In practice, Shinobi Rumble doesn't deliver superior single-player combat. The fighting mechanics are technically simple, the computer's strategies are equally unsophisticated, and the story mode is simple shorthand. If you're going at this solo, the game will occupy a few hours and then be forgotten forever.

He could still end up in a compromising position with a cold steel barrel up his butt. I consider it fitting payback for his other transgressions. Heartwork considers it the ultimate orgasm.

Madden NFL 11 lets you create your own internal narrative. You can be the magnanimous owner who always puts the team and fans over profits. Or you can try to work the system to roll in the cash while keeping everyone else just satisfied enough. All of these choices reinforce your self-image, plus they present more challenges than simply winning games and piling up stats. There are many ways in which the Wii version of Madden can't ever compete with its HD counterparts, but thes...

Know this: saving lives will never feel the same. Previous games in the Trauma Center series focused solely on the quick thinking and precision reflexes required to perform miraculous surgeries. For better and worse, those days are over. Trauma Team retools surgery to make it more accessible, then folds it together with five other disciplines, promising an unprecedented amount of variety. The eruption of ideas is almost too much for one title to contain.

0-D Beat Drop sets itself up as a fusion of rhythm and puzzle games, but the way it handles music doesn't fundamentally change the structure of its source material. No matter how many modes it throws at you, this is still an easier remix of Puyo Puyo with a different skin.

Unfortunately, the inclusion of sixty stellar pros boils down to displaying a still photo before each match, because the computer certainly doesn't play like any of those big names. It fails to execute smart safeties. It will ignore tailor-made combinations that would result in a win. Worst of all, it simply flubs easy, straight-in shots. I've never seen it come close to running a rack.

This exhausting ingenuity may be the most memorable piece of Fret Nice, but it doesn't make the game alone. It gets help from colorful landscapes that beg for exploration. Neither, though, is the gimmick what breaks it. That's left to control decisions that have nothing to do with the guitar.

The Tree of Life lays the groundwork for an interesting revelation, keeps you busy with roundabout nonsense, and then glosses over the juiciest part. When the time comes to reveal true identities and lay motivations bare, the conspirators drone on with obtuse conversations that fail to explain the whole truth of the matter.

For anyone who has viewed the movie, the mere existence of the game may seem puzzling. There, the grand war was merely a backdrop, a meaningless cycle that only highlighted the Kildren's wasted existence. Nevertheless, Project Aces has moved these hollow encounters to the forefront in The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces. The team behind the well-received Ace Combat series has created another game full of satisfying flight action, but they've subverted the thrust of the film's...

Here you're not racing against testosterone-fueled gearheads; you're going against girls whose only thrill in life is speed. There's just one catch. You don't get to drive.