Improvements in puck physics means that hard shots can bruise your opponents, while last year's overly aggressive defense has been scaled back to realistic levels.

But after nine innings, it's basically the same game, including easy to master controls that'll finally allow you to be big man on campus.

Improvements in puck physics means that hard shots can bruise your opponents, while last year's overly aggressive defense has been scaled back to realistic levels.

The problem here is Blitz is a lot like Jerry Springer: if you’ve seen one episode, you’ve seen them all. This year’s edition does little to dispel that theory, since it comes with only a handful of new features, none of which include online play.

But after nine innings, it's basically the same game, including easy to master controls that'll finally allow you to be big man on campus.

The problem here is Blitz is a lot like Jerry Springer: if you’ve seen one episode, you’ve seen them all. This year’s edition does little to dispel that theory, since it comes with only a handful of new features, none of which include online play.

But even if you lack broadband, the bizarre characters and 13 arcade-style courses to choose from will keep you giddier than Carl Spackler on a gofer hunt.

For the casual player, this is archaic stuff that’ll provide about an hour of nostalgic fun.

Unfortunately, the controls are still choppy compared with Dreamcast blockbuster "Soul Calibur," which defeats the purpose of splurging on a new PlayStation 2.

It’s the perfect cross-breeding of "Super Mario Brothers" and "Hooters!"

With Heroes, D&D has severed its dorky roots in favor of fast-paced, arcade-style hackin' 'n' slashin'.

A game for those who think they don't make 'em like they used to, but should, Shodown is an exact replica of the classic arcade fighter.

It's too bad that clunky controls and eh game play stay forever buried in a time lock of dull sloppiness.

Stevie Wonder could breeze through this first-person shooter in under five hours.

While the kill-and-kill-again objective may be low in frills, the simple, straightforward action is a welcome break from a sea of complex games that currently take longer to set up than to play.

Though challenging, it's also sometimes pedestrian, with a host of uninspired levels and dim bad guys ruining what could have been the triumphant return of 007.

What’s really shocking, though, is that it plays as well as a regulation tennis game. It has the same responsive controls, and even lets you play online doubles with your friends—assuming they're more likely to chug a Country Club than apply to one.

Most of the game consists of endless management, such as babysitting your kids, managing your dough, and constantly mailing postcards to your friends so they don’t resent your ignoring them.

Decent graphics and gory (if kinda short) game play will keep most players nailed to the controller, but sometimes wretched camera placement sucks harder than the minions of Dracula at a Red Cross blood drive.

If you’re keen on tasteless, tongue-in-cheek jokes, smooth sailing lies ahead.

Now we don’t mean to be football snobs here, but there’s just something wrong when a downfield bomb takes longer to drop than the Goodyear blimp. Just ask the unconscious wide receiver that got clocked by a safety waiting for it to come down.

The concept and play consistently deal a royal flush, just ignore the choppy visuals, which can irritate like a pesky infection picked up at Miss Kitty’s Cat House.

Despite the occasionally clunky controls, Emperor’s Tomb does impress with its hand-to-hand brawls (Ms. Croft would be lost without HER weapons) and the free-range exploration allowed within each level.

Painstaking detail and suspenseful play make this a thinking sofa slug’s delight, though the deliberate pace might frustrate action fans.

This build-your-own-robot game gives grease monkeys a 20-story garage, hundreds of parts, and plenty of time to tinker with and create the ultimate 40-ton rig.

Such virtual destruction may once have seemed innocent, but these days the whole thing hits a little close to home.

We forsee you buying this game, enjoying it at first, getting frustrated at certain parts, then putting it on your shelf after you’re done and rarely playing it again.

Hilariously crude.