Ultimately I came the realization that, at the end of the day, I would have been happier playing this game with a conventional analog stick.

I'm sorry to say, four million Japanese can be wrong. [Nov 2001, p.122]

The abrupt endings, forced action sequences, and extensive load times mar an otherwise fun adventure game. The topnotch writing, and fascinating hook of Holmes struggling with a real issue are buried beneath these problems.

Parasite Eve fans may find themselves turned off by the frenzied action-oriented approach of The 3rd Birthday, and the execution certainly has its ups and downs. Even though The 3rd Birthday may not be one worth celebrating, we're hoping Square Enix can get it right if it decides to someday bring the franchise back to its console roots.

In terms of depth, the Wii version doesn't offer much outside of a barebones Franchise mode. [May 2008, p.95]

Sky's laundry list of quests is strangely solid in both its simplicity and repetitive challenge. [Dec 2002, p.130]

Despite its shortcomings, Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet is a charming game.

I salute indie developers like Arcen Games for putting unique and creative designs like this out there, but every great idea needs to be executed well to reach its potential. A Valley Without Wind 2 just doesn't get there.

This puzzle element is actually a lot deeper and more clever than I expected, but that doesn't change the fact that the core of the game is over 20 years old. [Dec 2005, p.190]

Dead or Alive 6 sports a robust fighting system, but the framework around it doesn’t capitalize on that. While the tutorial and DOA Quest mode do a decent job of getting you up to speed on what makes combat tick, the awful story mode does it no favors, and the barebones online puts a damper on what could have been a second wind for the series.

Graphically, it's definitely improved, but that's not going to save Ty from his own mediocrity. [Nov 2004, p.149]

But at least the game supports multiplayer; though the offerings hardly compete with the big boys, Wii owners finally get a taste of just how addictive these matches can be.

Vane feels like an indescribable fever dream when it works, relaying a wordless story about a transforming creature trying to figure out its place in a world that appears to be falling apart. Too often though bugs and a lack of clear direction reminded me that Vane could have used a little bit of extra development time for polish.

Elite Squadron’s big problem is its controls. The game has a couple control schemes, but I couldn’t find one that didn’t feel both clunky and inaccurate.

Each level follows the exact same progression path, and this dull repetition ultimately makes what could have been a great tornado game nothing more than a funnel cloud.

Probably the best looking, worst playing space-based MMO I've ever spent time with. [Aug 2003, p.101]

Fails to establish any real mood or atmosphere, and just ends up being boring. [May 2005, p.110]

After squeezing off I don't know how many rounds into untold numbers of bodies, I'm more prone to being lulled into a nice nap than a frenzy. [Oct 2005, p.128]

I'd rather have a simple and well-balanced game than a complicated and lopsided one, and Suikoden Tactics definitely has too many short legs. [Dec 2005, p.175]

Brink is not a bad game. If Splash Damage can stabilize the performance and fix some glaring omissions (like a pre-game lobby) with a patch, I'd gladly spend more time with it. But with only eight multiplayer maps, 20 progression levels, no clan support, and average gunplay, it's not a good value proposition. Especially considering many Xbox Live games offer a similar amount of content for a fraction of the price.

Ultimately, CT just doesn't have a whole lot of staying power. [Mar 2002, p.88]

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.

Everything looks slightly miniaturized and washed-out, and the music is inferior to the SNES version. [Dec 2002, p.150]

I got the distinct impression that I was jumping through hoops for the sake of the hoop, not the game. [July 2003, p.120]

Sadly, not only does Amazing Spider-Man fail to deliver, it may also diminish my enjoyment of this summer's film.

Chosen One offers a decent arcade basketball experience, but its short single player and weak online options ultimately keep it from unseating the current street champ, "NBA Street Homecourt."

Ooblets offers solid fun, and I enjoy its cheerful tone. I only wish playing it didn’t feel so much like work. Despite the pride I had in my farm, clearing checklists eventually felt more laborious than satisfying. There’s fun to be had as long as you’re willing to work for it.

The action is satisfactory, and the multiplayer options are robust. [Nov 2005, p.148]

I'd rather waste my time and enjoy it, too.[Feb 2002, p.100]

They have screwed up the once-intuitive interface, replacing it with this monstrosity, which makes everything dependent no using the right analog stick and the clumsy R3 button. [Oct 2004, p.136]

A totally functional shooter. Too bad it's not much fun. [Aug 2005, p.107]

Due to bad enemy pop-up, a lousy camera, and an abundance of crummy underwater levels, it's bad in a different way than intended. [Apr 2003, p.68]

Full of more holes than Swiss cheese. [Nov 2002, p.119]

Something always felt a little off when using the touch screen. I just don’t think this kind of touch interface is well suited to the rhythm game genre. After awhile I actually did start to enjoy myself a little, but Nintendo was never able to convince me that the game works well.

If you already like the series, not enough has changed to stop you from enjoying it. And that's exactly the reason why new players may as well just stay away. [July 2006, p.106]

It’s too bad that the game feels so bad. Literally, this hurts to play. The controls are a mess. My hand cramped shooting with L and aiming with a stylus.

Crucible isn’t a bad game, but it’s not a good game either. In the context of today’s hero-shooter environment, that makes it a lost soul, struggling to find a strong sense of identity. With time, perhaps Crucible can find reasons to stay on the menu, but right now the recipe is diluted and dull.

Elite Squadron’s big problem is its controls. The game has a couple control schemes, but I couldn’t find one that didn’t feel both clunky and inaccurate.

While Zero is still a sweet character, this game is just too much of the same, and virtually inaccessible to anyone who doesn't want to memorize every inch of it. [Oct 2004, p.147]

The combat and chat systems seem to be adequate, and the experience apparatus will satiate the level-hounds out there; but all told, Shadowbane is decidedly average. [June 2003, p.117]

Judge Dredd scores a minor victory in its ability to let its roots show through amid the usual indistinguishable mess of guns and guts. [May 2004, p.93]

With a compelling overarching narrative and more engaging gameplay, Minecraft: Story Mode – Season Two is an improvement over the uneven and inconsistent first season. I enjoy the Admin as both a character and a threat to the world, and seeing Jesse face off against him is entertaining. While the story takes unnecessary and uninteresting turns and gives you few choices of consequence. Minecraft: Story Mode – Season Two is a fine continuation for those who wanted more from Jesse and crew.

With a compelling overarching narrative and more engaging gameplay, Minecraft: Story Mode – Season Two is an improvement over the uneven and inconsistent first season. I enjoy the Admin as both a character and a threat to the world, and seeing Jesse face off against him is entertaining. While the story takes unnecessary and uninteresting turns and gives you few choices of consequence. Minecraft: Story Mode – Season Two is a fine continuation for those who wanted more from Jesse and crew.

With a compelling overarching narrative and more engaging gameplay, Minecraft: Story Mode – Season Two is an improvement over the uneven and inconsistent first season. I enjoy the Admin as both a character and a threat to the world, and seeing Jesse face off against him is entertaining. While the story takes unnecessary and uninteresting turns and gives you few choices of consequence. Minecraft: Story Mode – Season Two is a fine continuation for those who wanted more from Jesse and crew.

With a compelling overarching narrative and more engaging gameplay, Minecraft: Story Mode – Season Two is an improvement over the uneven and inconsistent first season. I enjoy the Admin as both a character and a threat to the world, and seeing Jesse face off against him is entertaining. While the story takes unnecessary and uninteresting turns and gives you few choices of consequence. Minecraft: Story Mode – Season Two is a fine continuation for those who wanted more from Jesse and crew.

Though The Bourne Conspiracy is weighed down by broken gunplay mechanics, its thrilling hand-to-hand combat, slick presentation, and relatively short time commitment (eight hours) make it a perfect rental for fans of the films.

Most irritating is that when you try to steal the ball, your defender will be automatically repositioned in front of the guy dribbling. [June 2002, p.81]

An excellent flight simulator, but a poor action game. [May 2003, p.83]

Fans of the series will appreciate the games faithfulness to the show, but to everyone else, Sidetracked will just feel like an uglier version of countless games you've played before. [May 2006, p.101]

You could do worse. [Dec 2002, p.152]

For most players, this game will only slightly entertain. [Feb 2002, p.87]

Something special lies at the heart of The Occupation, but the gameplay and technical issues get in the way of its most interesting qualities. The storytelling happening beneath all the clunky stealth is great.

The racing itself is pretty good, and the rest of the game feels like a total hackjob. [Oct 2004, p.123]

This is nothing more than a cobbled together batch of decade-old FPS conventions and cliches. There's just not much heart and soul in this game, and the stiff mechanics don't work well enough to make you overlook its weakness. [May 2007, p.96]

Playing Amped 2 is like eating a yellow snowball... Due to its inconsistencies and problematic gameplay, frustration abounds in Amped 2. Do me a favor, avoid the frostbite and stick with "SSX." [Nov 2003, p.164]

It's a great game for head-to-head bouts with friends. [Apr 2003, p.93]

Horizon Call of the Mountain is a good showcase piece for PlayStation VR2. It is the game to use if you want to show off your new technology to friends and family. There is even an unlockable mode perfect for this, which is a passive journey on a canoe through a robot-infested jungle. What holds the game back tremendously, though, is Call of the Mountain's overreliance on climbing. The smaller parts of the game, fighting robots, making items, and looking around, are highlights. Pulling yourself up a mountain isn’t, and that’s where you spend most of the approximately six hour experience.

The last half of the game serves only to remind you of how far the series has fallen from its original form. I felt smothered by Sonic Team's insistence on shoehorning recent Sonic games, no matter how awful, into the 20-year timeline.

The controls are responsive and the anime-styled graphics are crisp, but the campaign is short - even with multiple characters to select - and the combat is far too shallow to hold everything in Draglade together. [Feb 2008, p.102]

The last half of the game serves only to remind you of how far the series has fallen from its original form. I felt smothered by Sonic Team's insistence on shoehorning recent Sonic games, no matter how awful, into the 20-year timeline.

On the easier levels, I usually just died of boredom, on the harder difficulties I swore in anger at the title's merciless assault. [Mar 2004, p.107]

The bland formula of "talk to this person, get item, use item on piece of environment" makes it a mind-numbingly frustrating chore to advance to the next awe-inspiring work of Sokal's genius. [Apr 2004, p.109]

Lacking the foundation of gameplay to offer the kind of choices that strategy fans have grown accustomed to, LOTR: Tactics is a disappointment. [Jan 2006, p.155]

There is a reason many of the RPG game mechanics this game uses are no longer found in other RPGs – they suck. You may be better off making up your own fantasy game with RPG Maker.

This sequel adds an additional mountain and the use of a snowboard, but the series' easygoing vibe isn't dramatically altered. [May 2009, p.87]

Mafia III is a missed opportunity to put an important time in American history in the spotlight, and ends up being one of the most lifeless and one-note open-world experiences I’ve come across. You can see the potential for a great game here, but it sticks to safe and simple gameplay and storytelling conventions, and ends up being a bloody bore.

There isn't a huge selection of RPGs on the 3DS, and Tales of the Abyss will definitely appeal to the handheld gamer that wants to take this particular genre on the go. It hits all the beats of your typical JRPG, for better or worse.

I hate feeling like a buzzkill here, but I can’t recommend this to anyone who wasn’t evangelical about the original Costume Quest. The changes to the game are a stride in the right direction, but it still has quite a ways to go if it wants to be seen as anything other than a series of funny skits divided by boring combat intermissions. I don’t feign enthusiasm when I see a kid wearing a mediocre costume, and I’m not going to do it here.

It has an extremely poor frontend. [Apr 2003, p.89]

Aside from the obvious problems, the real problem is that nearly every part of the now-aged Driver formula has been done better elsewhere. [May 2006, p.98]

Chosen One offers a decent arcade basketball experience, but its short single player and weak online options ultimately keep it from unseating the current street champ, "NBA Street Homecourt."

Tak becomes more pedestrian and predictable as each area unfolds. [Nov. 2003, p.150]

The levels are rote and tedious, offering no real surprise or sense of design. Adding to this sense of half-hearted execution are the graphics and storytelling, which are both sub-par even for the Wii.

If you have a lot of patience, you might find Raskulls' single-player challenges rewarding. Otherwise, you're better off dabbling in the campaign and focusing on the multiplayer.

Disney Universe gets more interesting when you grab three friends (or kids) and play together, but so does just about everything. There's a nice little competitive element in the game, and players can sabotage their friends' efforts by hoarding power-ups and triggering traps. That said, the game is so shallow and repetitive that only the most easily amused will be able to slog their way through to the end credits, with or without companionship.

Blood & Truth has some of the elements of the breezy English gangster flicks we’ve effortlessly enjoyed on the silver screen, but it lacks enough style and substance to make the formula work.

It captures the electricity of the sport and is quite amazing graphically, but it's low in the substance department, and not quite as endearing...The only source of enjoyment was collecting the obscure items and weapons. [Mar 2002, p.84]

Disney Universe gets more interesting when you grab three friends (or kids) and play together, but so does just about everything. There's a nice little competitive element in the game, and players can sabotage their friends' efforts by hoarding power-ups and triggering traps. That said, the game is so shallow and repetitive that only the most easily amused will be able to slog their way through to the end credits, with or without companionship.

Moving Out has a charming sense of humor and the developers clearly went out of their way to make the game as accessible as possible. You can adjust difficulty in an impressively granular way, checking individual boxes to tweak the time you have to complete goals, make objects lighter, remove some obstacles, and more. That does make it easier to zoom past some of the trickier levels, but it doesn’t ultimately change the fact that moving furniture in the game is as fun as the real deal.

Fans will no doubt ennjoy it, but if you never got into the series there's no reason to start now. [Aug 2006, p.93]

Interaction within the environment and the board game movement and structure are tedious and archaic. [June 2003, p.102]

From a gameplay perpective, NBA Jam doesn't hold a candle to "NBA Street." [Nov 2003, p.171]

Fans will appreciate the classic versus bombfests and the multitude of modes and maps, but the lack of online play means many solo players will be stuck competing against lame bots.

The overall story is still intriguing, but this disappointing episode won't be a tough act to follow.

If you’re a fan of endless runners and can put up with the game constantly asking you to post to Facebook or purchase more ISO-8, then you find this a fun diversion while you wait in line to see Iron Man 3 in theaters.

While the final shot does give me a sense of intrigue about the finale, the rest of the episode does very little to excite me. Telltale addressed its main issues with the last episode by doubling down on action and providing more meaningful interactions, but with such a detour from the main conflict right before the final episode, much of the tension was let out of the balloon. I'm still curious to see how this all plays out, but Below the Bedrock did little to fuel my interest.

Zipper has shooter mechanics down after years of making SOCOM games, but Unit 13's missions lack personality and the guard A.I. is downright awful at times. If you're dying to shoot some guys on your Vita, it may scratch that itch. Just don't expect anything you haven't seen ad nauseum.

While the final shot does give me a sense of intrigue about the finale, the rest of the episode does very little to excite me. Telltale addressed its main issues with the last episode by doubling down on action and providing more meaningful interactions, but with such a detour from the main conflict right before the final episode, much of the tension was let out of the balloon. I'm still curious to see how this all plays out, but Below the Bedrock did little to fuel my interest.

The levels and missions are equally unremarkable, which makes for yet another promising stealth title that doesn't live up to its potential. [June 2005, p.127]

"Quotation Forthcoming"

Tie the archaic visual presentation to the nauseating plot and uninteresting character personalities, and the end result is yet another RPG that doesn't live up to the expectations. [Mar 2002, p.79]

Unfortunately, the combo system is designed for a button-mashing extravaganza - and combos of X-X-X just don't cut it today. [Mar 2003, p.88]

While the final shot does give me a sense of intrigue about the finale, the rest of the episode does very little to excite me. Telltale addressed its main issues with the last episode by doubling down on action and providing more meaningful interactions, but with such a detour from the main conflict right before the final episode, much of the tension was let out of the balloon. I'm still curious to see how this all plays out, but Below the Bedrock did little to fuel my interest.

While the final shot does give me a sense of intrigue about the finale, the rest of the episode does very little to excite me. Telltale addressed its main issues with the last episode by doubling down on action and providing more meaningful interactions, but with such a detour from the main conflict right before the final episode, much of the tension was let out of the balloon. I'm still curious to see how this all plays out, but Below the Bedrock did little to fuel my interest.

Going after Koei this aggressively certainly proves that Capcom has celestial-sized gonads. [Nov 2005, p.161]

Aliens: Fireteam Elite occasionally fires on all cylinders, but a monotonous gameplay loop bogs down the entire experience.

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.

Quotation forthcoming. [Aug 2006]