This game time is artificially prolonged by ridiculous amounts of difficulty. The clunky and unresponsive control scheme is bad enough, but you start so weak that you're forced to do a lot of mindless leveling up before you can do anything interesting.

A stellar third-person shooter that pulses with feverish invention, A&D welds together top-notch controls, a truly mental plot, and some of the most strategic gunplay to hit consoles in ages.

The disappointing lack of traffic [online] means you'll need at least four competitors on a course to prevent boredom. [Dec 2004, p.123]

It's a challenging game, but that's Metal Slug for you - everything you liked about the previous games, you'll find here, and that's no small feat on a small platform. [Feb 2005, p.103]

Even without online play, Uru wins points for style and originality. Diehard "Myst" fans probably already have this, but others may want to wait until February to see if the whole online thing pays off.

It's hard to go wrong with giant robots blowing stuff up, but Enix's latest effort goes one step further with a novel control scheme. [Feb 2003, p.93]

The new Objective mode adds a whole lot of challenge in multiplayer. [Nov 2003, p.88]

Solidly designed, solidly programmed, very pretty, and about as close to "Zelda" as PS2 and Xbox will ever get. This one deserves to be a sleeper hit.

While the repetition of farm life is soothing, the repetition in the human interactions is just annoying...Still, with all the chores, you'll probably spend little time carousing about town, anyhow. [Apr 2004, p.81]

The physics, camera, and controls are great: Everything feels perfect, and there's an awesome sense of speed (helped out by the rock-solid 60 fps). [June 2004, p.81]

Solidly designed, solidly programmed, very pretty, and about as close to "Zelda" as PS2 and Xbox will ever get. This one deserves to be a sleeper hit.

The only real knock against Two Towers is its limited replayability. [Feb 2003, p.68]

It can be a little too difficult at times, especially when trying to make finicky jumps on a small screen while, for example, riding a bus. But the balancing issues are confined mostly to the bosses. [Aug 2004, p.91]

One of the fastest, most insane combat-racing games ever devised... If the tracks were a little bit less ambitious or the trick system streamlined for human hands, DD would easily be one of the best games of its type. [Aug 2003, p.78]

Or you could get them and play them again and again the way you play a favorite album, because your $30 will get you two of the funkiest, most charming grooves you'll ever see in videogame form. [Jan 2004, p.90]

The great gameplay and story of Lunar remain intact. [Feb 2003, p.97]

The framerate is also speedy-slick, and your ninjas feel and move as light as a feather. [Apr 2003, p.69]

The slow tracks still outnumber the fast ones; here's hoping the downloadable packages include a few more peppy songs. [Dec 2004, p.132]

Just make sure you tell people you didn't realize it was a Trek game, considering how cool it looks and fun it is to play. [Sept 2003, p.69]

Enemies number in the hundreds along branching paths of glory. [Feb 2003, p.92]

It's fun and impressive, but neither the drama nor the realism will convert anyone who isn't already planning on naming their first-born "Dale."

Although there are plenty of missions to complete and mosters to vanquish, even die-hard D&D fans might struggle to stay awake throughout this game. [Mar 2004, p.84]

After numerous shoddy attempts to bring classic Contra gameplay to a next-gen system, Konami finally gets it right. [Feb 2003, p.92]

Solidly designed, solidly programmed, very pretty, and about as close to "Zelda" as PS2 and Xbox will ever get. This one deserves to be a sleeper hit. [Dec 2003, p.100]

A fairly standard shooter dressed as a visual and aural masterpiece. Sadly unappreciated by the vast majority of the gaming world. [Feb 2003, p.93]

To get the most out of this game, start the expansion pack with a brand-new character. We imported a high-level cleric - Beaverskull Bablicious - from NWN and found Undrentide to be too easy. [Sept 2003, p.76]

Overall, everything feels responsive, scores and stats come out realistically, and the atmosphere just feels right. [May 2004, p.84]

Imagine the leap a game like "Dead or Alive 2" made when it became "3," and you can see the potential being wasted here. [May 2003, p.63]