Crystal Quest tries its hardest to bring a slower variation of the style and substance that Geometry Wars so expertly crafted but it falls short of delivering the overall fun factor that other XBLA games have.

To a jaded, seen-it-all gamer like yours truly, it seems like a good idea that didn’t get executed to enough of an extent. A completely redesigned Vigilante 8 game with next-gen graphics and physics would be super awesome, if you ask me. But probably not appropriate for Xbox Live. This one is definitely meant for those who truly can’t let go of their childhood.

Without doubt, Fret Nice has some good ideas, some cool presentation and is a unique concept, though it tries to force too many things that make the player less (rather than more) comfortable.

Sadly we've got a game that's fun towards the end but with a beginning that will have you throwing back sugar pills just to keep your blood pressure up.

It’s both interesting and sad to see how the Karaoke Revolution franchise has paved the way for these other games to thrive, but now the Karaoke Revolution titles are being heavily overmatched by what its successors are doing.

The battles between the creatures feel slow, and border on boring. The intensity that should be felt from fighting as a giant lizard wasn't felt, and that is a shame.

The cut scenes are gorgeous, the mech design is cool, the overall art style is kind of awesome… but the game itself isn’t really worth it.

The gameplay is essentially the same as it has ever been, but instead of having only one game mode, there are a bunch of variants for you to meddle with. It’s good if you LOVE Tetris and can’t get enough, but newcomers shouldn’t expect to find a mode that straps certain powers onto different colored blocks.

Simply doesn’t deliver what Xbox’ers are used to in terms of a quality first-person shooter.

A failure to tread any new ground thematically or even current ground mechanically dooms Aliens vs. Predator to a place in the collections of only the most die-hard fans of the universe, who will play through the game once and relegate it to the same shelf of shame occupied by their AVP Requiem DVDs.

Dynasty Warriors Gundam doesn’t stray too much from the classic DW formula, but for hack-and-slash fans, that may not be such a bad thing.

It has impressive visuals and a likeable cast, but the combat and platforming felt like they were designed to appeal to 5 year olds, not exactly the perfect demographic for a game based on PG-13 movies.

It gets stale fairly quickly, but Pocketbike Racer does very well for what it is.

The fact that there’s no online multiplayer support is a big downer too, with leaderboards representing its only online presence.

A rental is definitely in order for Tecmo Classic Arcade, if nothing else but to experience many games that you probably passed up back in the day, or to beat a few of the classics.

The gameplay system is confusing, the graphics are mediocre, and the sound is average.

The whole experience of Universe at War ends up being one big chore. If the single player is dull, and the multiplayer is broken, all you’ve got left is playing skirmish mode by yourself. And that will get old after a while anyway.

Phantasy Star Universe seems far too content to wallow in its mediocrity. The story kind of lumbers along until its conclusion, and while there’s fun to be had with character progression, the plotline never really grabs hold of you and demands your attention.

It features far too many—and poorly integrated—“quicktime” events, frustrating core combat and non-sardonic C-movie camp. There are bright spots here and there, but the fact that said bright spots still pale in comparison to those featured in Ninja Gaiden doesn’t help Ninja Blade’s cause.

One of my major gripes is when you, Sun Soo, die the game just freezes then reloads to the options screen. If you die in mid-fall the game will pause and start to reload with the main character in mid-fall, no cool death scene, nothing.

The weight of the ball does give the game a more loose feel than we would consider ideal, but all in all this is a budget title that turns out to be well worth it.

There aren’t a ton of other reasons to endorse Encleverment Experiment. The graphics look like mid-’90s educational software, and while there is avatar support, your guy mostly just sits there. Encleverment Experiment is a brain teaser game of only average intelligence.

It misrepresents itself, it isn't particularly pretty, it alienates newcomers because it's so difficult to comprehend, and it may not even appeal to Blood Bowl aficionados because it's so pricey. And that leaves it as an extreme niche product.

True fans of the Gundam universe will surely get their money’s worth out of Gundam 2, as will longtime followers of Omega’s Dynasty lineup. The rest of you will be better off with a rental at first, as the novelty of controlling a mech in large-scale, strategy-oriented skirmishes wears off quicker than one might imagine.

If you are looking for a new multiplayer shooter to pass the time until a triple A release comes out and have the points to spare than Breach may be for you. For everyone else try the 30 minute trial first.

Although not the masterpiece of AM2’s "18 Wheeler American Pro Trucker," Big Mutha Truckers sets out to give the player an enjoyable truck-driving game, and it accomplishes its purpose.

Perfect for an afternoon with the tots but the target audience probably doesn't even have the attention spans to sit through the single-player game. Decent action and variation with the use of upgrades and Transport Ball mini-games are what give this game what little fun it does possess.

All told, if you're a casual gamer and looking for something more than what a pencil and notepad can provide, Buku Sudoku is something that is worth killing some time with.

The gameplay mechanics of Ancient Shadow are too standard, and the experience felt un-needed, and is hard to recommend to any gamers looking for a platforming fix.

It is truly unfortunate to see that this game, a graphical masterpiece with great Xbox sound features, is so heavily weighed down by lack of options and unique modes.

Gamers new to Bionicle may find the story uninteresting or burdensome and the gameplay short lived. With a deluge of other platformer titles available, Bionicle doesn’t stand out as anything special and will at most be a rental for the majority of gamers.

Sonic’s long road to reclaim his former glory is full of potholes in the form of bad camera angles, poor collision detection, and excessive town wandering.

For a game that originally hit over a year ago, it’s surprising to see how rushed the console version feels. Still, if you’re hard up for adventure, you could do worse ... but you could do a whole lot better as well.

By far the best Godzilla game to date. It will, however, become quite a boring game after a short while, especially in the single-player modes.

Voltron's Survival Mode mechanic and shoot 'em up stages help try to keep the gameplay unique, but it is bogged down by uninspired base gameplay and a bizarre boss battle system. There are better dual stick shooters out there, but the amount of nostalgia they've packed into the game may make it a worthy purchase for Voltron fans.

Cute, but not very original. If you really must pay to play a game that would otherwise be available for free on newgrounds.com, go ahead.

There isn’t anything “wrong” with Hardwood Backgammon, but the fact that there really isn’t much to do beyond the standard backgammon game is a real letdown.

Codemasters was hoping to pull off a serious racing simulation here, but it feels like they feel a bit short in the depth of the game.

Sonic Free Riders offers a decent amount of content with an intriguing control premise.

Awkward gameplay mechanics, sub par graphics, and bland audio keep this game from reaching any sort of potential.

Things like framerate and hit detection can sometimes be tolerated if a game looks spectacular, but Commandos Strike Force doesn't even have the beauty card in its hand.

Too similar to its Xbox predecessors, Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom never steps out of its regimented formula long enough to show us anything new.

This is a game you will need friends to enjoy, single player mode just doesn’t offer up much of a challenge or depth.

It’s a lot of the same thing, with a load of space battles awaiting your arrival. It doesn’t take long for you to become frustrated and perhaps even bored by the repetitive action.

Fans of Yu-Gi-Oh! should probably give this one a rent, then take the change and buy a couple of booster packs; it will immediately become apparent what method of collectible card gaming is more fun.

Unless you are an avid K9 unit fan, a glutton for mediocre shooters, or rich, your hard-earned dollars could be better spent elsewhere.

Bicycle Casino isn't up to current Xbox software standards, but it does offer online play, mediocre network code, and is also an exclusive on our beloved system.

It’s got everything you might want from an XBLA game including extra downloadable content, multiplayer options including co-operative play and the capacity for custom soundtracks. What it doesn’t have is mass appeal. Still, somewhere out there is someone who’ll give Go! Go! Break Steady the love it so dearly needs.

Technical issues at the core of gameplay (camera) will burn any gamer's sack, especially when asked to pay the premium price tag.

It's all been done much better elsewhere. Ford vs. Chevy tried to borrow the ideas of its predecessors but it doesn't improve on any of them, thus they are left in the background of the gameplay.

It’s $60 hors d’ouvres passed off as a main course.

Prizefighter’s biggest mistake was trying to be a serious boxing sim. It’s not. It couldn’t be anything further from it unless its name was Facebreaker (zing!). Maybe if the game makers tried to make it a more splendiferous experience, then we’d think it lived up to Don King’s moniker. Instead, it’s a bad boxing game with some really nice extras added on.

SupCom’s original design was highly inventive, but the Xbox 360 version is heavily hindered by the glitches, even though the console’s control scheme innovatively streamlines the gameplay as best as possible.

The computer AI during the single-player is mixed, the graphics are just bad, the audio is disappointing, and games ending suddenly on Xbox Live make the inner poker player in me cringe.

I wish there were more boss fights (and that there were more super-villains rather than the four), and I wish that the "witty" banter could have been reined in by about 300%. Over-all though, I was more impressed and happy with this game than I was disappointed while playing it.

As a standalone video game experience Sentinel Crisis doesn't bring much to the table, but for a budget title, you could do worse…a whole lot worse.

It’s not going to win any Game of the Year prizes…in fact, it’s not even a great game. But it’s worth the attention of Xbox 360 owners, and hopefully something we’ll see happen again for how it involved the community.

It’s nicely constructed and attractive, but doesn’t provide compelling reasons to play it a lot either—unless you already own an Xbox 360 and know another Xbox 360 owner with which you’d like to compete in any or all of these games regularly.

Despite its simplicity, Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Challenge is still surprisingly fun to play, but it definitely it not a challenge in any sense of the word.

The game is just far too slow paced to provide any exciting moments, and the controls are much too sluggish to be fun.

There’s some gruesome battling here, but nothing that’ll push you all that hard.

Comes up short from almost every area with what is needed to make a successful basketball game on one of today’s next-generation systems.

Corvette does feature over 80 cars, but being they react so similar (regardless of the terrain) there is very little incentive to play entirely through the entire game. The default computer AI is mindless, but adjusting the difficulty level is a must for real racers.

Lack of strategy, complexity, longevity and intensive AI and multiplayer modes which are usually the foundation of true mech warfare are absent here. I would consider this more of an advanced 2nd or 3rd generation shoot’em up with extra eye candy.

After playing through the game, we couldn't help but wonder why Civil War: A Nation Divided wasn't released at a lower price point. The game features subpar graphics, no multiplayer mode, poor AI, and a fairly short single-player campaign.

The balance of skill based gameplay and traditional racing makes Lotus Challenge a competitor in today’s generation of racers, but some of the game’s handling letdowns keeps it from pulling ahead of the pack.

The premise undoubtedly has promise, and there are now enough characters within Omega Force’s franchise to make a truly epic action/strategy title. But with same-old-same-old gameplay and the visuals to match, Warriors Orochi 2 ends up feeling very much like the original Xbox’s Dynasty Warriors 3, which released six years ago.

Mind Over Mutant isn’t a bad game. In fact, there’s a lot of it that’s enjoyable. I just wish the effort that went into a lot of the peripheral action and non-interactive videos had also been put on the gameplay, to make it more entertaining overall. It’s just not very consistent in its fun generation.

A mediocre title that is fun to play, but won’t last more than a handful of hours for the average gamer. I’d recommend this game for anyone out there who grew up playing games that flourished on the N64, such as the excellent games from Rare, who might also have young kids who can share in the fun of a game both parent and child can enjoy.

It won’t likely suck you back in for repeat plays, like a "Geometry Wars" or even other old-school arcade games like "Joust" - and if you’re getting it for the 200 achievement points, you might be disappointed that you’ll have to really work for some of the milestones.

Its pillars are weakening, especially without the kind of graphical imagery that could have put a temporary balm on its aging structures, and which by the same token could have renewed the Crazy Taxi interest of many veterans, while sparking up that of a slew of new fans.

If you or your kid just can't get enough of the Eds, then by all means add this one to your shopping cart. All others should tread with caution, as some technical issues and a basic lack of gameplay depth causes Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Mis-Edventures to be a bit cumbersome and to wear out its welcome quickly.

Babylon Games has put together a decent game, but not one that can compete in current, over-crowded market of tuner-style titles.

A decent mission setup doesn't offer much variety as you switch from character to character but the effort that has been given to create missions that make sense is appreciated.

The gameplay is fun, but not nearly groundbreaking and unlikely to provide hours and hours of entertainment. The graphics are sharp, but nothing that’ll put the Xbox 360 at risk of overheating because the processors are working too hard.

Dumb A.I., bad hit detection, and gratuitous clipping turn a good game concept into a technical difficulty. RPG elements are cool, as is the multiple-ending storyline.

It's a few steps away from having a truly enjoyable career mode and with the help of some Xbox Live functionality that goes beyond the simplistic implementation of the Friends List, this one may have turned a few heads. As it stands only the diehard pool players of the world need apply.

There are simply too many instances of horrible enemy AI and shoddy development to warrant a purchase. The complexity of the controls is completely unneeded.

Content wise, it is hard to justify spending 800 MS Points on what should have been an expansion or DLC to MLB Bobblehead Pros, as they share most of the game assets, from stadium and character models to sounds to stats and even to the menus and loading screens.

A well-designed and fun game overall. I would not go any further than a rental on this game unless you are a hard-core racer and must have every racing title on the market.

Games such as "Shrek 2," "Madagascar," and even "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked" all contain some level of camera control, and are therefore better choices than Over the Hedge when selecting a kid's title to enjoy with your littler one.

For younger gamers, it tries to offer some valuable lessons about respect for others and responsibility, but the message seems to be clouded by all the pointless side missions and mindless monologues of other characters.

In simple terms, this game was brought to the Xbox unpolished, incomplete, and unready. There’s plenty to go through in SoF2, but it’s too bland and it isn’t worth spending numerous hours trying to complete.

There’s just not enough here to warrant the price tag.

The online mode is fun and can make the game last, but the offline modes are so bland and boring.

The game suffers from what appears to be a contradiction of gameplay elements. The overall theme is geared toward a more mature audience, but the gameplay is something that would appeal more to a younger crowd.

In Mad Doc’s defense, space flyers are hella-hard to pull of right, and sadly, I can’t say this one was pulled off right enough for me to recommend it to those that aren’t Trekkites.

This seems like an oasis of sparkling water to somebody who’s had to crawl through a desert of rock music. You can get some enjoyment out of the thought that your thirst will be quenched, but when you finally get there, it’s mostly a mirage.

Even at its sub twenty dollar price, Slot Car Thunder leaves me shuddering in a corner searching for a happier place. If the gameplay was at least competent...

I hate to even recommend the game to fans, as the core gameplay elements are incredibly frustrating.

If you're a gamer that has not made the leap to the 360, must have a new shooter, and don't mind playing with idiotic bots, this game would offer the chance to run through the FPS basics and nothing more.

There’s nothing here in Samurai Warriors 2 that we haven’t seen before. The fact that the shop is the single largest addition to the gameplay should be a good indication where this game is headed, straight to the bargain bin.

Double Dragon succeeds in delivering the same action as its NES predecessor, but it’s bogged down by its total lack of difficulty and the pitiful emulation job.

A decent title, but it doesn’t offer the same visceral experience that gamers became enchanted with eight-plus titles ago. The "empires" portion adds replay and upgrades the hack-n-slash, but it’s tough to dig deep into those pockets and dole out money for a near carbon-copy artfully repackaged.

In some other developer’s hands or maybe with a bigger budget, Conflict: Denied Ops could have been decent. There are some really good ideas underneath the surface. But the execution is all wrong. Conflict: Denied Ops ain’t pretty, ain’t fun and definitely ain’t worth your hard-earned cash.

Someone behind the scenes worked really hard on Vancouver 2010, and it shows in some of the individual events. But the overall product gives so little of a damn that one wonders about the condition of the heart of the people that signed off on this being released.

A bit light on the detective work and more about pointing and clicking until something is discovered and following basic logic. I'm not sure it would even be possible to make that much better of a CSI videogame- the medium is more the hindrance than the game itself.

Something that could have otherwise been a surprise hit ends up beings a problematic mess.