The series' modest ambitions are here scaled back to a glum inventory of FPS conventions, its spectacle dampened by hardware limitations and dormant art direction, and its platform-specific novelties largely revealed as fussy irritations, presumably born of a need to promote the struggling Vita's features.

As far as either an authentic simulation or a fun re-imagining goes, it’s like some strange negative of the emperor’s new clothes; the pretty wrapping is there but the body is not. [Mar 2007, p.83]

Occasionally, the glow of sheer ambition nudges polish-related problems away from the light, allowing a few glorious moments to gaze upon what EYE could've been. But un-met ambition isn't enough.

Lords Of Shadow 2 is clunky, ugly and deeply misguided. It’s a game that sees the lord of the damned as a vehicle for rat-powered linear stealth, and that takes a future-Gothic London setting and then sets the action in tower blocks and sewers.

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]

With the exceptions of deplorably bad cutscenes and haphazard signposting, there are few significant flaws here that a steadier gestation couldn’t have resolved. [Aug 2006, p.90]

Its foundations aren't sturdy enough to hold any longterm weight. [Feb 2013, p.110]

Shadow Ops feels like a game put together by a team bored by the clichés of the genre and the special forces material it was given to work with. This quickly communicates itself to the player. [Aug 2004, p.102]

The possibility of this all coming together in a more flexible and engaging manner is still a welcome one. But, for a game based on a culture of reputation, craftsmanship and leaving a mark, Getting Up is one that’ll pass by largely unnoticed. [Mar 2006, p.86]

It's just not accurate or tangible enough to be rewarding, handling with the same kind of wool as Sonic's 3D platformers. [Apr 2006, p.93]

For a series that puts so much stock in its grace and composure, the lack of an intuitive control scheme is hard to overcome. [June 2007, p.86]

For all its wit and swagger, Truckers is inescapably safety-conscious, rewarding the maintenance of a planned route and steady trajectory while more arresting notions - spontaneous risk, for example - fall from the back like poorly fastened cases of moonshine. [Sept 2005, p.99]

Large-scale, new IP RPGs have been something of a rarity on this handheld, but as higher quality titles start to emerge, conformist and mediocre efforts like this become even less attractive and viable. [Feb 2008, p.97]

For all its wit and swagger, Truckers is inescapably safety-conscious, rewarding the maintenance of a planned route and steady trajectory while more arresting notions - spontaneous risk, for example - fall from the back like poorly fastened cases of moonshine. [Sept 2005, p.99]

While the more conventional controls make for a more satisfying experience, they also expose the painful ordinariness of the game. [May 2010, p.102]

A stunt-filled shooter in the vein (but not the league) of Stranglehold, it's a game that takes control away, reverts to how things used to be done, and judders between debilitating combat and haywire presentation. [May 2009, p.92]

It’s just too hard, the physics too capricious, and the tasks too frustrating for words. [Aug 2006, p.85]

Where Black Hawk Down bombards you with exasperating shootouts and tedious escort missions set against a background of jingoism, its competitive modes struggle for the refinements of a game made a decade ago. [Issue#409, p.112]

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

Even at its best, Heroes Reborn: Gemini can't hope to be one of those games that breaks out of licensed-game purgatory. [March 2016, p.116]

After a few hours its lack of variation, poor technical accomplishments and above all its deadening mission repetition make for a hulking disappointment. [Aug 2008, p.96]

Prinny sabotages the player's platforming with unsympathetic controls. [Aug 2009, p.106]

The dev team has an eye for spectacle – a towering golem comprised of cars and other metallic detritus is a visual highlight – but these moments mostly serve to illustrate how dull your actual actions are by contrast. [Dec 2008, p.98]

Hexodius’ dungeon sections aren’t involved enough to offer interesting choices or exploration, but last just long enough to qualify as clunky menu screens.

There is, at least, a pleasing weight to impacts as you thump enemies into walls or slam them into the floor. Good job, too, since there's precious little else to enjoy here. [Issue#391, p.123]

Yes, Beat Down revives the warped charisma of Capcom's beat'em up heyday, but that's the only area where it actually triumphs. [Oct 2005, p.90]

This is a game that prizes style above all else, and emerges a mess because of it. [Issue#331, p.118]

So indebted is dev studio Matrix to the old ways that it seems to have granted a free pass to the old problems. Quest signposting is buried in unclear dialogue snippets, bosses are beaten through trial and error, and grinding is rife. [Dec 2010, p.99]