Anyone with more than a passing interest in the sport that was America's national pastime before Donald Fehr and Bud Selig screwed it up will find this to be one of the most absorbing sports games of 2002.

It's rare that something that truly strives for originality, and even rarer that it succeeds with any degree of success. Project Nomads does so in spades. Bravo!

With the jump to Xbox 360, Lady Croft feels right at home in a more beautiful world with better control and the same brain-twisting puzzles and level designs that made you drool over the series in the first place. Oh, and she's still smokin' hot.

With solid localization, fun fighting, and a smooth flow, Rogue Galaxy is a likeable role-playing game that impresses on several fronts -- while at the same time giving a peek at what the future of the genre may hold.

Perhaps the best thing you can say about Virtua Tennis 3 is that it's such a good game, you don't even have to like tennis to appreciate it.

The game has stability now to rival the games that have been on the market for years. While a few minor bugs and the occasional graphical glitch still exist, the game tends to play quite seamlessly.

If you're looking to make a long-term commitment to a strategy role-playing game, then Sacred Stones is as wise an investment as you can make.

If all the many mini-games in this release seem less than scintillating, at least a couple work fairly well, and the basic DDR engine is as fun and challenging as ever.

It's got some great physics that come into play during the game, but relies most on rapid-fire gameplay that only lets up to make you sweat even more.

Even with cuts made to the major game modes, NCAA 07 looks like a total triumph compared to the neutered Madden released last year for the Xbox 360. And it's definitely a fun, respectable game. But it needs to be more than that to really keep our attention.

Due to good physics modeling, sharp AI, and spot-on controls, no amount of wonky pitches and fiery players, watery stadiums, and moronic (if hilarious) commentary can detract from the solid gameplay.

A tight-feeling and great-looking game.

The attention to detail is rewarding, the incidental battlefield ambience is awesome, and -- geeky bonus -- the game does a magnificent job of translating the gritty feel of the painted-figure tabletop games.

We'd have liked some more multiplayer and customization options, but the highly exaggerated drifts combined with responsive controls make the game exceptional fun.

The story's not really any more involving, and the game still lacks the personality of Blizzard's seemingly insurmountable Diablo 2, but there's no denying its slick looks, interface and the hours of absorbing gameplay on offer.

Legends is a compelling game for those who aren't fans of the license, but it's an absolute must-have for X-Men followers; the bigger the fan, the more you need this game.

While a few frustrating missions and some obnoxious wingmen dampen the fun somewhat, Heroes of the Pacific is a genuinely entertaining game for those who dig WWII aviation but don't feel quite like diving into a hardcore sim.

This is fast. Seriously fast. Brain-crushingly, mind-numbingly fast. Probably faster than anything we've ever played before. It's not fast like "Wipeout" is fast - sure, "Wipeout" is fast, but not this fast.

A gorgeously slower-paced fighting game with an emphasis on combos and strategy over frantic button mashing... A refreshing change of pace, to be sure.

If you consider the competition games like "BioShock" and "Gears of War," Metroid is going to feel stilted and oddly paced. But if you're a fan of the long-running series, you'll probably be pleased how well this game fits into the canon, both in terms of gameplay and story.

Smooth Moves does have its share of missteps. Rest assured that most of them are minor, and don't detract from the main formula of the Wario Ware series: insane amounts of fun.

It's not the prettiest RPG out there, and it certainly isn't the best sounding, but it's got a massively long and interactive quest, plenty of land to explore, a number of interesting playable characters and a real dose of challenging gameplay.

The water effects and movement of the waves are brilliant and great at capturing the feel of the waves as you balance precariously on them or pull yourself over them to get to the next breaker out there.

Dialogue is fantastic. The script's professionally written. Foul language is common, yet used in the appropriate context. Weapons come off as carefully balanced, and won't disappoint.

By far the best simulation of boxing to date. Spectacular visuals, addictive, rewarding gameplay and the inclusion of many boxing greats are just the tip of a sparkling iceberg.

A must-have for fans of the original game. It adds enough new stuff and fixes enough old stuff that you won't want to miss it.

With the new swing and throw systems we had a better time here than in any other recent baseball sim, and got more attached to created players than that old digital Nomar. MVP 06 NCAA Baseball proves that an excellent ball game is exactly that, no matter who's on the cover.

The AI is surprisingly excellent - if you send a batch of troops out to scout, they will take up careful positions, scale machine gun positions, engage the enemy, and redeploy defensively without any more commands having to be issued.