Jeff Gerstmann

Pandemic brings some pulpy flavor to this open-world WWII game, but its stylish charm doesn't quite overcome the rough edges or the sense that its best tricks are borrowed from other, better games.

Spirit Tracks is filled with good moments that tweak the series' standards in interesting ways.

Rogue Warrior is probably the most foul-mouthed game of all time, but that's not enough to distract you from the poor shooting and sometimes-ugly visuals.

Tony Hawk: RIDE's shoddy hardware and ill-conceived software merge to form something completely abysmal.

Quiz World has some rough spots, but if you've got a group of trivia fiends in your home, Buzz! has your back.

While technically accurate, the "New" in New Super Mario Bros. Wii is surrounded by all of the classic 2D platforming mechanics from Mario's past, making it more of a nostalgic product than something truly new. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Chinatown Wars doesn't attempt to fully duplicate the console GTA experience, and the end result is a much better game than what PSP owners have received in the past.

To outsiders, the changes in Modern Warfare 2 might sound minor. But if you've played a significant amount of Call of Duty 4, they range from "neat idea" to "totally mindblowing."

It's Guitar Hero 5 with different graphics and a more diverse setlist. If you like these 65 songs, you should probably get Band Hero.

Tekken 6 is a great fighting game, but it's bogged down by a lot of extraneous baggage.

The gameplay is pretty clunky, but everything else surrounding it makes WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2010 a really interesting package for wrestling fans.

Whether you're on the track racing or off the track tuning and designing cars, Forza Motorsport 3 is incredible.

Katamari Forever doesn't change much about this quirky, long-running series, and you know what? That's totally OK.

Zombie Apocalypse brings dual-joystick shooting and zombies together in a really unimaginative way.

Eagle-eyes will notice a few rough spots, but there's enough good, solid virtual pinball here to keep players satisfied.

If you like the way Bungie makes first-person shooters, you'll enjoy Halo 3: ODST.

Need for Speed: Shift does a lot of the things you'd expect a sim-style racing game to do, but it does so in a passionless way that's really off-putting.

Section 8 has some cool ideas at its core, but the execution falls flat too often to be wholly recommendable.

Arkham Asylum is a very nasty place, but Rocksteady gives you enough tools to make foiling the Joker's latest plot thrilling from start to finish.

It's not going to blow your mind with new, never-before-seen features or anything like that, but Wolfenstein is well-designed and engaging from start to finish.