With its juvenile humor and low difficulty this is probably targeted for kids, but it's a decent holdover until "Super Mario Galaxy" comes along. [Nov 2007, p.142]

Like sitting alone in the woods with a bottle of peepee tends to be, this game is damn boring. [Nov 2003, p.171]

With the remarkable hip-hop infused soundtrack and strong voice acting from all the lead actors of the show, the game is worth it for action fans willing to tackle this bloody exploration into the nature of vengeance.

Zoe Mode is new to the golf scene, but Powerstar Golf plays a like a seasoned pro, nailing most of the fundamentals of the sport, and establishing its own identity by applying little magic to a gameplay formula we know well.

Pretty visuals can only get you far, however, and Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising doesn’t offer enough entertaining or unique content to keep it from being anything more than a passable RPG. At the very least, it introduces the Eiyuden world and some characters involved in Hundred Heroes, but that’s very little incentive for putting up with tedious gameplay and boilerplate characters.

I had a lot of fun with Brave. The core action is simple, but the progression and element-based combat offer enough flexibility to keep things interesting – at least in the short term. Brave doesn't break the licensed-game mold as far as longevity is concerned.

Warrior's Code is one of the better action/RPG's to hit the market recently, on any platform. [Apr 2006, p.133]

While the controls aren't as big a deal on the PC, the spotty AI, poor pacing, and lack of depth doom both versions. [Nov 2008, p.118]

The ideal way to play FBC: Firebreak is as a group of three friends on a Discord call, coordinating moves and synergizing kits, which is a decent way to spend an afternoon. Unfortunately, it's difficult to achieve anything similar while matchmaking, and even then, there's just not much to do. On paper, I don't mind the lack of story, competitive modes, or procedurally generated content, but when the gameplay isn't engaging or interesting enough to keep me playing, the lack of other game modes is especially glaring. Recent updates have eliminated the tedious grind for upgrades, but the lack of a strong foundation underneath leaves FBC: Firebreak with too little, too late.

Bizarre clearly set out to make Blood Stone feel like a part of Bond's movie canon, and it's certainly successful on that front. The weapons are anemic, and the driving sections can be dodgy, but it delivers a dose of spectacle and intrigue worthy of the character.[Dec 2010, p.114]

The problems with the passing game are major, including a lack of touch on the ball, receivers who stop to catch passes, and iffy collision detection in general. [Jan 2002, p.83]

Unfortunately, my impressive creation was forced to engage in mundane missions and unexciting encounters - it was like watching Superman pay bills or walk the dog. [Apr 2004, p.98]

Hidden levels, new features, and cheats all await the dedicated gamer. However, it will take a seriously patient player to not only finish the game, but to go back and earn the gold medals. [May 2004, p.94]

The environment designs are not as creative, the stages are way too short, and the boss battles are surprisingly easy. [Feb 2002, p.94]

There is no battery backup to save with, and $40 is pretty steep for another version of Tetris. [January 2002, p.98]

Overall, the title feels disjointed when going between map strategy and RTS combat. [Jan 2005, p.138]

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]

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.

After Us poses some well-tread but timely questions about our impact on the world and its living things. However, optional discoveries throughout the game suggest that Piccolo is trying to present a slightly more ambivalent take on the subject. Some of that is best left for the player to discover for themselves. I recommend After Us strongly as a piece of visual artistry. It’s less successful as an interactive experience, but none of its problems are so glaring that it should dissuade someone from discovering its striking and haunting world.

The dialogue is actually charming and sometimes clever, but the loose controls found in the main game also plauge the arcade port to a degree, which to me, is the biggest bummer of this outing. [Jan 2006, p.138]

I appreciate the opportunity for some 4-player local (but not online) cooperative play, and some minor strategy is involved in combining different minerals during a dig to create more valuable objects. These small wrinkles aren’t enough to keep players invested. Play Super Motherload if you love the pure joy of the Dig Dug-style carving out of the ground, but don’t be surprised if there’s not enough buried beneath that layer.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D delivers a fleshed out, faithful, yet slightly flawed version of the gripping bonus mode. Imperfections aside, playing The Mercenaries 3D with a friend is the most thrilling handheld co-op experience I've ever had. Fans and 3DS-owners looking for a shot of pure portable action with a rewarding progression system should definitely check it out.

Wada says he named the game Birthdays the Beginning because he sees this as the start of a larger series. Perhaps there are some elements that didn’t make it here that could redeem Birthdays down the line. For the time being, it’s a tedious and obscure simulation that, more than anything else, made me yearn for another SimEarth.

Focusing on detail over substance is definitely an interesting design, but without a solid gameplay package, it amounts to nothing. [Nov 2003, p.168]

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.

LKA made the best recreation of an Italian setting I’ve ever seen in a game and I wanted nothing more than to enjoy it. However, LKA’s love of Italy is the only warmth I felt in Martha is Dead. The rest left me feeling as cold as Giulia’s dead sister.

The only downsides to this game are the slightly unimaginative campaigns, and the oh-so-annoying voice-overs, which feature the worst "foreign" accents I've heard in a while. [Mar 2002, p.89]

Some of the missions are a bit ambiguous, the respawn ponts don't work as well as they should, and the visuals really haven't evolved too much since the previous installment, but as a whole, The Omega Strain emerges as one of the PS2's most irrresistable online titles. [May 2004, p.98]