This is the kind of bizarro indie creativity we like to see on 3DS, but the gameplay itself is a little on the duff side. [Aug 2014, p.87]

A potentially great title let down by a terrible camera and one of the most bewildering controller decisions we can remember. Get the Wii version instead.

Too basic. [July 2010, p.95]

Libera Wing didn't just fall out of the ugly tree, it landed on an ugly trampoline and bounced into the centre of Uglytown. [June 2010, p.97]

Limited, dated and very boring, only die hard fans and young kids will find any fun here. [July 2008, p.95]

The difficulty curve will turn you off long before this starts to get interesting. [Dec 2009, p.99]

Reasonably enjoyable while it lasts. [June 2009, p.88]

It could be so much more if the controls were more forgiving. Don't bother. [Aug 2009, p.102]

A bland, lackluster shooter. [Christmas 2009, p.102]

The genre-mixing is a nice enough idea but you end up with an exhausted puzzler with some pretty flimsy RPG elements tacked on. It all seems a little flat. [May 2007, p.90]

Not bad, as far as hidden-object games go, but utterly unnecessary on the 3DS. Get it on PC, if you must. [June 2014, p.89]

Shows promise, but the combat hasn't been fine-tuned carefully enough. [Apr 2012, p.94]

Doesn't have the mettle for a sustained run in the first team. [Christmas 2009, p.98]

The game begins to fall apart as soon as you throw any real criticism at it. [Feb 2008, p.80]

There are two games here: the one you've been led to hope for and the one you play. It's not so much a valiant effort as a nice idea that never got used.

There's no need for Rise of the Dark Spak to be as dull as it's turned out. [Sept 2014, p.84]

Combat can be summed up as: press Y until your head goes red, then press X. [Aug 2014, p.74]

A missed opportunity to right the first game's wrongs. A by-the-numbers platforming experience.

Not bad, but you could get the same thing for 69p elsewhere. [Christmas 2012, p.110]

The biggest problem is the lack of any sort of map. [Jan 2011, p.87]

Scrolling levels are better as you need to concentrate and rely on reactions, but this isn't one we'd recommend seeing through to the end. [Aug 2012, p.103]

Samurai Warriors will hurt you in ways that you've never been hurt before. [Apr 2008, p.80]

Fun while it lasts, but you can finish the whole game before your bottle of Butterbeer gets flat.

The porting process has made for a disappointing mess. Pray for a patch. [Jan 2013, p.104]

Another disappointing case of a developer running a feather duster along last year's game and releasing it as new. [Jan 2013, p.110]

A massive disappointment. Play with the analogue stick and it's a great golf game, but try to use the Remote and you're in for a rough ride. [Apr 2007, p.83]

Far too easy to complete. [Apr 2010, p.95]

Fun in very short bursts, but this is too frustrating and too flawed to be enjoyed for any longer. [June 2009, p.80]

It's all a bit drab thanks and not much fun at all. [Sept 2008, p.98]

Beneath all the psychobabble lies yet another generic RPG obsessed with ogling young girls. [Aug 2014, p.84]

Some interesting bits of "art," but it's pointless as they're freely available elsewhere. [Mar 2011, p.103]

A missed opportunity. [June 2007, p.88]

This one's a bit rusty. [Apr 2010, p.93]

The boring combat and daft plot mean you're unlikely to keep playing. [Christmas 2011, p.103]

Squarely aimed at infants. [Christmas 2010, p.94]

Fun and sweet at first, but overall a bit of a cat-astrophe that would make more sense as an endless runner. [June 2014, p.88]

Designing your own gaming world has so much potential, sadly let down by limited vision and scope. It doesn't help that the gameplay is about as exciting as our bank statements. [Dec 2007, p.86]

A distinct lack of polish in the visual and AI department. [Christmas 2008, p.103]

Feels half-finished. [July 2009, p.87]

Few 2D games have this much atmosphere, but Ecco's unforgiving gameplay hasn't aged well, unfortunately. [Feb 2014, p.90]

On DSi it looks really poor, while the music sounds like the sort of thing you'd hear when put on hold. [May 2012, p.104]

Bland and unimaginative. [July 2009, p.93]

SimAnimals is a good idea but with poor visuals and fiddly controls, this is a wasted opportunity.

It might be a faithful enough recreation of the world's most popular murder-sport, but it's absolutely nothing more. [July 2013, p.86]

It's certainly no Broken Sword. [July 2010, p.87]

Curiously addictive. [Jan 2012, p.87]

Unless you're a retro fanatic, it's hard to see what the appeal is. [Nov 2008, p.105]

It's very slow-paced. [Sept 2010, p.97]

"Quotation Forthcoming"

This tries to pull off so much but it's neither as compelling and varied as "The Sims" nor as loveable as "Nintendogs." Plus it's so blocky it's like someone invented an 8-bit DS. [Dec 2006, p.87]

Not even the insubstantial freesteering wheel device makes it worth the purchase. [Jan 2007, p.80]

Less enjoyable than the DS version. [Mar 2011, p.100]

Tiresome repetitiveness and dull, samey graphics plague this movie license that showed a glimmer of potential. The "it's for kids" excuse won't wash, we're afraid. [Christmas 2006, p.88]

Criminally short. [Jan 2011, p.76]

It's suffering from similar feelings of neglect. [Dec 2009, p.94]

A decent take on the popular card game, but its lack of privacy defeats the purpose. [Jan 2010, p.86]

Not worth the exorbitant eShop price. [May 2014, p.88]

The most damning issue is over the game's presentation, which ranges from sloppy in some places to downright awful in others.

The controls are fiddly and the game feels deeply unappealing. [Oct 2009, p.84]

Like Lady Zozo, its heart is in the right place, but its arms and legs are on backwards and inside out. Too monotonous to be entertaining.

Merely average: fun in short bursts but don't expect to be playing it in a few months' time. [Mar 2007, p.89]

A nice idea, but better puzzle games on WiiWare require thought, not luck. [Aug 2010, p.52]

It's a bit dull. [Christmas 2013, p.89]

At least this knows its market. [Oct 2013, p.89]

Poor value for money. [May 2009, p.87]

Five bland tables with odd art design. It's pinball, and that's about it. Avoid. [Oct 2010, p.95]

There's no reason for this to be a 3DS game. [Aug 2011, p.93]

It's a fun idea but can be played free online as Broken Picture Telephone. [June 2009, p.89]

Some decent ideas then, but poorly executed. [Oct 2008, p.97]

Despite the big open areas, your path through them is frustratingly linear. [Jan 2008, p.84]

Nostalgia-seekers need not apply: this is easily outdone by the 13-year-old game from which it is derived. A shame. [Christmas 2012, p.111]

This really isn't worth the money. [Mar 2009, p.89]

Stick to the board games. [Christmas 2010, p.91]

Rygar may have been decent six years ago, but with no updates it's now dated and shoddy. [July 2009, p.86]

For a game that's so starved of content, 1,000 Points is a bit hard to swallow. [Feb 2010, p.89]

Sometimes you'll receive a fraction of your rightful score. [June 2011, p.89]

An interesting premise let down in execution, lacking the excitement of a true fantasy epic. [Aug 2009, p.96]

Younger gamers and good artists might get more out of it but we'd much rather let Miyamoto draw out characters for us, thank you very much. [Nov 2008, p.103]

Your furball is far too floaty and controlling him becomes an exercise in anger management as he bumps into one obstacle after another, some of which are difficult to spot.

You play as Spider-Man, but never feel like him. [May 2013, p.74]

Equal parts tough and rough: a rescue mission never felt quite so much like the suicide equivalent. [Oct 2013, p.88]

Frustrating movements. [June 2010, p.97]

Limp shocks and dull content leave us with a lingering grudge towards Ju-On's creators. [Dec 2009, p.92]

If you're after more than ten minutes of distraction, look somewhere else. [May 2008, p.90]

Put the time into it and it's rewarding, but it's an uphill battle with very little help. [Sept 2010, p.94]

It's hard to care about villagers when they are all generic-faced repetition bots. [June 2014, p.86]

It's not the worst mini-game collection on Wii. Just one of the worst on WiiWare. [Christmas 2009, p.102]

Never has a game veered so aggressively from 80 per cent-rated fun to 30 per cent-rated horror, but the same could be said of the 360/PS3 original. Wii U comes with the added sting of having all the multiplayer and co-op options hacked out, leaving only a samey survival mode (fight waves of Nazis in repurposed levels) to pad out a brisk campaign.

If you're going to compete with the likes of Mario and Sonic you need a smart plan. And if you have a smart plan you better make it work. Cookie & Cream is only half way there. [Dec 2007, p.87]

Fun for the young 'uns, but serious gamers will be bored in minutes. [Nov 2009, p.103]

If the offline community ever picks up, we'd expect to slap another 20% on that score. Until then, steer clear. [Christmas 2014, p.95]

If you're patient this might impress, otherwise you'll be asleep in an hour. [Aug 2010, p.99]

Not terrible, but uninspired and lacking in any original ideas. [July 2012, p.98]

A fun farming sim that suffers at the hands of ridiculous pricing. Only lunatics will hand over 30 notes for this.

It does just about work, but it's not well-suited to the DS. [Feb 2011, p.90]

Could have been so much better but hasn't been fine-tuned well enough. [Oct 2010, p.95]

It's slow, it's easy and it's repetitive. [Oct 2010, p.96]

Looks fantastic but it plays like too many average games of movies. [Feb 2007, p.74]