A rhythm game lives and dies by its music. Taiko Drum Master is packed with songs that you can find yourself playing for hours, and get a decent upper-body workout from too (hey, you try pounding through Oni mode for a couple hours without burning some calories).

Like a really hot looking Mercedes with only an AM radio, no cruise control, and cloth seats. It looks great, and it's fun to drive for a bit, but without all those sweet extras that are offered with virtually every other luxury sedan out there, it loses its charm rather quickly.

It reminds me of that old report card comment- the game has a lot going for it, but it isn't working to its full potential.

I found myself pretty disappointed with this purchase. The lack of offline multiplayer and minute fun factor really steered this game from any characteristic of a satisfying purchase.

It's EXCELLENT fun with the flight stick, but it's also $130 plus tax for that bundle...it had better be that good. (Add a +1 onto the gameplay, replay, and overall score for the scores with the Flight Stick.)

Until game companies stop using the GBA as their platform for "rough draft" games like this, stop buying them. Don't waste your cash on what amounts to a bad version coasting on the success of another, much higher quality game.

The game's so soundly mediocre I really don't have one thing to complain about.

It’s a sad waste of programming, and I still shower twice daily in the hopes that the stench of the game will come off. It’s ultimately like a fungal infection on DVD – foul-smelling, painful, and a relief to dispose.

Even the non-stellar titles are at least playable, and nothing that I would consider "bad," since they all had their own sort of innovative aspects.

The only negative thing that I can say about this game is that it is extremely addictive; players can expect to find themselves completely engrossed, blissfully unaware of how much time has passed since they picked up the controller.

This review was originally written before Jerry Orbach passed away. As a longtime fan of the series, I would like to add that he made the show truly great. He will be sorely missed.

There is no attempt at a quality title at all, this is a rushed copycat job in every way shape and form.

The game bases itself on immense amounts of repetition, which is an absolute dealbreaker. There is absolutely no reason to even rent this game; it's just not worth it.

Hopefully, Activision will finally decide that this is the year to take off and reinvent the series; otherwise, I won’t need to play "Tony Hawk’s Underground 3"; I’ll have played it six times already.

An enjoyable sequel, but shows signs of deterioration. Sorry Tony, maybe it's time you put away your board and retire while you're still on top.

It had the story, humor and graphics worthy of a Monkey Island sequel. Unfortunately, the game included several tedious and repetitive tasks, as well as a very frustrating arcade sequence, all of which managed to destroy the joy of playing and negated all good that the game offered.

Just an average game. It started out strong, but then it simply lost steam toward the end.

The best game I have played in months. The game managed to create the most complex yet most simple to navigate gameplay mechanism I have ever experienced.

Last year, I was absolutely incensed by "NBA Live 2004." The game that became the gold standard for basketball games back in 1995 had thrown up a brick...Another year, and I find myself looking back at my NBA Live 2004 review a lot...to cut and paste text for this year's review. They fixed virtually nothing; it’s practically same game.

For being something we celebrated so much, it's really just a mediocre game with one of the best tunes of all time, and that's not truly enough to be nostalgic about.

A solidly mediocre crossover fighting game. Hardcore fans of SNK's works may enjoy this one, as may folks who have no fighting games on their XBox. As for the average gamer, pass.

Even though I'm not blown away by the gameplay or even the different modes of play, I can definitely see a fair amount of replay value in this game.

It's a LONG role-playing game, but that's not necessarily a good quality when it becomes more of a chore than a hobby.

Donkey Konga's Tarukonga feels flimsy. The drums are too small to give a solid thump with your hand and so the layer of abstraction that's supposed to be formed there (i.e. you feel like you're playing an instrument, not hitting buttons on a controller.) is VERY quickly peeled back.

The best part is that players can zoom in to watch the battle in glorious detail, and players will want to zoom in just to sit back and watch the action.

Unless you decide to blow huge amounts of cash on the nicest floor pads available (and I mean the top-of-the-line metal ones, not the excellent Ignition pads that RedOctane puts out), this game is unplayable except with a standard controller. And let’s face it, this game is Dance Dance Revolution, not Finger Tap Revolution.

The kind of game you’ll either love or hate right off the bat.

The AI-controlled team mates are shockingly ineffective. They have the power; they have the abilities. Why can’t they take matters into their own hands more often, then?