Even though events like a serial killer and political intrigue pop up to break up the action, the day-to-day monotony of the gameplay takes its toll. Content is repeated, and causes the experience to drag on. If the goal was to convey the drudgery of this kind of work, I was sick of it halfway through. It all culminates in one of the dumbest imaginable confrontations.

It feels clever and promising at first, but doesn’t change its approach when the formula wears thin.

With unresponsive skating and stickhandling skills, NHL 2K10 is a troubled hockey prospect. With so many red flags, we recommend passing this prospect over.

All of this doesn’t alleviate the standard overarching Mario Party complaints: You won’t have fun without friends, and you’re going to get screwed no matter what at some point and you can’t do anything about it.

The Sims 4 is a beefier and better game with its diverse expansion packs and added content since release, but without much of that being available on console just yet, this feels like a step back from the PC version. Nonetheless, this is essentially the same core experience as the base game on PC, and it’s worth checking out if you don’t already own the game. Although the console version features some dodgy controls, it largely delivers on its promise of bringing a faithful port to the console audience.

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

Concocting potions and humiliating dark wizards is fun for a while, but once the novelty is gone, Hogwarts loses all of its magic.

If and when Neocore patches the AI into respectability, even if that's in conjunction with letting it cheat with damage/HP numbers under the hood, I'll be the first one to jump in and dump a hundred hours into King Arthur II. For now, I'll play something that's at least half a step beyond shooting fish in a barrel.

Ugly and smelly enough that only a dedicated few should bring it home. [Jan 2004, p.135]

One of the stupidest, most disappointing games of all time. [Dec 2003, p.175]

Developer Saber Interactive has never made a sports game before, but NBA Playgrounds doesn’t show many signs of being a rookie.

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

Many points where the puzzle design, level layout and management of the teens' special skills are just plain clumsy and almost unusable. [June 2005, p.127]

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]

When you reboot a franchise, it's done with the tacit understanding that it needs to move to a better space. Need for Speed checks off the boxes for the series, but unfortunately it's not a revaluation that necessarily improves on what's already come before.

Slam Bolt Scrapper's admirable ambition is also its greatest pitfall. In mashing genre-specific mechanics together, the game sacrifices expertise for breadth, becoming a generalist rather than a specialist. That being said, the freshness of the experience and solid foundation is entertaining and engaging, despite the occasional frustration.

Angry Birds is a perfect mobile diversion game. It's quick and addictive, and before you realize how its fickle physics can be incredibly unfair, your game is interrupted by a phone call. It's not the sort of game that works well when you want to cozy up on the couch for a few hours.

Eidos has produced a turd of such magnitude that there is no adjective to describe my overwhelming distaste for this game and many of the things it stands for. [Jan 2004, p.134]

Even though it's not in the premier league of fighters, I can honestly say for the first time that non-fans will find this an inviting game with its own brand of depth. [Jan 2004, p.133]

It's not that XGRA is bad per se, it's that the game has absolutely no soul. None. Zip. Zero. I have never played a game so devoid of personality. [Nov 2003, p.171]

If boxing's your thing, you'll most likely dig it; and at least it's a new direction for the tired sport. Just don't expect the next "Punch Out." [Mar 2003, p.85]

Bleeding Edge has plenty of potential and I had fun with it in my first couple of hours, yet lost interest in it quickly, as the battles alone weren’t enough of an allure to keep going. Like most living competitive games, there’s a chance Ninja Theory could greatly enhance the experience over time. For the time being, however, it’s entertaining for a bit and then it fades fast.

Unconventional, addictive, and a must-have for veterans driven to expand their horizons. [Dec 2005, p.176]

Apart from the animal stuff, the core game has also undergone some tweaks, like a greater sense of ownership of your surroundings. It doesn't make Pets more fun, though; the lack of sufficient rewards and direction neuters the whole experience and makes it a chore to play.

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.

Merely an okay game that benefits greatly from its movie license. [June 2003, p.106]

The characters, dialogue, and plot are all about as engrossing as run-of-the-mill fanfic, and the battle system is as boring a turn-based snoozefest as I’ve seen in years.

When the gameplay is this stale and DW 5 isn't even optimized for the system (there's no online and the draw distance still blows), there's no reason to take this lemon for a drive. [Oct 2005, p.140]