The real area where SOCOM shines is in the player models and animations -- where everything from a simple reload to the way a seal crawls across a muddy riverbank to the way a freshly-capped enemy lurches forward and back, then topples over silently -- drips with an astonishing amount of detail.

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.

Yes, Tumble is plain, but that just highlights the original gameplay mechanics and addictive nature of figuring out how to best complete each challenge. You won't find more bang for your buck among the Move launch titles.

You'll get more than your money's worth here. This is a game that you will pull from the shelf for months to come just to drop in and do "one more race" that will lead to a few lost hours.

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.

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 crazy amount of depth afforded by Ryu's basic movesets, the stuff he gets from weapons and the things that are unlocked make the game so damned enjoyable that even when you're chucking the controller through a wall, you're itching to do it all again.

"The Tomb of Sammun-Mak" is fun, funny and smart. The Devil's Playhouse continues to impress.

There's something for everyone with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12. Now is the perfect time to jump into one of the best series out there as it's never been more accessible. PS Move owners, even non-golf fans, should give it a second look as well.

A game that on every level, takes the previous conventions of an arcade basketball game and obliterates them, throwing innovation into places that didn’t seem like they needed it.

Once again, despite Roger Ebert, a game finds a way to blend art and gameplay together in a fun and accessible way. Sound Shapes isn't really like anything else, and that's a shame because more games could stand to experiment like this.

If not for the harmony of the online experience married to the single-player game, Killzone 2 may not have been nearly as amazing. But it does have both components, and they make for one of the single best values of 2009. Buy this game.

If that isn't a pair of dream tracklists, I don't know what is.

So yes, I'm a big whiner about the new way the game throws all its different modes at you during the career progression, but custom soundtracks, online play, tons of subtle little tweaks to the handling, track design, weapons and even a few elements borrowed from past games all add up to one of the most insanely packed offerings on the PSP right now.

I'm taking a big risk rating the game as high as it is right now, and if for some reason things aren't worked out in the next week or two, this score is going to drop like a rock, but when the game works, it's absolutely amazing. Here's hoping makes it.

Your total enjoyment will of course hinge on your love of the artists cobbled together, but there's no denying that DJ Hero's gameplay triumphs over all else, and in the end secures its place as the breakout music game of this year.

Thanks to an interesting trading system and the promise of literally hours and hours of extra gameplay-unlocked goodies, an improved system for absorbing and applying souls and perfectly executed graphical and aural treats as so few developers in this industry can really deliver, the game is simply too good to miss.

It's wonderfully balanced, nicely challenging, and things like the fog of war or stealth units are handled with plenty of confidence.

The bottom line is that this is a fantastic value for the measly $30 Sony is asking.

The gameplay speaks for itself.

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.

Coconut Dodge is an excellent mini for an excellent price. Do. Not. Miss. It.

Rarely do we get games like this, and I suspect that despite all the obvious love that was heaped on the game, we'll probably never see a sequel.

THIS is the way Capcom needs to treat their arcade ports. We can always use more games in a collection, and the fact that the game is a little skimpy on extras (thus toning down the whole anthology aspect), it's still a killer collection done right.

The definitive assembly of some of the Genesis' best games.

Though SingStar out of the box isn't quite compelling in the same way some of the more recent releases have been, tracks-wise, the overwhelmingly awesome online functionality absolutely makes up for it and then some.

Everything from the first game has been done better, cleaner and with more emphasis, but the free-roaming city is a double-edged sword, offering a sprawling metropolis to navigate, but a bit too much travelling in some spots.

Patapon is just one of those games that you don't see very often. What originally seems like a basic concept is almost constantly being fleshed out with nuance and depth as new songs, items, units and enemies are added with each successive level.