Technically solid effort, concept is interesting, the voice interaction is outstanding. However, this would make a much better rental than a title to own.

While Contracts offers up some improved graphics and new levels, the gameplay remains untouched.

If you’ve played the PS2 version, nothing you’ll find here will make you see this game in a new light but this is truly the version to own if you own both systems for the bonus missions and crisper visuals.

Despite its great game modes and the amazing lineup of teams and players, World Tour Soccer 2005 doesn’t quite live up to the reputation or expectations of last years amazingly addictive game.

The great gameplay, excellent graphics and easy to use control system add up to a game worthy of everyone’s attention. However veterans of strategy games might want to give the game a try before jumping off into the deep end.

A great game that will truly be appreciated by FPS purists like myself who remember the good old days where all you needed was a bunch of ammo, some nasty monsters, periodic powerups, and an itchy trigger finger to get you from the beginning of the stage to the end.

I absolutely love the insane amount of weapons that this title includes.

This is the best PC soccer game – period. Graphically, adherence to the rules, and the whole atmosphere has been incredibly realized in this game.

It's got many of the elements that made "Metal Gear Solid" a success, like voice-overs that are performed by real actors. That alone is going to have the hardcore crowd buzzing.

The overall combination of simple search and find puzzles, great and horribly disturbing story and some of the most disgusting and scary monsters ever imagined just works yet a third time.

I simply can’t give this game as high a score as I did last year (9.3) because not much has changed. While I still think this game is superior to "MVP Baseball," it’s purely because of gameplay.

Wario Ware, Inc: Mega Party Game$ has offered some of the most fun 4-player gaming I have ever had.

Now all that Midway needs to do is to improve the AI and to focus more on the unique nature of 1 on 1 basketball. If they can do that, then they’ll have no problem rising to the level of "NBA Street" and maybe even beyond.

Simply put, this is one of the most accurate and lovingly devised sims ever created.

The gameplay is boring, the puzzles are so-so, the story is non-existent and the humor is bad.

The game has its moments, but ultimately its repetitive gameplay will see this game collecting dust after a few weeks except for those gamers demanding to unlock everything.

If it weren't for random crashes and long start ups, the game would have been much more enjoyable.

The concept of stopping the mob instead of some ancient civilization, railroad, or third world country is something different for a strategy game. But the mob just doesn’t seem like the mob during most of the game. You could easily replace the mob with ancient warrior of a great civilization and the game would play the same.

Although the some of the features show promise, War Times ends up being just another run-of-the-mill RTS.

While I liked the overall arcade feel to the game and I thought that the car handling was OK, I really thought that the track designs were pretty dull overall and that there just really wasn’t a whole lot of excitement to them.

It's the biggest leap in the series so far.

Despite the minor problems with the enemy detection and sometimes annoying "decoy" visuals, this is an entertaining game and one that kids will enjoy.

First they have a really immersive storyline, then a great fighting engine that hardly ever gets stale, and a wonderful camera.

Tried and true adventure game fare with several good puzzles integrated nicely into the story, especially at the end.

The character depth is not as strong as the first, but it answers some burning questions and in my opinion, the end opens up a whole new bottle of what now? A must for Kate Walker fans. Others may not get it.

Midnight Nowhere will leave you feeling like you’re in the middle of nowhere. Horror game fans will probably be able to tolerate the game, but others might have a problem.

There is plenty to enjoy in this game, especially if multi-tasking on a visual level doesn't intimidate. A nice strategic offering.

While Northland has a good focus on combat and more exciting missions than Cultures 2 had, it still has a lot of focus on the building and Godsim elements as well. This does add a ton of up front play to the game though, and it is amazing how addicting this game gets once you sit down and start getting into it.

The controls are decent, the game poses it's own unique challenges and the multiplayer is straight up fun.

A relatively solid shooter with some great features that gamers won’t be able to find else where on the PS2. However, when compared directly to the other versions of the game, the PS2 versions stands out as a shoddy port and only a shell of what it could be.

Because of its short gameplay, it is the consummate rental – a game that is easy to pick up and play and can be beaten in a few days. The life of a samurai warrior is simple, and so is this game.

Where Jack fails to succeed is an issue that will never be fully resolved in gaming: repetition. Samurai Jack is the same thing over and over. It never changes, never evolves.

Get very comfortable because Final Fantasy XI will have you so engrossed in its superbly massive world that you won’t want to leave your couch ever again.

Without a doubt one of the best single-player FPS experiences in years.

One of the most compelling online action games since "Counter-Strike."

Sluggish, unresponsive, and slow. Luckily, all you got to do to win is constantly hammer on the “shoot” button.

The stories are good, the voice work is strong but the investigating parts in between tend to get a little tedious. Even with all the cool CSI crime fighting tools.

Backyard Baseball does a great job of sustaining the pure addictive fun that is baseball without sacrificing its humor or little league appeal. At times I wish the game kept true to the rules of the game or kept some semblance of reality, but then again it’s the fantasy that keeps this one from getting boring.

Pandora Tomorrow flirts tantalizingly close to gaming perfection. All of the components are here, so with a little tuning for the inevitable follow up, perfection and pure gaming nirvana should be well within their grasp.

The game is a joy to control, even when using the more complex control schemes.

You cannot add cards to your deck without winning them in a long series of duels, so it wouldn't even be useful for trying to run tournaments, other than having people bring their decks on a memory card.

If you’re a point and click game nut, then add an extra point to all of the scores. The game offers an easy to use control scheme, good graphics, above average music and an interesting story. For gamers that just don’t have the patience anymore for a point and click game, then this definitely isn’t your game.

The gameplay is not involving, and most players will not finish this game, as there simply isn't any incentive or payoff to do so.

It's not every day that a survival/horror game is released without using any scare tactics. Maybe that wasn't their purpose. But this game has Resident Evil-style gameplay and a spooky soundtrack. What could they have possibly been trying to achieve?

I was absolutely blown away by UT2K4.

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

The nice thing about MLB 2005 is the customization factor. For example, if you are batting, you can dumb down the controls so all you have to worry about is timing. See the pitch, time it, swing, and hit it. But for the true fan, who seeks to be totally immersed in the game, you can take over complete control of the batting.

From start to finish the gameplay is a balanced mixture of simplicity and unimpressive-ness.

A poorly executed game with an original concept that is held back by its repetitive action and uninteresting world.

We would have liked to have seen more optional tasks and interactivity between characters, but the game is still great fun to play.

All the new weapons, aircraft, and landside vehicles fit the time period and are well equipped for battle. The addition of helicopters really expands on the tactics and the way battles are fought.

Very disappointing, it offers nothing new to the table, yet it has so much potential that it wants to let out, and the graphics alone prove that.

The 3-D element didn’t change the overall elements of the game that made it great, and in addition it was a smooth changeover in my opinion that went surprisingly well.

Unfortunately, unless you have very young children that might enjoy the game’s simplistic gameplay and storyline, fans should best avoid this game and those interested in seeing more Scooby Doo should tune into Cartoon Network or visit the theatres instead.

The game is smooth, somewhat linear, but does have challenge with multiple enemies, a good AI and interesting ways to kill your foes.

There’s more than enough compelling features on this one disc to warrant a purchase, especially if you’re the kind of person who puts those extra few controllers to use as often as possible.

For those turned off by the gameplay mechanics of "Silent Hill" and "Resident Evil," this may be the horror game you’ve been waiting for.

Fairly easy controls that actually respond differently between the different corvette models AND when upgrades are done on the cars. An easy to use setup that racing fans will feel very familiar with.

I really didn’t know what to expect going in, I mean, “How fun can spraying water at fire be?” Turns out its pretty darn fun and compelling.

This game will offer you hours upon hours of entertainment with the deep Dynasty Mode, Homerun and Pitching showdowns, and the wonderfully crafted online play!

All new pitching and hitting interface make the game approachable for beginners but with nice subtleties to keep even great players still working to fine tune their game.

I would not recommend this for too many teenagers and below, because the action is more slowly paced and more emphasis is placed on technical specs of your ship than graphical wizardry during the battles.

Don't get this game specifically for the driving or the shooting sequences. Rather, pick it up if you appreciate a solid story based action game with the mimicry of "GTA" (without all of the bells and whistles).

To top things off, you can switch from third-person to first-person view whenever you want. You'll swear you're playing two different games depending on the view.

As solid as a tactical espionage action game can get. This remake belongs next to the Resident Evil remake, which to this day stands as being one of the best GameCube releases.

For the $20 price tag it may provide a few hours of gaming fun to you FPS fans out there, but there may not be much more to it than that so buy with caution.

The steep difficulty, erratic AI and overall lack of balance in the gameplay ultimately flaw the experience.

Quite possibly the best rally racing game available for the Xbox thus far, Colin McRae Rally 04 is the game to buy if you’re looking for rally racing done right.

Battle Chip Challenge plays a lot like an electronic gambling machine; hardly interactive but fun all the same.

Not to say that this game doesn’t have a few good qualities, but they’re dampened by barren level design and poor enemy AI.

Graphically stunning and a whole lot of fun.

If only Lifeline was as good at recognizing words as it is at ignoring them.

It just feels like Drakengard could have used a lot more polish, such as no frame rate issues, a better draw-in distance, and better AI.

Mystery Mayhem does a fine job of capturing the feeling and atmosphere of the beloved TV series, but the overly simplistic gameplay is where the game falls short.

A must have if you absolutely love the genre. The casual player however, may not find this to be one to add to their game library, but is definitely worth the price.

Gorgeous graphical elements, outstanding animation and a solid storyline with strong challenge – what more is there to say?

It has the potential to be a really great game franchise for the developer, the building blocks have all been laid, but the gameplay and execution this time around, keep it from succeeding.

The best motocross racer you can buy right now.

My enjoyment quickly turned into boredom as I restarted at a certain save point over and over again, due to my "scare" power meter running out every time a ghost ran over me after escaping from my attempted Tome catching.

When you're screaming and yelling at the game, wishing that the enemy will fall, you'll find it nearly impossible to put the controller down and walk away.

A great rental, but not such a fantastic purchase. It doesn’t have a lot of replay value, and is incredibly simple (I mention that for the billionth time).

But once you get a feel for the camera and compensate for its flaws, the game opens up and feels so free. It's fun to just rush through each level.

There is no sense in reinventing the wheel, but this comes off as a lazy, rehash of current games. You can't ride on a name for long.

Strong graphical elements power this title along. It is amusing and entertaining. That said, veterans of the side-scrolling arcade-like adventure titles might find it a touch predictable.

It's good for multiple play-throughs in a row. How many games can you say that about?

The shooting levels definitely benefit from the 3rd person perspective but the targeting controls could use some more work.

It's repetitive. Extremely repetitive. That's really all that needs to be said. I can praise the control scheme until I'm blue in the face, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the game repeats itself like a radio station with a small collection of songs.

The best soccer game on the market. The animations are amazing and the gameplay is smooth. This is a blast to play.

3rd person shooter done right. James Bond has all the moves and weaponry you will ever need.

It's a long game, and that can go a long way in this industry. You'll be playing this one for weeks.

The high production values of this game, actually take a back seat to the gameplay and experience, blending in as only one facet of the whole package, as it always should. An outstanding game all the way around.

More fun to watch than it is to play. If you love Lupin, rent it for the story sequences. You'll be amused by those. But the gameplay is a lot less amusing, so don't expect the world from this title. Don't expect much at all.

If you enjoy third person action titles or RTS games, and enjoy some really good battles in between building and resource gathering all wrapped around a good vs. evil story which is interesting and contains some decent plot twists, you will definitely want to check out Spellforce.

The fighting controls seem very sluggish, and even the faster style creatures seem to move as slow as the bigger ones which kind of makes them lose the competitive edge.

This game is for the hack and slash fan who enjoys a lot of action with their RPG titles vs. a lot of story and character stuff which is a definite 180 turn from the MMORPG style that EQ is commonly known for.

Somewhere between Shinobi 1.5 and a full-fledged Shinobi sequel. Nightshade has all of the Shinobi gameplay elements you grew to love two years ago. It also has new moves, a better camera targeting system (better meaning improved – it's still not perfect, and will likely drive you nuts from time to time), and more enemies to kill than you could ever desire.

Not overly complex in terms of overall gameplay. It is geared for novices to the genre and will provide a light challenge to veterans. Consider this merely an average title.

Skimping on a tutorial may have some gamers a bit frustrated, but after you take the time to toggle some things on and off and re-map the keys you will find it really is not that hard. Those hard core helicopter fans will find the simulation mode quite challenging.