I have no idea why this title was even made. [Apr 2006, p.118]

Sadly, that gameplay doesn't hold up for very long. Combat is too simplistic, and the unintelligent AI governing your enemies doesn't help. [Jan 2010, p.91]

Even with everything that bothered me in this episode, I'm still entrenched in where Maxine's story is headed. Life is Strange has plenty of potential left, and Dontnod is making choices matter. However, characters and circumstances need be more natural and plausible for me to buy into this world. So much is too overblown.

This game has but one feather in its cap: its difficulty. [Nov 2004, p.170]

As the game wears on, the simple pleasures of the gameplay fade, and the incredibly frustrating boss battles mount in aggravation, leaving us with nothing more than another unsatisfying licensed game. [Dec 2005, p.159]

Never Stop Sneakin’ tried to appeal to my nostalgia for the original Metal Gear Solid. Unfortunately, you can’t judge this book by its cover. Dodging enemy sight cones and building up a stealth combo is only compelling for a short while, and the lack of overall variety made me want to sneak away to play other games.

TNA Impact reminds me of a bratty little kid. You know the type, always running around making bold claims, kicking people in the shins, and talking about how big and strong he’s going to be when he grows up. Since he’s just a kid, you have to give him the benefit of the doubt — someday he might accomplish impressive things. However, right now he’s still just a punk.

In the end, I don't see this title connecting with an audience beyond the most hardcore Rampage fans. [May 2006, p.97]

The gameplay shows potential, but the rest of the game isn’t strong enough to lift it up into an experience that any gamer needs to see.

In the end however, these extra layers can’t fix the subpar combat and disappointing storyline at the game’s core, leaving Avatar a lackluster, though not entirely unpleasant, experience. While forgiving sci-fi fans might still appreciate this intergalactic romp, the average gamer is left with an easy choice: this game is a rental at best.

Being a basketball game that works most of the time isn’t enough. Not being up to par with its stellar rival is forgivable, but Live also lacks a point of distinction that justifies its existence to basketball fans. Without that, it ultimately may not earn a contract extension.

Lost Sphear has some good ideas and mechanics working together when it comes to battle, but everything else falls short and feels dull. The reused dungeons, backtracking, and slow-paced story don’t give me much to fight for, even if the end does come together in an interesting way. Sadly, the tedious grind through a milquetoast adventure is sour for far too long before coming together.

Lost Sphear has some good ideas and mechanics working together when it comes to battle, but everything else falls short and feels dull. The reused dungeons, backtracking, and slow-paced story don’t give me much to fight for, even if the end does come together in an interesting way. Sadly, the tedious grind through a milquetoast adventure is sour for far too long before coming together.

I consider myself a Transformers fan, but no amount of appreciation for the series makes me comfortable recommending Transformers: Prime. The benign gameplay may be a good option for fans too young for the gritty action of High Moon's excellent series, but that's about it.

The AI is bumbling and unbalanced. [August 2002, p.82]

Given the sizeable quality gap that still exists between Live and NBA 2K, you wonder if other voices in the organization may say it’s time to cut their losses and move on.

Lost Sphear has some good ideas and mechanics working together when it comes to battle, but everything else falls short and feels dull. The reused dungeons, backtracking, and slow-paced story don’t give me much to fight for, even if the end does come together in an interesting way. Sadly, the tedious grind through a milquetoast adventure is sour for far too long before coming together.

Goblet of Fire is the best console Harry Potter action game yet, but it's still a far cry from good. [Dec 2005, p.161]

Code Vein has some cool things to enjoy along the way and some nice ideas that shake up the core formula, but they are all incidental details. The heart of Code Vein remains overburdened by stale scenery, boring bosses, and tiresome trudging, and all of that is beyond what some nice touches can redeem.

While Sega clearly put some effort into this reissue, an HD coat of paint can't correct the Jet Set Radio's fundamental control flaws and repetitious design. I'm sure this sounds like heresy to Dreamcast faithful, but it's the truth: This game wasn't that good in the first place.

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]

The mere fact that it fills a niche on the Wii doesn't excuse this disappointing lack of substance. [May 2008, p.95]

While Sega clearly put some effort into this reissue, an HD coat of paint can't correct the Jet Set Radio's fundamental control flaws and repetitious design. I'm sure this sounds like heresy to Dreamcast faithful, but it's the truth: This game wasn't that good in the first place.

Ultimately, I appreciate the vibrant and unique world that Krome Studios creates, and despite the substandard voice work, I enjoy Blade Kitten's wacky characters as well. However, aside from a few puzzles and boss battles, the gameplay fails to leave a lasting impression.

This game controls like junk. [June 2005, p.136]

Ultimately, I appreciate the vibrant and unique world that Krome Studios creates, and despite the substandard voice work, I enjoy Blade Kitten's wacky characters as well. However, aside from a few puzzles and boss battles, the gameplay fails to leave a lasting impression.

In the end, it's difficult to determine which would be worse; a day with this game or a day back in sixth grade. [Nov. 2006, p.142]

Fans will probably dig the game’s cool set pieces and the story, but the save points are placed too far apart, many puzzles require too much random experimentation, and the dialogue system seems like an afterthought.

As it stands, Aaru’s Awakening is more entertaining to watch than it is to play.

With gliding players prone to stepping out of bounds, animations that lock you out of reactionary movement, and lackluster commentary, the on-court action offers a similar dose of mediocrity as years past. The low post game is a mess, the strategy suffers from simplicity, and the defensive system lacks the sophistication (and usefulness) of its competition.

Fortress is basically a good idea that got a bit fouled in the execution. [Nov 2001, p.131]

Playful Corp can be commended for adopting a classic genre to VR, as well as releasing a game with a high level of polish, but thrills are fleeting and the fun rarely surfaces as Lucky hunts for his dear pig friend. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

The unique abilities of Constantine and scary atmosphere that Bits has established will make your mouth water, but you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who can tolerate the shoddy gameplay. [Apr 2005, p.120]

Job Simulator lives up to its own ambitions, presenting a compact, cute, and accessible showcase for interacting with virtual locations. [Tested with Vive]

With no significant enhancements or additions, this title makes no case for itself on the console. [May 2002, p.87]

This is one of those games that I find myself raving about one second, and dragging through the mud the next. Is it worth your time? I think so. Despite its numerous shortcomings, I was entertained to the point of not wanting to put it down.

Radial-G has more going for it than a paltry tech demo. Its tracks – while not outstanding – show some thoughtful design by stringing together a few noticeable moments every lap. The game doesn’t elevate the Rift or VR to the height of its powers, but it also wouldn’t be the same by itself. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

Multiplayer is what’s really going to get the fans riled. After fine-tuning your ideal mech in single player, you can bring it online and face off against anywhere from one to seven opponents. Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot of match variety outside of deathmatch and team deathmatch, and there’s no respawning so matches don’t last much longer than five minutes tops.

Extraction Point is somewhat better than the newer Perseus Mandate, but even so it’s too short to be truly noteworthy. There are moments here and there that make the experience decent, but the overall package is lacking. Do yourself a favor and wait for Project Origin rather than picking this up.

A decent attempt by 989, but the play just doesn't stack up to the lofty standards set by EA and ESPN. [Jan 2005, p.125]

My intense 4X fandom has been conquered by Elemental's nonstop irritations. I'm putting it down for now, but I'm not writing the game off forever.

While some may argue that Sega Rally fits their bill for arcade racing, I don’t think there’s any forgiving this game for how shallow it is. Apart from unlocking tracks, cars, and paint schemes, it simply offers very little else.

"Wipeout Fusion" and "Kinetica" put it to shame. [June 2003, p.109]

As a movie, Late Shift is an enjoyable time. The acting is good, the script is well-written, the cinematography is serviceable and occasionally great, which all results in a competent genre film. However, Late Shift’s rigid structure makes it less appealing as a game, with the high production values failing to hide the fact that your choices don’t amount to much at all.

It didn't take long for disappointment to set in. [Dec 2001, p.109]

Essentially the video game equivalent of sleeping with your eyes open. [Nov 2004, p.149]

A soulless racer that the developer tries to make look good. [Jan 2003, p.114]

Tales of Zestiria feels like a game from another time in many ways, and not in the charming type of way. It forces you through some the most boring and outdated elements from RPGs of yesteryear. If the series wants to stay relevant it needs to put forth a better effort than Zestiria.

Out of all of the books, games, and movies, it allows you to get closer to the school than ever before – all at the expense of actually enjoying your stay. It’s boring and tedious, just like a real school is. However, it’s also a place where your Harry Potter knowledge can bloom. On this note, only hardcore Harry Potter nuts should enroll.

As the game wears on, the simple pleasures of the gameplay fade, and the incredibly frustrating boss battles mount in aggravation, leaving us with nothing more than another unsatisfying licensed game. [Dec 2005, p.159]

Unlike "The Sims," which allows you to build your own destiny from the ground up, Playboy: The Mansion is done in by the very fact that all you can do is be Hefner. [Apr 2005, p.117]

The gameplay itself isn't terrible, but it still assigns way too many functions to the A button. [May 2003, p.87]

The combination of a solid racing framework with the Ferrari license could have worked out, but this is a zero-sum game that appeases nobody. Ferrari Racing Legends does not exhibit the best of what the sports car brand nor the developer have to offer.

Whether you are defending the colony from a hornet invasion by manning goo cannons, racing an obstacle course with a team of ants, or foraging for food, the game keeps things fresh. Too bad none of it is exciting. [Feb. 2007, p.102]

The combination of a solid racing framework with the Ferrari license could have worked out, but this is a zero-sum game that appeases nobody. Ferrari Racing Legends does not exhibit the best of what the sports car brand nor the developer have to offer.

I might have recommended this simplistic formula for younger gamers except for the fact that encounters with Omnidroid are some of the most tedious and unforgiving bouts I've ever fought. [Jan 2005, p.118]

At the center of Rust lurks something fascinating, with the Wild-West sense of lawlessness and the exploration of trust and betrayal that emerges when trying to survive. Yet Rust’s habit of tripping over its own feet makes it difficult to get to those fascinating stories. As the survival genre continues to mutate and create compelling experiences generate exciting player-driven stories regularly with little frustration, even Rust’s most compelling feature feels sadly archaic.

The dark side courses through Star Wars Battlefront II, playing mind tricks on gamers to spend more money to become stronger. By the time you read this review, there’s a chance EA may change how the Star Cards or loot crates work, but at this point in time, this predatory microtransaction model Force-chokes Battlefront II’s experience. It’s a shame to see a game with such clear greatness get pulled down to these depths. Star Wars deserves better. We deserve better.

Your quintessential bargain bin release. [Dec 2001, p.116]

For every stunning success in delivery and artistry, Missing has a miserable failure at an actual gameplay design element. [Sept 2004, p.117]

TNA Impact reminds me of a bratty little kid. You know the type, always running around making bold claims, kicking people in the shins, and talking about how big and strong he’s going to be when he grows up. Since he’s just a kid, you have to give him the benefit of the doubt — someday he might accomplish impressive things. However, right now he’s still just a punk.

Want to play football on the go? Take a piece of paper, fold it into a small triangle, and flick it into someone's face instead. [Jan 2005, p.144]

Make no mistake about it: Need for Speed: Nitro’s competitive advantage shouldn’t be the motion controls – it should be the series’ penchant for arcade racing, supercharged cop chases, and edge-of-your-seat racing. Unfortunately It doesn’t even come close to delivering on these fronts. But, by all means, have some motion controls.

Essentially the video game equivalent of sleeping with your eyes open. [Nov 2004, p.149]

The second episode bites off more than it can chew, putting you on an emotional rollercoaster exposing you to all kinds of traumatic events. While some scenes end up raw and honest, a lot more are frustrating due to the extremism of the world and the mixed messages sent about how to handle these complicated subjects.

I'd hoped it would be a compelling hybrid, but it unfortunately does not hold up in that arena either. [Sept 2009, p.92]

Plagued by rampant balance issues, miserable AI, and more focus on attacking prone, defenseless opponents than I've ever seen, Maximum impact makes a lot of rookie mistakes. [Nov 2004, p.158]

Tiresome platforming litters nearly every level as you collect diamonds, save cats from plummeting, and smack thugs around. [Sept 2004, p.118]

It’s an evolution, for sure, but not an entirely exciting one.

Characters and circumstances need be more natural and plausible for me to buy into this world. So much is too overblown.

While Legends does offer you the most comprehensive Rocky experience to date, it just plain fails to deliver in the ring. [Dec 2004, p.165]

The Inpatient is a difficult game to recommend, with inconsistent scares and a mundane cast. It still offers some frightful moments, but they aren’t wrapped up in a captivating enough narrative to keep you engaged. Even if you’re a hardcore Until Dawn fan, this watered-down horror experience is probably worth skipping.

Ultimately, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars isn't irredeemably bad, it's just another in a long line of disappointments. In many ways, it's a lot like the Mega Bloks version of an excellent game. It's similar enough if you're desperate, but your money is better spent on the genuine article.

With so many great co-op experiences available to gamers, it’s tough to recommend The 40th Day. Lacking a cohesive story, solid controls, key multiplayer features, and polish, this sequel fails to close the gap of mediocrity running through its core game design.

As intriguing as this setup may be, it comes up short on the gameplay end. The controls are unconventional and your general movement is implemented poorly. [Nov 2003, p.153]

Kids, especially, are asked to play things much worse than this Corner Shop collection. [Apr 2006, p.134]

Rise of the Guardians isn't entirely unpleasant, but even if you're looking for a co-op game that's safe for the whole family, you can find better options on the market.

The sense of speed is fantastic and the visuals are divine, but the openness of the tracks, cautionary AI opponents, and fact that you really have to go out of your way to wreck serve to suck all of the excitement out of the experience.

Merely a slightly annoying, if charming, run-of-the-mill platformer. [June 2005, p.136]

In order to derive any worthwhile enjoyment out of Atelier Iris 3, you pretty much have to be a big fan of both anime and dungeon crawling. [June 2007, p.110]

However, Dynasty's old faults--poor AI and monotonous battling--are readily apparent. [July 2007, p.107]

In the time it takes to create any sort of viable or interesting content in RPG Maker, you could play through a real game. [Aug 2005, p.101]

Between the receivers’ lack of ball awareness and the game’s horrendous slowdown – which interferes with just about every play – this title is anything but high octane.

Mario Sports Superstars delivers five fun, surface-level sports experiences in one package. Individually, these sports would be unable to stand on their own. However, as a compilation, the variety helps compensate for the lack of depth. Still, the more I played, the more this package felt like a collection of minigames than a value-packed compilation.

It’s a mix of exciting and overwhelming as you try to maintain what feels like 50 pots boiling over at different times.

FlatOut desperately wants to be the trailer park version of EA's slicker racer, but without the polish, it succeeds in being only a pale imitation. [Aug 2005, p.98]

The characters, their stories, and world they inhabit are divorced in a way that doesn’t make The Fidelio Incident a rewarding journey. When complete, I could look back on the story and appreciate it. But the two hours it took me to finish the game and gather the narrative components made me doubt it was worth the effort.

The PS2's library is already stocked with at least four snowboarding games that are infinitely better than this. [Jan 2002, p.83]

I went from disliking the lack of depth in EOE, to enjoying all the extras, to getting fed up with the control flaws; all in the span of one sitting. [Apr 2002, p.74]

I want to love Payday, but sadly I can't recommend this barebones PS3 port to anyone but the most die-hard of co-op shooter fans.

I wish I could say that Prisoner of Azkaban was a bold new start for the series. It's not, but this is a significantly better game than either of the previous two entries. [July 2004, p.111]

Fans will probably dig the game’s cool set pieces and the story, but the save points are placed too far apart, many puzzles require too much random experimentation, and the dialogue system seems like an afterthought.

Given time, Maxis could clear up the problems with SimCity. The studio could deliver consistent server performance, restore cheetah speed, patch the AI, and give players larger cities. But games can’t be reviewed based on the product they might become; Electronic Arts and Maxis are charging gamers for this experience right now. At this point in time, it just isn’t worth your money.

Even so, for gamers who don't know jutsu from chakra, don't expeect the game to give you any real incentive to play independent of its source material. [July 2006, p.106]

The lack of multiplayer on or offline seems truly misguided. The occasional challenging dogfight and the thrill of the open countryside below may entertain for awhile, but if I were you, I'd just go beat "Crimson Skies" again. [Nov 2004, p.163]

Even with relatively few RPGs on the GameCube, Falsebound Kingdom's relatively simple approach isn't that captivating - unless you're a Yu-Gi-Oh fan who is a newbie to the RPG genre. [Jan 2004, p.141]

In the end however, these extra layers can’t fix the subpar combat and disappointing storyline at the game’s core, leaving Avatar a lackluster, though not entirely unpleasant, experience. While forgiving sci-fi fans might still appreciate this intergalactic romp, the average gamer is left with an easy choice: this game is a rental at best.

Unlike "The Sims," which allows you to build your own destiny from the ground up, Playboy: The Mansion is done in by the very fact that all you can do is be Hefner. [Apr 2005, p.117]