The AI is still riddled with holes and your money plays from last year will still work. [Oct. 2006, p.94]

The technical feat of getting a game of this pedigree up and running on iOS is impressive. Without competent combat, however, all that work is for naught.

I have a hard time recommending this to Patapon newcomers. Even experienced players will likely get steamed over the roadblocks. If you think you have what it takes to form a good multiplayer co-op team and you're dedicated enough to overcome the difficulties and coordinate online meet-ups, you have a good time. You'll have to decide for yourself whether this storm cloud's silver lining is worth it.

It tarnishes the hallowed GoldeneEye name that gamers have held close to their hearts since 1997, and is the equivalent of tossing a martini into Bond's face and then shooting him in the family jewels with a tranquilizer dart. [Jan 2005, p.114]

The worlds are fun to explore and navigation captures the right balance between challenging and doable. Checkpoints are generous and things you've already killed or collected stay that way so backtracking isn't an issue.

The worlds are fun to explore and navigation captures the right balance between challenging and doable. Checkpoints are generous and things you've already killed or collected stay that way so backtracking isn't an issue.

Deliver Us Mars’ protagonists quickly cobble together a space shuttle that barely manages to get them to their destination. A similar story feels true of this game. A gripping narrative fuels gameplay that otherwise feels functional but underbaked, making my time on the planet a mixed bag. Deliver Us Mars shines best when it lets you absorb its story, but expect to stumble over several design craters along the way.

There is nothing that makes this worthy as a standalone release. [Jan 2005, p.68]

As it stands now, the cartoony graphics don’t really make you hungry or even make you feel like you actually made food, nor is the game ridiculous enough to give you that silly kind of fun like WarioWare. Any future entry in this series will probably have to go one of those two ways.

If you go into it knowing that stretches of it can be aggravating, either because they push your skills to the test or make you question the gameplay, it should do the same for you.

Good fun - nothing more, nothing less. [Feb 2005, p.113]

The touchy controls, coupled with an uneven difficulty curve, result in a game that fails to live up to its promise. [July 2009, p.83]

Like a pair of pants that make you butt look big, the tedious exploration and flimsy story just highlight too many unflattering curves to make the adventure truly worthwhile. [Jan 2006, p.156]

Windjammers 2 is an enjoyable throwback that proves its unique sport is still a blast, but the thrill is fleeting. I’m happy to see it return; I just wish it gave me more reasons to step on its court more often.

Just be warned: the sheen of newness that once glossed these games has faded with time, and several might be better left in your memory. But if you're committed to reliving the good old days, this is a reasonable way to go.

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

Touch Detective is packed with such funny dialgue and stylistic quirk that it may take a few hours to realize that it isn't a very good game. [Nov. 2006, p.146]

Some of the best horror games of the last decade have offered combat-free frights. After all, abandoned buildings are scarier when you can’t push back against the shadows. However, The Medium’s lack of combat highlights the challenge of letting atmosphere and puzzles carry a horror experience. The idea of exploring split realities is neat, but Bloober Team needed another gameplay hook to hang its hat on, because this horror show is a bit shallow.

Its boring, unimaginative combat lays shame to the fact that Philip K. Dick (whose short story the movie is based on) came up with a pretty original idea to write about.

These are great characters that have been the same since the start of the franchise. I want more now. [July 2004, p.123]

This game expands the show’s fiction and reveals a few mind-blowing twists, including one that has completely altered all of my theories about the show. As of the time of this writing, it is one of the biggest reveals yet.

On the gameplay end, it's still a little shallow in the moves department, but it's tighter on the whole. [Feb 2003, p.105]

Unfortunately, bad mechanics and ho-hum gameplay progression bring things down.

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

For all those complaints, however, I do admire that Nintendo tried and arguably succeeded at creating something unique that could not really be ported to another platform even if Nintendo wanted to. Nintendo does not automatically get credit for making something different, of course – the game still needs to be fun to play and give you reason to play – but I will always appreciate Drag x Drive for being unlike anything else and working better than I expected.

The bad: camera work from the lowest pits of hell, confounding interface. [July 2002, p.83]

Even when it fails, though, Rune Factory: Frontier is packed with so many other activities that there's always more than enough to do. [Apr 2009, p.85]

A mundane action title that screams mediocrity in almost every way. [Feb 2003, p.101]