My mind was instantly changed.

Halo is not just another video game, it's more of an experience that on higher difficulty levels, you don't just play, you survive. The story is well-planned and well-paced, the weapons are oh-so-cool, the digital surround sound helps to hear behind you (online challengers don't stand a chance), the music is stirring and epic, and the graphics are simply jaw-dropping. Nothing I've played in the past year has put these essential components together quite like Bungie Studios has with Halo. Single player missions are a blast, and you actually feel like you are a super-soldier fighting an alien menace on a strange artificial ring-world in the middle of who-knows-where. But playing by yourself misses the thrill of this game completely.

Anyone with broadband access can use GameSpy Arcade, download the necessary components, cheaply purchase extra equipment, and go online to show the world what you are made of. Multiplayer separates the kids from the adults more than any other console game I have EVER played. To survive, you must be strategic, yet ruthless. You must know the levels, know how to hide, know how to shoot accurately, and know how to move effectively. Once you take some time to master these skills, you feel like you've accomplished something great...

Oh, and if you have friends with copies of Halo, use the biggest room you have to link up 4 XBoxes for 16-player deathmatches (the one catch, every 'Box has to have its own TV). Trust me, nothing brings friends together like 8-on-8 Team Combat.

Description: Spidey takes to the New York skies once again in this very loose psuedo-adaption of the movie. Become a hero, assist citizens, and fight super villians. In this free dwelling New York landscape that is anything but linear. You could explore the city for hours and still find new things. Descend skyscapers and take pictures, bust up car jackers, visit the statue of liberty, and even rescue the occasional child's balloon. There is so much to do.

Platform: Xbox (reviewed), PS2, and GC

Learning Curve: 8- Expect to invest alot of time learning how to manuver Spidey. About everything on this game is timed and as such you need to move FAST and you have to keep up with your wall crawler. You almost have to get Spidey to be an extension of yourself. Expect to spend about 5 hours (unless your quicker to catch on than me) to get the mid-grade understanding on getting the most out of Spidey's locomotion. Once you get this stage of learning through. Spidey is easy to control and he is VERY versatile. I think players will enjoy all the possibilities with this kind of control.

Replay Value: 9- There is sooo much to do in this game it would literally take months to do it all. The city is HUGE!!! There are also a ton of rewards you can work for and lots to time trails scattered throughout the city. You gotta be really fast and have spider reflexes to do some of these fun challenges. Excellant indeed.

Difficulty: 7- I am only guess on this one as I'm about about half way through the game, but so far this seems a fair assumption. The game does seem "hard," but I think it will be defeatable to most decently experienced players. The bosses can be hard, but I think once you've gotten Spidey's higher locomotion functions down they should prove to be no problem.

If you've ever played a pen-and-paper RPG, you'll have an inkling about the possibilities in this game. Your character can be whomever, whatever, however you'd like him/her to be. There are four human races alone, as well as a feline race, a reptilian race, orc, and three elven races. There are dozens of character classes, including BattleMage, Assassin, Monk, Rogue, Scout, Barbarian, and Witchhunter, and a bunch more; but the best part is that you can create your OWN custom character class with its own assorted disciplines! There are also a ton of possibilities for the appearance of each gender of each race.

Once your character has been designed and you get out of the Customs Office, you are immersed in a HUGE, complex world of alliances, rivalries, and politics. You can join a number of different organizations and affiliations, make friends or enemies everywhere.

The fighting in this game is cool, easy when you're fighting single little creatures like cave rats, but challenging when you're fighting talented folks in armor while trying to cast spells and read scrolls while hacking, slashing, and blocking. And multiple humanoid enemies in armor will realistically kick your butt, unless you've been around a long time and improved your fighting abilities.

This is perhaps the best thing about this game; your advancement is not based on "XP", some accumulation of wealth and creatures killed. It is realistic; the more you practice something, the better you get at it.