Def Jam Vendetta makes its strange combination of license and genre work well. It is a wrestling game done right and a must play for any fan of the scripted sport.

The background graphics, however, ruin the overall effect. The backgrounds, while using very moderate levels of cel-shading, simply don’t look congruent to the car’s graphics.

A gaming triumph and a prime example of the reason we play games in the first place. It instilled in me a sense of awe and wonder with a game I honestly haven't felt in the series since A Link to the Past first hit the Super Nintendo.

Easily the best soccer game I’ve ever played.

With an enchanting soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, exciting turn based combat, and 80 hours of gameplay, there is a lot to like about this RPG.

This is just the kind of flatly tepid, uninspired, marketing department driven pablum I was afraid Microsoft would make upon entering the console wars.

It’s pretty much a given that beating up Nazis is inherently fun, but the developers threw in some truly entertaining wrinkles into the combat to make the Nazi-bashing especially enticing.

The biggest problems with online play are the surprisingly frequent poor losers who will abandon a game at the last second to keep you from being credited with a win.

Beautiful. Stunning. Gorgeous. A heart stopping, melt-in-your-pants looker. High resolution sprites and meticulously animated everything combine to make one hell of an enjoyable visual mess.

The story is only average for a RPG (make that above average if you love the air pirates setting), the combat system is mildly interesting but lacks much in the way of depth and the presentation is a bit dated.

This could be the best looking console game yet... Sadly for fans of the sport, the beach volleyball gameplay is just plain lacking.

The efforts put into the acting and story deserve a game with better graphics, less glitches, and more refined gameplay.

Nearly everything in the game can be beaten down, picked up, thrown or in some way interacted with, and to see the effect this has on a sprawling downtown metropolis is simply breathtaking.

With the recent release of the online Sims for the PC, the PS2 port seems to fall short of greatness. Especially when you add in the slowdown issues and repetitive gameplay.

I shudder to think of what it looks like on HDTV... The gorgeous presentation here will likely win all the critical accolades, but there is a tricky genius to Orta's gameplay as well.

A standard expansion pack and nothing more.

In this game a good offense is your best defense-attacking indiscriminately is simply more effective than trying to use the clumsy block button. There is a target button similar to Zelda and Soul Reaver, but the difficulty in selectively targeting a particular enemy is troubling.

The action is heated enough to hold your attention and the cool touches like a fantastic damage engine make it all worthwhile.

It sounds great, as all Star Wars games do, but the graphics are bland at best and nauseating at worst, and the action is a redundant mess of blaster fire and jumping puzzles.

It still has some issues that need addressing for 2K4, but even a flawed NHL 2K3 is leagues better than EA Sports' latest.

It's still not a very deep gaming experience, but this latest installment is clearly the best since "Mortal Kombat 2," and arguably the best yet.

While not perfect, Haven: Call of the King works on many levels—as a platformer, as vehicular racing title, as a centerpiece for fine soundtrack work.

Now that Splinter Cell has arrived all other stealth-based titles should hang their head in shame.

The first person controls work well for the most part, but we just can't ignore a few control issues that crop up at the worst possible time.

A great game... [but y]ou'll need to ask yourself if your attention span can tolerate a game requiring planning and strategy with sporadic action as the payoff.

The control and missions revolve around simply blowing things up, but after the novelty of reducing everything to a cinder fades, what players are left with is an average shooter.

Although the Japanese influenced gameplay is engaging at first, countless deathmatch battles and only three arenas hurt the overall appeal.

Essentially the game takes the original premise, adds a few minor twists, and slaps some mediocre next-generation 3D graphics onto the product.