Adding to the frustration is the fact that your targeting system is practically useless, and the vehicle physics model is annoyingly floaty. [Jan 2002, p.78]

One of the best games you'll ever play. Period. [Jan 2002, p.25]

A stunning creation, a tremendous achievement. [Jan 2002, p.73]

It is simply far too difficult...and this level of difficulty seems to exist entirely to keep you from beating it within a few hours. [Nov 2001, p.96]

Quotation unavailable.

The simple fact remains that it’s difficult to play deliberate, defensive oriented hockey. [Dec 2001, p.108]

It’s interesting to watch but by no means as compelling as a true sequel would have been. [Jan 2002, p.81]

Quotation unavailable.

Approached as an interactive and emotionally satisfying bedtime story, Ico succeeds wonderfully. Just be aware that it’s a very short story. [Nov 2001, p.105]

The game does get insanely difficult near the end. While that's typical for a shooter, the incredibly steep learning curve (which starts really ramping up about halfway through) will no doubt catch some casual gamers by surprise. [Dec 2001, p.80]

The changes mostly seem to increase your options for trying new strategies, without altering the core game. And actually, that’s a brilliant approach. [Jan 2002, p.90]

It’s showing its age, but NFL 2K2 can still compete with anything the next generation has to offer. [Jan 2002, p.86]

Simply a further refinement of last year’s excellent PS2 effort. [Jan 2002, p.36]

A fun and quirky experience that may not be on as grand a scale as Nintendo’s flagship titles, but will still be fondly remembered for a long time. [Jan 2002, p.76]

Great graphics, superb animation, and peerless TV-style presentation. [Jan 2002, p.28]

The action, though, is simply repetitive, as even the most common creatures must be bludgeoned repeatedly to “kill” them (and there are a lot of creatures). [Nov 2001, p.100]

It's fast, it's deep, and it's so beautiful it almost hurts. [Jan 2002, p.33]

Not unlike "Crazy Taxi," you’ll have fun every time you play, but the concept gets tiring pretty quickly and you’ll want to step away for a while. [Dec 2001, p.83]

On rare occasions it does clug slightly for a brief second, but only very rarely. [Dec 2001, p.105]

Insanely difficult. Non-masochists need not apply. [Jan 2002, p.90]

Expect a tough time; the computer AI is fierce, and a single mishap is often enough to cost you a race. [Jan 2002, p.28]

You get less than an hour of gameplay in the Maria subgame. Everything else is virtually identical to the PS2 version. [Jan 2002, p.35]

The only problem is there just isn’t enough of it. [Nov 2001, p.108]

Gamers not hooked on star jaunts and sci-fi melodrama may find the slow physics and steep learning curve too daunting. [Nov 2002, p.113]

This is not another button-mashing game; skill and artistry are equally involved. Give it a try and you’ll be hooked. [Jan 2002, p.78]

It's that eclectic mix of gameplay and personality that makes this a must-play. [Nov 2001, p.105]

The most authentic feeling (not to mention the prettiest) soccer sim on the market. [Jan 2002, p.78]

Graphically, a solid game, with great reflections, sun wash, damage modeling, persistent skid marks, and more. [Jan 2002, p.28]

An excellent title that manages to bring the middle-age “hobby” of castle building to the modern-day gamer. [Jan 2002, p.93]

On the whole, this definitely delivers the rush speed freaks crave. [Dec 2001, p.105]

It’s a surefire blast any time you can get two or more people around the TV. [Dec 2001, p.112]

There are over 1500 different tricks possible in this game, and it never gets boring trying to find every one. [Dec 2001, p.100]

Yes, at times it can be frustrating with its meandering, endless execution, but few titles can match its eerie atmosphere. [Jan 2002, p.81]

Munch has risen above its storied past to provide a unique, ultimately fulfilling gaming experience. [Jan 2002, p.41]

The eye-catching graphics, solid sound effects, easy interface, and some nice multiplayer options more than make up for missing skirmishes. [Nov 2002, p.113]

An undeniable blast to play..., [but] most of the tracks are just higher-poly versions of those in "Wave Race 64," and while they’ve been tweaked with new details and shortcuts, it still feels like a rehash. [Dec 2001, p.83]

Graphically…it is superior to both [Madden and 2K2], with the textures on the field looking particularly amazing. [Jan 2002, p.36]

Delighting and mystifying in equal parts. [Jan 2002, p.81]

Great-looking and fantastically fun. [Jan 2002, p.31]

Dolby Digital 5.1 support means that viewing the game from the driver’s perspective is about as close as any of us will ever come to actually driving in a NASCAR race. [Dec 2001, p.96]

The only serious knock you can make against it is that (ironically) having been designed primarily with the notoriously problematic joypad control in mind, the gameplay is a lot less challenging when attacked with a mouse and keyboard. [Dec 2001, p.115]

The best “wacky” sports game we’ve played in years. [Jan 2002, p.81]

The most old-school, hardcore RPG we’ve played in years…the new game’s scale is simply gargantuan. [Jan 2002, p.88]

The game gets a little repetitious. Luigi’s Mansion is short and fairly easy; it took us about 8 hours to beat it. [Dec 2001, p.82]

The new levels are good, but they aren’t that good. [Dec 2001, p.96]

The first next-generation game to “get” what snowboarding is all about. [Jan 2002, p.32]

There are fleeting moments when you’ll have absolutely no idea where you are or what just happened before eventually realizing that it’s impossible to really wipe out or "come off" the track. [Dec 2001, p.105]

A safe, but extremely fun sequel. [Jan 2002, p.82]

Hews so closely to the now four-year-old formula, it’s disappointing. [Dec 2001, p.108]

Only the most extreme fanatics of the stunt genre will get much joy out of this. [Jan 2002, p.32]

Your mileage will vary with your patience. [Dec 2001, p.105]

Add an incredibly robust level editor, great multiplayer options, and the ability to rip your own tunes to Xbox’s hard drive, and you have a pretty damned cool game. [Jan 2002, p.32]

More realistic, but not more fun. [Dec 2001, p.112]

Inside the ring the experience is dulled by a horribly unpredictable camera and terribly flat, disjointed commentary. [Jan 2002, p.82]

Chock full of uninspiring graphics, plodding gameplay, and clumsy controls. [Jan 2002, p.35]

It’s a blast to play while it lasts. [Jan 2002, p.35]

Palpably incomplete…[yet] the deepest mech game yet made for a console. [Nov 2001, p.100]

The Dreamcast version gives you the best of all possible worlds: sharp, solid 3D graphics, along with reasonably familiar Resident Evil-style gamepad control. [Jan 2002, p.86]

Yet another checkpoint-to-checkpoint semi-sim, and racers yearning for something new will run out of gas quickly. [Nov 2001, p.105]

While manga-style characters may not substitute for the real-world boxers in "Knockout Kings," this game does a better job capturing the speed and drama of the sport. [Dec 2001, p.108]

The seamless merger of the old and new Star Wars worlds creates a beautiful, highly detailed game that will keep you enthralled for weeks. [Jan 2002, p.93]

Not as exceptional as the original. [Nov 2001, p.112]

The ease of control and built-in tutorials keep everything surprisingly accessible – a very nice balance. [Jan 2002, p.31]

Graphically solid, slickly presented, and sporting a solid selection of mission types in a complex storyline, SF3 is perhaps the last great PSX action title. [Jan 2002, p.88]

It’s not as polished as we’d like it to be, but it still has that “one more level” draw that keeps you going past midnight. [Jan 2002, p.90]

The game looks quite nice, and it’s by no means bad, but it falls far short of its intriguing potential. [Jan 2002, p.42]

It earns our admiration for simply being different and is likely to have everybody crowding around the television at your next party. [Nov 2001, p.105]

Once the truly tricked-out sport trucks are unlocked, the speed, fun, and Metallica-heavy soundtrack are hard to actively dislike. [Nov 2001, p.108]

What keeps FF from being a truly superb game are the vague onscreen instructions and the confusion that often results from cramming too many special effects onto the screen. [Jan 2002, p.26]

To be blunt, ‘80s flashbacks come with the territory here. Both whip-wieldin’ play and archaic visuals evoke images of an NES cartridge on steroids. [Nov 2001, p.112]

Undoubtedly the best baseball game in the Dreamcast history. [Nov 2001, p.109]

Everything carries with it an amazing sense of speed, and the detail on the planes is staggeringly good. [Nov 2002, p.113]

The clunky construction interface offers no way to replace a section of track other than erasing and rebuilding every single piece that comes after it, making spontaneous adjustments a chore. [Dec 2001, p.115]

Fun but frustrating. Ultimately, the steep learning curve (formations? Don’t even ask ...)and increased micromanagement keep the game from being a "Diablo II" killer. [Dec 2001, p.115]

These intriguing elements can only offset, and not make up for, the often frustrating gameplay. [Dec 2001, p.100]

A pleasant diversion, but it’s about as deep as a puddle, and frustratingly finicky. [Jan 2002, p.93]

Differentiates itself as a faster-paced action title, and holds its own with a few minor problems. [Nov 2001, p.100]

Worst of all, the load times are horrendous. [Dec 2001, p.100]

Mad Dash has an incredibly steep learning curve for a game featuring a cartoon boar named Chops. [Jan 2002, p.42]

The biggest problem is that the weapons are far too powerful, resulting in a near-constant cycle of death and respawning. [Jan 2002, p.26]

Suffers from shallow gameplay and outright boring level design throughout its six-hour adventure. [Nov 2001, p.108]

The Xbox version boasts improved controls over its PS2 counterpart, but the basic gameplay is just as dull. [Jan 2002, p.31]

This excellent PlayStation effort restores some of the shine to the franchise. [Nov 2001, p.112]

It’s not bad, but there’s really not anything new to see here. [Jan 2002, p.26]

Significant only as the most shameless incident of design burglary in recent memory. [Jan 2002, p.35]

Mostly, 4x4 Evo 2 is just bland. [Dec 2001, p.96]

It isn’t bad, just eccentric – perhaps too much for its own good. [Jan 2002, p.82]

The lack of multiplayer combat consigns this one to mediocrity. [Nov 2001, p.108]

Standard automotive thrills with a mildly amusing twist – vehicle design options. [Jan 2002, p.82]

Manages to stay bland despite high speeds and lots of explosions. Go figure. [Jan 2002, p.31]

Simply put, this game sucks. [Jan 2002, p.42]

With only a single path through six quick levels, there’s no way for us to recommend this to anyone but gun game collectors. [Dec 2001, p.112]

An ordinary experience that’s as routine as a metronome. [Dec 2001, p.100]

Few things are more tedious than a "sprawling RPG" without any real wit, style, or engaging characters. [Dec 2001, p.108]