It seems that Konami knows that the novelty of the gameplay has worn off and made a number of attempts to freshen things up a tad. Unfortunately, those attempts severely fall flat and what you're left with is a game you've seen a dozen times over, just with a new soundtrack.

Mercury is a solid game that is easy to pick up, yet hard to master and certainly results in many hours of addictive gameplay.

A surprisingly pleasant game if you’re into fast pick-up-and-play gameplay and are enticed by cute visuals, card collecting, and card battling. It’s a fairly quick adventure, though, and a bit too easy to maintain an adult’s interest when more complex, similar titles are available.

Overall Madden 06 for the PlayStation Portable is a solid title with everything you’d expect from the mega-hit football franchise including great gameplay, graphics, audio and options, but the game falls short with in-game loading.

Although simplistic, the graphics are solid and impressive.

The game doesn’t feature spectacular crashes or a significant ability to modify your vehicles. Instead players are forced to perfect laps and drive very accurately meaning the title is either a hit or miss, there’s very little in between.

There is plenty of fun to be had here, but there is also plenty of room for improvement.

If you can only pick up one or two of the 360’s launch games, you might want to hold off on dropping $60 on a bare-bones edition of a game you already played.

Unfortunately complex systems and a light atmosphere can’t replace the features it needs to be a solid RPG.

Despite serving up a retread with one new mode and but adding a load of new characters, I still say itfs worth a buy from fans of the series that already have Ultimate Ninja in their libraries.

If you enjoy mindless destruction wrought by a bunch of maniacs driving at breakneck speeds through narrow, twisted tracks, then you may enjoy Flatout 2 as well.

If you are planning to buy Fritz 9 with the hopes of learning how to play Chess, run far, far away and don’t look back.

If you’re a war fan or love strategy titles, Battlestations Midway is definitely worth a spin. The only problem is that it’s more than likely going to be a hit only for hardcore gamers.

It's not an awful game, but it’s not exactly good either. Simply put, Mercury Meltdown Remix doesn’t feel comfortable on the PlayStation 2.

An awesome variety of modes, a huge roster, customization, and the entire Dragon Ball story tied up nicely in one package add up to a title that every DBZ fan ought to have.

While Combined Assault may not be the leap forward we would like to see in the SOCOM series, it’s still a very solid title that’s worth checking out.

Overall, NBA 06 has a lot to offer and plenty of hours of gameplay with the season mode, minigames, online mode and more, but the game just feels incomplete and rushed.

While Kingdom of Paradise does have several faults, the most hindering being the camera and the lack of a proper blocking mechanism, the game is still the best RPG on the PSP, and also one of the handheld’s better games.

If you’re looking for a fun, fast-paced arcade-style soccer title, then World Tour Soccer 2006 is something you’ll definitely want to pick up. It has easy to pick up gameplay, an interesting point reward system, and wireless multiplayer support, for both ad hoc and infrastructure mode.

There are just way too many issues at hand to recommend picking up this sequel until it hits the bargain bin.

The game’s audio, variety of weapons and moves keeps you interested for a while, but the game isn’t that long and is very repetitive, which certainly kills any buzz you originally had.

The game's audio, variety of weapons and moves keeps you interested for a while, but the game isn't that long and is very repetitive, which certainly kills any buzz you originally had.

The level of detail in the courses is outstanding, as are most of the player models, but it only features half the number of courses and a less involved career mode.

Fans of the series will be both pleased and slightly disappointed at the same time with the second Castlevania game to hit the third dimension, but to the casual gamer, it will be nothing more than an average action title.

Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit isn't a bad game by any means, but it brings nothing new to the genre.

Lost in Blue is an ambitious game that offers some quirky gameplay.

Simply put, SimCity doesn’t seem to work well on the DS and makes you realize that a good idea can be implemented unsuccessfully.

Certainly seems to be directed towards a younger gaming audience with its colorful environments, cute characters and simple controls. The game is pretty childish with a straightforward story mode and a nice selection of multiplayer games.