It has well-balanced gameplay, and the fishing and gardening allow your Sims to finally relax and enjoy the great outdoors instead of constantly being in motion. Unfortunately, with all of these new features come even longer loading times.

You can play Empires, which features great graphics and incredibly dull gameplay, or the original version, which features fantastic gameplay and inexcusably bad graphics. This is a situation that's frustrating to say the least.

The combat, while repetitive, is easily approachable and manageable with the extras added to the PC version. The narrative is excellent, with enough plot points and well-veiled twists to make it a beautiful thing to watch.

Though the gameplay is still saddled with recurring issues, the next-gen visual enhancements make the game much more atmospheric than any previous hardball sim.

Endlessly recycled NPC models, horrid camera angles, and the failed lock-on system turn what could have been a really good action/RPG game into barely playable mess.

The only major issue I had with the game was the inability to garrison units inside buildings. While the title may bring more similarities than innovation to the genre, it is certainly a high-quality offering with a solid multiplayer portion and excellent replay value.

The gameplay feels a bit outdated in comparison to newer RTS offerings such as "Company of Heroes," but the game still utilizes some unique features, such as the reinforcement system, that make it quite challenging.

Although the terraforming can become a bit tedious at times, the campaign missions are engaging and challenging.

Metal Slug Anthology was supposed to be one of the portable system's A-list titles. Instead, due to reasons that probably couldn't have been helped, it ends up being one of the system's biggest jokes.

Sadly, I can't even recommend this as a sequel to the original game, as the changed features are going to be upsetting to anyone who was a die-hard Meteos fan. However, as a children's game, Meteos: Disney Magic succeeds admirably.

Virtua Fighter 5 is a deep, beautiful fighter, but the depth of gameplay is undercut by a shallow offering of modes and a complete lack of online support. The Virtua faithful will likely swoon over the expanded roster and move sets, but the casual crowd may be disappointed with what is largely an incremental upgrade rather than a full-blown evolution of the franchise.

It has points where you must grind for levels much like an RPG. It’s also not for people with short attention spans, and its difficulty at times (just a touch below Sonic Riders’s learning curve—you’ll have to practice stages over and over to get them right) makes it not for people who give up at challenging games easily (poor folks). Still, none of these points makes this entry any less valid.

Games like Crackdown are the cornerstone the 360's passionate user community is built upon, and why the 360 is developing an increasingly deserved reputation for being the next-gen console of choice.

You may not be worthy of playing Izuna. Chat with the Oracle a few times, and maybe you'll figure out if you are.

If you can't get into the simple gameplay, no matter how cute, then Trioncube is not for you, although one cannot reasonably expect this title to last for much more than a few days of serious play.

Supreme Commander is intelligent, polished, complex, and difficult. For many, of course, this will be reason to avoid it. The user manual is 70 pages long and probably the thickest of its kind that I've seen.

Road to Glory comes across more as an obligation to a contractual agreement than a worthwhile video game.

It lacks longevity, has some gameplay flaws, and has no personality whatsoever.

Alien Shooter: Vengeance doesn't deliver anything fancy or new to the table, and it certainly doesn't win any awards fro graphical realism. However, the game does present solid arcade-style gameplay that is relatively simplistic but pretty fun at the same time.

If you can look past the mediocre graphics and lousy sound, Dreamlords really has a lot to offer. Multiple play styles, an extremely friendly community, and the constant forward progression of the game make for an overall enjoyable experience.

The A.I. is the most intelligent opposition I have ever seen in a strategy title, and the tech tree is vast enough to offer a plethora of various strategies to employ. The lack of multiplayer is ameliorated by the fact that there are so many options and ways to play the single-player portions.

A blast from start to finish, offering up an excellent portable iteration of one of the best console franchises of the last five years. It may end a little shorter than expected, and the online play is unlikely to draw a significant following, but the single-player adventure is well worth the price of admission.

Sadly, even hardcore Ghost Rider fans will be immensely disappointed because after about a half hour of gameplay, you've experienced all there is to the game.

Feel free to stick with the good action games, and leave Ghost Rider to his burning fate.

It's not a masterpiece, but it's hilarious, brilliantly moody, and worthy of attention from any fan of adventure or humorous games - or graphics effects nerds.

The ability to play through the story mode with a friend is enticing and is only one of many features that makes it worth the price to add to your collection. Where else can you beat up everyone around you, loot, steal car radios, mug, and graffiti complete neighborhoods with a $5 can of spray paint?

With an all-star voice cast and an overall wonderful gameplay experience, I heartily recommend Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure to anyone looking for a game for their kids or looking for a good action-RPG for the PSP.

City Life: World Edition has a fairly low replayability factor. Once you have beaten the challenges, the formula for doing so never really changes. On the other hand, the impressive variety of building models, as well as the ability to create new ones, definitely adds to the fun.