If you're expecting jittery "Unreal Tournament"–style multiplayer action here, you'll be sorely disappointed...The real fun is in a story that leads you so deep into hell, with rich graphics and engulfing sound, you can practically smell the sulfur.

Your hard-won mastery of the throttle and brake can mean the difference between surviving to the next stage or taking in the scenery from the bottom of a roadside ditch.

The most fun comes in the game's "Race for the Heisman," an all-new game mode separate from, but similar to, "Dynasty."

No longer is there just one way to solve a treacherous night mission before the enemy picks up your audio signature: stealth will pay off just as well as good old-fashioned ultraviolence.

Awesome.

Though it adds a new playable character, tougher skill levels, and the option to speed everything up 20%, it still has the same annoying and unavoidable music, occasionally stiff controls, and that frustratingly limiting “chose your style of fighting” system that made the original Cry 3 a lot less fun than the first two incarnations.

Though the one-player mode can get a bit stale, it's saner than picking fights at the local Teamsters hall.

The most fun comes in the game's "Race for the Heisman," an all-new game mode separate from, but similar to, "Dynasty."

And once you learn to handle swapping positions at the tap of a button, you'll realize that beneath the cuddly, kiddie veneer lurks a fiercely competitive game that's all about spanking the baby powder off your opponents.

The action is so intense and over-the-top that you have to wonder if Mario Lemieux would have reconsidered unretirement if he played this game a year earlier.

While this Xbox sequel is even quirkier, it’s just as insanely addictive...[and] plays like one big ghetto-fabulous party. Word.

After playing this game you’ll understand exactly why, short of a crate of opium-laced Snickers bars, nothing is more satisfying than leveling city blocks by the dozen with a 50-ton robot.

The only "improvements" consist of a slew of extra outfits, yawn-inducing training missions, and a handful of bonuses that only the most avid Gear geek could appreciate. If that’s you, fine.

Call of Duty 2 isn't a bold new game, but subtle improvements and new historical battles deliver a good reason to keep fighting.

If you can overlook minor perspective problems, Onimusha’s intense combat, stunning graphics, and involving story make this a masterpiece hotter than a mouthful of wasabi.

Kiss the rest of your summer (and your loved ones) goodbye and get ready to spend all your waking hours indoors, sitting next to a giant bag of Fritos, agonizing over 4–3 blitz packages.

Missions full of vehicles to wrangle and people to off feel like a cross between "Grand Theft Auto" and "Metal Gear Solid," with a dash of "Contra" thrown in for spice. Destroy everything and get paid; this is foreign policy at its finest.

While these side-scrolling action games are still addictive and challenging, it's hard to get nostalgic over games with release dates from 2002 and 2003, respectively.

It may not boast garages bloated with the usual name-brand chick magnets you find in other racing games, but the dark racing underbelly of Midnight Club II has every bit as many thrills as the leading grease monkey autopia.

A potent Molotov cocktail of intrigue and fast, bloody action.

The action is intense, and the super-strong vehicle lets you slam into walls and other racers without worry.

Kiss the rest of your summer (and your loved ones) goodbye and get ready to spend all your waking hours indoors, sitting next to a giant bag of Fritos, agonizing over 4–3 blitz packages.

An addictive romp.

Thrones also gets points for cribbing Sam Fisher's stealth skills and using a whip-like weapon that will send "God of War" fans scurrying to gaming chat rooms to voice their displeasure with the similarities. Thankfully, the controversy is worth it for this energetic adventure.

The action's a teenage fan boy's wet dream, all leering lizard-men and sneering, scantily clad vixens who exchange gunplay and close-range combat moves like speed freaks in a slap fight.

The straightforward online action in Paragon City gives you instant access to hordes of computer-controlled villains to vaporize, but the real payoff comes in teaming up with other misfit crime fighters for orgies of virtuous ass kicking.

Freedom is king here, and you’ll know what we mean the first time you tear through a fast-food drive-thru or scare shoppers to death in a Los Angeles, Tokyo, or London mall.

An addictive romp.