As much as I’d love to own a panda, after an eight-hour shift in the dullest pet shop in the planet, I was ready to tell my mom to stuff the allowance.

It has potential, but doesn't deliver the gameplay necessities to warrant a purchse. [Feb 2003, p.110]

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]

I don't regret the time I spent with All Zombies Must Die, but there isn't enough about the game that sets it apart from the myriad other titles like it on the digital marketplace. If you're looking for some decent Zombies Ate My Neighbors-style couch co-op action, you can do a lot worse for your $10. If you want a game that innovates on the twin-stick shooter genre in a meaningful way, however, I wouldn't look here.

It still has a wyas to go to catch "GTA", but with its finely crafted sequel Luxoflux has raised this series up from another me-too title to a necessity for fans of this genre. [Jan 2006, p.135]

Much improved, and it's still only okay. [Dec 2002, p.123]

Gun games are just going to keep getting these crappy scores until they show us something new, and it sure doesn't have anything to do with ninja. [Feb 2003, p.98]

There is definitely something unique going on here, but it doesn’t have that certain hook that a puzzle game needs to pull in the addicts.

Trick buttons can't pull chase out of mediocrity. [Oct 2002, p.91]

Just another mediocre pretender to the crown. Bottom line: I just didn't want to keep playing. [Feb 2003, p.101]

Without question, the only suitable home for this game is in a molten river on Mustafar right next to Anakin's legs and arm. [July 2005, p.117]

With the startling amount of missing content, kneecapped modes, and uneven gameplay in NHL 15, either EA Sports isn't giving EA Canada the same level of resources as its other sports franchises or the development team is woefully incapable of negotiating a console transition. If the publisher doesn't care to put a winning effort into its NHL series, hockey fans have no reason to jump over the boards and buy the game.

Spyro's gameplay works just like it's suppose to--just like it has in every other game in the last decade, so it feels like the development team just phoned this one in. [Nov 2007, p.142]

The core of what makes these games so memorable is still there in full force - pretty girls, unspeakably embarrassing sexual acts, and an endearing dorkiness that makes the entire experience feel mroe charming and humorous than exploitive. [Nov 2004, p.148]

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]

My favorite level was when I chased a car around for 10 minutes, trying to destroy it. Wait, that was my least favorite level. Wait, that's EVERY level! [Oct 2003, p.123]

While head and shoulders above its console brethren, Crouching Tiger on the GBA is still a medicore effort. [Dec 2003, p.185]

Just a mishmash of concepts that never really gel into anything great. [June 2004, p.139]

There is little in the way of discernable strategy or skill, the controls are never explained, and they’re unresponsive once you do figure them out. If this game had a head, it should hang it in shame for claiming to be part of the 360 library.

Brawlout probably isn’t for most Smash fans, including me. It simply can’t compete in terms of roster size, interesting characters, and overall personality. All of those things are critically important. Gating what little it has to offer behind a slow-drip progression feed is a mistake, too. Players who don’t have the time or patience to unlock everything can console themselves with the knowledge that they aren’t missing out on much.

While it's not the next evolution of competitive FPS by any stretch of the imagination, a clean frontend with good party support and matchmaking at least lets those players who can forgive its faults an easy way to play the game the way it was meant to be.

I'd stay away from it unless the very idea of an isometric hack n' slash in space seems too good to be true. [Oct 2008, p.111]

There is a load of personality in Chicken Little, and the large variety of level types and playable characters will appeal to fans of the film. [Nov 2005, p.149]

Never has a hero looked so stupid. As catastrophic as these missteps are, they pale in comparison to Spidey’s egregious video game blunder, Friend or Foe. [Nov 2007, p.144]

It works well enough with a bit of practice, though, and 50 complete scenarios in the single-player challenge mode add up to plenty of time spent playing god. [Oct 2008, p.106]

Where the game falls depressingly short is in Level-5 ignoring the many valid criticisms of the first game and churning out a cookie-cutter sequel that is even more of a rehash than the average yearly sports title or shooter franchise.

This is a small step forward, but for a series that hasn’t moved an inch over five installments, it’s a mind-boggling breakthrough.

Without any degree of difficulty, however, you don't feel like you are doing anything other than making your tour guides talk.