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Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (PS2 / T)
The biggest problem I had with this game was the camera. It's too low and there's no way to move it above Jak and it liked to take control from you. I also can't count the jumps I missed because the double jump didn't respond. And Daxter is the most annoying character ever.
Rating: Eh


Shining Soul (GBA / E)
This game is 95% button mashing. Pick an area then plod through several identical floors, frequently stopping to stand in one spot and mash A to wipe out the string of enemies that come at you until they stop spawning. A better alternative to having the player arbitrarily miss the enemies half the time would be give the enemies better plans than "run up to the player in a swarm and attack" so some actual thinking was involved. The bosses are slightly better, but the early bosses are stupidly easy while beating later bosses amounts to ramboing them and taking the occasional healing item. Had it taken more than a day to finish, I probably wouldn't have bothered.
Rating: Bad


Doom II: Hell on Earth (PC / M)
Competent, but was too similar to Doom to merit being as long as it was.
Rating: Decent


Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP / T)
Well this an unnecessary game. This was supposed to be about the events leading up to Final Fantasy 7, how Cloud and Zack knew each other, and how Cloud ended up with Zack's memories, but a lot of what happens in this game doesn't have shit to do with shinola. The plot has more even more convoluted misguidings and "This is what happened!" "Wait, this is what really happened!" "No, this is what REALLY happened!" garbage than Final Fantasy 7, and all it does is further jumble an already confusing plot. As for the game, I beat most of the enemies by diving behind them and wailing on the attack button, and the missions all amount to wandering around one of five or so identical areas until you find an enemy that appears on the map. The final boss is one of those types that isn't even remotely hard, just takes forever to kill. I will admit I got more choked up when Zack died than when Aeris did (shut up, those are about as much spoilers as "Darth Vader is Luke's father"), but the mood was killed by Cloud wailing like a little bitch.
Rating: Eh


Super Smash Brothers: Brawl (Wii / T)
I think it's really cute when people act like this is anything more than a big fanboy service with the blandest, most repetitive single-player campaign I've gone through in recent memory tacked on, controls ill suited to said platformer, an AI so thick it'd take five minutes to cut through it with a chainsaw, and some of the most horribly designed deathmatch levels ever (playing on New Pork City is less brawling and more a round of Where's Waldo).
Rating: Garbage


PREY (Xbox 360 / M)
Like Bioshock, this game would have benefitted greatly from actually penalizing you for dying. And here the challenge and fear factor is undermined even deeper by respawning in the exact spot you died (well, unless you fell into a void or your little spaceship thing blew up) instead of possibly a few rooms away. Still, the scenery is usually pretty cool and there's some interesting puzzles done with the changing gravity, portals, and spirit walking.
Rating: Decent