Aloof and distant, Secrets of Da Vinci isn't a bad game, just an unfriendly one. [Oct. 2006, p.72]

A driving game with no damage model and no good reason to stay on the track. [July 2005, p.85]

Parallel Lines proves that effective story-telling sometimes makes up for mediocre gameplay. [July 2006, p.87]

Quotation forthcoming. [Nov 2005]

A technically excellent, but ultimately shallow and mechanical, experience. [Mar 2003, p.77]

One design feature that reduces this game's charm is the limit of eight items in active inventory.

Single-player game lovers will find a worthy entertainment here; fans of multiplayer, on the other hand, will be shocked and dismayed. [Feb 2004, p.80]

Quotation forthcoming. [Jan 2006]

A paper-thin manual "beer and pretzels" strategy game set during the age of Rome. [Sept 2002, p.82]

If your teammates are dumb, the enemy is positively moronic. "Braindead" doesn't begin to describe the terrorists you'll face.

Provided you keep the sound on mute, pump up the resolution, and have a few hours to spare, this is decent down-home motor madness, served the finger lickin' way.

Despite the excellent manual, the cumbersome interface and maze of data make it seem more like a first draft of the future than mission accomplished. [Sept 2005, p.56]

In short, X is a fairly good game that could have been great. With more missions, a better flight model, and better pacing, it might have dethroned "Elite." As is, it joins a long line of games like "Privateer II" that entertain but leave you wanting more.

Parallel Lines proves that effective story-telling sometimes makes up for mediocre gameplay. [July 2006, p.87]

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

Battle Out of Hell isn't an essential expansion, but it provides some good practice and motivation to try to unlock everything on some of those original levels. [Feb 2005, p.62]

It remains hampered by somewhat soft physics, outdated season information, and the absence of an online multiplayer mode. [Jan 2003, p.77]

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 overcooked and to slick, through redeemed by the sheer quantity of stuff you can do. [Dec p.90]

It's a lot of clicking, looking at things, tweaking routes, and clicking a little more, and as with most of these types of games, is oddly compelling in an Excel spreadsheet kind of way.

Stylish and interesting, but still in need of some animated substance. [Feb 2004, p.66]

Scenario design in the new campaigns is overly reliant on puzzles. [Oct 2003, p.95]

Hamstringing Jedi and spaceships to accommodate a medieval, land-based combat system was the easy way out—a capitulation.

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

The AI in the aging "Half-Life" was better; the sond in "Medal of Honor" blows this away; and the cut scenes and exposition in the "No One Lives Forever" series leave this in the dust. [Apr 2003, p.68]

It's still over too quickly, and there's little explanation why you're running around these ruined buildings beating up drug addicts. [Sept. 2006, p.76]

Doesn't come through with enough swashbuckling, ship-boarding flair. For all the many improvements in this sequel, it still has many of the same fundamental problems of the first game. [July 2003, p.74]

The geography is often stunning and shows a flair for the otherworldly that puts the more expensive landscapes of "Star Wars Galaxies" to shame. [Jan 2004, p.68]