, this is one game adaptation that’s easy to swallow.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 is still very much a Dynasty Warriors game, warts and all. Yet the light tweaks and enhancements – plus giant robots and an attractive new cel-shaded look – really make the repetition a lot more enjoyable than expected. Gundam 3 still stumbles in bafflingly silly ways, but for the first time in a while, the thrill of singlehandedly charging into battle against hundreds of enemies has a flickering spark again.

The gameplay is nothing outstanding, but it's fun enough while it lasts, and overall it looks pretty slick.

Not only is the overall presentation forgettable, it's relentlessly so.

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

A slightly slow, single-player only arcade shooter. It has ten levels (plus ten bonus missions), above average graphics for a DS game, and a decent auto-aim that can't quite compensate for the fact that you can't strafe, and thus spend a lot of time running directly into enemy fire.

It may not blow your mind, but you'll be too busy blasting everything that moves to care.

But with its clumsy combat, dim AI and generic plot, HoAE fails to add anything new to the already crowded fantasy based RTS genre.

The gameplay is nothing outstanding, but it's fun enough while it lasts, and overall it looks pretty slick.

If you don’t have either DBZ PSP game, buy this. If you have the first one already, you may want to rent this, plow through the story mode, and give it back.

The story is entertaining enough, but gameplay's as linear as a ruler, and random exploration is basically out of the question.

Rango isn't a revolutionary action-platform release, but it is a legitimately well-made title built in the mold of the some of the genre's best, and it genuinely engaged us throughout much of the adventure. Sadly, it doesn't last for long.

Need for Speed takes driving into a gorgeous world with a modern edge, but its pesky attitude and strict online-only requirement make you yearn for the good old days.

Give credit to Opoona for trying to wedge a lot of new ideas into its paper thin premise, but the half baked 'lifestyle' elements can't hide the fact that it's a very simplistic and ultimately uninteresting RPG.

Though the path to boot-stomping nirvana is fraught with flaws, Divekick succeeds at simplifying high-level concepts into a bite-sized experience that only gets better with time.

We'd rather have, you know, access to a full emulator, but puzzle geeks can't deny the quality or value of Capcom Puzzle World. More classic coin-op compilations like this one, please.

Wii Party U’s lackluster presentation and occasionally boring game modes are but hiccups in an otherwise decent party booster. Its impressive GamePad minigames are sure to keep your guests entertained, and will extend the life of the game even after all your friends have gone home.

The story is absolutely forgettable and the level design is boring, but the gameplay is competent and the bedazzling genetic monstrosities along with the copious amounts of loot you've collected are fun. If you're an action-RPG fan who simply cannot wait for Diablo III, give Darkspore a shot.