A clean, logical layout and superb handwriting recognition - we're sure crossword aficionados stateside are having themselves a grand old time. [Aug 2007, p.70]

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]

Glimmers of good ideas are squished under the boot of boring. [Aug 2007, p.66]

Cripes, there's a lot of rules and regulations to take in here. [Aug 2007, p.70]

Far too simple to satisfy as an anime fighter and too bitty to enjoy for any length of time. [Sept 2007, p.71]

The safety of brand outweighs the desire to innovate. Sword fighting doesn't work with the remote. [Aug 2007, p.47]

Lumpen stuff partially saved by nifty duelling sections. [Aug 2007, p.70]

Makes you feel like a daring aventurer making progress, but at the expense of in-your-face thrills. [Aug 2007, p.63]

It's going to sell by the bucket-load to the younger fans of the film, and most of them will find it a diverting enough adventure. Just a shame that it throws away such a knowing premise.

It makes chess look like [a] snap and will make children cry. [Sept 2007, p.71]

Uninspired missions, repetitive gameplay, bored-sounding voiceovers, ugly graphics, painful controls. [July 2007, p.46]

Way too over reliant on the D-pad diagonals. [July 2007, p.71]

Fast as you like, fun to control and a mindless diversion for military fetishists. Difficult, even on the easiest setting, but if you're up to the challenge you'll get loads of value from it. [May 2007, p.46]

This strives for nothing and doesn't even make it that far. A poor game for a poor franchise. [JPN Import; Aug 2007, p.54]

Where's Wi-Fi? RPG mode? Not a total wash-out, but it is limited. SNK should have spent more time combing the rules and less combing Dante's hair. [JPN Import; Mar 2007, p.73]

A must for Bionicle fans and decenet, trashy fun for everyone else. But the controls are poor. [May 2007, p.52]

With Wi-Fi battles and Global Trade, D/P is essential. [Sept 2007, p.81]

With Wi-Fi battles and Global Trade, D/P is essential. [Sept 2007, p.81]

Offering simultaneous play for eight players (four on nunchuks and four on remotes) with everyone playing on the same game screen, it's certainly a tempting idea. Unfortunately after five minutes with even just a couple of players, all the ball action becomes totally confused, empty and aimless.

Zendoku is much, much better. [Aug 2007, p.65]

Potent Mario magic, and, by God, that 2D-3D idea is brilliant. But it's got what we call the Pikmin effect: the sense that it'll take a sequel to really bring the concept to full fruition. [July 2007, p.36]

There's no close-up work, only abstract coarse plotting between cookers and customers and, as such, it's a bit tedious. [Christmas 2007, p.70]

It makes the right moves but doesn't quite scale the heights. And you can be the GameCube version - without Ubisoft's half-hearted Wii controls - for around 20 pounds. [June 2007, p.38]

Irritating and irrational, Magic Picture Book treats you badly. Yet one flash of those choco-puppy eyes and your heart will flutter. The DS equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome. [JPN Import; Mar 2007, p.76]

At times as delightful as prancing down a beach with the girl of your dreams. At others, like lunching at Satan's table. Not really a game you love, more a game you grudgingly respect.

Has more love in its bones than Konami's usual dead-horse-floggers - and it's great value at the current dollar-pound exchange rate.

Despite the clumsy controls and a tendency to keep throwing the same bits at you over and over (and over) again, this is recommended to all. [June 2007, p.46]

One of the not-at-all-interesting ideas, though, is that there's no tutorial. At all. [June 2007, p.70]