Suffers from a steep difficulty curve. Blame it on the excessive enemy quotient, the steep cost of healing, and the unwieldy inventory control. [Feb 2002, p.148]

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]

The controls are sluggish, and combos are difficult to pull off because of the GBA's tiny directional pad. [Sept 2003, p.134]

Control is stiff and floaty, while boss battles often require stubborn persistence instead of strategy. [July 2004, p.95]

It's not bad, but it could have been much more. [Dec 2001, p.264]

Control is stiff and floaty, while boss battles often require stubborn persistence instead of strategy. [July 2004, p.95]

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

The gameplay feels very unfinished. [Oct 2001, p.158]

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

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

Offers some decent (yet uninspired) missions to fly, but...true thrills are in short supply. [Nov 2003, p.184]

Trust me: The nostalgia is lost after you bash your hundredth battle droid or start getting creamed by the enemies' cheap gang-up-on-you tactics. [July 2005, p.116]

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

Instead of being boring, it's totally unbalanced and infuriating. [Jan 2004, p.142]

It&#146;s a solid game from a technical standpoint, but extraordinarily bland from a gameplay perspective. [Jan 2002, p.208]

When a racing game's gimmick relies on un-seat-belted drivers forcibly ejected through windshields during crashes, you know you're in trouble. [Aug 2005, p.110]

Inexplicably horrible graphics completely ruin an otherwise splendid title. [Feb 2002, p.156]

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

The restricted movement is tough to stomach. [Dec 2001, p.264]

I dare people to enjoy NBA Live. [Jan 2002, p.216]

When a racing game's gimmick relies on un-seat-belted drivers forcibly ejected through windshields during crashes, you know you're in trouble. [Aug 2005, p.110]

One of the least exciting party games I&#146;ve ever played. [Jan 2002, p.228]

Airblade sabotages everything it gets right with gameplay problems. [Mar 2002, p.135]

The Columns formula really isn't that fun. [Mar 2002, p.146]

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

The game is such a generic experience, I wouldn't be surprised if it came in a plain yellow box labelled "Video War Game." [June 2005, p.106]

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.

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

Collectively, the infuriating missions and maddening difficulty swings prove to be overwhelming, sucking away what little fun there is. [Nov 2004, p.136]

The killer visuals just can't disguise the repetitive levels and frustrating trial-and-error missions. [May 2004, p.108]

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]

Collectively, the infuriating missions and maddening difficulty swings prove to be overwhelming, sucking away what little fun there is. [Nov 2004, p.136]

Problems from the first Raw carry over - matches plod on too long, and animations look unrealistic and robotic. Even diehard WWE fans should treat this as a rental. [Dec 2003, p.224]

All quirky style with little substance, Overdose has you blasting through endless hordes of goons - although the real enemy is the camera and clunky controls. [Dec 2004, p.170]

The edgy cartoon trappings kept me interested in this game far longer than its actual gameplay. Which is to say, about an hour - or maybe three, if you count the two times I had to restart because I was still figuring out the Story mode's rules that don't let you retry events.

The repetitive challenges are uncreative, and the game's choppy graphics and collision-detection isues make the whole experience head-splitting. [Aug 2003, p.116]

Put simply, this game looks awful...An excercise in frustration with clumsy controls and uneven level design. [Nov 2004, p.150]

You'll still have to deal with irritating load times and janky collision detection problems (it's easy to get your car stuck on objects and buildings). [Mar 2002, p.141]

Trust me, the controls are sheer, unadulterated nonsense. [Apr 2002, p.141]

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 a thermonuclear disappointment. To someone like me, who loved all three Fallout role-playing games on PC, this is a power fist to the face - an insult. [March 2004, p.114]

Collectively, the infuriating missions and maddening difficulty swings prove to be overwhelming, sucking away what little fun there is. [Nov 2004, p.136]

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.

Funny writing (courtesy of an ex-"Ren & Stimpy" scribe) can't save this uninspired rehash of antiquated Crash antics with lackluster visuals. [Dec 2004, p.170]

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]

When forced to blindly jump, die, then discover what you missed, where I come from, that&#146;s just cheating. [Dec 2001, p.238]

Gameplaywise, this is a disaster. [Jan 2004, p.154]

In more than 20 years of playing games, I have never seen a console game as obviously unfinished and rushed to market as Enter the Matrix...This game is a complete mess, and that's the only complete thing about it. [Aug 2003, p.114]

I usually have a hard time falling asleep on long flights. But I really did conk out during one of Delta Strike's many dull, virtual-lullaby cinema sequences. [March 2004, p.115]

Prophecy is little more than an endless procession of switches. [Feb 2003, p.158]

Mediocre at best. [June 2002, p.118]

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]

This game's simply schizophrenic; it attempts to be all these things to all people, so in the end result is in dire need of polish and focus. [Oct 2008, p.88]

Why would you bother with its blundering ways with "Madden" and "ESPN" around? [Nov 2003, p.184]

Compared to smoother, more realistic titles such as "High Heat" (and to a lesser extent, "All-Star Baseball"), this is an embarrassment. [June 2002, p.114]

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

Sorry, but the near total lack of horror in this survival horror game bored me plumb to sleep. [July 2003, p.116]

My biggest problems, though, are with the unevenness of the penalties called and shots that go in.

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]

Don&#146;t get me wrong, I love weird games as much as the next guy, but SP never moves beyond what feels like an elastic 3D engine tech demo. [Sept 2001, p.144]

The game is stupidly, punishingly difficult. And its save "system," pardon my Latin, blows syphilitic goats. [Jan 2004, p.108]

I thought I&#146;d sooner see Sasquatch ride a Chimera bareback through the streets than a bland series like Mega Man X last through six installments. [Feb 2002, p.172]

The game is stupidly, punishingly difficult. And its save "system," pardon my Latin, blows syphilitic goats. [Jan 2004, p.108]

Playing Tao Feng is a lot like diarrhea; the longer it lasts, the more irritated you get. [May 2003, p.134]

What a thermonuclear disappointment. To someone like me, who loved all three Fallout role-playing games on PC, this is a power fist to the face - an insult. [March 2004, p.114]

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

If anyone ever caught you playing this game and heard its so-bad-it's-not-even-good music, it would replace that time you got the porno tape stuck in your parents' VCR as the most embarrassing moment of your life. [Sept 2003, p.112]

The clunky control doesn't help; I never got the hang of aiming my rockets, no matter how much I practiced on the herds of sheep. [August 2002, p.124]

This game can't even show a bunt without a glitchy flaw or two. [May 2002, p.114]

We&#8217;re talking gameplay that swings wildly from being overly simplistic (with brain teasers that couldn&#8217;t tease a 1-year-old) to being frustratingly directionless and unintuitive. [Sept 2001, p.145]

Funny writing (courtesy of an ex-"Ren & Stimpy" scribe) can't save this uninspired rehash of antiquated Crash antics with lackluster visuals. [Dec 2004, p.170]

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

It should be illegal for you to own money if you even considered buying this crap. [Jan 2004, p.189]

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

If Sapphire put as much emphasis on the combat as they did on conjuring gritty stories to back each fighter, Barbarian could have been a lot better. [July 2002, p.115]

In more than 20 years of playing games, I have never seen a console game as obviously unfinished and rushed to market as Enter the Matrix...This game is a complete mess, and that's the only complete thing about it. [Aug 2003, p.114]

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.

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]

The controls feel sluggish and unresponsive, the difficulty balance is ridiculous. [Jan 2002, p.222]

Ostensibly a real-time strategy title, Future Tactics is really a glorified game of hide-and-seek: You either fall into your enemy's sights or manage to luck out for another turn. [July 2004, p.94]

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]

Excitement wears thin when you realize you're fighting the same enemies and running down the same corridors over and over. There's not even a real story to cling to, so players are left with little more than a few hours of tedious button mashing. [Oct 2003, p.163]

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

Besides 5-year-old girly-girls who like, love Britney, the banal set of revolving cominations and a suck-it-for-all-it's-got song list will send you surfing on a contagious yawn-wave. [August 2002, p.123]

Expect a stale, low-tech dungeon crawl that feels like it fell out of 1999. [Feb 2003, p.144]

Something is wrong with a football title when you spend more time laughing at the instant replays than actually playing the game. [Oct 2001, p.154]

In more than 20 years of playing games, I have never seen a console game as obviously unfinished and rushed to market as Enter the Matrix...This game is a complete mess, and that's the only complete thing about it. [Aug 2003, p.114]

This budget-priced shooting gallery would be more thrilling if your plane didn't control like a garbage truck sliding across ice. [Dec 2004, p.170]

It almost seems like a kid's game - until you encounter bosses and trick shots that push your temper to full tilt. And speaking of tilt...where is it? [Nov 2004, p.152]

A camera system that hates you dominates throughout. [Jan 2003, p.194]

It's dog slow, with shallow gameplay and a whole three varieties of power-ups. [July 2003, p.110]

Larry's surreal brand of dong-and-fart humor lost me somewhere between the fifth date-rape joke and the gay-bar sing-along...The meat of the game - the cheesy, lowbrow funny business - goes limp in mere minutes. [Dec 2004, p.148]

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.

Ostensibly a real-time strategy title, Future Tactics is really a glorified game of hide-and-seek: You either fall into your enemy's sights or manage to luck out for another turn. [July 2004, p.94]

This includes multiplayer, which is a joke: dull levels, instant respawns in capture the flag (try invading a base when downed enemies just reappear right away, with full health), and a horrible interface that leaves online soldiers more confused than eagerly anticipating the action. [Aug 2004, p.110]

Laughable characters aside, this game just ain't fun. It's so simple that even experienced players fare better pounding one button than trying to executre combos or reversals. [July 2003, p.122]

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]

The throwaway storyline, endless loading times, small environments and barely Dreamcast-quality graphics are instant turn-offs. [Jan 2002, p.230]