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Forget about slogging through fifteen budget war titles that score a 6.0--we're bringing you the very best and worst games to hit the internet this week.

Welcome to the Week in Reviews! We here at Games.Net pride ourselves in bringing you the best from around the net, and the Week in Reviews should serve as your one-stop-shop for review roundups from the web's biggest sites. Forget about slogging through fifteen budget war titles that score a 6.0--we're bringing you the very best and worst games to hit the internet this week. While many sites saw fewer reviews hit this week, with editors returning from vaycay and companies having shot their wad to hit the Black Friday target, there were still some notable review developments this week, presented below.

Games.Net's WIRE-- 11/27 to 12/1 Week in Reviews.

Heroes die a pitiful death.

This past week saw two iconic characters get panned across the board--one from the world of comics, and one homegrown gaming hero. Superman saw release on every major platform with Superman Returns, the Videogame and fell flat on his face on each one. The title had been delayed from coinciding with the movie's theatrical premiere and as the GameSpot review astutely pointed out, it had to drop with the Man of Steel's many DVD releases or never ship at all. Could it be worse than the beacon of bad games, Superman 64? It's terribly close right now--emphasis on terrible. Actually, Superman Returns has twice the N64 version's score, but doubling crap doesn't make the smell any better.

Whereas Superman has had a long pedigree of gaming futility, Sonic the Hedgehog has been on a steady decline since he made the transition to the third dimension. The series has truly reached its nadir with the latest iteration on the Xbox 360. Garnering the lowest review scores for just about any Sonic title (board-game based or not) Sonic is being even further decried for its lack of innovation in its jump to a new console generation. Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire for the PS3 may be a virtual lock for worst game of the year, but these two failed with a massive amount of hype surrounding them. Is it time to stick a fork in both franchises?

Virtual console reviews, go!

When the Xbox 360 released and its Xbox Live Arcade titles picked up steam, some gaming sites jumped on the review train quite quickly, while others took their time, and some have yet to make the plunge. While the titles have almost no marketing value for most review outlets (they're only sold via the system's infrastructure), most kowtowed when they realized the new games were good, the updated games had significant addition, and that people were paying attention. Now, sites are facing a similar quandary with the virtual console. GameSpot bit first, including Virtual Console reviews with the launch titles, while IGN is following with VC reviews starting this week. This begs the question--are Virtual Console titles worth reviewing? The titles are almost complete clones of their original versions, with slight control and hardware differences. Is it akin to asking a PC gaming site to re-review titles when Windows Vista launches? Since many of these games were released before these website's heydays (and they're garnering some notable reviews across the board--see below), they're probably worthy of being written about, but it's worth seeing if the coverage will keep up when the VC titles start flowing.

The second spurt of Wii stinks.

After a downright decent showing at launch, the few reviews that have trickled out since the Wii has become available have tarnished the console's launch slate but good. Most of these awful games like Monster 4X4: World Circuit and Avatar: The Last Airbender were available at launch, but their lack of hype may have been a factor in their delayed ratings. Of course, you could always play the "makes Nintendo look better card", but that wouldn't be prudent, because we all know that the PS3's Mobile Suit Gundam game had to be rated right away. Yeah, that's right, I said it!

You want the cold hard facts? Here are the review stats for the week of November 27 to December 1.

1UP-
Highest Score: 6.5/10 for Pocket Bike Racer (Xbox)--not a great week for gaming, if you couldn't tell.)
Lowest Score: 5.0/10, tied between Singstar Rocks (PS2), Reservoir Dogs (PS2, Xbox, and PC) and Sneak King (Xbox)

IGN-
Highest Score: 8.3 for Bomberman '93 (Wii virtual console)
Lowest Score:: 2.0 for Dave Mirra BMX Challenge (PSP)

GamePro-
Highest Score: 4.5/5 for Medieval II: Total War (PC)
Lowest Score: 3.0/5, tied between Avatar: The Last Airbender (DS) and Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom (PS3)

Game Revolution-
Highest Score: B- Tied between ATV Offroad Fury 4, Thrillville, Star Trek: Tactical Assault, and Viva Pinata Lowest Score: F for Left Behind: Eternal Forces (PC)

GameSpot-
Highest Score: 8.2/10 for Call of Duty 3 (PS2, Xbox)
Lowest Score: 2.2/10 Soccer (Wii Virtual Console)

GameSpy-
Highest Score: 4.5/5 tied between SEGA Genesis Collection (PSP) and Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation (GBA)
Lowest Score: 1.5/5 for Xiaolin Showdown (PSP, PS2, and Xbox)

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