The surprise, given the unplayability of the strategic game, is that this is easily the best "Magic" rip-off ever done for a PC, handily beating the official game from a couple years back. [Mar 2002, p.93]

A textbook case of glorious buildup and shattered expectations. [Feb 2004, p.72]

While the visuals are good, they aren't nearly as spectacular as they could have been. [May 2002, p.76]

Despite a spectacular-looking engine, intriguing units, and some original gameplay, Generals doesn't capitalize on opportunties to be a shining light in the genre, and instead ends up as just decent. [Apr 2003, p.74]

You'll be praying for at least a competent if not sparking conversationalist... For now, the game is pretty boring. [Apr 2003, p.104]

As a simulation of the full flying experience, this one-man project can't compete with the refinement of "FS2004," but for the tinkerer or virtual pilot looking for unique flying experiences, it's a fun toolkit to dive into. [Ver 7.40; Apr 2004, p.93]

A complete lack of mouse support is the painful tip of this iceberg. [June 2003, p.104]

Victoria could be a classic after a few patches, but in the initial release, you're paying Paradox to beta test their game. [Mar 2004, p.79]

The great battle system, the witty main characters, and the play length aren't enough to overcome the lackluster graphical updates and the fact that the game doesn't really work for anyone who has bought a computer since October of last year. [May 2002, p.92]

While the game does suffer from the homogenization that the game system imposes, for traditional wargame-style play it works quite well. [May 2002, p.81]

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 concept but is filled with crippling annoyances that drag down the entire experience. [Nov 2002, p.120]

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

The dated visuals won't grab you, but the game's depth keeps things interesting if not addicting. [June 2003, p.98]

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

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

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

Unpatched, UFO will drag, stutter, and ultimately die a repeated death while a weird save-game bug devours hard-drive space. It's a profound shame, too, because lurking under the seven layers of ugly is an otherwise very good game.

The graphics are upgraded but still feel dated, and in the absence of any gameplay improvements, Combat Mission: Afrika Korps feels suspiciously like a scenario pack. [Apr 2004, p.83]

The overwhelming masses of numbers and options make MOO3 harder to comprehend than its more intuitive predecessors. [May 2003, p.88]

A great scenario editor can't lift this average grand-tactical war game above "Korsun Pocket." [Nov 2003, p.142]

It contains features any die-hard--and patient--historical strategy gamer can get excited about. [Mar 2004, p.91]

An odd duck of an RPG, Empire of Magic both entertains and annoys. [Aug 2003, p.82]

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

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

Beneath the cartoonish atmosphere lies a relatively complex business management simulation. [Feb 2003, p.87]

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

Once things are set in motion, there's not much to do aside from the occasional tweak. [June 2003, p.85]

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]

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

This system lacks some of the tension of a tactical game, but it bodes well for the follow-up scheduled for this wiwnter. [Sept 2002, p.88]

The aggravating and lame discussions are enough to make you lose your head. [June 2003, p.90]

If only the bugs weren't as deep as its design. [July 2002, p.68]

An exciting puzzle game, and the ending creatively explains the link between the locales you've visited. Despite Stone's imperfections, this nicely improved sequel is worth digging up. [Aug 2003, p.86]

Although it offers a mix of strategy, vehicle-based shooting, and third-person action, none of these elements surpass mediocrity due to the lukewarm gameplay. [Feb 2003, p.84]

For true devotees, Breakthrough is probably worth the $29.99 price tag. For everyone else, Breakthrough is an appetizer: good while it lasts, but lacking the substance of an entree. [Dec 2003, p.140]

The A.I. in this year's version is so lame, it may be a step backward. [Feb 2003, p.90]

Like Buddy's Casino, the first business you manage in the game: solid and full of promise, but ultimately unable to knock off the big boys further up the street. [Jan 2003, p.125]

The interface works well for executing moves but poorly for keeping track of your titans' status. [Feb 2004, p.82]

The new combat system is an almost unmitigated disaster. [July 2002, p.73]

Anyone who gets off on the violence in this game is reveling in violence solely for violence's sake. [Sept 2002, p.78]

Despite the arcade emphasis, flying these planes is a bitch. [Mar 2004, p.90]

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

Any excitement that might have been generated by the explosions and mayhem cannot hope to compete with the boredom of constant reloads, or the aggravation of hearing the same "witty" banter for the fifth time. [June 2003, p.86]

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

I found myself really disappointed by this unwelcome shift away from the giddy worm-versus-worm combat of earlier games. [Feb 2003, p.88]

An unabashed retread of concepts that were innovative four years ago. Absolutely no attempt has been made to refine or expand anything.

There's nothing in TSOAF you haven't already seen; in fact, there's a lot less here than what I expected. [Sept 2002, p.73]

Yet another in the seemingly endless procession of PC games released before it was properly finished, with an unacceptably huge pile of bugs, imbalances, and performance problems that needlessly and stupidly obliterate any goodwill the game itself engenders.

The A.I. is far superior to the original, having gone from pathetic to passable. [Feb 2003, p.97]

Barely a step above a patch. An expansion pack like this makes you ask, "Is that all?" [May 2002, p.91]

A sort of misguided reworking of "Homeworld," halfway between a rehash and a remodeling job, but with the intersting bits sanded off. The vividly distinct sides added in the "Cataclysm" expansion are gone, the clean interface is now a mess, and much of the strategy has been methodically cut out. [Dec 2003, p.126]

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]

SR2 might stop you from using monosyllabic words, but I wouldn’t recommend picking it up for an action-packed gaming session. [Mar 2002, p.81]

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

It adds some window dressing and a smattering of new scenarios to a game well past its prime. [Aug 2003, p.81]

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.

If you've recently discovered a fetish for selling barrels of picked herring, there is no game better than Patrician III. [Feb 2004, p.89]

Primal Hunt is going to take the Best Blueballs award for not delivering on what could have been a great expansion. [Nov 2002, p.118]

Throw in the occasional bugs that cause your soldiers to get stuck in corners or run in place, and you may think twice before signing on for this tour of duty. [Feb 2004, p.85]

A great technical simulation that just isn't much fun. [Holiday 2004, p.98]

The game is riddled with bugs that will bring your computer to a standstill... Just as bad are the incredibly long load times. [Mar 2003, p.102]

While it’s fun to go back in time for a little while, I found my attention flagging after a few rounds of each game. [Jan 2002, p.96]

You won’t lack for things to fiddle with in this game, and at times you may feel a bit besieged by how much you need to manage. [Jan 2002, p.102]

While Assimilation is entertaining for short periods of time, it lacks the addictive quality that makes a puzzle game truly great. [Sept 2002, p.91]

The real challenge comes not from a smart enemy, but from a bad interface. [May 2003, p.90]

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

Underneath its underwhelming exterior lurks an enjoyable, well-balanced game that grows on you if you can just stomach the painful delivery. [May 2002, p.74]

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

Nothing really new here, but worth a look if you need a new sim for a slow system. [Nov 2003, p.142]

When the most noteworthy feature of your new expansion is the ability to role-play a frog, maybe that's a sign you're running low n ideas. I'm just sayin'.[June 2003, p.97]

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]

While other games try to improve upon the genre, RuneSword II just wants to be a fun role-playing game. [Jan 2002, p.117]

It's an addictive little game for a while, but after you've beaten it a few times, you won't go back. [Nov 2002, p.129]

The environments, while beautiful, are disappointingly void of interaction, and the story, while interesting, is wholly irrelevant to the gameplay. [Mar 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]

A decent-enough RTS bogged down by a lame RPG and the mistaken belief that milk is funny. [Feb 2004, p.77]

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]

It's a good concept set against an intentionally silly story. But the game is all style and little substance. [Apr 2003, p.110]

The graphics engine has the thick, slow feeling of dragging through syrup, and the interface looks surprisingly chintzy. [Mar 2002, p.83]

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]

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.

Le Mans is boring, the deadliest of sins for a racing game. [Oct 2002, p.104]

For anyone who doesn't share Dr. Smart's very specific obsessions, however, Universal Combat is an exhausting, impenetrable bore. [Oct 2004, p.82]

Coercing people to buy Core Combat so they can get more-potent weaponry seems shady. This expansion should cost a lot less - or be free. [Feb 2004, p.76]

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

Isn't as bad as getting trench foot or being castrated by shrapnel, but it's still so full of tedium and frustration that paying for the game is pretty much an act of self-flagellation. [Feb 2003, p.98]

It doesn't work consistently, but it's entertaining when it does. [Dec 2002, p.134]

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]

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

Has the potential to be a truly unique sim, but it's got the blocky aesthetics of an edutainment title, yet is too complex for junior to play on his own. [Sept 2002, p.85]

The problem here isn't so much with the game's content, which remains as ambitious and poignant as ever, but rather with Konami's sloppy porting efforts to the PC. [Aug 2003, p.78]

Play it for the movies, don't play it for the play. [Aug 2003, p.84]

A game that mostly excels at being better than you think it'll be. [June 2002, p.86]

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]

The simplicity of this system betrays the insidiously difficult gameplay. [Feb 2004, p.82]

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]

Outbreak should get recognition for having one of the most bizarre weapons in any shooter. [May 2002, p.88]