Sega's new NFL 2K is the type of game that makes a very, very good first impression. For starters, this is without a doubt the best-looking sport video game ever produced on any platform—hands down. Not only are the players more detailed and lifelike than in any other game we've seen, but they move fluidly and with such an impressive array of animations that it's sometimes hard to forget you're playing a game and not just watching one on TV. You can even see the breath of each player during cold-weather games—we—we're talking graphical realism here, make no mistake. But NFL 2K goes way beyond skin-deep. This is an excellent football game, with gameplay that's easy to pick up at novice level but hard to master as you increase the level of difficulty. The game's controls are the most intuitive of any we've seen, and the playcalling interface is simply the best that anyone has ever come up with for a football title. And just when you think it can't get any better, you discover features like the full-league fantasy draft, a tutorial mode, extensive game and season statistics, and excellent play and player creation options. Put simply, this game makes every other football game on every other platform look dated. Even the play-by-play and color commentary are better and more fluid than any we've seen elsewhere. If you have even a passing interest in football and are planning to pick up a Sega Dreamcast console, you owe it to yourself to get this game as well. It is the new standard by which all future football—and sports—games will be judged. —Michael Ryan

Featuring graphics that surpass even the amazing NFL 2K, Soul Caliburis the martial arts fighting game to end all fighting games and thegame to get if you're a Dreamcast owner. Based on the arcade classic of the same name, Soul Caliburlets you choose to represent one of 10 fighters in a series of battles against your peers. If you can successfully defeat all of your opponents, you will then face the fiendish Inferno in a final showdown that will determine the fate of the world. Each of the game's warriors is armed with a different deadly weapon—sword, ax, stave, nunchaku, you name it—and an assortment of special moves all tailored to that specific weapon. The warriors include men, women, and creatures from all over the globe and from various mythologies. Each is brought to life with amazing motion-capture animation, which results in incredibly lifelike and realistic duels. If you own a Dreamcast or are thinking of buying one, do yourself a favor and add Soul Caliburto your collection. —Mike Ryan

Pros:

• Exceptionally lifelike graphics and animation

• Multiple game modes—1-player, 2-player, team, computer vs. computer, martial arts demo, and more

• Secrets and extra features will keep players coming back

Cons:

• May be too violent for some parents

TrickStyleis one of the most stylishly pleasing games. And the Dreamcast version really pumps out the pixels with fluid animation that effortlessly follows the hoverboard riders along the tracks. One of the game's designers recently explained that the concept behind the game was for riders to find the path of least resistance, taking one graceful path down the track like "a drop of mercury." Great concept. But this drop met many a brick wall on its way to uncertain victory. The tracks in TrickStyleare not player-friendly, and neither are the computer-controlled opponents that act more like flawless robots than flesh-and-blood competitors.

Still, this game looks so darn cool, you can't resist playing it. The requisite tricks from snowboarding games are here, but this time they actually add important power-ups to your repertoire, favoring function over, dare we say, style. To save yourself the frustration of trying to consistently win races, you should enjoy this game by watching the screen while other more nimble or less leisure-time-deficient friends play. —Jeff Young

Pros:

• Jaw-dropping graphics and animation

• Functional board tricks

• Contemporary styling

Cons:

• Difficult racetracks

• Unrealistically skilled computer opponents

• Need to place first in order to progress

Most of us remember waging monumental battles and planning out complicated rescues with toy planes, boats, and such in our youth. Now you can do the same, virtually, in Sega's Toy Commander. The premise is straight from a six-year-old's dream: some of your toys have gone bad and are rampaging through eight rooms in your intricately detailed home. It's up to you to take command of the loyal toys and lead them through 50 individual missions to put a stop to the plastic menace.

The progressively more difficult missions, consisting of action sorties like rescuing toy steamboats from malicious submarines, or strategic ones like transporting eggs into a pot of boiling water, are anything but a tea party. All missions fit comfortably within the game's storyline and can be seriously challenging. The sense of scale, as you commandeer the game's 35 vehicles, is true to the look of an ordinary room to a tiny toy. Fun and offering a surprising amount of depth, Toy Commanderis a nostalgic, innovative, and entertaining romp. —Sajed Ahmed

Pros:

• 4-player split-screen death match mode, using any of the 35 vehicles in one of the eight rooms

• All the vehicles look and handle very differently, adding to the gameplay

• Impressive detail and interactivity in the game's environments

• Varied missions include warlike action, racing, and strategy elements

Cons:

• Tedious mission goals could prove frustrating

If you think it's hard to flag down a cab in a big city, try driving one in Sega's zany straight-from-the-arcade port of Crazy Taxi. If you're one of the teeming fans who eagerly played Crazy Taxiin the arcade at a buck a pop, then this game is a must-buy, if only from a purely economic standpoint. Even those who don't know the difference between Crazy Taxiand the long-running TV series Taxiwill immediately recognize the appeal of this game. In fact, this game is so impressive and addictive that it should easily convince a whole new wave of buyers to purchase a Sega Dreamcast.

What's so hot about Crazy Taxi? For starters, the graphics sport the most impressive re-creation of a living city ever seen in a video game. The level of detail is astounding and never ceases to surprise the player as block after unique block speeds by. The city is a distilled version of San Francisco with some landmarks and neighborhoods left intact. Making it seem all the more real are apparent product placements of real-world retail locations such as KFC, Tower Records, and Pizza Hut. And just about everything you see on the screen is interactive: boxes, phone booths, and mailboxes topple when bumped or smashed, pedestrians leap and tumble out of your path, and the myriad of traffic attempts to avoid your erratic high-speed antics. While some driving games brag about a lack of boundaries, this one delivers—players drive on the ocean floor, off the second floor of a parking garage, through parks, and down stairs. A helpful hovering arrow points drivers in the correct direction, but you can truly drive wherever you want at any time, making for tons of replay value.

While the game is a direct port from the arcade game of the same name, there's plenty more depth in the home version. In addition to the city that appears in the coin-op version, the Dreamcast version also includes an entirely new city. Crazy Taxiincludes a trunk-load of mini-games that help to teach drivers how to perform the special speed boosts and maneuvers in the game.

Though this game would be plenty exciting without any sounds at all, it has an adrenaline-pumping soundtrack supplied by punk crossover bands the Offspring and Bad Religion, as well as some good, if sometimes monotonous, dialogue between the driver and the passengers. —Jeff Young

Pros:

• Wonderful, realistic graphics

• Easy to get into, and full of many long hours of addictive play

• Even more to offer than the fantastic arcade game upon which this is based

Cons:

• On very few occasions players will encounter some graphic slowdown

When we first popped in Sega GT, we were a bit skeptical. It doesn't just resemble the layout of Gran Turismofor the PlayStation; it's almost identical to it, from earning licenses to having your own garage and stocking it with brand-name cars. But the more we played, the more we fell in love with Sega GT'ssilky graphics that speed along with only the slightest blurring at night. The scenery is so distracting that most players will have to remember to keep their eyes on the road.

Usually, racing games can get pretty tiring, but Sega GTwill hold most players, mainly because there are so many licenses you can earn from the auto manufacturers in the game, including Mazda, Suzuki, and other mostly Japanese auto makers. One of the coolest features here allows you to create a car from scratch and then see how it stacks up on the track—chances are your first design won't do well.

A little more reflection and other effects would have better integrated the cars with their surroundings, and some star-studded songs sure would have been preferable to the game's generic soundtrack. —Robb GuidoPros:

• Much more absorbing than the average racing game

• Slick graphics will make players drool

Cons:

• Generic soundtrack

To say that Shenmueis an anticipated title is an understatement; the game made huge waves in Japan upon its release, and American gamers have been waiting since then to see what the fuss is all about. It's a game in which the concept itself is the selling point. What if you could portray a young hero in a fully realized Japanese city? Would you like to participate in and influence an over-the-top kung fu-style action-mystery flick in your living room? What if lots of combat, cinematic flourish, detail, and a dash of romance were thrown in?

The game itself is awash in small details, crammed into a confined space. The city of Yokusuka circa 1986 is rendered beautifully in a short series of neighborhoods that are long on detail even if short on variety. The story itself is ripped straight from a chopsocky flick: you portray the young hero Ryo Hazuki, whose father (a kung fu sensei, naturally) is killed before his very eyes by a mysterious and frightening villain. Ryo must uncover the identity of the killer and fight his way through the city in an effort to avenge this wrongful death.

Shenmue's Yokusuka might be short on space—in total, it represents maybe a square mile—but the detail is overwhelming. You can interact with nearly every person or object that you see; 300 citizens go about their daily routines, and whom you encounter is as much determined by where you are as when you are there.

Much of this interaction involves combat that ranges from Dragon's Lair-style reaction tests (such as timing a button press to dodge an oncoming car) to freeform kung fu fighting. Further, each second of real time equals about a minute of game time, and Ryo has to be home by 11 p.m. each evening. The game moves at a brisk pace, and each challenge or battle feels like a race against time. Some might say that gaming doesn't get shallower than this (you are essentially performing tasks and exploring, instead of gaming), but the game feels like no other and is ultimately satisfying by the time that it all ends. In this way, Shenmueis more than a game—it—it's an event that's worth experiencing. —Andrew S. Bub

Pros:

• Compelling, well-told story

• Good action and combat

• Fantastic sound and graphics

Cons:

• Plot is familiar to fans of kung fu action films

• Task-and-exploration gameplay might seem slow to action gamers

Test Drive Le Mansis the official game of the internationally famous Le Mans auto race, which dates back to 1923. Players can select from among a series of Le Mans circuit tracks that wind through the Sarthe region of France, and choose from among over 40 cars that reach speeds approaching 200 mph. Also, race fans can compete in GT and prototype classes, and choose from officially licensed racing teams.

Along with distinct engine sounds, the cars also exhibit realistic engine conditions, so that racers need to factor a pit strategy into their racing. Lighting effects around the tracks mimic the race's 24-hour cycle from day to night to day. Precise road conditions and collision effects allow for realistic crashes, spinouts, and flips. The Le Mans mode allows players to compete in a 24-hour race, or compress it into 10-minute, 30-minute, one-hour, or six-hour modes. Up to four players can compete simultaneously via a split screen.

The original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was so close to perfection that the idea of dramatic improvements in the sequel seemed pretty far-fetched, but Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 offers so much more that it almost puts its predecessor to shame. The graphics are vastly improved, there are tons of new tricks to pull off, and the game has more secrets than the CIA. Even if you played the original to death, there's enough new stuff here to keep you occupied for months to come.

Pro Skater 2 is all about customization. You can still play as one of the real-world skaters represented in the game, such as Steve Caballero, Elissa Steamer, and Mr. Hawk himself, but the real fun comes from creating your own skater and rising up through the ranks. As you conquer the massive skate parks included in this release, you rack up cash to be spent on pumping up your stats or adding new tricks to your repertoire. You can specialize in verts, concentrate on your street skills, or take a more balanced approach, and the addition of manuals will let you string together tricks from either category to rack up some amazing scores. The custom options extend to a complete skate-park editor that is easy enough to use that we were creating basic arenas in less than 15 minutes. It's a thoughtful addition to one of the most purely entertaining games ever released. —T. Byrl Baker

Pros:Create-a-Skater option lets you decide on everything from the tricks you use to the shoes you wearEasy-to-use park editor allows for complex creationsBeautiful graphics and smooth animation make this one of the best-looking sports games on any platformCons:Getting the hang of manuals takes some time, but once you do, watch out