A vast improvement over its predecessor, just by adding Live play and improving the character management system.

A vast improvement over its predecessor. There are limitations to the hardware that really impact this particular platform, but 4-player co-op, even locally, is a great deal of fun.

Myst V certainly is not the leap forward game that the original Myst was, but if you like solving puzzles, Myst V will satisfy the Lara Croft or Indiana Jones in you.

The game is varied enough and contains enough special moves to give you a few runs though without feeling like complete repetition.

The two-player aspect might make it a wonderful game for a parent to play along with his or her child, as I think it makes a good tool for demonstrating cooperation and teamwork.

A passably decent game, all but ruined by some gameplay flaws and a lack of immersiveness.

Some of the more hardcore fans of the series may decry the lack of a plot in the game, but it really serves to get the player more involved and may also be a good draw for people who have never played the game before.

Fast, furious, funny, and a breeze to play through so it’s perfect for the weekend gamer.

This game is a refined and better game than "Burnout 3" even if there are a couple missteps along the way. The graphics, sound and overall sense of speed are greatly improved and the game is as addicting as ever.

A repetitive game that looks decent but has a horrible (lack of a) save game feature, Scooby-Doo! Unmasked is a perfect example of [a] recipe for mediocrity.

There are a few things that make me wonder how good the game could have been with a little more time devoted to adding more variation and leveraging some of the core concepts better. Either way, it is a solid effort that my kids are having a blast with.

Lockdown is definitely a good game for those who are new to the tactical shooter genre, but the controls hamper the enjoyment of the game.

Do not pick up Rainbow Six: Lockdown for the single-player experience. If you plan on picking this game up be sure you have Xbox Live because that is the only place you are going to find meaningful gameplay.

This game will have limited appeal, and only those who are fanatics of King of Fighters are likely to pick up this game.

With graphics that are muddy and sound that will make your eyes cross, this title has to lean heavily on the merits of the mechanics. Thankfully it is able to deliver the goods and the gameplay is fast, challenging, and fun.

It isn't quite as good as the "Smackdown" series on PS2, but in this generation of wrestling games not much is.

No matter how you slice it, it's a sub-standard driving game in the vein of the "Twisted Metal" series without the sense of humor or fun that was found in it.

Unfortunately, no matter how “hip” the culture is for the background story, without a good game, it falls flat. Take a ride, and let this game die a quick death.

It just seemed that the game conspired to suck all the fun out of it.

If you like Redneck jokes and the idea of taking short trips in a big rig, you might get a kick out of this game.

We should be glad they included both in this release and not separated them as Metal Slug 4 is the far lesser of the games presented here.

The run and gun gameplay and unique storyline delivers, even if only for a short while.

If you are a fan of the series then you absolutely have to play this. If you are a loot junkie, like I am, then you have to get this game, but if you are a hardcore RPGer looking for a challenge, you will be disappointed.

EyeToy Play 2 plays a lot like a flash game as it is fast and furious but ultimately not built to last. To combat that, Sony has provided us with an incredible catalog of unique minigames packed on this one DVD.

This is still a great game and it is the only licensed NFL game out there whether you like it or not.

This game is not very easy, but with the ability to choose where you're going and how you're going to finish the mission you may be able to find an easier way out of a situation than you were able to in the previous game.

A ridiculous amount of fun... for a while. I truly love the game and have had an absolute blast while playing, but parts of it will eventually wear on you. There are very few unique environments and combat animations, and the dancing mini-game and other elements will eventually test your patience.

I cannot stress strongly enough just how much fun and how addicting this game is.

The biggest complaint is that some of the English voices are really lacking, especially comparing them to how the Japanese voice actors sound doing the same (or similar) lines, and the entire jumping mess. Outside of that, this is a very solid title, and quite possibly a contender for 2005 RPG of the year.

This is a very well crafted game, and aside from the sound issues, fits perfectly into the GBA's hardware. Atlus did us all a favor by taking a chance on this and bringing it to North American shores. I can think of only one thing I want to do after playing through it and seeing one of the endings.

Its easy to pick up and control and the bosses are varied and challenging.

While the action is fast and frantic at first, it quickly becomes a bit too repetitive for its own good. With the camera issues and too much of the game played solo, Fantastic Four is a solid effort, but it comes short in the execution.

This is one of the best platformers around and easily stands up to the best that Sony puts out every year. I’d love to see a sequel.

With all of the options out there now, however, it really is a matter of too little, too late.

The action-based battles are not well thought out and are almost rudimentary compared to other superior action-based RPG games like "Kingdom Hearts," a game that came out almost 3 years ago.

If the controls were more solid and the graphics a bit better, then Juiced would be a winner. Instead, Juiced gets left behind in the dust.

I don’t enjoy the gameplay enhancements that Rockstar put on the game where it becomes more of an RPG with doing the upkeep on C.J. I also don’t enjoy the subject matter much with all the racial epitaphs flying around.

While the game might be a bit simple for some, veteran gamers will still enjoy the deep story contained within Still Life.

The graphics engine never really received enough attention to smooth it out, nor did the sound system. The control system is ambitious and unique but just doesn't pan out either.

I am disappointed that this version got so poorly ported over from the PS2 version, and it should at the very least recommend the use of a game controller on the box, but ultimately it was a fun children's game that my son very easily picked up and enjoyed.

I'm sold on Madagascar, this game is a blast and shouldn't disappoint the younger audience.

The length of the gameplay and the replyability makes for an enjoyable game once you get past the sometimes frustrating difficulty and the slightly awkward controls.

The major problem with that idea is that later in the game the platforming and strategy elements can become quite difficult and children may feel it is out of their grasp.

There are plenty of problems (collision detection, button mashing gameplay, few openings in boss battles and when they're there you can only do 3 strikes) that far outweigh the good (the simple concept of the boss battles is pure Star Wars fandom heaven) for this game to stand up to better action games out there.

It does one thing well and that is teach you a new way to take turns and drive.

If firing a weapon in a first-person shooter game starts feeling like a chore, you know there's a problem. If a cutscene leaves you more confused than enlightened about the story of the game, there's a problem.

A pretty good game, but it certainly can’t stand up to other RTS games out there. Regardless of that, Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars is an excellent 19th century based strategy game, a time period that has been dry for a long time.

A fantastic real-time strategy game that is a little overwhelming to those just moving into the series.

I never thought I would say this, but Wrestlemania 21 is worse than both RAW and RAW 2, a feat that is extremely hard to accomplish honestly. Don't even rent this game, it's not worth it.

It is well rounded, filled with features that you wouldn’t expect in a handheld, and it is a blast to play.

As a martial artist I can't express how much I'm enjoying this game. The styles are spot-on, the conversation is professional quality, the graphics are fantastic, and the storyline is everything you could hope for.

It fits squarely between "Need for Speed: Underground 2" (a game I didn't like) and "Burnout 3: Takedown" (a game I loved), but tends to lean very close to Burnout 3 on the scale.

It's downright lame. It feels exactly like what it is – a cell-shaded game where you have to navigate large deathmatch maps essentially picking up "keys" in order to progress to the next level. It's loud, it's uninspired, and gets boring after a few hours.

The hostile AI though is killer. They seem to know where you and your team are at all times, and occasionally you'll run across an opponent who has more than human reaction times and accuracy. Other times they'll blindly run into your cross fire as they're still following their scripted orders to get into position.

The gripping levels, native difficulty, realistic (and sometimes disturbing) situations, and all around fun gameplay combine into a fantastic game.

The innovative control system from 2002 is no longer innovative in 2005, the graphics are just not up to the level of other Sony first-party offerings.

The story is a bit of a rehash but thankfully some of the ‘monster-in-the-closet’ stuff is fixed.

Doom 3's visuals are an amazing testament to Vicarious Vision. They have taken a PC benchmarking staple and turned it onto an impossible console port.

It has a well told story and the environments are beautiful to behold.

Visually spectacular and open on the Xbox and PC, but very dark and claustrophobic on the PS2.

With this much improvement in the online mode after just one new game, I think Ubisoft will knock our socks off on the next generation of hardware.

The storyline is the same one it has always been and the difficulty is obscene.

The graphics, sounds, and controls are almost spot-on perfect replicas of their console counterpart. This is the best portable version of any Tony Hawk game to date.

D-Pad camera controls are painfully slow.

Possibly the best first-party game to ever come out on the Playstation 2. That’s a tough thing to say with Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper and Gran Turismo out there, but it’s simply the truth.

Those who are sick of the fantasy settings that seem to be commonplace within the MMORPG world will find this as a breath of fresh air. While the setting may be different, there are enough similarities for MMORPG players to feel at home.

For those people who are hardcore soccer fans, you're still going to be better off with the superior Winning Eleven Soccer series, which has more depth and details and dosen't have the problem that WTS 2006 has with the problems reading their menus.

Card gameplay has some good moments but eventually just becomes monotonous.

Lots of content and lots of things to do are always a good thing in a game, and it's definitely worth picking up as opposed to renting, mainly because you'll never get everything in the game done in a rental.

If you can get the Xbox or PC version, I would highly recommend that version over the PS2 version. If the PS2 version is your only option, then you won’t be disappointed.

A surprisingly engaging title. The story is full of twists and turns, and the way the story is threaded into the gameplay keeps you involved. The game isn’t frustratingly difficult.

I enjoyed Cold Fear for what it was – an average thriller with some above average story-telling and terrific use of atmosphere.

A must-have for Live and multiplayer enthusiasts, Phantom Dust is a breath of fresh air in the fps dominant world of online play. And at twenty bucks, it's practically theft!

This is a labor of love by Gearbox and if you’re at all into historical stuff, this game is for you.

A solid, if flawed game. That, combined with the prohibitive price (in comparison to its competitors) makes it a somewhat poor choice for this year.

It is a tough game, but once you get past the early part it is pretty smooth sailing.

Just the simple addition of being able to move while punching is enough to recommend this game hands down.

It is almost a management sim, like "Majesty" was...and it is almost a military sim, like "Starcraft" or "Age of Mythology." But it is unique in its design and only suffers from a few design flaws.

The graphics, sound and gameplay combine to form the best Tekken game yet.

The control is simply phenomenal with the Logitech Driving Force Pro... A force feedback wheel where it pushes against you as you go into a turn at high speeds is just spot on.

Project: Snowblind starts off with huge potential. The graphics, sounds, and controls are well done, even with the minor complaints.

If you are willing to stick with it, and accept that they may use terms that won't even get completely explained in this chapter, it is a decent science fiction story. It's just not simple to follow, and translation from Japanese to English probably did not help make things any easier to understand.

Falls into the usual pitfalls of not immersing the player in enough to make playing the game worthwhile. This is a rental at best.

And for the love of all that's holy, get some decent voice actors next time.

It’s unfortunate that this sequel has the blender feel to it, as the original game was a blast to play.

To be honest, I was really surprised by how well this game turned out. Usually when a company drops publishing rights it isn't such good news, not so for this game.

Tork is a fairly short game, especially because of the skew towards younger gamers.

It honestly has more of the feel that the original "Driver" gave on the Playstation, and that's a good thing. However, it isn't enough of an improvement to truly recommend this title as anything other than a rental or budget purchase.

The game world is hugely immersive, the danger is constant and mirrors the very real situation brewing right now, the ammunition and firepower are virtually unlimited, you can call in air strikes and bombardments from afar, and the missions are frequently inventive and require imagination to succeed at.

The scale of the online component is hard to believe, and the Conquest mode could play itself out as the best Xbox Live title-ever. While the single-player game is painfully unimaginative, it is undeniably fun.

Play the original NFL Street, you won't notice that much of a difference.

Wow, for a small startup developer like Starbreeze (whose only other released game was "Enclave" on the Xbox and PC) this is like dropping an atomic bomb for one of the first games you bring out.

This game mixes Gundam and fighting games in just the right amount, and I look forward to the tearing of metal limbs that will occur in my house for some time to come.

If you enjoyed SoT, you’ll most likely enjoy WW, just don’t expect a huge improvement over the original.

All and all, it just dosen't seem as fun, and that takes away from the overall experience.

It isn't that the game is bad, it is just that the mood, voices and music combine to create a game that you don't want to play.

It doesn't have a broad appeal outside of those pre-existing fanbases, although it might be a good title to get someone into RPGs in general.

Those of us that lived through the Atari and original Nintendo years will find this game to be a blast from the past, but you probably already knew that if you played the web game.