And while there’s little aside from the inclusion of the glaive in combat that could really be considered an innovation, it’s still something that can keep a solid hold of the player’s attention throughout.

If battling with (or against) attack dolphins and scantily clad lady snipers wasn’t already your thing, you’ll want to steer clear of Commander’s Challenge. However, if you’ve been a supporter of this silly-meets-strategy series in the past, then, well, we probably had you at “psychic Japanese school girls.”

Codies also knows how to write code for Live, making the twelve car action run as smoothly as a baby’s bottom. Graphics are pretty weak, and so are any chances for replayability, since everything is left hand turns.

The various gameplay elements are hit or miss, but at least it seems to be more hit than miss, despite some glaring flaws.

In the case you have kids or nephews; this is a perfect title to introduce young gamers into the world of video gaming. In fact, this may be the best Xbox game for kids.

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.

Hands down, this is one of the best Star Wars titles to date.

I think there was the potential for greatness, and clearly a lot of time was poured into making it what it is, but the end product is ultimately diminished by its shortcomings.

The gameplay is exceedingly simple.

There’s a lot of familiar gameplay concepts—but there are some prominent flaws that lessens your enjoyment.

Did I enjoy this game? Absolutely. Did it scare the crap out of me at times? 100%. Was there a real feeling of survival horror (as opposed to just jumping-scares) that has been sadly lacking from other contemporary zombie games? You bet.

A pretty decent kids game based off of a movie franchise, which is almost unheard of in the current days of the console.

The white-knuckle moments that fill the experience are a blast to share with another person. But it still doesn’t make the game any easier. The mad difficulty of the game is not only what will attract gamers of a certain ilk to its crazy action, it’s also what will turn some people off. But hey, it’s an XBLA title and one of the most impressive looking ones we’ve seen yet.

Beyond the licensing, WWE Legends of WrestleMania is a smartly-designed game that enables studio antics to be more approachable to the common gamer. The gameplay isn’t dumbed down to the point where hardcore wrestling fans will scoff at Legends either.

If Cheech and Chong meet "El Mariachi" sounds good to you, then pick up Total Overdose stat. If you can't stand the notion of a Mexican shooting range scored on accuracy and presentation, then you may want to hold onto those pesos.

The story is engaging, the action is more than varied for this genre, and the gameplay does offer up something both solid and new. It may not hold up to repeated finishes, but at 20 levels, and at least 15 hours of gameplay, the experience is worth the price of admission for gamers looking for this type of fix.

Don't let the wrapper fool you: Shrek SuperSlam is a competent fighter at its core, with farting and battle gnomes as layers of this unique universe.

A lot of the Xbox crowd won’t be able to cope with the dumbed down AI or the hazy graphics in this title; those that will put up with it are the folk who realize that this is still one of the best military campaign fighters available on the Xbox and a really nice 4 person title.

It's hard to compare FlatOut to the other extreme games on the market, but that's a good thing since it feels fresh in many aspects.

It plays well, but it feels like Activision is going overboard by not marketing it as DLC instead of a new retail-box release. Also, developer Beenox did a good job, but didn’t add anything of note to the gameplay components to spark interest.

The best poker game on the market. Not by much, but it is nonetheless. The career mode, quick play, and multiplayer aspects of the game all combine to make a nice little package for your hard-earned twenty bucks.

It is very evident, however, that the BloodRayne series has come along way, flexing much better visuals, deeper gameplay, and a smoother overall look and feel thanks to the Infernal engine.

If you have a love for the Koei/Omega Force titles, you would be a fool not to check out Samurai Warriors, which trumps "Dynasty Warriors" in just about every area.

It’s got a solid storyline and plenty of racy language (although not quite on the level of “Deadwood”), and while the action isn’t groundbreaking, it’s enjoyable. That said, there are a number of places where the game just doesn’t deliver the goods, and we can’t help feeling like this could have just as easily been a last-gen title.

The gameplay for this title is very cinema like. It could almost be a movie in itself. But like a movie, everything is very scripted.

The gamers who are all about gameplay and who could care less about fantasy drafts and eleven players a side aren’t going to be too impressed.

The artists and developers did a great job of capturing the essence of a vast, empty mansion. Every room is well detailed with the flavor of a dusty, cobweb infested, untouched house.

This past year Microsoft put a large amount of time and effort into the creation of XSN, so let’s hope this means they’ll have that extra time to beef up the gameplay and depth of the sports titles themselves for the 2005 season.