Proves that completely unique games can still be as painfully dull as sweeping your bedroom. [Sept 2005, p.114]

If you’re a fan of puzzle games, don’t miss Crunching Koalas’ brilliant remix. MouseCraft drops you into a series of challenges that will initially make you feel like a mouse trapped in a maze. But after working your way through these environments, you’ll feel like a mad scientist who can’t be stopped.

Graphically, Agent Under Fire is amazing, leaving similar titles like "Red Faction" and "TimeSplitters" in the dust. [Jan 2002, p.77]

It's beautiful, hard, smart, and alarmingly engrossing. [Sept 2004, p.116]

Doomed to be as bland as the Rock's acting. [June 2002, p.87]

This is a fetch quest of unparalleled proportions. [Jan 2004, p.160]

A slow-paced and generally average rehash of the concepts that made ["The Sims: Bustin' Out"] unique. [Nov 2004, p.170]

A simplistic isometric hack n' slash game that plays like a blood soaked version of "Gauntlet." By no means a revolutionary game, just one that knows what players want. [Nov 2003, p.168]

The jokes cater mostly to the kids, and that's exactly who should enjoy this fairy tale jaunt the most. [July 2004, p.112]

Fire Emblem Heroes is a flawed but enjoyable way to pass the time for fans as well as a solid starting point for anyone who’s been curious about the series but hasn’t dived in yet.

Despite technical shortcomings and some filler content, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are chock-full of meaningful additions to one of gaming’s most popular franchises. At worst, these games are steps towards the Pokémon games for which players have clamored, but more often, they serve as effective thesis statements for where the series goes from here. Either way, I can’t wait to see where Game Freak evolves the experience from this point.

Fusions stands out in the library of Dragon Ball video games as an interesting entry in the otherwise fighting-game-heavy collection. It is charming in its willingness to innovate within Dragon Ball, but it never quite executes on any of its pillars.

Its charming visuals and messages of compassion and cooperation make Wattam a great game to play with younger members of the family.

It takes more than just a neat idea to be a truly compelling piece of software. With no scoring system, backing music and vocals, or career mode, this isn’t really a game in any sense. And, honestly, strumming and singing to yourself gets old after about 15 minutes. Stick to Guitar Hero.

Ultimately, what I remember most about this game is the wrist and neck pain.

The kindest thing I can say about Battletoads is this: It works. The controls are fine, I encountered no major technical issues, and an optional invincibility feature allows you to easily clear sections that are giving you too much trouble. Simply being playable from beginning to end is a tragically low bar to clear, but it’s the main thing Battletoads has going for it. Otherwise, this baffling experience digs through decades of gaming history to unearth the Battletoads name only to drag it through the mud.

This collection offers up a wide range of brawlers and shooters from days long gone, but sadly, not many of these are all that memorable.

The glaive is something that every action nut has to wrap his or her hands around. Like the BFG or the cerebral bore, you’ll remember this weapon forever. Sadly, you’ll remember the weapon more than the game itself.

They say an elephant never forgets, but that doesn’t mean you can’t forget an elephant. Tembo the Badass Elephant is charming and fun while it lasts, but its by-the-numbers gameplay makes me doubt that it will leave a lasting impression on anyone.

The good news is future updates can address most of my more minor gripes, but the game is an unbalanced mess at release. Developer Saber Interactive’s commitment to fan service is commendable, and die-hard Evil Dead fans will find this release enjoyable. However, it’s hard to see the lasting appeal for the rest of us.

I do like that Super Swing lets you earn special shots if you’ve got enough Pang. Throw in some crazy locations around Pangya Island (including some wind tunnels) and you’ve got yourself a good enough time to keep you shooting birdies all the way to the 19th hole.

The Splatters' simple mechanic of flinging liquid to destroy bombs feels like a cross between Angry Birds and Peggle in all the right ways. You have a lot of control over the direction of your flying splatters, but an element of luck (maybe too much) determines how many bombs you are able to take out. When you mess up, blaming the game is easy, but the successful runs make it worth trying again over and over.

The world is laid out on a giant grid, so the environment feels fairly artificial and lacks a certain amount of believability. There is also a fair amount of backtracking, and the game doesn't always point you in the right direction, which is more annoying when you accidentally leave one area for a few seconds only to come back and find that the enemies you just beat have magically returned. If these kind of ancient gaming weaknesses don't bother you, then Majin will deliver an experience that you won't soon forget – even if the rest of the world does.

The Maximum Collection gets just about everything right, but there’s really only one game in the mix that I’d hold up as a true classic of its genre. Beyond X-Men, the experience here is likely for those hunting nostalgia or players with a particularly keen eye for understanding the early days of superhero video games. If that’s the sort of thing that makes your interior Colossus roar, you can expect a solidly good time.

It just doesn’t play well. The controls are clunky, the pacing is unsatisfying, and the multiplayer feels tacked-on. While the original Overlord was a compelling game at heart, Overlord II just feels like an unpolished retread of ­familiar ground.

Haunted Hollow’s biggest fault is that you have no incentive to keep playing; the asynchronous multiplayer works well, but all you earn for successful Haunted Hollowing are Game Center achievements. No new worthwhile content is unlockable without spending money.

With the depth of everything and overall graphical sophistication in X2, it could have been a much better title. [Feb 2004, p.112]

Acclaim didn't go out of its way to elevate the series - this is simply an enhanced version of last year's game seen from a new perspective. [Apr 2004, p.92]

More than any of the technical faults, though, is the problem that Kay is just plain dullsville. [Oct 2005, p.134]

Pop Cutie is more of a sales simulator than Project Runway, but its mix of running a fashion boutique and creating clothes styles makes it more than just a curio. [Oct 2008, p.114]

The game still looks pretty heinous and the Masterclass training exercises seem to have been cut together by a high school digital arts class. [Aug 2004, p.102]

By embracing established mechanics and gameplay systems, the closing chapter of the America saga regularly feels like a retread. Fortunately, with much of the groundwork already in place, the developers have been able to focus on content creation, and Rogue is one of the biggest and most varied titles in the franchise to date.

I like aspects of Madden 20 like the addictiveness and slightly easier progression of Ultimate Team, the way players feel, and the new abilities. But too much remains stagnant and unchanged. It’s like expecting a few free agents to change the course of an entire organization when there are key areas the franchise needs to have addressed yesterday. Instead, its roster has gotten old fast and the problems are mounting.

Lagging well behind the series’ standards, the Wii remote has a hard time detecting your backswing. Thus, it’s harder to control. There were even times the game putted for me by accident.

Nintendogs + Cats definitely retains the inescapable charm of its predecessor, and I expect that will be enough for many of the younger and casual fans loved the first. For me, I expect more than marginal improvements after a six-year layoff.

While it would be nice to see some side quests or branching environments worth exploring, and a few minor glitches result in some awkward scenes, Telltale's Back to the Future remains one of the better film adaptations in video games, and I can't wait to see where this series goes as Telltale begins to build towards a conclusion. If episodes 4 and 5 build on the series as much as this entry has, you won't want to miss it either.

The inclusion of the sandbox mode makes Dead Rising 2: Off the Record more than just a retread with slightly modified cutscenes. By itself, it's an incentive for Dead Rising 2 players to pick it up. If you haven't gotten around to playing the sequel yet, this is definitely the version to get.

Speaking of strategy, Wolfenstein is in dire need of a new one. Grinding through waves of predictable enemies in corridors is no way to pay homage to the franchise’s unquestioned legacy in the genre.

Unfortunately, most of the forms are just too random and arbitrary to be really compelling. [Feb 2006, p.113]

As you might expect from a new developer’s take on a series with such history, The Lost Frontier doesn’t feel essential. If you miss this game, you’re not going to be missing any major plot movements or character development in the Jak universe (and don’t even get me started on the snoozer of a bad guy). But if you’ve been jonesing for the gameplay that made you fall in love with the series in the first place, The Lost Frontier more or less delivers.

Minecraft Legends battles to blend its open-world adventuring with the intricacies of real-time strategy, a war that sometimes detracts from the overall fun you can have. Even so, its gorgeous environments and clever world-building inspire familiar creativity that makes up for its growing pains. Where other strategy games feature more profound complexity, Minecraft Legends has heart, and it’s hard to resist its charm. Mojang’s first expedition into this genre occasionally holds your hand too tight. But when its grip loosens, there’s a vibrant world of combat challenges to discover, ultimately making it an enticing endeavor.

Gyromancer is not as complex or demanding as many of the big name titles on retail shelves, but high production values and polished gameplay carry it a long way.

All of the basic attacks have been moved to the Wii remote's d-pad, which is awkward enough by itself. The bigger change is that the special moves are now associated with controller movements. [June 2007, p.113]

Somerville is held back by technical shortcomings, but is full of impressive moments worth experiencing with the lights turned low and and your headphones up high. The father’s adventure lingers in my mind as I reflect on what happened, and those memories do ultimately outweigh the technical shortcomings. I hope time will provide improvements to bring the game to where it deserves to be, which is high in the sky alongside the ships of the invading forces.

Like "Gallop Racer 2003," this is a darn good horseracing game. However, I can't see gamers having more than one filly in their stables, and this one loses by a neck. [June 2003, p.105]

It won't inspire anyone to forsake "Virtual Fighter" or "Tekken," but for fans who don't already own this on Dreamcast, it's a boon. [Dec 2003, p.146]

Only a diehard Wild Arms fan will be able to take these physics, and much of the game, seriously.

Having good graphics, excellent controls, creative gameplay with lots of circus staples (think water tanks and cannons), and genius character animation buts Aero into his own class of goodness. [Sept 2002, p.94]

It's almost embarrassing how behind the times this series has fallen. [Nov 2002, p.137]

Like the movies, this game incarnation doesn't try to excel at anything except making its monsters attractively cheesy and the gameplay decently exciting. [June 2003, p.113]

Even if you've already played the GameCube or PS2 incarnations, this late bloomer is worth investing in. [June 2003, p.113]

Despite its problems, Hero in Residence presents situations I want to see progress over the next four episodes. Though the pacing is inconsistent and the decision points are questionable in their weight, the new mechanics and revamped combat make me wonder what else Telltale has in store this season. Though I have my problems with this episode, I'm interested to see the direction the tale takes from here.

Rainbow Six Extraction converts much of Siege’s content library into an approachable co-op shooter, providing a tense environment for players of all skill levels. However, in a series of industry-defining hits, this installment feels incredibly safe and markedly less gripping than its predecessor.

Nintendogs + Cats definitely retains the inescapable charm of its predecessor, and I expect that will be enough for many of the younger and casual fans loved the first. For me, I expect more than marginal improvements after a six-year layoff.

Thankfully, the difficulty and complexity of the level design improves as the game wears on. Kirby’s ability to endlessly eat and absorb the powers of what he digests is not only enviable, but pretty darn fun in practice.

The campaign is rough at times but overall entertaining, though I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for a high-caliber action experience.

Seeing Bound instantly begs the question, “What are you playing?” but its movement mechanics make it unsure if it wants to be an engaging platformer or a passive relaxing experience. It lives somewhere between the two worlds; never fully embracing either, but it sure looks pretty.

Without the pure granular gratification of its tricks, Steep's feast resides in its many moments. Enjoying a beautiful vista, surviving a suicidal bombing run down the side of a mountain, or uncovering a new area and being rewarded for it – this is what keeps me coming back.

Even with the touch screen, there's not a lot new here, but it's definitely an engaging addition to the DS family. [Sept 2005, p.115]

Payday 2's novel heist-based gameplay is still worth checking out for those interested in a refreshing cooperative experience. For veteran criminal masterminds, however, the return of easily fixable problems and lack of account migration make it hard to justify the jump from previous versions.

Little Hope is inconsistent, like a witch-in-training still learning how to fully weave a spell. It sets up its story well and keeps you guessing, but the execution is lacking. It needs more variety and interesting things for your characters to do. The action comes too late, and by then, you’re already nodding off. However, seeing the fantastic ending makes putting up with those boring moments a little more bearable.

Avalanche does a good job of giving players access to new tools just as it seems the novelty is close to wearing off, right until the end. By the time I finished clearing out the final outpost, however, I was definitely ready to move on. Medici’s a great place to visit, but I’m not prepared to make it a new home – certainly not considering the state I left it in.

The seeds of greatness are here, but with plenty of room for refinement and clarity to improve the experience.

Though the visual and audio aspects of PSO III leave something to be desired, the concept and level of variability at its core (not to mention that it's one of these elusive online-enabled GameCube titles) is enough to make it a highly enjoyable and surprisingly addictive game. [Apr 2004, p.101]

NES Remix is a fun little distraction for a while, and brings back plenty of memories. Some of those memories are great, and others are along the lines of remembering how much Ice Climbers sucks. This isn’t a must-play highlight for the Wii U eShop, but it’s worth spending some time with if you grew up with an NES controller in your hand.

Fallout Shelter is a cool concept, and a nice mobile title to pop on to for a few minutes each day (after spending more significant time chunks getting your facility sustainable). It could use some more content and things to do later on; special events, new rooms, or anything else that adds variety and interaction would improve the otherwise pleasant formula.

It’s a retread of familiar territory in every way, such that a game like this five years ago would have had me reeling, but now leaves me feeling flat.

Sacred 2 is fun for what it is, but ultimately fails to capture the old Diablo magic. Combat is nowhere near the tight, tactical paradise that Diablo II could reach in its better moments, and the framerate is a constant drag.

While the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions include online play and improved graphics, I surprisingly had a lot more fun on the Wii.

Shank suffers from too much repetition, even for a brawling fighter, but it gets high points for style and its gritty, dark subject matter. This is a game you can sink your teeth into and bask in its wild aggression.

Technically adequate, exceptionally beautiful, and continuing the story of some great characters...but still no fun. [Nov 2004, p.163]

If you are a fan of the series, I'd bet you'd go ape for this game. [Feb 2002, p.85]

The game's pace is painfully slow, and like most puzzle games of this type, the payoff is far from satisfying. [Jan 2002, p.83]

The near Zen-like state that is required to pull off the scenes - and the adrenaline rush that goes along with it - is what makes Stuntman the great game it is. [July 2002, p.78]

It's a pretty rocking title that can hang with the b-ball big boys. [Mar 2002, p.80]

Albeit lackluster in some categories, I give Cubivore high marks for creativity in plot, gameplay, and bad lyrical references during cut scenes. [Nov 2002, p.132]

With so much conversation with characters that feel like they'll be left in the past after this episode, a dreary prison setting, and gameplay that generally fails to engage, Jailhouse Block is the weakest entry of the season. The fleeting high moments like the difficult decision or the climactic battle don't save the episode. However, like most episodes Telltale releases in any of its myriad licensed series, it ends on a solid cliffhanger that has me intrigued about what happens next.

Though the stages are much longer than their original forms, sometimes clocking in at around 15 minutes, playing through Story Mode only takes a couple of hours. Still, Contra: Operation Galuga packs a whole lot of action into those hours. When you add the more flexible Arcade Mode and difficult Challenge Mode, Operation Galuga is an admirable modernized reimagining of one of the most influential games of the late '80s.

Playing against the AI is tedious and boring in the extreme. [Feb 2005, p.117]

The most disappointing aspect of Possessors is that it plays it quite safe compared to Heart Machine’s past titles, Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash. Little about its formula will surprise Metroidvania enthusiasts; still, the studio has nonetheless notched another entertaining single-player action game under its belt, proving its action and world-building chops transcend genre.

Original design and a quirky style keep Fancy Pants enjoyable throughout, but some significant features need a little tweaking before this sketchy hero can stand with the big platforming heavyweights. [July 2011, p.94]

Tales of Xillia 2 has its flaws, but it also has plenty of what fans of the series love: Challenging battles, great character interactions, and a story full of twists. I'm still continually lured in by the series, I just wish this entry felt like more than a sideways step.

Maneater is an enjoyable hunt that satisfies in its shark mayhem and story of revenge. The action is a bit repetitive and chaotic, but the goofiness of the violence ends up winning out. This is the first shark game I’ve truly enjoyed. It has cult classic written all over it.

WWE '12 only introduces a few welcome elements. Setting up opponents for finishers with wake-up taunts is fun, the new comeback moments are a nice way of getting back into the match, players can now target specific limbs during grapples, and new creation options (like the new create-an-arena) make the series more customizable than ever before. However, none of these can make up for the awful Road to Wrestlemania.

Dovetailing off the success of Nintendo's "Brain Age", My Word Coach is about as much fun as you can have while getting a vocabulary lesson. [Feb 2008, p.96]

The end result is a tale of two games: One that crushes the dreams of people hoping to wear spandex or a cape, and another that gives artists and creators more power. Stay away if your hopes lie with finally playing a great Avengers or Guardians of the Galaxy game. Come play if your ambitions lie mostly with building worlds.

This season has its bright spots, but it also suffers from recycled plot points and uneven writing. From The Gallows represents this season's inconsistencies; it has some satisfying moments, but it also features just as many head scratchers. At the very least, From The Gallows is a decent conclusion to Javier's story – but it didn't leave much of an impression on me.

Another Lost Phone’s voyeuristic mystery is worth playing, despite some missteps. Its subject matter is compelling, and is conveyed in inventive ways. I enjoyed learning about Laura, but I would have had a better time with more engaging puzzles and a more memorable cast.

The Bard’s Tale IV pays dutiful homage to its roots and offers an accessible way to experience the joy of the old-school RPG, but the enjoyable complexity has been sacrificed. Long puzzle mazes detract from the inspired combat system, and occasional crashes after a big battle can be discouraging. That said, if you’re looking for that vintage style with some enchanting new-age accoutrements, the endearing melodies of the Bard’s Tale IV won’t lead you astray.

Pioneers of Olive Town is a decent Story of Seasons entry, but it’s not more than that. I still got absorbed by the core formula of bettering my farm and loved making new discoveries as I explored. I have plenty of things I enjoy about this game, but encountered just as many that didn’t hit the mark. I also can’t get away from thinking, after all this time, shouldn’t this series be making larger leaps forward and leaving a stronger impression?

Awful controls and braindead combat. [Sept 2005, p.102]

While I appreciate the desire to try something new with the game structure after so many titles, the resulting mishmash of ideas is frustrating, repetitive, and unfriendly to both kids and adults.

The game displays a lot of promise early on, but it devolves into mediocrity after you've invested a few hours learning its basic systems.

Despite technical shortcomings and some filler content, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are chock-full of meaningful additions to one of gaming’s most popular franchises. At worst, these games are steps towards the Pokémon games for which players have clamored, but more often, they serve as effective thesis statements for where the series goes from here. Either way, I can’t wait to see where Game Freak evolves the experience from this point.

Outside of the campaign levels, players can also test their endurance on challenge maps or strive to reach the top of challenge leaderboards. I appreciate the attempt to make a feature-packed mobile title, but control and AI issues keep Strike Team from being the polished experience that’s typically associated with the Call of Duty name.

Nintendogs + Cats definitely retains the inescapable charm of its predecessor, and I expect that will be enough for many of the younger and casual fans loved the first. For me, I expect more than marginal improvements after a six-year layoff.

As much as I would like to recommend that people see the insanity that unfolds, the shoddy play will likely drive most gamers into a mental institution. [Jan 2006, p.138]

The appeal of Double Dragon Neon lies in its cartoony homage to the brawler genre and the time period in which the original game released. Some of that appeal may be lost if you're not familiar with the references, but the solid production and mechanics have a universal appeal.