Electro-plankton might have been more engaging if it gave you goals, such as coming up with a certain number of notes in a given amount of time or having to replicate songs and riff on them. It should, at the very least, have allowed you to save your work; instead, your musical creations are fleeting and forgettable.

Illogical puzzles, vague directions and objects almost impossible to spot against the backgrounds cause you to waste too much time wandering the same rooms again and again. [Sept 2001, p.147]

Slowdown, crappy animation, dumb A.I., and a laggy control scheme are bad enough, but it's the stupendously awful level design - with impassible areas that might as well be invisible walls - that really takes the cake. [Nov 2004, p.130]

The gameplay feels nearly identical to "Crash Team Racing's" (PS1), even down to the speed-boosting wumpa fruits, so if you loved it before, you'll still love it, and if not...not. [Jan 2004, p.110]

This game actually slows down time. Its characters move at the speed of Elmer's glue. [May 2005, p.124]

The action on the track is mediocre, especially once you realize you'll have to wrestle with the touchy control on the same tracks in the same cars over and over. [Jan 2004, p.124]

Three times superior to its predecessor. Though still well shy of very good. [Feb 2005, p.100]

Once you learn enough to outfit your mech to personal preferences (which quietly becomes addictive) and begin to effectively execute missions, Nexus can suck you in. Not great, but worth it for more patient mech-heads. [Oct 2004, p.102]

I felt the magic before, but Rabbits! left me feeling a little heartbroken. [Apr 2006, p.105]

While the graphics may show a hoops or pigskin player, you’re actually just playing a dressed-up Pong or a simple button smasher. [Aug 2001, p.111]

This game actually slows down time. Its characters move at the speed of Elmer's glue. [May 2005, p.124]

EXA sports the same exact engine, combat system, enemies, environments, and amateur-hour voice acting as 2005's "Shining Force Neo." It's probably more appropriate to think of it as an "expansion pack" than anything else. [Apr 2007, p.89]

Pretty dull, even for a first-person shooter. [Dec 2004, p.150]

Warhammer is so crammed with cliches -- color-coded door keys, exploding barrels, and grimy environments I swear I've already prowled through in "Quake" -- that it feels like it's just going through the first-person-shooter motions. [Dec 2003, p.210]

Unfortunately, the actual battles aren't that great; they're a tedious exercise in repeatedly pressing the A button to advance dialog boxes. [March 2004, p.130]

Three times superior to its predecessor. Though still well shy of very good. [Feb 2005, p.100]

At best, BlackSite is a poor man's "Resistance"; at worst, it's half of an unfinished game with a few cool set pieces. [Holiday 2007, p.74]

The action on the track is mediocre, especially once you realize you'll have to wrestle with the touchy control on the same tracks in the same cars over and over. [Jan 2004, p.124]

Gone is the great adventure, lost to the simple need to collect stuff, and in its place is the carrot and the stick - which even the most dedicated mule will only chase so far. [May 2004, p.88]

While the game won’t win any awards for originality, it is well-paced and does a good job of keeping the player glued to the tube. [Oct 2001, p.145]

It's too poky and awkward to work as a new-age light-gun shooter, too shallow to work as an RPG, and too mediocre to merit attention.[Mar 2008, p.74]

All the alternate routes in SD make the game highly replayable, [but] there are still only a handful of tracks that add up to a total estimated playing time of oh, let’s say…15 minutes before you’ve seen just about everything. [Mar 2002, p.139]

Don't count on using this stuff the way it was intended, though. Unlike the routines real wrestlers choreograph, these matches are absolute button-mashing chaos. [Dec 2003, p.194]

Poor Harry’s world slows to a coma-inducing craw whenever he’s running, flying or…well, moving. [Feb 2002, p.170]

It's the kind of game you'd make your mom play to show her that not all videogames involve stabbing hookers. [Jan 2005, p.135]

It may be stupid fun - and it certainly gets monotonous - but at least it is fun. Apologetic kids should be thrilled. [Aug 2006, p.89]

If you can get past how limited it all feels, you'll have a modicum of fun. [Nov 2007, p.123]

The only thing more frustrating than fighting the overpowered CPU is hoping a boneheaded A.I. tag partner won't blow a crucial match. [Nov 2004, p.151]