NHL 09 is as real of a hockey game as it can get. It looks great, sounds good (if repetitive), plays great and has an amazing set of features.

Travel Games for Dummies is perfect for travel, though, and comes easily recommended to businesspeople or those who find themselves on a lengthy commute with little to do. It's a great game for the subway, bus or airline terminal, and it could just as easily provide some entertainment in the evenings when you need to unwind from a long day.

Much like its predecessors, Malicious Fallen is a game with a good idea and less-than-stellar execution. Since it has three times the amount of content when compared to the original and doesn't feel painfully short now, it's easier to accept the idea of a title consisting of nothing but boss fights. The general combat feels fine if you aren't fighting the camera or befuddled by some difficult-to-read systems for your abilities and stats. As mentioned earlier, those who didn't like the original title won't be swayed by this entry, but those who have played the previous two games will find it difficult to justify the $30 asking price when they have to replay two-thirds of the content again. However, Malicious Fallen can be an intriguing game if you're tired of the current offerings on the market.

While I feel the developers missed their mark with some aspects of the humor (fart jokes are from junior high), other pieces of humor were dead-on and had me cracking up. I just wish the game could have lived up to the adventure games of yore.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution is a stopgap title that feels a bit repetitive.

This remake of Splatterhouse is much like a modern slasher movie. It's loud, brash and gory, but luckily, it's wrapped in an experience that doesn't try to overstay its welcome.

The developers have gotten this design down, but a complete lack of innovation and some poorly implemented features cripples Warriors Orochi.

It's baffling that the MotionPlus accessory can pick up the nuances of a manual deke but can't reliably detect when you're trying to make a shot, and the overall sluggish nature of player control was certainly frustrating. Combine that with a spotty online mode, and all the control options and modes in the world can't make up for the fact that the game just wasn't very fun to play

LucasArts and Day 1 do deserve kudos for taking such a risky endeavor by integrating the terrain deforming mechanic. I can't recall seeing anything like Fracture in a game before, and I have to admit that I had quite a good time launching enemies into the air by putting a mountain right under their feet. When it comes to the game as a whole, though, terrain is but a fraction of the entire experience, and here Fracture falls flat, with few other outstanding qualities to make it stand out from the rest.

SCEA's Gretzky team needs to go to skating camp and really work on building a hockey game from the ice up. Until then, they will be left with a lame game, no matter what sort of bells and whistles they tack onto the box.

As you manage your squads and try to take down the Queen's men in Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, you can't help but feel that the game could have been a lot more. The open premise really works and allows for you to tackle nearly any obstacle in the game as you see fit. The game is fun, but it has a lot of baggage and head-scratchingly rough edges that dull the enjoyment. The title does a passable job of bringing the Jagged Alliance series back to life, but it's not as good as it could've been, and it doesn't live up to the legacy of its predecessors.

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars is bland, tedious, and unexceptional.

If you can get past the jankiness, Slitterhead has a certain quality that makes it oddly compelling. Everything from the plot to the gameplay and the graphics is a strange combination of insanely dated and bizarrely structured. It's a bizarre, shambling mess of a game that has a flavor all its own, but it never quite manages to come together into something cohesive.

If you’re looking for a lot of polish here, you’re not going to find it. If you like space sims, and "Star Wars Galaxies" isn’t doing it for you, it’s worth at least downloading the free client and checking it out.

James Bond 007: Blood Stone isn't really a bad game. It's just a five-hour, heavily scripted game that's far too easy and short on genuine thrills.

While Barnyard has a few shining points such as the bike and Sharp Squirter, it just isn't entertaining enough to account for a purchase, unless you have children who are really, really into the movie.

Like its previous offshoots, MySims SkyHeroes feels like a "lite" version of other, stronger games. In this case, players feel like they're playing a watered-down version of Crimson Skies for the original Xbox.

While it must have faced enormous pressure during the production and subsequent release of the title, the developers must feel proud knowing they leaped the movie to game barrier and actually created a worthwhile game.

You're getting the combat and battlefield strategy of the regular titles, combined with some of the more strategy-like elements of the Empire series.

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

There is no aspect of this title that is completely perfect, but every aspect is almost completely perfect, making for a pleasant diversion whose flaws are comparatively minor and won't detract from the enjoyment of the game.

Trinity Universe is a good choice for RPG fans who don't mind a heavy dose of humor in their games, and it'll keep you entertained for quite a while.

Gunpey is simplistic and slowly paced, creating an experience that neither entrances nor exhilarates. Most importantly, it is missing that third element that is crucial in every great puzzle game: addictiveness.

Overall, I found Up for the Wii to be an average movie tie-in game that doesn't do much to impress.

A fun control concept only works when the rest of the game works, too. Unfortunately, WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2008 featuring ECW for the NDS demonstrates this all too effectively, resulting in the weakest iteration of the series in quite a while.

Judged as a stand-alone budget title, Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious is surprisingly robust and worth playing. As a piece of Forza Horizon 2 DLC, it's a harder call.

Despite the mind-numbingly simple gameplay and non-existent difficulty, fans of the show will enjoy blasting ghosts and specters for the three to five hours it takes to complete the title.

A step back for the franchise.