Grr! It's time to update the ShackReviews database. This week we've got five new games, including the spiritual successor to X-COM and one of those Sims-like games my wife likes so much. As usual, if there's a game you want to review but don't see in the database, check first and then submit it! (And don't blame me if a game you never submitted isn't added!)

• Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (PC)
• UFO: Aftermath (PC)
• Space Colony (PC)
• NBA Live 2004 (GC, PS2, Xbox)
• Jak II (PS2)
• Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes (Xbox)

I've had a busy week here at the loonybin, but I always make time for gaming, and that time was spent pretty much equally between Ikaruga (which is amazing, but I'm still stuck on that fourth level) and the original Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Time hasn't been particularly good to Blood Omen, but I'm sticking with it anyway because the story and surrounding mythology is so good that it's worth it. But it's really been tough to stick with...the interface is absolutely atrocious, the gameplay a bit on the slow side, and there are loading screens every other minute. Since I have sworn off buying any games until next year (see here) I'll have plenty of time to play this and all the other games that have landed on my overflowing stack, the most recent of which is Max Payne 2, which I think I'll leap into as soon as I've polished off Kain.