Most of the massive problems that have plagued next-gen versions of Live have receeded, leaving a game that's fun, accessible, and while flawed, full of enough personality.

Assuming you can stomach play sessions that are short by nature, Athens 2004 offers amusing thrills in spurts.

Its level of realism, convincing detail and great multiplayer make it one of the best military FPS games on the market.

The attention to detail is commendable, but the sheer scope may be a point of frustration for some, especially those who come from the Tony Hawk school. The supercross races are so exacting that progression without dedication is impossible.

So if you're looking for a traditional gaming experience, you're likely to find Nintendogs lacking in gameplay and variety. Those with more open minds stand a better chance of being captured by its undeniable charm.

Something of a guilty pleasure. Objectively, it's not a good game at all -- it's ill-suited to its platform, repetitive to the extreme, too easy, presented with little flair, and a mere shadow of the best that both Pokemon and dungeon crawlers in general have to offer. But it's still sitting there in our DS's slot, waiting for the next time we have ten minutes of downtime.

If you've got enough patience to get used to the kinks in the interface and the sometimes dense mission design, you'll get a great deal of entertainment out of this one, both online and off.

The plot, graphics and general fun of discovery should be enough to keep you happy despite the fact that 12 hours is about all the time it'll take you to complete the game.

In the same league as the disposable horror flicks that fill video shelves and late-night cable. It's not particularly frightening, but good atmosphere and short-lived twitch satisfaction is enough to sustain interest for a while.

As an entry level title, Downhill Jam makes a good introduction to the possibilities of fast-paced gameplay on the Wii, and is definitely more approachable than "Tony Hawk's Project 8," the series' other current entry.

The game itself is an uneven mishmash of fighting, driving, and shooting. Call it Grand Theft Goodfellas; if someone took Rockstar Games' popular Grand Theft Auto series, moved its setting to New York, and then sent it via the Wayback machine to post-World War II New York, the result would be The Godfather.

It just cries out for multiplayer, particularly when you can lay down a snaking path of gasoline for half a block and light it up; what a way to trap and kill your local or online friends! Alas, it's not there.

It's a perfectly serviceable war shooter offline, and turns into a strong SOCOM rival when you're gunning with 31 other players, which is just the sort of action the PSP has been missing.

Fans should rejoice at having the chance to play both Kain and Raziel, with faster deeper combat leading to the story resolution many have longed for. It's not perfect, but Defiance is easily the best of the series.

The attention to detail is commendable, but the sheer scope may be a point of frustration for some, especially those who come from the "Tony Hawk" school. The supercross races are so exacting that progression without dedication is impossible.

The players who'll get the most out of Return to Arms are those who didn't play the last game, and perhaps even gamers who haven't touched a hack-and-slash since "Gauntlet."

Its presentation is well below par, and the battles quickly become repetitive, but there remains an oddly addictive spark beneath its problems.

Despite its long, long list of lazy omissions it's still a game that Trek fans will enjoy -- if only for the voices, fire-photon-torpedoes ambiance, and graphical effects. They'll just have to grit their teeth while they do it.

With a quality golf backbone to give purpose to the MMO portions, Shot Online's formula has the potential to be a hole in one, but this implementation turns it into more of a double bogey.

An interesting experiment that works well in some situations and grinds to a halt in others. While this would be a disaster for a full-priced game, the $30 tag softens the impact somewhat.

The dated graphics and the lack of a campaign turned me off. SMA may have been successful if it was an add-on pack that came out last year, but this year it just seems dated.

It almost makes up for that movie.

It has an original take on the combat system but its average graphics and strictly linear gameplay will not guarantee a long shelf life.

A fairly generic expansion that adds a bit of content without really improving the core experience. It's OK for the hardcore fans, but if you had issues with Black and White 2, don't expect to see any of them resolved.

The good news is that you'll have some fun with NFL Tour, especially with friends. But the joy will be short lived when you realize that the feature set is comparable to the original NBA Jam -- just pick a team and play. It's a thin package that comes off as more of a $30 budget title than a full-fledged effort.

Some minor quirks and design decisions hamper the long-term enjoyment somewhat but overall, it's very good.

As it stands, it's almost in the realm of the type of content you expect to freely download.

And unless you're a SPF fanatic, we'd advise waiting for the inevitable download to be offered, as Capcom Puzzle World isn't a compelling enough product to trade for thirty hard-won dollars.