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

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]

Just barely enought to satisfy true Shadowbane fans. [Apr 2004, p.90]

Republic would have been good as a pure strategy game with more varied gameplay, or as a straightforward role-playing adventure with developed plot, characters, and actions. Instead it feels like the effort put into both parts prevented either from really being finished. [Dec 2003, p.134]

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

There's some high-flying fun in this racer, but the numerous unnecessary hurdles will send you cruising back to the store to return Beam Breakers. [Feb 2003, p.88]

A clever combination of real-time strategy and The Sims isn't clever enough to hold your interest for long.

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

While Joan has some serious flaws, Enlight has shown it can create an interesting character; better A.I., for one, would do a lot to improve future titles. [May 2004, p.88]

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

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

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]

I'm going to be blunt: It looks like complete crap. [July 2002, p.65]

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

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

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]

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.

It falls into this trap, sacrificing gameplay and strategic choice for the "drama" of heavy scripting. [Mar 2003, p.109]

The grand total of six events feels rather skimpy, and they're very uneven in how well they play. [May 2002, p.90]

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

Unfortunately, as much as Siege of Avalon improves upon "Diablo"-esque storytelling, it's a huge step backward in terms of gameplay. [May 2002, p.84]

Anyone who wants a game of this sort will be happier with one of the modern versions of "Gauntlet." [Jan 2003, p.120]

Numerous bugs and missing features indicate Strike Fighters was pushed out the door a few months before its time. Again. [Mar 2003, p.105]

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]

If you want carpal tunnel syndrome, there are far more entertaining ways to contract it. [Feb 2003, p.80]

So maybe I'm uncool, maybe not, but I'm old enough to recognize a bad game with a weak hook and no heart. [July 2003, p.89]

If you're a big fan of the show, not a big computer gamer, and not that bright, then this game is well worth your time and money. [Aug 2003, p.90]

Sure, it has loads of snazzy graphic features like persistent footprints on clay courts and nice shadow effects, but all they do is slow the game down to a brain-twisting crawl. [Jan 2002, p.119]

Fighting endless hoodlums, mercenaries, and thugs is not necessarily a bad thing -- monotonous fighting in repetitive missions is. [Dec 2003, p.136]

All enemies are deaf and have the attention span of a spider monkey on crack. [Apr 2004, p.82]

It's the exact same game you've been playing for about the past four years. Except with ninjas. [Feb 2005, p.81]

A huge letdown that only the most hardcore Empire Earth fan might enjoy. [Jan 2003, p.125]

There isn't much variety in character appearance, which is disappointing, since other games are offering an incredible amount of customizability. [Aug 2004, p.74]

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]

It’s unfortunate, but the experience – at least for now – is awkward, plodding, and, worst of all, inconsistent. [Mar 2002, p.76]

In short, boobs will not make a man endure a bad videogame. [Holiday 2004, p.102]

A few patches from fun. [Feb 2006, p.72]

Simply without depth. [Aug 2005, p.87]

The 2D graphics are slow, jerky, and eye-strainingly tiny. It’s almost impossible to distinguish different unit types from each other. [Feb 2002, p.88]

A year later, the presentation isn't dazzling anymore, and the shell is even emptier. [Mar 2003, p.108]

You will find mothing but carpal-tunnel-inducing mouse clicking, pointless chitchat, and a stat system that plays out like a shallow "Sims" rip-off. [Oct 2005, p.80]

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

A good naval warfare sim undermined by bugs and missing features. [June 2002, p.93]

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]

The game's biggest annoyance - the finite nuber of saves allowed during each mission. [Nov 2003, p.140]

Why pay when they can find plenty of custom scenarios to download for free? [Apr 2003, p.106]

Some of the quests you'll receive are actually quite cool..., but mostly the chores are mundane and the gameplay very linear. [Apr 2002, p.94]

A game for which the adjective "tolerable" was invented. There's nothing terrible about Harbinger, but there's nothing much good, either. [June 2003, p.89]

A stunning example of why adventure games aren't as popular as they once were. [Aug 2004, p.82]

In the end, though, there's just not enough fruit underneath all the rind. If it's an all-in-one medieval strategy game you're after, just Alt-Tab really quickly between "Medieval: Total War" and "Castles II"--that'll come closer than Stronghold 2 does.

A tedious combination of elementary puzzles and primitive fighting. [Dec 2002, p.118]

It's easily the best yet, in the sense that it's the first Dragon's Lair you generally won't hate playing. [Mar 2003, p.90]

A big step backward for the Commandos franchise. While the game would like to evoke "Saving Private Ryan" and other WWII films, sadly the movie that actually comes to mind while playing is "Groundhog Day," only with Nazis and a Quick Load button.

As dry and inviting as the Arabian Desert. [Nov 2003, p.146]

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

The brilliant game design endures, like a sweet-smelling rose atop a giant mountain of dung. [Oct 2002, p.106]

It has a few great moments, but it seems like an incomplete collection of half-finished ideas. [Nov 2003, p.126]

With a poor presentation and poor gameplay, War Times feels like an overpriced piece of budgetware that's destined to languish in bargain bins until its desiccated corpse turns to powder and is blown from our memory. [Aug 2004, p.82]

If this game game came out four years ago, maybe. Today, no. [Apr 2004, p.86]

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

Great if you like beautifully rendered landscapes, not so great if you like good A.I. and usuable controls. [Sept 2004, p.72]

Further compounding the game into sheer mediocrity is the downward spiral of the A.I. [Sept 2003, p.102]

A rare combination of frustration and boredom. [Feb 2004, p.85]

For those of you who crave endless realism in your war games, it's probably as realistic a military simulation as you'll get without risking being exposed to IEDs and insurgent attacks. For the rest of us, it simply fails as a game. [Apr 2005, p.87]

Boss battles are so routine as to be laughable, and that's about all the laughter you'll be doing, as NOLF's great comedic dialogue is noticeably absent. The entire game feels slapped together. [Feb 2004, p.79]

Fast and temporarily thrilling, SSC nevertheless lacks the depth and polish today's racers demand. [Apr 2002, p.106]

The bimbo of graphic adventure games: both pretty and stupid... When the puzzle solutions aren't illogical, they're horrifically repetitive. [Dec 2003, p.129]

Clusterball is one serious cluster-fu...No, I said I wouldn't do it, and I won't. [Apr 2002, p.101]

The Arabs are the most disappointing addition to the game. Instead of a fully realized faction, they're window dressing. [Jan 2003, p.110]

Archangel's plot is almost nonexistent... The light at the end of the tunnel needs a new bulb. [Apr 2003, p.112]

A long exercise in target practice, with lifeless enemies in dull levels. There's no saving during a mission, the graphics are weak, and there's no team-based action. What's worse, there's just no depth, artistry, or genuine thrills to be had. [Aug 2004, p.79]

A shrug-inducing "so what" game that - judging by the barren servers - seems to be keeping players away in droves. [May 2004, p.86]

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

Don't expect anything pretty, but with this kind of war game, you basically have to accept that the meat is in the mechanics... Solid, smart, and old. [Apr 2005, p.89]

A pretty limited fighter, though its online features save it from beingi a complete loss. [Apr 2004, p.83]

Real War simply overpromises and underdelivers. [Feb 2002, p.103]

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

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

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]

The gameplay is not only less sophisticated but also far less soccer-like than either of the two serious alternatives on the market. [Feb 2005, p.89]

I don't think I've ever seen worse pathfinding in a game. [May 2002, p.75]

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]

Winning battles is more a result of mass and aggression than tactical coordination. [March 2005, p.76]

The concept wasn't bad, but N:D's uninspiring execution and lack of depth make for a forgettable gaming experience... Rock/paper/scissors is a more challenging strategy game. [Nov 2003, p.136]

Even if you tolerate Ripper's lack of interactivity because of its swiftly paced, absorbing story, the game's anticlimactic, unsatisfying finale will leave you feeling as frustrated as those original London police were back in 1888. [May 2004, p.89]

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

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]

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

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

Since only LAN play is supported, it's doubtful you'll ever experience multiplayer. [June 2004, p.86]

Provides only a been-there-done-that setting and story line. [July 2004, p.75]

It will always be clear what's expected of you - in fact, you'll likely identify the killer long before your character does. [Feb 2004, p.87]

Although Warlords IV is by no means a horrible game, it's something far more damning: strangely joyless and conspicuously missing the spark of enthusiasm that often manages to find its way into even the worst of games.

Adults might find it simplistic, repititious, and boring, but it's possible that younger kids might find it accessible, challenging, and addictive. [Nov 2002, p.124]

Proof that not everything made in nine months is a bundle of joy. [Aug 2005, p.78]

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]

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