Xiaolin Showdown has the elements of a good game, but the execution is so sloppy that it ends up falling flat. [Jan. 2007, p.88]

When even a game's manual asks, "Wouldn't you rather play something else?" consider taking the hint. [Feb 2005, p.83]

Somehow, the PSP version makes Frogger's already-confusing mechanics even more frustrating. [Jan 2006, p.100]

Dino Thunder is obviously trying to mimic the feel of free-roaming gameplay, but it fails to be entertaining about it. [Jan 2005, p.106]

Despite its lousy gameplay, Drakengard's story is what makes me absolutely hate, hate, hate it...Just <I>try</I> to like any of the characters. Impossible. [Mar 2004, p.98]

Once you get past the counterintuitive controls, Rescue serves as a completely serviceable hop-a-thon for tadpole gamers. [Jan 2004, p.133]

Falls flat on its face on just about every level. [June 2001, p.98]

It's just too bad that Sega didn't take more time with these games since some of them, in their original form, could still hold up after all of these years. [March 2005, p.97]

The best ice-racing simulator for the PSP. Too bad there's no option for winter tires. [Apr 2006, p.92]

Talk about sloppy control and poor level design. [Jan 2002, p.147]

Just pick up "NCAA 2003" and forget this one even exists. [Oct 2002, p.149]

Definitely reinforces the "toy" part of Eyetoy. [Jan 2006, p.90]

Given the heritage, and the burden it carries as a flag-bearer for videogaming, it's appalling... The biggest issue I have with it is that the controls are atrocious. [Sept 2003, p.90]

A fantastic idea ruined by ugly graphics, a shaky framerate, and bizarre design elements. [May 2006, p.80]

The jumping puzzles combined with the overt racism combined with the semiwonky controls combined wtih the unctuousness of the protagonist add up to a game that is decidedly unfun. [May 2004, p.101]

It's clunky and frustrating due to its awful controls. [Nov 2001, p.160]

It seems like the designers spent so much time working on fancy effects that they didn't have enough time to bother with things like level design... It's a pretty major disappointment. [Aug 2003, p.101]

There's something fundamentally wrong with a game that lets you finish a few stages without even looking at the screen. [May 2004, p.101]

Music aside, the control is sketchy. [June 2001, p.102]

The sloppy swordplay and imprecise magic attacks just make the game look like an alcoholic staging of Medieval Times. [June 2002, p.97]

Oversimplified controls and an atrocious camera. If it were a movie, you'd leave the theater halfway through and not care about the conclusion. [Feb 2005, p.86]

I've had more control when driving a car without a steering wheel. [Oct 2001, p.137]

The game is so mind-numbingly boring I drifted asleep while playing. [Nov 2002, p.188]

The game is essentially a distillation of everything "cool" about the show, so after about five minutes of play, you start to understand why the show was cancelled. [Feb 2003, p.104]

Mutant Nightmare has improvements over its predecessors here and there, like a better camera and nice graphics, but when the basic game is this boring, that's about as useful as replacing the air freshener in a house build in the sewers. [Dec 2005, p.123]

A giant mess on the whole. For starters, you encounter plenty of nice little glitches throughout the game, including random spots where characters just fall through solid objects because of some lame collision detection. [Feb 2004, p.98]

While the battle system is solid, the battles themselves are dreadfully boring.

If I had to sum up the game in one word, I'm not sure if I'd pick "boring" or "stupid." I guess it depends on what mood I'm in. The mission structure is desperately linear, despite pretending to offer a huge amount of freedom.

So ultimately, you have a bad port of a not-particularly great Xbox game with all of the interesting bits removed. [Dec 2002, p.180]

Maneuvering and combat are both very clumsy, and the whole game leaves you wondering about the choices the game designers made. [June 2005, p.95]

An uninteresting, repetitive driving/shooting game with unfunny quips and painfully bad cut-scenes. [Nov 2003, p.142]

You're contantly shooting the same enemies over and over in rather dull environments, only to come upon completely lackluster bosses. [August 2002, p.107]

Luckily timed button-mashing encompasses 90 percent of any sort of strategy involved. [June 2001, p.100]

The only thing eJay has on its competitors is the Scratch mode, a fairly solid (and, as far as I can tell, reasonably realistic) dual-turntable simulator. [Oct 2003, p.116]

It actually feels more like "Wipeout" or "Extreme-G Racing" than "Crash Team Racing" or "Mario Kart." Well, a crappier version of "Wipeout" or "Extreme-G," anyway. [Oct 2003, p.116]

It's an uninspired, uninnovative platform game with incredibly annoying flaws. Combat is brainless - I died more times from wandering into mud puddles (which are apparently deadly and kill you instantly) than I did from enemy attacks. [Dec 2004, p.125]

A geriatric "MGS" clone burdened with the identity (and scene) thefts of "Mission: Impossible." [Oct 2004, p.88]

It's tedious, wearisome, dreary, slow, stiff, flat and monotonous...in other words, it's an utter bore. [Apr 2002, p.103]

Get with it, EA. You're so far behind High Heat it's like you're playing in the minor leagues. [Apr 2002, p.103]

Anyone who has enjoyed any of the technical, aesthetic, and gameplay improvements of the past decade will probably want to pass this one up [Dec 2004, p.114]

Unbalanced and derivative. [Oct 2003, p.116]

Two games in one: both are bland and tedious. [Jan 2006, p.99]

Numbingly repetitive and distressingly difficult. [Dec 2001, p.175]

Mere diversions that don't have much lasting appeal. [Feb 2002, p.116]

"SSX" looked better two years ago, and the water comes nowhere near equaling that in last year's "Splashdown." [Dec 2002, p.160]

There are just far too many problems with its basic mechanics. [Jan 2004, p.125]

My favorite part of the game was the loading screen, whicch is an extreme close-up of SpongeBob's face pressed up against the glass as his eyes twitch back and forth. That made me smile more than once, but other than that, my overall consensus is: "ehhhhh." [Jun 2006, p.102]

The graphics here are subpar for PS2, the animation is choppy, the level design is awful, and the controls and interface are almost impressively awkward. [June 2002, p.99]

Is it really that smurfin' hard to smurf up someone who at least sounds like the original voice actors? [June 2001, p.103]

Real, real boring. It's the same freakin' game it's been since 1998 with new rosters. That's it. [Nov 2003, p.148]

The game looks so bad I can't begin to like it. [Nov 2002, p.190]

Track design is unimaginative, the cars look like they're made of plastic, it's not fast, and the gameplay structure feels clumsy and unfinished. [Dec 2004, p.128]

I&#146;d commend the scope of the design, but you that it&#146;s let down by the execution. [Feb 2002, p.113]

All the features added to Genki's long running game of after-dark street racing are cursory at best and cosmetic at worst. [Jan 2004, p.130]

Nice touches like graphics and gameplay elements ultimately don't disguise this fighter's lack of depth. [Oct 2005, p.107]

The real disappointment comes from the wonky control and slipshod graphics. [June 2001, p.100]

The various hip-hop accoutrements that GODM outfits its players with do little to alleviate the fact that the core element, actual rapping, is weak. [Dec 2004, p.106]

Goes right off the deep end with its length - the entire game can be completed in one six-hour sitting. [Apr 2005, p.102]

Ultimately, what Virtua Quest proves is that putting great characters into a lousy game doesn't make the game any less lousy. It just robs those characters of their dignity. [Feb 2005, p.87]

And, much like a real sweatshop, WTF provides little incentive to keep you going. [Dec. 2006, p.136]

There's no challenge, and there's no variety. [Apr 2005, p.103]

Beyond atmosphere, ShellShock pretty much, well, sucks. Probably the biggest irritation is the simply horrifying level design. [Oct 2004, p.88]

Unhinged's ultimate downfall, however, is that there is no digital opponent when you play alone - apparently, it was decided that offering online play was enough. Since half the fun of games like these is actually beating someone, the lack of A.I. is disappointing. [June 2004, p.88]

Why would I want to play a game that consists mostly of <I>waiting</I>? [Apr 2003, p.87]

Save your money for a PS2 and a copy of Thunder for that system. It's worth it. [Jan 2002, p.146]

Forsakes any sort of previously demonstrated variety, great story, or awesome atmosphere all in favor of fight, fight, fight. It only needs the "POW! WHAP! BLORP!" [Nov 2003, p.130]

It has more of the same clunky controls and general lack of fun for which the series is known. [Oct 2004, p.92]

The pace of the game is slow enough to serve as a cure for insomnia. [June 2001, p.97]

I can't help feeling like this game was designed by sadists, for masochists. It's that frustrating. [Nov 2002, p.183]

Apparently, it never occurred to anyone at Cavia that using a first-person shooter setup to control a game seen in the third person is a little like putting "Resident Evil"-style controls in a "Mario" game: technically possible but deeply stupid. [Dec 2004, p.102]

This game is so stupid. It also lacks any kind of cool. What a combo! [Aug 2003, p.99]

It has a few innovations, but these aren't executed well enough to make the game really stand out. [Dec 2002, p.174]

Stay far away from this rink rat. [Jan 2003, p.134]

Solid graphics and a great story don't make up for a lack of content. Would be a steal at bargain-bin prices, though. [Jan 2006, p.101]

It's nice that Pandemic attempted to improve "Full Spectrum Warrior", trying to make it feel more like a game and less like something based on military theory. But the host of said improvements take FSW from and interesting if tame combat simulator to an irritating way to spend an afternoon. [July 2006, p.76]

With a full year since the original and no majjor changes to implement, this should have been great. Instead, it's just more "Dynasty Warriors." [Dec. 2006, p.134]

Cheesy plot, horrible dialogue and translation, bland graphics, and standard RPG cliches circa 1995 as far as the eye can see. [Aug 2006, p.81]

Shallow combat meets nonexistente level design in a battle for FPS mediocrity. [Aug 2005, p.89]

Soon enough, though, the novelty wears off, and you start to realize the incredible tedium involved because the entire game is a fetch quest - with the ultimate goal being to free some bitch (literally) that got picked up by the dogcatchers. [Sept 2004, p.89]

Fun for kids, but you're better off playing "Klonoa." [Jan 2004, p.133]

It's like a feeble attempt at a mission-based driving game (think "Midnight Club" or "Driver" or something, I guess - it's hard to tell since it's hard to tell since it's so half-hearted) with Mini Coopers thrown in for really obvious movie "flava." [Sept 2003, p.97]

Load times between rounds are slow, and the wireless play is ad hoc only, so it's hard to imagine the adult who would prefer this to the PSP's other(great)racers. [Nov. 2006, p.124]

You just have to really, really like your trivia - and not care about simplicity. [July 2002, p.103]

The puzzles are so ploddingly bleak that you might find yourself craving more awful action just to keep you awake. The biggest problem? The utterly lackwit level design. [Aug 2003, p.103]

What's challenging in hitting home runs with every other hitter? [June 2001, p.99]

It's mercifully short but painfully boring. [May 2004, p.97]

Suffers from one of the most useless cameras since the advent of 3D gaming. [March 2005, p.101]

Scoring opportunities are too easy and mean too little, and the "wow" moments - scoring a goal, beating a defender - serve up more yawns than adrenaline. [Apr 2005, p.109]

You never really feel like you're controlling the racers, but rather just making suggestions that they follow or ignore at their leisure. [Apr 2006, p.80]

That style and the often funny dialogue are really the game's only redeeming qualities, making it of interest only to fans of the show. [Feb 2003, p.108]

Apart from the cheese factor, Gangs simply fails at the basics. [Nov. 2006, p.120]

Its boring tracks make you feel more like you're racing around a generic airport terminal with fancy backdrops than actually IN the exotic locales. [June 2002, p.97]

There's no excuse for such an absurdly awkward control scheme. [Apr 2003, p.92]

I'll stick to paper and pencil versions of sudoku until a cleaned-up sequel appears. [July 2006, p.82]

In short, Shattered Universe just doesn't deliver. The onscreen action never heats up enough to be considered exciting, and even if it did, the shoddy control scheme would keep it from being any fun anyway. [Dec 2003, p.176]

Do your part and make sure the Just Cause revolucion will not be televised. [Nov. 2006, p.117]

If this game had online play and were a PSP title, we'd be pretty pleased. But it doesn't, it's not - and we're not. [Sept 2006, p.83]

Pac-Man Fever will drive you neither crazy nor out of your mind. [Sept 2002, p.116]