The game may shank some of the superficial niceties, but when it comes to the fundamentals, Hot Shots is still sinking aces, every time.

Despite single-player quirks like the crap AI or the sameness of the three factions (the only differences between U.S., NATO, and Russian units are the visuals and the accents when selecting units), the pure focus on tactics plus the FPS-style pacing make WIC a standout. It doesn’t hurt that it has the best visuals of any RTS to date.

The good news is that once you do hop inside the ring, you tend to forget about who is missing as you try to figure out how you can slam your head into a steel cage or get hit in the back with barbed wire and not get hurt (you can't).

A game that attempts a lot of major development moves and it shows a lot of promise, even if it isn't always executed well.

Unlike many squad-based shooters that don't require the use of the whole team, Jericho's premise relies on it. What's equally important is that each character is genuinely worth playing.

It feels disappointing at first, but it quickly moves beyond that and turns into a game that, despite its shortcomings, is just plain fun.

A solidly constructed game that truly anyone of any skill level can play. There's no multiplayer mode here per se, but that doesn't actually prevent Curious Village from being a party game--you can just read the puzzles out loud and any number of people can tackle them anywhere at any time.

For parents, it's nice to have a gaming option that's not tied to licensing for yet another TV show. And the gameplay that is there fun and simple, so when the young gamer in the house does want to play multiplayer, it'll be entertaining for everyone.

The deep customization will have users tweaking for hours, and the online options offer a serviceable distraction from the offline campaign. Anyone claiming the PSP has no games should probably take a look at this one.

It's really fun to pull back from the level and look at it as a whole; in fact, it kind of makes me wish that I could have physical playsets of each of these levels.

Twisted Metal: Head On--Extra Twisted Edition is an entertaining compendium that's lovingly conceived and composed. The gameplay's as wicked as ever, and the price can't be beat. The entire package transports you to an earlier videogame era, and you get the real feeling this is the last Twisted Metal of its kind.

Messing around with UT3 made me realize that I kind of miss this deliberate throwback to super-fast multiplayer.

A hilarious little adventure game buoyed by riotous humor, intuitive puzzles, and original charm.

Unlike many squad-based shooters that don't require the use of the whole team, Jericho's premise relies on it. What's equally important is that each character is genuinely worth playing.

The good news is that once you do hop inside the ring, you tend to forget about who is missing as you try to figure out how you can slam your head into a steel cage or get hit in the back with barbed wire and not get hurt (you can't).

There's no reason for console players to get this version, but if you're console-less, and have the horsepower, it's still a worthy experience, if only to play something that's actually unique compared to other games out there.

The FFVII diehard should snag this post-haste (this really does make up for Dirge's mediocrity, honest), and even if you don't recognize the significance of playing Zack as opposed to Cloud, this is a worthy Japanese action-RPG.

The 360 is much crisper in appearance, but you'll run across frame rate hiccups while you're playing.

Extreme Justice is no world beater, and you wouldn't call it deep; but it is a solidly crafted action game with a good amount of gameplay. If you enjoyed the first Pursuit Force, this one's even better. And putting away bad guys is always a good time.

It feels disappointing at first, but it quickly moves beyond that and turns into a game that, despite its shortcomings, is just plain fun.

Quite possibly the ugliest game I've ever played--literally. I tip my hat to the developers at Monolith Productions for crafting a consistently dark, dirty, dilapidated, and decayed (and a host of other "d" words) world for both Condemned titles.

The neat tweaks to the basic mouse-click combat gameplay, plus the interesting world and the fascinating moral decisions to be made, make The Witcher an extremely good export for PC RPG fans.

Unlike many squad-based shooters that don't require the use of the whole team, Jericho's premise relies on it. What's equally important is that each character is genuinely worth playing.

These campaigns are so deep and focused that they make up for the fact that they do almost nothing to correct the original game’s sense of sprawl, or lack of a sense of direction whenever someone puts their stirrups on.

Dirt is an excellent counterpoint to the shallower, more arcade-y MotorStorm, offering serious racing fans a full-bodied game replete with HD-gen graphics, physics, sound, and a great depth of off-road racing types.

Happily, the gameplay avoids the trap of many dungeon-set games, which is that combat becomes repetitive and not very challenging.

Overall, this is a great game that no true Geometry Wars fan will want to miss—just be sure you have a classic controller on hand for true enjoyment.

If anything, the extra challenge is definitely a reason to play through the game a second (or third time) just to see if your skills can hold up. However, the addition of leaderboards, which rank players based on their overall score and scores for individual levels, will be the real reason to revisit the game.