How do you improve on perfection? We’ll tell you how: Take the same genius game that you played last fall on the PS2 and give everything a fresh coat of pixel paint... Then, remove the long load times, allow us to save 30-second replays to the hard drive for those you-won’t-believe-this-booshiz moments and create personalized radio stations by ripping your CD collection to the hard drive.

The game has incredible graphics and sound, as well as clever AI that doesn't require you to baby-sit each squad member.

The first time we laid down a "Harmonic Combo" and watched as the body parts of our enemies literally rained down from the sky, we were hopelessly, head-over-heels in love.

It captures the spirit of the Hulkster to a tee. Bounding building to building across cities and leaving huge craters in your wake is more addictive than gambling...The game’s ingenius side challenges are an absolute ball.

No excuses, you’re gonna have to buy this. Unless you don’t own a PS2, in which case, get out of our Internet!

It captures the spirit of the Hulkster to a tee. Bounding building to building across cities and leaving huge craters in your wake is more addictive than gambling...The game's ingenius side challenges are an absolute ball.

Vast new levels, a pleasantly murky story line and an even greater emphasis on stealth will string you along for days.

New powers, faster combat and new environments - such as Korriban, ancient Sith Lord burial ground - make this trip to KOTOR-ville more than just an Old Republic retread. [Jan 2005, p.54]

You're looking at a solid 30 hours' worth of game play, more if you actually master the special VFX powers Viewtiful uses to control the flow of time.

If you don't have a big, stupid, sh.t-eating grin on your face when you do this, then we can't be friends anymore.

The jaw-dropping graphics help. As do the weapons, power-ups and the scope of the game (15-plus levels, 40-50 hours of play to complete). But it's the fighting that really won us over.

You should buy it even if driving games rank somewhere between stepping on Legos barefoot and Saddam on your list of dislikes.

It captures the spirit of the Hulkster to a tee. Bounding building to building across cities and leaving huge craters in your wake is more addictive than gambling...The game's ingenius side challenges are an absolute ball.

Seriously, we did more cool things in God Of War in the first 20 minutes that we do in the entirety of most games.

But where the sequel will really fondle your boys is in the multiplayer modes. New level designs let you funnel the action into wide-open areas or allow you to stalk the terrain's nooks and crannies looking for the perfect sniping spot.

Vast new levels, a pleasantly murky story line and an even greater emphasis on stealth will string you along for days.

Longtime Bat-gamers can consider Batman Begins the cave-engineered antidote to the Bat-crap that's been dropping on consoles in recent years.

Final Fantasy XI far outstrips "Everquest's" addictiveness in the multiplayer online role-playing realm.

If you're playing a Campaign, it'll take between 15-20 hours on the Easy, Normal and Hard levels. To complete the Legendary level, it'll take approximately four and a half lifetimes.

What the hell are you still reading this for? Put your raggedy-ass jacket on and go out and buy the damn game already.

The bone-rattling density of Black's combat makes the nine levels feel like tours of duty with the grizzliest mercenary squads the world has ever seen.

The biggest advancement is the VIP system, which studies your habits on the field and develops a profile based on how you play the game.

There are dozens of dazzling tracks, and the play gets fast, manic and difficult, but somehow always retains a magically fun ingredient.

Flat-out weird does not begin to describe this highly addictive title. You become so attached to your herds that it kind of hurts when you lose a Pikmin or two to drowning or carnivorous giant beetles. It's like losing a child. A fat, little purple child with a flower budding out of his forehead.

Longtime Bat-gamers can consider Batman Begins the cave-engineered antidote to the Bat-crap that's been dropping on consoles in recent years.

Longtime Bat-gamers can consider Batman Begins the cave-engineered antidote to the Bat-crap that’s been dropping on consoles in recent years.

Odds are this game will complete you. Spending hour after hour earning points to gain new abilities becomes a kind of subhuman mania.

The bone-rattling density of Black's combat makes the nine levels feel like tours of duty with the grizzliest mercenary squads the world has ever seen.

You should buy it even if driving games rank somewhere between stepping on Legos barefoot and Saddam on your list of dislikes.

How do you improve on perfection? We'll tell you how: Take the same genius game that you played last fall on the PS2 and give everything a fresh coat of pixel paint... Then, remove the long load times, allow us to save 30-second replays to the hard drive for those you-won't-believe-this-booshiz moments and create personalized radio stations by ripping your CD collection to the hard drive.

The game's free-flowing scuffles are akin to your toilet experience after a night of over-beering: In other words, both are shockingly big, messy, chaotic, scary, surprising, and usually a little bloody.

A vibrant, eye-popping superhero disc that has more style, wit and compelling gameplay in its first 10 minutes than most games have in their entirety.

If you own the original, not buying the extra levels would make you a sinner. Now, stop treating your body like a carnival ride.

A vibrant, eye-popping superhero disc that has more style, wit and compelling gameplay in its first 10 minutes than most games have in their entirety.

This PC war-tastic juggernaut comes to a console near you sporting a surprisingly meaty single-player experience, as well as its trademark clusterf..k multiplayer.

Shockingly enough, is actually pretty damn good. Sure, it looks uglier than Ernest Borgnine in a tutu, and trying to use the controls is like operating the Space Shuttle while wearing oven mitts, but once you get the hang of it, beating the Stove Top stuffing out of agents is terrific fun.

A vibrant, eye-popping superhero disc that has more style, wit and compelling gameplay in its first 10 minutes than most games have in their entirety.

Once again, EA and Madden manage to do the impossible: They made us fall head-over-cleats in love with this frigging game all over again.

"Burnout" meets "Twisted Metal" in the very first Xbox 360 game worth owning.

Shockingly enough, is actually pretty damn good. Sure, it looks uglier than Ernest Borgnine in a tutu, and trying to use the controls is like operating the Space Shuttle while wearing oven mitts, but once you get the hang of it, beating the Stove Top stuffing out of agents is terrific fun.

A vibrant, eye-popping superhero disc that has more style, wit and compelling gameplay in its first 10 minutes than most games have in their entirety.

Once you get sucked into Franchise Mode, you very well might not make it out.

This year's installment features overachieving impact players who are highlighted on the field during games, your very own dorm room (where you can check your stats, store your trophies, etc…), and revamped training games that are addictive as beer nuts.

This year's installment features overachieving impact players who are highlighted on the field during games, your very own dorm room (where you can check your stats, store your trophies, etc…), and revamped training games that are addictive as beer nuts.

A chunky online component will keep you coming back for more than just the 40 or so hours of solo game play.

Shockingly enough, is actually pretty damn good. Sure, it looks uglier than Ernest Borgnine in a tutu, and trying to use the controls is like operating the Space Shuttle while wearing oven mitts, but once you get the hang of it, beating the Stove Top stuffing out of agents is terrific fun.

The game's free-flowing scuffles are akin to your toilet experience after a night of over-beering: In other words, both are shockingly big, messy, chaotic, scary, surprising, and usually a little bloody.

This is easily best Prince of Persia game yet. The new moves, including those delicious stealth kills, work perfectly.

Once again, EA and Madden manage to do the impossible: They made us fall head-over-cleats in love with this frigging game all over again.

Once again, EA and Madden manage to do the impossible: They made us fall head-over-cleats in love with this frigging game all over again.

The game looks downright terrific on the PSP. It's great to once again troll for flat-backers on the mean streets of Liberty City. (Aka, Pick up hoochies-for-hire.) The load times are incredibly short, considering how massive the game is.

The crass, lowbrow, and gloriously juvenile Blitz proves that you don't need those fancy NFL-licensed pants to make a quality f'ball sim... Never taking itself too seriously, this shallow Madden instead chooses to revel in the seedy, sex-drugs-rock-and-roll dark side of the pigskin. Which is the side we've always desperately wanted to revel in.

Slaying these giants provided us with some of the most gratifying moments of our entire lives.

Once you get sucked into Franchise Mode, you very well might not make it out.

The graphics on the Xbox are as perfect as the platform can deliver, and walking into steam-filled rooms only to have the lights blink out, then hearing something hiss at you out of the darkness, are moments that would have made Dante soil his short pants.

Once you get sucked into Franchise Mode, you very well might not make it out.

The crass, lowbrow, and gloriously juvenile Blitz proves that you don't need those fancy NFL-licensed pants to make a quality f'ball sim... Never taking itself too seriously, this shallow Madden instead chooses to revel in the seedy, sex-drugs-rock-and-roll dark side of the pigskin. Which is the side we've always desperately wanted to revel in.

This PC war-tastic juggernaut comes to a console near you sporting a surprisingly meaty single-player experience, as well as its trademark clusterf..k multiplayer.

This is easily best Prince of Persia game yet. The new moves, including those delicious stealth kills, work perfectly.

Once you get sucked into Franchise Mode, you very well might not make it out.

This is easily best Prince of Persia game yet. The new moves, including those delicious stealth kills, work perfectly.

The game is surprisingly rock-solid on the Xbox. The controls are on point. The game is full of well-crafted fight-or-flight moments. It's without a doubt one of the finest first-person shooters ever made.

The game's kinder, gentler learning curve means that you'll actually get to kick some ass this time around. In addition to new bosses and game modes, the special edition also lets you play as Vergil, Dante's less tight-lipped and far more fashionable bro.

This is easily best Prince of Persia game yet. The new moves, including those delicious stealth kills, work perfectly.

Between the massive boss encounters and hours of swinging around Manhattan, you're in for at least a week of play.

Making a name for youself by climbing the game's Black List, aka series of bad-ass mo-fos you must beat, is good fun.

The game does a great job of combining stealth elements (centered on Riddick's ability to hear his target's heartbeat as well as see in the dark) with all-out, guns-blazing action.

The spicy, tangy combination of third-person action and real-time strategy is unlike anything we've played before.

We're fond of the new Hitter's Eye feature, which means that the ball changes color as it leaves the pitcher's hand, letting the batter know what kind of pitch is on the way to the plate. Red means breaking ball; white means fastball; green means changeup; and brown means that Randy Johnson has been into the Skoal tin again.

An ultra in-depth Dynasty Mode and online capabilities will keep you playing until NCAA 2006, or at least until the new Madden comes out.

The best game set in the X-Men universe yet.

With a harrowing 16-mission single-player experience, and monstrous multiplayer arenas, this disc is worthy of your hard-earned per diem, grunt.

Carry out your finest work in shadowy places and dole out dagger lobotomies with little chance of being penalized. It's almost as good as being a U.S. president or Hall of Fame running back!

Between the massive boss encounters and hours of swinging around Manhattan, you're in for at least a week of play.

We're fond of the new Hitter's Eye feature, which means that the ball changes color as it leaves the pitcher's hand, letting the batter know what kind of pitch is on the way to the plate. Red means breaking ball; white means fastball; green means changeup; and brown means that Randy Johnson has been into the Skoal tin again.

Another big change: You now have the ability to switch weight classes in mid-career, so you can go from heavyweight, to light heavy, and back to heavyweight again to beef up your bank account.

This year's Tiger feels more complex and sophisticated than ever. Putting is more challenging (e.g., total bitch)... Yet, the game is still accessible to armchair golfers, thanks to those welcome arcade-y touches.

The game play is fairly brisk and the obligatory cut scenes are brief and well rendered - it looks like a classic "Iron Man" comic rather than schlocky animation.

Gallery mode (aka Pants Around Ankles mode) lets sexually repressed gamers get ridiculously close to some virtual flesh.

Elaborate levels and the multiple paths you can take to solve them go a long way in making you forget about the lack of narrative element.

As far as sequels go, Fight for NY is to "Vendetta" what "The Empire Strikes Back" was to "Star Wars."

Mindless hack-and-whack style gameplay stays hot thanks to interesting objectives. Spartan is constantly throwing new gameplay elements at you.

Elaborate levels and the multiple paths you can take to solve them go a long way in making you forget about the lack of narrative element.

This year's Tiger feels more complex and sophisticated than ever. Putting is more challenging (e.g., total bitch)... Yet, the game is still accessible to armchair golfers, thanks to those welcome arcade-y touches.

We were haters at first, but the new P.O.V. started to grow on us. Watching our character cartwheel through the air like a T.J. Hooker stunt double makes for some heady moments.

We're fond of the new Hitter's Eye feature, which means that the ball changes color as it leaves the pitcher's hand, letting the batter know what kind of pitch is on the way to the plate. Red means breaking ball; white means fastball; green means changeup; and brown means that Randy Johnson has been into the Skoal tin again.

The cut scenes nearly steal the show. They’re a little too good, really. Once you see Snake and his enemies in fully choreographed action, returning to the actual game seems a little clunky.

This year's Tiger feels more complex and sophisticated than ever. Putting is more challenging (e.g., total bitch)... Yet, the game is still accessible to armchair golfers, thanks to those welcome arcade-y touches.

Carry out your finest work in shadowy places and dole out dagger lobotomies with little chance of being penalized. It's almost as good as being a U.S. president or Hall of Fame running back!

The entire SNES-era "Super Punch-Out!!," one of the greatest boxing games of all times, is hidden on the disc. All hail the mighty Bald Bull!

While the game is open-ended, the method of playing it is not. You can't roam vast maps as freely as you can in "Grand Theft Auto." Still, Albion is a big, and, thanks to the stellar graphics, a beautiful place to wander.

Not for the timid, Psi-Ops features some flat-out nasty moments. Sneak up on enemies to drain their minds of psi energy and pop open their heads. Set some poor bastard on fire and he'll run around screaming.

The brief matches make this a great pick-up-and-play game, and the "deep career mode" has enough meat to keep your fingers busy on your morning commute for the next decade.

Everything from the official team rosters to the detailed fields and even to the smoke bombs set off in the grandstands at Wembley Stadium keep your head in the game.

The best game set in the X-Men universe yet.

Painkiller sports some of the best graphics to come down the PC pipe all year. The bosses (the hammer-wielding Saphathoraél in particular) all look incredible.

Another big change: You now have the ability to switch weight classes in mid-career, so you can go from heavyweight, to light heavy, and back to heavyweight again to beef up your bank account.

Everything from the official team rosters to the detailed fields and even to the smoke bombs set off in the grandstands at Wembley Stadium keep your head in the game.