Friendly AI, on the other hand, can be frustratingly idiotic and suicidal. [March 2005, p.76]

It's impossible to ignore all of the changes and the improvements made in this version. It looks as if this formerly stagnant series has finally turned a corner. [Feb 2005, p.63]

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

Unfortunately, you need human players to get away from the awful AI. [March 2005, p.88]

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]

It's not particularly new or original, but it's a well-done adventure for all ages. [March 2005, p.79]

A major accomplishment and an excellent game. [Dec 2004, p.75]

The much-touted "realism" vanishes entirely once you get to the military phase of the game. [March 2005, p.87]

While you need to babysit your smoke-jumpers a wee-bit too much, the topic is interesting enough to make this more than just a curiosity. [Jan 2005, p.79]

It's like scoring with a random co-ed after a night spent projectile vomiting with your frat buddies. [Dec 2004, p.89]

There's probably an entertaining game to be made from the disaster that is dating; this isn't it. [Oct 2004, p.87]

While the mini-games are shallow and sometimes boring, Magna Cum Laude has an interseting adult humor element that is sure to keep one amused while playing. [Feb 2005, p.9]

The detective work is a blast. [Jan 2005, p.79]

Manages to recreate the chaos of Vietnam almost too well. It's an exhausting game, with very little let up. [Jan 2005, p.68]

While the mini-games are shallow and sometimes boring, Magna Cum Laude has an interseting adult humor element that is sure to keep one amused while playing. [Feb 2005, p.9]

Despite the steep learning curve, it has more content and more unlockable secrets than nearly any other game to date. [Jan 2005, p.70]

It's impossible to dislike, despite its flaws. [Jan 2005, p.63]

If you're willing to stop, explore, admire, backtrack, and other verbs that don't involve hurtling forward continuously, it's a lovely ride. [Jan 2005, p.74]

It's got fast combat that is always meaningful and features lots of exciting decision-making and quick movement. [Nov 2004, p.81]

It's crazy, but there's something that keeps you coming back even when you think you'll be bored watching ships being built or exploring for mineral deposits. [Mar 2004, p.82]

In spite of its missing sandbox mode and the crappy economic meta-game, Evil Genius has a groovy conceit, bright and unique art direction, and a rewarding and well-conceived base-building component. [Dec 2004, p.87]

Plays like a series of Shakespearean plays with every king having a character arc and every count's struggle up the ladder of power a fascinating narrative. [Aug 2004, p.62]

That you can complete the game without really solving the case on your own makes this as much an interactive movie as an adventure. [Jan 2005, p.71]

The biggest problems are the shockingly short play time, and repetitive gameplay. [Jan 2005, p.73]

Quotation forthcoming. [Mar 2006]

Enough staying power to keep you busy for years. [Dec 2004, p.72]

Undoubtedly the best strategy game released so far in 2004. And that's all. [Nov 2004, p.84]

Despite the lack of new jobs in the expansion, and the difficulty of the Promyvion zones, there is plenty of new content to warrant a pickup for any but the newest players. [Jan 2005, p.76]

It never really takes off, seeming perpetually stuck in neutral rather than shifting to the higher gear it feels like it should achieve. [Jan 2005, p.64]

Just another military shooter swimming in a sea of camoflauge. [Dec 2004, p.83]

Enjoy Battlefront's quick, heady, affectionate rush while it lasts and pray they don't dumb it down any further. [Dec 2004, p.82]

For a game with such amazing art direction, innovative game ideas, and a dedicated developer, it's a shame that it pimps you down unfairly and destroys your entertainment with double-digit deaths. [Feb 2005, p.69]

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

This spectacular golf sim has plenty of the just-one-more-hole mojo that helped classics like "Links 386" turn everyone into insomniacs. [Dec 2004, p.86]

A phenomenal game that deserves every penny of its inevitable commercial success. In fact, it's far too big for the simple word "game." [Dec 2004, p.90]

The 3D engine is incredibly sluggish, delivering mediocre graphics that manage to tax even fast computers and high-end videocards. [Jan 2005, p.69]

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

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]

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

The AI improvements make it worth picking up if you don't have a console system, and if you like big dumb vaguely hockey-like fun, but just barely. [Jan 2005, p.65]

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

Its interface - particularly the "one link at a time" track laying is maddening; there's too much sitting around. [Dec 2004, p.78]

A Johnny-come-lately budgetware version of "Majesty." [Dec 2004, p.88]

The insanely high upkeep costs involved in maintaining new cities, coupled with the dubious payoff of repetitive alien attacks, will probably drive more than a few entrepreneurs back to the friendlier phantasmagoria of "Shadowlands." [Jan 2005, p.67]

The gamplay is pretty standard fare. [March 2005, p.78]

Wings of War isn't perfect, but beautiful; stylistic design and creative mission structure go a long way toward disguising the game's few drawbacks. [Dec 2004, p.93]

What bodes particularly well for gamers, however, is the fact that gameplay borrows heavily from "NiGHTS" - a cult hit that has yet to find its own sequel. [Sept 2004, p.7]

The armored Task Force engine is one of the most complete, and completely baffling, systems in modern computer wargaming[sic]. [Dec p.63]

Where the game starts to falter is in its handling of the major issues your candidate must address during the campaign. [Dec 2004, p.77]

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]

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]

It's quite faithful to the movie in that it also sucks. [Dec 2004, p.92]

Unlike previous versions, the home field advantage is huge. [Oct 2004, p.9]

The game does a great job at recognizing tones. [Oct 2004, p.9]

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

Feels like a breath of fresh air, an unpretentious and stupidly entertaining little game that has little grasp of reality but delivers serious fun. [Oct 2004, p.83]

Adds two new main areas for adventurers to explore. But the puzzles found in each are sadistically hard and way too obscure. [Oct 2004, p.84]

Soldiers is Hitchcockian: the real payoff's the setup, making it a guilty, grueling pleasure in the time-honored vein of belovedly frustrating isometric classics. [Nov 2004, p.82]

The potential is there for something much greater. The magic just doesn't quite happen. [Oct 2004, p.86]

Aura is not about exciting story, interesting character development, or trippy music: it's a crack fix for puzzle addicts. [Oct 2004, p.85]

It's terrible...This is just the sort of game that gives movie license titles a bad name. [Nov 2004, p.87]

As long as you approach it with an understanding that the process is much better than resolution, Missing is one of the most gratifying adventure games you can play. [Oct 2004, p.82]

The real missed opportunity in Ground Control II is that such great visuals are built into a game design that smothers you in too much busy work to enjoy them. [Sept 2004, p.64]

One of the worst games you'll ever play. [Sept 2004, p.72]

Aside from the TV tie-in, there is nothing in Alias to recommend it over other games of its type. [Sept 2004, p.69]

It does the hard stuff that most game neglect so well, but it either phones in or omits entirely the easy stuff. [Sept 2004, p.72]

If you played the original, expect more of the same real-time tactical gameplay with a few new units to use along wthe way. [Sept 2004, p.75]

All 14 new planes are superbly detailed inside and out, with intricate virtual cockpits and comprehensive damage models...With Microsoft's patch (included with the game) and FirePower, "Combat Flight Simulator 3" goes from an also-ran to a top-notch simulation. [May 2004, p.66]

The visual artistry that sustains the atmosphere is a bit hit-and-miss. [Sept 2004, p.70]

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]

What makes the name so highly appropriate...is the constant assault that the game wages on your patience and sanity. [Sept 2004, p.68]

The controls prove the best out of the recent crop of first-person shooters; the hand-to-hand combat system is spectacular. [Sept 2004, p.7]

Spartan's 3D battles look great, and the freer camera control give you a new perspective on hoplite warfare. [Sept 2004, p.74]

Console leftovers or not, Thief: Deadly Shadows is one of the best PC games of the year. [Aug 2004, p.62]

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]

A memorable fight. [Aug 2004, p.7]

A perfect example of trying too much an doing nothing in a particularly standout way. [Sept 2004, p.63]

The story mode proves dull - heavy on the text, skimpy on the action. [Aug 2004, p.6]

And while the game doesn't look very impressive, the main character does resemble Hugh Jackman. [Aug 2004, p.7]

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]

One of the most in-depth strategy RPGs ever. [July 2004, p.6]

It's got the same staying power as a keychain, a stuffed doll, or some other memento from this year's tournament in Portugal. [Aug 2004, p.57]

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

While the writing is more polished this time around, the dialogue remains inconsistent in voice. For every dramatic moment, there's a completely out-of-place near-verbatim take on "Monty Python,' or a silly inside joke. [Aug 2004, p.58]

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

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

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 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]

The worst abuse of all are the 'bot macros, that allow high-level character "bots" to farm areas for loot and experience, automatically attacking anyone who trespasses into "their" zone. [Aug 2004, p.68]

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

This is the most disappointment I've ever felt playing a game. [July 2004, p.7]

By the end, even if you've blasted your way through the entire game in under ten hours, you get a strange sense of years having elapsed not far removed from an absinthe hangover. [Aug 2004, p.54]

The game does suffer from a sub par song list, but if you're really into the music genre, the chance to Groove is more than enough reason to get an EyeToy. [May 2004, p.11]

It's incredibly hard and repetitive, and the stealth gaming is incredibly simple. [Aug 2004, p.59]

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

What it basically boils down to is long animation run times and, as a result, the system taking a second or two to recognize player input for the next movement. [Aug 2004, p.7]

The best game in the series and one of the best pure driving games you can play on the PC. [Aug 2004, p.60]

It gamely delivers the pure joy of superbly crafted chaos, something it does better than any game released (so far) this year. [July 2004, p.56]