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It's not often that a game is worth buying twice, but Atlus has made a second bite easier to swallow with Persona 3: FES. A special edition of last year's hybrid RPG, Persona 3, FES contains a dearth of new content and the entire original game with new elements and all for an easy $30. While some of the new content doesn't quite live up to the impact of the original release, FES represents a great value and is a must-play for RPG fans who looked it over the first time.



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The bulk of the content on the disc is the original 80+ hour Persona 3 game, dubbed "The Journey" in FES. You play as a transfer student who quickly discovers that his school is the epicenter of a phenomenon known as the Dark Hour, a "25th hour" during the day where time stops for the unaware and a huge tower named Tartarus erupts from the school, the source of an evil plague of beings known as Shadows. Only once you realize you harness the ability to wield the titular entities called personas do you join a crew of your fellow persona-wielding classmates to climb Tartarus and cleanse it of the Shadows over the course of a school year.

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Sega Bass Fishing for the Nintendo Wii is a port of the arcade and Dreamcast title of the same name, only with the obvious addition of Wii Remote controls. The game wears its arcade heritage on its sleeve with the relative simplicity of the gameplay and its non-simulation style. But more obvious than its roots are the flaws made apparent by plucking this fish out of its 1999 waters and dumping it upstream onto a current game console in 2008.



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Sega Bass Fishing services Wii anglers with a standard variety of modes. Arcade mode naturally features arcade style stage by stage play – catch a bass of a minimum size within a certain period of time or you're out of luck. Tournament mode plays somewhat differently, requiring prolonged competition with other anglers. Nature trip mode loses the restraints of other modes and allows you to fish at your own pace. Actually catching a fish is surprisingly simple and within a minute or two in any mode you'll be able to reel in a bass, even though it might not be the big one.

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A multitude of variables including dozens of Nintendo-themed stages, endless supplies of rule-changing items, and the best character roster in the series yet adds great depth and longevity to Super Smash Bros. Brawl's gameplay. The online component works well despite some omissions, and with fun inclusions like the story mode, sticker and trophy collecting, and custom stage-building, there is nearly a bottomless well of activities in Brawl. It's needless to say that the game will be played feverously up until the next title in the series and anyone who was even remotely touched by Nintendo in their lifetime would find something to enjoy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.



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Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series presents an interesting juxtaposition. As a casual fighter featuring some of Nintendo's biggest and best-selling franchises, it's ironic that Smash Bros's popularity can overshadow even the characters represented in it. Though the situation may seem strange, its appeal to the Nintendo faithful is anything but. The roughly six years since Super Smash Bros. Melee have done nothing but keep anticipation and expectations high for the next installment and the result--Super Smash Bros. Brawl--will not disappoint. 

Super Smash Bros. Brawl can be compressed to a single rule: to knock your opponents off the sides of the screen. You accomplish this by beating your opponents to a pulp to raise their damage percentage. The higher their percentage, the farther they fly, best done with the namesake smash attack. It's really that simple. But just because the concept is simple doesn't mean it's simple in practice.

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Though it's perhaps not the definitive Wipeout experience, Wipeout Pulse is definitely an improvement on its PSP predecessor in almost every way, offering online multiplayer, customizable music options, seven race types, and even the ability to design your own ship, limited though it may be. It starts slow, and you might be perturbed by the campaign mode now and then as well as a few graphical and acoustic slips, but on the whole it retains the franchise's almost zen-like quality during high-speed, weapons-intense races along with the same futuristic style that fans love.



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Wipeout Pulse maintains the feel of the Wipeout universe complete with a futuristic presentation, plenty of techno beats, and fun high-speed races that completely defy a storyline or setting. The essential gameplay aspects of Pulse are strikingly similar to those of its predecessors; the player's objective still being to survive an onslaught of vicious attacks while en route to the finish line for a medal. No significant tweaking has been given to the standard single-race - if you spent more than five minutes with the PlayStation's Wipeout XL then you'll feel right at home, which is a boon for franchise veterans looking for the same thrills they encountered in previous Wipeout games. The dark side of Wipeout racing has also been left intact, with players still blasting each other with three-pronged missile attacks, bomb trails, and the infamous earthquake while nudging opponents into walls or soaring across chasms.

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Patapon is a great musically-geared PSP game from several of the creative minds behind the popular LocoRoco and sports the same simple flair, highlighted by a colorful world, straightforward mechanics, intricate visual details, and a fantastically catchy beat that'll make this an addictive treat for Sony and music-genre fans. But even if LocoRoco let you down, Patapon comes with some improvements: it relies on an actual storyline that gives the game purpose, the "characters" have a touch more depth, and the amount of army tweaking, hunting areas, bosses, and mini-game diversions should offer enough motivation for you to finish it. For $20, you simply cannot go wrong.



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As is often the case with deities, you - the 'All-mighty' god of the adorable patapons - have been too preoccupied with the business of the universe to cast them an endearing glance. Completely neglected by their patron deity, the patapons - tiny, bloodthirsty, giant-eyed creatures with a serious knack for rhythm - have been forced to deal with an incursion of the malignant zigotons, ugly suckers that, in the ignorance of the divine, have walled their way between Patapolis, the patapon capital, and the object of the patapons' desire – a great, mysterious gift that you conveniently placed at the end of the world. In your absence the patapons have suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of the foul zigotons and in a final act of desperation the sole survivor of the patapons' once magnificent army raises the war banner and cries out for your aid.

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Kneel. Place hands on either side of the ceramic-like object. Wait. A sudden urge takes you, spewing the remains of a previous ingestion. You glance at what was just created; between the remains of what were once good ideas you see those extra things you tacked on that seemed like a quick fix at the time but ultimately caused their own regurgitation. You lament at the pain you caused yourself, but deep down you can feel that the pain is still there.

So what have you been eating? Or in this case, what have various developers been feeding the ceramic bowl in question, the Wii? Their own regurgitation, that's what - and a little bit of Nintendo's own leftovers for good measure. The Wii is the one that's sick, suffering from delirious spells of minigame collections, shoddy ports, forced motion control schemes, and God knows what else.

A little examination is in order. Five case studies have been prepared, each a different opinion of how Wii software appears. Some of it isn't too pretty – but fear not, we might even discover a cure. So lean back, relax, and try not to throw that Wii remote into the tv.

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NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is a promising title that suffers regrettably from bland platforming levels and poor control scheme. Despite having high hopes for this game, I can only recommend NiGHTS as a rental for both hardcore fans and newcomers. The game sports beautiful visuals and a nostalgic soundtrack but the game as a whole feels much too fragmented. Online multiplayer modes are a nice addition but they don't offer much in terms of replay value and appeal. As it stands, NiGHTS is only enjoyable at select moments with the rest of the game falling victim to mediocrity.



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NiGHTS: Into Dreams, released over a decade ago, was Sega's flagship title for the Saturn that challenged Nintendo's magnum opus, Super Mario 64. Though the game was highly praised for its creative gameplay mechanics involving flight and the use of a special controller, Nights was eclipsed by the red plumber in Mario 64 that achieved enormous success. After many years of fan requests and petitions, Sega has enlisted Sonic Team to bring back one of their most cherished titles on the Nintendo Wii. The long awaited Nights sequel has arrived with the enigmatic NiGHTS soaring once again in NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams.

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Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends offers up most of the same simplistic, addictive gameplay that fans of the series love with a few twists, namely multiplayer action and new recipes. It's a great title for short gaming sessions, definitely tops the cutesy chart, and boasts those same adorable visuals and step-by-step cooking minigames that fans are familiar with. However, Mama's latest expedition feels more like an extension of the original rather than a true sequel and certainly isn't for the traditional hardcore gamer (it's also incredibly easy), but if you're into food and light gameplay (and especially if you haven't played the original) then it's a go; otherwise it's a rent, if that.



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Cooking Mama 2 is yet another easy, pick-up-and-play title from Majesco and is centered around cooking for your Mama; to up the ante the company added new recipes for a total of 80 delicious dishes for the player to experiment with beginning in "Cook with Mama" mode. This mode provides the traditional Cooking Mama experience, featuring every possible step you can imagine in the creation of each of the 80 dishes. Players progress step-by-step via completing recipe minigames, ranging from cracking eggs, stirring ingredients, grilling meats, pouring various liquids, and peeling apples to folding crepes, setting the oven (yes, setting the oven is a minigame), and blowing into the DS mic to cool off food.

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It's the same fantastic game you played in 1998 with some positive adjustments, including more mature dialogue and some lovely animated cutscenes. While a few other elements - character names, job ability names, etc - were changed for unknown reasons, the whole package comes together just as nicely as the original, though a few might have qualms with the cutscene voiceacting or missing infrastructure battles. All in all, the same Square masterpiece you've played before, only on the PlayStation Portable with a storyline that'll make more sense to newcomers than the original's.



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I might as well admit to a bias on Square Enix's updated Final Fantasy Tactics, as the original game is quite possibly my most favorite title, topping the likes of Super Mario Brothers 3, Mario Kart, Sunset Riders, Knights of the Old Republic I/II, the Elder Scrolls series, The Lion King (SNES - don't hate) and even Final Fantasy VII and VIII. Final Fantasy Tactics remains the king of all strategy RPGs, the title to which they all inevitably compare themselves as they struggle to balance pure strategy based gameplay with leveling up, magical spells, pretty graphics, and an enchanting plot - a feat that most in its genre fail to accomplish.

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Sonic Rivals 2 is mixed bag. On one hand it can be quite a frustrating experience due to the heavy focus on battle throughout the races, but on the other hand elements of it are enjoyable. It’s a real pity, as the game would actually be rather good if you were just judging by visuals and racing mechanics.



Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

You can almost set it like clockwork: another Sonic game at least every year. This fall Sonic returns to racing in Sonic Rivals 2 for the PlayStation Portable. Is the Hedgehog racer worth a run?

First off, let me break it down as to what this game features: a story mode and racing mode. In race mode, all you do is pick one of eight characters and battle it out through a bunch of different levels. This is essentially what the game is all about - you racing against opponents. It’s a fun and engaging experience.

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