The meltdown that results when too many characters join the fray and the camera freaks out often renders the game unplayable. [Nov 2005, p.150]

While xXx does nothing to expand on the old genre of big-guy-with-big-guns action games, it does provide a solid five or six hours of decent platforming action. [Oct 2002, p.204]

Don't buy it if you want a dragon that does what it's told. [Sept 2007, p.82]

An unforgiving difficulty level and harsh time limits <I>severely</I> undercut the fun... [and b]am-powing hordes of goons becomes achingly repetitive over time. [Nov 2003, p.172]

Opoona's flaws are hard to ignore, but I at least had a decent time with it. [may 2008, p.78]

Put simply, the story's not very good, it's short, and it just has too many small flaws to match Sony's game. [Dec 2007, p.104]

Yeah, the game's pretty--consider that half the battle. Now, we just need the basketball-fundamentals part. [Jan. 2007, p.80]

The best has to be Ash's undead sidekick Sam (never mind Crispin and Jon D.), since he serves to break up the monotony of the combat (you use him to solve puzzles) and gives Bruce Campbell someone to play off of for one-liners.

I love DDR, and this one&#146;s OK, but it&#146;s the most forgettable game of Konami&#146;s dance-game catalog. [Oct 2001, p.154]

Beyond isn't survival-horror, exactly...more like annoyance-horror. The creepy moonbase is spectacularly atmospheric, yes, but many of the puzzles are extremely difficult (I doubt anyone will finish this without some Internet assistance), and important items have a habit of hiding from you in dark, missed areas. [Sept 2004, p.104]

What ruined it is that the pitching and fielding are so much slower than real life. [Oct 2001, p.152]

Even if you play through both titles multiple times to see all of the branching missions, you can still blow through it in a day or two. [Dec 2002, p.218]

What a dreadfully bland disappointment this turned out to be. [Apr 2006, p.107]

An unforgiving difficulty level and harsh time limits <I>severely</I> undercut the fun... [and b]am-powing hordes of goons becomes achingly repetitive over time. [Nov 2003, p.172]

Put simply, the story's not very good, it's short, and it just has too many small flaws to match Sony's game. [Dec 2007, p.104]

It's hard to recommend picking up Killer7, even as a curious experiment or artistic statement, when so much of the actual gameplay screams to put it down. [Aug 2005, p.108]

And why must I hit <I>left</I> on the right analog stick when my intention is to look <I>right</I>? Talk about counterintuitive. [Nov 2004, p.140]

Despite its adventure game pretentions, Dino still suffers from annoying time limits and short overall length. [Oct 2002, p.179]

A FRICKIN' RIP-OFF... [yet] still deserves playing. [Apr 2003, p.128]

And why must I hit <I>left</I> on the right analog stick when my intention is to look <I>right</I>? Talk about counterintuitive. [Nov 2004, p.140]

RE3's high price and disappointing lack of extras mean I can't recommend it as anything more than a rental for those new to the series. [Mar 2003, p.128]

It's too bad World Cup's gameplay is so slow an ddeliberate, because I like other parts of it. [July 2002, p.115]

You can drop a few quarters at the local arcade or half a Benjamin for the home version and still beat the game in one sitting. [June 2002, p.120]

If Dr. Frankenstein made a game, he'd probably patch together something like this self-proclaimed puzzle/platform/driving/actioner. [Oct 2005, p.122]

A little more fantasy throughout the game might have given ADS the personality it desperately needs. [Jan 2002, p.231]

Do yourself a favor and head down to your local arcade if you want to play some 18 Wheeler. [May 2002, p.112]

The character is bland, the environments are stale and the fetch missions are tedious. [Dec 2002, p.236]

It's too simplified and repetitive for even the most desperate of action-starved gamers. [Oct 2002, p.194]

The overarching plot is fittingly epic and the graphics are fine, but plebian puzzles and problem-fraught combat guarantee frustration in this humdrum quest. [July 2003, p.123]

I give a bloodthirsty thumbs-down to Colosseum's frustratingly clumsy combat - and blame the slow-to-respond controls that make both dodging and striking needlessly difficult. [Aug 2005, p.113]

Proves that battling blazes is not only a hazardous profession, but it's also tedious, frustrating, and a real head trip (wait till you face fire-possessed flying laundry and fireman-hating robots.) [Apr 2004, p.120]

An unforgiving difficulty level and harsh time limits <I>severely</I> undercut the fun... [and b]am-powing hordes of goons becomes achingly repetitive over time. [Nov 2003, p.172]

The best has to be Ash's undead sidekick Sam (never mind Crispin and Jon D.), since he serves to break up the monotony of the combat (you use him to solve puzzles) and gives Bruce Campbell someone to play off of for one-liners.

But where DTR falls flat is in the execution. Why learn the subtleties of the fighting controls when the most effective attack is "punch, punch, punch"? [Sept 2002, p.156]

This franchise desperately needs to spice up - and after this year, clean up - the gameplay. [Apr 2006, p.100]

It feels like you're not fully in control. [Dec 2002, p.236]

If Dark Alliance II were a creature in the "D&D Monster Manual," it'd be called the Yawnisian Mind Borer, and it would lure victims into repetitive dungeons, make them wander until they fell asleep, then swipe 50 gold from their wallets. [Feb 2004, p.111]

As a "My First SSX," Blur is passable. But for longtime SSX fans, this installment's much too limited coursewise, the track design is as poor as "SSX on Tour's", and instead of innovating, the unreliable motion controls get in the way. [Apr 2007, p.80]

If Dark Alliance II were a creature in the "D&D Monster Manual," it'd be called the Yawnisian Mind Borer, and it would lure victims into repetitive dungeons, make them wander until they fell asleep, then swipe 50 gold from their wallets. [Feb 2004, p.111]

The most frustrating thing about Bruised is that, to be successful, you've either got to memorize a lot of combos or just mash and hope for the best. [Apr 2003, p.111]

With a slightly bigger budget, a lot less slowdown, and better dialogue, Report wold be a great game. As it is, it's just a good survival-horror game without the horror. [Mar 2003, p.116]

The awful camera throws a bucket of painfully cold water on an otherwise good time. [August 2002, p.130]

SoF is best played as a guilty pleasure&#8230;Hankerin&#8217; for some good ol&#8217;-fashioned shootin&#8217;? [Sept 2001, p.147]

Instant deaths, abetted by a bad camera, put the brakes on the best bits of an otherwise ugly and repetitious game. [Apr 2004, p.121]

It's hard to recommend picking up Killer7, even as a curious experiment or artistic statement, when so much of the actual gameplay screams to put it down. [Aug 2005, p.108]

While the different endings are the most interesting aspect of Samurai, they also introduce a whole pile of tedium, as you're forced to sit through the same lengthy cut-scenes over and over. [Aug 2004, p.104]

This game isn&#146;t anything more than a drab "Destruction Derby" with added sirens and donuts. [Aug 2001, p.112]

Combat ranges from dull...to freakishly unbalalnced.., and it all gets old very quickly. [March 2004, p.130]

File this under "Why Bother?" [Mar 2007, p.93]

Brawlers offers incredible customization, but the front end looks like, well, an NES game. [June 2008, p.87]

These games just haven't aged as well as the Final Fantasy or Lunar series. [Feb 2002, p.168]

It's just too bad the menus and team customization options require more intensity and concentration than the actual game. [July 2002, p.122]

It&#146;s not that it&#146;s ugly, but compared to most Xbox games, it looks ugly, but compared to most Xbox games it looks like the boring girl next door and makes the GameCube&#146;s Rogue Leader seem like Pamela Anderson. [Jan 2002, p.231]

It's a direct port of a 3-year-old Japanese Sega Dreamcast game, and, well...it shows. Try it if you're brave; you just might like it. [Aug 2003, p.118]

The gripping story line is the only reason to struggle with a frustrating and monotonous combat system, to wander in repetitive environments, and to suffer through predictable gameplay. [Mar 2003, p.116]

Too many levels center on mindless droid hacking. [Aug 2005, p.110]

As for enemy behavior, it's so embarrassingly bad at times, it's hard not to laugh. [Jan 2004, p.122]

The series' much ballyhooed new FielderCam is underwhelming - this behind-the-fielder view controls well enough, but it's virtually impossible to know the tragectory and speed of the ball, leaving you to rely on onscreen indicators. [May 2004, p.90]

A perfectly average beat-em-up that will likely keep fans of the cartoon enthralled. [Nov 2003, p.202]

Siren is an experiment gone awry -- a confusing fog-sacked combination of stealth and survival-horror that'll drive you batty with frustration before it can creep you out.

It's an uneven collection where high scores disappear when the power goes off, just like they did in the '80s. [Oct 2001, p.158]

Gamers weaned on faster smackdowns and who aren't turned on by the idea of a showdown between Megalon and Destoroyah should proceed with caution. [Holiday 2004, p.106]

The series' much ballyhooed new FielderCam is underwhelming - this behind-the-fielder view controls well enough, but it's virtually impossible to know the tragectory and speed of the ball, leaving you to rely on onscreen indicators. [May 2004, p.90]

None of this stuff is actually much fun - I just had such a good laugh watching the awkward character animations that I figure this sucker's a must-rent for comedy value alone. [May 2004, p.98]

Too many levels center on mindless droid hacking. [Aug 2005, p.110]

Passes and shots occur long after you've pushed the appropriate button, which in turn severely handicaps your ability to score and shut down the opposition. [June 2004, p.96]

The plot is intriguing, but a poor translation drags it down. Compared to the likes of "Silent Hill 4," though, Kuon feels as ancient as its setting. [Holiday 2004, p.115]

I guess the developer of this game didn&#146;t get the memo about zone defense. [Nov 2001, p.220]

The lack of a career mode and create-a-wrestler (both considered genre norms) makes Bandai's grappler one of the shallowest wrasslin' titles out there. [July 2004, p.98]

Offers less gameplay than the first and lacks the ingenuity and novelty. [Feb 2002, p.154]

Both the hokey dialogue and overly dramatic voiceovers are on par with a late-night B-movie on Cinemax. [Oct 2004, p.111]

Faceless-cyborg-smashing melee battles are repetitive, uninspired, and glitchy. And with each story line presented in a series of minimissions averaging 3 to 4 minutes apiece, you spend a lot of your time switching characters and saving and loading instead of just playing the darn game.

The always-excellent controls and wide assortment of different planes are fairly entertaining, but <i>Zero's</i> a huge step down from either of the last two games. [Jun 2006, p.113]

It's just a mess whenever it thrusts you into confusing fully 3D levels. Here, the ugly, high-contrast backdrops look like a Lite-Brite melting underwater. [Nov 2003, p.186]

A sloppy mess of nonsensical plot points, dumb puzzles (which often boil down to trial-and-error guessing), and yet more bland blasting sections toward the end of the game, when this whole ghost train really derails. [Sept 2005, p.114]

Unfortunately, the game suffers from so much slowdown when multiple cars are onscreen that it curtails any fun you might be having. [Sept 2003, p.116]

Why my laziness? Because some of the "minigames" here are actually mind-numbing test of mental endurance, about as fun as working in an Indonesian sweatshop. [Nov. 2006, p.134]

I agree the premise isn't as intriguing as the first game's, but Manhunt 2's still got plenty of creeps and creepy atmosphere--it's the 8mm and Hostel of videogames. [Holiday 2007, p.69]

As for enemy behavior, it's so embarrassingly bad at times, it's hard not to laugh. [Jan 2004, p.122]

I'm thinking Koei should've just dubbed this one My First Dynasty Warriors, as this romp through ancient China is ridiculously basic. [Aug 2007, p.81]

Faceless-cyborg-smashing melee battles are repetitive, uninspired, and glitchy. And with each story line presented in a series of minimissions averaging 3 to 4 minutes apiece, you spend a lot of your time switching characters and saving and loading instead of just playing the darn game. [Nov 2005, p.138]

Gamers weaned on faster smackdowns and who aren't turned on by the idea of a showdown between Megalon and Destoroyah should proceed with caution. [Holiday 2004, p.106]

Lots of SS's gameplay mechanics don't really work; it gets too fast and chaotic at times, leaving you disoriented, out of control, and bouncing off objects like a pinball. [May 2002, p.109]

It's too simplistic. While the game gives the illusion of Splinter Cell-style freedom in how you want to take out your enemies, Batman only really ever has one course of action: knock something over, scare the bad guys into dropping their guns, then come in punching and kicking.

Things pick up around chapter 8, but by then you may be in deep sleep. [June 2007, p.84]

I agree the premise isn't as intriguing as the first game's, but Manhunt 2's still got plenty of creeps and creepy atmosphere--it's the 8mm and Hostel of videogames. [Holiday 2007, p.69]

While it's got heart and spirit in spades - heck, even the cutscenes are up to snuff - it sorely lacks depth. [July 2005, p.113]

The blah environments and goofy animation do little to draw you into what's supposed to be a realistic combat experience. Spotty A.I. and clunky controls make it even harder to maintain gung-ho enthusiasm. [March 2004, p.118]

As for enemy behavior, it's so embarrassingly bad at times, it's hard not to laugh. [Jan 2004, p.122]

There's no sense of progression, only a sickening sense of tedium as you're dropped into the next box of a level and take on another too easy minion, too tough boss, and the too bewildering camera.

It's too simplistic. While the game gives the illusion of Splinter Cell-style freedom in how you want to take out your enemies, Batman only really ever has one course of action: knock something over, scare the bad guys into dropping their guns, then come in punching and kicking.

All of Death by Degrees' good points - impressive graphics, entertaining sniper scenes, solid upgrade and combo systems, unorthodox analog fighting that actually works well - are offset by poor enemy A.I. and one of the most user-unfriendly camera systems I've encountered in a long time. [March 2005, p.121]

It's like "Morrowind," minus the best part - exploration... The gameplay simply isn't fun. [Sept 2003, p.122]

It's too simplistic. While the game gives the illusion of Splinter Cell-style freedom in how you want to take out your enemies, Batman only really ever has one course of action: knock something over, scare the bad guys into dropping their guns, then come in punching and kicking. [Sept 2005]

As an "Final Fantasy Tactics Advance" derivative, and despite a few graphic and camera glitches, Tactics delivers a competent and, at times, engaging ride through Middle-earth. [Jan 2006, p.129]

And I'm somewhere in the middle, because even though Contagion does have an interesting techno facade and a completely tolerable control scheme, it still feels like every shooter I've ever played. [June 2007, p.95]

Faceless-cyborg-smashing melee battles are repetitive, uninspired, and glitchy. And with each story line presented in a series of minimissions averaging 3 to 4 minutes apiece, you spend a lot of your time switching characters and saving and loading instead of just playing the darn game.

Fans looking for a quick ride through the events of teh book and movie will be pleased with Potter GBA, because that's all it is. [Feb 2002, p.172]