Even more bland and unappealing than its console cousin. If you're a psycho fan of the series, the PS2 version will probably sate you for a while, but I can't think of anyone that would actively enjoy the pared down experience of the PSP port.

It's not the most perfect fighter, nor are all the extras particularly interesting, but what's here is the finest example of what American fighting game developers can produce, and if you're any kind of MK -- old or new -- there's enough here to warrant a purchase. And then some.

The strength of STACKED's AI is what holds the game up. The presentation is lackluster, the audio basic and the character creation severely lacking. Even with all that, this is still the best poker game out there. It's just not a must-have.

I said it in the review and I'll say it again here: this is a Star Trek game in name only, and it's a crying shame. If only a little more attention to the history of the universe had been applied it wouldn't feel like such a wasted license.

Everything the first game was and more. It's a deeper experience, it's more quirky and unique without losing sight of the best bits that made it so fun.

It's a decent rental, in the same way that a softcore flick about aliens coming to earth to learn the ways of love is fun once, but there's no real longevity to any one part of the game.

Piss poor visuals and gameplay that doesn't hold up post the double digit hour mark mean this is a game that's not only crippled on the PS2, but rather stunted to begin with.

If you've played paintball in the past -- particularly in a tournament situation -- you may find even more to love here than most.

Though there are some very solid concepts in place here, the execution feels unnecessarily limited. With better AI, more cars, and perhaps just a little more variety, this could have been a game that bucked the trend of budget releases.

A fairly basic and accessible racing game is unfortunately marred by upgrades that aren't sufficiently explained. The setting is ripe for a sequel, however, and I'm hoping that it gets just a little more newbie-friendly. For my sake.

The first game that offers an honest-to-goodness single-player experience that uses the tried-and-true gameplay from almost a decade of games to reinvigorate dancing solo.

Pointless loading EVERYWHERE means the game just comes off as coded by monkeys rather than being something different. Stay away.

So long as you go into things understanding that this isn't really a console-level basketball experience and that it's uniquely designed for shorter, more portable games, you end up with a shockingly good basketball entry. If they end up adding in some of the fluff from the console versions next year, it's going to make things near irresistible.

Hands-down one of the best games every released. Not just on the PS2, but ANY system. Yes, it's that good.

The fact that 20 hours into the game I was still experiencing the same stuff I played 20 minutes after I started means it's not terribly deep. But it's fun and I can't deny that.

Unfortunately, more often it's a frustrating experience that often muddies what would have been an atmospheric, wildly imaginative peek into the darker side of misguided children.

The board game concept is novel, and perhaps with a few less randomization events, it could have been more engaging, but with AI that's absolutely relentless on the upper settings, mini-games that fail to deliver the basic premise on the first play-through, and a general sense that things were rather slapped together, Pirates' Carnival lacks the kind of fun you'd expect when you put those two words together.

It's sadly a little too short to be a really meaty experience, but while it lasts -- and for us non-perfectionist sorts, the first dozen or so levels that you try to get across-the-board perfects on -- it's so charming that you won't want it to end.

If you bought into the series not for the boobage, but for the hot man-on-man ass kicking, then you're probably going to find plenty to love here. The game is essentially the same, though in a few ways it's actually improved over the console experience.

They did it. Capcom sucessfully updated the series without destroying what was good about the classics. I'll always bemoan the loss of the Maximo team, as they actually translated things into full 3D perfectly, but this is a nice in-between.

The classic comedic saying that you should always leave 'em wanting more has never rung more true in an RPG. After more than a few missteps, Xenosaga recovers beautifully, and the result is one of the must-have RPGs for the PlayStation 2, without a doubt.

Slightly better controls, slightly worse framerate and equally blah adventure and mildly distracting party games leave this just as middle-of-the-road as the PS2 version. But hey, at least it's the same thing only portable, right?

There is no better value for your buck than getting a game that supports HUNDREDS of hours of play time, and Disgaea 2 does that. The sheer amount of character building and fantastic humor all make for a game that you WANT to play for that long too.

FlatOut 2 may not do much to improve the formula that the original created, but it refines it, deepens it, and adds so much stuff to do that you won't find yourself nearly as tired of things as soon as the first effort. It's not new, no, but it's a blast.

With only the puzzles of Challenge Mode and the Party Mode games to save it, SMBA would have been better off as just another puzzle game -- except it's not nearly as good as the puzzle games.

Though it's probably impossible to get a proper online fighting experience Dark Resurrection comes about as close as we can hope for -- and it's completely portable. Few games are this uncompromising, and every PSP owner needs this game. Yep, all of em.

It's certainly not a perfect game, and barely uses the license at all (which is probably a good thing), but for a portable shooter, something the PSP sorely needs, it works beautifully. If only those rough spots weren't so rough.

For as decent as the battle system and item crafting parts of the game are, they simply can't hold up the entirely mediocre or cliche other bits. The game is solid, yes, but I was hoping the first console-level RPG would be a little more, well, engaging.