The storyline in place here is good, even if the final boss fight and ending are maddeningly off target. But the game is more than the storyline, it's the experience, and that much of things is quite solid indeed.

I must admit, this game caught me completely off-guard. I still had the bitter taste of Suikoden IV in my mouth and it wouldn't come out. But this one won me over with it's good characters, solid gameplay, and the redemption of a series I love.

Great variety in song types, but the same old issue of actually knowing and liking the songs inside and out stands. The game lives up to the Party moniker if used in those situations, but as a single-player experience, it's a bit weak.

100% guaranteed to creep you out, Fatal Frame III combines the best parts of the last two games into a story that helps wrap up most loose ends nicely. It's not terribly new, but it is very, very scary.

It should also be said that the recording that went into the tracks is fantastic. Harmonix did an amazing job of pumping the sound from just a stereo signal in a way that absolutely fills the room with rock.

It's the best 3D Castlevania yet, but comes nowhere near being as good as the 2D efforts -- even the ones released recently. It's an interesting take on the Castlevania mythos, but won't sate die-hards and won't convert casual players.

An extended (and actual) single-player campaign that'll keep you busy for days while taking you on a tour of a galaxy far, far away helps balance out an uneven online experience that's amazing when it's good.

Sure, you've played most of this stuff before -- and in Call of Duty games, too -- but that doesn't stop it from being some of the most gripping and exciting firefights found on the PS2.

Trapt is a novel effort, but it just doesn't try hard enough, and that much is blatantly obvious in the enemy AI, the environments and the translation.

Savage and Pandemic should be applauded for cramming as much of the Battlefront experience into the PSP, but we can always play what-if, and the omission of even online play is a pretty serious shortcoming. It's good, but not must-have good.

This is the single best survival horror game ever made, besting even the Silent Hill series in raw visceral thrills. It’s not nearly as scary, but it makes up for it with an incredible story, tons of replay value, and a game length that’s uncharacteristically stretched for the series.

It's Soul Calibur. Even with the words mushed together and a few tag-along modes that probably should never have been included, it's still the best two-player fighting experience on consoles, and it continues to be refined.

Insomniac didn't really stray too much from the formula they've built up over the years, and it works to the game's benefit. Sure, you can really explore, but the objectives are varied, the challenge nice and the RPG elements nicely assembled. Good stuff.

"Good." Yeah, that about sums up the game. Not "great," and certainly not "shite," but it doesn't quite have the longevity of "Super Smash Bros.," nor the kind of size and complexity of "PowerStone's" environments. Still, it’s a better game than we should be getting for a game license, and as a rental, it’s perfect for a weekend’s play.

On top of making an online experience that rivals the PC version (though again, the two really exist in their own respective worlds and should stay that way), the single-player game can absolutely make you better when it comes time to take on someone online.

Sure, there are some targeting issues, but aside from that, this is a brilliant execution of the basic concepts on a system that nobody thought would be possible. This is the very definition of a must-have game, and the reason to own a PSP.

Technical hurdles keep the game from being as fluid and immersive as Ico was, but it's still a triumph of game design that ten years from now will still be recalled fondly. This is a game for everyone, and everyone needs to buy it. Now.

It's a racing game where the racing isn't even right thanks to cars that are just too squirrely and AI that blatantly cheats on top of rubber banding up behind you. Any fun the game had in the start is sucked right out by the end.

The stuff surrounding the fights is well-engineered, but the fights themselves are just too blah to keep the interest up once the novelty of betting and planning out a fight gets old.

It's a squad-based shooter/puzzler without the squad. As such, it's only half a game, and that half isn't very good.

The extra goodies offset the lower framerate and iffy multiplayer. The core problem still hasn't changed, though, and if you tire of the same thing easily, you're going to be even more turned off by what the PSP version offers.

It's the best Tony Hawk game yet, and as someone who's played them all to death, that's no passing comment. Better level design, better presentation and better overall polish, this is THE game to buy if you're a Tony Hawk fan.

It's getting there, but even $20 sadly isn't enough to keep the game interesting once the license novelty wears off.

With some of the core mechanics broken, it's hard to recommend the game to anyone. Still, the sheer variety in things you can do round out the experience nicely, and if nothing else, it's far more than your average platfomer would offer.

If you think beat-em-ups are dead, you need to play this game. If you don't, you need to play this game. If you just don't care, you need to play this game.

The series has been refined and honed to near perfection, but some serious AI bugs and wonky headset performance hurt things. If it weren't for the ridiculously hardcore and juvenile online community, it would almost be good enough to be multiplayer-only.

Dammit, EA, I want my effing SSX game back. This is NOT the direction the series needed to head in, and I'm sure there had to be some dissenting parties in place up in Vancouver. Maybe next time you'll listen to them.

The storyline in place is something that absolutely should be experienced, but it's not one that comes easily. If you can stomach more random encounters per capita than nearly any other RPG out there, it's worth it, but that's a lot to ask.

I really wanted to enjoy Oogie's Revenge, I really did, but the game is just too little variety stretched over too much similarity in tasks. It's fun in bursts, but as a long haul action game, even I can't handle this much Halloween.

Better than most licensed properties, Cure of the Were-Rabbit has plenty of charm, but it's short of variety where it counts, and doesn't quite capture the feel of the humor from the source material.

If there are huge differences between the console and PSP versions of Frogger, I didn't catch them. The gameplay and challenge are still a problem, and as such, I'll happily give them the same score.

Difficulty, repetition and an overall lack of tact keep the game from being anything more than an average flight game. It's good enough, but there are far better offerings out there.

Quite possibly the best US release DDR has ever seen. Yes, seriously. The addition of online play and Dance Master mode do more to invigorate the series than you'd think, and flailing around like a dumbass is still damn fun.

It's hard not to play what-if with some of Capcom's later titles on home consoles, and especially with later arcade games, but what's here is a fantastic snapshot of some of the better arcade hits to come from this era.

There's an attempt to keep things endearing here, but making the game as tough and frustrating as it is and then aiming it at the young ones isn't a wise move.

I never thought I'd see the day a Sly game actually got less than a 9 from me, but there are some serious flubs here that get in the way of what is an otherwise incredible platforming experience. It's still great, but it could have been better.

Most of the magic of the original version of the game was the presentation coupled with the online play. With 50% of that largely taken out of the equation, and no extras two years later, this is just a bastardized version of a very good Xbox game.

By far the best Spider-Man game ever made, and there have been plenty. The presentation, dialogue, storyline and characters all come together to make a living, breathing comic, and it's nothing short of spectacular.

This is an incredibly well-designed mech shooter, period. Genki has a genuinely enjoyable mixture of combat, upgrades and globe-hopping Snow Crash-like dances across servers, and it's a fantastic mix indeed.

A decent platformer, sure, but don't expect anything new or original here. It's a nice diversion and something good for kids, but adults will probably want to stick to the bigger budget titles.

I pray this is the direction adventure games are going. The production values and attention to detail recall classics like Blade Runner, and not since that game have I wanted to live in a world like this. Buy this game.

What a treat we PS2 gamers get when titles like this come along. An experience as wholly unique and filled with personality as this needs to be cherished, and there's no more perfect way to spend your cash right now.

No, it's nothing new, but what it does, it does so well that you can't help but be sucked into this world. The action is near-perfect and the balance of visuals to combat to RPG elements is utterly enchanting.

Better than the first, but not by much. If it weren't for some roster upgrades that more or less make the game, and a little more control over how your characters level up, this WOULD be the first game all over again.

Simply put, it's the best Burnout yet, and after four games, it's amazing that each one can consistently blow the previous entries away. Revenge does, and it is indeed sweet.

Best Evil Dead game out there, hands down, but there's still a lot of room for the series to grow. Hopefully it's in good hands with Cranky Pants and we can finally see a little more gameplay variety with the sequel.

You may be a glutton for punishment, and for that you may have a need for a quick rental, but even with the Tekken characters as unlockables, this is not a fighter worthy of the Namco name.

With 175 events (100 crash, 75 race), there's enough here to entertain for weeks. Part of the problem, though, is that most will have burned out (hurr, punny) on the experience before the game's through. It's a fine racer, just not quite classic Burnout.

Sure, it’s nothing groundbreaking or even all that original, but it is good, solid platforming, a loving tribute to the original material, and best of all, a lot of fun.

This is a big step back for the franchise, and one that used to pride itself on realism and pacing. Again, it's not a bad game, it's just a bad Rainbow Six game.

The game's pitched a bit too far towards the hardcore crowd that's already spent plenty of time the arcade version, which adds more replay value if you get really into things, but more beginner tracks would have been nice.

It's a blah fighter with only a passing reference to most of the InuYasha source material. There's no reason to experience this game if you're a fan of the show, and far better fighters out there if you're a fan of the genre.

It's a beat-em-up. You beat people up. If nothing else, it offers the bare minimum of gameplay to meet the name, but all the other claims of deeper gameplay are half-assed.

One of the better collections, Namco Museum was born to be ported to the PSP. The updates are solid and the gameplay's perfect for short trip. Stop reading this and go grab a copy.

There's tons of potential here, but it's mired by a lack of variety, pacing that charges through important bits, and a lack of distinct personalities or identifiable characters. It's decent, but what's there wasn't used nearly well enough.

Great idea, poor execution. It's a common story, but this was supposed to be an uncommon game. Hopefully things will turn around should a sequel pan out, but the first Death's DOA.

A novel idea that failed in executing the stuff surrounding the running and jumping and shooting, Coded Arms could have been a great, immersive cyberpunk tale, but instead it ends up skimming the surface of what could be a very cool world.

An abomination of a product that wasn't really all that solid to begin with. When a game that depends on a lock-on system and camera to deliver compelling action can't even get that right, it's just not worth playing, and Reckoning is the very definition of wasted money. Stay far, far away.

Utterly mediorce in every way, this is a game that does absolutely nothing to debunk the claim that licensed games are rushed, shallow pieces of crap.

Destroy All Humans isn't a bad game, it's a good game stretched a little too thin with not enough engaging story layered between the missions. Hopefully the sequel will give us a bit more to play around with, but this is a definite rental.

An above-average RPG experience loses all the things that made it entertaining and in the process makes it purely average in nearly every way. This is a horrible way to reuse the assets from a game that was legitimately entertaining.

Nevermind the naysayers, this is a solid racing game with enough style and fun to balance out the repetitive bits.

At best, Samurai Western is a rental good for the first one hundred enemy slaughters, but more or less loses its vigor beyond that. It can be beaten in a day, and even the wealth of unlockables and broken co-op mode aren't enough to warrant a purchase.

It's a solid racer, sure, but in the world of killer sims and arcade racers alike, solid just isn't enough these days. Hopefully the follow-up will iron out the rough spots, because if they can, Konami has a really good racer on their hands.

Horrid audio, a cookie-cutter storyline, mediocre graphics and gameplay that gets more and more tired the longer you chug through it all add up to a game that simply does not need to be experienced. Ever.

Holy crap can this game be good, but just as easily and twice and often, it's so bad you'll hate yourself for retrying that race for the 20th time. If only the challenge were eased off just a bit more, this game would have been a must-have.

Some, even those in our office, have passed the game off as a weak puzzler in light of some of the more impressive stuff like Lumines, but I'll be damned if it isn't something different and perfectly suited for a high-powered portable medium. Go buy it.

Make no mistake, this is one of the most visually interesting games on the PS2, but it lacks a graphical punch and the gameplay is just too familiar to give the engaging storyline a chance to shine.

If you can find it on another platform, do so. If not, this is still a hell of a way to present a basic strategy game, and one that mixes equal parts of presentation with gameplay. If only it didn't have to dip so much into one when the other was lacking.

It's the PS2 version of THUG2 gone handheld, and it lost nothing in the translation. The new added levels are a perfect fit and there is no better example of how to pack a console game's worth of content on a UMD. Period.

Better than the first PS2 Spider-Man game, but not quite as ambitious as Spider-Man 2 on consoles, this is still a rewarding and engaging game with a bit less action than I would have hoped for.

The card battle experiment was a novel one, but the result is an unbalanced, unforgiving mess that will test your patience while you try to piece through a convoluted story. Strategy fans may dig it, but everyone else will do well to stay away.

If you like a good dungeon crawl without all of the extra crap like deep story or engrossing characters that you care about, here's the game for you. If, on the other hand, you need a bit more meat to your hack and slash, wait for "UL2."

Knowing that this would otherwise be a great portable platforming, its sad to see Ape Escape: On the Loose plagued by poor camera and controls and suffer in quality as a result. The charm and enjoyment is all here if you can tolerate the pesky technical difficulties.

The subtle tweaks and improvements come to a head here in an ATV AND MX game that satisfies, but doesn't offer anything new.

Fancy graphics can't distract from the fact that this is a rather boring, repetive game after a few hours. A shoddy framerate and unbalanced sound don't help matters either.

It’s good, it’s just not the best and 99% of the gaming population only has time for one baseball title per year.

You know when you see that guy in the Porsche convertable with the bad combover trying to drag race everyone at the stop light? It's called overcompensation, and we've got a pretty bad case of it right here.

A solid game, no doubt. It provides a visceral, bone-shaking experience. Unfortunately, the changes made from FN2004 only detract from what was otherwise a very satisfying fighter.

Little touches like the ground or glass cracking underfoot when fighters go down hard are nice, but they don't stay throughout the fights and when huge chunks of stone go flying up and then disappear, it almost makes one wonder why they were included at all.

If GT4 will be your first venture into sim racing, hold on, strap in and protect any valuable reproductive organs, as you’ll be blown away. It pushes the boundaries of realism and sim racing, while retaining the essential core of the franchise that has been built over the last 8 years. You won’t find a better value.

Basic and unassuming, this is an RPG for gamers that love RPGs. No complex battle system, no hugely epic storyline, just old-school goodness by the fistful.

The core here is the combat, which is easily some of the best ever seen on any system, and finally provides a compelling alternative to the endless flow of World War II shooters in recent years.

Basic soccer with equally basic AI and gameplay means you'll be entertained at first, but the more you play the less you appreciate what's happening on the urban pitch.

You cannot find a better baseball game than MVP Baseball 2005. At $30, it’s an incredible steal for what could be the last licensed MVP game... It actually feels like you are playing the same baseball you play in the park or watch on TV, more than any game previous. The control, immersion and realism are unmatched.

Simply put this is a bad game. Scratch that, it's horrible. To think that some of the talent working on the Castlevania series (including producer Koji Igarashi) actually had a hand in this isn't just scary, it's successfully put into question how well the next Castlevania may turn out.

This is a story worth telling, but you'll be beaten and abused while you try to listen to it.

There are some rare moments where things are fun, but uninspired boss fights, repetitive corridor crawls and obvious puzzles (water = time to take a trip to Deviland) rob this game of any of the fun the source material could have provided.

Simplistic combat, trial and error stealth levels and a climax that seems to hit a bit too late all add up to an experience that falls a bit flat. Experience Rome as a solid rental, but all but the most patient will likely feel cheated for a full-price entry.

Poor controls, poor camera, poor combat... Poor us for having to suffer through this dreck.

The series' gameplay has been refined and honed to a keen sharpness that few games can match in terms of overall quality, slick presentation and tight, responsive controls. This is a sports game for people who hate sports games.

A fantastic distillation of the series' classic gameplay and KOF 2003 does a wonderful job of trying to update the formula without breaking things too much, but this is after all a classic collection, and should be taken as such.

Just feels remarkably solid in just about every respect, and it has made strides in areas like AI and controls to elevate it to a level where it really does start to feel like real matches between real teams are being simulated.

In terms of doing the comics justice, this game is a shining example of how to stay true to the source material, but as a game, it can feel a little repetitive. Dig it for the story and the characters, not the depth of gameplay.

Great storyline told through an engagingly interwoven approach with some solid acting can't offset clunky controls and overly-linear gameplay that haven't improved since the first game.

Same game with minor improvements. They're nice, sure, but that doesn't mean you should have to pay another $50 just to get the stuff that should have been in the first game.

Genuinely tough puzzles mixed with constant and varied challenges from enemies and bosses alike make this of the best mixes of old-school action and progressive gameplay themes ever seen in games.

Better than most of the series' efforts, this is still a painfully stunted experience. The art team give things a nice visual nudge, but the focus still needs to fall on the core gameplay.