BioWare

An incredible effort from any perspective, Mass Effect sets the new standard for story-driven games, and has unquestionably surpassed all others to become the preeminent science fiction franchise today. As far as I'm concerned, nothing else can hold a candle to it, and the great minds at BioWare should be extremely proud of what they've created.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, and Violence.

Before the hate mail starts coming in for giving it an eight, let me say that Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic is a good videogame. It's doubly good on the Xbox, since it's the only substantial role-playing game for Microsoft's machine outside of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Metal Dungeon, and possibly Pirates Of The Caribbean, though it's safe to say that they all stray from what one usually expects of a console RPG. However, would I call it a great game? I guess that would depend on your love of the Star Wars license.

There have been plenty of times when I've wished my life was structured similarly to the existential glee found in certain videogames, games like Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic. Like a scene straight out of Mike Judge's first film Office Space, my editors often hunt me down to say, "I'm gonna have to ask you to come in on Saturday."

Game Description: Long before the Galactic Civil War, an epic drama begins. Engage in this saga set in the Golden Age of the Republic—over 4,000 years before the first Star Wars film, when both Jedi and Sith number in the thousands. With the Galaxy reeling from a recent conflict with the Dark Lords, the ongoing battle between the Jedi and the Sith rages on. Your actions determine the outcome of this colossal galactic war—and your destiny as a Jedi.

 From the comic-book style cut scenes to even its darkest moments, MDK2 sustains an enjoyable tongue-in-cheek atmosphere that provides a refreshing break from the many somber action titles that populate store shelves. The result is a refreshing, unique gaming experience no gamer should pass up.

I liked the idea of sniping, shooting and thinking in a one game, but here it's done in three different games. MDK2 is essentially split up into three alternating parts—Kurt's adventure, Max's adventure and Dr. Fluke's adventure. Because each character's missions are built around their various abilities, each part plays completely different, and there's not much to hold everything together to make it feels like one game. MDK2 is a beautiful 3-D action game, and it's pretty fun, but there are problems in the game's basic concept that keep it from being really fun.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Blood, Animated Violence

Game Description: Playing MDK2 is like riding a roller coaster or watching a good action movie. In fact, fighting aliens has never been this much fun. You begin the adventure as Kurt, a human in a Batman-like suit equipped with some loopy but lethal accessories. Kurt packs a powerful chain gun and a built-in parachute for gliding around levels. Kurt also has access to a simple-to-use sniper mode that allows you to smoothly zoom between multiple magnification levels (1x to 75x) for long-range kills.