With sleek modeling on all the craft, breakneck action and speed in all the levels, and detail that only a Star Wars fan can appreciate (like the Snowtroopers running towards the Hoth generators), this game is as superior in the graphics category as you can get.

Batman Vengeance had a hopeful start, but the controls, cameras, and crappy graphics make this bat look like a rat.

It wears on you after a while, but for new players, you have a lot of passengers to pick up before you get jaded.

But what really takes Madden forward are the great extras, which this year include a Two-Minute Drill mini-game, create-a-player, -team, or –league modes, Coach’s Challenge, and more.

A poorly controlled game with hard-to-perform tricks can’t quite destroy one of the best looking water racers ever made.

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

All Star Baseball 2002 isn't perfect; there could be changes made in the hitting and fielding interfaces, but it is damn near perfect.

With the exception of the very tight turns in the game, it's as easy as shelling peanuts once you get a few practice rounds in.

Looking for the mot realistic hockey game ever? Look elsewhere. NHL Hitz is about adrenaline and ass-whuppin' - in that order.

The thing that Oddworld does that’s so fascinating to gamers is that it transports you to another world, a totally believable place where you’re more than happy to stay and play for a while.

The only way to make the game any more fun is to through in the options that would make any four-wheeler drool, and the game has plenty of that.

You watch in amazement as enemies dance and react to your gun fire, the AI gets progressively stronger throughout the game, with enemies that will avoid you and eventually out think you.

You'll love playing this one over a snow-bound weekend, but probably return it to the rental counter by the time your senses thaw.

The game is still fun to play while respecting the limits of physics and surfboards.

With the excessive amount of tricks available, well planned and superbly designed skate parks, and solid soundtrack, it almost makes you forget that there's a guy named Mat Hoffman waiting in the wings.

Even though small additions have been made, you'd be better off waiting for THPS3.

The game play appeals to the young and hopelessly naïve gamers who think they're reliving the movie experience. Good luck to them - to the rest of us, spend your X-bucks on something a little more sophisticated.

It's a great football game, but Madden edges it out because of superior execution and substance.

Imagine it this way – it's as if you're playing Tony Hawk in a minefield, and you'll lose your points if you tap a mine.

A simple flight combat game with stunning visuals (like most X-Box games, stunning visuals and great game play seem to hide from each other), mediocre sound, and good controls.

There's not a lot holding DOA3 back from becoming X-Box Game of the Year: it's that good. Every time you pop this disc in you're instantly amazed by the leaps and bounds that the X-Box engine has achieved.

It's a good title for what it is - Crash Bandicoot gone psycho.

The controls are probably the one thing that makes the game more challenging than it looks. Because there's so much going on, the camera angles will sometimes veer out of control, causing you to lose your place in a tense firefight.

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.

It looks better than the PS2 version, and it plays a little more solidly.

The game is exhausting because of the number of different races, but it doesn’t take long to get bored with it.

Fluid handling, detailed cars and tracks, varying weather conditions, and an impressive 43 cars on the playing field all add a sense of depth to a game that was once known as the smallest niche in the race market.

All of the high-speed grinding, nosebleed big-air tricks, and spectacular board-twisting, body-contorting tricks of THPS are just as eye-catching and thumb-numbing as they were before, but now they’re enhanced by gorgeous snow-parks and powder-packed resorts.