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

A light but oddly entertaining gaming hors d'oeuvre... And the price is right. [Oct 2002, p.75]

The campaigns are exceedingly difficult—so difficult they diminish the attraction of the game's solid mechanics.

New passing and tackling models are nice, but soccer fans deserve the same features—career mode, AI sliders, computer trade AI, detailed stat tracking, and so on—that nearly every other EA Sports game possesses.

Thanks to your dumb teammates, you'll be on the new island forever. [Oct 2002, p.74]

A solid game, but it isn't terribly original.

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 generous slathering of nostalgia for the locations and characters of the old arcade games is a treat. [Dec p.93]

This is the best and most spirited of the Ape Escapes, which is faint praise if you're only familiar with the recent half-assed PSP version. [Apr 2006, p.91]

Multiple endings, strategy behind weapons, smooth gameplay, and a terrifying experience make The Suffering one of the biggest surprises of the year. [Apr 2004, p.9]

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

All of the changes make Railroads! less of a strategy game than a toy with extra challenges. [Jan. 2007, p.50]

an arcade game masquerading as a simulation. [Dec p.63]

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]

While Heroes V might be a hard game to hate, it's also a hard game to love. [Sept. 2006, p.61]

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

The gameplay is just monotonous, which slams the nail in its coffin. [Dec p.57]

A good, if slow, game. [July 2005, p.62]

Brief moments of brilliance speak of the fantastic game that Anachronox could have been, but it never quite makes it up to anything more than slightly above average.

For now this feels like a course at the naval academy while you wait to get out to sea. [Aug 2003, p.87]

With its jazzy score and terrific art design, it's a sublime bit of style over substance. With most games seemingly afraid of not being generic, that goes a long way. [May 2006, p.93]

The worst thing any game can be is predictable, and FIFA Soccer 2004 is one of the most predictable sports game in recent memory. [Feb 2004, p.72]

Clearly not ready for prime time. Abundant bugs, unbalanced campaign prestige, and a non-functional multiplayer campaign all mar an otherwise classic game.

Multiple endings, strategy behind weapons, smooth gameplay, and a terrifying experience make The Suffering one of the biggest surprises of the year. [Apr 2004, p.9]

CRC 2005 is that rare racing game that perfectly straddles the stark reality of pure simulations like "Grand Prix Legends" and the more relaxed arcade gameplay of games like "Rally Fusion" [Apr 2006, p.65]

The combat is frequently challenging, especially by the time you get to the second disk, and it certainly sets the game apart from the party-based monotony found in most games of the genre. [Apr 2006, p.90]

Just as solid a race game on the PC as it was on the Xbox, and definitely one of the better Rally-based arcade racers out there. [Feb 2003, p.77]

The main game is still a victim of its own atrocious pacing and doesn't hold up well alongside offerings like "Splinter Cell" and "No One Lives Forever 2." [July 2003, p.72]