Plenty of people can put up with a bit of ugliness if there’s still a pretty good time to be had overall. For Modern Warfare II, the good time offered by its multiplayer and in glimpses within its campaign may be enough.

Rise of the Manhunters makes good use of the Green Lantern license, yet struggles to deliver an intense combat experience. It ends up feeling like an excruciatingly long game, despite it offering only six to seven hours of gameplay.

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]

Breach & Clear's monetization scheme doesn't interfere with the gameplay, and although strategy plays less of a role than I would like, combat is still fun. However, the progression system and customization options fall flat, and the game needs more than one simple mode and 15 maps to remain entertaining.

This is the first licensed game I've played that is actually shorter than its movie. [Aug 2007, p.93]

The limited inventory system often forces you to waste items to make room, and multiplayer is a complete waste – unless prancing through the fields collecting faeries with a net is your cup of tea. However, for a children’s movie licensed game you could do a lot worse.

I rarely feel that my intelligence is being insulted by a game, but RoadKill managed to do the trick. The self-consciously "bad-ass" plot is devoid of humor or interesting characters. [Oct 2003, p.139]

The Enigma lives up to its name of being difficult to understand from start to finish. Telltale is all over the place in this episode, but the desire to be gritty and different is exposed too much, and the story suffers from it, feeling more like an odd one shot than the first part of something larger. Mysteries abound, however, and enough engaging narrative threads are left dangling to potentially right this second season’s direction.

Even with its brief length and scattered pacing, Episode 2 could have been noteworthy if it played to the strengths that propped up Episode 1. Instead, Assembly Required doesn’t bring the charm or the high level of action its predecessor does, and it ends up feeling like an epilogue rather than a full episode.

The other half of the Outlaw equation, the humor, left me cold. [Sept 2005, p.100]

The Enigma lives up to its name of being difficult to understand from start to finish. Telltale is all over the place in this episode, but the desire to be gritty and different is exposed too much, and the story suffers from it, feeling more like an odd one shot than the first part of something larger. Mysteries abound, however, and enough engaging narrative threads are left dangling to potentially right this second season’s direction.

Yakuza 3 does offer an involved, lengthy story for those with the patience to wade through the repetition and annoyances.

For the God of War completionist, there is a story incentive to play through Sons of Sparta. It builds on Kratos’ character well, shows a part of his life we have not had the chance to experience, and there is at least one small detail related to modern Kratos and his son that I am glad I learned. But it underwhelms on nearly every aspect of Metroid-inspired design without outright failing. Controlling Kratos, fighting, and exploring just isn’t particularly fun on a basic level. A just below perfunctory genre experience alongside characters and in a setting I admit I like spending time with.

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]

It’s not that Combined Assault is hard. It’s more like the game is very impolite, barely introducing itself to new players. The control and game interface are showing their age, too. They weren’t very good even back when the first SOCOM came out. It’s probably time to rethink the way this game plays.

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]

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.

More than any of the technical faults, though, is the problem that Kay is just plain dullsville. [Oct 2005, p.134]

In the right environment and with the right people, Divekick offers some fun. But the lack of online lobbies drastically limits those opportunities. Like most novelties, the fun of Divekick is short-lived.

A bigger focus on action (like fighting wild animals) and a wider variety of activities make this more enjoyable than the original, but it still failed to make me care about the characters enough to suffer alongside them.

As it is, this is no more than a briefly amusing spectacle for fans of the series.

Gigantic is an accessible MOBA that admirably scales the genre down, but loses the magic that makes the genre so enticing. It lacks many of the myriad ability and character interactions that make learning these kinds of games so much fun, and the combat doesn’t find a comfortable center between MOBA and third-person action.

None of these sports are fully fleshed out, and they simply represent a range of motions to perform with the controller.

Unfortunately, a sterile open world and excessive backtracking drain Catalyst of the fun found in the original.

More fun than watching the movie that inspired it. Of course, so is watching your inbred Uncle Eddie pick lint out of his navel. [Feb 2002, p.85]

Gigantic is an accessible MOBA that admirably scales the genre down, but loses the magic that makes the genre so enticing. It lacks many of the myriad ability and character interactions that make learning these kinds of games so much fun, and the combat doesn’t find a comfortable center between MOBA and third-person action.

The action is poorly designed and repetitive, and the quest is void of challenge. [Sept 2003, p.125]

But after spending a mere 30 minutes to complete the adventure, you'll soon discover that there's too little sustenance to provide a satisfying portion of gameplay.[Nov 2002, p.138]