Ubisoft just executes the hell out of Splinter Cell, and in the end it makes its familiarity one of its strengths: The sight of Sam Fisher is always a welcome one. [Feb. 2007, p.64]

If you can get past the kiddie characters..., you'll find some of the best golf available, handheld or otherwise. [Aug 2005, p.91]

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

In essence, what adds real finesse to Curse of Monkey Island is that no one element screams above the rest for recognition. It possesses that "unity of style" across the board for which everyone strives but so few achieve.

One of the best new features is a thrilling coaster cam whose name is a bit misleading since you can get a first-person view for nearly any ride or attraction. [Feb 2005, p.65]

The Burning Crusade adds some much-needed high level content to a game that had grown pretty stagnant for the Level 60s who spent all day and night dancing in front of the Auction Houses in Ironforge and Orgrimmar. [Apr 2007, p.58]

By adding interesting new units, rules, and a unique campaign, it defines what all expansions should be - not just more of the same, but rather an entirely new way to play an established game. [Aug 2003, p.84]

Everquest II has come a long way since its original launch. With Faydwer and other recent enhancements, though, it's pulled alongside "World of Warcraft" in the race to be an MMO for everyone. [Mar 2007, p.68]

In fact, the reason to get Warlords is for the scenarios. It's worth noting that there are already plenty of scenarios available for free, thanks to the generous modability Firaxis built into Civilization IV. [Oct. 2006, p.65]

More content for a brilliant strategy game.

It sounds stupid, and in many ways it is, but it's pulled off with so much style and flair it's impossible not to be seduced by its charms.

The weapons feel superb, and are among the best ever featured in a real-world first-person shooter...Where MoH falters a bit is in its multiplayer offerings.

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.

Brings the game to another new level of entertainment and challenge. [Sept 2003, p.82]

Riddled with shifts in tone and action that keep the pace snappy and engaging. It's even got a completely over-the-top distinct finale that makes it worth playing to the end. [March 2005, p.80]

This little game is addictive, if not more so, as gems like "Bejeweled", "Bookworm", or pretty much any downloadable puzzle game out there. [Sept. 2006, p.76]

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

All that said, Battle for Middle-Earth II is undeniably a labor of love, a grand work of art, and easily the best-looking game of 2006 so far. [Jun 2006, p.65]

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]

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

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

Batting can be a hit or miss experience, however, offering players control over where the ball goes but ultimately making the effort a matter of timing. [June 2004, p.11]

The best bond game since "Goldeneye." [June 2004, p.11]

The best online fighting game released to date.[Feb 2005, p.NP-9]

From its training mode (which teaches players all the ins and outs of racing a bike) to its responsiveness and intuitive nature, the gameplay is incredibly fluid. [May 2004, p.12]

As a single-player game, Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain is quickly lost in the crowd. But thanks to its online cooperative mode, the game truly shines. [June 2004, p.12]

The voice acting is so good gamers will think it's actually the original cast. [Aug 2004, p.7]

By far, it's more fun to play against a human player with experience, than to play against the weak A.I. - the one area of the game that was glossed over. [Aug 2004, p.6]

The voice acting is so good gamers will think it's actually the original cast. [Aug 2004, p.7]

Batting can be a hit or miss experience, however, offering players control over where the ball goes but ultimately making the effort a matter of timing. [June 2004, p.11]

From its training mode (which teaches players all the ins and outs of racing a bike) to its responsiveness and intuitive nature, the gameplay is incredibly fluid. [May 2004, p.12]

The best bond game since "Goldeneye." [June 2004, p.11]

Truly makes gamers feel as if they're controlling a lost episode. [July 2004, p.7]

From a graphics standpoint, Sphinx looks incredible. [Apr 2004, p.9]

By far, it's more fun to play against a human player with experience, than to play against the weak A.I. - the one area of the game that was glossed over. [Aug 2004, p.6]

The voice acting is so good gamers will think it's actually the original cast. [Aug 2004, p.7]

The gameplay is comparable to someting like "Devil May Cry" or "Otogi" in that gamers have two weapons and are capable of unleashing combos on enemies using both of those weapons with just a few simple button taps. [Nov 2004, p.NP9]

For action-game fans, Otogi 2 is one of those titles they won't be taking out of their Xbox any time soon. It's stylish, fast-paced, and loads of fun. [Nov 2004, p.NP9]

The best bond game since "Goldeneye." [June 2004, p.11]

Batting can be a hit or miss experience, however, offering players control over where the ball goes but ultimately making the effort a matter of timing. [June 2004, p.11]

This is a slightly better game than its predecessor, though the improvements are in a "Godfather vs. Godfather II" vein.

It's very short, and can be beaten in a matter of hours, but at $20, it's an excellent buy as it is inspired, and engaging. [Aug 2004, p.70]

The best modern military tactical shooter available right now. [July 2005, p.49]

A great expansion pack seriously improves the core game. Marine Mania does not. [Mar 2003, p.80]

DoD still has incredibly good gameplay, and with things like realistic gun recoil and the near requirement to stand still or go prone for any sort of firing accuracy, it's much more difficult than most WWII games. [Sept 2003, p.84]

With all the "StarCraft" and "Age of Empires" wannabes clogging store shelves, it's rewarding to find a real-time strategy game that does its own thing and does it pretty well.

They just made the experience bigger, better, and easier to share with your friends. [Dec p.92]

Bright, colorful, and absurdly caroon-y, Worms 3D is great fun to watch. [Aug 2004, p.64]

Quotation forthcoming. [Mar 2006]

Enemy AI is solid-indeed, absolutely unshakeable on higher difficulty settings—and you'll certainly know it when there are enemy aces in a mission. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for your wingmen.

All of this comes at a price; that game has what may be the steepest system requirements ("I need how much RAM?") of any product in the history of computer gaming.

Yes, you get tension, stress, and frustration in a way few other wargames can replicate, but you also get thrills and a strong sense of satisfaction at a job well done, at a plan that comes together just right. All-in-all, Antietam! may not be a major gaming leap over its predecessor… but then, given the quality of Gettysburg! it doesn't have to be.

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.

It may not look like much, but it's got it where it counts. [Nov 2002, p.80]

There's a great primal vibe that somehow makes you enjoy every minute the six sides spend at each other's throats. [Jan 2004, p.82]

Achieves exactly what many series games usually don't: it really gives you a feel for this much different theater and the combat that occurred there.

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 uninitiated will find the game monstrously intimidating, and it takes a bit of playing before you really start to engage. In order to get the most out of it, you need to sit down, learn its ins and outs, and suffer a lot of early setbacks while you get familiar with the game's complex mechanics.

Nothing else on the market offers the chance to recapture the glory of model railroading on the cheap and, more importantly, without the basement-sized mess.

The Two Thrones addresses the balance between fighting and jumping around in brilliant fashion. [Mar 2006, p.51]

This is as unconventional as a conventional real-time strategy game can probably get, at onece like everything and nothing you've ever played. [July 2003, p.66]

From start to finish, Circle of Blood is a professional, polished work of art. All elements of game play are refined to the extreme, and as with any great novel (or after you've thumbed past the picture section of certain adult magazines,) you'll feel a sense of loss when the story concludes.

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]

It’s altogether an attractive package that will appeal both to racers who love precision and to gamers who thrive on panic. [Mar 2006, p.59]

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

It's Capcom's welcome variation on conventional RPG's, the difference being that you don't really go anywhere. [Sept. 2006, p.81]

Following up a grand slam nuclear blast like "Nations" with a bottle rocket may seem like an odd choice. But in many ways, the smaller fiddle plays the sweeter music. [Sept. 2006, p.54]

Second Manassas is not a surprise; it's testimony that these guys know what they are doing. [July 2006, p.67]

Dreamfall is the adventure-game equivalent of a page-turner, one that doesn't make it a hassle to turn the pages. [July 2006, p.54]

An expansion that is about as good as it gets for the core community. [Feb 2003, p.67]

An ideal game for the 4X gamer who prefers managing armies over micromanaging cities. It doesn't quite have the panache of "Civilization II" or the drama of "Alpha Centauri," but it's colorful, relatively fast-paced, and it has that "one more turn" addictiveness that will keep you burning the midnight oil.

The only thing you won't like is the deadly accuracy and preternatural instincts of the enemy. [Feb 2003, p.83]

Teetering on the edge of greatness. [Jan 2006, p.52]

Quotation forthcoming. [Nov 2005]

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.

It's the kind of racing game you might fire up just to find out what happens next, rather than to go once more around the track. [July 2003, p.81]

Most of the new scenarios are both challenging and interesting, the additional monuments are all superb, and the new features are welcome additions.

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.

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

Compelling yet demanding, Conflict Zone is best reserved for grizzled recruits who demand a rugged challenge.

The most incomprehensible issue is the lack of multiplayer support. It is interesting that Hasbro found the resources to include multiplayer support in the computer version of Battleship while omitting it in a game that literally begs for a human, network-connected crew.

It's more of "more of the same," but the "more" of The Sims is always interesting and funny. [Feb 2004, p.85]

Drop-dead gorgeous graphics, excellent story, talented actors, brilliant orchestral score.

But Forces of Corruption is a great expansion. And once you've splattered a few Ewoks into hellish party streamers and done a few doughnuts in the Executer, you'll admit it could be much, much worse. [Feb. 2007, p.66]

But, more than any other adventure game, Evidence puts you in a darkly atmospheric world: part fiction, part history, part reality. [Feb. 2007, p.70]

It might sit a little short of Transcendence, but at four o'clock in the morning you probably won't even notice.

Doomsday is a lot of game for 20 bucks. [Sept. 2006, p.71]

Once you break yourself of the mindset that trade is about money and that taxes are for a treasury, you find this new way of playing much more satisfying. [Feb 2005, p.68]

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

A smooth blend of game styles, solid execution, and quite a bit of fun.

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.

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.

Anyone who appreciates this particular corner of the genre, Myst fanatics especially, will find here a perilous, riveting, sometimes humorous journey through an awe-inspiring, breathtaking environment. Even with its limited exploration possibilities and a "puzzle grimace" here and there, it’s a trip you’ll want to take.

The design throughout is superb, a model of how to drag the player through the game without making it feel like, well, like it's dragging players through the game. [Sept 2004, p.74]

one of the best-looking and wide-open Castlevanias since the series began. [Dec p.93]

A dark, thrilling, and ultimately satisfying wargame, so long as you don't think too hard about the carnage and terror that accompanied the real-world event. [July 2003, p.76]

As such, not only is The Outfit worth having, but it's probably the best reason to have an Xbox 360. [Jun 2006, p.90]

One mean mother of a four-wheeled game. Warts and all, it still offers classy pick up n' play handling, efficient interface, and stupendous presentation.