Invisible War's mechanics are often repetitive and frustrating, but the choices you make are not, which helps keep things interesting even when you're unlocking yet another door with another multitool for the upteenth time. [Mar 2004, p.72]

Oh yeah, Terminator 3: War of the Machines also has vehicles! Too bad they suck. [Apr 2004, p.84]

Has that woefully underbaked, released-just-in-time-for-the-holidays taint to it, and that's just a colossal shame, because underneath that nastiness is a great, great expansion. [Mar 2004, p.78]

The game is aesthetically stuck in the past, the single-player campaign is a typical helping of fantasy storytelling, and the multiplayer experience feels way too familiar. [Mar 2004, p.76]

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

The best game ever for gamers without the energy to move their thumbs from the A button to the B button on their gamepads. [May 2004, p.89]

The environments, while beautiful, are disappointingly void of interaction, and the story, while interesting, is wholly irrelevant to the gameplay. [Mar 2004, p.81]

High production values, a compelling narrative, charming characters, and sharp aesthetics make for a sophisticated little adventure that's well beyond most of its ilk. [Mar 2004, p.80]

Checkpoint placement is consistent only in its inconsistency. [Feb 2004, p.83]

A masterpeice from BioWare. Easily the best RPG of the year, and possibly the best Star Wars game ever made. [Feb 2004, p.61]

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

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

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]

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

Dynamic plot twists and cut-scenes flow through every exotic locale, and the later-game mechanical conundrums are worthy of the Broken Sword series. [Feb 2004, p.86]

Racing doesn't get much better...unless you're in a real car. [Mar 2004, p.75]

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

It can stand on its own as probably the best 4X strategy game of the past five years. [Feb 2004, p.67]

Relentlessly funny, constantly entertaining, and a total joy to play. For Simpsons fans (and is there anyone who isn't one?), it's nothing less than a must-have game. [Feb 2004, p.64]

This brilliantly desinged game breaks out of the cliches of the collectible-card-game genre ("Magic", "Pokemon", etc.) and provides gameplay that can rival that of the deepest of strategy games. [May 2004, p.84]

Unfortunately, the game shipped with its pay-to-play multiplayer unfinished and nonfunctional, so the only groundbreaking you'll do until that's fully completed is the kind that results from plummeting off cliffs.

It's a maddeningly beautiful game filled with the tedium of being an observer more than a player. [Feb 2004, p.81]

One of the best five-on-five games for any platform. [Mar 2004, p.84]

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]

Adult gamers will find it too basic, children may find it too frustrating, and fans of lord of the Rings will prefer a more authentic Tolkien experience. [Feb 2004, p.73]

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

Although the vocally overdubbed actors try to give decent performances, Conspiracies' overall quality is so much like a B movie that you'll be surprised no killer tomatoes ever attack - and you just might be praying that they do. [May 2004, p.83]

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