The legacy at hand offers only frustration and disappointment. They made it so. [Apr 2007, p.62]

But the problems with Eragon the game have nothing too do with the source material and everything to do with its dull and overly rigid gameplay. [Mar 2007, p.75]

It's hard to imagine for whom this game was made. It's certainly not for gamers. And it's even more certainly not for nongamers, who are going to be entirely confounded. [Feb. 2007, p.68]

Put aside the dated mechanics and grossly clumsy interface, and you're still left with a fairly half-assed port of a Playstation 2 game, barely gussied up for the big show. [Mar 2007, p.66]

In Reservoir Dogs, the game, you might as well be seeing " The Max Fisher Players Present Reservoir Dogs," but minus the charm, and with a bad shooter/driving game as the price of admission. [Jan. 2007, p.69]

When the core gameplay is lacking, any variation on "blah" comes out as "bleh." [Jan. 2007 p.52]

It's designed for people to whom the prospect of merely taking off from LaGuardia and landing at O'Hare is exciting. [Jan. 2007, p.66]

Just say no to half-assed porting, folks. [Mar 2007, p.69]

If it sounds a little like that other everyday-life game, "The Sims", that's because it is. But only a little. Both games are about your character's struggle to get ahead in the world, but The Guild 2 makes it a struggle for you as well. [Jan. 2007, p.70]

Until things change, this series is treading water, and it's a tough sell at $40. [Jan. 2007, p.53]

Not even the most jaded gamers are this desperate. [Jan. 2007, p.71]

Archlord is nothing but a grind, one with very few players. [Mar 2007, p.63]

There just isn't enough new here to make FIFA 07 a worthwhile purchase. [Jan. 2007, p.63]

Whether you want--or need--to play all of these in the same game remains a question that Pacific Storm is unable to answer. [Jan. 2007, p.65]

It's a bullet-ballet rail ride with decent graphics, passable physics, horrible character animation, and an uninteresting world. [Feb. 2007, p.69]

But, for various reasons, Paraworld doesn’t hold up next to the latest RTS games. It’s a bit like one of its own dinosaurs. [Dec. 2006, p.76]

One final warning to keep you from you buying this game: The sound effect you hear when you gulp a potion is a squeak akin to fingernails scraping a chalkboard or the running of unoiled machinery. [Jan. 2007 p.62]

It may be time for EA Sports to do what it did with its old "Triple Play" series: Scrap the whole thing and start over. [Jan. 2007. p.67]

In its present state, however, playing it is about as enjoyable as walking the plank in shark-infested waters. [Nov. 2006, p.72]

Whatever you call it, it's guilty of one thing: not being funny. In fact, it's offensively unfunny. [Dec. 2006, p.70]

The inevitable galaxy of patches to come will surely help, but for now, the vacuum abides. [Nov. 2006, p.82]

It's good for about twenty minutes before it becomes a dull grind and you realize you're basically playing a tech demo ffor a game yet to be created. [Oct. 2006, p.81]

It’s an overly straightforward and dull simulation with enough downtime for you to ponder the greater fun you’ll be having playing “Railroads!” in a couple of months. [Dec. 2006, p.78]

If you can suffer through to its conclusion, you’re truly a brave person. [Dec. 2006, p.80]

As tedious and redundant as "Dead Man's Chest", this cash-in distills the whole appeal of the original "Pirates of the Caribbean" into simple, repetitive, and boring button-mashing combat. [Oct. 2006, p.80]

Playing with toy cars should be a lot more entertaining than this. [Oct. 2006, p.77]

The whole thing plays out like some budgetware "Turn-Based Combat RPG for Dummies". [Oct. 2006, p.80]

The most egregious crime is the game's interface. It's a monstrosity of a design, one full of unnecessary busywork. [Oct. 2006, p.69]

Unfortunately, in the few sad stabs it takes at being its own thing, Field Commander misses the point. [Sept. 2006, p.81]

But in the end, it doesn't serve gamers, not even the extremely forgiving cadre of adventure game fans. [Sept. 2006, p.63]

There's virtually no effort made to adapt the controls to a PC, so make sure you've got a gamepad handy. Although the far better alternative is to just have a better game handy. [Oct. 2006, p.75]

Given the charm, elegance, and imigination of designer Benoit Sokal's best-known work, "Syberia", it is a crushing disappointment that these qualities are almost entirely absent from Paradise. [Sept. 2006, p.58]

Don't be fooled: Your score is not an accurate measurement of intelligence. But whether you buy this game is. [July 2006, p.91]

Commandos: Strike force tries to shoehorn these series hallmarks into a first-person shooter but fails on nearly every level. [July 2006, p.57]

But there's just too little substance to recommend this to anyone but the "gotta catch 'em all" motorcycle nut. [July 2006, p.87]

Do yourself a favor and forget this Keepsake. [Sept. 2006, p.76]

Not even Hitler's plan to fight the war on two fronts was this painfully ill-advised. [July 2006, p.63]

The whole thing is an embarrassing reminder that there are still plenty of people making, publishing, and buying games who have a lot of growing up to do. [July 2006, p.93]

But an obtuse and under-documented strategic layer with a bad interface can only get you so far when it comes to recycling the same Dynasty Warrior game yet again. [July 2006, p.93]

But an obtuse and under-documented strategic layer with a bad interface can only get you so far when it comes to recycling the same Dynasty Warrior game yet again. [July 2006, p.93]

Toss in s shoddy padlock system that provides dramatic views of your plane but tends to throw off your aim completely, and you end up with an arcade game that's more difficult to play than a full-blown simulation. [July 2006, p.63]

Divided Nation is a step backward. It's a journey to the past in more ways than one, and not an interesting trip at all. [Oct. 2006, p.73]

At least the soundtrack is cool. [July 2006, p.66]

Despite the lack of satire and occasional lack of sense, the game is mostly playable. However, the interface and the odd bugs make it a chore. [July 2006, p.65]

Crime Stories is merely tragic, a paranormal murder mystery whose downfall is its over-enthusiam. [Oct. 2006, p.72]

Controls are so poor that Sam might as well be fighting the forces of evil blindfolded. [July 2006, p.92]

In Daxter, you get great graphics and not much else. [Jun 2006, p.91]

Unfortunately, getting there is a dull journey full of leaden exposition, mouse hovering and clicking, and inventory manipulation. [July 2006, p.67]

Black may not be terrible, but it's repetitive and mundane. [May 2006, p.89]

Street Supremacy's visuals are as drab as the gameplay, and they are further marred by technical glitches. [Jun 2006, p.93]

Black may not be terrible, but it's repetitive and mundane. [May 2006, p.89]

As an urban sandbox, Tycoon City: New York is passable. As a strategy game, it's the dumbest deal since that urban legend about the Indians selling Manhattan to the Dutch. [July 2006, p.61]

But this isn't so much a racing game as a slapdash splash of smeared color that never quite captures the feeling of hurtling down a track. [Jun 2006, p.92]

You buy the potions and upgrade your skills and weapons in order to keep winning the chip wars, the Sisyphean point of which is to afford superior preparations for the next war, and so on. [Jun 2006, p.83]

But this isn't so much a racing game as a slapdash splash of smeared color that never quite captures the feeling of hurtling down a track. [Jun 2006, p.92]

But this isn't so much a racing game as a slapdash splash of smeared color that never quite captures the feeling of hurtling down a track. [Jun 2006, p.92]

Basically, there are just enough tactical elements in Lockdown to ruin it as an action-oriented shooter, and just enough action elements to ruin it as a tactical shooter. [May 2006, p.50]

Flaws like this keep State of Emergency 2 from being anything more than a straightforward third-person shooting gallery. [Jun 2006, p.92]

Imagine a WWII tank game with lots of pyrotechnics and hearty sound, with fancy graphics of destroyable terrain and tens of friendly and enemy tanks blasting away at one another. This isn't that game. [May 2006, p.51]

If you got a Nintendo DS, there are just too many better way to, ahem, feel the magic. [May 2006, p.91]

If golf was indeed dull, as many non-fans wrongly suspect, True Swing Golf would be the perfect golf game. [Apr 2006, p.90]

The only addition is Online Everywhere, which lets you check out the live ESPN ticker while still in the game, and it's hardly essential. [Apr 2006, p.93]

The only addition is Online Everywhere, which lets you check out the live ESPN ticker while still in the game, and it's hardly essential. [Apr 2006, p.93]

As a third-person action game, 25 to life is kind of a "Max Payne in the Hood," only without the quality gameplay. [Apr 2006, p.62]

Ironically, the real sorrow of Seven Sorrows is how laughably, arrogantly short it is: two players can easily finish the entire campaign on the hardest setting in a night. [Mar 2006, p.91]

Ironically, the real sorrow of Seven Sorrows is how laughably, arrogantly short it is: two players can easily finish the entire campaign on the hardest setting in a night. [Mar 2006, p.91]

The PSP version is similarly structured as a set of constrictive quests through three areas that are tied together by a contrived collecting game in which you gather coins, here called “secrets”. [Mar 2006, p.88]

A pretty bad role-playing game published here in the states by folks who should know better. [Feb 2006, p.92]

Quotation forthcoming. [Mar 2006]

Amped 3 aims to keep you distracted by constantly nickel-and-diming you with a hundred mini-challenges, each with its own pointless reward, spread across a dozen mountainsides. [Feb 2006, p.87]

In lieu of interesting situations, tactics, thrills, or simple variety, Starship Troopers coughs up a big greasy hairball of run-right-at-you enemies that never stop coming. [Mar 2006, p.55]

If you sometimes had the feeling that less is more while playing "San Andreas," you'll be convinced by this game at nearly every turn. [Feb 2006, p.92]

If you sometimes had the feeling that less is more while playing "San Andreas," you'll be convinced by this game at nearly every turn. [Feb 2006, p.92]

If you sometimes had the feeling that less is more while playing "San Andreas," you'll be convinced by this game at nearly every turn. [Feb 2006, p.92]

The most maddeningly convoluted gaming experience this side of Derek Smart. [Feb 2006, p.67]

It's a short, vacuous game that's over quickly and even more quickly forgotten. [Feb 2006, p.93]

The lack of polish is most obvious in the awful pacing and terrible controls. [Feb 2006, p.62]

Quotation forthcoming. [Jan 2005]

There's simply no way to get your fingers around it all. [Feb 2006, p.93]

Combined with the recent God of War, a pattern seems to be developing: the gifts Ares bestows come at the cost of a clad torso. [Dec p.88]

The economic model guilding the action is ridiculously off-kilter. [Feb 2006, p.66]

Combined with the recent God of War, a pattern seems to be developing: the gifts Ares bestows come at the cost of a clad torso. [Dec p.88]

Combined with the recent God of War, a pattern seems to be developing: the gifts Ares bestows come at the cost of a clad torso. [Dec p.88]

Anyone shelling out for Land of the Dead is in grave danger of buyer's remorse. [Feb 2006, p.64]

All told, it's big loss if you decided to give Tony Hawk a rest for a year. [Jan 2006, p.91]

All told, it's no big loss if you decided to give Tony Hawk a rest for a year. [Jan 2006, p.91]

All told, it's no big loss if you decided to give Tony Hawk a rest for a year. [Jan 2006, p.91]

It's too bad Midway is so caught up in the me-too game when it's just children like the Rush series who get hurt. [Dec p.93]

It's like any flat stretch of road in the country, nice and smooth with some decent scenery that gets you where you have to go. [Jan 2006, p.89]

Dear Tricky, we miss you. [Jan 2006, p.91]

Quotation forthcoming. [Jan 2005]

It's too bad Midway is so caught up in the me-too game when it's just children like the Rush series who get hurt. [Dec p.93]

Dear Tricky, we miss you. [Jan 2006, p.91]

Dear Tricky, we miss you. [Jan 2006, p.91]

The cow is missing a lot of the inscrutability - and therefore personality - had in the last game. [Jan 2006, p.49]

With artificial intelligence as unintelligent as it is, the pure thrill of Diplomacy is untranslatable to the computer. [Jan 2006, p.46]

More average than appalling. [Feb 2006, p.70]

Silly, balking, chuckle-inducing for the wrong reasons, Cold War is the sort of pretender-to-stealth-throne that makes you squint, pinch your nose, and wave your hand rapidly in front of your face.[Feb 2006, p.59]