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.