The levels are so gloomy, grey and fog-drenched (there's even fog in the mall) that it's hard to see buildings in the near distance, nevermind enemies. Dark, oppressive and torturous, Omega Strain is about as much fun as a wet weekend in a Kafka novel. [July 2004, p.107]

There's no fluidity or smoothness to combos and combat, so matches are garbled and verge even closer to feeling arbitrary than fight games usually threaten to do. Limited entertainment. [June 2003, p.106]

A strangled idea, and while hard to dismiss it’s difficult to recommend entirely. [Feb 2009, p.94]

There's just no accounting for an excruciating wipeout on the final lap when such possibilities are at the mercy of circumstances as much as they are at the player's skill. But, played with a graceful, Zen-like acceptance – shit happens – Crash 'n' Burn is as enjoyable as it is easy to understand. [Jan 2005, p.97]

The inheritance of wearisome combat, embarrassing characterisation and impoverished audio now joins a bevy of PSP-specific issues... Revelations does succeed in living up to its name, but we’d hoped that such disappointments weren’t the surprise it had in store. [Feb 2006, p.93]

Objects that can be interacted with are circled with an icon, but this only appears if you are looking at exactly the right spot. Indeed, much of Rogue Ops is spent trying to make this cursed cursor appear. It's not a pleasant way to spend an evening. [Feb 2004, p.108]

When it's embracing the ridiculous, Deliver At all Costs shines like a thrashing, paint-dipped monster fish. [Issue#412, p.121]

The game is its own worst enemy, as its fully featured hands-on action never quite sits comfortably with roleplaying combat. [July 2010, p.99]

Whether there truly is a demand for the high-fidelity thrills found on other formats among shooter-starved Wii owners is largely academic, because Conduit 2 - like its predecessor - just isn't up to the task of providing them. [June 2011, p.92]

A bigger problem still is the absence of a motivation to work with other players. Objectives are usually thinly disguised fetch quests or encounters where you must defend a character, usually Cass, against waves of enemies.

At worst, it feels like a hollow exercise in brand extension, a game where the brand itself is utilised to provide a recognisable veneer, and nothing more. It’s an amiable but unremarkable card-battling title, a robust but unspectacular game. [Feb 2006, p.93]

There's practically no aspect that doesn't appear half-hearted. Black Isle's drawn-out death has undoubtedly poisoned Brotherhood, but it's hard to tell if there was ever a good game here to begin with. [May 2004, p.109]

It's a firstperson co-op adventure that hardly disgraces the Metroid name it should never have been lumbered with. [Nov 2016, p.114]

Despite its numerous missteps, it's clear that this is a labour of love for its creators, whose fondness for the original is well know. [Aug 2016, p.118]

Unless you possess a particular zeal for collecting and upgrading slightly different weapons, the familiarity of slicing through yet another batch of spawning creatures soon grinds way at the thin gameplay. [June 2009, p.97]

You may technically be present in this world, but you'll rarely feel truly connected to it. [Issue#322, p.106]

A hastily assembled three-in-one anachronism which proves just one thing: that terrifying and terrible are not mutually exclusive. [Apr 2010, p.93]

An ugly, throwaway cash grab. [March 2015, p.110]

It's a short game, too - we reached the end after hour hours of unhurried progress. But Robinson's focus is on exploration and discovery, and Crytek provides plenty of distractions for the particularly curious. [Jan 2017, p.119]

There are a lot of interesting ideas in here. Roaming in smellovision mode is the game's greatest tool for making you feel like you're piloting an animal. It makes exploring a dull path feel way more exciting than it should be. [Jan 2004, p.102]

With Suda we’ve come to expect the unexpected, but the most disappointing thing about Killer Is Dead is that the unexpected has become predictable. By adhering too rigidly to its creator’s esoteric template, it gives us pretty much exactly what we were anticipating.

The Run doesn't have the structure or production values to carry off its concept. Even if it did, its successes would be smothered by a procession of awful technical flaws. Lacking charm and polish, only the Need For Speed name will sell the game – which will no doubt mean that it fares well enough. But in a year that has seen gaming's biggest franchises one-upping each 
other and demanding players' attention like never before, The Run simply doesn't cut it.

Feels old-fashioned in the least complimentary of ways. [Issue#384, p.116]

While Time Hollow fills a Phoenix Wright-shaped hole in our lives, we do prefer our chaos theory a little less tidy. [Apr 2009, p.123]

The bare-bones Training mode does little to help the inexperienced either. [Apr 2012, p.124]

During a late cutscene, we detect a certain wistfulness in the eyes of both fawn and pup - as if both are silently wishing their talents had been employed in a better game. [Issue#383, p.122]

If action games are at their best when experienced in a flow state, then Atlas Fallen's attempts to harness and bottle this magic are a creditable experiment. It's just a pity it sacrifices so much in pursuit of this ambition. [Issue#388, p.112]

It isn’t perfectly realised, but the subtleties of tactical planning and the bloodiness of frontline slashing combine to suggest a new way forward for realtime strategy. [Aug 2006, p.90]

The most contagious thing about Echoes Of Time is its humour, and there's no shortage of intrigue and mishap in the quests to come. Nor, however, is there a surplus. [May 2009, p.96]

The Kratos we know would most likely growl in disdain. [Issue#422, p.122]

White Knight Chronicles is competent and solid without ever being beautiful or, you'll find yourself realising with a scratch of the head 15 hours in, particularly enjoyable. [Apr 2010, p.99]

Comparisons with "Halo" are inevitable. Unfortunately, Fire Warrior shows how developers can steal elements from superior games, while fundamentally misunderstanding why they worked so well in the first place. [Nov 2003, p.101]

Where it goes wrong is the finale. Almost every major choice is proven irrelevant, and barely any plot threads resolve. [Jan 2016, p.118]

To enjoy EDF, you've always needed to be willing to compromise. Those days are gone. It's never felt so fluid. [Feb 2016, p.116]

Warrior Kings: Battles mixes and matches familiar mechanisms in interesting ways, but it proves that balancing real wargaming with resource-based empire building is as precarious a task as ever. [June 2003, p.105]

Where other games treat romance as a reward or an optional curio, Airport dares to put love at its centre. For that, at least, it deserves praise. And a treat. Perhaps even a belly rub, too. [Issue#360, p.123]

Its stripped-back beat-matching will leave you tapping your foot - but out of impatience as much as approval of its grimy dubstep. [Feb 2011, p.103]

As chaotic and unrefined as it is, however, it motors on with a definite sense of purpose and provides a solid sense of fulfilment, if not necessarily one of accomplishment. [Christmas 2005, p.110]

IGI2 straddles the same uneasy middle ground between (pseudo) realism and playability as its predecessor, and consequently strays from the realm of the enjoyable to that of the tedious far more often than is desirable. [March 2003, p.96]

A more novel addition is a crafting system lets you convert items you find into items and potions, but it functions more like a secondary currency than an alchemical minigame. There’s nothing egregiously wrong with Mini Ninjas, but nor is there a reason to give up on genre highlights like Punch Quest and Jetpack Joyride.

Deformable landscapes, multiple level routes, context sensitive controls, impeccable camera control, inventive boss level. Flipnic would be one hell of an adventure game. [Dec 2003, p.99]

Scars Above bears all the hallmarks of a game that was overscoped and steadily scaled back as development went on, with many of its more intriguing ideas sidelined as the story progresses. [Issue#383, p.117]

The joy of Pirates of the Caribbean is to be found in the variety of the elements delivered - sword fights and canon battles happily sit alongside contraband trade route management. But ultimately none offer a tremendous amount of depth. [Nov 2003, p.107]

Despite its problems, and they're not insignificant, Ancestors has an unusual magnetism. [Issue#337, p.116]

Free-to-play works when you earn the trust of your players over time, but RedLynx instead prods you at every opportunity to remind you that you haven’t paid for your game yet. Even so, once dredged from beneath the cloying mass of microtransactions that suffocate it, Trials Frontier isn’t a bad game as such. It is, however, a very bad Trials game.

The original HOTD: Overkill is no holy grail of the genre, but it did spice up the ailing niche with some eccentricity and zany thrills. To see it massacred in this way is a shame both for the series and for iOS newcomers whose first taste of this most guilty of pleasures will be a sour one.

Sluggish loading times tend to cause frame-rate hiccups at the outset of a multiplayer game, and such issues are exacerbated in the busier environments with a full complement of players.

Rarely does dying feel like the player's fault and, in typical "Sonic Adventure" fashion, the best bits are when you find that the majority of control has been taken away from you, and you're flung around the world at escape velocity. [Mar 2004, p.105]

For now, SimCity is good for the reasons it’s always been good, and bad for reasons old and new. And yes, we wish we could play it on the train. But after spending two weeks as mayor of a series of teeming pocket metropolises, we’re still ready to spend more.

But the lack of crispness in the controls undermines everything else here, and too often does the same to the player.

You could never accuse Strange Scaffold of resting on its laurels. [Issue#367, p.115]

The concept at the core of Yosumin Live is robust, but it fails to hold up under extended play. Either Square Enix has happened upon a brilliant mechanic that has yet to fully bloom or one that it has been unable to sustain. The scant progression Yosumin has made in its transition from webgame to XBLA release indicates that perhaps it is the latter.

The game effectively highlights the difference between a sandbox which facilitates player experimentation, and a game environment that only allows prescribed actions. [May 2009, p.95]

Strafe styles itself as both "the future of videogames" and "the most action-packed game of 1996", and there's a ring of truth to both gags. In folding together and drilling into layers of FPS convention, Pixel Titans has created a game that is at once sentimental and sharply contemporary. It doesn't so much take us back to '96 as transport '96 into the present, picking up threads left by Doom and Quake and weaving its own tapestry out of them, every time you play. [July 2017, p.116]

Many titles are likened to "Devil May Cry," but Van Helsing appropriates that game's structure with such brazen thoroughness that it might be seen as this generation's Great Giana Sisters. [July 2004, p.108]

For all its faults, there's every chance The Town of Light could end up getting under your[ skin]. [April 2016, p.112]

There’s a nugget of brilliance at the heart of Micro Machines that’s too simple and solid to crush, it’s true, but the laughable track editor, fussy interface and baffling load times certainly don’t justify this release. [Aug 2006, p.93]

Tiberian Twilight finds the series at a crossroads, with its glory days gone and its future uncertain. [May 2010, p.100]

Holy disappointment, Batman. [March 2017, p.107]

It's an amusingly quirky notion, but it wears thin as you empty bullets into pile after pile of stationary stationery. [Issue#413, p.114]

The convincing sense of speed is dulled by a lack of weight to the handling, while collisions betray some erratic physics: you can easily be shunted into a respawn by other racers, yet left relatively unscathed by a head-on smash into trees.

Strip out the poor parkour and clunky melee and all you’re left with is a shooter, and a workmanlike one at that.

For a game that trades a competitive level of complexity for more instant action-based appeal, it needs to be slicker in its presentation and explanations. [Jan 2007, p.80]

For players who have dismissed the mech genre in general and Armored Core in particular as requiring too much effort for too little reward, For Answer could offer a compelling reason to dabble. [Jan 2009, p.94]

No one thing ruins Cavorite, but its pile of minor faults eventually overshadow its charisma. The levels can be ingenious, and Dr Cavor's quirky animations and great gimmick feel fresh, but the experience soon devolves into attrition rather than a challenge.

The Baconing is undoubtedly a solid, entertaining addition to the series, but over-saturation has made this once brash and energetic adventure feel slightly predictable.

There's definitely a kind of magic to discover here, but Sea of Solitude too often breaks its own spell. [Issue#335, p.116]

Where the game really succeeds, however, beyond providing a robust and solid, if unassuming model of explorative stealth and attack, is in fulfilling that old and oft-forgotten criterion - putting the gamer inside the movie. [Aug 2005, p.95]

Carve is briefly thrilling, but complete the final tournament and you're left treading water. [Mar 2004, p.102]

Adrift is at its best when you're simply taking in the view and absorbing the gravity of your situation. [Tested with Oculus Rift; June 2016, p.104]

Away from its story missions, Forspoken feels short of ideas, and even the narrative runs out of steam. [Issue#382, p.102]

At first glance, Post Trauma appears to be a meaningful iteration on a familiar formula, but in practice it's more like a cover of a favourite song on the radio. You tap your foot, but you long for the original. [Issue#411, p.114]

If the idea was to get you into Fury's angry mindset, then job done - though in truth you more often feel like one of her lesser-known cousins, Boredom or Irritation. [Issue#328, p.112]

Ultimately, there's a good Pac-Man game buried beneath the hours of Shadow Labyrinth's trend-chasing mediocrity. [Issue#414, p.116]

Techland has played fast and loose with a genre that need refining in to truly let pulses soar. The result is a game that's daft, sloppy fun begging for an injection of refinement. [Feb 2011, p.97]

Omega 6 has value as a curio and as part of Imamura's legacy, but only mildly as entertainment. [Issue#409, p.121]

The Terror Twins don't get the platform they deserve, but they put on quite a show with what they're given. [Issue#336, p.106]

An impressively comprehensive, reasonably captivating though ultimately flawed experience. [June 2005, p.95]

For the majority of Tintin's adventure you'll be happy to kill time hopping and skipping across its gorgeous stages, but unlike the contours of Hergé's timeless stories, there's no hidden treasure to be found beneath its dazzling veneer.

There's an involving, and sinister story to pursue on that front, but as with the City the Kid yearns for, 198X never gets there. [Issue#335, p.120]

A soulless videogame that stands as a grave indictment of how stale a series can become if it loses its spark of creativity and imagination. [March 2005, p.93]

"Quotation Forthcoming"

It seems Buena Vista has gone from making lacklustre titles out of much-loved franchises to making a reasonable game from the coldest of franchises. [Mar 2007, p.82]

The voice acting, dialogue and narrative itself are all weak, thereby demanding that the underlying systems do all the heavy lifting in terms of player engagement - something they sustain, but only to a certain point. [Aug 2010, p.97]

But there's no denying that this feels like straightforward filler, granting rewards without ever feeling rewarding. Much like the brainwashed metahumans the game asks us to put down, we expect the highs of this reluctant forever game are already behind it. [Issue#395, p.104]

In the great crapshoot of Namco thirdperson action games, it’s a better than average throw. [Nov 2006, p.92]

Getting monkey into position, and camera into position behind him, in time to make your desperate dash for a whirling mechanism has everything to do with the old-school frustrations of instant-death gaming and nothing to do with the effortless application of skill that the first game delivered so appealingly. [Feb 2006, p.91]

Rather than expanding on what came before, too often it punishes the committed player, their weapons rendered obsolete, their best gear reset, their flair for teamwork hamstrung by aggressive mobs. [Feb 2015, p.118]

It refreshes with its purity of purpose and ambition, even if, as a mechanising of the grieving process, it’s a game few will wish to return to once completed.

The cold heart beneath the cuddly surface fits the dark tone of the game, which beneath all the whimsy tells a melancholy story. Even so, players drawn in by Pid's dreamy visuals might end up feeling betrayed.

Both the platforming and the shooting hold up, then, but they barely develop after the first few hours. [December 2016, p.116]

Objects that can be interacted with are circled with an icon, but this only appears if you are looking at exactly the right spot. Indeed, much of Rogue Ops is spent trying to make this cursed cursor appear. It's not a pleasant way to spend an evening. [Feb 2004, p.108]

Many titles are likened to "Devil May Cry," but Van Helsing appropriates that game's structure with such brazen thoroughness that it might be seen as this generation's Great Giana Sisters. [July 2004, p.108]

A larger problem: the sense that The Suicide of Rachel Foster is messing around with borrowed ideas it never quite understands. [Issue#343, p.118]

The frequent glitches and pop-up testify to a lack of preparation, and a question has to be asked about what exactly Treyarch has been doing for the past two years. [July 2007, p.89]

It's easy to over-rate launch titles thanks to the shock of the new, doubly so when the control scheme is as interesting as this one, but at its heart Red Steel is just another lever-pulling trawl through big rooms and S-shaped corridors. [Christmas 2006, p.77]

Pleasantly meditative as it can be, it feels worn and ragged in places, that uncomfortable woolly itch coming just too often to ignore. [Issue#366, p.121]

It’s the refusal to broaden the series’ horizons, though, which will serve to damage Sony’s oft-forgotten franchise most in the long run. It leaves Confrontation feeling stale and lost among the recent crowd of tac-shooters. [Christmas 2008, p.100]