Maybe I'm way off base here, but I expect my games to contain actual gameplay and not be a series of ong, poorly acted cut-scenes, lightly salted with puzzles that require the intelligence of a gnat to solve. [Oct 2002, p.114]

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

What stinks more than anything is SOE's treatment of the game's devoted fans, who find themselves spurned by the developer's hope that a dumbed-down gaming experience will appeal to a wider audience. [Feb 2006, p.76]

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.

Twenty to 30 hours of gameplay, and not a single one of them worth a damn. [July 2003, p.84]

Absurdly archaic in how it rewards tank-rush techniques. The only path to victory often involves churning out a mass of units and then rushing. [Feb 2002, p.88]

X3 sometimes morphs into a derivative on-rails shooter during scripted story missions. [Feb 2006, p.74]

Like the original ZT, the difficulty level involved in the gameplay is practically nonexistent. [Mar 2003, p.108]

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]

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

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

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

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

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

With its lackadaisical pace, clumsy action sequences, and surreal atmosphere that's more disjointed than disturbing, Silent Hill 2 is a nightmare, but only to play. [Apr 2003, p.116]

What am I afraid of? Bad games, and Nosferatu seriously scares me. [Feb 2004, p.90]

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

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

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

It is incredibly boring - you're basically watching an episode of the television show while contributing sporadic mouse clicks. [Mar 2003, p.106]

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]

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 buggiest game I’ve ever played: I stopped counting types and incidents of crashes after 45 train wrecks spanning multiple, top-of-the-line computers at our lab. [Jan 2002, p.110]

Above all, the writing and voice acting are far superior to most other videogames'. [Oct 2005, p.76]

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

Bad A.I. and no realism, but who cares? The nonstop rat-a-tat-tat of automatic weapons in hostile environments gives Team Sabre its charm. [Apr 2004, p.91]

This stunning mood is crushed by an interface that has all the charm and convenience of a TPS report. [Sept 2003, p.95]

A game of amazing promise delivers mostly crushing disappointment. [Jan 2003, p.122]

A stunning sci-fi-themed shooter that makes "Halo" look hollow. [Feb 2004, p.80]

The biggest problem with Trade Empires is that the absence of everything except the trade engine makes the game seem unusually flat. [Jan 2002, p.100]

Anyone who's made it through puberty will likely be embarrassed by the game's lame toilet humor. [Jan 2003, p.127]

It's a bit repetitive, and it should be about four times longer—an experienced prankster can finish it in a single afternoon. Other than that, this one is a keeper.

Considering the lack of realism and the repetitiousness of gameplay, I can’t imagine computer gamers getting into it. [Feb 2002, p.99]

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]

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]

By far the best-looking and most entertaining simulation in the series so far. But the improvements are marred by A.I. oddities and performance problems. [Feb 2003, p.82]

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

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

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.

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

Calling it an homage, an interpretation, a clone, or even a rip-off doesn't change the fact that it's a damn fine game. [March 2005, p.75]

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

Graphics aside, the final nail in O.R.B.'s coffin is its pace. Ships crawl across the screen, and even at triple speed (as fast as it gets), it seems to take an eternity for anything to navigate the map. [Mar 2003, p.86]

A game you'll probably either love or loathe. [Apr 2002, p.104]

If I want impossible, I'll call my mother. [Apr 2004, p.89]

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]

With any luck, this game is only the beginning of a rich, rewarding series. [Jan 2005, p.96]

A solid racing game that still pales in comparison to Papyrus' "NASCAR Racing 2002." [Feb 2003, p.92]

It definitely packs some solid gameplay that sci-fi fans are sure to dig. [Feb 2004, p.76]

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

This game's perpetually unnerving ambience, interesting puzzles, and unique ghost story may very well help you forgive its graphical flaws. [Nov 2003, p.129]

The VC are dirty cheaters in this lush but restrictive and nonsensical portrayal of sniper life in the Vietnam War. [July 2003, p.78]

There are only two view levels, and they’re both fairly distant. This makes it not only hard to find animals or workers in a crowded zoo, but also, frankly, less fun to watch. [Feb 2002, p.98]

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

Your troops waste their limited ammunition like they're in a John Woo movie. [Mar 2004, p.91]

A tad creaky, but pepped up with plenty of spine-tingling and head-scratching action. [Jan 2005, p.106]

It looks like, well, a badly ported PS2 game with washed-out colors, graphical glitches, and only average textures and modeling. This, along with the appallingly bad driving sequences, horrible characters, plentiful cliches, and cringe-inducing dialogue, proves that unlike "Splinter Cell," not all console/PC marriages are made in heaven. [Sept 2004, p.77]

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.

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

This is about as simple as you can get without stumbling into the action genre. [July 2002, p.74]

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

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

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 tedious, tasteless mess. [Aug 2005, p.76]

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

I'll live with the skewed strikeout numbers and the other quirks, because there isn't a better game. [July 2002, p.70]

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

Adds a refreshing twist to what could have been a tiresome game. [Sept 2002, p.85]

A no-frills port of an aged, derivative, repetitive shooter. [Apr 2004, p.85]

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]

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

Black Thorn’s multiplayer additions will be its main attraction. The rest is fine, if unexciting. [Feb 2002, p.86]

Just a bunch of single-player missions that could have been made with the scenario editor. [Jan 2003, p.118]

Ultimately, this is a fifth-rate way to experience the joys of Virtua Tennis. Your $30 would be better spent going toward a used Dreamcast from eBay along with a cheap copy of the original game. [Feb 2003, p.96]

Not nearly as amusing as the host of yesteryear, this one delivers a couple of groaners between the 300 questions. [May 2004, p.83]

Gorgeous, with great lighting effects, tremendous fireballs, and richly detailed models. [Mar 2002, p.79]

Snazzy graphics, professional voice acting, and captivating gameplay combine to create what is easily the highpoint of the series. [July 2002, p.78]

Add in a console-style save system that only lets you save progress at the start of a level, and you've got a guaranteed recipe for infuriation. [Jan 2005, p.96]

The developers created an interesting game with some novel features, but they then saddled it with controls that completely negate the experience. [Jan 2002, p.114]

A fairly polished and comical game. It's too bad it didn't emulate "Toy Story" a little more, though, and provide a better plot and stellar acting. [Holiday 2004, p.98]

As uniquely unnerving as its predecessor. [Holiday 2004, p.92]

From the moment you enter CDV Software's postacoptalyptic online world, you'll be confused, bored...and lonely. Which is shame, because as far as concepts go, Neocron has promise. [Apr 2003, p.118]

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]

A good-looking shooter that's only fun for the first few hours.

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

The dearth of vital economic information, lack of a true economy, and repetitiveness make this a tedious exercise at best. [Oct 2003, p.119]

Fight boredom and micromanagement by avoiding this lame stand-alone expansion.

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

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

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]

Fun, but it doesn't do anything groundbreaking. [Apr 2004, p.93]

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]

I used to really love adventure games, but after playing this one, I can't remember why. [Aug 2004, p.79]

Even more than Anna Kournikova, US Open 2002 makes me more interested in tennis. [Nov 2002, p.130]

The A.I. on both sides of the conflict is awesome; as the leader of the counter-terrorists, your A.I. pals will follow you and, in some cases, "take the point:" You can give them orders via the chat feature and they'll do things like camp on a bomb site or guard the bomb.

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]

If you can get past the unresponsive controls and don't mind the overall tasteless but campless tone, Bloodrayne still offers only a few hours of moderately entertaining carnage. [July 2003, p.85]

If you’re a Harry Potter fan, this is a surprisingly fun title. The 7-year-old gives [it] four stars. [Mar 2002, p.88]