IGN

Gothic II has some great content and quest progression lying underneath an incredibly clunky exterior. If the combat didn't have such a high learning curve, the difficulty ramped up a bit slower, and the interface wasn't terrible, this would be a pretty good game. There's a lot of game here that would certainly appeal to the action/RPG crowd.

If you didn't like the first one, there's probably nothing new or different enough to pull you in this time. The love story adds some dramatic depth to Max's haunting story, and somehow makes what's going on more important and interesting. Wreaking havoc is nice, but it's great to also have a love interest complicating things, and Mona Sax is definitely up to the task. The visuals are excellent, the voice work is superior to what we usually get dealt in the action genre, and I only wish the game was a bit longer.

Given the fact that so little has changed in the game's transition to the PC, I certainly won't recommend it to the considerably large group of players who are already satisfied with the Xbox version. Sure, you get a few new things in the area of multiplayer but the rest of the game is exactly as it was two years ago. If you've played the game on the Xbox, there's not much for you here. But if you're in the 2 to 3GHz range and have a good 3D accelerator, then the PC version will definitely reward your investment, both in time and in the money you spent to get a powerful computer.

Homeworld2 is a damn fine game. Those that are looking for some huge new thing will probably be disappointed, but Relic was never going for the next evolution, they were just looking to make the formula a bit better, and certainly succeeded with that in some key areas even if the experience as a whole wasn't quite as definitive as it was the first time around.

The Frozen Throne is a good example of why Blizzard has retained its fans for so long. They don't skimp. When you think about it, most expansion packs that are released just kind of give new shoddy campaigns with less of a story and little production value. The Frozen Throne could almost stand by itself with the engaging story and gameplay. This expansion pack does exactly what it was supposed to do, it extends the life of the original game by expanding the content considerably without cutting corners in story, voice-overs, or presentation.

Overall I'd say that EVE has great potential. Though still struggling through the early stages of MMO growth, the game seems to be shaping up quite well. Live events staged by the developers are already being planned, helping to make the game that much more fun. And the game mechanics make it possible for pretty much anyone to have fun. This game is for anyone who wants to be able to truly affect the game world around them, and be a part of the force that shapes the story of EVE.

While Vice City is a better title than its predecessor, it does lack a lot of the surprise and discovery of the first title, at least in terms of design. I won't hold that against Rockstar too much. After all, there's not much incentive to innovate when the previous game is still selling like crazy. Still, the few additions they've made make Vice City a better (if not as unexpected) a treat.

Vulgarity doesn't make Postal a particularly bad game. Postal makes Postal a bad game. Flawed from the start, being crude for the sake of being crude makes it lame, but playing it makes it a pain.

My enjoyment of this series has always rested more on the concepts than the graphics. So it stands to reason that, now that the graphics are equivalent to most other titles in the action genre, I'd enjoy this one best of all. To some extent that's true. While I think the overall approach works here, I'm forced to admit that the changes made to the game are merely iterative rather than innovative.

This is a damn fine RTS. While it does require a pretty hefty rig to run, it's got all the gameplay right where it needs to be. This is a fantastic extension of the Command & Conquer series and should be snatched up by its fans. It's hard to say anything really bad about it. I've had a great time playing this game over the last week and look forward to some well fought multiplayer battles.