Fun, exciting, tough, and educational - don't let that last part scare you. By the time you realize you've learned something, there will be thousands of slain warriors at your feet.

Harvest Moon 64 features no aliens whatsoever. While we’re at it, there are no dancing monkeys for you to "be". Don’t even think about laying waste to some hellish underground network with your super-powered death rays, either. Doesn’t sound like fun? Neither does collecting a hundred and fifty animals but look how well pokemon turned out.

Rez is mindless, simple fun - with the emphasis on fun. If you don't blow out your eyes on this one, you're sure to blow out your thumbs.

The bar by which other shooters will be measured. Get one, and get some new batteries, because we’re sure you’ll be hooked by this game.

This one is just for the old-schoolers who want to remember when gaming was a niche and not a business.

This game is now the standard by which all other games have to live up to this year. It’s a great game with some serious chilly thrills...CB2K1 snatches the crown from the hands of "SSX" thanks to speed and style.

While it's not going to set anybody's house on fire, it's a title with broad appeal that's as worthy of being a top launch title for the system, as the original Ridge Racer was.

There's a lot more to do here than there is in Thunder. But whether or not you get to the mini-games will depend on your skill and your patience. If you develop both during the first few rounds of Heat, you'll be hooked. We were.

After months of 2K1, GameDay, and Madden, Blitz is a welcome and very fun addition to the football lineup.

All said and done, Knockout Kings 2002 does not have a contender in sight, leaving it as the definite king of the ring.

It almost goes without saying that the game controls impeccably and sounds great (this is Need for Speed, after all), so the excellent variety of play modes and fresh-feeling historically-oriented gameplay should be more than enough to convince you of the title’s worth.

Drakan tries - and sometimes succeeds - in being better than average, but it eventually gets Drakan'd right back to a formulaic adventure game.

The best version of this game lives on the Box - accept no substitute.

A quality football game with an excellent pedigree behind its game engine...the most serious deficiencies being in the undeveloped legacy mode and the horrendously bad commentary.

The most interesting thing about the game is its very nice looking 3D engine.

Somewhat less than the sum of its parts, StarLancer just doesn’t provide anything we haven’t seen before.

It's as good as a game like this can be -- the only negative is that we've seen it all before.

There’s no way the game will appeal to those who can’t stand Pokemon. There’s just not enough to make the game stretch that far.

A pure adrenaline rush, a fun-filled fantasy representation of a sport that already has its over-the-edge moments.

The mechs are slow and ponderous, the missions linear, and the controls complicated.

We only recommend it to fans of the series and RPG players who can't stomach all the fancy-shmancy-ness of RPG's like Final Fantasy and games of their ilk.

It may be derivative, but it’s still a lot of fun. The only real negative may be that most players have probably not heard of many of the included characters.

Using elements of "Ridge Racer," "Gran Turismo," and even Sega's "Super Hang On," Namco has come up with one of the best motorcycle racing games ever.

The engine sounds of these oddly shaped cars is almost perfect.

Maneuvering Jehuty is about as intuitive as you can get with the use of a single analog stick. Every combat option from firing your weapons and thrusters to raising your shields becomes an extension of your hand.

The hardest part of the game is listening to E. Gadd, and the biggest challenges are the patterned and easily beatable bosses.

There are so many options to earn -- like new levels, more continues, faster recharge on your special weapons – that you’ll find yourself playing over and over again just to see what’s next.

It's the gameplay, though, where NHL Faceoff comes through, even outdoing EA's series in some respects.