The game is completely customizable in almost every category including graphics and difficulty.

Some of the puzzles were just a little too peculiar and, if you even manage to figure them out, may leave you thinking “How was I supposed to figure THAT out?”

As far as multiplayer goes, Rune comes with seven deathmatch levels that, much like the single player version, quickly become monotonous. (Oh look. We’re back here again.)

A far cry from the grittiness of "Rainbow Six."

It is a well-done game and is very addictive but everything is just too flat.

A good game, but not one that is going to have a lot of replay value. Once you have gone through it, the only real reasons to dig the discs out again are the arcade classics included within.

An attractive and faithful-enough experience.

Sure to be copied by many games to come, Sacrifice’s easy interface and complex play mechanics prove that Shiny’s creativity and desire to push the limits of gaming have produced another solid title that lives up to the hype.

The courses, while looking extremely good, are just not varied enough.

Worth getting for the bizarre "commercials" that play when the credits roll, or when you're in the network waiting area looking for opponents.

Unless you’re expecting a true snowboarding game, it is hard to be disappointed with SSX.

It looks good, has some clever tracks and is peppy enough to stay exciting for some time.

Nothing but flimsy filler hiding beneath the radical facade.

Difficult to recommend despite its points of quality, because its points of...well, weirdness...are so prominent.

The control scheme is a bit counter-intuitive. While it does work nicely once you’ve gotten used to playing, it makes for some frustrating gameplay for the first hour or so.

It's got a marked cosmetic advantage over competition. When it comes to playability, though, this sucker doesn't even make the scoreboard.

A fine mix of arcade hackin’ and halfway-serious golf sim.

A much bigger oversight is the removal of the PlayStation’s split-screen multiplay in favor of a LAN-based multiplayer mode.

The main thing holding this title back from greatness, or even mediocrity, is its tasteless gameplay.

Currently the high water mark for the PS2.

Ridge Racer V is liable to give players flashbacks to the Commodore 64 days when you could start the game loading, go off and eat lunch, and then return to play the game.

It’s very frustrating, and enough to make more sensitive gamers nauseous. You’ll get angry and start swearing at the TV.

It is one of the “must have” launch titles. You won’t be disappointed.

even though I had more fun playing through Ocarina of Time, overall, Majora's Mask is just as impressive technically and possibly even more rewarding to play because of Link's newfound abilities with each of the masks he acquires.

It will also rekindle a desire in every pen and paper gamer to call up some friends, blow the dust of their D20s and return to the roots of role-playing gaming.

A title bearing the honorable Avalon Hill franchise name deserves much better than dated graphics, flawed gameplay, and shoddy voice acting. I don’t know what Hasbro Interactive/Microprose was thinking.

It will likely satiate role-playing game aficionados who would step over their own mother for something to play on their PS2, but don’t expect Squaresoft-quality gameplay.

The lack of lightgun support and the shortness of the game hurt what is otherwise a great title.

The biggest drawback I found with the game in general was not being able to adequately distinguish other players from the background.

Even if Madden NFL 2001 weren’t the only game in town, it would still be one of the best football games ever.

A video game that should have been percolated a bit longer.

If you like a little humor mixed in with your punches then give this one a workout.

The real fun begins when monsters begin to show up and you must fulfill the requirements for recruiting a Hero that will bash its head in before too many people get gobbled up by the wandering nasty.

Solid and extremely stylish (if unrevolutionary) RTS gaming.

Most everything about the PS2 version makes us cringe, especially since we know how much the PC version of Unreal Tournament rocks.

A fun little racing game that has a lot going for it, though nothing sticks out as being overly great.

Putting a 3D face on a 2D game just doesn’t cut it.

The Pacific based action in CFS 2 includes stunning locations that really show that the battleground was truly a tropical paradise, and well-detailed aircraft to take to the skies. This is really one title not to be missed!

The AI has always been one of the weakest elements in this series but this time around it has been tweaked a bit and these soldiers will now perform a little more realistically.

First-rate graphics, awesome motion captured animation, smooth 3D scrolling, as well as authentic riders, bikes and tracks... It has it where it counts, in the fun category.

While this first PC foray into the Blair mythos is excellent, you needn't bother unless you have a relatively high-end system. If you harbor any doubts as to whether your system is good enough, it isn't. The base requirements (Pentium II 233, etc.) refer to the game running at all, not the game running well when you've got multiple enemies onscreen...and believe me, you will.

But the FPS of the characters rendered their movements choppy and the general artistic schemes – the pudgy blue Pimmons and boringly animated Amazons – were less funny than they were just not to be taken seriously.

The brilliantly motion captured player movement, smarter players and broadcast style presentation are nothing short of awesome and really make for a complete hockey experience.

It just hardly seems like a worthy sequel to the series, and sadly, almost feels like a shell of what could have been a truly inspired game.

Despite nice effects like the lighting on the torches in dungeons and the water effects that let you see the fishies swimming along, the whole game grows rather old rather fast. This happens because the game is indeed old.

Despite the annoying camera work, Sanity Aiken’s Artifact manages to remain a fun game that will leave you excited at the prospect of finding your next Psionic talent and using it on some well-deserving criminals or on your online friends.

One of the best action-movie games on any platform. Some frustrating camera placement and a save-game that takes some getting used to take very little away from the excellent sneak-and-peek gameplay.

For the first time in a single player game, I truly felt I was playing my way through a pen and paper fantasy campaign.

Yes, there's a fairly steep learning curve, and yes, accelerated simulations such as "M1 Tank Platoon II" might look a smidgen better, but those are minor quibbles. If you like tank simulations, or have ever thought you might like tank simulations, this is the game for you.

Multi-game shooters always seemed more like a way for arcades to collect quarters than games to satisfy the gamer. I just can't get into "the zone" long enough for such a shooter to satisfy me.

As Samuel Johnson once said, “He who has not played "Midtown Madness" will find this game a treat indeed; others may be visited by an unsettling sense of déjà vu.” And that’s also a direct quote. I think.

Couple this awesome visual presentation with a solid game engine and then couple that with a painstakingly faithful Voyager plot and you’ve simply got one of the best Star Trek action/adventure games you’re ever going to come across.

Another testament to the release-first, patch-later mentality of the PC games industry, Crimson Skies could have been a near perfect title if a little more time had been spent on quality assurance.

Outstanding visuals, an ominous orchestral score, a well-scripted story with real plot twists, excellent voice acting and a host of brand new ships and weapons, Cataclysm is a sequel to Homeworld as much as "Aliens" was a sequel to "Alien." It’s better, has more action, and plays longer.

A very good and interesting game it is indeed, and it would have gotten a higher rating from this humble reviewer if only they had remembered to include a game-save feature. As Spock was fond of saying: “Most illogical.”

Not only does it add to the original product, but it seems to morph it into something slightly different and new, something definitely a bit more comedic and a bit larger than life.

All about mashing buttons faster and more accurately than anyone else. The only guarantee is fatigued and sore, cramped, arthritic fingers; well, that and Olympic Glory.

Just when Age of Empires II was starting to seem a little played out, Ensemble Studios has made it a game that might just keep you up late again with The Conquerors expansion.

Even if Madden NFL 2001 wasn’t the only game in town, it would still be one of the best football games ever.

A well-told story set on a lush planet with varied environments and a strong action heroin makes FAKK2 one of the best 3rd person action games around.

In theory, this should have been a good game and had some high expectations, but in practice, it should probably dive back to the depths from which is came, and resurface after a few of the flaws have been leaked out.

Without the 'Bots, Metal Fatigue is just real-time strategy grizzle, with them it's neat, cool, fun, even occasionally challenging.

An exceedingly average first-person effort.

The action is intense; the settings are spectacular and the gameplay is very well balanced.

With its luscious graphics that beg to be stared at, it’s a shame that Bang!’s gameplay isn’t a little more involving.

Instead of becoming the next greatest event in FPS history, KPC is relegated to nothing more than a well designed, but behind the times scientific curioso.

Even worse are the environments; some of the most amazingly desolate, dreary realms to be included in a game.

At times it’s enough to make the would-be follower of Pharaoh yell, “Holy Moses!”

While other games have had interesting twists, excellent characters, or some other well designed facet to help bring a fresh twist to the story, this game is very standard in its approach. It gets tiresome quickly, and will be an all too familiar romp for RPG fans.

It might not be the prettiest game, but Warlords: Battlecry proves that good gameplay certainly makes up for blunt edge graphics.

A fairly well-developed game. It looks great and is to some degree fun to play. There is however, little that is new to racing games.

Puts its aging competition to shame with its polished visuals and offers a challenging, though sometimes frustrating, single-player experience.

Bringing gamers a sense of nostalgia may be alright in space shooters and RPGs, but in a racing game, especially in the visuals department, it just isn’t right.

Lends itself much better to multiplayer adventuring as there is no central character and, more importantly, the dialogue trees are kept to a minimum while the exploration and adventure are maxxed out.

It’s a slightly empty, guilty and dissatisfying sensation, like pleasuring yourself with an adult mag that you stole from your senile grandpa. Sure, it felt good for a little while, but it was wrong on so many levels that you have to wonder, after the fact, what the Hell made you do it.

It took forever for Kirby to make it to Nintendo 64 but truth be told, after this formulaic and instantly forgettable cartridge, nobody’s likely to start whining about how long it takes for the ol’ pink pudge to make his return. Pass on this one.

Just as "Half-life" and "Unreal" revolutionized the action genre, Deus Ex takes us to the next step and ushers in the Age of the Interactive.

A deep, intense, and well-written space combat simulator, but more implementation masks many of these good traits and can frustrate all but the serious gamer.

A little bit too involved for the average gamer, even a golf fan like myself. It just takes too much work to get onto the professional circuit, where I only recognized a handful of names out of the crowd.

By all rights and intentions, BeachHead 2000 should have been a flaming piece of crap. I'm flabbergasted...Scientists are at a loss to explain why this title is so damned addictive.

As soon as I finished this game (yes, at four in the morning), I pulled my paperback copy of "Dracula" by ol’ Bram Stoker off the shelf and started reading. Anything that makes me want to read up on stuff has got to have something right about it.

The replay value of Shogun: Total War is immense.

Combines spine-tingling combat, sweet character development and solid story with one hell of an editor.

One of the best looking, and surely the smoothest-playing 3D RTS (actually, RTT) games currently available for the PC.

This time the settings are richer and the environment is fuller and he's got help.

Precisely good for two-player gaming; nothing more, and not much less.

Magnificent. Until now, GoldenEye was arguably the best reason for gamers over the age of 16 to own a Nintendo 64. No longer.

The limitless possibilities that Unlimited offers with its tools can be easily overlooked by the fanatical aspiring mayors of PC-land.

Added bonuses like the inclusion of the original side-scrolling turbo-cooling itty-bitty-bit masterpiece plus a tremendous hybrid of classic and new with 3D-ified straight and narrow, linear and delineated track design adds great gobs of icing to the cake.

A few minor tweaks, and maybe some fan-based testing would have put this game closer to greatness, but it still manages to come together and deliver a solid game.

RoK has given gamers the opportunity to take the road less traveled and, if gamers will only grasp onto these new possibilities, this will make all the difference.

More of a strategy-focused game than a real dog-fighter, Allegiance is as simple or as complex as you want to get. Just don’t expect to save the universe from the cockpit of your starship.

Like its predecessor, Thief II is subtle, deep and refined, words associated with the action game genre about as often as they are with fraternity hazing rituals.

The in-game menus are terribly slow to load, f’rinstance, and the era-specific theme music in Evolution mode will quickly drive you over the edge.

Despite some control issues and flaky computer AI, Ridge Racer 64 is an extremely satisfying addition to Namco's prized franchise. It may have taken a full generation for Ridge Racer to hit the N64 but I think you'll agree with me here, it's never too late for this much fun.

A dangerously detailed and addictive experience for the power-mad behavioural researcher in all of us.

Since the X universe limits you to mostly trade and price tracking, X starts to feel like "Excel in Space" only with better graphics than the Microsoft game. Eventually, X’s lack of depth creates a game of commuting, which kills off your urgency to see the main story come to a conclusion.

By the time you finish the game, you’ll have ingested almost a full novel’s worth of text. Button-mashing "Diablo" junkies may balk at this, but Planescape: Torment really isn’t for them in the first place.