Unlike so many remakes of classic fighters, Turbo HD has soul...It’s definitely a must-have title for any self-respecting fighting fan. Period.

Unlike so many remakes of classic fighters, Turbo HD has soul...It’s definitely a must-have title for any self-respecting fighting fan. Period.

We would normally hesitate to give any rerelease such a high score, but this is the ultimate edition of a true classic.

And while the core game is inviting, easy to grasp and simple enough for casual dabbling, there’s no sense of accomplishment as with Puzzle Quest.

The gameplay gets a little too frustrating, the graphics too soulless, and the story too weak to keep us going in for too long.

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?

This is about as solid a next-gen port as we’ve seen on Wii, but it’s probably going to take an act of God to make us think a downscaled port is better than the original. Other than an earthquake, we mean.

Granted, Ultimate Band is cheaper than competing music games like Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour, and that would normally be a big plus. But when one considers just how much more game you get with those titles, how much longer they’ll last you, the savings isn’t really worth it.

If it sounds complex, just understand this: It makes it surprisingly easy for you to make decent sounding tunes, and it’ll store up to 12 of them. You can even join up over Wi-Fi and record yourself and three other players jamming together, or connect to the vastly inferior Wii version of the game and use your DS to run a light show. Guitar Hero, are you paying attention?

Music is top-notch again, and the graphics are spiffier overall than in the last game.

But what’s the point of making your favorite team when they play like beginners?

But everything here is still solidly done, funnier than almost any other game, and holds a unique place in the DS library. You really should start up your own Robocalypse.

As the only game in town this year, NCAA Basketball 09 pulls its own weight but shouldn’t demand your full attention. Only hardcore hoops fanatics need drop down their hard earned cash; the rest of us can shuffle along just fine without it.

As the only game in town this year, NCAA Basketball 09 pulls its own weight but shouldn’t demand your full attention. Only hardcore hoops fanatics need drop down their hard earned cash; the rest of us can shuffle along just fine without it.

If you’ve skipped a few March Madness semesters and haven’t joined the PS3/360 generation, there’s plenty here to sink your teeth into.

But it still doesn’t quite play like Guitar Hero. The touch detection is too spotty, the custom controller is too uncomfortable and that intoxicating illusion that you’re actually playing an instrument still isn’t there. But, if you need a portable way to get your rock on, this is remains the best way to go.

If you can look past the last-last-gen flaws that absolutely should be gone by now, there’s a totally playable bit of gaming here that’ll scratch your RPG itch for the time being.

The story is also new and not half bad, revolving around the theft of a shipment of lightsaber crystals and a shadowy cabal of force-using goth mommas called the Nightsisters.

But to finally give us a lightsaber game, even a crap one, and not enable us to take on the role of Luke Skywalker and battle Darth Vader? That’s just freaking cruel.

And when a game’s biggest problem is that it left us wanting more, we’d say that’s a good problem to have.

All in all World at War delivers. It isn’t a revolution in Call of Duty gaming, but neither is it a step backwards, like some have claimed. Right now, it’s the best WWII shooter we’ve played, largely because it’s got a solid (if unoriginal) single player, some spectacular multiplayer, and oh yeah: because it’s brutal as hell.

Though the maps feel a little small and spawn points are poorly placed, it’s executed well enough that you’ll wonder why more DS shooters aren’t this competent. Ultimately, however, the setting and controls still hold back this war without end from being anything but a quick tour of duty.

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.

In an arcade-style game, anything that requires the player to take a break from shooting is a questionable call. We’re okay with reloading, but handicapping us with awkward controls is just uncool.

Your characters will not do what you want them to a decent portion of the time.

The usual bells and whistles are all here as well, with the caveat that this is a PS2, so the tech is dated.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm really, really, really needs to support online fights. Publisher Namco Bandai’s last big fighting game, Soulcalibur IV, did it. There’s no reason for this not to as well.

You’ll need an appreciation for the cube itself to get the most out of this - and you may want to destroy whoever programmed the chirpy music and decided to call the cubes “cubies” and give them a story - but it’s a solid value for puzzle players.