In a word: fun. In a few more: exactly as fun as you expect it to be.

I've already said this - but Brawl is, more or less, the same game you already know as SSB Melee. The depth of the game, mechanically, hasn't changed. What Brawl brings to the table is breadth. And, it could be said that it does so in an amount that makes it comparable to depth; the wealth of new items and stage gimmicks, and new characters with unique movesets, makes the game slightly more complicated than before. (It seems more fast-paced, anyway.)

But, by and large, you're already familiar with what Brawl has to offer; not because you've been reading about the game on the Dojo, but because you've already played it. In fact, having tried three of the four possible controller options somewhat extensively (I don't have a Classic on-hand), an old Wavebird still seems like the best choice. The fact that the Wii remote's IR pointer just plain doesn't work on the in-game menus are the clearest indication of this. They didn't want to make a new game. They made an old game, better. Given the solidarity of their existing formula, I wouldn't call this a bad thing.

It's certainly not going to revolutionize anything in terms of gameplay. It might revolutionize what we, as game consumers, expect from big-ticket productions. The number of modes and unlockables in this game is beyond the scope of 'monumental.' It is outright, downright, stupidly massive. I really don't know if I can get all the trophies this time. I might die trying.

Progress: Falcon Punch!

I'm a huge fan of Phoenix Wright, so up and replacing him with a totally new protagonist put me in a very cautious position for Apollo Justice. But I have to say - the first case impressed the hell out of me. Not only was it the most thrilling Case 1 yet (yes, more than that one), it had the same kind of tension that the previous games didn't get to until near the end.

Apollo Justice as a character is actually remarkably similar to Phoenix in his own titles, so the game has, more or less, stayed true to its roots while adding a new cast (and keeping some of the old, too). Seeing as the characters are arguably the best part of the series, this is definitely a good thing. This game's supporting characters are particularly interesting, in terms of both their personalities, and their questionable pasts.

It's easy to see that this is the first in the Ace Attorney series developed to really take advantage of the DS hardware - though the game plays out the same as before, the difference in presentation quality is drastic. Super-cool animated scenes at the start of the chapter. Three-dimensional pans through crime scenes. Bright and detailed character animations. Evidence and investigation tools like the ones introduced in the first game's bonus case. And though the soundtrack is from a new composer, it somehow retains the Ace Attorney "feel," and guides the mood of the game from curious mystery through intense courtroom drama.

After completing the first case, and starting the second (the manual says there are four), it's apparent that this game, somewhat like Trials and Tribulations, has a much larger story that it's begging to tell. And what Brad said about loose ends is spot on - I know that they're building up to something, and can't wait to figure out what.

Progress: Case 2, Trial part 1

Progress: Gave Up -- Level 16, defeated Dugog

I needed something to do during travel- and down-time for GDC last week, and I had never gotten around to trying Puzzle Quest before. I love stat-building RPGs; I love puzzle games. Unfortunately, what Puzzle Quest taught me is that if you put a half-assed puzzle game together with a half-assed RPG, all you get is a full ass.

The RPG component of the game isn't "bad," per se, just very uninteresting. Level-ups are very far between. The equipment system is scant and shallow. The story is dreadfully boring. Extra character-building stuff - party members, mounts, captured creatures, et al - are implemented well, but just couldn't get me revved up.

The puzzle engine is where I take serious issue. It's a two player, turn-based puzzle game with a shared field, and you move by swapping two adjacent pieces. Here's the problem: you can only swap pieces if they lead to a three-or-more match. You can't set up forward-looking strategy, unless it happens to coincide with a match you can make right then. You can't even pass, unless you have enough mana to do so in the form of casting a turn-taking spell. Which means that if the only move you can make puts the tiles in a position to let your opponent pound you, you have no choice but to take it. And it really seems like the blocks that fall down when you make a clear almost invariably favor the AI. Most of the time I'm looking for plays not to my own benefit, but to my opponent's detriment.

I really like the concept of the game, but it's executed very poorly. On my flight back north I couldn't find my stylus and, frankly, I wasn't too upset. There was a talk at GDC from the people behind Puzzle Quest, about how they combined 'casual' and 'hardcore' gaming interests; but no part of this game is terribly interesting to me.

Progress: Level 15

Progress: Rank 1 (Mild), all 150 trading cards

After being spoiled by No More Heroes, it's just really hard to get back into God Hand - everything this game does, NMH does better (plus other stuff). I would like to come back to it, at some point, ... again.

Progress: Gave Up -- Stage 2: Human Fireworks = PARTY!

Progress: Finished all 135 (not 150!) puzzles

In a word: disappointed. I went to Professor Layton expecting brain-bending puzzles, and a mystery to unravel - but the box says "brainteasers," and in the end, that's all he gave me.

The game's puzzles are not what a veteran puzzle gamer will be anticipating. They are more the stuff of newsprint, or Highlights magazine. They tease the brain; that's all. Of the game's 150 puzzles, a substantial amount are trick questions. They may encourage thinking outside the box, but, by the nature of their answers, are still contained within an only slightly larger box. There are some puzzles that must be worked through methodically, some logical questions, and some math puzzles, even. But on the whole there is a depressing amount of "riddles" in the game.

The story, too, is something of a let-down. It's a mystery, but the player has no part in solving it: progression is strictly linear. Said mystery is ... interesting, at least, but not terribly compelling.

The presentation is very good, especially the magnificent animated sequences, with fairly nice voice-overs.

Maybe I'm being too hard on it. This is not a game "for me" - if I had to guess its intended audience, I would say it's a younger crowd, the kind who doesn't mind losing some "picarats" (points) for stumbling with a puzzle, the kind who enjoys thinking about a question without necessarily arriving at the answer on his own.

Though I intend to finish the rest of the game's puzzles, since I have most of them already; for me, this game is just a tease. Which is not to say it's all bad. I had no trouble tolerating the game, or enjoying its finer moments - but my appreciation for it is leagues away from Picross or Phoenix Wright.

Progress: Finished story, 114 puzzles compete

After something of a hiatus, I came back to Drawn to Life to see if maybe I just didn't get it. Suffering through a terribly boring platforming stage was enough to convince me I still don't. And then there was story crap going on in the town!... I don't think I've ever played a game that felt so much like a chore. Everything is insipidly easy, but takes way too long, and is infested with sickeningly cute characters and just plain sickening music. Platforming formula basics like jumping and the viewport are handled poorly, and the level design is really no more than a lengthy sequence of 20-year-old platform constructs.

I'll say it again - if you just want to doodle, this might be your cup of tea, but I hesitate to call this a "game" in any real capacity.

Progress: Gave Up -- Finished snow world (still 100%)

I haven't started the game up yet, but the manual offers some interesting tidbits:

• The game's "puzzle master" (the designer of all the game's puzzles), Akira Tago, is a professor emeritus at Chiba University, and a best-selling puzzle book author in Japan
• Professor Layton's hotel room can be feng shui-ed with items you earn in the game, and when his Happiness meter fills up, "something good will happen!"
• New puzzles can be downloaded weekly from Nintendo WFC
• There is a secret in the game that can only be unlocked with a password from the sequel's manual

Awesome!