Short and simple: this book is riddled with errors, and the stuff that IS correct is horrifically explained. I got this as a remainder... now I know why there were so many available.

The best thing about this book is that it contains all of your favourites. This might seem obvious at 1,001 games, but you'd be surprised at how much more was excised from entries in this series dealing with older art forms like film and literature. Suffice it to say, it's a pleasant surprise to stumble across niche titles like Intelligent Qube or Stranglehold (both of which are definite must-plays in my book), and you'd be hard pressed to find any really noticeable oversights (although, as with any list of this nature, it's a game unto itself to moan about favourites that weren't included.)

Highlights:
Image-heavy, with lots of high quality screencaps for games dating back five decades.

Extremely well-written and accessible. Although compiled by professional games journalists, none of the profiles read like review copy; in only a few paragraphs, writers get across the essence of the game, why it made the list, and even the occasional anecdote or lesson in gaming history.

Faults:
This book is published in the UK and edited by Edge (UK) editor Tony Mott. This means that several game names are different (ever heard of Everybody's Golf?), and that an unfortunate amount of space is devoted to a title's unavailability in Europe, or to censorship that we never experienced this side of the Atlantic. I respect Edge, but it's still annoying that despite North America being the largest English-language consumer of video games, this book was clearly written for a British audience.

Unavailable games: On that same note, the book contains at least a handful of Japan and/or Europe-only games that never made it this far West. Sure, it's nice to see titles like Vib-Ribbon and Fatal Frame IV on the list, but it also leads to some frustrating moments when you discover some amazing recommendation was never actually sold here. Maybe one day we'll get a "Criterion"-like publisher for these lost classics.

The Sequel "Problem":
I don't really mind the abundance of sequels in this book. You could do worse than list four Call of Duties, nine Grand Theft Autos, and six Resident Evils.
What is annoying, however, are the non-essential games that are really just shadows of other/superior products. I can sort of understand the difference between Animal Crossing (unlockable NES games) and AC: Wild World (DS multiplayer), but what's the justification for FOUR Guitar Hero games? If any series has a "played one, played 'em all" vibe, this is it.

And just to play the game:
Endless Ocean: Blue World. Play it.
How can they include Afrika (a mediocre safari simulator), but omit the entire Arika deep sea diving library? Do yourself a favour: go out and buy one of the Wii Endless Ocean titles today. Enthralling stuff.

There are definitely some great episodes in here ("The Soup Nazi" being the obvious choice). But to me and I think other Seinfeld fans, Season 7 left a bad taste with the needless - and needlessly callous - killing off of George's fiancée Susan. It's difficult to go back and watch this now, knowing that all the great comedy is building up to one of the all-time worst Jumped Sharks in TV history. I figure there are others who disagree (hopefully very few who liked Susan's death), but either way fans should be wary that this is the season where Seinfeld turned Mean with a capital M.

I cannot underscore this enough:
If you bought a Wii expecting to swing that Wiimote like a sword, THIS is your game. While it's a bit of a scam that it took the release of this "Motion Plus" peripheral (at an added cost to the consumer) to justify those Nintendo promises, at least it's finally here. (And, incidentally, new Wii consoles come with the Plus built in, so if you have one of those, just head on over to Red Steel 2 and grab the disc only.)

Either way, here's the deal:
Garbage non-story aside, you play as a ninja/gunslinger with wicked awesome shooting and sword slinging abilities, all handled at absolute 1:1 response to your real world movements. Guy standing behind you? Do a no-look jab of the Wiimote behind you to stab him in the stomach, like in the movies. Want to finish a weakened enemy off? Slash him with a thrust, then aim your trigger at his face for an up-close kill.

*There's no blood in the game, but lots of graphic violence otherwise.

Any issues? As mentioned, the story is laughably non-existent, but that's about it. If this technology and excellent game design were combined with a legitimate story-telling experience, RS3 could be the best on the system. As it stands, it's still the most fun you'll have with a Wiimote in quite some time.

S&P, for those who don't know, is the long-awaited sequel to a Japan-only "rail shooter" released way back on the Nintendo 64.

The game is a rail shooter, which means that your character is constantly moving forward in the level, with your control input limited to up/down/left/right to avoid enemies, and of course the fire button.

What makes this so much fun is the great level design, over-the-top amounts of enemies, and general "coolness" of fighting through swaths of enemies using your laser and sword. Games like these by nature are extraordinarily difficult to start, and require practise and patience to see through. Thus, not for kids but great for teen/older gamers.

One complaint: while the game promises two player support, the second player is limited to the role of supporting fire; his/her character does not even appear on screen so all the player gets to do is hold the fire button down while Player 1 gets all the action. So... take turns if you're playing co-operatively.

Preface: I liked the game, but I have some complaints I want to address here in warning to the rest of you:

Oddly, my biggest complaint for this, a Disney brand video game, is just how dark it is. The game DOES have your typical Disney happy ending (well, unless you blow all side missions, in which case it's actually possible to get a lot of depressing endings for those side missions/characters), but my main issue is just aesthetically how dark it is. I understand the intent of creating a dark anti-Disneyworld, but it just gets unpleasant straining to see through all the dark vistas and black/purple colour schemes. Nothing really comes alive the way Disney should.

Secondly, it's quite repetitive. For some absurd reason (I think laziness) the designers didn't design more than a few types of items you have to collect on missions. So people are ALWAYS losing books. Everyone randomly has "Power Sparks" to hand over. And that's about it.

Thirdly, the lack of voice acting is inexcusable! The director (Warren Spector) has excused this elsewhere with a lame combination of "Silent cartoon stars" and "Mickey doesn't sound like a hero," but it's total balderdash. Mickey is obviously the heroic type, as evidenced not only by the game itself but by the myriad references to his past successes found within. And if they were concerned about Oswald the Lucky Silent Rabbit getting a voice, an imaginative game designer might have found a funny way to have him be the only silent character in the game.

Complaints aside, it IS fun to play as Mickey in a quite good platformer, and the Disney nods found all over the place are good for a chuckle. Too bad more effort wasn't put into the game though.

K, I might be in the minority here, and I have to preface this by saying that this is not my genre, but I got this album as a present because I liked Torn. And I discovered that she has a lot ofther good songs. Big Mistake, Leave Me Alone, Wishing, Don't You Think, all are really catchy alt/pop. The rest are pretty good too, IMHO. I know people only come to this because of Torn, but I'm promising that she has plenty of other catchy songs on the album.

While MGS basically reinvented video games (mix of third person/first person, stealth moves, breaking the fourth wall, cutscenes, movie storyline, philosophical, ridiculous amount of secrets, easter eggs, joke, unlockables) this improves on the original.

Amazing plot.

Unbelievable graphics.

Really cool things to do. (Try interrogating every officer, and you'll see how many little tricks there are)

One of the coolest /scariest boss battles ever.

Brilliant story (although it's better if you've played #1, and especially #2)

Replayable forever.

You must buy this game / trilogy.