There aren't enough carrots dangled under your nose to keep you crawling through the monotony of randomly generated dungeons, and the text-based.

Kung Fu Panda 2 may win over fans on the cinematic front, but I can't say the same about its Kinect counterpart. Kung Fu Panda 2's charming cast of characters do a great job of moving the Kinect title's story mode along, however lag in full body combat sequences and noticeable lack of polish in minigames do little in making the user feel like the ultimate kung fu master.

Doesn't offer enough depth or strategy. [Jan 2003, p.114]

Memoranda has a charming aesthetic and an alluring atmospheric soundtrack, but narrative shortcomings and its flawed puzzles make it a frustrating experience. While its world is interesting at a glance, the game quickly loses its luster as the narrative becomes as directionless as its puzzle design.

I was finished with Mr. Shifty long before the credits rolled. It didn’t make me feel like a skilled thief or a rad, teleporting vigilante. It just made me tired and disappointed to see such a neat premise amount to nothing more than a chore.

Every conceivable feature is executed with a class-B mentality. [Apr 2005, p.136]

Doomed to be as bland as the Rock's acting. [June 2002, p.87]

Even if you consider yourself a fan of the series, don’t waste your time here. There was a time when the Mana name meant something, but this is a disappointing entry that drags the franchise through the mud.

It’s a shame this port was released in a worse technical state than many beta builds I’ve played, because the core design of Universe at War (minus the lame by-the-numbers scripted campaign) is quite good.

Playing Sonic 4: Episode II co-op is like returning to your favorite family vacation destination as an adult and bringing along a friend. You point at the broken attractions and try to convince them how good things used to be, but no amount of nostalgia can change the fact that the powers that be have let your beloved memory deteriorate.

Playing Sonic 4: Episode II co-op is like returning to your favorite family vacation destination as an adult and bringing along a friend. You point at the broken attractions and try to convince them how good things used to be, but no amount of nostalgia can change the fact that the powers that be have let your beloved memory deteriorate.

Somewhat amusing... but only, and I stress this, if you've already consumed every little morsel within "Tony 4." [Dec 2002, p.122]

There are some minor tweaks here and there for this Wii remake, most notably the use of the nunchuk for reeling in the lunkers, but nothing that stops this game from being extremely dated and lacking in content and variety.

I don't think I've ever been as bored as I was playing Warship Gunner 2. [Apr 2006, p.124]

I wish I could warp back to the time when Power of Illusion was full of mysterious promise.

Legacy is a little too "classic" for its own good; it needs more than a facelift to appeal to the modern gamer. [Mar 2009, p.95]

The deep upgrade system is completely wasted by the action itself, which is some of the worst I've ever seen. [June 2005, p.136]

Myriad control problems, brain dead AI, and a cringe-worthy storyline make Mindjack a shooter worth skipping.

Controlling your hero directly, action game style, is a neat gimmick even though it's in poor execution. [Aug 2006, p.88]

Myriad control problems, brain dead AI, and a cringe-worthy storyline make Mindjack a shooter worth skipping.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a gameplay disaster filled with one-dimensional characters that lacks many of the impressive ILM effects from the film. Yet somehow its story is still better than the ­movie’s.

There really isn't much here to recommend. The reason? As usual, suspect gameplay and poor camerawork are the culprits. [Sept 2002, p.85]

Prime World: Defenders had an exceptionally low bar to clear to get me on board, but the staid design and brutal grind managed to miss even that simple goal. Because the power differential between basic and improved cards is so great, the difficulty ticks over from impossible to trivial out of nowhere. Neither extreme is much fun, and unfortunately neither is Prime World: Defenders.

Unfortunately, the game's cel-shaded graphics are the real loser here because they're wasted on the wrong title. [Mar 2002, p.81]

I wish I could say that this game's poor design and execution was a surprise, but let's be honest: old Sonic's been down so long it looks like up to him. [May 2009, p.87]

I just didn't have any fun playing this game. Honestly, I hated every second of it. [Nov 2004, p.154]

Many [games] don't quite play the way they should since you don't have the keypad, which was one of the system's highlights. [Feb 2004, p.103]

Final Four gets a nonstop trip to Dumpsville. [Dec 2001, p.50]