It looks nice, plays decently, and is okay at distilling the plot of the third season of the show. It's just that it doesn't do anything especially right either, missing the humor of the show and not quite feeling the same.

The game looks and sounds great for a downloadable title, featuring details in lighting and sound effects that go above and beyond what we're used to, as well as a fresh gameplay mechanic that is truly a welcome change in an increasingly stagnant industry.

Engaging gameplay, a plethora of unlockables, and above-norm production values really give this title a boost to propel the franchise into this millennium. It's true: Ninja don't need orange jumpsuits to be cool.

There are some technical problems and crash bugs that need ironed out (especially for ATI users, from the sound of it), and the feel and responsiveness of the controls could have been better. The AI is lacking, but those special slow-motion moments when you score a particularly nasty headshot or a grenade blows a guy into thirds are rewarding and add to the cinematic feel.

Fracture is more than solid. The hook of manipulating terrain to your advantage is used a lot in the game, but it is used in a way that it rarely feels out of place.

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.

Guilty Gear 2: Overture has a lot of good ideas and offers some entertaining gameplay moments, just not enough to warrant a purchase for most consumers.

Compared to other "monster trainer" games, Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals is just too limited. The game itself is quite linear and fairly short, even as these things go, and while the collection aspect is fun, it doesn't hold a candle to anything in the Pokémon or Digimon franchises.

It's a pretty solid follow-up to the original, and it still stands as one of the best, if not the best, fighter on the DS system.

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.

If you are a hardcore basketball simulation player who enjoys not only managing your favorite team through several seasons but playing against like-minded people as well, you probably already have NBA 2K9. If not, go and grab it now. Until NBA 2K10 hits, this will be the best basketball sim you'll ever play.

This is a game designed and built for hardcore fans, and it's not going to waste any time concerning itself with anyone who doesn't "get it." To be perfectly blunt, the game is very, very hard, and most decidedly not for everyone, especially if you aren't an NBA superfan or a longtime franchise devotee.

If you're looking for just one NBA title to satisfy your sports itch this year, I'd honestly have to suggest NBA 2K9 over NBA Live '09 this time out. While the latter has the better presentation and better roster update system, 2K9 was just more fun to play.

These gestures toward usability cannot overcome the fact that Everlight simply isn't very much fun to play. The dialogue is stilted, unfunny, drab and poorly acted, and some of the gameplay mechanics are obtuse.

Pop Cutie! Street Fashion Simulator isn't without a few flaws, it's still a really solid sim title on the DS, and I'd easily put it up there with Diner Dash, especially when it comes to the addictive nature of maintaining a shop.

There's very little overall polish to the title, and there's nothing particularly inspired or compelling about it, either.

An overall miserable experience.

This definitely caters to the hardcore gamer who wants to experience the original Mega Man titles again. Mega Man 9 does a fantastic job of this, and for at $10, it's a steal.

If you happen to be a real cheerleader or someone who dances a lot, then We Cheer is a great buy. (However, it also means you likely already do this for free.) It's also a great buy if you like rhythm games and you have lots of stamina.

A complete average, if not slightly subpar, RPG. If it wasn't for the fact that it had Sonic characters in it, it wouldn't stand out at all. The combat system is interesting but flawed, the gameplay is slow and rather tedious and the plot is as cookie-cutter as they come.

Despite a ho-hum presentation and some odd design decisions, Unsolved Crimes is definitely one of the more solid adventure titles on the DS.

If you haven't yet tried your hand at directing gunk around a board in order to score points, there are much better options out there than this.

Altogether, Pipe Mania is a pretty addictive puzzle title on the PSP, and it does a great job of building upon its original formula while keeping the puzzle-based gameplay exciting and relatively fresh.

All told, Pipe Mania for the PlayStation 2 is an excellent example of what companies should do to revive old games.

It is beautiful, it is deep, and it is only $20.

I'd be lying if I said that Duke Nukem 3D is as good today as it ever was, but it hasn't aged at all badly, and it can teach modern first-person shooters a thing or two about level design and plain fun.

Operation Market Garden may have failed to end the war early for the Allies, but Gearbox's newest entry in its Brothers in Arms series largely succeeds in delivering a gritty story in recounting the struggle through the eyes of its characters. Unfortunately, the rough edges can occasionally dampen the otherwise entertaining gameplay, and multiplayer issues keep this title a strictly solo experience over the 10 hours that it will take to complete it.

On one hand, the core game itself is good, and the story presented here is something you don't expect in a game. On the other hand, the technical execution of the title is so poor that one is surprised that it can run at all.