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Puzzle Quest - PSP - 86/100

This game is extremely addictive, but does get old after a while. While most of the player's time is spent playing bejeweled, the idea of applying a simple puzzle game formula to a role playing game is just brilliant.

To fight monsters, you play a game of bejeweled. As you combine different colored orbs, treasures and skulls, you acquire mana (the orbs,) money (treasures,) experience (purple thingy) and even accomplish non-magical attacks (by combining skulls.) Or you can simply cast one of your spells (assuming you have enough mana) during your turn instead.

The nice thing about playing bejeweled to fight monsters, get items and conquer cities is that you never know what the board will look like next. This is also one small negative on the game. It's possible to get an unlucky combination of stones and be crushed by the opponent immediately. On the other hand it\'s sometimes possible to get a good combination of stones and start of a battle with a massive attack.

There is multi-player, but the character classes seem to be unbalanced. I only played about 50% of the game using a Wizard, but I had a lot of fun doing so.

Another small annoyance are the random monsters that pop up on the screen. They just stay on the map until you reach them. So if you ever want to crisscross the map for any reason you have to fight through numerous monsters.

It's a good game, but there is only so much mileage you can get out of bejeweled.

Console: PSP
Publisher: D3 Publisher
Developer: Infinite Interactive
Review Score: 86/100

Ninja Gaiden - Xbox - 40/100

I hate this game. I really wanted to like it. I tried playing it but I just could not beat the first boss. Obviously I lack some fighting-games skills, but I expected this game to be approachable by anyone. Instead due to a poorly positioned check point, I had to fight through dozens of enemies again, and again and again each time to reach the boss. Only to be killed in a matter of seconds. This didn't give me any chance to practice different moves to beat the boss. Since the boss fights differently then the droid ninjas I had to slaughter repeatedly to each him each time I died. In the end I threw the controller across the room and sold the game.

This might be a great game for someone with a lot of experience with fighting games, but for the casual fighting game player, you'll face a STEEP learning curve as you play this game. Considering there are so many other great games out there it was really not worth my time to suffer through poorly designed checkpoints just to play it.

Console: Xbox
Publisher: Tecmo
Developer: Team Ninja
Review Score: 40/100

Every Extend Extra - PSP - 80/100

Every Extend Extra is a fun little shooter with a twist. Instead of shooting your enemies, you fly alongside them and blow yourself up. Every enemy that explodes has an area effect on enemies around him, so you can chain together exploded enemies to take out even more enemies.

The game is fairly short, and I actually found it to get easier after Stage 4. The first time I passed Stage 4 I finished the game, but getting to Stage 4 took many many hours of replaying the game.

Each level consists of enemies flying around the screen. You have to time your explosion to take out as many enemies as possible. If you take out enough enemies, you get more "lives/bombs." If you just blow yourself up and take out few enemies, you'll waste your lives/bombs. After enough time has passed, you will face the boss. Bosses will fire at you and you will have to avoid them and their fire. At the same time enemies will fly around and you'll have to chain your explosions using these enemies to take out the boss. Each boss will have a different requirement for how long a chain will hurt it.

This game is pretty cool and a nice game to have on the PSP. Its very quick to get into and provides constant action. Replayability is a bit lacking.

This is one of the few skilled based games that I like, period. Which has to say something. Other then me sucking at skill based games.

Console: PSP
Publisher: Buena Vista Games
Developer: Q Entertainment
Review Score: 80/100

Viva Pinata - Xbox360 - 99/100

How is this game so good? Wow, I don't quite know what to say about this game. Pretty much how it works is, you look-up what you need to attract a specific Pinata, then you build/purchase/plant the required items in your garden. When the Pinata arrives, you figure out what the requirements are to get the Pinata to fornicate. Then you make enough Pinatas to get an Achievement, and you use the in-game items to get all the different variations of the Pinata. Then you sell all the Pinatas and look at the requirements for the next Pinata.

Somehow this is incredibly addictive and I could not stop playing it. This has to be the most addictive game ever made. How? Why? Who knows! Just go buy it and cancel all your plans. It rocks!

Console - Xbox 360
Publisher - Microsoft
Developer - Rare
Review Score - 99/100

Forza Motorsport 2 - Xbox360 - 97/100

This has to be the best driving game out there right now. Forget GT4 or even GTHD, Forza2 offers the most realistic racing experience.

From the AI drivers who will bump and slide under you in corners, to the amazing physics simulation that runs at 360fps, this game is the closest you can get to driving a real car on the track. Throw in the 360 steering wheel and you have one realistic racing setup.

There are many tracks to choose from and the races rarely get boring. Only some of the very long tracks can get kind of tedious after a while, but luckily the game gives you the option to hire a driver to close out the more frustrating of the races.

There is a huge variety of racing series and you will need to utilize many of the cars available. You'll never run into a vehicle that can't be used in at least one race.

This is an amazing racing experience. If you love racing games, run right now to your local store and pick this game up with the Microsoft steering wheel.

Console - Xbox 360
Publisher - Microsoft
Developer - Turn 10
Review Score - 97/100