My immersion in the gameplay experience is a good part of why this review is going up a bit later than planned. I often had a tough time pulling myself away from the playing to write this up.

If you're the type of person that's glued to the television every four years, carrying a torch for the Summer Games, Beijing 2008 is tailor made just for you. With its wide variety of events and a solid presentation, you'll be hard pressed not to get something out of this release. Still, control issues and a poor online experience keep this game from having any chance of bringing home the gold.

It’s an old school shooter more closely related to "Quake" than "Call of Duty 4," with fast-paced explosion heavy action, a sci-fi theme to the levels and the weapons and a bunch of fun powerups like shields and damage amplifiers. In other words, it’s quintessentially an Unreal Tournament game.

While it's not necessarily the most qualified candidate on the ticket, it's got a solid platform and is entertaining enough to maintain a respectable number of party game delegates. Besides, it definitely more fun than the current real-life political circus.

Take every cool martial arts weapon that you wanted as a kid, and add to it many of the killer utensils from medieval times– that pretty much sums up the weapons used by Soulcaliber characters. And, instead of keeping character types of a consistent ilk, Namco went all over the board– from reptile to Asian Elvis– in order to keep us coming back. We’re talking about some of the most highly-regarded fighting game characters of all time.

With no disrespect intended to the band or Activision, it seems as if , unless you’re a big Aerosmith junkie, GH: Aerosmith will probably feel like you’re playing an RPG over a friend’s house, when you’d rather be playing a shooter or sports game.

The flaws hold the game back from being as entertaining as it could have been, yet its over-the-top take on a classic formula is worth more than a few laughs to fans.

The game is simply way more fun playing with friends than all by your lonely, and if you do play by yourself you’ll be way challenged to complete the game solo, even on the lower difficulty levels. It just doesn’t scale down that much.

While the game might not appeal to those looking for their XBLA games to pack a little extra visual punch, it's "All aboard!" for those trying to find a relaxing new way to do Game Night with friends.

When all is said and done, Hellboy: The Science of Evil might have been a hit during the last generation of consoles. On the current consoles, though, it just falls short in nearly every regard.

I've gotten used to not expecting much from movie games, and when I played the final version of WALL-E, it met those light expectations.

It’s obvious that a lot of effort was put into certain elements of the game and its presentation. But no matter how nice the car looks on the outside, if the engine isn’t working you ain’t goin’ no place. Alone in the Dark is just that, a game going no place and with no reason in the world to suffer it.

Battlefield: Bad Company knows what it wants to do and does it. The gameplay is simple and easy to wrap your mind around, but opens up to a lot of different strategies. The explosions are visceral and fun, and the game looks great too.

Revamped risk shots pay dividends. Revamped character movements backfire.

EALA R&D'd a new control scheme which does pretty well overall. There’s also a fairly fleshed-out Live arena, a custom Xbox 360 gauntlet mode and the ability to play this title without having to jump it with "Tiberium Wars." All of this– at a price that won’t scare away the RTS n00b– makes this wrath worth enduring.

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.

This is one of those occasions where having your movement "on rails" actually helps extend the gameplay.

With all of the games available on Xbox Live, it’s pretty hard to find something that actually feels completely original, but Elements of Destruction does just that. The game’s blending of strategy and action, mixed in with a meteorological arsenal that would bring a tear to Willard Scott’s eye, all come together to make this a title that deserves a spot on most Xbox 360 owners’ extended forecast.

Just completing a single string of pots (the cages the crabs crawl into on the ocean floor, trapping them) in Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm is a long and drawn out experience, with a difficult to master control scheme and layers of strategy and management to contend with. On top of that, it will literally make you seasick. In other words, a total PC game.

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.

Consider NASCAR 09 the official ship-righting title for EA Sports stock-car franchise. First and foremost, NASCAR 09 is adept at entertaining a much winder audience than in the past. NASCAR 09 also looks and sounds better than any of its predecessors and comes equipped with more standard gameplay modes.

Fans of DBZ and lovers of other Dimps-branded Dragon Ball titles, as mentioned earlier, will want to rush out and pick Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit up. Hardcore fighting gamers will also enjoy the ranged stick-and-move nature of this unique fighter.

As far as movie based games go, The Incredible Hulk is better than most in recent memory. As far as comic based games go, it's not bad either. Still, when compared to the last Hulk game, it feels like the game's already been done before, and on the last generation of consoles as well.

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.

If you like puzzle games that require quick reflexes as well as mental acuity, then Roogoo is definitely for you. Honestly, I think the whole cutesy setting is an add on to keep you from getting too furious at the game.

It’s not a perfect action game by any stretch, but one that does keep the player engaged from point to point—and that’s all you can ask.

Don’t let the blood and internal organs fool you: Ninja Gaiden II takes even greater skill to play efficiently than its predecessors.

While it's hard to fully judge GRID compared to other racing games that feature heavy vehicle modification, the on-road manners of Codies' affair can hang with the best of ’em.