It’s a perfectly playable game, but a frankly boring one that quickly becomes a chore to play. [Christmas 2008, p.102]

There are worse wrestling games out there. At least Rumble Roses is solid, if you can put up with its general silliness. [June 2006, p.114]

If you were piecing together the ultimate stereotypical PC game, our guess is that the end result would look a lot like Spellforce. [Christmas 2003, p.127]

We won't be playing Unit 13 repeatedly. [Issue#120, p.98]

By not creating one big stage where all the tables are connected, plus bonus screens and integrated challenges, these high-score tables become quite tiresome. [Jan 2009, p.109]

There's just not enough to do besides the main tasks to justify stealing the GTA concept ... the distinct lack of content reduces the amount of enjoyment you'll get out of it. Better than you'd think, but still very basic. [Nov 2003, p.118]

Basically a GameBoy Advance Urbz re-release in all but name. That version had its flaws so releasing the same game with a few minor additions isn’t going to fool anyone. [Jan 2005, p.121]

Heavy on parlour tricks but lacking any real substance. [Issue#136, p.112]

A distinctly average Worms game that will likely only be tolerated by exactly the opposite audience it hopes to enthral. [Apr 2008, p.114]

Judged as an Xbox Live Arcade game, American Nightmare has the production values but the novelty soon quickly wears off. [Issue#120, p.105]

The action is a little too samey, and things become just too repetitive. Aside from scenery variations, FMV cut-scenes and the odd boss fight, the game is practically the same from start to finish. [Jan 2004, p.125]

It is possible to learn the delicate demands of each event of course, but that can often take close to an hour of practice for each one – hardly the mark of a casual-interest game. [July 2008, p.125]

An imperfect cocktail. [Issue#177, p.84]

The soul of the game ripped out. [Issue#91, p.120]

As a free PS Plus game, it's worth a look. [Issue#190, p.84]

Alien Vs. Predator does a few things right, a whole lot wrong, and somehow manages to feel inferior to a game that Rebellion made ten years ago. [Apr 2010, p.132]

You'll have fun, but the flaws are too great to ignore. [Issue#168, p.91]

It's a bare-bones package to say the very least, favouring glossy presentational devices to feed into that Christmas Day unboxing euphoria, while offering minimal gameplay value after the event.

Anybody who suggests that the volleyball in DOA: Xtreme 2 is a good enough simulation to justify the expense either earns far more money than we do or is simply too proud to admit that animated bosoms float their boat. [Jan 2007, p.110]

The 'new' simplicity makes for a fun and fast game that, courtesy of the excellent passing system and decent AI, finds a firm balance between real football and the arcade fun of a five-minute kick about. [June 2004, p.120]

Still a little too much like looking at a table. [Nov 2011, p.107]

Lacks the part, but doesn't have the soul. [Issue#195, p.75]

The Wii Remote – while no substitute for the original Dreamcast controller – is extremely responsive, and it’s still immensely satisfying to land one of the bigger fish. [June 2008, p.120]

It's a shame, really. A first-person roguelike with meaty weapons that calls back to the glory of Nineties shooters sounds like such a tantalising proposition, one that we feel could do so well. Strafe just offers that in a very shallow way. [Issue#189, p.80]

Feels like it is in desperate need of a decade of evolution, to move out of the shadow of its peers. [Issue#137, p.114]

In a perfect world all budget games would be of kill.switch's quality - that's where it would soar, that's where it would be ideal. As it is, it's almost exactly six hours of gung-ho entertainment from the moment you switch on your machine. But that's still just six hours. [Feb 2004, p.104]

It's initially compelling, but starts to feel shallow as combat becomes a grind, and a nagging wish for more of RPG elements creeps in. [Nov 2011, p.110]

It lacks any substantial cause of replayability after a couple of runs, but still has an impressively malleable string of events that transcend other titles in the genre. [Issue#195, p.78]

It's the epitome of an average game and one of the most disappointing 3DS releases of recent times. [Issue#135, p.121]

Just not quite enough. [Issue#195, p.82]

Most devotees openly proclaim they like the game because they wanted to, not because it actually deserves it. [Feb 2009, p.108]

A pretty big disappointment. [Issue#118, p.104]

An unfortunate disappointment. [Issue#168, p.100]

Don't force yourself to play it. [Issue#170, p.97]

For a game that focuses on the presumably brisk and stressful art of armed robbery, Payday 2 involves one heck of a lot of waiting around. [Issue#139, p.96]

Technical problems ruin a decent episode. [Issue#170, p.98]

It’s tedious to keep referring to this latest F1 release with the words, 'as in previous versions', but unfortunately that’s the generic and clichéd approach that has been taken with the latest in the series. [Mar 2007, p.121]

It’s a straight and stagnant affair: win races, progress to the next stage, repeat. There’s none of SimBin’s trademark drive and determination in this area of the game. [Mar 2009, p.102]

Only the mere prospect of reversing a grenade, or shooting a missile in slo-mo will save the gamer from feeling completely brain-dead at the end of the game. [Dec 2007, p.102]

The humour and colourful designs are reference-heavy and genuinely quite charming but can only distract so much from what is essentially the same level repeated over and over. [Nov 2011, p.119]

Too inconsistent to truly shine. [Issue#181, p.84]

We've little doubt it will be nothing more than a distant memory before the year is out. [Nov 2009, p.124]

So if you’re feeling particularly flush and have some yearning to play another block puzzler, Dr. Luigi does a fine job of sitting somewhere in the middle of this well-worn genre. Hardly a glowing endorsement, and a pretty sad way to end Luigi’s very own year.

While really quite enjoyable in small measures (annoyances excepted), Untold Legends is a massively optimistic game and this is its ultimate downfall. [June 2005, p.100]

Boy racers will love Underground's edgy urban chic, otherwise you should stick with the less fashionable but ultimately more enjoyable "Burnout 2." [Christmas 2003, p.125]

An average single-player game with competent but not brilliant multiplayer modes tacked onto the side. [Aug 2004, p.106]

The title’s main downfall is the fact that every now and then an event will occur that forces you to take advantage of your full team and use each of their attributes in order to tackle an obstacle or boss... but these sections have been made far too laborious and take what seems like an age to complete. [Nov 2004, p.107]

Stops short of truly bad, but also some way short of recommended. [Issue#118, p.108]

Cursed Mountain admirably recreates the tension of the established survival-horror template, but too infrequently for it to sit alongside the genre greats. [Oct 2009, p.119]

It’s an acquired taste, and if its appeal lies solely with those of you yearning for a title that allows you to get behind the wheel of wondrously modelled tractors and farming machinery, then this is absolutely the game for you. For the rest of us, it will continue to remain a mystery.

Toca 2 lacks the ambition and verve found elsewhere in the genre... Uneventful jaunts down the middle of the road just don't excite us anymore. [May 2004, p.102]

Since assembling a team is more luck than judgment, Rumble couldn't be further away from the core values of the traditional Pokemon games. [Issue#118, p.110]

There is little depth to the control of the boards, and we don't see why this shouldn't have been an on-foot racer. [Apr 2006, p.106]

Neverwinter might be competent, but it's rarely fun or interesting. [Issue#161, p.96]

Cumbersome controls and an ornery camera make any intriguing ideas irrelevant. [Apr 2009, p.115]

By the time the main course is served most will have already left the track. [Issue#161, p.100]

This isn't too bad for a couple of hours of button hammering with two friends. [Issue#118, p.112]

Dedicated genre fans, meanwhile, will find that the concessions in the gameplay – pre-highlighted hot spots and rumble hints – are both insulting to their intelligence and at odds with the entire point of the adventure genre. [June 2008, p.123]

The fact that, in harking back to earlier days, the game feels stuck in the past, the fact the fighting system really isn't deep compared to other modern-day brawlers, the fact the gore is little more than a sideshow and the fact that most of the fan service appeals to fans who have grown up a great deal since the Nineties throws up numerous reasons to criticise, however.

Trioncube manages to remain inoffensive at best and is a title we can add to a growing list of Nintendo DS puzzle games that are enjoyable but far from essential. [Aug 2007, p.125]

At its best, it's an inferior retread of some of the first game's finer moments, but at worst, it's dangerously forgettable. [Issue#107, p.112]

Another predictably mediocre basketball game. [Feb 2008, p.130]

A title solely for those who really want to relive the 2014 F1 season. [Issue#154, p.112]

It's considerably better than last year's sorry attempt but there's still plenty of room for improvement. [Christmas 2003, p.127]

Mindless fun and little else. [Nov 2007, p.106]

Let’s just hope that if the team release a second shoot-‘em-up they look for inspiration from current Japanese shooters and not an ageing Amiga blaster that wasn’t particularly impressive in the first place. [Feb 2008, p.128]

A new low for the Mass Effect series. [Issue#186, p.71]

Halts under its own weight. [Issue#111, p.114]

Maybe it's the rather lacklustre music, the numerous side-quests that feel more bolted on than they should, or the forehead-slappingly stupid AI of the enemies and your companion, but the whole experience feels decidedly flat at times; not a good sign for a game that's supposed to absorb you into its world. [Jan 2004, p.117]

Unfortunately, the difference between what Crystal Dynamics wanted to do with Snowblind and the finished product is a crevasse that good intentions fall well short of bridging, leaving the game lying in a Wile E. Coyote-style could of dust at the bottom. [March 2005, p.110]

A buggy, uninspiring and formulaic shooter. [Issue#186, p.74]

We can’t imagine that general Rock Band players could justify buying a whole disc just for 18 songs from one band. [Feb 2009, p.123]

L.A. Rush isn't so much bad as uninspiring. Driving round the city is fun for a bit but after that nothing but the mediocre races, ill-conceived stunt sections and the meandering extra missions remain. [Nov 2005, p.110]

For or five mindless hours stretched to more than double that. [Issue#154, p.127]

The cosmetics and style that FaceBreaker offers in spades fail to raise the mechanics and gameplay above average. [Oct 2008, p.125]

Even if Xbox Live does prove Chromehounds’ saviour, there’s no denying that the single-player mode will be relegated to little more than a tactical playground to warm up for the online battle because it’s just a little too one-note, a little too slow, a little too lifeless to truly engage. [Aug 2006, p.112]

This sounds like Batman, but it's more like a knock-off of Punch Out. Competent middle-tier filler, and little more. [Issue#154, p.128]

Most of the game's levels end up feeling like never-ending drudgery. [Issue#154, p.129]

The resource management and skill chasing on offer is sound, but everything else is repetitive, undemanding, and forgettable. [Oct 2008, p.110]

On a next-gen console, Strikeforce is a far more humdrum expenditure of time that could be better spent elsewhere. [Issue#93, p.130]

Even though each puzzle is explained before it gets tough a few stages down the line, there are still a few that are a little too complex for their own good (as if the game wasn’t frustrating enough already.) [Aug 2005, p.96]

Like many of the revivalist action films we've seen in recent years, it is little more than a slick homage that lacks the bite of the real thing. [July 2008, p.123]

Combat is surprisingly basic given that this is from the man behind the Ninja Gaiden games. [Issue#165, p.86]

Essentially it's the same five minutes of entertainment repeated over and over again and it quickly becomes wearing and repetitious. [Sept 2006, p.118]

Many of the puzzles are somewhat straightforward in design, and while ensuring players are less likely to hit those infuriating brick walls typically found in the genre's great titles, your input into the proceedings once again tends to feel slightly shallow and less rewarding than before. [Christmas 2003, p.108]

Not broken, just woefully mediocre... No doubt someone will like it… we just don’t know who. [March 2005, p.102]

Nice enough, but not exactly groundbreaking. [Issue#159, p.110]

While boredom can set in as you perform the same handful of actions time and time again, there is just enough variety to keep you entertained. [Issue#165, p.98]

One of the most frustrating aspects is the unbalanced difficulty curve. You're thrust into some tough and often unfair opening levels, only to find the challenge dropping dramatically as you progress deeper into the admittedly enjoyable storyline. [Sept 2004, p.116]

We're all for survival, but when Captain needs to huddle down for a glass of milk and a roasted gerbil in the middle of the final boss battle, you know it's a step too far, and that's without the sodding microtransactions. [Issue#198, p.70]

If you have high levels of patience then there are some excellent moments that are worth staying around for, but we’d wager that most will hang up their controllers by the second or third forced Werehog mission. [Jan 2009, p.102]

The action is a little too samey, and things become just too repetitive. Aside from scenery variations, FMV cut-scenes and the odd boss fight, the game is practically the same from start to finish. [Jan 2004, p.125]

The game's tagline speaks volumes; calling Battlecry III "The original role-playing strategy game" is a fine way of declaring the game's legacy, but at the same time it highlights just how little has really changed since the first title was released. [Aug 2004, p.108]

The problem of a distinct lack of variety persists, of course, and the lack of an arena-based dogfight mode feels a wasted opportunity. [Issue#115, p.108]

With just as many levels where you'll pray for it to be over than where you're actually having fun, the game turns out to be a mixture of styles that don't meld together as solidly as they should, as well as having several frustrating joypad-throwing moments and often demanding extraordinary feats of memory from the player. [Mar 2004, p.114]

There's just not enough to do besides the main tasks to justify stealing the GTA concept ... the distinct lack of content reduces the amount of enjoyment you'll get out of it. Better than you'd think, but still very basic. [Nov 2003, p.118]

If you don't mind poor gameplay, this will entertain. [Issue#191, p.81]

We can't fault the solid feel of firing a weapon; there is a degree of variety spread across the chapters; and the game’s engine is reliably stable, but none of this stops the game from qualifying as a major letdown. [July 2008, p.110]