Switching from an open threat such as the desert to the enclosed dangers of the Vietnamese jungle has caused Conflict: Vietnam to effectively cut out much of the need for having a squad in the first place; instead of having more freedom and creativity in taking down your enemies, your team become more like fish trapped in a jungle-shaped barrel. [Oct 2004, p.108]

What's truly disappointing is that there are seeds of greatness here. [Issue#161, p.94]

The Sixaxis presents both a problem and joy for Toy Home. On one hand it’s a hindrance as you’ll never go in a straight line. On the other, successfully boosting and drifting around corners is great fun. [Feb 2008, p.135]

It is without a point. It fires its Uzi rounds aimlessly and manages to hit nothing. It’s not bad, it’s not horrific, it’s not reprehensible and it’s not memorable either.

You'll have a few hours of fun but by the time its YouTuber-friendly novelty factor wears off you'll have decided it's far from the best thing since sliced bread. [Issue#161, p.104]

Hasn't soured our memories of the original completely. [Issue#139, p.114]

It's a shame the buggy controls make fighting through it a chore. [Issue#139, p.115]

A gutless turn for a franchise that prides itself on being the exact opposite. [Issue#118, p.115]

Fundamental control niggles mean very few players will persevere to unlock everything DP has to offer. [Issue#122, p.104]

When you reach a dead end, it's usually just a case of retrieving a generic puzzle item from a conveniently inconvenient hiding place before continuing. Cue several minutes of primitive platforming and beating up the undead with a functional combat system before the next 'mash the Triangle button until you find something interactive' session begins. [Nov 2003, p.126]

Shoddy combat racing. [Issue#122, p.105]

More like a clinically insane uncle; you'll spend time with it because it's family, but it will confuse and embarrass you with every opportunity it gets. [Issue#107, p.114]

Consistently, SAO:LS made us feel frustrated and a little ashamed with ourselves for actually sitting through it. Die-hard fans of the franchise may find something to enjoy thanks to the relentless fan-service but others would do better to go and actually play an MMORPG.

It's harmless mass-market entertainment; the kind that any discerning gamer should already know to leave well alone. [Christmas 2005, p.116]

It may have its good points, but when it comes down to it PowerUp Forever isn’t as good as many of the other similar titles available over Xbox Live. [Feb 2009, p.113]

Just don't expect it to live up [to] the potential of the D&D license. [Issue#111, p.112]

The problem really lies with the game being far too stilted and linear, shunting players from one mission to the next without giving them much choice in the matter. In drawing the game back to its rawest roots, Rockstar has done the series an injustice by taking one step back too many. [Christmas 2004, p.116]

Recommended only for DDR completists or people who would seriously consider Mushroom Kingdom cosplay. [Dec 2005, p.122]

The cut and paste character models, with their misshapen limbs and dead eyes, together with the inconsistently sampled audio, combine to provide a experience that frequently feels cheap and in places is just downright nasty – a VHS knock off when, in this day and age, you would at least have expected a DVD remaster.

Consistently let down by poor design decisions and outdated play mechanics. [Issue#111, p.116]

Okay, so it's hard to knock the presentation... but when the game's this bland and has virtually no replay value, it hardly seems worth bothering. [Apr 2004, p.114]

When you reach a dead end, it's usually just a case of retrieving a generic puzzle item from a conveniently inconvenient hiding place before continuing. Cue several minutes of primitive platforming and beating up the undead with a functional combat system before the next 'mash the Triangle button until you find something interactive' session begins. [Nov 2003, p.126]

A game of two halves, neither of which is finished … It is so cursed by glitches and bugs, and so devoid of anything approaching AI, that it's really impossible to believe the code sitting in your local store is anywhere near complete. [Aug 2004, p.100]

The core gameplay is somewhat lacking. ‘But it’s for kids,’ we hear you cry. Maybe so, but even kids - or those who are just young at heart - will no doubt want a challenge that lasts longer than it would take to watch the original trilogy. [May 2005, p.109]

There's just not much of a game here. [Issue#159, p.104]

The Deer God attempts to give meaning to death but fails to deliver. [Issue#159, p.106]

This fun mockery of a bygone age becomes nothing but a regrettably cumbersome slog. [July 2008, p.120]

The sluggish fighting feels surprisingly weighty. [Issue#115, p.102]

Brian De Palma’s film was an indictment of violence and capitalist greed; here they are your primary goal – the developer is relishing in the brutality and profanity and severely missing the point in the process. [Dec 2006, p.123]

The dull broken side of medieval busywork. [Issue#198, p.72]

The game is a weak attempt to get your money, by patronising and giving you exactly what you expect... An ugly game that's affecting all its attitude. [Issue#191, p.76]

It's not that this is a bad game, but to ignore the more important elements of gameplay in order to add more gratuitous elements to the cauldron is unforgivable, and in that sense The Suffering is most similar to Soldier of Fortune II and the like. [June 2004, p.123]

A game of two halves, neither of which is finished … It is so cursed by glitches and bugs, and so devoid of anything approaching AI, that it's really impossible to believe the code sitting in your local store is anywhere near complete. [Aug 2004, p.100]

It just feels too much like an engaging tech demo that had nowhere solid to expand to. [Issue#115, p.110]

A truly disappointing sequel. [Issue#121, p.104]

Thanks in part to an atrocious camera, extremely dislikeable characters and a handful of amazingly frustrating sticking points, all this iteration of Sonic The Hedgehog manages to achieve is a yearning for the old days. [Apr 2007, p.129]

By journey's end, it's only a passing interest in the increasingly intriguing story that holds attention. Indeed, this is a deeply flawed and overly ambitious attempt for a developer unable to grasp the genre basics. Its only real triumph is that it doesn't completely tarnish the licence's sterling reputation.

Certainly different and endearing, but struggles to keep up with the initial momentum. [Issue#149, p.116]

It comes nowhere close to living up to its title's protestations. [Issue#121, p.112]

It’s a real shame that a game with such promise has to be scored so low because of inefficiencies within the industry, especially if the version that’s on retailers’ shelves is now far tighter than the copy in our possession. [Dec 2006, p.125]

It's harmless mass-market entertainment; the kind that any discerning gamer should already know to leave well alone. [Christmas 2005, p.116]

Every hour, you are presented with the ideas that the developer had but simply couldn’t afford, and that only serves to make Legendary’s unrelenting run-and-gun approach harder to swallow. [Christmas 2008, p.96]

While Worms 3D essentially delivers what it says on the tin, in surrendering its intuitive interface the concept has evolved into a far less attractive proposition. A shame. [Dec 2003, p.126]

Half the game it should have been. Whoever came up with the inventive level structuring or spent months mapping LA has every reason to be furious with the lacklustre implementation of their ideas. [Christmas 2003, p.106]

Shows some potential, but ultimately uninspiring. [Issue#149, p.122]

By 'refocusing' the game to concentrate on the more realistic side of the sport, Hitz Pro takes the series down a new path that loses any sense of identity that it might have made for itself. [Dec 2003, p.124]

Various publishing houses have pushed and pulled the direction of the game and the resulting product dazzles with its incoherence and dated nature. [June 2004, p.114]

The core gameplay is somewhat lacking. ‘But it’s for kids,’ we hear you cry. Maybe so, but even kids - or those who are just young at heart - will no doubt want a challenge that lasts longer than it would take to watch the original trilogy. [May 2005, p.109]

PopTop has spent a significant amount of time creating its own 3D engine to show off the trains. But once you've zoomed in on your new Norris locamotive a few times and watched it disappear into the tunnel you've just built, the novelty does wear thin. [Nov 2003, p.123]

A Sonic game struggling for its own identity. [Nov 2007, p.108]

The Clone Wars is spared irrelevance by its style and personality, but only just. [Jan 2009, p.108]

Dragonball Z: Shin Budokai is as soft a beat-‘em-up as you’re likely to find and, worse still, one that offers nothing more than the previous games, aside from the fact that it’s on a portable console. [May 2006, p.130]

It’s almost as though Jam can’t decide what kind of fighting game it wants to be, thanks to a dramatic clash of styles in terms of both combat and visuals. [March 2005, p.118]

Controls feel a little unwieldy. [Issue#160, p.105]

Firefall quickly wears out its welcome; beaten to the punch by games like Tribes Ascend and the aforementioned Planetside 2. There’s still space for a PvE focused take on open world combat, and in time, this could well fill it. For now though, it’s a few well engineered systems in search of a game that fully deserves them.

It's repetitive, monotonous, and just plain boring. [Issue#119, p.94]

A bunch of misfit characters, bland stages and overly repetitive, mash-happy action. [Issue#109, p.110]

Ill-advised from concept to execution. [Issue#93, p.112]

Game Republic may throw a whole bestiary of mythological Greco-Roman creatures at the player, but when killing them feels so unremarkable, the end result feels like a lot of wasted effort. [Aug 2010, p.127]

You simply can't ignore the fact that the developer has been unable to match the scale of its ambition in the lacklustre final product. [Issue#109, p.112]

By 'refocusing' the game to concentrate on the more realistic side of the sport, Hitz Pro takes the series down a new path that loses any sense of identity that it might have made for itself. [Dec 2003, p.124]

Outside of novelty value, there's little reason why anyone should pick this up with their Vita over the vastly superior WipEout 2048. [Issue#119, p.97]

Like booting up a mediocre run-and-gunner from the mid-Nineties. [Issue#109, p.114]

We were disappointed when "Frontline" failed to take advantage of its World War II settings, but it's galling to see that EA still hasn't got it right with Rising Sun. If there's ever a case against World War III, then surely this is it. [Christmas 2003, p.100]

The more you play, the more it becomes obvious that this is more than a case of shattered hopes. There are some serious issues concerning gameplay and enjoyment that leave this Star Fox game a fair way short of its predecessors. [Apr 2005, p.92]

Sadly, the promising squad-based interface is put to incredibly uninspiring use. Despite the impressive scope, this lacklustre playing experience offers little incentive to persevere and explore the strategic depth on offer. [Dec 2003, p.126]

A really disappointing waste of the 40K license. [Issue#184, p.84]

As limiting as it may be, the recreation of a Pokemon universe is a delightfully escapist one, but after the first week or so it'll take some serious staying power to keep coming back to your yellow friend. [Mar 2004, p.106]

This is gaming for the masses; completely undemanding and uninspired, but solid enough to appease the cerebrally challenged. [Jan 2007, p.116]

Half the game it should have been. Whoever came up with the inventive level structuring or spent months mapping LA has every reason to be furious with the lacklustre implementation of their ideas. [Christmas 2003, p.106]

There's just no thrill to the combat and no spark to the characters or story, which ultimately makes Magna Carta II a step backwards in an already static genre. [Dec 2009, p.103]

It's almost as though the team forgot that games are meant to be fun, because Ghosthunter isn't. Quite simply, you can't do anything (honestly, anything) or go anywhere the game doesn't want you to; it's almost an insult to your intelligence. [Christmas 2003, p.112]

We could well be looking at a number one here. Unfortunately, Batman Begins won’t deserve such an elevated status as it’s average to the core. [Aug 2005, p.106]

Mercifully, Staff Of Kings is a very short game and it won't be too long before you unlock the vastly superior bonus game, Fate Of Atlantis. [Aug 2009, p.127]

The whole experience isn’t awful, just thoroughly uninspiring; a box of biscuits where some are moldy and all are digestive. It’s fun to be a pirate, but it’s far, far more fun elsewhere, with Risen 3 once again struggling and failing to rise above anything but its own mediocrity.

Entirely unremarkable. [Issue#182, p.81]

The story is much the same as the game itself, and while there are moments when it seems it could be picking up, it shoots itself in the foot. Normal enemies that take full clips to dispatch, 'puzzles' that make Doom look like a brainteaser... the potholes are all too common and apparent. [Nov 2003, p.127]

It's only when the game reaches Soviet-occupied Afghanistan, the weakest of the movies, that the game boasts moments of genuine enjoyment. [Issue#146, p.119]

Forget any notion of playing this "Again", there's very little here to justify even playing through once. [Issue#96, p.110]

An offhand effort that adds little to the series. [Issue#172, p.87]

Ultimately, Shattered Union is just too frustrating to be enjoyable. Its accessibility problems are crippling and even after you've got to grips with how the game works, it still feels unbalanced and confusing. [Dec 2005, p.127]

Invasion’s innocent looks and gameplay do have some cohesion and its very simplicity is its one saving grace. It’s bubblegum for your mind and never offensive. If it had appeared five years ago at the same price it would come recommended for the younger gamer. [Feb 2005, p.108]

This is a real party pooper. [Issue#143, p.111]

The game is so immensely frustrating and linear that moments of fun are few and far between. [Apr 2006, p.124]

Velvet Assassin accentuates the negatives of the genre rather than it emphasises the positives. [July 2009, p.108]

The overall tactile quality is of a PS2 title that has migrated to a more powerful system and finds itself surrounded by far tougher birds. [Dec 2009, p.126]

A disappointment. [Issue#143, p.119]

The story is much the same as the game itself, and while there are moments when it seems it could be picking up, it shoots itself in the foot. Normal enemies that take full clips to dispatch, 'puzzles' that make Doom look like a brainteaser... the potholes are all too common and apparent. [Nov 2003, p.127]

While it might be a communism simulator at heart, its roots in capitalism couldn't be much more obvious or off-message. [Issue#179, p.81]

Blade Kitten saves itself from the lower reaches of the ten-point scale with some genuinely impressive level design. It's complex without being confusing, the tangled and involved areas seemingly offering multiple avenues but always pushing you along the correct route. [Issue#101, p.127]

Ninety-Nine Nights 2 is not a bad game; it's merely one whose appeal is limited to those blessed with saintly patience, an insatiable need to play every fantasy game, a penchant for mass genocide or some unlikely combination of the three. [Issue#101, p.106]

Unwritten Tales 2 comes up unfavourably when compared to the classic games it tries to emulate, contemporary titles that have tried to do a similar thing, à la Broken Sword 5, and games that have tried to modernise the genre such as The Walking Dead. In that context, it would perhaps have been better if those ‘unwritten tales’ remained as such.

Weirdly attempting to serve two masters, Supermini Festa tries to add both casual fun and hardcore depth to the original formula, with mixed results. [Apr 2010, p.130]

Contrived shooter with little to no depth... This is as generic as they come. [July 2005, p.122]

Ultimately, Shattered Union is just too frustrating to be enjoyable. Its accessibility problems are crippling and even after you've got to grips with how the game works, it still feels unbalanced and confusing. [Dec 2005, p.127]

While Worms 3D essentially delivers what it says on the tin, in surrendering its intuitive interface the concept has evolved into a far less attractive proposition. A shame. [Dec 2003, p.126]

Switching from an open threat such as the desert to the enclosed dangers of the Vietnamese jungle has caused Conflict: Vietnam to effectively cut out much of the need for having a squad in the first place; instead of having more freedom and creativity in taking down your enemies, your team become more like fish trapped in a jungle-shaped barrel. [Oct 2004, p.108]

When it's all said and done it's difficult to escape the mindset that Earthfall has taken the template of a decade-old experience for inspiration and failed to replicate (or expand on) it in any meaningful way. [Issue#203, p.84]