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Being a big fan of the Harvey Birdman cartoon — and Adult Swim in general — I was pretty jazzed about playing with this one. The game gets started looking exactly like a typical episode from television. That’s cool; I like the episodes. Then I got a brief bit of play that plays like a scene from “Phoenix Wright,” only instead of something remotely serious, I had to defend a hippo who my wife is accusing of burning down my home. Through some witty dialog, I prove her testimony to be a big pile of horse manure, while at the same time preventing her from cashing in on my huge insurance claim.

Agetec's Puzzle Guzzle tries to rejuvenate the familiar screen-based mind-bender that's been popular ever since Tetris invaded our screens, block-by-block, in the 1980's. The catch here is that instead of fitting blocks together, you use diagonal lines in angular shapes to create enclosed areas - which, when sealed off, disappear and are registered as points.

As the Xbox 360's lifecycle chugs along, Xbox Live Arcade keeps getting bigger, which means growing pains will follow. Some attempts to widen the existing library of XBLA games aren't always hits, and you would be surprised if you stopped and thought about how many different game experiences are needed to fill the gaps in terms of quality. GripShift is another game in a long line of attempts at diversity for XBLA, but as a racing title, does it deliver on the grounds of speed it needs to secure a substantial enough offering for distinction?

This crazy racing game first came out on the PSP but is now available for download via Xbox Live Arcade. GripShift is not only a racing game, but it includes a challenge mode that turns it into a puzzler/platform game. There are over 100 courses to play on and will give players some variety, but after a while, it starts to feel the same.

Spiderman: Friend or Foe attempts to turn the superhero genre on it's head by subverting the traditional roles of the antagonists in the face of our heroic, lycra-clad arachnid impersonator. The story is somewhat confusing and doesn't appear to follow logic - instead choosing to provide a reason, however odd, that Spiderman is fighting alongside his mortal enemies. You're presented with a tale regarding some higher power controlling all the slightly-less-high powers that Spidey's fought in the trilogy of films, a meteorite that has kindly distributed itself across the globe - in five geographically-varied locations, naturally - and an army of minions controlled by the evil bloke that's taken control of your sworn enemies.

Yu-Gi-Oh! first burst onto the scene on a wave of Pokйmon enthusiasm around the turn of the century, and since then has managed to carve out a reputation as one of the most pervasive and successful brands with young fans around the world. There's been animй and manga, action figures and films, and even games. They've appeared on every major console save the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and on PSP there have been two games - GX Tag Force and a sequel, the imaginatively-named GX Tag Force 2.

Tomb Raider: Anniversary is Lara Croft's second PSP outing — and vastly different from the Sony handheld's first game, Legend. Whereas that title basically ignored the heritage and past success of the Tomb Raider games, Anniversary does the opposite: It's a next-generation remake of the original Tomb Raider game — yes, from the dark days of 1996 — that takes plenty of inspiration from the seminal adventure and adds a coat of much-needed modern sheen.

If someone would have suggested that I'd enjoy a farming sim, I'd have popped that illusion with a cynical lift of an eyebrow and goggled at them. Me? Farming sim? As it were ... I popped Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl into my PlayStation Portable on Thanksgiving morning, and it was 3 a.m. the next day before I finally put it down. I didn't really need an excuse to avoid the Black Friday crowds, but it was a lovely rationalization. "No, I really can't. I have to finish this game I'm reviewing." In reality, I could have stayed up a couple hours more and gone out with my relatives as they rushed to the 6 a.m. sales. Instead, I woke up late and picked up my PSP again.

Dungeons and Dragons: Tactics is the latest version of the pen-and-paper game ported over to the electronic format — portable electronic format. For the long-time pen and paper D&D player, this game is geek city. It replicates the feel of the game faithfully, and you can spend hours just creating and customizing your character. From stats to appearances to manually selecting feats and abilities as you level up — each step providing an automated option that you can then review and accept if you like it. The scope of the customization available is staggering, but luckily the game provides a helpful dictionary for quick reference — under Options and Glossary in the menu. Characters even have a back history, including gods and goddesses worshipped. Hello, St. Cuthbert! It's been a long time!

This is a game site, right? I figured I was getting a game. I loaded it and tried to see what I could do with it. I pressed a few buttons. "Boop. Budd. Budd. Boop." No, I tried but couldn't get the "Ka-twing!" I turned to the age-old Confucian wisdom, "When in doubt, refer to manual." The manual had repeated pages — 1 through 6, and the corresponding 41 — 46 on the other side — which mean I was missing pages 12 pages of instruction. Doh! I tried the official web-site to see if I could download a manual or if there were help tips. It wasn't much help, at all. Two hours later, I did determine one thing, Traxxpad is not a game. It's a piece of beat-making and mixing audio software. Much like the 1001 other ones out there, except that it's extremely portable being made for the PSP. I also figured that I'm an idiot since I couldn't for the life of me, figure out how to use this thing properly.

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron is very much like Star Wars Battlefront and yet very different at the same time. If you have played any of the previous Battlefront games on the PSP, you will find that the gameplay is very similar, yet the actual game has some very nice additions that may have you playing this iteration over previous over and over.

Winx Club is an animated TV series that transfers perfectly into a video game. It features the adventures of six teenage fairies from Alfea — the best school for fairies in the realm. Each fairy comes from a different planet, has her own distinct look, personality and powers, and they use their magic to defend themselves and protect the Realm of Magix from evil.

The story of Jeanne D'Arc, a young girl who was led by the voice of God, is a 15th century French tale and has been told many times throughout history. This time, developer Level-5 decides to take that legendary story and transform it into a strategic role-playing game. To be honest, I am not fond of S-RPGs. I couldn't even bring myself to play Final Fantasy Tactics, and I'm a huge Final Fantasy fan. However, Jeanne D'Arc managed to suck me in. So few games do that to me these days, but I couldn't put this one down.

Pocket Pool for the PSP is an interesting game. Obviously targeted toward the young, male audience, it's a very detailed billiards/pool game with certain elements that may not be appropriate for kids — hence the Mature rating.

Twins are born - brother and sister - in China in the Year of the Dragon, and one of them must be chosen to become the new Golden Dragon, Guardian of the 12 lost temples. The brother is found to be more worthy and is chosen for the honor. The sister, jealous of her brother, joins forces with the evil Zodiac Master and seeks to destroy the 12 guardians to steal their power and become invincible. When researching this game online, I found it to be based off of a Jetix cartoon by the same name.

Test Drive Unlimited takes you to the island paradise of Hawaii, where you get to drive around in high performance sports cars, take time trials and race other car nuts on curving mountain roads. As you play, your global positioning system will lead you to a challenge; when you complete said challenge, your GPS automatically uploads your next challenge location and gives you directions for how to get there.

I never expected to enjoy Brooktown High. I know I shouldn't go into a game with preconceived notions; I do try to keep an open mind. But, I'd seen the game at E3; I'd seen the *cough* cheerleaders and nerd at the Konami Gamer Day promoting the game. A dating simulation. Didn't someone already make that?

Uh-oh ... a trading card game. That was my first reaction when I saw the box. I like trading card games, and I dislike trading card games. It's like playing Hearts or Patience. I waste a lot of time. Yet, there is something about them that draws me back again and again to waste more time. Marvel Trading Card Game is no different.

Where should I start, how about with the word “addiction”. This game is addicting. It will suck you in to its marble spinning ways and you will lose your soul to it. Once you start playing you're lost. And before you know it 3 hours have gone by, your mouth is dry, you’re fingers are cramping on the controls and your seeing double, or triple, or maybe quadruple. And when you finally convince yourself to put the PSP down and go to bed, you will dream of rows upon rows of colored marbles rushing towards you and there is no place to run to and no place to hide.

I never had the opportunity to play the original Ghosts ‘n Goblins, the platform arcade game from the mid ‘80s. Besides Pac-man, I stayed away from arcade games as a whole, mostly because I couldn’t justify dumping coins into a machine. Before I even confirmed that it was based off an old arcade game, Ultimate Ghosts ‘n Goblins still feels like one. The side-scrolling platform style gives it away, as well as the fact that it is incredibly difficult to control Arthur, the knight who wears boxers underneath all that steel.

So I’ve always loved side-scrollers. Games that move without ceasing, from left to right. Does anyone remember Defender in the arcade or Moon-buggy on the Commodore 64? Those were the classic side-scrollers from the 1980s. Now, in the 2000s, we have Platypus. I’m an MMORPG reviewer and Ophelea had been talking to me about reviewing for Gamersinfo.net for a while. I finally caved when she tempted me with Platypus. It looked liked it would be way too much fun. I'm happy to say that I was not disappointed.

Hi all! Lets chat about Carol Vorderman’s Sudoku game for the PSP. If you like me, that being a crazed American, you may be asking yourself who is this Carol Vorderman person and why should I care that she made a Sudoku game for the PSP. Why don’t we start off with the Sudoku part of the title and set aside the Carol Vorderman part for the time being.

El Gringo Loco Is Comin To Town!

Doz bad bad men of da drug cartels, dey kilt my dad an now dey gonna pay, an pay big. Cuz I’m one Loco Gringo an I’m pretty darn mad.

Are you ready for a wild and crazy romp through the Mexican drug cartels? Then put on your six shooters and grab your hat cuz Chili Con Carnage is gonna take you there and then some.

Parlin is a twelve year old girl, and she has a friend named Pino. Sounds pretty mundane, you say? Here is the fun part: none of the adults in town can see Pino, because Pino is a monster and only the children are able to see monsters…

Chess, as we know it today, is a game that has been around since the 15th century. With the advent of the computer age the game of Chess moved to the virtual world where man pitted his skills against the machine. Konami has introduced their version in the form of Online Chess Kingdoms for the Sony PSP.

The story begins with Death standing in line at the local burger shop waiting his turn to get a burger and fries when a very nasty customer appears and wraps him up in vines. We then pan to the recent past where DJ and his buddies are out trying to complete a science project that requires them to each collect a cocoon or get an F. Well, poor DJ and Pandora each have not completed their assignments and are desperately searching for a cocoon.

Good console RPGs are few and far between for the PSP. What better way to solve that problem than by porting a tried-and-true Playstation title? That’s the thought that went behind SquareEnix/TriAce’s Valkyrie Profile. If you’re unfamiliar with this series, that because when it first came out in the US back in 2000, it was snapped up and disappeared off shelves almost immediately. Today you may be lucky if you find an original copy on Ebay, and it definitely won’t be cheap. I was one of those that got to play it on a friend’s Playstation for a little bit, but never was able to get my own copy.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance opens with an assault on the SHIELD helicarrier by the Brotherhood of Evil led by Dr Doom. The hero’s must thwart the assault before the helicarrier is destroyed. Just a walk in the park for the worlds greatest hero’s.

Way way back when I was wee kid, with my brand-spanking new NES, I played a game called Metal Gear. It was different from the other games of the time, such as Ikari Warriors, where you weren’t meant to just shoot everything that moved, and sometimes things that didn’t move as well. In MG, you prioritized stealth above all else, and because of that, the wildly popular Metal Gear franchise was born.

You know those paper weights (or random desk object) that have water in them with colored oil that if you flip it upside down it’ll plop these colored oil droplets down to the bottom, but not before they hit a variety of ramps, holes, wheels and other obstacles? Somehow you find yourself staring intently until all the droplets gets to the bottom and you flip it back upside down to watch the whole show again. Well, now these oil globules have a game and it’s in the form of LocoRoco. Maybe it’s because I like staring at colored blobs, but this game totally cracks me up. It’s not often that I come across a game that I want everyone to see because of how incredibly cute and silly it is. I just can’t get enough of LocoRoco.