187 is one of those titles that you wish went in one of two separate directions: either it focused on the storyline and made an urban crime story, or they made a combat racer with a different theme. As it stands now, neither premise works in this title, and the game really isn't that engaging.

The plot is silly, the world is drab (not to mention being stuck in a 640x480 resolution), and the puzzles are too difficult to be any fun.

The problem with Dungeon Lords, at least in its current form, is that every time something works, there are ten things that don’t work that spoil the fun.

Clearly, Dagger only serves to tarnish the Delta Force name that NovaLogic strove so hard to redeem in Land Warrior.

The game has one glaring hole that has to disappoint everyone who plays it, even long standing fans of the series, and that is the combat system.

Basically, Sinking Island has nothing going for it. The mystery is boring, the puzzles don’t require any thought, the dialogue is astoundingly bad, and too many parts of the game seem like they were made on the cheap (for example, when you talk to people their lips don’t move).

Suffice it to say, I didn’t enjoy Rise of Venice at all. It crashes too often, it doesn’t explain itself well (and for some reason the tutorial video is hidden in the quest journal), and the endless buying and selling just gets tedious, especially since automating the process seems to remove any chance of actually earning a profit with it, or at least that’s how it worked for me.

As it stands now, I wouldn’t recommend The Experiment to anybody.

187 is one of those titles that you wish went in one of two separate directions: either it focused on the storyline and made an urban crime story, or they made a combat racer with a different theme. As it stands now, neither premise works in this title, and the game really isn’t that engaging.

While Data East Arcade Classics isn’t the worst arcade compilation I’ve played, it’s far from the best. The staggering amount of mediocre games hurts it immensely, and unless you’re a fan of the handful of good-to-great games on it, or absolutely must own every classic compilation that comes out, you can safely skip it.

It was more like a nightmare than a dream for me. I didn’t enjoy any part of the game, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody.

Although it's a good idea to revisit the older Gauntlet franchise, this isn't exactly the way to do it. The plot is inconsequential, the characters are less than one dimensional and the game is radically overbalanced, amongst other issues.

The plot is inconsequential, the characters are less than one dimensional and the game is radically overbalanced, amongst other issues.

One of the most deathly boring games you’re ever likely to play.

The movie had a tired sense after a mere ninety minute running time. Island Attack does not fare much better.

Prank TV is basically a bargain clone of that bargain game, and it’s as bad as that description makes it sound.

A silly story that the developers don’t try to develop, generally easy puzzles that are boring to solve, a bad interface that tests your patience more than your intelligence, and so-so graphics that don’t make the game fun to look at.

There is no solid gameplay to back up what is, at the onset, a graphically engaging 2D engine, complete with special effects.

About the only nice thing I can say about Batman is that it’s short. It only took me about eight hours to complete the game’s five episodes, and I was happy when it was over. So obviously, I don’t recommend this game to anyone for any reason, unless you’re an obstinate fan of the Dark Knight.

"The Legend of Coffin Rock" and The Elly Kedward Tale are scary, but for all the wrong reasons.

The game is about a 10-hour experience. There's absolutely no reason to replay it.

The Wayne vs. Wayne mode is loads of fun, but it's not worth paying $39.99 USD for. I just can't recommend Gretzky NHL 06 over either of the other two hockey video game franchises currently on the market.

And so The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is a disappointing outing.

With Denied Ops, the fifth installment in the Conflict series, Pivotal Games chose to focus their attention on co-operative gameplay, and while there are some interesting elements found within the game, they’re overshadowed by a series of poor design choices.

I'm not a Star Wars fan, but I've had fun with several of the games before. The Force Unleashed II just isn't entertaining, though; as soon as you're able to start having fun with it, it pulls out an obnoxious boss fight or another uninspired level on you. I can't honestly recommend this to anyone but the most obsessive, completist fan of the series, and even he's probably going to have to justify this to his friends.

I'm not a Star Wars fan, but I've had fun with several of the games before. The Force Unleashed II just isn't entertaining, though; as soon as you're able to start having fun with it, it pulls out an obnoxious boss fight or another uninspired level on you. I can't honestly recommend this to anyone but the most obsessive, completist fan of the series, and even he's probably going to have to justify this to his friends.

The game just has so many problems that I don’t think future patches will help it any.

Unless you spend a lot of time exclusively playing Xbox Live Arcade titles, though, it’s probably not worth picking up the full game as you might find you’ve seen and done everything with the trial itself.

There are laughs to be had, and for that it might be worth a rental, but anything more will only be Hazard-ous to your wallet.

I can’t recommend that you go out and buy this game.

Character growth? Unnerving realism? I don’t think so. And when you take away the sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, figuratively and literally, the true gameplay is revealed as repetitive and uninspired.

It’s this emphasis on storytelling that eventually spells the demise for this title. The story just doesn’t flow consistently throughout the game.

There are laughs to be had, and for that it might be worth a rental, but anything more will only be Hazard-ous to your wallet.

The heart of RTS games is all in the maps and how well your enemy plays them.

Just because the engine has been updated doesn't mean the game is any less tedious or frustrating than it was in its original form.

The game's players look great but don't play great. The lack of follow through in so many departments should urge buyers to look elsewhere for a game of tennis.

With Denied Ops, the fifth installment in the Conflict series, Pivotal Games chose to focus their attention on co-operative gameplay, and while there are some interesting elements found within the game, they’re overshadowed by a series of poor design choices.

In the end, like Salt Lake, Athens, Torino and Beijing before it, Vancouver 2010 fails to reach the podium.

It’s a shame that the game is essentially killed by its lack of depth, because if it had some, this would be a worthwhile game.

Legacy is sloppy and silly, it doesn’t try to tell a coherent story or develop its characters, and its puzzles aren’t even close to being entertaining enough to make up for the rest of the deficiencies.

Supremacy MMA: Unrestricted is a rare example of a handheld release being given some pretty major improvements compared to the console version. The developers clearly took the criticism of the console versions to heart and made an honest effort to improve things. They didn't fix everything, but I do appreciate the improvements to submissions and cage movement. However, it's still a lackluster game overall, but does have some really good ground and pound animation, and some other redeeming features that make it at least worth renting. It's definitely not worth its $40 asking price though.

I have no idea how anyone could possibly think, after getting past the early design stages, that Knights' Contract was in any way a good idea.

I have no idea how anyone could possibly think, after getting past the early design stages, that Knights' Contract was in any way a good idea.

Yuke’s seemingly wanted to reinvent the wheel, and instead of getting a round one that moves you along smoothly, you get a blocky wheel that may move you forward, but will result in a much bumpier ride than needed.

Frantix gets old very quickly. After the first few rounds you'll find yourself thinking "Is this all?" The answer is yes.

The concept of taking on the LA streets to get your property back or restore your good name could've really gone a long way, but the spotty race mechanics, the absurd amount of traffic and a number of useless or nonsensical features makes L.A. Rush really run out of gas.

I eventually stopped playing after about 30 hours because the game was just too mind-numbingly boring to continue. I was also shocked that I had only played for 30 hours. It felt like at least twice that long.

Character growth? Unnerving realism? I don’t think so. And when you take away the sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, figuratively and literally, the true gameplay is revealed as repetitive and uninspired.

In the end, like Salt Lake, Athens, Torino and Beijing before it, Vancouver 2010 fails to reach the podium.

Nine, cough*three*cough, missions doesn't quite constitute an expansion pack to me.

Character growth? Unnerving realism? I don’t think so. And when you take away the sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll, figuratively and literally, the true gameplay is revealed as repetitive and uninspired.

It’s not deserving of some of the vitriol it’s received as it’s not the worst game ever, but it’s just so painfully average in so many ways that it may actually be worse by not being a worse game.

When the PC version of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was released late in 2006, it had issues with both single- and multiplayer. Here we are a little over a year later, the Xbox 360 version doesn’t fare much better.

There are lots of things Starships does poorly, but at least as far as I’m concerned the lack of meaningful tech tree and shallow starship construction really don’t suffice in a game that, after all, has Starships in the title.

Defiance isn’t a bad game, it’s just not all that fun to play.

And so The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is a disappointing outing.

The concept of taking on the LA streets to get your property back or restore your good name could’ve really gone a long way, but the spotty race mechanics, the absurd amount of traffic and a number of useless or nonsensical features makes L.A. Rush really run out of gas.

This game could be improved 3000% just by allowing me to skip stages I've already completed when I start a new game. As it stands, the later stages are fun, but not worth the tedium of the earlier stages to get there.

All glittery golden on the outside, soulless, sucking void on the inside... The thought of a trilogy of games this bad is really and truly mind-boggling.

In the end, Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified is a pale imitation of its superior forebears. It's not bad for what it is, but it's not nearly as good as it should be.

It is a glorified rail shooter, in the vein of Virtua Cop 2, among others.

And so, obviously, Murder in the Abbey (or just The Abbey, as it is known in Europe) is an adventure game to skip.

A very disappointing one. If you want to get the most out of it, buy it for the new puzzles and not the story mode.

That creativity, however, is all but lost here because of some poor execution on the developer's part.

A very disappointing one. If you want to get the most out of it, buy it for the new puzzles and not the story mode.

Let's hope in the next iteration, there will either be a departure from this approach or at least a more refined one at that.

It has way too much going on, and Innonics made so many bad decisions with all the things in the game that Diggles ends up being overwhelming, annoying, and tedious all at the same time.

It tries to measure up to the likes of classics like Tomb Raider with a new aquatic environment but fails to capitalize on the idea. In the end, it comes up short.

It is a straightforward brawler that controls sloppily and attempts to mix in components like an experience-based system but fails miserably in almost every regard.

The mechanics of the game appear to put a stop to this trend towards realism. Squad Leader is unable to move past the grid system and lacklustre graphics.

It's anything but wild and after playing the game, I found I was about as happy as I was watching a Power Rangers episode back then; sarcasm in full effect.

Throne of Darkness could have been a great game, but its convoluted controls and unappealing gameplay really tore down the fundamentals that make a good game.

Despite all the problems, I actually had a few genuine moments of utter nerd glee as I sliced my way through a group of enemies. When it worked as it should, Kinect Star Wars was tolerable. Don't get me wrong, it's still laughably bad... and some of content is borderline insulting to Star Wars purists (especially the new song lyrics), but the fact is that I never felt like a Jedi, which was, of course, the point.

Driven is a solid, if not somewhat boring, racing game that fails to innovate or add any sense of entertainment not already found in previous racing games.

Without the hair, this would be no more than a mediocre platform game.

Simply put, it lacks innovation. The developers seemed satisfied creating a generic shooter with the most rudimentary gameplay.

Clearly, Stalin vs. Martians is a game to skip, even at the under $20 price point that it’s starting with.

Outside of a minigame or two, it just isn’t fun. The single-player story mode is uninspired and poorly executed, and the online component suffers from a serious lack of competition and more-than-occasional lag.

Syberia 3 is a game to avoid. It has no redeeming qualities — whether you’re a fan of the series or not — and it’s not worth anything close to its bloated retail price. Just stay away, please, so Microids doesn’t get any ideas about subjecting us to a Syberia 4 (or maybe IV, since they seem to be alternating their numbering scheme).

This edition is uninspired, taking all the good parts of Munch's Oddysee away and leaving the rest of the package to fend for itself.

And then there are all the crash bugs, and the easily broken quests, and Pirates of the Caribbean just isn’t a lot of fun to play.

There is very little to do in the game, and it’s the sort of game where I wonder what the developers were thinking when they made it. I mean, why bother making a game that has so little going for it?

No multiplayer support, poor controls (although it is with a GC controller, which is a losing battle in and of itself), a storyline that puts you to sleep, and puzzles that will make you give your TV the finger.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is an interesting beast because it really shouldn't exist. Outside of a unique art style it brings nothing new to the genre and does little to improve over the original game, which I might add, was far from a good game.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is an interesting beast because it really shouldn't exist. Outside of a unique art style it brings nothing new to the genre and does little to improve over the original game, which I might add, was far from a good game.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is an interesting beast because it really shouldn't exist. Outside of a unique art style it brings nothing new to the genre and does little to improve over the original game, which I might add, was far from a good game.

For some unknown reason Activision took a pretty respectable franchise (I still play SoF2 from time to time to this day, and it is still installed on my PC), and chucked it in the garbage.

A good-looking game that should've focused on one thing above all others. It might've been a good four-player arena combat game; it could've done all right as a mission-based beat-'em-up; and it's just barely possible that this might've worked as a 3D platformer starring Marvel's characters. As a game that tries to be all of those things at once, it's about as fun as gargling mayonnaise.

With its ill-defined gameplay, sloppy graphical execution and unclear combat mechanics, Unlimited SaGa is proof that even experienced developers can slip every now and then.

Mugen Souls is the worst RPG experience I've had in a long time. I like that the game has two different battle systems, I just wish either was fun to use. Neither is able to hold your interest for very long, with one growing tiresome due to needless complexity and the other being too simplistic.

It looks great and promising but in the end, it's like the ten-minute sequence we saw in the film - merely a glimpse of what could be done.

It doesn’t feel like it’s finished, and even if it were to be further refined, it would just be a low-budget Gears of War-style shoot-‘em-up. There’s no reason to play it.

Really, when all is said and done, if there was a way to just play the arcade version of TMNT without having to play through most of Battle Nexus first, then at least it would be worth it in a bargain bin.

Really, when all is said and done, if there was a way to just play the arcade version of TMNT without having to play through most of Battle Nexus first, then at least it would be worth it in a bargain bin.

Multiplayer is quintessential to the Gauntlet franchise -- I'm not sure how it could survive without it. With anemic gameplay, less than stellar visuals, something is found wanting in Dark Legacy.

Unfortunately, American doesn't offer much in the way of multi-player. While there are 20 multi-player maps available with the package, skirmishes are limited to LAN play only.

If a download code for this game came in the form of a sticker at the bottom of your brand new Mr. Spock glass you paid three dollars for at Burger King, it would be an easy recommendation for a thirty-minute whirl on your Xbox. Since it actually costs the “Microsoft Points” equivalent of ten of your hard-earned dollars it can only be recommended that you take that cash down to Burger King and get yourself a #11 combo… with a Star Trek glass.

The only one of the film's cast members to appear here is Robert Duvall, and every word spoken sounds like he was reading it while doing his taxes. The members of the Godfather cast who appeared in the first game knew when to 'git while the gittin's good' it seems.