Think of it this way: skate is to Tony Hawk as The Bourne Identity was to Die Another Day. The Bourne series didn't kill the Bond series, it just challenged it. And what happened? We got Casino Royale, an awesome Bond flick in a completely new style.

About half of the time I’m playing the game, I’m having a good time, and the other half I’m darkly brooding about stringing up each of the game’s developers by their big toes and slapping them repeatedly in the faces with a giant mackerel. [JPN Import]

The puzzle sections are great fun, and could have been their own game. As it stands, however, the Race mode just doesn't cut it.

A poor game shrouded in an illusion of mediocrity.

Shattered Horizon is an excellent game sold short by its own lack of content. What's in the game is impressive, even beautiful; however, the fundamental fact is that there are only four maps and one gun to be had in the entire game.

A Dragon Ball Z fan’s dream come true. The game boasts a incredibly large roster of fighters hearkening from every obscure movie and saga in the series.

The game demonstrates a solid understanding of point-and-click fundamentals that work, but don't exactly set the genre on fire, and what players end up with is an adventure title that has the elements it needs to be intriguing but can't quite seem to fit all the pieces together yet.

Claptrap's New Robot Revolution offers no surprises, and it's really only for Borderlands players that are looking to get one last bit of mileage out of the game.

While I did not personally find “The Bogey Man” to be as enthralling as “Muzzled”, it is certainly one of the best games of the series and will no doubt appeal to fans and newcomers alike.

While the replayability of Episode 2 is somewhat limited due to its single-solution design, the overall experience is simply too much fun to pass up. Any fan of adventure titles will find Wallace and Gromit: The Last Resort to be well worth the money.

Still, at its heart this is Dead Rising 2. Most of the cutscenes contain the same dialogue, only with Frank edited in, so there's the feeling that two entirely different conversations are taking place and it comes across as lazy.

The Wise Monkey is overall a better installment than its predecessor, but it still has its work cut out. Characters and dialogue are once again rather tin-eared and jerky animations can take players out of the experience.

Perhaps that doesn’t sound like the most enthusiastic endorsement, but Amped 3 is one of those games that has so many peripheral pleasures that it must be looked at in terms of the whole package rather than the score gameplay (which is polished even if it’s easy).

It makes a brilliant case of “show, don’t tell”, but unfortunately, it just doesn’t show a heck of a lot.

Beyond all of the enhancements and extras, After Burner Climax’s bargain price of 800 Microsoft Points ($9.99) makes it a must own.

It seems that with the aid of their superhero counterparts, Mortal Kombat is back, and in better skull cracking shape than before.

If you’re after a game to play on the way to work, or when you have a spare few minutes, then this could be a worthy purchase.

This is by no means a must-have title, but one that can take care of a boring weekend ahead and still have room to venture back through either for achievements or some risky, gun-toting action.

Apparently The Last Hope will be the last Star Ocean game to be released - if that’s the case then it’s a fitting swansong.

The hideous load times serve the player well, allowing him or her to reflect on what they could better be doing with their time than such run of the mill drudgery. Something enriching, perhaps, because life’s short enough as it is.

After the final battle has been fought, the fact remains that this is one excellently polished and solid fighting experience.

Exemplary art and music alone willfully justify the purchase. The problem is there's a less satisfactory design there to meet it and the game never proves as interesting or provocative as appearances let on. There is something special about Pid, it just doesn't fully execute on all of its winning ideas.

By now, you’ve probably forgotten about the killer vagina. But while The Awakened should have been an adventure memorable for its gutsy Lovecraftian/Holmesian hybrid plot – a dark, unpredictable tale of an arcane sect responsible for kidnappings, bloody murders and dismemberments – most of that gets buried behind the sluggish game.

Rain’s emotional potency is progressively diluted by tiresome design, but there’s no one particular grievance that completely ruins the experience.

Essentially its predecessor with more characters, more challenging content, minor gameplay tweaks, and better controls.

A decent multiplayer component gives the score a boost, but for the most part, Medal of Honor is held back by the developer's unwillingness to take risks with the franchise.

Primordia will enchant its guests, leaving a deep impression that will have you wanting more. And no matter what your craft may be, it unquestionably has a way of getting those creative juices flowing.

An intense, satisfying, difficult but fun shooting gallery. Whilst it ultimately lacks depth and variety and will never threaten to trouble the bigger players in the genre, it is a lot of fun and can be an [oftentimes insane] test of your gaming abilities.