Wacky Races Crash & Dash is an odd duck. It’s been almost 40 years since a new episode of the cartoon, but it’s still apparently viable to be made into a video game. It’s also strange that while the game is obviously designed for young children, the show it’s based on is likely older than their parents. Much like the show, Wacky Races Crash & Dash is about racing, but just barely. A strange hybrid of party ...

Not all gamers are twitchy, impatient freaks high on BALLZ energy drinks; some prefer to reflect, weigh their options, and, most importantly, take turns. Choices may be shrinking for those players, but strategy games still cater to them, such as phenom Sid Meier's Civilization. Civ's global domination through many paths is a landmark of PC gaming, but this spin-off, Revolution, heads to unexplored territory: the Nintendo ...

When we first fired up touch screen surgical simulation Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, it seemed so similar to the first game that we wondered why publisher Atlus didn't just leave off the number at the end of the title and instead add the word "again." Luckily, we loved the first one, so this wasn't a game-breaking offense. Although you'll have fewer surprises, the near-future sci-fi surgical procedures that make up the meat of the game ...

As the game based off the newest "best movie ever," Wall-E has no real need to be good - kids are going to eat this up no matter what. And if they're lucky, their love of that admittedly fantastic film will overcome the fact that the game itself - a super-kiddie sort of "get from point A to point B" puzzle game - is a rusty bucket of broken-down ideas bolted together.

You work your way through a level by throwing boxes at switches, ...

What’s this? No sooner have we given Hulk a shoeing than another film-based game arrives. Kung Fu Panda seems to have escaped complete badness, probably in spite of itself. The premise is much the same as any of these recent Dreamworks animation fests: lazy talking beast overcomes obstacles to become reluctant but an ultimately charming  hero. Here he’s a dumpy panda – and guess what he’s good at? The ...

Although we're big fans of point-and-tap whodunit games like the Phoenix Wright series, we can't quite get behind private detective Jake Hunter. Detective Chronicles has a ton of potential, but ham-handed presentation and "so simple a baby could do it" hand-holding make this gumshoe seem more like a goofball.

There are three cases for you to play through, all of which involve you going to a crime scene, talking to everyone until you ...

Guitar Hero has been so massively successful for one reason - it's an excellent guitar-playing simulator with classic video game trappings. Guitar Hero: On Tour can't possibly ship with a fake guitar, so it can only simulate Guitar Hero gameplay, not the just-real-enough rock experience. In the transition to DS, it's lost the party game vibe, the friendly humiliation of poorly playing a song you love, even the quasi-pride you get when five ...

Chugging through The Incredible Hulk’s 30 side-scrolling levels is like running through a maze where all the walls are transparent: It looks like you can go anywhere, but really you’re being cordoned down a very specific path. Because while the 360 and PS3 versions of this movie tie-in set you in a city that’s yours to explore and destroy, the DS iteration only creates the illusion of freedom.

The levels are large and ...

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, the long awaited follow up to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, is nearly everything we hoped it would be. Everything we loved from Tactics Advance is intact, with lots of little improvements sprinkled throughout. The grid-based battles are as addicting as ever, with an even wider range of jobs, races and abilities to sink hours into exploring. Like its predecessor, A2 presents a kinder, gentler tactical ...

Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Laagard is a very tough game to review simply because it's one of those "love it or hate it" game types: An old school dungeon crawler. There's only a rudimentary story (you're exploring a single, gigantic tree dungeon trying to find the way into a magic, floating castle), there's no character development beyond gaining levels and choosing skills, and its turn-based battles are ...