I'm riding the MGS fanwagon, sure.

This is mostly a documentary DVD, some short films about the making of Metal Gear Solid 2. Being a big fan of the game, I definitely found the stuff interesting - like the hilarious footage of Kojima and Co. being instructed on how real soldiers clear a room. But, this being a pretty rare concept, I thought it was important to buy it so as to show support for future video game documentaries and explorations. (They're doing a similar DVD as a pre-order bonus for the re-release of Metal Gear Solid 3.)

There's some actual gameplay here, just some sample levels of the VR Mission ilk, but nothing I really glommed onto. Nope, this was a passive purchase. I'm anticipating this will be even more interesting to watch years from now, as video games develop: Imagine watching a "behind the scenes" special about the making of Super Mario Brothers today.

Memory Score: The countermonkey felt he had to warn me that this wasn't a game. Dude.

With PaRappa stuttering, Lara Croft an embarrassment, and Crash Bandicoot hitting the skids, Sony needed some fresh blood. In the fall of 2002, they unveiled three brand new character-driven games, all destined to become major franchises for the PS2. They were Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and Sly Cooper.

Sly is easily the least popular of the three, but probably my favorite.

When you compare Sly 1 to Ratchet 1, it's no contest: Sly 1 is so much more memorable. (Move on to game #2 and the gap narrows, because Sly starts to dilute itself while Ratchet piles on the flavor.) Sly's platforming acrobatics were a joy to play, and the art direction was second-to-none. I still have happy flashbacks to that one level that looped around itself as you scaled the exteriors of several interconnected buildings. The game looks great and plays great.

Unfortunately, it was kinda short; it definitely left me wanting more. The sequel came out two years later and - gasp - forced you to play other characters beside Sly, which really killed it for me. Once you've gone Sly, you don't want to waste time with anybody else.

Memory Score: If you're still into games where you collect stuff, this is the one to get.

This is a real disappointment. Here's a game where they did all this great work figuring out how to replicate Superman's powers, mapped all sorts of fun abilities all over the Dual Shock, mastered the transition between walking and hovering and flying... and then phoned in a four hour game. Seriously. Four hours.

OK, there's some technical weaknesses. A thin plot, lousy dialogue, and a graphic look that is intended to be streamlined but just looks unfinished. But the controls for Superman himself are begging to be in a fun, complete game. It is fun to fly him around, it's fun to use heat vision and x-ray vision, etc. You just aren't given much game to do it in.

The dealbreaker is that you spend all this time following a trail of "high tech" weaponry that is showing up in Metropolis, you figure out that it is Apokolips tech, you realize (duh) that Luthor is behind it... and then the game takes you to a Stryker's Island breakout where you fight Livewire, Parasite and Metallo... none of whom have anything to do with Darkseid and Luthor. And then credits roll. No confrontation with Luthor, no Boom Tube to Apokolips to toss Parademons into Darkseid's ugly face. Credits. What a super-letdown.

Memory Score: Next time, let's get Superman all the way to Apokolips.

Hack and slash movie license game. Not really much to talk about here. It's one of those games where you have all these dopey combo moves you're supposed to learn, but simply hammering the X button works just as well.

It looked okay. Did some cute tricks dissolving from movie footage (which wasn't out yet) to game footage. Actually started out with a fair amount of levels based on Fellowship of the Ring, since all the Fellowship video games sucked. You got kind of a sneak peek at the movie's Ents near the middle of the game, although they're only seen in shadow.

Perhaps the neatest bit is how they treated the game almost like a DVD, with unlockable celebrity interviews and art galleries.

Memory Score: Can you believe there's no multiplayer mode?

Next week: a lombax, my PS2 goes online, very little offroad fury, and the series that can't miss adds motorcycles. Motorcycles!