After the first level I thought I had a winner on my hands for sure but as I played more I got more bored and the game became more repetitive. Even though it takes a lot of chances with innovative features and an entirely new fighting system it does not follow through where it matters.

Rockstar’s Table Tennis definitely looks great and plays solid, but it’s hard to get past the fact that it’s very feature-less. Even at a budget price, there just isn’t enough here to keep you going; especially if you don’t get hooked on the gameplay.

The presentation and graphics are actually damn good. The general graphics of the board, backgrounds, and cards are all pleasing to the eye, and the card clearing effects look great.

College Hoops 2K8 is often too detailed and complex where it does not need it, and fails at the most important part of the game; the gameplay. They get quite a bit right, but the stiff player movement is tough to look past.

With 80, repetitive single-player missions that progressively become more difficult by simply increasing the number of enemies and the amount of damage they do, a similarly infuriating ‘Endurance’ mode that throws massive streams of enemies at the player, and a fun looking online multi-player mode that no one seems to play, Rocket Riot may be enjoyable for an occasional local multiplayer session, but little more.

There isn’t much replay value in King Kong. With the lack of any sort of Live/Co-Op play, you won’t find yourself going back to the game once you have beaten it.

Between all the unlockable and hidden items in the game, replay is almost required. Despite some issues with the camera and odd occasional lag over Live, you will do so happily.

Golf games are not the types where you typically feel compelled to get each year's version. If you have another golf game already, it is hard to recommend shelling out another $60 for what amounts to a few small upgrades.

Nevertheless, Naruto: The Broken Bond certainly has plenty for the anime enthusiast. The game flows smoothly, and everything in it feels just like it does in the cartoon. The only problem with this is that the game sometimes sacrifices its gameplay to deliver this very authenticity, and you might find yourself wondering why you shouldn’t just go and watch the anime instead.

I found myself experiencing overused animations, buggy graphic errors, and incredibly forceful controls (I quickly had to resort to button mashing if I had any chance of actually winning a match). It's as if the developers created too much of a flashy shell, with a huge cast of playable characters, extended game modes, content libraries, and deep customization around a somewhat empty core that is the game itself.

Sega Rally Revo is a racing game developed for the gamer who does not want to be bothered by the nuts and bolts of a typical driving game, or realism. The game succeeds in being a good time for casual gaming fans who will not mind how shallow and simple it really is.

At least the presentation is fantastic.

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat is definitely worth considering if you don’t already own a copy on another format.

Lumines is the big game that couldn't; a puzzle game with a great reputation has been seared into gamer's minds as an evil money grubbing swindle. It is too bad, because Lumines does offer a simple and addictive, though not perfect, puzzle game worth checking out for those with the stomach for the seedy side of Xbox Live Marketplace.

This game is definitely not for everybody. If you don't have Xbox Live, prefer to play games by yourself, or just don't have very much patience, you should probably pass on this.

This is a shame, because a management game is a good idea for Live Arcade, which is currently filled with puzzle titles and coin-ops. But Outpost Kaloki X just doesn't have the qualities of Rollercoaster Tycoon - it never feels like you are in charge.

The BIGS 2 won’t have the longevity to last the rest of the summer. The lack of fresh gameplay improvements and additions keeps The BIGS 2 as a rental.

If Traveller’s Tales can figure out how to put a little more production into the graphical presentation and include an online cooperative mode, you might just see the next LEGO title as a potential GOTY candidate if they keep up their stellar success of churning out real winners.

Those hooked by The Club's importance on the leader board will not be able to put the game down. Sadly, for the rest of the gaming population, there the game is all about replaying the same levels with the limited variety of weapons and characters repeatedly.

Those looking to recapture their youth, and some difficult achievements, will find this to their liking. Anyone looking for a 'new' button-masher to eat up Arcade time will likely be a bit under whelmed.

It is an easy game to recommend as a rental, with a solid single-player story mode that will take over 10 hours to complete, but is not without blemishes and lacks the multiplayer options to extend gameplay beyond the first go-around; needed to purchase a game.

It sounds ridiculous for a newly released title to be described as dated, but this is. Even the cover star (Mats Sundin) is rumoured to have retired today. As in: he’s never playing again, 3 weeks after the game hit the shelves outside of North America.

There is nothing else like this on XBLA, and you really should put down Gears of War and give this a try. The core gameplay of Worms is time-tested, family appropriate, and a riot for all non-computer players involved.

The novelty of getting to play again with your childhood heroes and players old enough to be mythological legends fails to make up for graphics that would be unacceptable on the original Xbox and a bare-bones set of game modes.

An above average shooter, worth looking into if you’re a fan of the genre.

Between the blipping electro soundtrack and dated, incessant "Help me!" whining voices, Exit serves as a great reminder as to why it is so cool that you can stream music through your 360.

This really is how a Western shooter is supposed to be made, the players at Neversoft have shown that they can do more than skateboarding games. This is a mature rated game and rightly so, you’ll see buckets of blood and even though the graphics are nothing out of this world for this console the game is still a decent launch title for any 360 owner.

Given how well they did with Pac-Man, it is hard not be disappointed with the lackluster Galaga Legions. You cannot help but feel like they could have done much better. Legions is a solid offering, but lacks the depth to justify the 800 MS Points price, and is certainly not the next great XBLA title.

Perhaps with a little more time spent on the combat and a longer story, Just Cause could have been a much better title.

Achievement Point junkies beware; you are likely to break a controller before breaking the 200-point mark on Jetpac.

If you take into account FIFA 06 being the worst title and FIFA World Cup/Pro Evolution being the best FIFA 07 falls somewhere in between.

If you're up for a harder kind of game experience and don't mind a little infuriation to go with your gameplay skills, Warp may just be the thing for you. It's got the kind of challenges to really keep you coming back, especially in the challenge rooms. However, if you're a newbie and prefer a platformer that's not so punishing, we recommend a rental first.

Omega Five is an incredibly pretty game with blemishes hidden behind the makeup. If you want a challenge and a return to old-school side-scrollers, give it a chance. Just do not expect much in the way of depth.

Those in dire need for a turn-based strategy title on the 360 will have no choice but to fork over the 800 MS Points, but it is hardly worth half that.

We can't really recommend NASCAR the Game: Inside Line to casual players, mainly because of its bumped-up difficulty, its nearly-empty online lobbies and the refusal to really do anything outside the typical NASCAR set-up.

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground feels like the videogame equivalent of tail grab after getting a few feet of air - nothing special. You have played this game before, many times, and were probably much happier at the time. Games in a series are supposed to get better, not stagnate and die a slow death.

Warlords ends up being a bit of a mixed bag, as Atari tried to stuff the pot with too many recipes rather than simply dealing with what works (like its previous Xbox Live version of the game). However, if you're seeking a multiplayer romp or want to let off some steam with an alternative take on real-time strategy, this is worth going to battle with.

GripShift tries to be too many things at once, and ends up falling flat at most of them. The funky physics of the game will provide a decently enjoyable learning curve to get over, but it will be a rare gamer that cares to see GripShift through on all 125 races.

The only redeeming value of Mercenaries 2 is the online co-op play, but even that has bugs and glitches.

But, overall, while the game has it’s unique features, and easy to pick-up gameplay, it may still only provide a very short term game experience with lack of multi-player and replay value.

Need For Speed: ProStreet feels like Forza 2's mindless clone, a la Doug #4 in Multiplicity. It is a bland, lifeless game requires a massive amount of tedium to get through.

Despite the games many problems it’s not all bad, and the game is better than the previous version (despite the annoyances like not being able to skip substitution scenes), and is still a half-decent football title to play over summer, especially with World Cup fever and a few friends.

Hexic 2 feels more like a bad knock-off than a sequel. The excitement of playing the uber-addictive puzzler in head-to-head battle mode never quite makes up for the poor, drab graphics and frustratingly hard-to-see gem selector.

Fans should enjoy it, but, for us, it just covers too much of the same territory we plowed through before. Give us Dead Rising 3 already…and not Dead Rising 2.5 or 2.7.

It is not anywhere near the level of complexity of Little Big Planet, but the level creation could have definitely made up for a lot of the game's ills if opened to the Live community.

Despite its flashy looks, Aces Of The Galaxy falls well short of the crown as XBLA's best shooter, by forgetting that shooter fans care more about a challenge than they do looks.

A very poor second effort from THQ. There are three key features that provide the WWE’s appeal; the wrestling action, the story lines and the visual display. While the wrestling action is passable, the story lines via 24/7 mode, and the visual appeal do not deliver the goods or meet the minimum standards for a quality Xbox 360 game.

As with most retro titles offered on the Arcade, the nostalgia will pull you in for a game or two. Paperboy succeeds in holding your attention longer than most with more than the all-too-familiar graphics and sound, earning your respect with challenging achievements and gameplay.

It's very clear that they wanted to make an anime, but somehow wounded up making a video game instead. It's a short game that you will watch more than you play, only taking about 6 to 7 hours to complete on the hardest difficulty setting. Replay value is laughable, with the only unlocks to be found are different looking health bars.

Those who play Luxor 2 as a puzzle game, taking the time to aim carefully, will play through all eighty-eight levels. In all, the replay value is a little on the light side. Some form of Live play would have stretched it a bit, although the repetitive gameplay is more at fault than the missing Live support.

Even with great multiplayer the rest of the game is brought down by some major design flaws that mostly occur in the single player campaign.

With a vulnerable frame rate and lack of variety and depth, Full Auto feels like it was rushed out to release before the superior Burnout Revenge. In theory, it’s a good idea and while it does indeed provide cheap thrills, it soon wears thin as you realise it hides it’s insecurities behind a blanket of rubble, debris and gimmicks.

Just more of the same with a limited set list.

The dedication to simulating college hoops will entice veterans and push away newcomers.

Fails to rise above the other fitness games out there, due to its spotty body movement detection and questionable audio choices.

With only a barebones competitor you would think that World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions would run the table with Xbox Live's Texas Hold 'Em. Sadly this isn't the case.

The excitement of shooting oversized insects grows old rather quickly, and the scarcely earned Achievement Points will most assuredly leave this game on the outside of your counsel more than in it. The lack of Live play is a major deterrent to picking up this simple-minded title.

In a time of scarcity, MagnaCarta 2 should find a safe home with a RPG fanatic.

While Rayman is filled with clever dialogue and wonderful music, the gameplay is lacking as racing through levels and mashing the attack button gets old quick.

Between the mismatched gameplay and modes and the slim options, Enemy Territory feels like a half-finished PC port. What is here puts it in the upper half of Xbox 360 FPS titles, but there is just not enough to hold your interest for very long.

Pinball FX allows for camera owners to play by motioning with their hands, rather than using a controller. This is a novelty, and likely to get tiresome quickly, but Xbox Live keeps separate leaderboards for gamers using cameras.

For 800 points, a rhythm game that has all the rhythmic sense of Urkel on the dance floor is a poor choice. Even if it had the rhythm it takes to call itself a rhythm game, the lack of sonic depth would make this a shallow title. If a shallow broken rhythm game sounds like your cup of tea, knock yourself out.

1942 is a solid vertical-shooter addition to XBLA, just do not expect a killer revamp, a la Pac-Man Championship Edition.

Almost nothing about in game can be described as enjoyable or satisfying.

The game has left us feeling in the middle of the road, admiring certain things like weapon classes and gameplay tweaks, but dreading online lag and unfair AI. It's worth a rental to see if it's something you'd enjoy in the long-term, but don't be surprised if, like us, you're left wondering how much better it could've been.

Since all the gameplay mechanics, missions and much more have glaring flaws it’s hard to recommend this game to anyone.

I can't rightly recommend it to anyone other than those frothing at the mouth for more time in the skies. I commend Ubisoft for attempting to experiment with the genre, but each new mechanic they've tried to implement into H.A.W.X. 2 drags down the best elements of the game.

Unless you were a huge fan of the original, Test Drive Unlimited 2 is probably a ride you can skip. Between huge problems with the servers (which should've been fixed before the game launched, honestly), an iffy control set-up and a boring lifestyle-led story mode, it just never feels like paradise.

It’s a title nowhere near the upper echelon of Xbox 360 titles, but it’ll fit quite well in a catalogue for gamers who prefer action-oriented games over the standard first-person shooter fare that overruns the Xbox 360 game library.

Part of that fault lies in the game's dialogue. Some of it's rather cheesy, about on the same level as Resident Evil, while other lines just drag out the usual examples of poorly exploited horror. It just doesn't add up in spots.

The game is way too short and there isn't enough to its narrative to get even close to being interested in playing it again. While there are some cool moments, I generally found myself getting too bored or frustrated with the races and the game's conclusion only made the story even more pointless.

In the end, Infinite Undiscovery is in the minority when it comes to providing real-time battles in an RPG setting, but that stand-out feature does not cure the game's far too many mistakes.

Puddle isn't likely to be a big hit on Xbox Live Arcade due to its ridiculously high difficulty scale and its physics-heavy gameplay. However, if you're a fan of the LocoRoco games or are seeking out a whole different kind of platformer, this one's worth getting your feet wet over.

A game that does not live up to its potential. From its short campaign to its lack of customization options, it is clear that too much has been sacrificed for the game's online play.

The real problem with Sega Superstars Tennis is really that it is aimed at kids who are too young to remember most of these characters and casual gamers who could care less. Gamers who fondly remember these classic characters are not likely to sit around and play minigames and mediocre arcade tennis for hours on end.

Though Joy Ride doesn't exactly have the kind of "hook" to make it as fundamentally important as, say, Mario Kart, it's a steal for ten bucks, and a much better game than its Kinect counterpart.

The general management tools are exquisite and will definitely satisfy those who wanted to feel superior then their computer AI counterparts in putting together the perfect team.

Tuck away the painful memories of the first game and try out this one. You'll feel some validation…even if it takes a little while to get there.

There is no way that a title that does not feature any sort of single-player gaming should cost full price (one exception would be World of Warcraft) and it is obvious that Shadowrun would have sold better and scored better in reviews had it been twenty dollars cheaper.

There’s nothing particularly bad about The Last Remnant. Despite its flaws, it does remain a competent, if unremarkable RPG.

The planes, their camouflage and most of the battles are all true and valid to their real-life counterparts; but, some of the presentations and mechanics of the game are quite unrealistic.

The graphics are sub par and the audio is nothing special; coupled with the occasional graphical glitches and bugs, the game ends up looking like it wasn’t finished.

Trivial Pursuit earns high marks for accessibility and coming up with fresh gameplay ideas for a game older than most 360 owners.

It’s gruesome, it’s vibrant with style and has Samuel L. Jackson providing VO’s; it’s a formula for success. But, as always with hack-n-slash titles, the replay value is limited and the action becomes droning within a few hours.

Despite the occasional glitches and overly easy Achievement Points, gamers will still likely feel the nostalgic itch to fire up this classic from time to time. It is too bad there is not more than a memory pulling gamers back.

There are certainly moments where you’ll feel as if you actually are Bond but for the majority of time, you’ll be wondering where all the fun is.

An acceptable entry in the kart-racing genre. While there aren't many folks online, the local multiplayer makes up for it, and the modes included here will keep you busy if you're all about power sliding and bombing someone's car with a sack of yard scraps.

Cars is aimed at children and delivers, for them only. There is a place in the 360 market for a game made for young kids, but there is no place in an adult's game library for this.

By shipping this game with a boring, restrictive campaign mode, even Armored Core series diehards will have to reconsider this game. Because half the fun is in building, painting and showing off your schematics, Armored Core 4 is for the fans of the AC franchise and/or Xbox Live, and no one else.

The six hours it will take you to complete the twenty-level contest hardly feels substantial. It is not the slam-dunk comeback fans hoped for from Crash's 360 debut, but it is far from a failure.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is not worth anything more than an afternoon sit-down or rainy weekend rental.

Aliens vs Predator is a string of recognized images and elbow-jabs asking, "Remember this?" An average shooter with the source material done well.

Ultimately, I can't recommend the title at 800 MS points, but the demo is available and worth a shot for anyone who feels puzzle titles are closer to their hearts than games belonging to other genres.

Speedball 2 is not going to win any beauty contests, and the controls make it feel as though you are playing with a field of squeaky tin men, but it is not without its charms. The wealth of game modes, ability to run and grow an online team, and frantic gameplay ensure you will play this title for longer than a quick stroll down memory lane.

Even though this game shows sparks of brilliance I don’t necessarily recommend the purchase of it due to the short list of features and slow pacing. However it’s those sparks of brilliance that can very well turn this NBA Live franchise into a juggernaut of a NBA sim in a year or two down the road.

But judging the game on what’s included, there’s just not enough here to entice gamers that aren’t hardcore NHL fans.

Non-fans of the series will probably not enjoy this game. This game will most certainly appeal to some hardcore trek fans. It has moments that are great, but a wonderful soundtrack cannot overcome mediocre graphics and maddening game play.

I appreciate Vin Diesel’s love for gaming, and the plans he has for future games, but I can’t help but hope that the subsequent releases from his studio don’t cater to his Hollywood nature. His games will benefit from it.