Although you'll find very little that you haven't already experienced in a multitude of other platform games, Ratatouille provides a visually pleasing gaming experience with a single-player campaign of decent length and a respectable rewards system.

Essentially, Ratatouille would be a perfect purchase for somebody fitting any two of these criteria: a young child, somebody relatively unskilled at gaming or a huge fan of the film on which the game is based.

Traxxpad fails no matter what way you look at it. If it's meant to be a game, something for casual players to noodle with to make some loops and show off, then it bombs because it's absurdly difficult to figure out for no good reason. I haven't encountered sound gear this hard to figure out or use since the Roland W-30. If this is meant for professionals, then why a platform with little access to new sounds or updates, and why no MIDI?

AGEod's American Civil War: The Blue and the Gray is definitely intended for serious Civil War strategists.

The Darkness is excellent; if judged solely on presentation and graphics, it would be one of the greatest games of all time. Even with the gameplay flaws thrown in, it's still pretty great, since the single-player experience is wonderfully cinematic and tells an excellent story.

There is a good game in here, but it's too bad that the AI and gameplay mechanics weren't as impressive as the deep story line.

A fun arcade-style sports game that suffers from just enough shortcomings to keep it from being great.

In all, The Bigs is a decent baseball game for the Wii, but it really plays more like a game of real baseball than one is led to believe.

The game especially shines when competing head-to-head with friends in ad-hoc mode. On the down side, it loses a great deal of depth with its poor outfield control.

Pokemon Battle Revolution simply isn't worth the money. Other than the privilege of being the first Nintendo Wii title with online capability, it has nothing else going for it.

Sporting an uninspired story, severe clipping issues and boring gameplay, Hour of Victory is one to avoid, which is disappointing because they started out with such an incredible premise and just failed to make good on it.

Most of its facets are somewhat sub-par, but the sheer addictive gameplay available in the title makes it perfect for the pick-up-and-play casual crowd.

Controlling Harry in his battles against the Ministry and Voldemort while exploring a sandbox-like Hogwarts is a concept that seems to write itself. However, instead of the excitement and magic that surrounds Hogwarts, you get the monotony of backtracking through an incoherent castle combined with the "excitement" of cleaning up someone else's messes.

But on balance, when there are many excellent, enthralling adventure games for both children and adults lining shop shelves, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix doesn't quite meet muster.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has a gigantic amount of things to offer gamers, whether you're a dedicated follower of the series, or simply one wanting to experience a different way to use the Wii's motion controls.

Feels limited, and your powers seem squandered on simply fixing statues or any of the other humdrum tasks you're instructed to complete.

The Adventures of Darwin shares many similarities to another obscure (when it was released) budget title, Katamari Damacy, but Darwin lacks the quirky charm and hyper fun of that game, and so will likely be forever relegated to the bargain bin.

My personal opinions about the overproduction of WW2 titles aside, Brothers in Arms DS is utterly playable and an incredibly ambitious graphical step for the DS. It's slick, action-packed and surprisingly atmospheric for such a small screen, although its problems are very noticeable, and getting shot through supposed "cover" can get extremely irritating.

It looks quite nice, and a lot of the basic features work exceptionally well. Unfortunately, once you start getting into the gameplay, you can't help but feel that something is missing. If the game had a more developed campaign mode or a wider variety to its basic design, it could have been a smash hit. As it stands now, however, it feels empty and basic.

A worthy follow-up to the last Colin MacRae game, but while it's competent and looks fantastic, it leaves a little something to be desired in a few key areas.

A worthy follow-up to the last Colin MacRae game, but while it's competent and looks fantastic, it leaves a little something to be desired in a few key areas.

Unlike many games, Transformers is actually less than the sum of its parts. It may look and sound kind of nice, and give you all sorts of things to do, but who cares when it's just not any fun and you want it to transform into another game after 30 minutes of play time?

You'll have to play through at least 10 cities before you see everything the game has to offer, and no other simulation title provides the amount of details and complexity that SimCity DS does.

I recommend role-playing and/or construction fans to consider adding Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground to their libraries. Its unique features and gameplay make for some great entertainment.

This is, by and far, the definitive version of Resident Evil 4. Even if one ends up disliking the new Wii controls, this is the whole package.

The main problem with Ingenious is the lack of content and value, even for a budget title.

Unlike many games, Transformers is actually less than the sum of its parts. It may look and sound kind of nice, and give you all sorts of things to do, but who cares when it's just not any fun and you want it to transform into another game after 30 minutes of play time?

Hot Brain is a nice departure from the usual reflex games that you'd most likely be playing on your PSP. Although the puzzle tests are timed, the game's presentation is light-hearted and not intimidating to play.

PQ2 provides a challenging 3D puzzle-solving environment with excellent replay value thanks to the built-in puzzle editor and an extensive online puzzle-sharing system.

The simple fact is that Brain Buster Puzzle Pak is a great title for beginners to puzzle gaming and a fine way to give someone a bit of enjoyment. Unfortunately, the novelty will begin to wear thin after a little while, and the gimmicky presentation fails to make up for an entirely too-brief experience.

Compared to the competition, RotSS feels more like a side story that borrows just enough gameplay elements to provide fan service for those who can't get enough of the film, but as a game, it's not much of a leap from an expensive bag of stale popcorn at the theater.

I have been advised that Hour of Victory may, in fact, be a worse game than Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, a fact that I sincerely find hard to imagine. Out of fear for my life, I do not intend to test this theory, nor do I recommend anyone else do so, as certain things just aren't meant to be known by humanity.

A poorly put-together game that suffers from incompetent AI, terrible graphics, mistimed sound effects, repetitive level design, and button-smashing combat.

A tour de force labor of love from developers who clearly cared, and knew what they were doing, and it's not hard to fully appreciate the end result.

Even months after its release, Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 remains one of the best Naruto fighting games. It's got lots to satisfy solitary players, and versus mode matches are both fun to play and watch.

Tenchu Z just feels dated. The original Tenchu came out almost 10 years ago, and although there are some minor changes here and there, the core gameplay is exactly the same.

Trainwreck Studios tried with Time Ace. They tried hard. But it's obvious that while they do have some skill in game design (some of the less prohibitive levels, especially later in the game, are quite enjoyable), their first attempt lived up to the company's unfortunate name.

Speaking of headaches, as the final poison icing on the cake, the game possesses what I none-too-kindly call "Dead Rising Text."

DBZ: HD feels like the developers actually put some effort into its creation. It's fun, and — dare I say it — somewhat innovative.

A graphically amazing, highly playable engine is let down by a fairly predictably storyline and repetitive mission structure.

Combine new weapons, ship types, the wonderfully realized debut of the Zuul race, deeper gameplay, more scenarios and new ways to play, and you've got a solid, if unforgiving, title for hardcore turn-based fans to set their sights on. Kerberos definitely put enough into this to make it more than just a mission pack but not quite a full sequel.

The stylish storytelling and the possibilities posed by the setting can't hide the embarrassing localization, the unexciting fetch-the-key gameplay that most every other FPS has moved beyond, and issues with the graphics that might have you reaching for the nearest bottle of pain relievers and asking what happened to quality testing.

Anyone who's played a tank simulation before will find this to be a pretty simple game because there isn't much to control, and it can become repetitive rather quickly.

Halo 2 on the PC is a lot like Halo 2 on the Xbox, only now with higher resolution graphics, a level editor, and the ability to aim a sniper rifle with a mouse rather than the right analog stick.

Thanks to the driving aid system, it offers a racing experience that can be modified to suit any player's desire and skill level.

A prime example of potential wasted. Even getting past the terrible use of the Shadowrun license, the game itself just feels half-finished. The lack of variety and polish that shows in every stage and every character model just accentuates this every time you put the disc into your 360.

I think it's quite entertaining and does many things just right. However, it's clearly unfinished and was rushed out the door.

The problem is that the Mario Party franchise hasn't really evolved or changed much from its days on the Nintendo 64. Yes, there are new characters, stages, and mini-games, but despite their clever designs, they're quickly growing repetitive and stale.

I found Crush to be an innovative twist on the platform/puzzle genre. The game is suitable for all ages and includes a hint feature which you can enable or disable in the options menu. My only complaint with the game is that it feels a bit short with only 40 levels.

Sadly, first-class presentation can't save Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm from disappointing mediocrity.

It's not perfect, and the limited amount of characters will quickly grow tiresome to some, but those who really enjoy the bullet wave-filled combat will enjoy testing out their skills online.

The Secrets of Atlantis: The Sacred Legacy is a wonderful glimpse at what could have been. You have a great premise and a great setting, but ultimately, the game falls flat with an uninspired story and frustrating, sometimes nonsensical, puzzles.

The New York Times Crosswords for the NDS is made for the puzzle freak and crossword enthusiast, but it's also enjoyable for anyone who has a penchant for simple-playing games with a good deal of challenge.

Nothing in the game works right, the physics are embarrassing, the gameplay is repetitive and boring, and the only bright spot is the cut scenes, which are simply nice window dressing for a shockingly boring plot.

The movement controls are very slippery and awkward, you spend most of your time in mundane conversation trees and playing the same mini-games relentlessly, and the reward at the end of the year isn't particularly satisfying.

A decent game marred by glitches and rushes.

It's reasonably good-looking, intelligent and fun, but with a lot of flaws.

In short, Naruto: Ninja Council 3 shows little to no improvement over its predecessors, with equally brain-dead play and a genre switch that sets it in competition with far better games in its own series, to say nothing of other games on the system using the same characters.

Rarely have games floored me with their animations and graphics as much as Odin Sphere did, but that is almost all that is worth recommending.

It is perhaps the very definition of mediocre. Combat is repetitive and boring, but not particularly flawed in any way, except perhaps for the weak AI.

But when all the parts are added up, this is just another on a long list of licensed games that fail to actually get past the low standards set for the genre.

An enjoyable, if slightly simple, way to spend a few hours. It's as addictive as side-scrollers come but is overly reliant on its film inspiration to fill in the gaps of the story and create a pre-existing bond with characters.

Overall, Art of Fighting Anthology certainly did not stand the test of time, and the titles definitely don't have anything on current 2D fighters.

The controls are exceptionally tight, the translations from the original arcade titles are splendidly recreated in a fashion that suggests to me that great care was taken to ensure that each game would be faithful to the original and the interface is both simple and useful.

Etrian Odyssey is old school. There is no other way to describe it. It's slow, difficult, sparse with the hints and unforgiving to those who try to speed through it. If this doesn't sound like fun to you, then it's best to move along, because you won't enjoy Etrian Odyssey. However, if you're one of those gamers who has fond memories of Wizardry and Ultima, then this might just be what you're looking for.

Shrek the Third isn't a terrible game, but it's not a terribly fun — or long — one, either. It suffers from boring, repetitive combat with extremely frustrating platform jumping, and while the story and dialogue are hilarious, the voice actors providing poor impersonations tend to detract more than enhance from the entire experience.

Shrek the Third is a funny beat-'em-up perfect for kids that liked the movie, but it suffers from simple controls and repetitive fighting.

I enjoyed playing Shrek the Third because it is a fun, uncomplicated title that is accessible to action fans of all ages. It's a linear adventure, though, so don't expect a whole lot of replay value.

Better suited as an arcade shooter than anything else. Nothing about the game particularly stands out, the level design is simple, the storyline is generic, the graphics are of the current generation, and the gameplay is mediocre at best.

If you still have a sneaking suspicion that the Xbox 360 version suffers from the inferior control scheme of a controller, think again. After a few minutes of adjusting, you'll find that it's just as easy to perform at your peak on the Xbox 360's controller as it is on a keyboard and mouse setup on a PC.

CellFactor is best thought of as an intriguing tech demo. It is interesting to watch your screen become cluttered with dozens of boxes, pipes, and miscellaneous junk, and know that your PhysX card is making the spectacle possible, but is it fun to play? Let's just say that you will love it … if your video game collection consists solely of free games.

If you're a really big fan of the storyline of .hack//GU, then that is the only reason to keep playing this franchise. Even then, the plot is both incredibly predictable and filled to the brim of clichéd characters and logic holes that make it very difficult to take seriously.

Unfortunately, I never felt that Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam was much fun to play. The switch in style from city exploration to racer doesn't work that well, and it never seemed like I had the time to pull off impressive tricks or combos.

There are so many things going for Armed Assault: Combat Operations (ArmA) in terms of presentation, concept and effort. Unfortunately, it slips up in so many ways that affect the gameplay to a serious degree that it turns what could have been a great military combat simulator into a test of patience.

The game is just plain fun and has a terrific timeless appeal to it. This is the sort of title you could play through once or twice right away (even though it might take you three months), and then reinstall it again a year, two years, even five years later, and still have just as much fun.

I enjoyed swinging through Spider-man 3 even though I felt that game tasks were becoming more and more repetitive as I progressed.

If you're a huge Spider-Man fan, this game may be for you. Anyone else will be content renting it and amusing themselves for a few hours exploring the Big Apple and returning it before the dullness sets in.

Between Spider Sense and the web slinging, Spider-Man 3 offers a fairly comprehensive Spidey experience, but there's as much frustration as fun here.

Just seems like a huge step back from what was achieved in "Spider-man 2."

The game barely clocks in at five hours, and there's not much to do after that.

Catan is a well developed version of "Settlers of Catan," and truthfully, I think Big Huge Games was just the right company to do it. It played very smoothly and is without a doubt is the next best thing — if not the best thing — to playing the original version of "Settlers of Catan."

Heatseeker takes only eight to 12 hours to complete but does something most Wii games do not — it offers a story.

It's a fun shooter with a well-done bullet-time feature and a decent storyline. What more could you ask for from a $20 dollar game? Oh, Hubbardium-crazed humans? It's got that too!

Cube is a fine concept, and the stages themselves were well-designed, but from a graphical, audio, and programming standpoint, the game is a total mess.

Probably the biggest question about LotRO is, "Does LotRO have the potential to surpass World of Warcraft?" The answer is yes.

An excellent addition to any party game collection, and fans of the genre will find tons of stuff to do. They will also get a kick out of the variety of mini-games and the copious amounts of humor. Multiplayer mode is there but a little weak, and the lack of Xbox Live support for even an online scoreboard seems like an odd move.

An above average shooter with some fright tossed into the mix.

I tried so hard to like Card Fighters DS, but I feel it's a good card game stuck inside of a bad video game. The source material was there, and it had potential to be lots of fun, but the method of earning cards is repetitive, you are stuck in a static location throughout the game, and it is basically impossible to complete the game until SNK redistributes new cartridges.

A very generic RTS game. It's graphically appealing, but in terms of gameplay, there are many better RTS offerings out there.

I've gone on a fair bit about some of the issues with Aedis Eclipse: Generation of Chaos — difficult to learn controls, some inevitability in the tactics — but overall, it is a surprisingly different and a well-done strategy RPG title.

Is Th3 Plan worth playing? Even as a $15 budget title, it really isn't. From the inconsistent voice acting to the rudimentary visuals, the tedious gameplay, and the lack of replay value, you have better things with which to occupy your time.

If you are a hardcore action shooter fan, you may be insulted by the total lack of challenge or variation in the gameplay, and if you are not, there is nothing here to attract you to this uninspired generic disappointment. This is one confession that should have stayed within the family.

Aside from flight that's entertaining for about 10 minutes, ESV2 has few redeeming qualities. It's quite disheartening, too; just as I was beginning to think licensed games were experiencing a renaissance, ESV2 came along and lowered my expectations to an appropriate level.

It's Pokemon. Moreover, it's Pokemon with online play. If you're a Pokemon fan, that reason alone is enough to pick up Diamond and Pearl, ignoring the new Pokemon and new features.

It's Pokemon. Moreover, it's Pokemon with online play. If you're a Pokemon fan, that reason alone is enough to pick up Diamond and Pearl, ignoring the new Pokemon and new features.

As a turn-based experience, this might have been something, but even the earliest Panzer General game left me with fonder memories than Theatre of War has.

Ignoring all else in favor of the pool games themselves, Pocket Pool is a fun, pick-up-and-play pool title with more features and better controls than you'd expect, accessible to both pool fans and casual gamers alike.

Bust-a-Move Bash! seems to have been carelessly thrown together with little understanding of what made the previous versions so much fun.