That its online component is limited to a linear and moderately laggy co-op mode - and therefore feels even more ponderous than the single-player game - does little to spirit this comic book tie-in from gaming purgatory. [July 2008, p.80]

That its online component is limited to a linear and moderately laggy co-op mode - and therefore feels even more ponderous than the single-player game - does little to spirit this comic book tie-in from gaming purgatory. [July 2008, p.80]

If you can handle inelegant controls, graphics, and story, and a text-heavy menu system, this might hold some appeal. Otherwise, avoid it like lycanthropy. [July 2008, p.81]

Every good idea here is brought down by bad basic design, including a shoddy third-person camera, a too-slow first-person mode, and bizarre forced switching between the two. [Sept 2008, p.82]

This is a weak port that doesn't do Myst justice; it's not worth a revisit even for nostalgia. [June 2008, p.87]

This latest NBA Ballers seems to have been built in a vacuum. [June 2008, p.79]

The most frightening thing about this experience is how filled with hatred and rage I get when I find myself stuck in the environment or when the camera swings into "s*** view" for the billionth time. [Apr 2008, p.72]

Viking simply doesn't do enough to stand up to the more polished action experiences out there. [June 2008, p.86]

Viking simply doesn't do enough to stand up to the more polished action experiences out there. [June 2008, p.86]

Too bad it handles like a remote-control car, bolting from a stand-still to top speed in an instant. I'll pass. [Apr 2008, p.73]

Too bad it handles like a remote-control car, bolting from a stand-still to top speed in an instant. I'll pass. [Apr 2008, p.73]

The new "Incredibles"-esque visuals and accessible dribbling mechanics are welcome, but this arcadey pitch still needs grooming. [Mar 2008, p.75]

The new "Incredibles"-esque visuals and accessible dribbling mechanics are welcome, but this arcadey pitch still needs grooming. [Mar 2008, p.75]

Throw in boring unskippable intros and interstitials in every stage, and congratulations: Katana completely lost my attention. [Feb 2008, p.79]

Circle of doom indeed. [Feb 2008, p.81]

NFL Tour's last-team-with-the-ball-wins emphasis on offense deflates whatever air this pigskin had left in it. [Feb 2008, p.76]

NFL Tour's last-team-with-the-ball-wins emphasis on offense deflates whatever air this pigskin had left in it. [Feb 2008, p.76]

With all these hiccups, I'm shocked this war lasted one year, let alone 100. [Dec 2007, p.109]

With all these hiccups, I'm shocked this war lasted one year, let alone 100. [Dec 2007, p.109]

Jericho is a mess of a shooter with nonexistant A.I., frustrating timed events, vague puzzles, and PS1-style load times. [Dec 2007, p.107]

Jericho is a mess of a shooter with nonexistant A.I., frustrating timed events, vague puzzles, and PS1-style load times. [Dec 2007, p.107]

And the game's twist will excite only fans of backtracking, who, as far as I know, don't actually exist. [July 2007, p.83]

From the annoying time management of the schedule-based career mode to the ho-hum training minigames, Smash Court feels like a less entertaining "Virtua Tennis" knock-off. [Aug 2007, p.84]

Monster Madness is a train wreck if you happen to be an only child or lack nearby friends. [June 2007, p.89]

Please, someone invent a real time machine so I can zip back to early April and warn myself not to play this dog-tired-dogfighting-through-the-decades air-combat crapshoot. [June 2007, p.93]

An epic adventure is hiding in here somewhere, but AI3 doesn't bother getting around to it till it's done boring you. [June 2007, p.91]

As a fan of both shooters and fighters, I dig the shooter-fighter mashup concept--it's just a shame that it really doesn't work as well as you'd imagine. [July 2007, p.89]

By axing most of the series' normal role-playing elements, the developers have effectively devolved Dawn of Mana into a linear adventure-platformer. [June 2007, p.90]

While intriguing, the game is never captivating. [June 2007, p.94]

While I think it's kind of neat to have a big party of six tearing through dungeons, controlling them all during real-time combat is a bit cumbersome, and I wish the loot was a bit more inspiring than the generic fare you find here. [Mar 2007, p.95]

Screw fighting, I surrender--anything to keep me from wading through this awkward war game. [May 2007, p.81]

The controls are great once you get them customized properly*fire buttons on L1 and R1), with nimble movement and crazy bursts of speed seldom seen outside of anime, but this dexterity is wasted on short missions, bare-bones multiplayer, and the same ol' gameplay AC has been recycling for years. [Apr 2007, p.85]

The controls are great once you get them customized properly*fire buttons on L1 and R1), with nimble movement and crazy bursts of speed seldom seen outside of anime, but this dexterity is wasted on short missions, bare-bones multiplayer, and the same ol' gameplay AC has been recycling for years. [Apr 2007, p.85]

After Burner sports merely decent graphics while managing to suck all the fun out of a once-great franchise. [Apr 2007, p.92]

Navigating your too-large cartoon plane among clunky cliffs and bluffs is akin to playing in a world of giant Duplo bricks. [Apr 2007, p.82]

It's a decent enough action-platforming romp, sure, but it's clearly not the product of the real Wario crew. [May 2007, p.87]

You absolutely need more than one (perhaps two) friends to get past the game's flaws: bland menus, a ridiculously annoying announcer, and less than 50 minigames that get old fast. [Mar 2007, p.88]

Even with my "I dig all things Star Wars" glasses on, I still realize this is an average-at-best game. [Feb. 2007, p.99]

It's just mediocre all around. [Jan. 2007, p.106]

It's just mediocre all around. [Jan. 2007, p.106]

If Superman spent more time flying around the city and zero time fighting repetitive enemies, his game would be way better. [Jan. 2007, p.102]

It's like an old-school Sonic game minus anything that made those games good. [Jan. 2007, p.106]

I could've dealt with the much-lauded adventure elements, subpar graphics--even that clown Shadow--but the bottom line is that this feels more like some hack job created by a bunch of Sega interns as opposed to a game from a competent developement studio. [Jan. 2007, p.95]

If you've already hacked through any of the "Champions of Norrath" or "Baldur's Gate" PS2 games, then you'll find little here to hold your interest. [Jan. 2007, p.80]

May your future romantic disappointments be less expensive. [Jan. 2007, p.96]

It is simply a portable piece of ugliness that lacks humility, wit, or any entertainment value whatsoever. It is singularly unpleasant in the way it handles its subject matter, and it lacks the style or panache to carry its inadequacies with any dignity.

"Need for Speed Underground 2" did two years ago everything this game does, but with much more style and variety. [Nov. 2006, p.124]

A game of chess could take forever, but when you pick up a piece, it doesn't take an hour to move it. But that's what Souls' slowdown-laden mess is like. Souls is one of the worst-optimized PS2-to-PSP ports I've played.

In the end, Live 07 reminds me of Shaq at the charity stripe: It throws up way too many bricks. [Dec. 2006, p.126]

Samurai Warriors 2 offers nothing new over any other single-button-mashing sequel. Pass. [Oct. 2006, p.110]

Samurai Warriors 2 offers nothing new over any other single-button-mashing sequel. Pass. [Oct. 2006, p.110]

The more time I spent with the game, the deeper I delved into its defects. [Oct. 2006, p.114]

Instead, you get a short, straightforward adventure game with predictable puzzles and tedious, sloppy combat. [Oct. 2006, p.113]

But mostly the gameplay comes down to trading fire with enemies who have way too much health and not ennough variety in battle tactics. [Nov. 2006, p.140]

Fun dance patterns, not great music, make dance games worth playing. It's an interesting idea that doesn't quite work. [Sept. 2006, p.106]

Sorry, B-Man, you went from hero to a big zero. [Sept. 2006, p.97]

An overhead shooter mash-up of "Dead to Rights" and High Voltage's own "Hunter: The Reckoning", Fiddy's PSP game fails in the same way his songs succeed: by taking one element and repeating it over and over. [Oct. 2006, p.116]

The manual flight controls are overly sensitive and take serious getting used to, forcing you to rely on autopilot. [Aug 2006, p.92]

Ultimately, the game simply isn't that engaging: The unique FFVII setting feels totally wasted here, as you're often running through boring corridors looking for keycards. [Sept. 2006, p.103]

Wow, is Deep labyrinth ever boring. [Sept. 2006, p.106]

Play Adventure for the solid traditional modes and adequate multiplayer, but don't expect to get too much enjoyment out of the dull platforming. [Sept. 2006, p.98]

Play Adventure for the solid traditional modes and adequate multiplayer, but don't expect to get too much enjoyment out of the dull platforming. [Sept. 2006, p.98]

This Frankenstein seems to have been assembled from the Pariah spare-parts bin. [May 2006, p.104]

With its forgettable characters, interminable load times, and mind-numbingly dull battles, Blade Dancer assaults players with such profound mediocrity that only the most tenacious questers will make it beyond the first few hours. [Aug 2006, p.93]

Unfathomably derivative. [Aug 2006, p.90]

Only players with a "Top Gun" level of dedication will persevere. Everyone else will start looking for the eject button. [Aug 2006, p.88]

The overly sensitive dirt bikes simply don't have the physics for the rigors of competitive driving, leading to spill after spill. [Aug 2006, p.90]

If you need a simple gunplay fix this could maybe see you through a weekend... [July 2006, p.92]

If you need a simple gunplay fix this could maybe see you through a weekend... [July 2006, p.92]

Too bad the actual b-balling action has been done before and better. [July 2006, p.92]

It's painfully obvious that Astonishia does nothing to ebb the flow of downright disappointing roleplayers on the portable Playstation. [Aug 2006, p.92]

Too bad the actual b-balling action has been done before and better. [July 2006, p.92]

The play-style variety may be decent--and you get to upgrade abilities--but each character's level sets grow horribly repetitive and pointless, with stingy checkpoint placement compounding the frustration [July 2006, p.91]

The play-style variety may be decent--and you get to upgrade abilities--but each character's level sets grow horribly repetitive and pointless, with stingy checkpoint placement compounding the frustration [July 2006, p.91]

The play-style variety may be decent--and you get to upgrade abilities--but each character's level sets grow horribly repetitive and pointless, with stingy checkpoint placement compounding the frustration [July 2006, p.91]

The play-style variety may be decent--and you get to upgrade abilities--but each character's level sets grow horribly repetitive and pointless, with stingy checkpoint placement compounding the frustration [July 2006, p.91]

No online support and "everyone's the same" characters mean no reason to bother at all. [Jun 2006, p.110]

No online support and "everyone's the same" characters mean no reason to bother at all. [Jun 2006, p.110]

In other words, it's prescribed, with reservations, for patient <i>The Longest Journey</i> zealots only. [Jun 2006, p.115]

And like "Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires," it mistakes drastically overcomplicated tactical menus for strategic depth...but underneath, it's just another tepid hack-n-slash tour of ancient China. Wise man say: Learn some new tricks.

Any joy you might glean from Tao's progressive treasure collecting and monster slaying will be completely drowned by your tears of boredom. [May 2006, p.108]

Apparently, someone out there was itching for a game that combines the witless banality of "Jake and the Fat Man" with the absurd chase scenarios of "CHiPS." [Apr 2006, p.106]

Where Ape Escape Academy should feel like a festive minigame extravaganza, it comes off as more of a collection of half-assed prototypes due to the overly complex challenges, unresponsive controls, and complete lack of coherency. [Feb 2006, p.111]

One of the worst looking games to come out this year. [Feb 2006, p.110]

As a game, Bulletproof is a disaster. Your G-Unit allies are so dumb they had to be made invincible to keep them alive.

The targeting system is useless, the levels are bland and filled with countless invisible barriers, and the camera is so hard to manipulate in tight spaces that you'll often end up staring right at 50's face as he gets ventilated by the dozen enemies he just can't see.

The story and voice acting offered me several unintentional laughs, but inexcusably stupid elements, such as unskippable cut-scenes and the inability to pick up fallen enemies' weapons, pair with rotten gameplay to make this one of the worst games I've played all year.

The story and voice acting offered me several unintentional laughs, but inexcusably stupid elements, such as unskippable cut-scenes and the inability to pick up fallen enemies' weapons, pair with rotten gameplay to make this one of the worst games I've played all year.

What they've done is mash together a platform/coin-collecting game with a plodding kart-combat racer, then grafted on some escaped-from-a-cell-phone minigames. It's a Frankensteinian mess.

What they've done is mash together a platform/coin-collecting game with a plodding kart-combat racer, then grafted on some escaped-from-a-cell-phone minigames. It's a Frankensteinian mess.

What they've done is mash together a platform/coin-collecting game with a plodding kart-combat racer, then grafted on some escaped-from-a-cell-phone minigames. It's a Frankensteinian mess.

The fakeout mechanic that allows you to maximize your gambling dollar is pretty cool, and the over-the-shoulder camera gives a neat Punch-Out!! vibe...but that's about it for the highlights. The rest of the game, from the shallow fight mechanics to the load times to the bland backgrounds, is very mediocre.

When its fundamentals are botched this badly, not even Dragon Song's semidecent story can save it. [Nov 2005, p.162]

If only the Eskimos had 144 words for "tasteless" in their language, I would totally learn Inuit just to describe 187. As a game, I give 187 a 40, but as a product, my score is a negative f*** you. [Oct 2005, p.115]

If only the Eskimos had 144 words for "tasteless" in their language, I would totally learn Inuit just to describe 187. As a game, I give 187 a 40, but as a product, my score is a negative f*** you. [Oct 2005, p.115]

Bland gameplay, however, stifles what inspiration there is. The fighting action is fundamentally underwhelming, and a poor camera and constant loading further handcuff things.

Bland gameplay, however, stifles what inspiration there is. The fighting action is fundamentally underwhelming, and a poor camera and constant loading further handcuff things.