If the actual battle engine were better, this would be a great game. [Mar 2006, p.86]

A whirlwind global tour for diehards... and a bumpy ride for everyone else. [Feb 2006, p.77]

A familiar-feeling game with absolutely no personality. [Apr 2005, p.87]

A solid "X-Com" clone, tailor made for grognards and entomologists. [Feb 2006, p.86]

Tactical freaks won't find much here to really challenge them, but Legion Arena might serve as a good introduction for players unfamiliar with this type of strategy game. [Mar 2006, p.85]

A game that, wile not cutting-edge, is simply fun to play... A great game for the money. [Feb 2006, p.86]

"Starcraft," sans that pesky "fun" thing. [Jan 2005, p.90]

Good for Potter addicts, but bad controls bog it down. [Jan 2005, p.103]

Controls are fuzzy, and the overforgiving targeting, combined with weak enemy A.I., makes it nearly impossible to miss. The game is also extremely easy. [Feb 2006, p.81]

Decent but dated, this is best for the die-hard Matrix fans who still believe. [Feb 2006, p.70]

A surprisingly decent stealth shooter. [Jan 2005, p.90]

Great for joystick jockeys who like their games tough and frantic. [Jan 2005, p.102]

Delightful, disappointing, and frustrating.

A war game for casual gamers. [Jan 2005, p.88]

The camera pans and zooms as it pleases, so keeping tabs on yourself is tough enough, let alone pretzel-bending into a stamina-boosting lotus stance while ducking baddies. [Jan 2006, p.103]

Breaks no ground, but good old-school stuff with amazing graphics. [Jan 2005, p.100]

Disappointment is the litany of B&W2. As an evil god, I can build prisons and worse...but why? There's no payoff. Pointless minigames that eschew the game's central morality conflict end up being stupid, insulting, and/or infuriating.

A fun mix of strategy and role-playing, minus all the pencils and dice.

Although the horror element here suffers from one-trick-pony-itis, I was, over time, compelled enough by the story to keep going-not just because I had to, but because I was kinda interested to see how things turned out.

Decent combat system, good-looking engine, mediocre scenario design.

A cheese-filled jalapeno of action. [Jan 2005, p.98]

Exactly what you expect from a Total War expansion.

The newest addition to the offensive game-Freestyle Superstars-allows you to execute a dazzling and fun array of passing, shooting, and dribbling moves with your star players. Unfortunately, the joy of these moves is counteracted by the extremely frustrating inability of players to make layups and other close-in shots.

Love it or hate it, DOD's war is an apparently contradictory compulsion.

Fun and ambitious, but not nearly as substantial as it wants you to think it is. [Nov 2005, p.96]

Myst V isn't a rosebud twist ending to the series but rather a distinguished, picturesque, and more-than-sufficient finale.

A faithful, fun retelling of the comic book - just too short. [Dec 2005, p.106]

Here in beats the heart of a classic.but casual simmers should wait and see if patches fix the problems.

NHL 06's online features, combined with a great single-player dynasty mode, create a much more dynamic playing experience than 2005's. At last, offense takes center ice and defense moves from the blue line to the goal crease, where it belongs.

Dungeon Siege II errs by giving you way too much, all teh time... ultimately diminishing the impact of everything you do. [Nov 2005, p.92]

Ultimately, Advent Rising shoots for the stars but barely breaks orbit. [Nov 2005, p.94]

You'll sleep through most of the challenges, though, as your vampiric superpowers are so unbalanced that you'll cut a bloody path through the action in no time...even if you suck at these kinds of games. [Oct 2005, p.80]

Detailed terrain, buildings, water, and effects lend an unprecedented feeling of speed to low-level flight. [March 2004, p.82]

Somewhat repetitive, but never so bat that it's offensive. [Nov 2005, p.99]

The game tries to cover every aspect of the campaigns - economic development, technological research, diplomatic overtures, military operations, even technical battles - but none of it is particularly gripping. [Oct 2005, p.80]

Comic aficionados may be eager to become a part of an interactive comic world, but fanboys, prepare yourselves for a terribly average adventure. The only reason to consider Fantastic 4 is to cope with PC gaming's summer drought.

Lacking ideas, Area 51 plays up its license (and lessons learned from finer shooters) for a solid but unsurprising foray into the FPS field. Pity that it isn't more.

A great-looking game with a few good ideas, but it just gets too many things wrong. Despite the initial promise, the result is a pale imitation of "Total War" and a poor attempt at simulating history.

Honestly, it looks like Digital Extremes spent its entire time perfecting the proprietary map editor (which works fantastically) instead of making the game fun.

Trying to please hardcore and casual strategy gamers, Cossacks II satisfies neither. [Aug 2005, p.87]

The A.I. remains pretty predictable, so most of the single-player challenge is due to the A.I.'s larger armies. Worst of all, there's no PBEM. With battles lasting for hours, multiplayer games are just too difficult to coordinate and play.

Frightful fun is ultimately obscured by an even more frightful co-op camera. [Aug 2005, p.88]

For kids, it's great. For adults, eh, not so much. [Aug 2005, p.78]

Fast paced and flawed, but ultimately enjoyable. [June 2005, p.88]

A fairly standard MMORPG that may be too little too late. [Aug 2005, p.80]

If simulating multiple seasons in a sitting is your dream, this is your game. [Aug 2005, p.85]

Dredd-fully underwhelming. [July 2004, p.75]

A solid war game with the worst dialogue and acting ever. [June 2005, p.90]

A cheap excuse to shoot things out of the sky. [June 2005, p.88]

A deep strategy game with charmingly simple mechanics. [May 2005, p.94]

The biggest problem is that the province-based movement system doesn't lend itself well to re-creating the kinds of huge land campaigns that give a good strategic war game its sense of scope. [Apr 2005, p.91]

Story twists, character interaction, and a built-in hint system keep Sentinel from being completely boring and frustrating; it's a shame that the repetition in certain worlds robs this tomb-raiding adventure of its potential. [Apr 2005, p.90]

The incessant clicking is reminiscent of, but nearly as gratifying as, using a retractable ballpoint pen. [Apr 2005, p.86]

It's "Commandos" with dozens of units and none of the character. [Jan 2005, p.106]

This roller coaster occasionally stalls and has some long stretches that could have used a corkscrew or even a slight bank. [Feb 2005, p.80]

Just like the last Blitzkrieg. No, really. [Feb 2005, p.89]

The real bonus here is the campaign editor, which allows for the creation of linked campaigns. [Dec 2004, p.99]

The main problem with Zoo Tycoon is its lack of a fast-forward button: A single year of gameplay consumes a grand total of six hours. [Feb 2005, p.85]

Fast-paced and graphically crisp, Space Interceptor is a good quick fix. It just gets old fast. [Feb 2005, p.88]

Everything from basic commerce to trade has been significantly revamped. [Jan 2005, p.105]

A.I. is A-crappy. I have rarely encountered a game that evinces more clearly the rigid, stimulus-response nature of algorithmic thought. [Jan 2005, p.100]

Great gunplay, shame about the A.I. [Jan 2005, p.94]

More cute than funny - unless you're seven. [Feb 2005, p.85]

With some A.I. tweaks, flyable torpedo bombers, and various bug fixes, this game would be a sim junkie's dream. [Jan 2005, p.97]

The humbling slam-dunk competition attempts to cement EA's street credibility but fails. It's just too unforgiving to be considered anything other than a flashy extra. [March 2005, p.77]

The multiplayer learning curve is a short, sharp slide into the deep end with the sharks. [Holiday 2004, p.80]

It distinguishes itself through its presentation, gameplay system, and a subject matter that's neglected in computer war games. [Apr 2005, p.90]

The controls can be semiclunky, both for issuing orders and for things like manual aiming. [Jan 2005, p.98]

Virtual Skipper 3 truly is the Holy Grail of sailing sims, satisfying both hardcore and casual virtual helmsman. [Oct 2004, p.84]

The pathfinding problems suck a lot of the joy out of this WWII tankfest. [Nov 2004, p.86]

If you're looking for RTS writ large (and slow), TOD is worth checking out. [Apr 2005, p.89]

Could have been great. Instead, it's a near miss - a great idea poorly presented and inadequately explained. And that ain't my bag, baby. [Dec 2004, p.94]

A good game, but its convoluted interface, some minor bugs, and the lack of a detailed manual make it a tedious and frustrating game to learn for both old-school Europa fans and newbies alike. There are rewards to be had here—but you're going to need to put in some time to reap them.

It'll eventually dawn on you that you're playing the world's most elaborate version of tic-tac-toe. [Holiday 2004, p.94]

Just so very average. It does nothing spectacular, nor does it do anything truly grievous. [Holiday 2004, p.96]

Battlefront gives fans a perfectly good way to act out their fantasies of being a grunt in either of hte series' wars. [Holiday 2004, p.82]

The only thing missing from Ryzom's customizable battling, harvesting, and crafting systems is a lack of bothersome bugs. [Jan 2005, p.102]

NHL 2005's real merit lies in its online play and the new Free4All mode; the raw power and speed of the single-player game is way overdone. [Jan 2005, p.107]

It can take a long time to earn enough money to explore beyond the initially accessible towns. But once you have a nice fleet at your command, it's a continually engaging experience. [Dec 2004, p.98]

Yet another great console game undermined by a sloppy port. [Jan 2005, p.104]

What's worse than a mediocre piece of shareware? Answer: a $30 retail game that looks and plays like a mediocre piece of sharware. [Oct 2004, p.81]

The developers get credit for trying something new, but the slow gameplay, some dull missions, nonsensical story, and annoying micromanagement make Perimeter unenjoyable. [Sept 2004, p.78]

MIT could use a few of this game's puzzles as its early admissions test, but Aura's still enjoyable overall. [Oct 2004, p.81]

A fairly standard action game redeemed by some true suspense and fear. [Oct 2004, p.79]

For casual gamers and casual Harry Potter fans - diehards may be let down. [Nov 2004, p.82]

Forget what you learned in previous games, because it won't apply here. [Aug 2004, p.76]

A good adaptation of the movie, but the controls could be easier. [Sept 2004, p.76]

In spite of any number of small improvements, the new game feels more stale and by-the-numbers than the first one. [Aug 2004, p.78]

Despite the patient sneaking this game encourages, Contracts seems a little rushed. [Aug 2004, p.73]

There's never a sense that you could make your way through a level based purely on your own sense of ingenuity and improvisation. [July 2004, p.76]

A good historical RTS, desite flawed infantry and some puzzlelike maps. [July 2004, p.71]

A seriously intended and well-made game and its heart is in the right place, but I got tired of it sooner than I expected. [May 2004, p.90]

There's no base building or tedious resource harvesting. Instead, there's tedious resource trafficking. [July 2004, p.74]

Sacred is about as close as a game can get to being "Diablo" without getting lawyers involved. [July 2004, p.73]

Howsabout a nice whack upside the head with a tire iron for a horrific save-game feature that is simultaneously terribly conceived and idiotically implemented?

If Ubisoft can fix the slew of multiplayer problems, the company just might have a real classic on its hands. [June 2004, p.84]

You'd think jumping would be precisely tuned in a game about accuracy, but here, it feels like a crapshoot. [May 2004, p.85]

A marginalized blockbuster. [June 2004, p.81]