The execution leaves a lot to be desired, though, and all-too-often feels more like work than play.

As expected, Tony Hawk Ride is an experiment -- an interesting and ambitious experiment, but one that doesn't come together as a fully functional experience.

It seems like the game is not just merely unpolished or unfinished, but almost completely absent.

The Incredible Hulk isn't the worst movie tie-in game ever made, but the initial charm of mass destruction dissipates rather quickly. This leaves it a rather buggy and joyless experience that, like a gumball, loses its flavor all too fast.

The camera is manually controlled, which means it's completely out of control when you're moving vertically, near buildings, or want to actually attack a foe.

The elements were in place for a solid platforming title with a little hand-to-hand combat thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, a painfully annoying camera and some downright boring combat kept that from coming to fruition.

It's not a triple-A title by any stretch -- with its gameplay quirks and audio that sounds recorded in a bus-station bathroom -- but it captures the sense of simple fun that Nintendo was shooting for with this new-fangled console.

Underwhelming.

If you're looking for depth or a realistic simulation, look elsewhere. If you're looking for tense, adrenaline-pumping arcade action, you'll probably want to look elsewhere too. It's true that you might find simple glee as you blaze away with your bomber's heavy machine guns, but that wears thin in a hurry.

Commits the worst possible crime: it's simply no fun to play.

I've played my share of games, and none have made my fingers ache like Lowrider. I like games of timed button-presses, but this feels too imprecise and button-mashy.

It's not quite as engrossing a turn-based strategy experience as Final Fantasy Tactics, but its unique setting kept my interest long enough for me to discover the fun that lay beneath the unpleasant exterior.

Sonic doesn't crash and it doesn't look horrific, and that's about all that recommends it. Maybe the 20th anniversary will be better.

Level design is bland, weapons are bland, control is a novelty at best and irritating at worst. As a free Wii launch pack-in meant to familiarize people with Remote/nunchuk controls, this game might have gotten a pass. Right now the only thing it gets is a big thumbs-down.

Just don't be surprised if you quickly become frustrated by the copious battles and find yourself merely slogging though the adventure out of loyalty to the franchise.

I'm not really sure just what active Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader gamers are going to make of this title, but I don't see many of them being pleased with the digital version of their game.

A mess of a game. Buggy, incomplete and all together boring, it's a huge disappointment for fans that are starving for a fun role-playing game on the PC that doesn't require a fast Internet connection.

A poorly implemented, poorly translated adventure game about an uninteresting character doing uninteresting things. Nearly the only things going for it are that it doesn't crash and should be playable on a wide variety of systems.

It doesn't help matters that the game plays like a mindless shooter-by-numbers.

While it's still easing you into the pain to come during the first couple of hours, you can catch a glimpse of the good game this should be in the absence of draconian micromanagement and unfulling base building. It's especially apparent in the multiplayer mode (provided you can finish without a crash), where you might even have fun battling it out in Team Deathmatch or Capture the Flag (er, dragon) in the shared dungeon that smartly keeps each player's base inviolate.

Unfortunately, when there is a lot of action on-screen, there are noticeable slowdowns, which really shouldn't happen with a machine like the PlayStation 2.

Everything you never wanted in an RPG -- an awkward and tedious mess.

It doesn't help matters that the game plays like a mindless shooter-by-numbers.

Red flags like the frustrating controls, uneven flow, and the lack of voice-recognition capability present in its other games make it appear that this one was rushed out the door in time for the season.

If there's a sequel, maybe the developers will spend as much time fleshing out the game as they did their concept art.

Sure, the online functions decently, but it's merely allowing thousands of gamers with buyer's remorse to play a mediocre game.

D1 fans will be able to look past the game's numerous flaws and appreciate the fact that there's a game tailored to their specific tastes. The average gamer, on the other hand, will have a hard time getting the hang of the controls and will be a lot less forgiving of the game's flaws.

Could have been an interesting game, but the simplistic game mode means only the most casual of strategy gamer could possibly find anything to like for more than a mission or two.