For double-agent wannabes, we suggest renting a copy. Playing through Casino Royale is worth the thrill despite the game’s many flaws. But if you wanted an interactive version of the newest Bond fl ick or a game to replace the Call of Duty experience, Quantum just doesn’t make the cut.

A collection like this should be extremely quick, easy fun, and Museum's quirks detract too much from that. [Holiday 2008, p.74]

Older kids will undoubtedly roll their eyes at this harmless sequel, but its simple platforming hub and dozens of unpredictable mini-game spokes cater nicely to youngsters with short attention spans. [Jan 2009, p.75]

Those intrigued by 19th-century strife should wait for a price drop: $50 is too much to ask for such a slim package. [Jan 2009, p.75]

Unless you dream of defending the president, there are better sacrificies. [Jan 2009, p.76]

But it’s still a letdown. If only this had been packaged with more goodies or delivered digitally for a more reasonable price.

It seems content to merely bridge the gap between the quirky RPG charm of "Episode 1" and whatever's next without even getting out of the car to stretch a bit. [Dec 2008, p.72]

If you and/or your kid love the show enough to tolerate all that…you should still stick with the infinitely superior XBLA game Wits & Wagers.

Games this captivating do not come along often. Between its engrossing story, ginormous world, well-crafted RPG side, and white-knuckle FPS combat, Fallout 3 completely, utterly gives you your $60 worth. [Dec 2008, p.52]

Baja 1000 sputters by with what just might be the worst vehicle handling of the decade. [Jan 2009, p.75]

There's a definite downshift in graphical swagger (no more heat-haze and speed-blur visual effects), but MotoGP 08 delivers pretty much everything else a two-wheeled racing fan could ask for. [Dec 2008, p.87]

The game's at least competent, and that's surely good enough for fans. [Holiday 2008, p.83]

It’s one of the 360’s best social experiences, and one that anyone can enjoy. That it also doles out Gamerscore points like candy on Halloween only makes us even happier to play it.

World Tour is a big leap in content and polish over last year’s game, but we’re disappointed by a few unsatisfying creative calls. The extended song endings aren’t always enhancements, the unlockable gear doesn’t match the effort put forth to earn it, and we prefer Rock Band 2’s looser career-unlock structure. Most of all, Rock Band 2 simply feels more musical and organic; we get the suspicion that some World Tour songs had notes added to their charts simply to make them trickier, and not because the music suggested it.

Clever humor that'll have you chuckling for months. [Dec 2008, p.93]

Fable II is everything Molyneux promised the first time around. It's funny, deep, emotional, epic, and, yes, wildly charming. We are already eager for a second playthrough, and we're betting a lot of you will have exactly the same reaction. [Dec 2008, p.68]

Perhaps the developers should have put a bit less effort into securing voice actors(Mark Hamill, Wayne Brady, and Elijah Wood have roles)and a bit more into fine-tuning the mechanics. [Holiday 2008, p.67]

Shadows has a dark side of its own, with a few glitches like foes and objectives occasionally disappearing or freezing, but they’re not enough to mar this otherwise spectacular adventure.

The biggest disappointment is that the six character classes, experience-based upgrades, and full-featured level editor can't elevate online play past the sheer rote familiarity of deathmatch, capture the flag, and control-point variations. But even though Far Cry 2 isn't quite a sandbox-shooter masterpiece, it is a consistently fun and intensely challenging trek into the ailing heart of the dark continent.

Unfortunately, in the few areas where this version aims for freshness, it comes up flat. [Holiday 2008, p.83]

At best, Disney Sing It is a gateway game to Rock Band or SingStar for Disney Channel devotees. [Dec 2008, p.92]

An extremely solid racer with moments of greatness; but just enough flaws to keep it from the ranks of the classics. [Dec 2008, p.82]

What a colossal mistake! [Dec 2008, p.93]

The included map editor defines the term user-friendly. [Oct 2008, p.84]

Despite its baffling looks, booming resonance, and asymmetrical layout, Rock Revolution’s controller is not actually the game’s biggest problem; it’s Rock Revolution’s note charts and the onscreen icons that make the game so joyless.

Good luck ffinding a game on Live, anyway--the servers are barren, and with cut-rate production values like this, it's not hard to see why. [Holiday 2008, p.83]

We expect a few things from a modern arcade-style brawler: reasonably placed checkpoints, more than one playable character, varied enemies, and multiplayer. Golden Axe: Beast Rider, Sega’s reinvention of the arcade classic, delivers none of them. Perhaps the worst oversight of the bunch is the lack of multiplayer options.

Ironically, these rough edges seem almost at home in the messy, funny, in-your-face world of Saints Row 2. Stilwater isn’t pretty; it’s a dark, dangerous place. But as it turns out, there’re lots of big thrills here, and it’s well worth the $60 to live here for a while — whether you’re a lawful citizen or a would-be gangster.

A few standard scare tactics (dramatic music, flickering lights) and gory battles may satisfy hardened fans of horror, but loot-hunting and taxi missions will likely haunt your dreams more than the given monstrosities of death.

It’s not as deep as Madden, by design; Blitz: The League II is an action game wearing pigskin, tucked inside a salacious sports soap-opera with a sick sense of humor. But ultimately, it’s the accessible gameplay that makes Blitz a pleasure — guilty as charged.

The best addition, though, is undoubtedly the glorious 10-vs.-10 Be A Pro online mode, which lets every participant commit to a single position for the duration.

Traditional baseball-sim junkies will recoil at the ease and simplicity, but kids and casual fans might enjoy stepping up to this plate.

It grows repetitive far too fast, and a few uninspired multiplayer modes do little to extend the fun. [Holiday 2008, p.74]

Coupled with a limited soundtrack(just nine songs, split between J-Pop anthems and corny keyboard jams)and uninteresting original characters, Beat'n simply feels like a half-hearted attempt to introduce an old game to a new audience. [Holiday 2008, p.83]

With the power to shift the very earth beneath your feet, Fracture could have reshaped the action genre. But repetitive missions and a barren plot leave only the multiplayer to shake this shooter loose from the rest.

But the gameplay is unnecessarily complicated, with the busy HUD being the worst example. [Nov 2008, p.75]

But ultimately, there's very little about Mind Over Mutant that makes it worth your $50 or the four hours it takes to complete. [Holiday 2008, p.67]

Realistic animations anchor that gameplay. When LeBron drives the lane and fades away for a jumper in the paint, or when Tony Parker stumbles around a pick, every elbow, jersey, and sweatband organically articulates their momentum.

Like the New Orleans Hornets of the videogame world. It performs surprisingly well this season, and with a little more experience next year, it could be a title contender. [Nov 2008, p.70]

You’ll certainly enjoy the explosive chaos of these Unreal Tournament–style battles; but with only four game modes and limited match options, even blowing your opponents to smithereens can get boring.

From its quirky mechanical enemies to its strident strains of deliciously lo-fi music, this run-and-gun platformer honors the 8-bit era.

From its leaden, cheap-shots-aplenty combat to its wild-goose chase through gray, same-y hallways filled with useless, placebo doorways to a story that takes much too long to get off the ground, its entire first half feels like a death march through a clunky hot mess. [Nov 2008, p.73]

Greatness. The one-liners and parodies are still funny, the level design is outstanding. [Nov 2008, p.64]

The successes massively outweight the mistakes here - which, strangely enough, is exactly how we'd describe Matt Baker, the game's troubled hero. [Nov 2008, p.62]

Gameplay depth comes from mastering the basic skills..., but none of this is overcomplicated: Pure delivers that prized "pick up and play" experience with several shots of adrenaline. [Oct 2008, p.72]

Koei fanatics might be satisfied, but everyone else will be as disappointed as ever. [Nov 2008, p.76]

While Lego Batman is loaded with goofy charm and humor, its original storyline is paper-thin.

This new Cabela's entry is more like "Most Boringest Wanders," thanks to a shoddy objective marker that either randomnly disappears or leads you in circles. [Holiday 2008, p.74]

The refined physics mesh with the superbly slick controls to create and authentically challenging racing experience, chock full of wicked-fast wheeling. [Nov 2008, p.61]

Super-addictive twitchfest with a terrific theme. [Sept 2008, p.74]

The clean, simple interface serves Domino Master well, but complete games (composed of several matches) drag on too long, and the tile-placement guides slice too much of the plotting and planning from the experience. [Dec 2008, p.73]

With its non-branching storyline and no multiplayer, Force Unleashed is certainly less ambitious than the classic "Jedi Knight" games - and ultimately, its design makes it feel more videogame-y and less of an all-engrossing Star Wars experience than Xbox entries like "Jedi Knight II" or "Jedi Academy." But when the game is on, it's on. [Oct 2008, p.70]

Unless you're a major mech fiend, you'll lose interest within a few hours. [Dec 2008, p.87]

Battle Fantasia may be a niche game for a specific audience, but otaku will live happily ever after.

At its worst, Rock Band 2 feels like a massive expansion pack that fills in the gaps from the original game. At its best, it’s a rewarding and refined excuse to pick up your fake career where you left off — laughing and rocking with friends near and far for a group thrill that few other games can deliver.

Soundtrack worthy of a Danny Ocean and Tarantino showdown. [Feb 2008, p.80]

But with a core game that stands strong, and Live matchups that are fairly smooth, Samurai Shodown II remains an enjoyable beatdown for fighting fans. [Dec 2008, p.93]

A fascinating diversion you could spend the rest of your life pursuing, but this presentation of it is disappointingly short on frills.

Impact nails the feel of wrestling, but adding a new coat of paint to an old-school style won’t be enough to entice those seeking something fresh. Fans of the genre or “sport,” however, have an accessible and fun wrasslin’ game worth sticking in their collection.

Zoids Assault's gameplay is certainly challenging, but regrettably, it's for all the wrong reasons. [Nov 2008, p.78]

We love it when a sports game comes together. With NHL 09, all the potential this series has teased us with for the past two seasons has finally gelled into actual, grade-A greatness.

Yes, the graphics are sharply upgraded, the new 12-player online matches are wicked fun, the Franchise mode is deep and detailed, and the silly Zamboni mini-game somehow mesmerized us. But with NHL 09 turning in such an all-star performance (see review, left), this exercise in nostalgia is enjoyable…but unnecessary.

FaceBreaker delivers fast online brawls, and the constant back-and-forth of counters, stuns, and outrageous signature moves yields a surprising amount of room for strategy and style. As tiresome as solo scuffles become, exciting multiplayer bouts against unpredictable humans save FaceBreaker from a TKO.

The interface is considerably easier to navigate than the menu-heavy original Head Coach. [Sept 2008, p.69]

If you've got a few friends, it can actually be pretty fun. [Apr 2008, p.76]

With clunky controls and no real deterrent from dying--for a Game Over, you simply lose all the points gained so far in the current level--Shred Nebula seems a bit too easy. [Dec 2008, p.73]

For anyone who enjoys tossing cards, this game is a relaxing experience, and worth chilling out to. [Sept 2008, p.79]

That simplicity is also its biggest problem--pointing and clicking requires little strategy, so rather than always playing, you'll be watching dudes fight. Yawn. [Dec 2008, p.73]

This whole setup would fall apart completely if the red-headed Capell weren’t so freakin’ likeable. It helps that despite the fumbling voice-acting, each character’s lines — as well as the story itself — are well-written. Every new discovery pulls you deeper into the mysteries and personalities that keep Infinite Undiscovery so involving.

Even if there were room to experiment, a few dozen animals aren’t sufficient to lure back veteran gardeners for long, and newcomers are bound to wonder why life on the island is so needlessly difficult. In the end, Trouble in Paradise proves to be aptly named.

A glorified mini-game. [Oct 2008, p.85]

It’s a giant, busy sandbox full of all kinds of fiery and destructive toys, but you have to get a firm handle on the game’s uneven tempo and immersion-breaking little quirks to fully enjoy the amount of freedom it offers.

Every inch of the hand-drawn kingdom is brimming with endearing eccentricity. [Oct 2008, p.76]

Incredibly satisfying. [Oct 2008, p.82]

It's great that Tiger 09 doesn't add 17 new mini-games, but instead reformulates its approach to your golfer's skills and gear with dramatically improved results. [Oct 2008, p.81]

With just a five-area adventure mode and a points-focused championship mode (and no multiplayer). there's a lot less content here than in, say, the recent "Geometry Wars 2". [Nov 2008, p.80]

Obvious problems (the shaky camera, poor targeting system, and inconsistent frame rate) match up with sheer annoyances (the 25-second-long, unskippable death sequences) to degrade the expectedly repetitive experience, but that’s not all that stuck in our craw. Capping the enjoyable online co-op at just two players (with no local play) seems ludicrous in this day and age; even PSO was rocking four players on a 56K connection in 2001!

Smash Court Tennis 3 straddles the line between Virtua Tennis’s arcade style and the technical aspects of Top Spin, but ultimately it comes off only as a sluggish imitator of both.

So yes, we recognize and appreciate that this is an exact remake of a classic game, but the bottom line is, many of you will decide that its unforgiving nature saps too much fun out of what is otherwise a lovingly reassembled classic.

The 3 mini-games in this Fable II companion are decidedly mixed. [Nov 2008, p.80]

We're happy to report that Madden NFL 09 represents the pinnacle of the modern Madden era. [Sept 2008, p.68]

The last-gen graphics aren't godawful, but they're a far cry from the 360's near pixel-perfect presentation. Who cares, though: it's fun to play the Xbox one last time. [Sept 2008, p.71]

Braid is absolutely a game you shouldn’t miss.

We’re more than a little sore about the inexcusable lack of online play, but between the startlingly sharp neon visual aesthetic, the bumping new soundtrack, and smartly integrated Achievements, Retro Evolved 2 sets a new standard for arcade shooters on any platform, downloadable or otherwise.

To our surprise (and relief), adding the diminutive Jedi master to the melee mix turned out to be more than just a Force-fueled marketing ploy. He controls like a dream, animates as acrobatically as his Attack of the Clones counterpart, and amuses when responding to the conceited cast with his backward-speak: "Once you start down the dark path, consume you it will."

The cartoonish, blocky graphics don't help, but constantly challenging gameplay and surprisingly smart A.I. make this a game that all strategy nuts will enjoy. [Oct 2008, p.85]

A rental at best. [July 2009, p.81]

Also annoying is the frequent, noticeable slowdown when a lot of effects start flashing on-screen, particularly during online play.

If you're into music and/or puzzle games at all, Break Steady is worth a gander for its single-player and versus throwdowns. [June 2008, p.77]

Put your $10 toward a newspaper subscription instead. [Oct 2008, p.85]

The individual layers of variation don't run terribly deep, and offline exhibitions only cast a harsh light on amateurish A.I. flaws, but Double D Dodgeball's offbeat mix of arcade action and online sporting teamwork still packs enough fast-paced intensity and simple strategy to be worth inviting to recess. [Sept 2008, p.77]

Quarterbacks lead out receivers with passes much more effectively and realistically, and there’s much less of a "pro" feel - mistakes are made that open up holes in coverage for you to exploit.

Adults will blow through Space Chimps in under three hours. [Oct 2008, p.85]

The game is fun in short bursts, but won't hold your attention for too long. [July 2008, p.66]

Schizoid proudly bills itself as "the most co-op game ever," and it ain't lying. [May 2008, p.74]

Civilization Revolution's sunny presentation and bountiful depth might not be sufficient to draw legions of newcomers to turn-based strategy, but it easily the single greatest example of the genre ever to grace a console. [Aug 2008, p.70]

Poorly conceived controls destroy what otherwise promised to be exciting and challenging. The simplest tasks become monotonous chores as you exhaust your hands in an effort to keep pace with world-record A.I. athletes.

It sometimes feels overwhelming to navigate labyrinthine passageways while directing a team and trying to not get flanked by a flak cannon, but that’s exactly the kind of chaotic depth that helps replay value.