Playing in the shadows is fun, but the trial-and-error nature of the game is not.

Samba de Amigo could’ve been one of the best Wii games of 2008, but unresponsive controls really mar the experience. The fiesta is still there, but it’s a bit of a letdown.

STACKED is the best poker video game currently out on store shelves. That said, I am a little disappointed that the title didn’t go that extra mile in making itself a hit.

Avatar: The Game is a title of tradeoffs. It has the base concepts to be more than it ended up being and yet it is still manages to provide a decent gaming experience. That it has a strong movie tie-in is certain to spark interest in this title.

This is a fun enough game for young girls, but the content is really lacking when it comes to variety and features. There just isn't enough to do, and girls will get bored quickly.

SimAnimals Africa is an average simulation game for kids, which could have been better with more variety or more interaction with the environment.

How detailed is this title? Well, suffice it to say that it has received FAA approval to be used as a training tool for pilots aiming for commercial certification, instrument rating and airline transport pilot certification...This is not a game for the casual flight sim fan. This title will require a lot of thought, and a lot of effort. For the more serious fan of the genre, this might provide the depth, variety and challenge you are looking for.

It is not for the new player to the strategic gaming genre. It will likely provide a challenge to veterans due to its frenetic pacing. The game has depth, but hurries through it rather than allowing players to savor the experience.

There are certainly worse movie-to-game titles, but this one does a decent job of having some fun and providing a coherent story, along with decent gameplay.

The game is quite entertaining and the commentary is gut-busting, but once that initial value wears off, there’s little really left to hold on to making Loaded a quintessential rental.

It is specifically, in my humble opinion, for adventure purists who have patience to sit through bad NPC dialogue because the main character is endearing and in a bit of a jam.

The controls are also tough to manage or manipulate.

I am a stat-junky, so Infinite Space instantly struck a chord with me. I desperately want to love it. It has a likable cast of characters, an amazing amount of gear to play with, and a story with just enough intrigue to lure you forward.

It's not as much fun as the TV show, but there is some fun to be had in this title.

Only those who have racing in their blood, and are veterans of circuit wars will find this the type of game they can jump in and play. For others, who seek games that don’t require the level of skill this game demands, you would be better off finding another title.

Sled Storm doesn't just look like "SSX;" it plays like "SSX," too.

Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits offers an interesting new gameplay feature with Fan Requests and a new tracklist. However, the game’s fundamentals are still exactly the same, meaning that if you aren’t a fan of the On Tour mechanics yet, then this one won’t change your mind.

With multiplayer addiction to spare, a Chain Reaction twist on the decade-old formula and a new candy-colored coat of 2D hand-drawn paint, Super BAM 2 improves enough over the two-year old prequel to still be worth checking out.

Unfortunately the brilliance of its creative design just isn’t enough to keep gamers interested in to plot but for those willing to overlook a poorly executed RPG, this game is a unique experience worth the look.

Has some appeal, and it certainly has a lot of action, even if locked into a mixed bag of mythical overlays, and linear paths through the world. The graphical elements also vary from the very good to the average.

This is a cute game with a certain odd charm and players will have fun. However, there’s not a whole lot of meat to the game, and is really only good for short gaming periods.

While this title comes up with some interesting new ideas when presenting the realities you travel to, the game itself is just another adventure/puzzle game.

There is nothing particularly new or fresh about this title, but it still manages to be entertaining to a wide age group. Hardcore gamers might find this a little too juvenile in its approach, but younger players and rookie kart drivers should find it accessible and fun.

It plays very well. But without even a season mode, there is little in the way of lasting appeal.

From the aesthetic to the gameplay, RHEM 3 is as old-school of an adventure game as you're likely to find these days, which works for and against the game. Hardcore adventure fans will get the most out of it, while others will be turned away by the puzzles and lack of visual bells and whistles.

There is not much of anything new on display here, but the traditional gameplay is part of the appeal. Whether you're a fan or not, Naruto vs. Sasuke is a solid action-platformer with entertaining combat, challenging levels, and a good amount of replay-value.

I have major issues with the steering being too sensitive, but most everything seems to chug along quite nicely. Outfitting cars and stocking up the garage is always fun, but prepared to invest some time to do so.

Quantum of Solace is a solid effort to bring Bond to the DS, but there are a few looming problems with the translation.

The audio track, control setbacks, and average physical graphics combine to make this an average first-person shooter.

It's just one big game of wave-the-remote-defeat-the-enemy. Fun for fans of this kind of experience – boring for anyone else.

Graphically, Top Gun is neither "astounding" nor "very detailed." That's not to say that this is an ugly game, because it's anything but. However, the excessive amount of fog may make you think otherwise.

A great presentation of a classic book. As an adventure game, though, it is a little lacking.

If you're not already a fan, it might be time to convert.

A decent product that has a few adjustments that need to be made. I am sure that the next revisions of this game will definitely become a really great product that people will be waiting in line for every year like Madden and the NCAA football series.

Mothership Zeta is a decent distraction that many Fallout fans won’t mind paying extra coin for. If money is tight, however, I would suggest first looking into some of the better content available.

The Wii version is a faithful port of the original PC game. The graphics are not as good, but everything else works pretty much the same. The only real difference is the price, which is around $10 more for the Wii version than the PC version.

Yes, the battles lack finesse but when it comes to bringing the series to life this is one game that will not fail fans of the Straw Hat Pirates.

There will be plenty of people out there that will eat this title up, and just as many people scratching their heads as they don't know what is going on.

An adventure game that clearly focuses it's appeal on the 5 to 9 year old market, but for those of us that must sit and play games with our children it does have some redeeming qualities.

While undoubtedly fun, Kinect Adventures does have a tendency to become tiresome due to the lack of variety in each game type.

A nice little program that really brings little new to the series as a whole, other than supplying gamers with a seamless environment.

The series may have began as a glorified game of marbles. but Defenders of the Core shows that it has the potential to evolve into the next great series of dueling monsters.

Merely average.

There is a demo online for PC gamers to test it out before playing it. I’d personally recommend that route for older gamers. Younger games will eat this up like candy.

Upper-tier analog batting and pitching make for a unique and enjoyable baseball experience. The rest of the game is average with annoying technical issues and opponent/teammate AI that is, for the most part, dreadful.

More mini-games and puzzles would have helped give it more depth, but there is an adequate amount of challenge and variety to keep most kids happy.

If you’re a die-hard adventure game nut then you can add an additional point to the score just because it’s an adventure game. For the rest of you out there just remember that sometimes being good enough isn’t that good.

A decent adventure game for families and teens, but it’s not as good as other games in the series.

It’s easy to pick up and play, and hard to put down at first. However, after a few hours players will probably get a little tired of playing.

This edition of Scrabble for the DS is a good traveling companion. It’s easy to play and pass around, and the ability to share the game with others without multiple cartridges is great. The various option settings and the training and ranking features add to the overall experience.

If you're a Wii-only player without other options, Virtua Tennis 2009 is worth a few swings; otherwise, you might want to rent it and leave it at that.

The Lost Crown: A Ghost-hunting Adventure is a good adventure game, but too many conventional elements and low production values keep it from being a great one.

Everything about it feels like a rushed production and in the end this is what finally brings it down.

The game has a complex plot and a decent idea with the hacking ID element, but for the most part this is a typical shooter. Stylish graphics are not enough to overcome that.

PES 2009 is an improvement over last year’s game, albeit a very minor one. If the PES franchise wants to stay competitive against FIFA, they certainly have their work cutout for them.

Crazy Taxi isn't just a nostalgic trip, but also a wondrous stress reliever and an all-around entertaining game.

Toss out the antiquated graphics and sound and look at the bare bones of the game and you will find a challenging turn-based title that has strong tactical elements.

Shaun White Snowboarding may satisfy some players but won't enthrall every fan of the sport.

A good rental for most and a decent buy for the super-hardcore wrestling fanatic, WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2008 doesn’t push the series forward. But with the next-gen consoles in full swing, it doesn’t seem like there is much room for the game to grow without jumping ship.

I try to play it alone in the dark, by myself, late at night, and I'll be darned if I haven't gotten scared more then once. For me, that speaks volumes.

While a very nice and original concept, Uplink will only appeal to a select few.

It's a massively built game but it seems more time was spent on creating the city than creating a driving story.

Risen loses a bit in the porting process to the Xbox 360, but aside from the technical shortcomings, this is still a pretty solid experience that brings some good things to the RPG table.

Never mind the extremely poor quality of its visuals, the game’s enemy AI and its many bugs will not fail to frustrate gamers.

For a light session with a favored city, this is a fun enough game for short periods at the computer.

Fun, shallow gameplay with cool 3D stages, cheap enemies and a fair amount of repetition.

Armored Core for Answer will completely satisfy any fans of the series thus far, and will even do the job for action or mech fans in general. Newcomers to the mech genre might find themselves lost in the customization options and level of difficulty presented.

While the Skill Stick is the best addition to a PS2 hockey game in recent memory, it doesn't move mountains. NHL 08 is a slightly revamped version of NHL 07.

PRISM: Light the Way is a casual puzzler with some fun elements and easy-to-grasp play, although the game is best played in short bursts in order to break up the monotony.

The Office is a casual game that borrows heavily from "Diner Dash" and will appeal to fans of the show who have a passing interest in video games, and not really much else.

A solid sequel to "Feel the Magic," but the DS has been out a while, and using the system to play a variety of quirky mini games is not exactly foreign territory anymore.

A cheap redux of the original.

Though it was short and easy, I did have fun playing it.

If this product has a failing point, it has to be the graphical elements. But then again, this program is built so that just about anyone with a Pentium computer can play it.

A decent little game aimed for younger players. It has style and looks good. There are some minor issues but nothing that is overwhelming.

AI is absolutely down right dumber than a puppy chew toy.

Not only will Star Trek fans enjoy the characterizations, but fans of chess-style games will enjoy the online nature of this program.

Fans of the first two Pac-Man World games will certainly enjoy this game that might not add a refreshing new take on the series but had enough levels to keep your hands busy for a few hours.

Heroes of Annihilated Empires does the standard fantasy RTS elements just fine, but unfortunately doesn’t stand out in any particular way.

There's a lot going for this game, but there's also several strikes against it, namely bad camera design and sticky gameplay issues.

Dark Messiah feels like a missed opportunity, with some huge ideas but a definite lack of polish.

With weak enemy AI and a few so-so missions, the real treat here is how well the game handles true military tactics and the things our fighting men and women have to go through to make it in today's Army.

Despite a sizable list of issues to be fixed and features to be added, 2K8 still provides a decent baseball simulation.

The game is totally off kilter in its design and inception, but the good folks at The Adventure Company are on to something here and the next incarnation could be revolutionary.

It's fast, it's colorful, it's funny, and it goes down smoothly-in other words, it has many of the same things going for it as the Naruto comics themselves.

Fun at first, but after a while it falls prey to repetitive gameplay and mindless hack & slash action. At most, the game would be a good rental for fans of the Fallout PC series or those looking for more "Dark Alliance."

A decently fun platformer, with enough variety to keep it interesting, but one that suffers a little from awkward controls and too few game hours.

Control is simple though, and I’d have to say this might be a worthy diversion for a young gamer or perhaps a casual gamer, but a veteran gamer should seek elsewhere for that delicious, in-depth RTS fixin.

The game has numerous pitfalls, and is an average racing vehicle at best.

What FreeTime offers is good stuff. The clubs are nice but the real benefit is linking neighborhoods and terrain modification.

Advanced strategy game fans will find Airborne Assault a true challenge and this game should not be missed.

Cladun: This is an RPG will leave players smirking at the absurd storyline while exploring floor after floor of dangerous dungeons. It's a love letter to retro gamers, that knocks you down but keeps you coming back for more punishment, and makes each victory that much more satisfying.

Some things were executed nicely, such as illuminating the personalities of each Jackass character and molding them perfectly into video-game form. While other things fell short of the launch ramp, namely the poor length of the game and the quick repetition of concepts within different stunts.

If you love the film you’ll want to take the trip.

I did enjoy playing the game, but it is not addicting and somewhat frustrating to play. I did not find it realistic, nor were there any original challenges to spice it up. Cast, reel in and repeat.

In all honesty just another military fps/team based game.

Shining Force EXA is can be fun at times, but the simplistic combat can wear you down after a while, and the overall experience is lacking in depth.

The series’ most notable feature – unparalleled speed – was somehow lost on this installment. Frustration prevails, an element I hope is excluded from all future Sonic releases.