"Rise of the Empire" is the closest thing Battlefront II has to a full-fledged singleplayer campaign, as you work your way through the Clone Wars and all the way up through the Battle of Hoth from Empire Strikes Back, as the 501st division of clone troopers. Actor Temuera Morrison, who played Jango Fett and the Clone Troopers in the films, narrarates the cut scenes in a rather heavy-handed, noir style prose. Though it's a bit overdone, it's a welcome addition to the more proceedural tone of the first game.

"Instant Action" is just as fun as ever, allowing you to freely choose which maps you want to play and how you want to play them. You essentially create a "play list" and then have at it. Instant Action comes with a variety of modes, including the traditional fighting campaign, where you fight the opposing team for control of various command posts scattered throughout the map. Capture the Flag is also present, and just as challengingly fun as ever.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe - The Game follows the storyline of the movie, playing as the four Pevensie children, but interjects extra scenes that give the kids obstacles to overcome. The actors are recreated in pixelated glory, along with many of the Narnian locations that they visit in the film. Though there's not a great deal of variation in the appearance of these outdoor scenes, the game provides enough fun to keep you coming back.

Each of the four kids has his or her own unique abilities. Peter is the great swordsman and fighter, with Edmund nearly his equal. Susan can use her bow and arrow, as well as Mr. Tumnus' panpipes, which allow her to put various beasts to sleep at key moments. And Lucy can heal all of the children, as well as "tame" various creatures -- allowing her to ride on them and control their movements, including their attacks. At various times, you'll have to team up two of the children to overcome gigantic obstacles, and in a nice touch, the game allows you to choose which of the four children you want to play at any time -- and you can switch between them freely.

The levels range from challenging to almost impossible, with very little balance between the two. In one gaming session while trying to finish the game, I went from one level where I only had to play it once to defeat it, to another that had to be played at least ten times before I could get the hang of it.

The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe bears hallmarks of Travelers Tales' last game, Lego Star Wars: loads of unlockable content via replay. Collecting coins and other special objects unlocks additional levels and "making of" featurettes. On the downside, also like Lego Star Wars, there are many cut-scenes that cannot be skipped, no matter how many times you play through them. It's a small qualm, but endlessly irksome.

From the opening sequence, which combines the action of Starship Troopers, the camera style of The Matrix and the sci-fi element of the best of the Alien films, one can see that something is terribly wrong. A sinister pod has appeared in the center of The Junkyard, and as members from all of the tribes come out to do recon work, an explosion unleashes a power which infects every person in the land, causing them to war within themselves over the now primal instincts that threaten to consume them.

When the various men and women in the area recover from the blast, they investigate the scene and discover that within the pod is a mysterious woman named Sara, whom none of the people in The Junkyard ever recall having seen before. Her singing seems to soothe everyone when their appetites get the best of them, and like everyone else, she has little to no memory about who she is or why she has come to The Junkyard.

It's an irresistable idea. The story, characters, locations, and vehicles of the Star Wars trilogy (the new one), and the mechanics of a universe built out of Legos. Put the two together and you get Lego Star Wars, an unlikely yet surprisingly addictive video game that succeeds in almost every way.

You (and a partner, if you're so inclined) play as just about any character from Episodes I through III, through all of the major battle scenes of each film. The game is broken down into the three episodes, with several "chapters" (levels) to each. Most of them are third-person fighting levels, but each episode also comes with a level where you get to pilot a vehicle -- the Podrace, the Gunship battle, and the battle above Coruscant, respectively. Many objects are able to be manipulated by the Force, and most can be destroyed with lightsabers or blasters. The lack of character dialogue seems like an obvious oversight, but the cheeky humor displayed by character's actions and expessions will bring smiles to every face.

Because it's an all-ages title, you won't find anything too heavy here, content-wise. Even in the climactic battle of Revenge of the Sith, where Anakin and Obi-Wan must fight one another, the majority of the level consists of the two players rushing to escape the dangers of the volcanic world of Mustafar, before finally giving way to a half-hearted mano-a-mano fight at the very end. Instead, the emphasis is placed entirely on cooperative play, allowing up to two players to play through the game -- on the same screen (which is significant if you've ever played a split-screen game) -- side-by-side. Often puzzles or obstacles will block your path that only one player can overcome; thus, both players must learn to work together.

Myst V, for the first time since Riven (Myst II), was crafted by series creator Cyan Worlds. As the highly-touted final entry in the series, the big question is, is it a fitting end?

It really depends on how high your expectations are. If you're prepared to savor this final look at the Myst universe for what it is, then you should be pleased. The five Ages you get to explore are mostly quite large, with plenty to see. But if you're looking for a plethora of puzzles or a truly epic ending to the series, you won't find either.

Myst V begins as once again, you, Atrus' unnamed "friend," find your way back into his family's business. Atrus has grown old and weary since Myst IV, and his daughter Yeesha -- no spring chicken herself -- is now the primary protagonist. Yeesha believes herself to be "the Grower," a figure from a prominent D'ni prophecy, who will rebuild D'ni society after the Fall of D'ni.

But there's another member of the D'ni, a man named Esher, who believes he is the Grower. Both Yeesha and Esher appear to you throughout the game, offering guidance, background information, and various reasons to trust and mistrust them both.

Most of the puzzles center around the mysterious Bahro creatures (who, rather frustratingly, we learn precious little about -- what are they, exactly?) first introduced in Uru. When you draw symbols on a series of stone tablets, the Bahro will follow your instructions, and it is through their help that you'll solve many of the game's puzzles.

Battlefield 2 rolls its original ticket-based battle system into the modern-era with the elements that popularized the original game and with the addition of a new game engine and commander mode, makes enough changes to make this sequel much more than a professionally done mod of the original.

The biggest change to the game is easily the addition of a commander mode, which allows one player from each team to direct squads, fire artillery, and scan the map for enemy locations. This element effectively integrates a RTS element with the massive FPS combat that drives the game. The development of squads makes teamwork a more integral part of game play. On-screen cues display players' orders and provide a strong strategic element to this shooter.

Significant changes have been made to the original kits that each player chooses each time they spawn. Each kit now has distinct abilities that even affect them in vehicles. Players can compete as Special Forces, sniper, assault, support, engineer, medic or anti-tank...

You control Gojiru, a Samurai wandering the West in search of another renegade warrior. Along the way - and despite your best efforts to stick to your peaceful roots - you make a few enemies (namely, almost everyone in town) who shoot at you on a regular basis. The idea is to deflect their bullets with your sword (or dodge them) and then cut the bad guys up to gain points. The more experience you have, the faster you level up from student to ronin, all the way up to master swordsman. And if the enemies get too overwhelming, you can enter a "Master" mode that lets you kill everyone in sight with just a single strike and lasts as long as you can keep the meter full with kills.

The game has some strong points. For one, you have to give them credit for a pretty original game idea. The controls are pretty solid too. There's no learning curve with this game. As long as you can move and push a button, you've got this one down pat. The music is great too, for the most part. It adds an authentic western feel to everything.

Here's your chance to live out your dreams.

A little over a year ago, NC Soft released City of Heroes. The premise is simple: Paragon City fell to an alien invasion of the Rikti years ago. The city's heroes fought valiantly, with most dying in defense of their beloved home. Now the world needs a new generation of heroes, and that's where you come in. For the first time ever in an MMORPG (massive multi-player online role-playing game), you can create the superhero of your dreams and fight crime. The possibilities of how you do this are huge.

NC Soft is to be commended. They weren't afraid to think big, and with this game, everything is big. You start out by choosing a server to host your hero (there are 11 to choose from). Next you choose what type of hero you want to be. Each type has its strengths and weaknesses. You can be a blaster, with the ability to take down foes from long range. Maybe you want to be a scrapper and unleash your inner Wolverine. How about a controller, able to manipulate the minds of your enemies? Or become a Tanker and show the Hulk how it's supposed to be done. Some hero types are better suited for solo missions, while some are almost helpless without a team.

It's several years after the disaster at the Black Mesa complex, and scientist/actioneer Gordon wakes up (from what one can only assume is some sort of suspended animation) to find that he's needed once again. While he was gone (or asleep, or whatever), the human race was conquered by an alien species that has enslaved or subverted mankind. How and why this happened is for you to discover as the game progresses; but instead of bogging you down in plot developments and backstory, Half-Life 2 gives you what you want right off the bat: whip out that trusty crowbar, 'cause you're gonna need it.

Needless to say, with humanity conquered, the stakes have been raised for Gordon, who in the original fought to free a subterrainian military base from alien influence. Now he must find a way to save the world, while the mysterious GMan continues to watch his every move. Along the way, Gordon interacts with familiar characters from the original game, as well as Alyx, a major new character who pops up repeatedly to offer Gordon help (and a potential love interest). The technology used to make their character models more realistic is truly eye-popping. Their eyes actually dilate when they lock onto you.

The sword-and-sorcery genre is oversaturated with endless EverQuest clones, and until recently, the only other option was space-flight sims, which didn't appeal to me. So when the time came to try my first online game, I dipped a timid toe in the waters of The Sims Online. But I bore easily and more than anything else, I enjoy a game with a good story in it. And TSO offered nothing worth sticking around for in that department.

Then I managed to get picked as a beta tester (folks who get an early preview of an upcoming game, to help find bugs and work out the kinks before it's opened to the general public) on Uru Live. As an avid Myst fan, I was delighted by what I found there -- endless new realms to explore, puzzles to solve, and best of all, an ongoing storyline that continued the Myst mythology on a weekly basis. But Uru never garnered the minimum number of players needed to sustain it, and was shut down before it ever got started in earnest.

Maybe the third time's the charm. Once again a new online world piqued my interest, and this time it was one based on the world of The Matrix. Better yet, the designers of The Matrix Online didn't simply want to put you in the world of the movies, they set out with the intention to build nothing less than the entire Matrix itself. And once again, there's an ongoing storyline that not only continues the story of the film saga, its chief conceit is that the movie trilogy was merely backstory for what's to come. And as a "redpill" -- unplugged from the Matrix and aware of its true nature, yet still operating inside it -- you have the opportunity to help shape its future.