This is not a game that will score high with gamer girlfriends.

Longtime addicts that have kept up with the series and crave more of its rare gameplay will eat it up. Gamers that have never cared about or have never heard of the series don't have any reasons to give it a whirl. There's really no getting around it. Either you like this style of game or you never will.

For now, buy this to get the headset for Resistance 2 and come back to SOCOM in a couple months. Maybe it’ll be completed by then.

In fact, for casual Warriors players, it may even be better to have not played the first game, as the main game probably will make you less likely to want to play the new, but not all that different, content.

The main character’s name is SONIC – it’s a reference to how fast he can run. Why must the game include all this other random crap, especially when it isn’t all that polished anyhow?

Dune: Awakening is a game that Dune fans will find rapturous but that has a lot of small annoyances that mar it for players who aren't as engaged in the franchise. A solid but not world changing adaptation of a legendary sci-fi series.

A fantastic looking game that builds a great sci-fi world only to trash it with an unenjoyable combat challenge.

Technically sound, and with a few friends, there's definitely some competitive fun to be found. If you're willing to deal with the lack of a true singleplayer experience (beyond competing against AI opponents for cups) you'll likely enjoy yourself, though the omission definitively feels like a tremendous missed opportunity.

An uninspired effort that does little to satiate football fans’ jones for a gridiron fix this winter. The combination of its eerie similarity to last year’s game with some framerate issues should dissuade all but the most dedicated Arenophiles from investing the $30 for this PS2 exclusive.

If you don't mind paying full price for an unchanged port, albeit of a classic game, then you're most likely already a Harvest Moon fan and know what you're getting yourself into. Everyone else, we recommend waiting for a better Harvest Moon title - one with gameplay worthy of the series and graphics worthy of the system - to come out on the PSP.

Perhaps it's the drab atmosphere, ordinary visuals, linear paths, and repetitive dialogue that kept us from loving it. Wanted Corp is decent, but not nearly decent enough for a recommendation this holiday season when there are already so many great titles to choose from.

For all the risks Mirror of Fate takes in terms of story and aesthetic, its core gameplay feels mired in antiquated design that just doesn’t feel that relevant anymore. This castle may look elaborate and multilayered, but the foundations it rests on are shaky. What could’ve been an entirely new avenue for the franchise feels more like a dead end.

You could do worse with silly, weapons based driving action, but it may not warrant purchase if Mario Kart DS already has a place on your shelf.

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

For the right buyer, this is a gleaming golden treasure even with bits of tarnish here and there.

It struggles to find its footing here and there, but it manages to straighten up thanks to the help of genuinely likeable dialogue snippets, addictive battles, and a slick character augmentation system.

Namco Museum Megamix is hit-and-miss, but for retro arcade gaming, it can't be beat. If you drained your allowance into beeping machines for most of the late 80s and 90s, you'll love it, but if you're only interested in the new "remixed" games, you may be disappointed.

Cloudbuilt should have been an addictive competitive speedrunner, but its imprecise controls and brutal checkpoints mean that only the most patient and dedicated players will press forward in this uniquely frustrating game.

Sadly, aside from a sharp online Wii experience, Conduit 2 rarely impresses, relying too much on generic drudgery and sad attempts to capture the magic of more popular titles; worse yet, the storyline and characters seem aimless and forgettable.

The biggest problem with Dimensions, is that is never feels like a full game. It's a couple of rehashes, with two elaborate gimmicks, only one of which feels close to a full game.

Bogged down by performance issues and flat characters, Little Town Hero tells a formulaic story set in a beautiful place, strung together by complex, engaging, and gleefully rewarding battles.

A series of semi-amusing, unconnected activities: sounds a lot like a sandbox, which, once you graduate middle school, loses its charm unless you can bring your gat.

While Power Pros 2008 offers an undeniably massive amount of modes and options at a terrific $20 price, we could’ve easily waited until next spring for a truer, fuller follow-up.

There's just not enough to do, at least not for the price. We appreciate that Nintendo did something different here, and a system's launch is a great time to be more experimental, but if we're going to pay $39.99 for a new 3DS game, we're going to need more than this.

The biggest let-down? Easily the graphics, which are full of chunky shapes and primitive, basic textures and colors that wouldn’t look out of place on the original PlayStation.

Blitz mode aside, Halo Wars 2 sticks with a tried, tested and slightly tired RTS formula that's competent, but lacking in depth and originality.

We were disappointed both by the game's wonky physics system and the Kinect's strange lack of sensitivity, which had us constantly wishing we could just pick up on Xbox controller and play without flailing around. It's fun, but just like the castles inhabiting the game's many stages, Wreckateer is full of structural weaknesses that make it way too precarious, and one bump away from collapse.

A decent game - it just doesn't do enough to differentiate itself from all the other games like it. And while it's true that those games don't blend martial arts with duck-and-cover shooting, Conspiracy's approach to both of those things is just too shallow and repetitive.