It manages to improve an already stellar game, adds a helpful and interesting stack of new features, and offers nearly as much scripted gameplay as the original title.

Provides a justification for buying a Pentium V; the best of its genre.

Mizuguchi is known for deftly combining action and music, from the classic "Rez" to other faves "SpaceChannel 5" and the recent "Lumines" for the PSP. And now he's done it again with Meteos. [Oct 2005, p.90]

When you combine the new features with a physics model that takes wind into account more than last year, stunningly beautiful visuals, more online options via EASO, and a course architect program, it's hard to fathom how this game can get any better. [Jan 2004, p.60]

Where "Diablo" now looks as dated as it is accessible, the WarCraft III franchise remains its exact opposite: luscious on the yes and hell on the brain. [Sept 2003, p.68]

Its well-developed plot, unique races, intuitive interface, and excellent campaign editor make it worth the price of admission, especially for those that liked "Warcraft II."

Put simply, it's the best arcade soccer game on the planet, one that no fan of the sport should miss. [June 2005, p.58]

Remove every frill and dump the gorgeous 3D graphics for barely animated stick figures and Fight Night Round 2 would still be a classic. [June 2005, p.89]

The developers at Bizarre Creations have made a beautiful thing, but they've given you no reason to enjoy it. [Feb 2006, p.87]

While touted as a full-fledged sequel, Myth II shares so many similarities to the original that it feels somewhat more like an "expansion pack" than a brand new product. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing ("If it isn't broke, don't fix it"), some players might hope for more enhancements and alterations.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein has all the right pieces to become an online classic.

Beyond multiplayer flaws, there are a few other things that keep Shogo from being the be-all and end-all of 3D shooters. Chief among these is the absolutely pathetic enemy AI. Enemies in Shogo don't move much, and very rarely pursue you.

An amazing technological showcase for the PSP, but makes the biggest series in gaming feel small. [Jan 2006, p.86]

Medieval II is a good game a couple of patches away from true greatness. As it stands now, it's a beautiful, well-crafted experience with some minor balance issues. [Feb. 2007, p.56]

It's brilliantly structured and each step feels meaningful and important. [Nov 2004, p.NP9]

This console-friendly redux has just enough polish to make a bog-standard virtual murderer simulator seem fresh. [July 2005, p.87]

Takes the genre to new heights of both realism and presentation. [Oct 2002, p.79]

With multiple playable sides in each campaign, and an option to completely randomize the world history campaign, there's single-player gaming galore in here. [July 2004, p.63]

Simple and deep gameplay that sucks away hours of your life. [March 2005, p.74]

Most certainly the online role-playing game of the hour and quite possibly the year.

A heart-pounding, visceral experience that gets under your skin. The "just one more round" addiction factor is very high. When you play it properly, with team work that clicks like a well-oiled machine, the game offers a sense of accomplishment and comradery that is simply amazing.

Remove every frill and dump the gorgeous 3D graphics for barely animated stick figures and Fight Night Round 2 would still be a classic. [June 2005, p.89]

Most fans will not be able to get away from it, repetitive and simple or not. Diablo II is simply one of the most potent drugs of the year 2000. Take it orally for a week, and intravenous use is sure to follow.

And if it's only disappointing because it's exactly as expected, with no surprises, there's little question that it's expertly produced. [Nov 2004, p.78]

It manages to capture the ebb and flow of a baseball season better than any other game on the market. [Aug 2004, p.65]

One of the results of all the additional options is that Europa Universalis isn't as straight jacketed by history as it used to be.

The second game in this box, the multiplayer Splinter Cell, is as bold as the single-player is mediocre. [July 2004, p.60]

When EA Sports decides to fix what's broken, specifically the dropped passes and deep passing game, it'll have another A-list football game on its hands. [Oct 2005, p.89]

Simulator-style combat, scripted missions, spectacular graphics, and most of all, honkin' big robots.

All of the game's levels are very well crafted, and many of them are huge. Looking Glass has done an excellent job making each level feel like a "real" place.

You're really getting an amazingly reworked masterpiece and not just "a few more levels."

It feels like exactly what it is: a small and perhaps insignificant part of something much larger and(hopefully)more interesting. [Sept. 2006, p.57]

You've got a surprisingly full-featured shooter slickly adapted to Sony's PSP. [May 2006, p.93]

Above all, IO maintains a consistent and impressive atmosphere throughout, with good-to-excellent writing, voirce acting, and sound effects. [Jan 2003, p.64]

When EA Sports decides to fix what's broken, specifically the dropped passes and deep passing game, it'll have another A-list football game on its hands. [Oct 2005, p.89]

While some features are better, the most important part—the AI—has received little attention. While it's still a fun game, it's not much of an improvement over last year's edition.

It’s a very solid, attractive, and entertaining game, in a very traditional way.

Kohan is the slickest, most polished, and the most entertaining fantasy strategy game to come along in a very long time.

Significantly more elaborate than any of the other [current tactical shooters]. [July 2005, p.49]

Adds so much additional meat to the original design that going back to the old game seems unthinkable.

Solid gameplay based on legitimate physics code and a very credible AI component, which should come as no surprise, it’s in the bloodline.

This is the best dose of pure visceral excitement to hit shooters in years.

It could stand alone as its own game, as it improves and expands the original game in every way possible, all in a positive manner. [Dec 2004, p.84]

As it gets progressively weirder, it also gets significantly better, making it one head-trip definitely worth taking. [July 2005, p.56]

Its faster pace, simpler city design, and mythological elements open the game to more casual players, but it retains enough depth to entertain long-time fans and adds the broader world-view they have requested for years. In other words, it's fun!

While it's rough around the edges, playing more like a prototype than a finished product, there's finally a reason to get excited about the future of the series. [Jan 2004, p.70]

Remove every frill and dump the gorgeous 3D graphics for barely animated stick figures and Fight Night Round 2 would still be a classic. [June 2005, p.89]

Dark Crusade is another real-time feather in Relic's cap, even without the Tyranids. [Jan. 2007, p.56]

The difficulty is daunting, the missions feel like intricate puzzles, and the frustration factor is high. Still, nothing compares to the moment when you finally get it right.

Undeniably entertaining. In fact, it's addictive. You'll find yourself fidgeting through a day at work, eager to get back to the game so you can deal with that band of slavers or commune with the Hubbologists.

Delightfully loopy. [Sept 2005, p.91]

less noisy, flashy, and chaotic, but still full of crashtastic goodness. [Dec p.91]

Infinity Ward lays claim to the creation of the ultimate WWII shooter with Call of Duty 2. [Jan 2006, p.63]

An outstanding game, both for its graphics and its gameplay, but it is not for everyone. Ground Control glaringly omits some standard genre features: there is no in-mission save, no speed control, no skirmish mode, and the AI is hit or miss. Yet this is truly a case of a game being greater than the sum of its parts.

The best simulation of modern tank (and maybe just tank, period) operations ever.

As a game of resource management and tactical combat, Total Annihilation is not fundamentally different from anything that has come before, but it is nonetheless an evolutionary leap for the genre of real-time strategy.

A must-have for hardcore players, most of whom undoubtedy already own it. [Jan 2005, p.71]

Just like the original "Freedom Force", this is a real-time strategy game for comic-book geeks, by comic-book geeks. [June 2005, p.53]

The last great fighting game of this generation. [Jan 2006, p.92]

It ups the ante on art and style while taking its attempts at being "cinematic" too seriously. This makes it nearly impossible to ignore the general level of mediocrity to the characterizations, writing, and storytelling despite its mostly solid action. [Jan 2004, p.62]

Galactic Civilizations II may not lead to a resurgence of space conquest games, but as long as it's available, the renaissance can wait. [May 2006, p.53]

Wild World is more of an expansion than a sequel. The DS version adds online play and a camera that follows you instead of one that shifts from screen to screen. [Mar 2006, p.89]

Quotation forthcoming. [Nov 2005]

The new pilots are smarter, making for more challenging - and more convincing - air combat. [June 2003, p.76]

The only real thing missing are side-quests, but that's made up for with a solid 15 hours of gameplay within the title's story mode. [Sept 2004, p.7]

A work of art with nicely drawn anime sequences and beautifully rendered cel-shaded graphics. [Oct 2004, p.9]

With the significantly improved graphics engine, the wealth of options and an extremely powerful course editor, the trip to pick up a copy of Links 2001 may be your best drive to date.

Casts a massively powerful spell of gaming joy, and it's one you can't resist. [Sept 2002, p.76]

A fantastic game full of personality, brains, and drop-dead looks with the backing of a popular license. [Dec 2004, p.80]

It's certainly not intuitive and it's not always streamlined, but there's a unique sense of satisfaction when you've won not by out-harvesting the other guy (which still happens far too often), but by throwing a rock when he threw scissors.

If you like your strategy games historical, complex, and deeply stimulating, Europa Universalis is more than a mouthful.

The voice acting in this game is probably the most widely competent you'll ever come across in a recent computer game.

A thoroughly worthy addition to the Civilization family. [Feb 2004, p.56]

The visuals are terrific. Explosions are robust; the particle effects shine; starbases are huge and panoramic.

Hardcore combat sim fans with equally serious hardware and a cast-iron stomach for aspirin will find themselves engrossed in a simulation of incredible depth and subtlety.

The missions can be skin-crawly tense and the strategic planning is a joy. Nevertheless, poor AI, coupled with mundane and buggy graphics give the game a "late-beta" feel.

Just because it's the only big-budget PC football game on the market is now excuse for complacency. [Dec 2004, p.79]

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

Nothing says "beware of oncoming plot" like an extraneous subtitle. [June 2005, p.92]

This is as good as gunplay has gotten in a videogame. [Mar 2007, p.60]

A bit like last year's "PlanetSide" in the sense that it isn't afraid to offer fewer things to do while making sure that you have more fun doing them. [Aug 2004, p.66]

With its 3D graphics, first-person perspective, and elegantly simple combat system, EverQuest has finally given us the first step towards a true virtual world. Internet gaming will never be the same.

Levels are superbly crafted for maximum tension. [July 2005, p.50]

On the technical side, an analog control has finally been added, rather than continuing to rely on the directional pad. [Aug 2004, p.6]

One of the most enjoyable parts of the game lies in crafting and later developing your party.

With multiplayer, a full editor, and a growing user community, this is a game that every fan of military shooters should have. It looks great, plays great, and most of all feels right.

Of drive-in movie reviewer Joe Bob Brigg's infamous three B's, Giants' developers in a politic move took out two (Blood and Breasts). The third, Beasts, is still enough to carry the game, though the addition of a fourth B—Bugs—is certainly regrettable.

It's the perfect game to sit down with for a couple of hours, with a margarita in one hand and the mouse in the other, and just tinker with your whacked-out island.

A superior game in every way—action, design, graphics and overall presentation—and is one of the best (and bloodiest) pure action games of the year.

Where the actual game experience falls short, the online community experience impresses. [Apr 2006, p.89]

A brilliant game simulation that belongs on every gamer's shelf. [Sept 2005, p.52]

Once Undying gets up a head of steam, it woos you with sheer atmosphere and production values. On looks alone, it sucks you in for hours at a stretch. Its landscapes and architecture are spectacular.

An honest-to-god, deep, rewarding strategy game that is easy to play and fun to watch. They finally put the "Tycoon" name on something that deserves it.

Indigo Prophecy so unabashedly wants to be cinematic that the menu prompt for the new game is "New Movie". [Dec p.56]

Quotation forthcoming. [Mar 2006]

An accessible, action-packed outer space role-playing game with plenty of personality and a marvelous online component. [May 2003, p.74]

Hunters is a grand handheld shooter with as darling an interface as you could hope for. Everything else--and ther's plenty--is gravy. [July 2006, p.90]

While the AI is good on the field, it's terrible in the front office. [June 2005, p.57]