In the long run, I'd suggest that you pass this game by and save your money for one of the hotter releases later this season.

Not only is it hard to actually go out and complete the objectives, but finding your way around the levels to figure out what you have to do is also a huge pain since accessing the map doesn’t pause the game, giving enemies ample opportunity to riddle you with bullets.

All in all, this isn't the sort of game I'd pickup for anyone but a younger kid, but it's not too shabby, and you might find it worth a drive around the block.

Some of the game’s courses are a bit on the bland side. To me this is entirely unacceptable, as the developers had obviously proven that beautiful course design was possible with the power of the Xbox.

The adventure game for hardcore adventure enthusiasts – it’s a long and tough trek, but a journey worth taking if you can look past the rough edges.

If, however, this is your first introduction to the Gundam series and a solid game is more your goal, you’ll find the gameplay frustrating and the average graphics and sound disappointing.

Not exactly disappointing, but falling far short of what I'd call a really fun title, Dark Summit is a unique, innovative title.

Beyond the disarms and shot dodging, it's not worth much more than a rental.

Just average. Although it has some nice original features, I could never get over the strange controls.

Without any substance, story, or coherent sense of movement, Arctic Thunder does a remarkably good job of entertaining, packing every minute with a strange sense of mayhem and absurdity.

Most fans will more then get their money out of it especially if you missed last year’s version, but otherwise you might need to decide if the enhancements are enough to purchase again.

But with the other elements, graphics that don't seem entirely finished, or a plotline that's seemingly half done, Pariah is fun to play, but ultimately one of my biggest disappointments of this year.

What makes this game original is the storyline.

A somewhat solid, if flawed, GameBoy title. For those of you willing to struggle through learning the basics, you'll be well rewarded with an interesting and ever-changing card strategy game. However, a kludgy gaming interface and minor flaws keep this title from being top tier.

It's on the low, low end of my FPS scale, right there alongside "Undying" and sitting on top of "Daikatana." Lot's o' fluff, no polish.

It has a career mode that does give it some replay value. Other than that, its esoteric gameplay suggests one and only one thing -- if you either love to watch or play beach volleyball, give it a shot. If not, budget-priced notwithstanding, you may want to look elsewhere.

Basically, Dance Dance Revolution: Supernova is primarily a party game and if you use it in that capacity, I’m sure it will be money well spent. The addition of a robust single player experience also adds a new dimension to the DDR series.

Redeemed by its setting and style but in many other respects is a run-of-the-mill graphics-heavy 3D product that game companies can churn out in their sleep.

The visual effects are okay and the different environments are diverse but not outstanding (almost exactly the same quality as the PS2 release).

Once you start capturing criminals, I found there are some pretty decent mini-games through the EyeToy.

It’s a little disappointing that the feature set is so thin but it does depend on what you were planning to get out of it.

Gretzky NHL ’06, in just about every way, is a spitting image of its big brother counterpart on the PlayStation 2. It suffers the same flaws but it also has the same achievements, though the former outweighs the latter.

At the end of the day, the missions do feel a bit repetitive and the objects that were leveled on one mission are mysteriously fine on the next, causing a certain amount of unevenness in the whole experience.

Even though you can play poker, the game itself tries to be an all encompassing casino experience and that made me feel a little lacking. Still, there are an awful lot of games to play and the challenge of getting to those bigger casinos is a substantial one.

The problem is the game moves at an unreal rate and is extremely easy to get through. Most will easily finish the game with little difficulty as the linear style of the game makes the puzzles simple and require little thought to figure out.

With obvious devotion to its tried-and-true arcade game play, one thing is for sure -- it's still a lot of fun to play. If you're a fan of the series, you'll find a lot to like about this year's game.

It would have been nice to have stronger gameplay elements but the graphics and audio help to save The Incredibles from an unpleasant experience.

Combat, simply put, just doesn't feel right. The pacing feels too sluggish, and as a result, is largely unexciting.