While Halo Wars won't be relieving strategy fans of their mice and keyboards, Ensemble Studios has crafted a genuinely fun experience. There are drawbacks, but those new to the genre likely won't even notice them, and Halo fans won't care. Most importantly, console fans finally have a genuinely good real-time strategy experience on their gaming platform of choice.

While Killzone 2 does walk on mostly well-trodden ground, it does so with a keen attention to style and detail, pushing beyond the gray-and-red color schemes that define its competition while encouraging gamers to put a little bit of thought behind every bullet they hurl.

Were it not for the Nintendo DS' low-res graphics, Peggle Dual Shot might well be considered a definitive version of the game. Packed with a great deal of content, it's a great time-killer that can make hour-long bus rides pass in the blink of an eye.

Although 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand has enough novel gimmicks in its shooting gameplay to keep things interesting, everything else is no better than average.

Galactrix is a surprisingly robust game, but you really need to have an investment in the rote act of matching gems to appreciate it all.

And I fail to see how the all-important menu that lets you reassign the buttons on your controller could have been designed to be less intuitive. You'll be using that a lot, too, especially if you buy an arcade-style joystick — which I cannot recommend strongly enough, especially if you have an Xbox 360. The console's default controller is absolutely infuriatingly useless for this game.

The game's menus are clunky, which gets annoying since you're constantly going in there to tweak your button settings and check the list of special moves. A menu will often tell you to press the A button to confirm your selection, but pressing it does nothing.

A contemporary classic — but not necessarily in a good way. Yes, slightly antiquated design elements like health and armor packs give it a familiar feel. And quite a few genuinely scary moments are guaranteed to make you feel a little silly for being so freaked out. But the game tries to be too many things at once, and the transparent, jarring transitions from horror to next-gen action sequences break the otherwise carefully executed atmosphere.

The translations are occasionally botched. In two instances, the cheat codes were incorrect. This, plus the fact that some of the challenges send you back over territory you've already covered, keeps the game from achieving true retro perfection. It's still awesome, and a must-play for fans of the NES era.

In attempting to create a sprawling action game that lets you play swordsmen and archers and wizards and scouts and trolls and Ents and Sauron, the developers failed to make any of those experiences much fun. Conquest might be worth killing a weekend with, and will probably find its niche with Battlefront fans, but it is lackluster at every turn.

The truly stunning thing about Persona 4 is that it just doesn't have any glaring flaws. Even though it doesn't stand up to the graphics of the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, the clever art style makes up for that. Those who despise reading large blocks of text in games will be pleasantly surprised by the solid voice-over work applied to almost every conversation.

Yes, it's true that at no time while playing Prince of Persia did I feel any of the frustration that I felt on a regular basis in "Mirror's Edge". But neither did I ever feel the joy of doing something right, of stringing together a perfect series of vaults and wall-runs and feeling like it was based on my own skill.

If you enjoy playing first-person shooters with a team of friends or even complete strangers, Left 4 Dead offers an unparalleled social experience. It can be frustrating at times when the team's actions aren't synced, or strategies continually falter, but a bit of practice and, more importantly, communication will transform this zombie massacre into one of the most exciting and addictive gaming experiences ever.

Simply the most reliable gaming purchase you can make this holiday season. No other title will offer more content for the price.

Despite some regrettable drawbacks and frustrations, Mirror's Edge is a singular and incredibly compelling experience. If you're looking to try something that's genuinely new and not just a refinement or tweak of some existing genre or play mechanic, you really owe it to yourself to play this.

Banjo is what you get when you put a lavish coat of polish on nothing: A beautiful, funny game with a clever concept that is utterly lacking in fundamentals.

The game delivers the same grizzled, gore-laden action we've come to expect, and it does it extremely well -- but it's as if the original Gears has gotten a face-lift, and been expanded upon, without much real change.

While it gives players that quintessential amped-up FPS experience, it isn't doing anything especially innovative or new. The firefights are intense, the pacing will keep you on the edge of your seat and quite a few scenes prove absolutely breathtaking, but the game's chief strength is the story that binds it all together, and the multiplayer modes that should keep us amused for quite some time.

The campaign mode is a fun, lengthy, well-polished experience. But the reason most people pick up a strategy game in the first place is to meet new and interesting people and crush them mercilessly.

Despite the clunky menu system and nearly useless real-time combat options, the biggest complaint I can level at Fallout 3 is that it isn't by the original developer, Interplay. But since we'll never see that game, Bethesda's take on the series is a very acceptable substitute.

But I was pleased to discover at least one genre of music that fits in surprisingly well with all the limitations of the system: classic videogame music.

For whatever reason, Fable II consistently stutters and hangs while you're scrolling through the menus. What should be a simple matter of handing a gift to a potential mate becomes a slog into Menu Hell.

Despite minor quibbles about its online modes, Order of Ecclesia is a simply stunning handheld game. It ranks as easily the best portable game of the year and could very well qualify as the best Castlevania ever.

Wii Music is Wii's "Nintendogs." It's not a traditional videogame with challenges and goals, it's an interactive playground. While some gamers will "get it" and have some fun with it, they'll likely abandon it after a little while. Most hard-core gamers will stay far away.

Dokapon Kingdom's perfectly balanced multiplayer, cool aesthetics and pure addictive fun make it a new high-water mark for party games on the Wii.

Dead Space's atmosphere is brilliant, evoking nerve-wracking paranoia, but the gameplay is the same as many other previous games.

Dead Space's atmosphere is brilliant, evoking nerve-wracking paranoia, but the gameplay is the same as many other previous games.

Endless depth, gorgeous graphics, excellent polish for a new MMO.

It's all the more disappointing because you can see, mired in the boring levels and bad cameras, glimpses of fun ideas.

It's all the more disappointing because you can see, mired in the boring levels and bad cameras, glimpses of fun ideas.

It's tough to make the distinction between where Square Enix was deliberately preserving the game's nostalgic appeal, and where it was just cutting costs.

Peggle Nights, like its predecessor, is extremely polished, challenging and fun.

The one major qualm I have with the game is in its voice acting.

It's another three or four hours of solid entertainment.

Rock Band 2 is a massive bullet-point list of new features, each of which makes playing the game a little bit more fun, a little bit less annoying. MTV has played it very safe: It has not broken anything, but neither has it taken any great risks to add any feature that is mind-blowingly new, the way it did when it added drumming and vocals to Guitar Hero in the first place.

I can't imagine a good reason to purchase Zoids Assault.

Better break-time puzzle rounds and a story that's not throwaway filler would make a truly excellent game; this is merely a fun diversion.

In attempting to Sim everything, Spore tries to be all things to all people -- a strategy that never quite works out the way it's supposed to.

In short, I was left wanting to know more. The fact that you can start a new campaign with your character and continue to level him up didn't really entice me back into Too Human -- I want more story. To that end, I'm looking forward to the promised release of "Too Human 2."

Gorgeous re-imagining of the original, lots of gaming for your buck.

Gorgeous re-imagining of the original, lots of gaming for your buck.

Anyone who's been waiting for Peter Molyneux's latest epic will no doubt spend hours in front of Pub Games trying to earn cash, whether they like it or not. But on its own, it doesn't offer nearly enough entertainment.

Gorgeous re-imagining of the original, lots of gaming for your buck.

Flawless presentation, funny dialogue, great puzzles.

Braid is so much more than just another XBLA release. What you're paying for is a groundbreaking title that offers several hours of pure game enjoyment. Buy this game now, and experience some of the best this medium has to offer.

No continues or saves, no level selection, weapons aren't balanced.

No continues or saves, no level selection, weapons aren't balanced.

How much you enjoy this sequel will depend almost entirely on your feelings for the first Under the Knife. If it left you wanting nothing more than another set of operations to tackle, you'll be in heaven. If you were hoping for a vastly improved scenario, you're out of luck.

So while it falls short of greatness, Operation Darkness can content itself with being merely a fun game with an amazing premise.

The combination of clever, strategic gameplay with hopelessly niche subject matter almost guarantees cult classic status for this one. But Political Machine 2008 is definitely worth playing, particularly if you're a fan of politics -- no other game to date better represents our embattled system.

Sea Life Safari is just plain short. After 3 hours of play, I had access to all of the levels, had captured every species of fish in my log book, and had unlocked every Achievement except the one for finding all of the golden shells in the game.

Even without a story to speak of, Etrian Odyssey II does exactly what it was meant to do: It provides a ridiculous level of challenge coupled with weeks, if not months, of classic gameplay to an audience who still desires that sort of thing.

The team at Kojima Productions has at the very least set a new high-water mark for cinematic presentation that I wager any other videogame will be lucky to reach, let alone exceed, for the next few years.

Ultimately, the gameplay is a vast improvement over its predecessor, but the game is in most other respects dwarfed by more recent innovations in the genre.

But even the best programming can't save this game from the flaws in its design. There's nothing horribly wrong with it, but it also fails to bring anything remotely new or original to the genre.

But even the best programming can't save this game from the flaws in its design. There's nothing horribly wrong with it, but it also fails to bring anything remotely new or original to the genre.

$20 might seem like a bit much for a little over five hours of gameplay, although there's a lot of content packed into this first installment: Four largish 3-D environments, a dozen or so main characters, and reams of funny dialogue.

$20 might seem like a bit much for a little over five hours of gameplay, although there's a lot of content packed into this first installment: Four largish 3-D environments, a dozen or so main characters, and reams of funny dialogue.

In essence, if you're willing to suffer through some early balance issues, have a good guild to join and desire an MMO experience where you can kill other people to your heart's content, Age of Conan is the game for you.

Wii Fit feels very much like a version 1.0 trial run that's going to be made obsolete by a better sequel in six months. For now, it's absolutely worth giving it a try if you have a Wii, $90, and some extra pounds to lose.

Do yourself a favor: Steer clear of Myst DS and keep your memories pure.

Boom Blox does what so many Wii titles wish they could, by splitting the difference between casual players and lifelong gamers. You can pass the Wiimote to your grandma or a 5-year-old and they'll have a ball with its clever mix of brainy puzzles and satisfying explosions. But hard-core players like me will find a surprising amount of depth to the gameplay and a satisfying, addictive challenge.

[Mario Kart Wii's Battle Mode] is no longer a last-man-standing contest: Matches now last three minutes each, and if your kart takes too much damage, don't worry! You'll just respawn. Even worse, all battles are now played in teams of two. So while you can still have four human players, they can't all face off against each other -- and what's the point of that?

The game's audio is phenomenal. Throughout the game players are treated to a combination of Japanese-style blues, pop, techno and rock. Even those who have become tired of Japan's trademark stylistic alterations to American media will find the variety of tunes appealing.

If you're a Pokemon superfan, you'll undoubtedly enjoy chilling with the very creatures you've spent so much time trying to catch.

If you're a Pokemon superfan, you'll undoubtedly enjoy chilling with the very creatures you've spent so much time trying to catch.

It does exactly what a game is supposed to: It entertains throughout its duration, it flexes the muscle of both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, and above all it squeezes your testosterone gland just enough to make the gaming experience enjoyable.

It does exactly what a game is supposed to: It entertains throughout its duration, it flexes the muscle of both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, and above all it squeezes your testosterone gland just enough to make the gaming experience enjoyable.

At some point, you realize that looking back at each of Viking's qualities, it's hard to really put your finger on anything that's truly standout -- and yet it's compelling.

At some point, you realize that looking back at each of Viking's qualities, it's hard to really put your finger on anything that's truly standout -- and yet it's compelling.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot has plenty of creepy moments, but it favors action over atmosphere. To that end it performs very well, and even throws in some juicy plot twists and a cliffhanger ending. But I miss the tension of the original, just the same.

It retains what fans love about the series and refuses to make any drastic changes. Long time fans will be absolutely ecstatic at this news, but for those of you who never got the appeal of Hot Shots in the first place, you certainly won't find it here.

I wouldn't recommend that version of Sega Superstars Tennis to anyone who isn't a massive fan of the company. I had high hopes, but with so many simple yet crucial issues here, it looks like we're going to have to wait for the inevitable sequel before truly enjoying our trip down memory lane.

I wouldn't recommend that version of Sega Superstars Tennis to anyone who isn't a massive fan of the company. I had high hopes, but with so many simple yet crucial issues here, it looks like we're going to have to wait for the inevitable sequel before truly enjoying our trip down memory lane.

I wouldn't recommend that version of Sega Superstars Tennis to anyone who isn't a massive fan of the company. I had high hopes, but with so many simple yet crucial issues here, it looks like we're going to have to wait for the inevitable sequel before truly enjoying our trip down memory lane.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot has plenty of creepy moments, but it favors action over atmosphere. To that end it performs very well, and even throws in some juicy plot twists and a cliffhanger ending. But I miss the tension of the original, just the same.

I wouldn't unhesitatingly recommend Ring of Fates to anyone who's not already a genre fan, but if you're like me, you need to play this one.

Brawl isn't perfect. The single-player mode isn't nearly as polished and fun as the multiplayer. The disc is crammed so full of content that the loading times can get annoying. But it's still without equal -- can you even think of another four-player fighting game?

The enemies just aren't clever enough to keep up with players in most situations, not to mention the number of times your computer controlled partner will inevitably get stuck behind a wall. Plus, the seven-hour campaign doesn't provide enough entertainment value without the added fun of multiplayer gaming.

The enemies just aren't clever enough to keep up with players in most situations, not to mention the number of times your computer controlled partner will inevitably get stuck behind a wall. Plus, the seven-hour campaign doesn't provide enough entertainment value without the added fun of multiplayer gaming.

Kratos' latest action-packed journey across the tales of Greek myth has lightning-fast pacing, designed to keep you addicted straight through to the end with tiny loading times in between. The problem is that you come upon the end of the game very quickly, way before you want it to be.

Patapon is a clever spin on the rhythm genre, and the tiny characters are simply adorable. Leveling up your warriors can be quite trying, but the game's charm and refreshing adaptation of established mechanics make such transgressions forgivable.

I'd like to encourage The Adventure Company to bring more point-and-clicks to Wii, but please, please make them better than this.