X-Men: Destiny feels like a demo for a bigger game that never was. Little of the excitement that could have followed in the booted footsteps of X-Men Legends or Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is buried within its too-short campaign and thin smattering of gameplay. It's Dynasty Warriors for mutants; it can be fun at the outset, even with all the button-mashing, but the boxed-in world is not enough to distract from the hollow feeling of this particular destiny.

Sonic Adventure is still a loved title among some hardcore Dreamcast enthusiasts, but those may be the only people who need to pick up this title without any reservations.

If you're new to the series, then it's at least worth a rental, but there's no way I'd suggest picking up this one at full price. Wait for the inevitable price drop because there's not enough content here to be worth the current asking price. Also, if you're dying to find out how the Balance Board mechanic works, keep in mind that it's going to be more frustrating than fun.

X-Men: Destiny feels like a demo for a bigger game that never was. Little of the excitement that could have followed in the booted footsteps of X-Men Legends or Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is buried within its too-short campaign and thin smattering of gameplay. It's Dynasty Warriors for mutants; it can be fun at the outset, even with all the button-mashing, but the boxed-in world is not enough to distract from the hollow feeling of this particular destiny.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires breaks Omega Force's streak in releasing games that can change the minds of series critics. By reverting back to basics with so few modes, the title returns to something of a monotonous grind if you aren't playing as the kingdom leader.

Ultimately, buying or passing on The Lost Hobo King comes down to a simple value proposition. At 400 MSP ($5) on Xbox Live and PSN, it's not terribly expensive and does deliver more of the adorable Stacking gameplay that defined the original game. However, with such a short play time, it feels more like a well-polished demo level than a fully developed DLC addition.

Ultimately, buying or passing on The Lost Hobo King comes down to a simple value proposition. At 400 MSP ($5) on Xbox Live and PSN, it's not terribly expensive and does deliver more of the adorable Stacking gameplay that defined the original game. However, with such a short play time, it feels more like a well-polished demo level than a fully developed DLC addition.

It's a very specific genre game, but for those into the genre, Gin Rummy is a great title.

Falls short in gameplay fundamentals. If Electronic Arts would just step back the next time around and retool the basics of their level design, and enemy and allied AI, they may have a real winner on their hands. As is, though, the game is merely another "me, too" WWII shooter.

It's got all the ingredients for a successful hack-and-slash, but falls short in enough areas to discredit itself to all but hardcore fans of the genre.

While it is honorable that it at least attempts to make an interesting piece of a game, with platforming and racing mixed together and a nifty clashing element thrown in, the core gameplay just isn't strong enough to really make this terribly memorable.

Pac is mostly good, though a few oddities hold him back from being a fully plausible platforming hero, especially since those same issues aren't present in the home console version. The level design isn't anything special, and the repetition of bosses is disappointing.

Major Minor's Majestic March sounded like a great game on paper. The graphical style from the past still looks good despite the transition to 3-D and the sound works. However, the finicky controls and shallow difficulty levels don't give this game much replayability at all. Despite the pedigree behind the game, rhythm game fans will be disappointed in this one.

Your enjoyment of Survival Kids is going to be heavily dependent on your appreciation of difficulty in games. If you want something breezy or you're playing alongside someone who lacks the patience for a typical survival game, then what you'll find is fine for those wanting to get some satisfaction without putting in a ton of effort. However, if you're expecting a game that builds upon the lineage of the series, prepare to be disappointed because those elements have been drastically toned down, leaving you with a very casual experience that lacks any challenge. Unless you've got young kids playing alongside you, this is a title you may want to pass on unless it is marked down.

It has everything that should make it a quality game and a good seller, then drops all the marbles by failing to put in enough game to hold up the bargain.

This game is the absolute antithesis of what you should get to show off the power or the playability of the Wii.

Broken down to choosing an RPG for PSP, Astonishia Story is the best available next to the import-only "Tales of Eternia," which you should get instead if you have access to it.

Altogether, Astro Boy: The Video Game is a pretty disappointing tie-in for the film, and it certainly doesn't hold a candle to the GBA Omega Factor title.

A lackluster sequel. It adds only a handful of new characters, makes no significant changes to the basic gameplay, and barely even updates the graphics.

Like many yearly sports games, WWE 2K26 works best if you haven't played the previous title. If you skipped a year or two and decided to return, you'll find the new modes, big roster update, and further solidification of the gameplay mechanics to be big improvements over what was available before. For everyone else, the slight improvements to existing modes are far outweighed by the increase of nickel-and-diming players who've already paid money for the game. The changes to the Season Pass system make the game too grindy for anyone who won't dedicate all of their free time to this title. This isn't bad, but only die-hard fans will get excited over WWE 2K26.

A very hastily put together offering with gameplay that falls far behind what other titles have been doing on current systems for years.

With gameplay stuck in a mid-90's fad that was in itself considered arcane by any gamer's standards at the height of its popularity, Legacy of the Spirits troubles me with its thrown-together, "let's take advantage of a passing craze before it completely dies" feel.

In the end, Kidz Bop Dance Party is a respectable title. Unlike the more popular dancing titles on the system, it feels like your controls count for something, and the overall dancing mechanic is much easier to understand.

Graphics and sound for the game are merely competent; not too bad, not too great. The combat sequences have an extremely blurry, pixilated look to them, owing to the pseudo-3D used to move the camera around.

Guilty Gear: Dust Strikers is something that should've been a no-brainer. Sadly, with the addition of party elements and lack of unlockables, the game just doesn't live up to its predecessors.

Where Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales falls down is in providing and engaging storyline to back up the strong gameplay.

It's difficult to be positive about Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission because you have to give it the benefit of the doubt and be a big Dragon Ball fan to enjoy it. The core game is pretty fun in a simple time-wasting way, and the "What If?" scenarios are significantly more engaging than the ones in Xenoverse. Unfortunately, to reach all of that, you have to deal with awkward UI, convoluted explanations, and just about the worst graphics you'll see in a $60 game. Fans who have the patience to deal with a lot of caveats can enjoy World Mission. Casual Dragon Ball players will want to go for the Xenoverse games for an overall higher-quality experience.

Matchpoint: Tennis Championships manages to release a game that presents an easy yet technical approach to the sport. It results in a game where you can make more mistakes than the more arcade-like approach of some older, well regarded tennis titles, but it results in a game that feels more responsive compared to most of its contemporaries. Yet it doesn't manage to do anything beyond that due to a lack of players and modes, so cross-play only benefits those who want a no-frills 1v1 experience. It's fine overall, but no one would blame you if you skipped this one in the hopes that someone can transplant the gameplay into a title with more to do.

Deca Sports 3 is an improvement over the previous games in the series, but not by much. A relatively low number of the included games are enjoyable, and the rest either fall below expectations or are simply unappealing.

The gorgeous visuals and often-fun puzzles of 80 Days drown underneath the crushing weight of bad design; the poor controls, questionable physics, and repetitive (ad nauseum) elements all hinder what could have been a great gaming experience.

People seeking a tennis game that's actually fun or intuitive should look elsewhere.

Namco Museum Megamix is worth a look … but a cautious one.

Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 is not a horrible game. It can actually be really fun most of the time, but the title is haunted by slow matches, boring fighting styles and overall frustration.

If you dismiss the more apparent flaws, then you'll find The Wizards: Enhanced Edition to be an average adventure title. The quest itself plays out fine and enemies are fun to defeat, even if they don't pose too much trouble. However, the accuracy issues are simply too great that they transform what could be a game-changing VR wizard experience into an exercise in flailing limbs. It isn't a terrible game, but don't expect something top-tier in the VR space.

When compared to the other entries in the series, Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is a major low point. The various changes that improve on the formula are outweighed by other design choices that actively hurt the title's overall appeal. The actual combat still has some of the magic the series is known for, and even if online co-op is barely there unless you coordinate with others beforehand, the game is still fun to play with friends. If you're new to the series, playing Iron Rain won't be so bad, but if you've already killed bugs several times before, this title won't be able to scratch that itch again.

From a technical standpoint, the game is solid with a good soundtrack, graphics fitting for this console generation, and intuitive controls. From a gameplay standpoint, it is quite messy as the art style isn't all that appealing, the characters feel indifferent, and the story ultimately goes nowhere.

While the crisp graphics hold up their end, the story deflates through a series of recycled clichés and a gradually diminishing sense of drama and excitement to a rather unsatisfying short — and somewhat hysterical — conclusion that leaves you feeling your time could have been better spent watching folk dance.

Overall, the game reflects its price instead of being better than it, making it a title that should be picked up by platforming fans and those hungry for a PSP game if they have some spare change lying around.

With frustrating, glitchy gameplay, lackluster and boring graphics, and perhaps the least likable cast in video game history, it's difficult to recommend Kane & Lynch over the many similar, but better titles currently on the market. Even a unique multiplayer mode does little to salvage the title, and the lack of online co-op shoots its biggest feature in the foot.

Considering how bad the Wii game was, Beastly: Frantic Foto ends up being the better game by default. It uses the source material well and presents it in a manner that will please fans of the movie. It still has issues to contend with, such as the limited amount of puzzles and a convoluted multiplayer process, but it's still a competent puzzle game. While it's easily recommended for fans of the movie, those who enjoy hidden object games won't feel too bad about renting this one.

It has wonderful atmosphere, and wonderful graphics, but the gameplay just isn't as strong as it should be, especially for a rail shooter. Also, the enemy patterns are not very well crafted.

As much as it pains me to say it, if you buy The Pitt, then you are essentially giving Bethesda money for nothing. Sure, you get a few more hours of play time in a new city, but nothing here is more substantial or worthwhile than any of the dozens of side-quests included in the original game.

Hamsterdam is a fine game if you plan on playing it in short bursts. Most of the battles are fine, but it doesn't take long before they feel too easy. That repetitive nature drags down the enjoyment of the game, since the variety is lacking from beginning to end, even during boss fights. With decent sound and good graphics with shaky performance, Hamsterdam is meant to eat up a few minutes at a time in between more fulfilling titles.

Pac-Man Party was better as a Wii game, though one has to applaud Pac-Man Party 3D for trying to replicate the experience on the portable scene.

As it stands, A Stroke of Fate is a flawed adventure tightly wrapping itself around WWII's history. At the same time, it sorely lacks the same ambitious spirit behind its gorgeous visuals to make the most of its promising premise.

El Matador isn’t necessarily a bad game, just a frustrating and unoriginal one.

The game has unique mechanics that are genuinely fun to put into action, but it's still a generic monetary title. Developer PlayFusion plans to continue updating the game by adding new content. Champions has more longevity to it than other CCGs out there. It's an entertaining title for a time-sink for when you're waiting at the doctor's office, but it falls short of being a good console game.

In my opinion, it's not enough change to warrant a purchase if you already own We Ski, but if you've played that game to death, I'd at least give this a rental and see if any of the small additions grab you.

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.

Megaton Rainfall is a game at odds with itself. It seems like it was built to be a VR title about being a superhero, but it lacks the hardware support on the PC to make that a reality. It tries to make you a more responsible superhero when it comes to protecting innocent lives, but the controls and lack of a good targeting system make it difficult to follow through. The game provides an open universe to explore but very few things to actually check out. In the end, Megaton Rainfall is a curiosity, and although it isn't a must-have title, it could be worth a look if the price is right.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is the kind of game that is full of potential but needed a lot more development time.

Overall, Prostroke Golf: World Tour 2007 isn't a bad game, although it's below average when it comes to golf. It gets so caught up in trying to faithfully recreate the sport that it forgets what it means to have fun in a portable video game.

An exercise in utterly wasted potential. The designers seemed to forget that what made Prince of Persia and games like it so special was that the engine worked with you, not against you, to make progression possible. Here, it's you versus the game every step of the way ... ball dropped.

In the end, Puzzler Mind Gym 3D is simply decent.

The stylized and cartoon-like depiction is as accurate as I could hope for, from the slinky spy creeping movement to the peculiar and lethal traps.

While the gunplay is fun and the mechanics unhindered by brick-wall sticking points, there's nowhere near enough content delivered to justify the big green plastic case with its commensurately large price tag.

The gameplay still needs some work, especially on the defensive side, but at least those who lean toward offensive play have a few new weapons in their arsenal.

While the gunplay is fun and the mechanics unhindered by brick-wall sticking points, there's nowhere near enough content delivered to justify the big green plastic case with its commensurately large price tag.

Overall, it is a defining step backwards in regards to the SvR franchise.

If you're looking to challenge yourself and don't mind spending a bit of time memorizing the table and modes, Marvel Civil War isn't a bad choice, but it isn't among Zen's best.

The Real Bout spin-offs are not the best of the entire series (and I will not introduce a debate over this, except that it's Mark of the Wolves), and much of the system has been one-upped by the King of Fighters series in the decade since.

There are some good ideas in Pride Run, but none of it really comes together to create an experience that's tough to put down. The music may be good, but the rhythm game is too easy unless you bump it up to the highest difficulty. The strategy game, although novel, doesn't do enough to get people interested. If you're willing to take the time to figure out the game, the strategy portion might be worth looking at, but for everyone else, the rhythm game would be a good warm-up title before you try something meatier.

Obscure: The Aftermath is a cheap thriller. It has a few stand-out features, but it still does nothing exceptionally.

As a stand-alone title, Knowledge is Power: Decades is fine. The mechanics taken from the first game still hold up well enough, and the small improvements give the game some more depth, such as the ability to remove power-ups and the new modes that remove trivia questions or challenge rounds. The easy and straightforward questions and the small selection of available decades make this feel like it should be DLC instead of a full-fledged game. Decades is a better purchase if you didn't pick up the first game, as owners of that are better off waiting for a big sale before adding this to the rotation.

Fallen Angel is certainly the better of the two DLC packs so far, but that isn't saying much. Angel is certainly more interesting, even if they barely give her a backstory, and the story is more interesting once you see it as part of the bigger picture.

While it is honorable that it at least attempts to make an interesting piece of a game, with platforming and racing mixed together and a nifty clashing element thrown in, the core gameplay just isn't strong enough to really make this terribly memorable.

I recommend this game only with the caveat that you find it available at a budgeted price point.

Need for Speed Payback is a game with some good ideas and more than a few bad ways of executing them. The story gives you a good basis for a non-traditional racing game, and aping Forza Horizon isn't a bad way to go about it. The handling is purely arcade in style and fun to play, and the environments can give you some pretty good racing areas. However, even if you discount how bad the story plays out, you'll hate the fact that you'll never get to play the more exciting segments. Worse, the promotion of grinding makes the game drag on far longer than it should, making you want to put it away without even finishing the campaign, let alone try the multiplayer. It isn't the worst racer on the platform by any means, but it's certainly not worthy of the full asking price.

Everything about the game feels old: the gameplay, graphics, control scheme and sometimes insensitive humor. It’s a tough combination to swallow, and the maddening difficulty doesn’t improve the situation one bit.

The lopsided AI isn’t the least of the problems in the single player campaign. Most of the levels involve marching down a single path, with the level typically coming to an end when you reach the end.

Behind the flashy graphics and the brutal depiction of gore, the game is surprisingly mundane, eschewing what made the original work while including no new features of its own.

The game does have its perks, and those would all belong to the graphics, which are very well done and match the TV's character design.

No matter how shiny the car's wheels, no matter how diligently you clean out the ashtray and how often you wash the exterior, it's just a big lump of metal unless you've got the engine running smoothly, and Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars fails in that regard.

The developers for EA Sports WRC have said they are working on the issue, but after so many Unreal Engine 4 and 5 games have suffered similar issues upon release, it is harder to accept this wasn't fixed before release. It's harder still with a rally game, which demands fine control from the player but undermines itself with stutters that often result in significantly punishing outcomes. There is a lot to like about EA Sports WRC, and with a future patch it may become buttery smooth. That isn't how the game was released, though, and while a smoother version of this game would be easily recommendable, it's best to avoid EA Sports WRC in its current state.

As a straight-up action platform game that eschews depth for adrenaline, Bionicle Heroes nominally succeeds.

SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis is a mediocre minigame collection that doesn't want to admit that it's a minigame collection.

MotoGP '08 is a game that is unabashedly lacking in features, and if it weren't for the visuals, it could easily be mistaken for a racing game out of the '90s, as it does nothing to keep up with what other titles are doing in the genre today.

Every once in a while, a glimpse of the intended gameplay shines through in Stronghold 3, and you can see the strategic elements for what they should be. However, there are so many bugs and flaws with the game that it can be really tough to get a true look at its potential.

As it stands, I think that judicious use of patches can iron out many of the issues with Loki. Until then, I'd still recommend it, but see if you can find it for a good budget price.

Overall, Typoman had an intriguing premise and managed to tell a decent story with great atmosphere, good visual design, and interesting puzzle mechanics. In the end, however, the title doesn't on many of the gameplay mechanics, with good but inconsistent puzzles and often awkward and awful platforming. Coupled with its short runtime, Typoman isn't bad, but it's certainly a long way from being as good as the idea and visuals behind it.

With mostly bland story elements and tedious gameplay really bringing down the level of fun, Paradise fails to live up to its potential, especially when glitches interfere with the ability to properly play the game.

With few moments of exciting action and no real choices to make as you storm through the short campaign, the game fills the void with an uninspired use of gadgets and loads of cut scenes to gloss over the essential un-Bond quality of the shooting experience.

Sorry, Wizards; we know what you're up to, and we want to let you know: Try harder next time, and you just might make off with a bit of cash in the end.

Before the backtracking kicks in, the game is a lot of fun and had me thinking that I'd be getting a good gaming experience. As you continue to play, the technical problems start to rear their ugly heads, and many of the new platforming sections just aren't a lot of fun to play.

NHL 23 has a few nice additions, but they quickly wear thin. There's nothing of substance, except perhaps yet another year of the same grind in HUT to eventually get a team together that is worthy of competition by the time the next installment skates around. That doesn't seem appealing to me, and unless you've already skipped several years' worth of NHL entries, NHL 23 isn't worth the full asking price.

The barely tolerable story mode does little to cover up the fact that Urban Reign is little more than pummeling goons in the face for three hours, and then bam, you're done.

Oninaki certainly has plenty of ambition, promise and talent, but unfortunately, it didn't substantially deliver on any of them. There are many layered game mechanics and an intriguing story that don't stand a chance against extremely easy and repetitive gameplay. It's quite obvious that the development time and budget were limited, which results in an experience that is mediocre at best, regardless of how great this could have been. The almost-AAA price of $50 makes it a hard sell that should only be considered by determined fans or those who have played and enjoyed the demo.

I don't want to close with the impression that I had a bad time with Gungrave G.O.R.E. I didn't. But I didn't have a memorable one, either. It was a nice bit of action nostalgia for a short while, but in a world where less glitzy action titles feature so much more depth, agility or even wit, Gungrave G.O.R.E. will have a tough time separating itself from all of the bullet-fare that's out there.

Rather than delve deeper into the Ludlum's Bourne universe, with all the intrigue and conspiring, The Bourne Conspiracy gives us a standard third-person action romp with a clunky interface, brain-dead enemies, and a story we've already seen in a framework that isn't nearly as good as any of the games it aspires to emulate.

This game isn't worth $45 or $50, but it does have a small degree of potential.

I can't recommend it at its current price point. The car combat is fun for a couple of hours, but everything else is riddled with so many problems.

Unfortunately, due to the shortcomings and bad translations, it's just not as good as it could have been.

Hats off to Cavia for twisting the concept of a third-person shooter and making a game that is enjoyable in spite of its flaws.

Nothing special as far as real-time strategy games go. It doesn't break any new ground, and it doesn't rise to stand on top of the pile of other games in the genre.

It borrows heavily from other titles, but it needed some more refinement before it could have been a smash hit.

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.

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

It's unbelievably short, not very fun, and quite unpleasant on the eyes. The potentially fun online play and solid soundtrack manage to save NiGHTs from total failure, but even these elements can't do much to improve the overall experience.