Bronze would be a lot easier to recommend if it were a $1-5 download on a phone service. Despite its very narrow boundaries, the game plays fine and is mildly entertaining in short bursts. At its current price, however, Bronze ends up looking (on platforms with such vastly superior offerings) like a historical footnote, at best.

Ys I & II deserve their honored place in history, but from now on, they should probably stay there.

The idea that looked good on paper translated into unfair challenge and highly monotonous gameplay on the screen. Sanctum of Slime will have you reminiscing about the days when the Ghostbusters franchise meant good films, not lousy video games.

Lord of Arcana commits the cardinal sin of game design: Beyond being painfully lacking in variety or original ideas, it outright wastes your time, and then punishes you for your determination to not give up.

Fans of Edgar Allan Poe or those who like a "twist" to historical fact might find Midnight Mysteries to their liking, but it's hard to recommend the game to anyone else.

The best advice to any gamer looking for their next Kinect title from the small library of quality titles is to avoid MotionSports. Here's hoping that the team can take what they learned here and have time to build a sequel that carries out their agenda and also controls well.

The Cap'n deserved a better game, and for that matter, so do we.

The best aspect of Fighters Uncaged is that it can now be used as a blueprint for a book on "How Not to Create a Kinect Game". Avoid Fighter's Uncaged; it'll only aggravate and show you the downsides of motion-controlled video games.

Winter Voices is sadly too slow and the buildup doesn't pay off in the end.

Kick-Ass has adequate character models and the prerequisite references to the source material, but bears none of the enthusiasm of its namesake. Just when you think that movie-based games are finally making some headway, a game like Kick-Ass comes along to obliterate that notion and to show you how low some people will sink to make a buck.

Spelunker HD will have you giving up way before finding any great treasure deep down in the creepy mines. If anything, this latest retro remake is a reminder that not every classic game deserves an HD makeover.

Don't let Vampire Moon's budget price entice you. At the end of the day, this bogged-down adventure game lacks the kind of bite a good vampire tale needs.

Remember that attractive, animated style that made Wallace and Gromit so easy on the eyes? Let's just say things haven't been quite so pretty for the CSI folks.

Crime Lab isn't the worst DS game we've seen, as the mini-games do manage to keep it from being a cold case. That said, the weak writing and otherwise plodding gameplay make it a mystery not worth tackling.

Beyblade Metal Fusion isn't a bad game; it's an outright horrible game. It's playable, but because the whole thing is a repetitious mess, there's no way anyone would want to play more than a single battle.

Beyblade: Metal Fusion on the Nintendo DS is far less absurd and just a bit more tolerable than its Wii counterpart. Regardless of that, this is still a bad game.

The voice acting and sound effects are over the top to the point of aggravation.

The title screen, which warns against seizures, should have included a warning against extreme frustration.

The coup de grace was slowdown that plagued the game from beginning to end, even when running through the many vacant hallways.

To call Battles of Ardania an expansion is a large overstatement. From map layouts, units and even music, everything seems to be recycled from the original game and Kingmaker.

Power Gig had the potential to rise up above its competition, but badly designed hardware, a poorly imitated interface, a less than stellar set list, non-engaging gameplay that nowhere near mimics real guitar playing, and, most of all, empty promises of playing real guitar, have left it to be appropriately nicknamed as "Rock Revolution 2: Road to Nowhere."

Sorry, Rockin' Android. While we respect your intentions, we simply can't recommend Crescent Pale Mist. Its overbearing list of frustrations and lacking visuals and sound will leave you feeling red instead of pale.

Outside of those few positives, it's a lesson on how not to use a movie license within the video game industry.

The dancing controls are lousy, the visuals are too lame for their own good and the lack of options (or anything resembling information regarding Jackson's legacy) are disappointing. Stick with a Greatest Hits album instead and tell this game to "beat it."

This Party simply doesn't have the substance to hold up.

Unbound Saga has a tempting premise and a snazzy style, complete with visual sound effects, but the brawling action can't hold a candle to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, or even Turtles in Time Re-Shelled. As a fan of the genre, it saddens me to say that the best thing about Unbound Saga is the unusually cool soundtrack.

Star Wolves 3: Ashes of Victory should have included a lot of improvements and fixes over the original, but instead remains very much the same. This is one open space that is better left unexplored, and a Civil War that is best to stay out of.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is not a good DS game by any account. There's no effort behind it, the storytelling is weak, and the presentation is some of the least inspired on the handheld.