The combination of puzzles, exploring, and Phoenix Wright-style point-counterpoint gameplay is honestly an interesting concept along with the attractive art, but the production is mired in soulless English dialogue, badly looping music, and awkward navigation controls.

A classic case of unrealized potential, Forsaken fails to make significant use of its excellent control and four-player split-screen capability by thrusting you into an endless maze of frustration.

Utter frustration. Every part of the controller is used, including both analog sticks, which have dual functions. It's nearly impossible to master these controls.

Endless Ocean's underwater atmosphere is soothing and relaxing but it lacks a crucial element: fun. [Feb 2008, p.84]

Could have been a bit better, had the control been tighter and the tracks more interesting, but as it is, you're better off playing any of the myriad mascot kart-racers out there.

Corridor-shooter gamers in general should be pleased with Blood II, but bloodthirsty fans of the original game may be disappointed. Spilling Blood is still a thrill, but it was more fun the first time around.

Moon is a decent time killer and is great for anyone looking for an interesting sci-fi adventure for their DS handheld.

Airblade’s story-based gameplay, however, vacillates between too simple and ridiculously hard—some levels you’ll breeze through, while others you’ll have to repeatedly restart because of stupid mistakes.

Maybe it's not the developers' fault that this just isn't much fun. Perhaps the formula for a Sonic game simply no longer holds up in the 21st century.

Killer 7 is certainly off-beat, but it's on the lonely side of mediocre, and even a rental will ultimately feel like wasted money.

Oni looks bad, sounds bad, and plays even worse -- all of the anticipation for this game is left unfulfilled.

Graphics and sound alone can't save sub-par gameplay, however, and even the most staunch WWII shooter fan won't find much to enjoy with Heroes 2.

I was amused by Bloons TD 4 at first, but after a while the game's nagging balancing issues became more and more apparent.

Unfortunately, Kya is a very difficult game to play as the controls are not particularly intuitive and the camera seems to delight in going haywire during delicate jumping situations.

The dance floor has never looked so dismal.

Frustratingly difficult, and even knowing what you need to do to succeed doesn’t mean you will, thanks to a horrible in-game map and unintuitive and difficult controls.

Despite this unique premise, Dark Summit sadly fails in every category.

Overall, Air Traffic Chaos's controls are simple enough, but that doesn't mean that they're not a pain to navigate.

An even larger frustration, though, is everyone's inability to recover lobs. In most tennis games, if you hustle you can often find some way to smack the ball back over the net, even if it's behind you. Here your characters just give up even if you are clearly within a reasonable rescue range.

As for the game itself, I like to call it "Band Hero: Abridged." The set list is varied, fun and up to date, with tunes from Avril Lavigne to The Rolling Stones. However, without a career mode, you have access to all 30 songs from the start.

It has some slick production values, and Acclaim goes all out on dreamy visuals, gorgeously detailed architecture, a Vikingly heroic score, and juicy sound effects, but skimps on any kind of depth and rewarding gameplay.

Aero Elite’s true failure, though, is its boring gameplay. Dog fighting and attacking ground forces just isn’t entertaining.

It's like every other mission-based helicopter shooter, except that it lacks a personality. Fireblade? Firebland.

Samurai Jack is neck-and-neck with "E.T." for the Atari 2600. [Apr 2003, p.61]

Even without the camera and control problems, Chantelise struggles to stand out amidst other similar games. It's disappointing, because you can tell there's a lot of heart and personality poured into the game, but it's just not that enjoyable to play.

The gameplay mantra of advance, stop, button mash, advance, stop, button mash (think "Final Fight" minus the fun) gets crushingly repetitive.

Quotation forthcoming.

The most prominent problem Spider-Man 2 suffers from is its convoluted indoor levels. Oftentimes, you need to search areas for a set number of criminals to bop or hostages to free. But without a map to consult, too much time is spent frustratingly backtracking and combing through every nook and cranny you've already visited.

A watered down racing title that won't do much for even the most dedicated dirt bike or ATV enthusiast.

Wii Play: Motion offers a better balance of quality to questionable content than the original release, with more total games and play variations in the package, but in this day and age the experience feels very insignificant. Along with Mario Sports Mix, Nintendo's Wii offerings to date in 2011 seem content to mine past concepts with middling success, which may be fine to the dwindling number of new console owners -- but it's tough to believe existing Wii owners will feel the urge to rush out for another unremarkable mini-game medley.

Simply a rather dull experience, which could be the worst thing you could say for any piece of entertainment. From my time with it, James Cameron's Avatar: The Video Game only furthers the point, rather than dispels it, that the movie-to-video game genre is as treacherous as the planet of Pandora itself.

Unfortunately, Gas Powered Games forget all the elements that make the games in this genre so damn fun and addictive. It's really a shame because had they done it right, it would have made the wait for Diablo III that much more bearable. But as it stands, this is without a doubt the worst addition to the Siege series yet.

The too-twitchy controls (which aren’t laid out logically or comfortably) and easy crash deaths belie an inappropriate commitment to realism in a patently arcadey setting, while other elements simply need more polish (spotty collision detection; some tricks that aren’t “seen”).

Overall, Okabu just doesn't feel like a finished game.

This sickly 3D adventure is plagued by endless repetition, frustrating controls, bland graphics, and just plain boring level design.

Mind-numbingly simplistic. [Oct 2004, p.92]

The flaccid sounds are joined by dreadful physics—it’s like driving a balloon. The fighting game-style combo system is unwieldy, and a sense of speed would have been a good idea, too.

It probably would have been best if the PSP version of Untamed were kept in its cage.

With horrible graphics that look like something an owl regurgitated, broken controls that must be wrestled with at every turn, and level designs that could turn the undead, Robotech: Invasion is an utter waste of money.

Even dedicated role-players are better off with a pencil and some paper.

While Samurai Western is a somewhat standard hack-and-slash with a quirky setting, it doesn't hold up for two main reasons: lack of polish and much-needed variety.

Unfortunately, the stunts which are normally hilarious and cringe worthy on the show come off as dull and uninteresting in the game.

A young fan of the TV show could theoretically search out a modicum of fun from this game, and perhaps they would find the puzzles more brow-furrow worthy. Maybe. I have a feeling, though, that this one will make its way swiftly to the bargain bins.

If it weren't for the torrid pace at which you're required to gather edibles, Lost in Blue 2 would be an enjoyable game. The developers obviously wanted to instill a sense of urgency, but really, all they did was rob the game of its fun.

The game's graphics are murky, blocky, and uninspired, while the soundtrack, filled with monster groans and quiet music, is just as bad. Controls are thumb-numbing and plain.

Sucks no matter what game you compare it to. [Sept 2005, p.80]

If you needed an excuse to pick up another Wii Remote and you have an extra Hamilton in the wallet, then by all means pick up Wii Play. Just don't expect to fully get your money's worth.

The video game equivalent of a local theater production—it aspires to be professional but just can’t deliver a high-quality experience. Trouble is, the ticket still costs just as much.

Oh yeah, if you can motivate yourself enough to finish both characters' stories, a secret, you unlock a chess game and secret character. Whoop-dee-doo.

With horrible graphics that look like something an owl regurgitated, broken controls that must be wrestled with at every turn, and level designs that could turn the undead, Robotech: Invasion is an utter waste of money.

That's pretty much Breach's biggest issue: Even if it's a cheaper XBLA alternative, everything it does has been done better elsewhere. If it had contributed something new to the FPS landscape, I'd forgive its attempt at imitation, but most folks interested in it already have immediate access to great games such as Halo, Black Ops and Battlefield.

If this is where the series is going, Neverland Card Battles is going to be a tough sell in the future. I'd really like to find something nice to say about it, but the game is so boring, cliche (there's that word again) and badly designed I'd be lying through my teeth.

Control in this game (using the term game loosely since it suggests fun) is akin to peeling "hair" off of a wet bar of soap - it's slippery work, and almost as difficult to do as it is to figure out why you're doing it in the first place.

If you're hardcore about your angling, Sega Bass Fishing may whet your appetite, but for everyone else, turn your motorboat around and avoid this game.

If anything, I can't help but see We Cheer as a missed opportunity. The game is filled to the brim with personality and has something for everyone on its rather impressive track list, but the gameplay itself is simply exhaustive trial and error routines that leave you with a sour taste in your mouth.

One of the worst games I've ever had the displeasure of reviewing.

Repetitive to the point of brain damaging; and a few giant leaps in enemy difficulty will have you cursing the fact that save points are at the beginning of each area.

Carnival Games may look cute, but it doesn't translate into gameplay you'll come back to, and in the end, is just a novelty Wii game that wears out it's welcome way too fast to be worth any price.

Crazy Machines Elements gives me a similar feeling where I just want to play with the pieces and see what can be built. But, like a parent worried their child will choke on the board game's tiny pieces, Crazy Machines Elements doesn't trust players with all of its tools from the start, preventing many from ever finding the fun lurking just beneath the surface.

If you took a "Dynasty Warriors" game and stripped away every redeeming quality, you would more or less end up with March to Glory.

Ninjamurai's sense of speed doesn't last long enough to get you through the waiting room at the doctor's office, nor does it compare to other offerings on the PSP Mini lineup.

The slow, unintuitive controls underlie awful, slapped-together graphics and a bargain-bin soundtrack that features MIDI-rock sound-alikes of the wrestlers’ classic themes.

The game's biggest defect lies in its terrible early-gen PS2-grade graphics. I haven't seen anything this blocky since the last time I played with my Legos!

For someone interested in videogame design or history, The War of the Worlds is an interesting case study. But is it fun? Dear god, no. Just, no.

Personally, I wouldn't give this game the time of day, and I happen to like RPGs. However, I'm envisioning Trinity being available for 99 cents a couple years down the line, and some very poor college student may want to grab it because they're bored and can't afford the latest shooter du jour. To those people I say, hey, if you don't mind forgoing ramen for a day, knock yourself out. You'll get a healthy 15-20 hours of kicking around goblins for your money. As for the rest of you, you'll probably be happier sticking with the ramen.

But boring combat is just one half of the misery pie that this game serves up, with half-baked role-playing elements comprising the rest.

King Arthur: Fallen Champions needs what it simply won't get -- varied units, improved AI, and some more thought placed into tactics and the utility of formations. I can't speak to the rest of the series, but unless you're a diehard fan, feel free to skip this one.

Deluxe has some decent ideas, but they're badly marred by unbalanced, frustrating gameplay. As far as retro revivals go, this is probably for fans only.

Its bargain-basement visuals, vapid enemy A.I., and flaccid controls ensure that the game could stand accused of lameness in a court of law.

You could also research a serviceable AI aid that would organize units into groups and automate functions like repair. Teleportation was a significant travel mode for many of the units. But unfortunately, cool ideas don't sell games until they're implemented into cool games.

Boogie Bunnies isn't so much bad as it is unimaginative, derivative, and just plain boring.

I can only see this game having use as a cheap and definitely non habit forming method of sleep aid with nightmares as a possible side effect. Or a coaster.

Very short. I'm deleting it from my iPhone as soon as I turn in this review.

If the game had been as unique as the controls, and it didn't just try to directly map first-person action gameplay onto a less responsive format, Rise of Nightmares could have been something pretty special. This game may not be that great, but it shows that the Kinect itself has potential.

Just like Jeff Hardy, TNA Wrestling iMPACT hides a closet full of crippling inner flaws behind a flashy, colorful exterior.

Fans of the classic puzzle game should stay far, far away from this truly awful version of Tetris.

Poor graphics and animations, a tear-jerkingly simple fighting system, painful bonus rounds, and one of the worst end-boss encounters ever put to pixel.

Even with the odd original game in the mix, these still aren't the type of things you want to do everyday - especially with the lame scoring system.

You would have to be an insanely devoted fan of the action-figure line from which the characters originate and a fan of repetitive level exploration to gain any type of enjoyment from Cy Girls. [Apr 2004, p.74]

The action-heavy gameplay just gets hammered by illogically executed camerawork.

The visual and music portion of the game offer up little to no innovation, it all seems very plain and lacking, almost like a rejected Warner Bros. cartoon.

With rough textures and flat prerendered backgrounds, Portal Runner looks like a late-generation PlayStation title rather than a second-generation PS2 effort. It plays even worse.

Lord of Arcana is one of those games where the amount of fun you're having is directly proportional to how many people you play with. But there's the catch: if you're playing by yourself, you'll have little to no fun at all, and the lack of online play makes getting a party together unnecessarily difficult. Online play should be standard for this kind of experience, and the game suffers immensely for it.

Largely an awful shooter. And instead of trying to do everything and failing to deliver virtually anything worthwhile, Bodycount probably would have been much more successful if its design was simplified by focusing on one or two key features it could attempt to do differently. But it didn't, and the end result is not pretty.

Alpha Polaris may drive you mad, but not for the right reasons.

And let’s not forget the "What th-?!" reaction you'll have when you complete the fourth level and the game’s credits start rolling!

I can't in good faith recommend Rygar: The Battle of Argus--both fans of the original and newcomers should avoid it. [Feb 2009, p.77]

Better yet, just avoid it altogether. [Feb 2008, p.74]

Thanks to some horribly generic gameplay and uninspired combat, it ends up continuing the disappointing trend of movie license video games.

It's not at all surprising to play a franchise launch game that lacks polish and precision, but The Sims 3 comes off as careless -- especially for a series with such strong cultural and consumer cachet. Even the much cheaper iPhone version offers a richer portable take on the series, and that came out in 2009!

Thanks to some horribly generic gameplay and uninspired combat, it ends up continuing the disappointing trend of movie license video games.

Hopefully someone will take the concepts that Conflict gets right and crafts a better game around them. [May 2008, p.81]

The core gameplay in all its monotonous glory is, unfortunately, entirely preserved, and while no one can deny the appeal of trashing pricey downtown real estate while noshing picture-snapping tourists and tossing trains, if you play one level you've played them all.

If you manage to actually stick it out through those early, mind-numbing games, you'll eventually be able to take part in some fairly enjoyable tournaments en route to making it big as an And 1 Streetball star. But really, when the game makes it so darn miserable to play in the beginning, is holding out for that content even worth it? The answer is a resounding "no."

Looks aren't everything, and the game falls directly on its noble ass. [August 2002, p.78]

NFL GameDay is the Detroit Lions of the league.

From its terrible graphics to its awkward controls, Mercenaries is a complete and utter disaster. The iPhone version of Mercenaries is not the version you want to play.

Blade is a kick-ass hero in the comics and movies, but take away the "kick" and what you're left with adequately describes this game.