If a little more focus had been placed on adding depth to the game, 187 could have been a solid title for Ubisoft. Instead, comical use of lingo and the otherwise average presentation make 187 Ride or Die feel more like a poser than a player.

One gets the feeling that the show's creators are trying to wash their hands of Via Domus, awkwardly placed as it is in the series' now-sprawling legendarium. But above and beyond that, fans should approach it as a lark; it's not very accomplished as a game.

Take this game back to the drawing board; make it a game that would be good WITHOUT the Star Trek name behind it and stop relying on a franchise to sell a product.

Spending 30 minutes aimlessly wondering around because you can't figure out what random part of the environment you're supposed to manipulate or sequence of moves to string together to topple a structure is unforgivable.

Definitely not a game for everyone. But for those of us who enjoy a good, solid adventure of the more morbid variety, SGOTS is definitely not a bad choice at all.

If there's a lesson to be learned from Pax Romana, it's this: give us all the finger-licking detail you can pack in, but don't ruin it with a poorly conceived interface. It sunk "Master of Orion III," and it sinks Pax Romana in the final analysis.

The curse of Japanese racer audio lives on in Auto Modellista. The announcer needs a good punch in the face.

Some of this is good, some of this is utterly boring, but there sure is a lot to do.

There's a strange sense of... Well, it isn't fun exactly, but it's a slightly addictive charm that forces you to reassemble your controller and try that damn stage one more time... until you fail again due to circumstances beyond your control, and the rage returns.

Legends isn't a horror of a game. It's just a game that wouldn't have been greenlighted on the PS2 trying to cash in on the Wii's popularity and gullible gift-buyers.

It’s also not an overly difficult game, nor an overly long game, nor an overly attractive game, nor an overly fun game.

When you're not being blazingly bored by the fighting, you'll be frustrated by the linearity of the thing.

A feature-rich mediocre game. I can't really recommend it to anyone other than people with a scary obsession over Mr. Depp and fans of the movie that are willing to bear any hardship to play as Jack Sparrow.

The game's poor presentation and frustrating combat system make the mystery behind The Da Vinci Code one that most gamers would be better off leaving unsolved.

A tedious, repetitive brawler with atrocious production.

The game is serviceable enough for even old-school types looking to take a break from the more methodical titles on the market. While it won't replace my love for "Street Fighter," at least there's something else I can play to get my brawl on.

The biggest problem is the lack of difficulty and subsequent lack of replayability, but while it lasts Boogie offers a pleasant distraction from the usual crop of rhythm action games on the market. It's a strange title but one that's not without merit.

Perhaps the worst offense of all would have to be Wolverine. Not only has Z-Axis managed to take everyone's favorite adamantium-infused Canadian wildman and turn him into possibly the most boring hero ever, they've pinned a sizable majority of the action upon playing as him. Boring, you say? Yes.

Time Ace comes close to being a good game, but its blandness and obnoxious habit of steering innocent pilots into an early grave keep it from reaching its full potential.

With the limited variation in modes and the lackluster multiplayer, I simply couldn't justify spending an entire $30 on Tetris Evolution. Especially not when I can get a superior version for my Nintendo DS.

Unfortunately, those of us who actually have had any experience with pinball games won't find any reason to come back to this one after the initial feeling of nostalgia fades away.

The staggering lack of quality apparent in Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Elements has left us incredibly disappointed.

You might get a few hours of enjoyment out of it, but at best, this Voyage is best saved for a short weekend; it's not one you'll want to take too many times.

Power through some early dullness and potential confusion, and you'll find a grand adventure in a rich and colorful game world.

Perhaps the worst offense of all would have to be Wolverine. Not only has Z-Axis managed to take everyone's favorite adamantium-infused Canadian wildman and turn him into possibly the most boring hero ever, they've pinned a sizable majority of the action upon playing as him. Boring, you say? Yes.

To top it all off, not only is AOD almost unplayable when it's working, it's also plagued by a host of glitches that will make you glad that you can save the game at any point... An early contender for "Worst Game of the Year."

But nobody is going to fall in love with the game, unless they're in love with the sound of Jamie Little's big mouth.

Midway's got a decade to think about what they want the 30th anniversary Rampage remake to look like. Here's hoping they get it right then.

Sure, it's a bargain-priced gore fest and I guess that means we're not supposed to expect a lot -- but Hell's Reach will underwhelm even the most jaded gamers. It just isn't very much fun.

A bunch of pointless hand-waving in a half-hearted attempt to pawn off a ponderous spreadsheet as a game.

PSP owners will be able to gloat that their version of the game looks better than the Wii edition.

Plays like hundreds of other action fighting games, and looks worse than half of them.

The purpose of parody is to comment on a topic, by means of humorous or satiric imitation, and Eat Lead manages to pull this off admirably. I enjoyed playing this game, not because it was a very good shooter, but because it made me think (and laugh) about the other games I play.

Ouch.

It's just so generic, despite its few twists, and its B-grade action movie cinematics and plot are absolutely the stuff of dozens of other also-ran action games of the current generation.

Exactly what I expected it to be -- a perfectly mediocre game with a few good jokes and not a whole lot of gameplay.

Should have been a campy romp; instead, it's barely more enjoyable than "Run Like Hell," with a camera that constantly fights you and combat that constantly bores you.

Dragon Blade is forgettable fun in its tepid way, but with its lackluster environments, flawed controls and limp storytelling, it's hard to recommend to anyone that isn't a hardcore fan of winged lizards, a devoted reader of Knaak's books or desperate for mindless hacking and slashing.

If a little more focus had been placed on adding depth to the game, 187 could have been a solid title for Ubisoft. Instead, comical use of lingo and the otherwise average presentation make 187 Ride or Die feel more like a poser than a player.

Compared to most wrestling games, the movesets here have been whittled down to almost nothing.

If the mission goals are repetitive, at least the players have some latitude in completing them, whether by brute force, stealth, or by calling in air support (you can illuminate targets with a laser).

But Breed is worse than awful; it's absolutely unremarkable and utterly forgettable, the epitome of the generic computer game, lacking a shred of anything clever or offensive or ambitious.

The game is fairly repetitive, not bothering to bring puzzles or anything non-combat into play at all, but this is the nature of the genre, really.

More of a hassle than a pleasure to play. The glitches, poor controls and shabby visuals leave Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run without much to offer, even if you're an avid fan of the series. It's such a departure from what the series is known for, it could easily be called "Generic Action Game & Car."

A pile of uninspired, by-the-numbers gameplay and missed opportunities.

Although it had some great ideas (the RTS elements) and a cool storyline, the actual execution of the gameplay is mediocre.

The controls are great, but with nothing to do in terms of content, things ultimately fall short.

Atari, for some reason, decided to employ the touch screen for ALL the games on its compilation. For some games, it works; for others -- it's a clunky, useless interface that will have you cursing your DS hardware in no time.

All things considered, it's probably a blessing that Dead To Rights II is a short game. Most players will easily nail the coffin shut in a weekend.

Even value-priced at $20, 7 Wonders feels incomplete, aping the basic aspects of Bejeweled and bringing nothing more of substance to the party.

With more mini-game variety (a lot more) and better multiplayer support, it could have been a simple, fun diversion. As it is, however, it's often an exercise in tedium and frustration.

And that, as insane as it sounds, is the crux of the matter: Duke Nukem Forever feels like it was rushed out the door. So many of the design decisions are poor, so much of the maps are unbalanced (going from uneventful to extremely difficult in a flash), and the graphics are so shoddy, that an experienced gamer can come to no other conclusion.

Won't hold up to extended play anyway because of the too-small question set. It's a shame; it's a well put-together game otherwise.

It's probably entertaining enough for the casual gamer, but the competition even in the bargain bins is better.

If this particular incarnation of the game were strictly a PSOne effort, it would be a very good one. However, it falls well short of the mark for the PS2.

This is almost a decent game -- it certainly tries -- and Trekkers looking for an action game could certainly do worse. Avoid beaming in with particularly high expectations and you'll probably get your 15 bucks worth of hot Enterprise vs. Bird of Prey action.

Really, being boring is Confrontation's greatest flaw. Sure, there's a slew of frustrations, both technical and design, but those are oddly welcome after the tedium of everything else.

Unless you're very forgiving, impervious to frustration, or blindly love all things Monkey Ball, Super Monkey Ball Adventure probably isn't your idea of a good time.

Hell, Alpha Black Zero even makes games like "Chrome" look like high art. Ultimately, the intriguing storyline doesn't compensate for the vast, boring levels, and ugly scenery.

Even with the support of the upcoming feature film (which supposedly donated art assets), it still manages to oscillate between looking positively stunning to heinously ugly.

An uneven difficulty level, not much variety in quests and battles, clunky and temperamental controls, and the lack of any type of multiplayer will all quickly frustrate you.

Despite the enjoyable spell casting, the DS version of Order of the Phoenix simply isn't much fun. It's made even less enjoyable due to the poorly handled control and camera angles.

Feels rushed and slapped-together as a low-budget attempt to cash in on the holiday film release and make a quick buck from the fans before word gets out that it's not worth half its retail price.

A pile of uninspired, by-the-numbers gameplay and missed opportunities.

The control is poor, the AI is ridiculously inadequate, the graphics are stuck at a low resolution and are fairly uninteresting, and the game as a whole just doesn't work.

Various elements of the game are solid -- graphics, combat, mini-games -- but they're dragged down by the mediocre adventure elements, unsatisfactory controls, and borderline-obnoxious load times.

This moral ambiguity is one of NARC's biggest selling points, but it's also one of the game's biggest flaws. No matter how far you cross the line, you're never beyond redemption.

Our sights weren't set especially high for Beowulf, so at least it didn't disappoint. Even with the support of the upcoming feature film (which supposedly donated art assets), it still manages to oscillate between looking positively stunning to heinously ugly.

About 10 years too late. If it had come out around the time the films first started appearing (1995), it may have set the gaming world on fire. As is, it's just another freestyle also-ran.

Remarkably enough, the controls are worse than the graphics...If you're looking for a great Tolkien experience, go to your local library and read the books.

Spending 30 minutes aimlessly wondering around because you can't figure out what random part of the environment you're supposed to manipulate or sequence of moves to string together to topple a structure is unforgivable.

More of a hassle than a pleasure to play. The glitches, poor controls and shabby visuals leave Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run without much to offer, even if you're an avid fan of the series. It's such a departure from what the series is known for, it could easily be called "Generic Action Game & Car."

Restricted Area could have nicely filled the underused niche of the sci-fi action-RPG, but the bugs, boring level design, and tedious pathfinding combine to make the game a miserable chore.

Outside of some annoying platform-jumping bits, the game's environments are mostly non-interactive and serve only as gloomy backdrops on which to thrash countless bio-mechanical baddies.

Playing Brooktown High, you can't really ever lose, but with so little content to explore and so little reward, you can't really win either.

The lack of speed is a real problem here.

A disgrace. The only thing 3D6 Games has succeeded in (besides going out of business) is creating the worst Shinobi game ever, one which will turn away potential new fans and make old ones weep.

It looks okay, sounds all right, and plays decent. But nobody is going to fall in love with the game, unless they're in love with the sound of Jamie Little's big mouth.

Utterly formulaic, and like the movies upon which it's very loosely based, ultimately forgettable.

Not quite as bad as the movie, but it is most certainly in the same ballpark.

A clunky, junky licensing disaster.

It's just so generic, despite its few twists, and its B-grade action movie cinematics and plot are absolutely the stuff of dozens of other also-ran action games of the current generation.

It's playable, mostly, but so uninteresting and bland that it's nearly impossible to think of a reason to.

Feels like a confusing, unworthy amalgamation of all sixty-seven Hitchcock projects.

This terribly trite gameplay would be fine if the title of this software release was called, for example, "Go Dai: Elements of Power," but it isn't.

Geared towards a younger audience, Mickey is mind-numbingly simple, and it's a shame that such impressive visuals had to go to waste on such a disposable game.

The game is basically a watered down version of everything we've seen before in better console games. And it's also a case study in developers' overindulgence when dealing with new technology.

Aside from the horribly awkward controls, Dino Stalker suffers from what can best be described as a lack of inspiration.

The game's reliance on padding is its biggest sin. Since there are very few environments, the designers force you to explore every nook and cranny of each one repeatedly, from every direction.

Gods & Heroes might have made a passable showing in 2005 in its current state, but in this age of Rift and the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic, Heatwave's new release might as well be a Pompeian graffito in a Rembrandt exhibition.

PC strategy gamers have a lot to choose from on store shelves these days, and bugs, muddled combat, or weak AI aren't things that strategy fans have to live with. It pains us to admit it as fans of the franchise, but this Empire is definitely in decline.

Try Guild Wars if you want guild-versus-guild content, or "Everquest II" or "World of Warcraft" for a quest-driven MMORPG. Unless you're absolutely after that million-dollar prize, RYL is an easy pass.

Lack of inspiration and sloppiness are the hallmarks of Shade: Wrath of Angels. Clunky controls, tedious combat, frustrating difficulty, a forgettable hero, a lame story, silly dialogue, monotonous levels, typos, and bugs all add up to a big mess.

This moral ambiguity is one of NARC's biggest selling points, but it's also one of the game's biggest flaws. No matter how far you cross the line, you're never beyond redemption.

With all of the current A-list titles available, the flaws in Dragon Rage really scream out at you.

It's rare that a game releases that is so shockingly incompetent. Online options don't make it any better; they're simply a chance to play a terrible game with other people, in a few innovative modes like "Team Deathmatch." When something this just plain malign comes out, it's cause for a sort of celebration, because every other game will seem better by comparison.

Tries to replicate this Golden Era of wrestling, and it succeeds well in this respect. Everywhere else it fails, but it tries really, really hard.

A pile of uninspired, by-the-numbers gameplay and missed opportunities.