I rented Gears of War fully with the intention of reviewing the game for the site, but after reading a number of reviews about the game, I decided I would not. It seemed I would have the one dissenting opinion among so many, and feared ridicule.

It's not usually in my blood to shy away from controversy, in fact, I usually revel in it. But I felt, I was too inexperienced to write such a review, feeling I must be missing something that the veteran writers had seen and embraced.

But the review I read this morning, in January's Electronic Gaming Monthly, put me over the edge. Reading Shoe, the editor-in-chief, and two other writers gush over Cliffy B's creation was enough to make me physically ill. Don't read anything into this: I love Cliffy B.'s stuff. Hell, I still play Unreal Tournament (the original)! But this literal masturbation guised as a review coupled with the realization that I was not the only person who felt this way, and I knew I had to write this review.

This is a long over due Retro Review. I hadn't really even thought about the retro review, until the other day a friend of mine loaned me his copy of Taito Legends for the Xbox (it will not run on the Xbox 360).

The collection of games includes a number of arcade classics I remember from my childhood. There are twenty-nine games in all including one of my all time favorites, Space Invaders.

Both Activision, with its recent acquisition of Red Octane, and MTV, with its purchase of Harmonix, have certainly made wise investments. The product of this quartet is one hell of a fun game, Guitar Hero II.

Warning: If you are not a fan of the television program, Family Guy, you needn't read any further. This game is not for you. Now, if you have not seen the show, I highly suggest watching the next episode, then go pick up this game for your PSP, PS2 or Xbox system. Let me start by saying, High Voltage Games has done an excellent job producing a game that plays like watching an episode of Family Guy. Everything about this game is done well, but fell just a bit short of great.

The people at Globz.com make some good games. Several of which I manage to find time to play each week. Here are a few of my favorite puzzle games from them.

Mozaik - Spin the blocks to match the pattern shown. Sound easy enough? Well add in the fact that you have a limited number of moves and eventually the game is somewhat challenging. After breezing through the first several levels of the game I found myself slowing down and needing to think through the logical progression of movements. It's got 15 levels of thought-provoking fun with no sound in the game. Perfect for those covert slack-off times at work.

Today's Flash Game of the Week is a game I have been playing off and on when I have some time to kill. It's a fun little game called Fancy Pants Adventures and it's good fun.