Inoffensively made, but the blood rage it invoked is unforgivable. Avoid it - you'll feel better. [July 2010, p.70]

Pretty, and pretty hollow. [July 2011, p.76]

Don't be fooled by the pointer controls or other fripperies. [Aug 2008, p.75]

The terrible presentation and the tiny icons won't endear themselves to the crusty purne-eyes belonging to their target audience. [Aug 2007, p.71]

Bone idle. Soulless. Death warmed up. Putting the grim in Grim Reaper. Afterlife? No life. We could go on, but we can't will ourselves to. Avoid.

Playing this after "Mario Galaxy 2"? God has a got a sense of humour after all. [July 2010, p.77]

It's boring. [Aug 2010, p.76]

If the balance board controls worked, the game world wasn't so barren and there weren't severe balancing issues, this would be okay. [Feb 2009, p.64]

This is a basic third-person shooter with really clunky controls. [Issue#56, p.70]

The flimsy core betrays a bevy of neat ideas nabbed straight from the film. [Aug 2008, p.63]

Visually it's 15 years old. No thanks. [July 2009, p.77]

Tentacles should stay where they belong: bothering anime schoolgirls. [July 2010, p.70]

Limited appeal and completely lacking in decent variations. [Apr 2009, p.40]

At best it's a formulaic RPG, but mostly it's a one-way journey to dullsville. [Feb 2008, p.70]

Uninspired controls. [Jan 2009, p.70]

About the only thing we like is the directness of the chap at the start of "Strider": "KILL HIM! THAT'S YOUR MISSION!" [Nov 2006, p.76]

A bit of stylus-powered frog-in-a-ball rolling occasionally interrupts the bounding, but even this is clumsily controlled, with mad stroking more likely to erode your DS screen than get the spherical spawn of the devil to respond. [Mar 2007, p.61]

A bit disappointing. [Dec 2008, p.79]

As a throwaway arcade game this is mildly entertaining, and nicely priced. [Apr 2011, p.78]

Musical employs changing colour wheels that collectively conspire to do your ever-shifting eyes an injury, and not layout that's more shotgun splatter than musical matter. [Nov 2007, p.73]

It's good value if you just want to spend the afternoon mindlessly shooting cannon fodder. Don't expect anything different, though. [May 2009, p.77]

Compared to this month's "Thrillville," EA Playground is severely lacking. Don't let the EA brand influence you - the kid in you will much prefer the theme park over the playground. [Christmas 2007, p.53]

As far as gameplay goes, it's in the same vein as Singstar and co, with the significant difference being that it doesn't really work very well. [Issue#56, p.68]

Dull, dull, dull. [Jan 2008, p.64]

Like the stick men themselves, Defend Your Castle is a little skinny but not unable to break through your defences. [Aug 2008, p.75]

It's very little fun to play, and since you can play a limited version online for free as a Flash game, there's no good reason to put it in your DS. [June 2007, p.70]

Captivating adventure gaming, sadly ruined by a horrible port. [May 2010, p.52]

One of the worst Worms games in memory. [May 2008, p.62]

Exactly what you were expecting from a pinball title. That's either a good or bad thing, depending on your level of Tommy-esque wizardry. [Feb 2008, p.74]

Amounts to nothing more than walking along a featureless corridor while somebody tells you an abridged version of the GoldeneEye plot. [Christmas 2010, p.72]

Worse than Pele's impotence advert. [Dec 2009, p.67]

The drudgery of seeking is broken up with occasional spot the difference and tile-sliding puzzles but these can be skipped without incurring penalty. [Issue#56, p.71]

It's like reading through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars. [Apr 2009, p.76]

There's no charm, no innovation and no style, but it is a moderately entertaining game. [Sept 2011, p.76]

It's too mired in tedium. [Aug 2010, p.72]

It's too mired in tedium. [Aug 2010, p.72]

A slight iPhone game that feels even slighter on Wii. Get Airport Mania instead. [Oct 2011, p.77]

Avoid this bad medicine. [Feb 2008, p.75]

Travel In Time doesn't so much scrape the barrel as suck dirt from the barrel with a bendy straw. There are almost no ideas and, as a result, almost no fun.

Neither compelling nor a decent rhythm-actioner. [Apr 2012, p.49]

A lazy addition to a series that belongs on DS anyway. [Apr 2009, p.70]

We don't care for the source material and this is too chaotic to actually play. Throws so much silliness around you can't appreciate it. [Feb 2007, p.73]

A competent golf game, but also a fussy, bland and entirely forgettable one. [May 2012, p.108]

You'll think you've snagged a winner to begin with, but reeling in boot after metaphorical boot reminds you that this is the same old Rapala. [Dec 2008, p.63]

We want the fancy controller. [Sept 2008, p.70]

Great games (well, some), cynically recycled. Unless you can find 50th Anniversary for a couple of quid or less, this is the worst value on GameCube. [Aug 2006, p.63]

The whole concept of Helix is better encapsulated in one of "Rayman 3"'s minigames. Alas, Helix isn't even remote-ly fun or entertaining. [Dec 2008, p.74]

The bulk of the beast is a poorly programmed platform game, with a useless jump, lamely linking itself to the book/film's story with unlocked Story Pages. [Feb 2007, p.82]

A C64 platform game in 3DS clothes, and not very convincing ones at that. [Dec 2011, p.79]

The only mystery is why anyone would buy into something so lazy. [Aug 2008, p.66]

This is too creaky to forgive. [June 2008, p.55]

A lazy, ugly, soulless, cheeky and cheap rip-off. But just about competent with it. [Nov 2011, p.77]

Good graphics, thoroughly boring gameplay. [Issue#56, p.60]

The makings of a great sim let down by terrible AI and scrappy graphics. [Christmas 2011, p.75]

Some of the monkey animations are cool, though. [Oct 2008, p.77]

Cuter than it is fun. The Squeeballs need more time in the toy factory before they're unleashed on gamers again. [Winter 2009, p.62]

Dull, repetitive and almost embarrassing in the way it fails to entertain, despite the basics of an enjoyable game being in place here somewhere. [May 2010, p.65]

The only mystery is why anyone would buy into something so lazy. [Aug 2008, p.66]

A simple but enjoyable blaster that costs way too much. [May 2010, p.73]

It's fast and competent, but rounds last too long, descending into tedium. [Christmas 2011, p.79]

The Wii doesn't have a great history with skating games, but that's no reason to settle for a boring, charmless title such as this. [July 2009, p.72]

This is a love letter to 16-bit RPGs, albeit written in really messy handwriting. [Sept 2009, p.73]

A collection of ordinary games with no soul and an awkward gimmick. [Aug 2011, p.66]

A contemptible chore. [Winter 2009, p.57]

A big disappointment from a one-time great. [Christmas 2010, p.73]

So yawningly uneventful we were able to play it with one eye, while watching Flight of the Conchords with the other. A waste of disc. [Christmas 2007, p.67]

For those with no taste in music whatsoever. [Feb 2008, p.68]

Underwhelming in every single way. It's a weak fighter, made annoying by silly minigames and a story so messy it made our poor heads fall off. [Mar 2007, p.71]

Not as good as it used to be. [Apr 2010, p.76]

We're going to leave this out on the street and hope it gets towed. [Aug 2011, p.74]

N-Space's reach exceeds DS's grasp. Give this nonsense a miss and wait for their excellent Heroes of Ruin on 3DS instead. [Christmas 2011, p.68]

A disappointingly bland brain-teasing stew.[Feb 2011, p.74]

Save the 30 quid and spend it on a side salad in one of Gordon's restaurants instead. It'll be better and should last longer than this pile of ****. [Dec 2008, p.62]

A flimsy mess. [Christmas 2009, p.70]

Localisation hasn't improved this fatally flawed game. It's a shame, as some good ideas have been smothered by lame controls. [July 2009, p.72]

A series of unpredictable laughs and little else, disguised within a vibrant luchadore mask. [Sept 2007, p.70]

What a shinobi bumble. [Mar 2011, p.73]

But hey, at least the characters look nice. [Christmas 2010, p.74]

Xevious on 3DS was inevitable. Shame they didn't do anything with it. [Sept 2011, p.77]

Horribly dated and lazy, this mind-numbing puzzler only exists on Wii because of motion controls. [Apr 2009, p.70]

The game chugs harder than Captain Haddock at a distillery. [Dec 2011, p.75]

This game only confirms our anti-Thor prejudice. He IS crap. [June 2011, p.64]

Too slow, too short, too annoying. Only the graphics have any real quality. Stick with "Sonic And The Secret Rings," or even "Excite Truck" if you don't mind the lack of hedgehog.

A teeth-grindingly stupid premise belies a few okay gameplay ideas. [Aug 2008, p.75]

Some enemies that weren't can-based would have been even nicer. [Mar 2010, p.73]

When it's dark - when the screen is gloomy, and only illuminated by the zoom function - it can be like looking for a needle in a rough school. [Feb 2010, p.75]

Another joyless lump of registered trademarks designed with vulnerable kiddies in mind. [Winter 2009, p.63]

Absolute minger of a game. [Christmas 2009, p.66]

Thunderously dumb combat in an endless succession of technically borked corridors. [Nov 2011, p.65]

Possibly the most cynical and tawdry ripoff of "Mario Kart" we've ever seen....A horrible kart game, with pathetic handling, idiotic AI, and no racing tension at all. [Feb 2007, p.83]

Terrible platforming and puzzling. [June 2008, p.58]

Far too hard at the beginning, even on Easy mode, and all poorly explained. One for the only the hardiest strategy fans. [Sept 2007, p.63]

Curse you, feeble minigame collection. [Oct 2010, p.60]

Stupidly expensive. [June 2010, p.76]

Too hard for kids and too dull for adults. [Apr 2011, p.75]

Rubbish, stupid games in a cheap, tacky collection - who on earth keeps buying these games and egging them on? [June 2007, p.71]

It's like someone reduced Super Mario Bros to its essence, then skimmed the fun off the top. [May 2011, p.51]

The film was duff; the game's duff. [Aug 2009, p.77]