This recurrent rehash is branding to serve the genre, and of little benefit to Poke-fans. [Sept 2008, p.96]

Ultimately, Gamelion's lacklustre effort serves as a helpful case study for anybody interested in investigating why no-one's ever made a successful platform game about a character with almost no body weight before.

Had The Official Game provided a consistent overall challenge, it would have been bearable, if unexciting. But it hasn't, and it isn't. [July 2006, p.88]

The game's ambition far outstrips its creator's abilities: damned by execution rather than intent, but damned nonetheless. [July 2009, p.99]

So much of Aqua, though, feels merely like the crude payoff to a tank rush, your fire moving from one stubborn target to the next until victory is declared. [Aug 2010, p.99]

Exploration feels clumsy and laboured, and it’s all too easy to be overwhelmed by a swarm, bumped from wasp to ant and back, stun lock preventing you from firing again as your health bar steadily depletes. We didn’t expect high art, but criminally, Bugs vs. Tanks doesn’t even offer low-budget thrills.

Unforgivably unresponsive controls and a series of poor structural choices quickly reveal themselves and deeply undercut every positive point the game provides. [July 2005, p.95]

It’s a souring of Bomberman’s classic formula, and it hasn’t been compensated for with any new thinking, leaving older editions to continue reigning supreme. [Nov 2006, p.91]

This game did not need to be a bad one: the premise remains ripe with extraordinary possibilities. This, however, simply squanders them, showing a determination to prioritise style over substance which cripples the game and damages gaming as a whole. [Aug 2004, p.94]

Realmforge is clearly a student of the genre, but budget is king here, and the studio lacks the financial clout to even pierce the flesh of a crowded market. Despite being crafted with noble intentions, Dark succeeds only in sucking the life out of itself.

Clock Tower 3 is never scary: rather it's unwitting proof of the banality of evil. [June 2003, p.101]

There are flashes of what might have been, but otherwise Brawlout doesn't feel so much a plucky underdog as a no-hoper, entering a fight it knows it can't win in the hope of a big payday just for showing up. A first-round stoppage to the champion, then, with the challenger being booed out of the ring. [March 2018, p.122]

We struggle through, resisting the urge to trigger the final heist early. [Issue#371, p.114]

Glitchy. [Sept 2010, p.99]

ToL's only saving graces are the hammy acting and daft moves. [Sept 2010, p.102]

A cycle of challenges that never transcend routine. If this is what new technology does to old heroes, perhaps they're best left in the past. [May 2011, p.97]

Wrist ache is inevitable, but it's the imprecision of the strength gauge that ends up causing the most pain. [Sept 2010, p.103]

Slant Six Games cut its teeth on handheld SOCOM games, but no tactical subtlety has filtered down to this title. Operation Raccoon City is a gory duck shoot in a series that's already produced the definitive action game, and letting you experience its gore-soaked trudge with friends is its only genuine appeal.

Had The Official Game provided a consistent overall challenge, it would have been bearable, if unexciting. But it hasn’t, and it isn’t. [July 2006, p.88]

Platinum needs to take a little more care when it comes to picking its battles. [Aug 2016, p.110]

The world doesn't have the charm to warrant forgiveness, and progress-halting bugs prevent it anyway. With regular AI freezes and vanishing items, a mistimed autosave can prove fatal. Ultimately it all invites the refashioning of another line from Romero. When there's no more room in development hell, the dead losses will walk the Earth.

A messy jumble of broken parts. [Aug 2016, p.112]

It’s just a murky brew of meaningless, exploitative dysfunction filling an empty game, and it leaves a bitter taste. [Dec 2006, p.90]

When compared to its rivals, Rock Revolution is an embarrassment regarding content, presentation and playability. [Jan 2009, p.96]

The consistently poor controls of Sonic’s 3D outings make it seem like Sonic Team has convinced itself that this is how this aspect of the franchise should rightly be, and everyone else should just learn to deal with it. [Christmas 2006, p.82]

This game did not need to be a bad one: the premise remains ripe with extraordinary possibilities. This, however, simply squanders them, showing a determination to prioritise style over substance which cripples the game and damages gaming as a whole. [Aug 2004, p.94]

The tactical elements are actually quite clever – grabbing enemies will bait the police into cowering submission – but it soon transpires that this is the game's one good idea. [Nov 2006, p.87]

By any standards that have existed during the last ten, Without Warning is a work of stultifying incompetence that seems to hate its own players. [Dec 2005, p.108]