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

It's too easy, and over too soon, but for $30 it's nearly a comlete childhood on a CD. [Aug 2005, p.70]

One of the most compulsively playable titles to hit stores this summer. It’s arguably the best traditional RTS released in over a year, and indisputably one of the most attractive.

The team that developed Soul Reaver 2 took an intriguing saga and weighed it down with so much dialogue and so many confusing plot points that even David Lynch would be hard-pressed to wade through it.

A series of fantastic moments dragged down by a lot of incredibly dull, repetitive, and contrived ones. [Feb 2006, p.68]

What Special Forces lacks in innovation, it more than makes up for in new maps. [Mar 2006, p.50]

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

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

But for every warm fuzzy old-school feeling it invokes, there's an annoying old-school counterbalance, including a litany of bugs (some of whihch have been patched) and a tired, predictable plot. [Jan 2003, p.70]

The biggest issue is that it runs amazingly slow... [but] for a first edition game, it shows an enormous amount of potential. [Oct 2002, p.80]

Everything awful about the modern football player is showcased in Blitz: the League. [Dec p.87]

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.

If you're new to immensely detailed simulation games, Restaurant Empire might be frustrating, but it's very accessible, since you can lower the difficulty until you get the hang of it. [July 2003, p.80]

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

Since we are talking about a game that's more about crashing than flash, it could use more grit and dirt. And better physics. [Nov. 2006, p.80]

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

Although the extremely steep learning curve and unforgiving penalty for any "ooop" moment make this an exercise in frustration from time to time, the sheer volume of things to do, the amazingly detailed construction aspect, and the solid economy base make this a really good bet for hard-core sime fans. [July 2004, p.66]

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]

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

Don't let its budget price fool you, MoonBase Commander is an incredibly entertaining game regardless of its price tag and quirky online support. [Nov 2002, p.86]

Pets makes it easier to keep the fun and social scores up, but they can be very demanding of your all-too precious time. [Dec. 2006, p.71]

If you can stomach the difficulty and the middle-of-the-road graphics, Dark Corners of the Earth offers a lot of suspense-filled gameplay in the 10 or so hours it takes to complete the adventure. [Sept. 2006, p.70]

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

Take Heroes seriously and it fizzles. But as a loosey-goosey melodrama, it's not half bad. [Apr 2006, p.64]

Even though the overall experience is filled with cheesiness, clichés, and dumbed-down antics, that's what makes it fun. Those in favor of quick thrills and instant gratification can't go wrong with this title's campy, supernatural shenanigans.

Despite the bugs, this is a great baseball game boasting more than enough improvements to keep you from going back to High Heat 2001.

One of the most user-unfriendly sims ever committed to ones and zeros. [Apr 2004, p.67]

Gun isn't an entirely unpleasant game, just a mediocre one. [Feb 2006, p.56]