Play to win

Pirates of the Caribbean
PS2
Bethesda Softworks **
The Good
Johnny Depp provides Captain Jack Sparrow’s voice; makes clever use of jack’s rose-tinted memory.

The Bad
Swordplay is sloppy, repetitive; enemies don’t put up much of a fight; visuals look dated.
The Verdict
The Legend of Jack Sparrow is a pretty standard hack-and-slash action game that doesn’t deliver on much of the stumblingly bombastic charm of its title character.

World Tour Soccer 06
PS2
Sony ***
The Good
Easy to pick up and play; fully licensed international teams; points system encourages accurate play; new multi-player modes including online; decent music and in-game commentary.
The Bad
No club teams; graphically rough round the edges; lacks traditional league and cup modes; long load times.     
The Verdict
World Tour Soccer returns for a second season, with the same skill-based reward system but new wireless Internet play.

Micro Machines V4
PS2
Codemasters **
The Good
750 cars to collect; some of the tracks are cleverly designed.
The Bad
The camera angle makes it impossible to tell where you’re going most of the time; generic, uninteresting vehicles; very little room for error in the challenges.   
The Verdict
The novelty of racing teeny, tiny cars is more than a little bit stale, and so is Micro Machines V4.

Titan Quest
PC
THQ ****
The Good
Lengthy single-player campaign; co-operative play is seamlessly integrated; includes powerful toolset for creating custom quests; great sense of scale.
The Bad
Gameplay can be overly familiar; inventory system is cumbersome; frame rate can be choppy, even at lower settings; voice acting often doesn’t sound right.   
The Verdict
With its lengthy single-player campaign, well-integrated multiplayer, and full-featured level editor, Titan Quest is a robust package that nonetheless feels all too familiar.