It is so much like Rhem 2 that it feels like the same game in a slightly different setting, which is exactly what it is. The faults I found grating but forgivable in Rhem 2 were magnified by their reappearance in Rhem 3. Some people won't see the lack of story and the ancient game engine as faults. Great news for them. But my time with Rhem 3 was split between interest and frustration.

The premise and the promise of Next Life led this reviewer to really look forward to spending some hours with these "reprobates." Unfortunately, I can only give a mixed rating to a flawed title.

Unfortunately, the more I thought about it, the less I liked it. It was not so much a story as it was a string of portentous hints about dark things. Hints that never developed into a cohesive narrative.

An initially engrossing horror mystery takes serious damage on the "reefs" of a confounding interface, frustrating linearity and mind-boggling puzzles.

Though it pains me to do it, the best rating I can give this, the 14th entry in the Nancy Drew series, is "average." It's a good-looking game with some enjoyable challenges, but the two stories it tells have nothing to do with each other, effectively denying players one of the basic satisfactions of mystery fiction.

Digital distribution may never replace retail sales, and episodic content may never become the standard for all games, but the future of both is startlingly bright. Sin Episodes is among the first to fling itself into that future. Though common in its gameplay, it is also enjoyable: had it been ten bucks instead of twenty, I'd be raving.

While I really like this sort of game, I do not like the fact that the game's difficulty is so unbalanced as to make playing the latter stages a study in frustration. If I want aggravation, I can attempt to cancel an online service.

But the fact is "X-Com" is twelve years old, and memory has a way of polishing off the burrs and nits that flaw a game, leaving you with only the hard candy shell of perfection. UFO: Aftershock cannot measure up any more than "UFO: Aftermath" did, but it hits a lot closer to the mark.

Legacy: Dark Shadows isn't a bad game, and there definitely appeared to be a better game lurking somewhere just on the outer boundaries.

But where "Dungeon Keeper 2" was graceful, elegant, superbly tuned - possibly the perfect RTS - Evil Genius is clumsy, boorish, frustrating, and frankly not worth the price of admission.

Initially, the game impresses with attractive settings, decent voice acting and the promise of a thoughtful mystery to be solved. Unfortunately, this becomes bogged down by static scenes, poor character movement control, obscure pixel-hunting and the wearying need to redo conversations.

As I drifted from place to place looking at the pretty pictures and listening to the dark, I found myself asking, "Where's the game?" For the majority of Lights Out, I felt that I was simply wandering through a museum - lots of things to look at or read, but not much else.

A nice little middle-of-the-road change of pace—neither incredibly horrible nor the best invention since sliced bread. I can forgive the odd, sometimes creepy-looking, representation of humans and to a certain extent the bad voice-acting; but where it really fell apart for me was the finale.

For many, this general creepiness of visuals and sounds, coupled with fear of the unknown, will be sufficient. For this gamer, more is needed, leading to my mixed rating ("maybe yes, maybe no").

With dated graphics, redundant settings and gameplay, mediocre production values, I can only recommend this for fans only—those who have to play every tactical game that comes down the pike, whether its taking on the Nazis, Western bad men, a Nottingham sheriff, or runaway Mafia.

Unfortunately, having to battle the interface made the game tedious, and I lost interest about a third of the way through.

This full-price game is not in the same league as “Mafia,” “Grand Theft Auto 3,” or even “Grand Theft Auto 2.” I suspect the developers tried to do too much, and they ended up with an often-confounding game

Overall, I can't totally endorse or condemn Blade & Sword. It's one of those titles that I couldn't help but have a love/hate relationship with.

If you're in the mood for a shooter with style, action, and lasting value, you're better off with “Serious Sam” than with XIII.

Understanding the limitations of weak story, consolitis, and mundane gameplay, you may still opt to try yet another survival/horror game with an impressive atmosphere and novel approach. Remember, I’ve given you fair warning!

I don't know why we are subjected to an endless barrage of these kinds of games being fobbed off on us in some kind of misguided effort to turn back the hands of time, gaming-wise.

For the inability to save at any point, for obtuse camera and fighting controls, for subpar level design, for irritating crash and sound bugs, and for the failure to make any effort to improve the technology behind this console port, “Matrix” enjoys the dubious distinction of a Rotten Egg award.

Simply stated, TOS is a mediocre puzzle game at best. It really is a shame because the designers came so close to crafting a game that would forever reside on your shelf with the classics.

I probably got very close to the end, but I just couldn't endure it any longer. The wretched camera angles, the lackluster level design and the repetitious gameplay were more than I could take for a full 25 missions.

There is nothing inherently wrong with Pharaoh's Curse, it's just that it's all, and I do mean all, been done before and I was bored the whole time I was playing.

As mentioned earlier, the first couple of hours are novel and motivating, but the next twenty, through four major missions, are much less involving.

Had the camera views been acceptable, I guess I could have recommended this title to those who care not about plot but love fabulous graphics, unusual monsters, and very basic, predictable, repetitive slash combat.

There are some gameplay merits of The New Nightmare—including two distinct and interwoven styles of play, an eerie atmosphere, an interesting underlying narrative, and generally more cerebral than monster-bashing activities (except for the last quarter). These strengths are diluted, unfortunately, by the multiplatform limitations imposed on the PC version by the developer.