For everything the game does right, though, there's the pervasive, underlying whiff of a brand in crisis.

If you haven't already picked up Virtua Tennis 3, Virtua Tennis 2009 is worth a look since it offers more content, including the online world tour option. For everyone else, though, it's too much of a rehash to warrant a purchase, even at its discounted 50 dollar price tag.

If you’re looking for a deep single-player experience with a lot of modes and cutting edge presentation, leave All-Pro Football 2K8 on the bench. But if you’re simply looking for straight-up solid football to play online or with friends, All-Pro Football 2K8 answers the call.

It doesn't quite reach Ico's levels of quality, but it emulates the formula well enough. This is one friend request you should give careful consideration to.

DarkStar One: Broken Alliance is big, complex, and just messy enough to make it hard to recommend without some reservation. If you've been hard up for a space combat sim, this is a lot of game for $50. If you're short on patience, though, you may want to sit this trip out.

If you’re looking for a deep single-player experience with a lot of modes and cutting edge presentation, leave All-Pro Football 2K8 on the bench. But if you’re simply looking for straight-up solid football to play online or with friends, All-Pro Football 2K8 answers the call.

Honest Hearts is most exciting at the start and then gradually ebbs, as Zion ends up being much smaller than it first seems.

Despite throwing in some new bells and whistles, Pokémon Black & White 2 doesn't deviate from established formula.

It manages to deliver everything you'd expect out of a Pokémon game, and it's still a decent RPG, but it fails to take any chances or offer real innovation.

It’s easy to like the simple-yet-challenging games, but as the days wear on, it starts to show its faults. It was a darling on the DS, but this sort of thinker’s gymnastics doesn’t work as well for burst play on the couch.

For its lower $40 price point, Race Pro offers a strong core, but it lacks style and appeal. The solid physics and deep options will satisfy simulation fans, but dated visuals, generic presentation, and a lack of must-drive cars keep Race Pro from taking pole position.

Cooking Mama 2 doesn’t really bring anything new to the dinner table, but that’s not really a bad thing. It just offers a heaping helping more of the gameplay fans of the original game fell in love with, and chances are, most will find that filling enough.

Mario Hoops’ single player mode is very fun and very short. But this setup has worked in the past because it was countered by an addicting multiplayer experience. But 3 on 3 for the DS has no online play, or decent downloadable content, which means you’ll probably be shooting solo.

Rochard has a fair number of idiosyncrasies, including its off-key attempt at Southern, blue-collar comedy humor, but its heart is in the right place. It's not on-point 100 percent of the time, and it doesn't concern itself with optional modes or bonus content, but you'll mine more fun than frustration from this endeavor.

Despite its unique combat system and all the alternatives it provides to tired old level grind, there are just too many flaws holding Magnacarta 2 back. Unless you're fine with enduring lots of slow moments, it's hard to recommend without reservation, especially given how many great RPGs there are on the 360.

Tacked-on Kinect support is far from the only sign that Crash is not your typical Burnout game. But by focusing squarely on the type of play that the series is best known for, Crash successfully captures its spirit. You'll likely put it through its paces pretty quickly, but there are worse ways to spend 800 Microsoft points.

Has a great foundation of fun co-op moments, marred by awkwardness, random deaths, and rough edges. It's certainly fun to bash crates and solve puzzles with friends, but the bustle of co-op play also multiplies its flaws.

It's an intriguing alternative to what has certainly become the high-action norm of the genre. If you can get past its fundamental shortcomings, you'll find that there's indeed something to this fresh, yet flawed experience.

Think of World Rally as more a trip down memory lane than an evolution of the series. It may be short ride, but even if just on the strength of its online multiplayer, it's worth at least one lap around the track if you fondly remember the classic.

Shadowgate is a formidable if sometimes frustrating return to classic adventure gameplay. If you’re a fan of the original or undaunted by Shadowgate’s unforgiving depths, it’s worth grabbing a torch and venturing inside.

Dark of the Moon provides plenty of popcorn thrills that you'll likely forget as soon as the credits begin rolling. Judged against other movie games, it's actually pretty good; next to last year's superior entry, however, it looks a bit like a tin can.

Suffers from cumbersome inventory management and tedious back-tracking that kill the flow and tension considerably...This one's only for dedicated followers of the series.

Like its scant narrative backbone and starkly drawn world, I Am Alive is just evocative enough to keep you playing for the five or so hours it lasts. You'll come away with the feeling that what good ideas it has are mere specters of a more ambitious past. That said, few games are willing to go to so dark a place as Haventon.

Despite being somewhat derivative and rough around the edges, Conan has an enjoyable combat system and brings in enough variety to keep the action from feeling too repetitive. Players that aren’t turned off by the gore, nudity, or disregard for canon should have plenty of fun dismembering the scum of Hyboria.

When played in short sessions, Hyrule Warriors is mindless fun that celebrates the rich history of the Zelda series. However, your long term enjoyment of this game boils down to how much you like Dynasty Warriors, or hack-and-slash games in general, and whether or not you care about exuberant amounts of Zelda fan service. It more than delivers on both these points, but if either one of these is a turn off, this likely isn’t the experience for you.

G-Force isn't likely to attract many fans over age 13, but parents shouldn't regret picking this one up for their kids. It can get a little repetitive, but it's fun to blow apart household appliances, or watch a guinea pig rocket across the floor.

With co-op play at its core, the lack of online options holds it back, and returning to Indiana Jones with a focus on the worst film in the series probably wasn't the best choice for a new Lego adventure.

Baja manages to capture the chaos and intensity of off-roading, but the finicky controls undermine the experience.

Case Zero makes a lasting impression when it comes to slaughtering the undead. However, given its short two hour duration and the oppressive race-against-the-clock structure, it's hard to recommend without qualification.

Age of Empires Online's jaunt across the ancient world serves as a robust and enjoyable free introduction to the real-time strategy genre, but if you're willing to plunk out $20 to $100 dollars for a complete strategy experience, you'll find much better options elsewhere.

The ability to manipulate the world is executed well, and it really does drive the experience into a realm much more fantastic than you'd expect from a skateboarding game. We just wish the story and campaign were better conceived, and the fact that the free skate mode is locked till the end is rather disappointing.

Baja manages to capture the chaos and intensity of off-roading, but the finicky controls undermine the experience.

Despite being somewhat derivative and rough around the edges, Conan has an enjoyable combat system and brings in enough variety to keep the action from feeling too repetitive. Players that aren’t turned off by the gore, nudity, or disregard for canon should have plenty of fun dismembering the scum of Hyboria.

Total fan service. If you fell in love with the original all those years ago and are all right with more of the same then its content makes it worth your cash. If you have no attachment to the series then proceed with caution. The Wii controls are pointless, and the levels are short, but there’s no denying that there’s familiar fun to be had while guiding Nights through the sky.

Ghosts is certainly not a bad game, but it offers few surprises. Although Black Ops II wasn’t always successful, it felt like it was conscious of stagnation and attempted to push the series forward through player choice in the campaign and the introduction of the 10-point system in multiplayer. By comparison, Ghosts seems almost afraid of screwing anything up.

If you’re really into JoJo, or really into fighting games, or both, you’ll be able to see through the messy design, pick out the good stuff and have some fun with it. Otherwise you’re likely to be beaten and bewildered.

Abyss Odyssey is the kind of game that initially seems fantastic, but its many issues become increasingly apparent the more time you spend with it. The thought that went into combat prevents the game from falling into mediocrity, but it also never lives up to the potential that’s so obviously there.

Small actions like switching menus can cause disproportionately long load times, and the game suffers frequent mission-killing bugs. Moody music, mixing in piano with synth, while the voice actors do their best with the script, trying their best to self-distinguish.

It's significantly more playable than previous efforts, and the developers have created a more enjoyable game as a result. It's far from perfect, however. The new play modes are nice but hardly groundbreaking, and the tempo meter doesn't make any sense.

The long and the short of it is that it feels good to be bad. The thrill of abusing and degrading these virtual people and the little twinges of guilt you might feel for enjoying it serve as a wonderful complement to the mental exercise of building a better deathtrap.

For such a large RPG, it’s the small moments where Risen 3 works best. The game just needs more of them; times when you get swept up in a random quest, stumble upon hidden treasure, or chuckle at a random quip from Bones. It's a game with its heart in the right place and when everything clicks, you won’t want to leave.

Responsive controls and steady momentum will keep you engaged in Ryse’s constant war-making, but repetition unavoidably dulls the edge.

This is 100 percent rental material, which considering the poor quality of a lot of the PS3-exclusives so far, is saying something. Just don’t expect a completely new game, or to play it online.

Sonic Unleashed takes two steps forward with some of the best speed levels in recent memory, and one step back by tacking on yet another failed experiment with the Werehog.

It has a unique combat system and unrelenting violence that many will love. And for a licensed game, Afro Samurai doesn’t necessarily fail at what it aims to do. Like the many others before it, simple mistakes and a general lack of polish prevent it from passing the threshold to Butcher Bay territory.

For a series that is long in the tooth, NHL 2K9 is a disappointment. Its presentation, play modes, and feature set lag behind the competition, making it a questionable purchase at best.

Just keep in mind that truly enjoying this adventure often requires you to overcome challenges that don't involve puzzling quests or formidable monsters. Yet even with its faults, there's a lot here to indulge your urge to explore and conquer.

In all, Titan Souls is for people who don’t mind struggling to overcome a challenge, but there’s little else to grab your attention. It doesn’t carry the same weight or intrigue as the games that inspired it, but there’s a fun set of battles to test your reflexes.

The story rarely establishes itself as anything more than big budget fan fiction.

Act two may not capitalize on the potential of act one, but there are still plenty of moments that can bring a smile to your face or cause you to laugh-out-loud.

Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm may not feature spectacular 3D graphics or 5.1 channel surround sound, but it does have enough depth and charm to keep players involved for the entirety of its 40-plus hours.

On one hand, Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 is a serviceable sequel that genuinely tries to stretch the limits of its design, but lackluster new features, poor follow-through, and gameplay that has yet to evolve past its prehistoric husk make it clear that the series has some serious thinking to do.

If you're a fan of the mud-flinging franchise, you'll probably want to take Alive for a spin. Its fresh gameplay tweaks generally outshine its shortcomings, and plenty of throttle-twisting thrills await those willing to master the controls and progress their character. Just be prepared to re-up your entry fee once you reach the finish line.

Wolfenstein: The New Order suffers from minor inconsistencies in nearly every aspect of the game from its storytelling to its action, but the good news is the game never feels consistently bad.

Though it may not completely reinvent the pet sim, Eye Pet's novel use of the hardware proves that even an old dog can learn new tricks.

Fans of the movie are going to be put off by an extended story and characters that don’t live up to the original.

Transformers Devastation is short, lacks depth, and can be a bit repetitive, but Platinum’s tight combat paired with the old-school aesthetics keeps it fun. It may not be the dream Transformers game that some imagined, but it’s worth a play, perhaps after it goes on sale.

Judged as a pure action game, Evolved isn't bad, with its strong customization element letting you blow things up any way you see fit and creating action that satisfies on a basic level. Unfortunately, Square Enix has squandered many of Front Mission's strengths, and the game falls well short of its potential.

If you've played past Lego movie tie-ins, you can expect more of the same from Pirates of the Caribbean. It follows a predictable formula, but it's still suitable for Pirates fans looking for lightweight family fun.

Of the three games in the Overlord family, Dark Legend is something of a black sheep. It's smaller in scope and lacks some fundamental parts of the formula, but in its pursuit to be different, it's managed to one-up its cousins in certain key ways. The series' minion-control mechanics are a shoe-in on the Wii, and as an Overlord game, it succeeds at what it aims to deliver: mindless fun with irresistible charm.

Fans of the movie are going to be put off by an extended story and characters that don't live up to the original.

Episode two puts The Wolf Among Us in an awkward place. Telltale shows enough of its hand to interest players in the rest of the story, but the unevenness of this second episode deflates the enthusiasm that first worked so hard to earn. It's difficult to tell how strong the series will become, but right now, it's tough to accept good when you're used to great.

Even for those willing to invest the time to learn all there is to know about ArmA 2, the glitches and the bugs are currently too much to take. Maybe once they've patched it up, there will be something more playable. We look forward to that day, because there's really something special in ArmA 2, cheesy voice acting and all.

Surprisingly fun. It's easy to pick up and play and checks all the boxes for an action shooter. It's not very original, but it's miles better than the last game to bear the hip-hop star's name. You'll get several hours of enjoyment out of it, and it's great rental fodder for those who have long since laid the locust to rest.

Fans of the movie are going to be put off by an extended story and characters that don’t live up to the original.

Sonic Unleashed takes two steps forward with some of the best speed levels in recent memory, and one step back by tacking on yet another failed experiment with the Werehog.

The colorful adventure is generic in every way except for the graphics, but it should sill be a fun experience for hardcore RPG fans. The world that you explore in real time looks as good as some cut scenes on PS2 RPG’s.

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimension lacks the variety to sustain its 10-or-so hours of length, and the imagination to truly make good on its multiple-worlds concept. The experience is serviceable enough, but it won't inspire you the way that the best superhero games can.

There’s a lot of greatness within Sunset Overdrive, but it’s obfuscated by a lack of difficulty and an aggravating tone. Ultimately, it’s worth dealing with the game’s worst moments to enjoy the many things it does get right. When you’re darting around the world like a ninja in a denim jacket, there’s nothing quite like it. If there is a next time for Sunset City, and hopefully there is, maybe things will come together more smoothly than they have here.

For its high-def debut, Jet Set Radio's visuals are clean and crisp, as you'd expect, while retaining the original game's comic book-style presentation.

The lack of anything truly innovative or unique combined with sub-par features and a less-than-stellar presentation means that the 2K franchise once again plays second fiddle to NHL 10. Unlike cover athlete Alexander Ovechkin, there's not enough character in NHL 2K10 to make it a truly memorable experience.

It’s an audacious game that takes risks and embraces experimentation. When so many franchises seem content on retreading the same ground, Hotline Miami 2 feels like an important, if often frustrating asset.

There are some poetic moments using evocative music and words that seem to exist within the world right along with you, and though it rains for hours, the atmosphere somehow never feels tiresome. Rain can be a bit irritating though. You don’t get to see the script beforehand, and the stage managers often fail to provide you with proper cues. Things seem to stretch out too long, with some scenes seemingly exist just to fill time.

It has a nice mix of shiny and dusty, making it relevant for players of all ages, and with 21 different puzzles there's some depth to dive.

Rapstar is a solid singing game that would benefit from more fleshed-out features in future installments. More on-disc songs, more video display options, a more robust career, better editing functions, and an improved presentation would go a long way toward moving this title from an "on point" rating to "off the chain."

We Ski & Snowboard is an improvement over We Ski, but a modest one. If you didn't enjoy the first game, the new locales and snowboarding aren't going to alter your opinion of the sequel.

Enemies are practically defenseless in the face of your super-powers, and the puzzles never advance beyond the basics.

The core shooting mechanics are engaging enough to keep you coming back, and its intriguing episodic ties have the potential to keep ark hunting interesting in fresh, original ways.

Opoona doesn't break a lot of new ground, but the charming characters and bonbon battle system give it a distinctive flavor.

Overall, it lacks the polish and simplicity to compete with so many other mini-game collections on the Wii, leaving the unlikely pairing of mascots as its biggest draw.

Project X Zone successfully delivers on the fan service and flashy battles, but it falls short in the strategy department. It’s a fun game to play in small intervals, but it’s a lengthy proposition clocking it at around 40-50 hours to complete.

You have to be ready to put some effort into liking Order of War. The things you would logically try first are the worst of what it has to offer. It's not really as deep as World in Conflict or Company of Heroes, but it does simple strategy decently well, and looks good doing it.

Warriors Orochi combines the characters and features of two successful franchises into one game, but the convoluted crossover storyline, unimpressive production values, and lack of major innovation aren’t likely to have new players ready to enlist.

Warriors Orochi combines the characters and features of two successful franchises into one game, but the convoluted crossover storyline, unimpressive production values, and lack of major innovation aren’t likely to have new players ready to enlist.

It’s competent but bland, lacking the imaginative missions of Blazing Angels, the glorious melodrama of Ace Combat, and the joyful air ballets of either.

NBA Live 09 is still not quite ready to bang the boards with the best, but it's the most user-friendly hoops game on the market. The pick-up-and-play control scheme, vibrant visuals, and improved action will appeal to those who feel the NBA 2K series is too complicated.

It initially delivers on its promise, but it erodes over time due to the monotony and meager difficulty that discourages exploring the combat’s complexity.

A more flexible save system is also a step in the right direction. Yet, the repetitive mission objectives and moronic AI ensure that the enjoyment you glean from it will be directly proportional to how much you enjoy using new weapons to kill zombies.

It’s competent but bland, lacking the imaginative missions of Blazing Angels, the glorious melodrama of Ace Combat, and the joyful air ballets of either.

It’s a shame the issues that plagued Shadow of Chernobyl are still largely present in Clear Sky because the premise is great and the design is far more interesting and ambitious than your average shooter. But ultimately, the bugs, technical issues, and brutal difficulty are tough to stomach. If you’re looking for a challenge, then this is your game, but the average player will tire of its shortcomings long before things even get started.

There is no shortage of clichéd metaphors to explain what Liberation is: it stopped short of the finish line, or if you prefer, it used all the ingredients but got the recipe wrong. Simply put, Liberation is a squandered game, starring an interesting character that goes nowhere.

If you can't get enough of Brawl, give it a shot, but don't expect the next coming of Smash Bros.

Here is your standard case of lost opportunity. If only Arena Football: Road to Glory were a lot more fleshed-out in the options and game modes it would take its seat among EA’s roster of elite sports games.

Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution basically just pays lip service to the fans of the series. It’s got a bunch of characters and voice actors from the show all wrapped up in an uninspired fighting game engine.

Though Shadowrun is a first-person shooter, it still manages to include a lot of the qualities that made the original RPG a hit. At the same time, with just a few multiplayer modes and a paltry nine maps, the fun only lasts for so long.

Manhunt 2 is an average stealth game with an extreme gimmick. The story’s what-the-hell-happened scenario mixed with the weird characters and scenes is enough to keep you shuffling along. But it quickly feels like busy work, when it should feel like, well, murder.

There’s nothing terribly great about it, and there’s nothing especially outstanding either. If you’re looking for a starter hardball game, then MLB 07 The Show is definitely a good choice, but one more season of lethargy and Sony will be caught stealing.

It's hard to see Nintendo Land becoming anywhere near the sensation that Wii Sports was. It requires too much equipment for the modes that last, and the rest can be quickly milked of their entertainment value. It proves that Nintendo is capable of creating addicting one-dollar games, but at 60 bucks, it's not priced to sell. As a pack-in for the deluxe version of the console it's a nice extra that shows what the Wii U is capable of.