As a PS2 game, Days of the Blade might have been good. But this is next-gen country, where the expectations are high. [Jan. 2007, p.74]

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]

Let's hope that Namco Bandai issues an "oops" and ships the real game soon. [Jan. 2007, p.72]

Not nearly the sum of the parts it mimics, Reservoir Dogs answers some questions for fans of the film, but it just isn't worth the time. [Jan. 2007, p.86]

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]

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

It's time for Mortal Kombat to go. [Dec. 2006, p.126]

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

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

Outside studio Idea Factory developed Spectral Souls and it shows; NIS would be much better off sticking with its internal developers next time. [Nov. 2006, p.120]

If it weren't for all the basketball in Sony's new NBA 07, I'd give the go-ahead on trying this one out. [Nov. 2006, p.110]

Definitely a good time for the elementary-school set. [Jan. 2007, p.89]

That's the worst kind of game design--the kind that only the people who made it can understand. [Oct. 2006, p.83]

So this makes it officcial: The Rengoku series is stillborn. [Oct. 2006, p.92]

Even if you have a Multitap and can thus play this with four real human beings, it's a poor party game. [Oct. 2006, p.88]

I still think a music-customizable rhythm game could be amazing, but Dance Factory falls short of the ideal. [Jun 2006, p.94]

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]

Realistic drift physics apparently don't equal a good time, especially when added to a frustrating - and mandatory - tutorial mode. [Sept 2006, p.76]

Other than that, Miami Vice is the most unremarkable eight hours you'll sppend en route to a lousy concclusion this year! [Oct. 2006, p.91]

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]

This was a great game...15 years ago. The new Micro Machines fails to offer anything new or exciting to an already stale series. [Sept 2006, p.79]

The Micro Machines games have stayed the same over the last decade for the most part, so fans of the series will have a general idea of what they're getting into here. Newcomers can consider themselves warned. [Oct. 2006, p.92]

The Armored Core developers are celebrating the series' 10th birthday by giving you the same mech game they've pumped out since the beginning. [Jun 2006, p.92]

A sloppy, wince-inducing piece. [Aug 2006, p.81]

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]

Defending myself from a shark attack would be more entertaining. [Aug 2006, p.77]

The "budget" price of $20 is about $15 too much. [Aug 2006, p.75]

Due to things like a shared health bar for both routes, bad jumping puzzles, and a camera that has a hard time keeping track, you'll find yourself repeating the routes--a lot. Which gets boring. [Jun 2006, p.92]

Still, even at a budget price, it's hard to recommend this game to anyone but the most hardcore of Rampage fans...if they even exist. [July 2006, p.78]

What's not so impressive is that actual combat is pretty sucky. The combos themselves are simplistic. [Jun 2006, p.94]

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

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]

It's a sloppy, rushed port of a game that deserved better. [July 2006, p.77]

This is one of the least user-friendly gameplay experiences I've had in some time. [May 2006, p.90]

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

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

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]

It's just a veil of mediocrity used to cover what amounts to a crazed-crowd simulator. No, wait, that actually sounds too fun for a game like this. [Jun 2006, p.92]

Insert "cruel and unusual punishment" or similar prison-term jokesterism here. Bonus points for working in the words "salad" and "toss." [Apr 2006, p.82]

Perhaps the biggest problem with Ape Escape Academy is the fact that you literally spend more time waiting than you do playing.

Having long since outlived its usefulness, the Wild Arms series has gone, with this entry, from merely banal to actively irritating. With such a wealth of RPGs getting translated nowadays and more companies than ever eager to get into the act, it's about time this appendix was removed.

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

It has the most idiotic aiming scheme in any WWII game.

The gun battles that account for 99 percent of the game are extremely flawed. Bulletproof's aiming controls--no matter which configuration or sensitivity settings you choose--are as sloppy as they come.

A couple of good ideas, a couple of bad ideas, but all executed so poorly that the game almost feels unfinished. Combine that with a control and camera system that's been getting progressively worse for the past six years or so, and it's official: The hedgehog has jumped the shark.

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

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]

I'd rather play the Java-based pool game on Yahoo. [Feb 2006, p.84]

Getting 29 games for $20 shouldn't be a terrible deal, but aside from two or three gems, the selection totally blows - especially when compared to the Japanese releases. [Jan 2006, p.91]

A shallow racer spread thinly over other game styles. [Jan 2006, p.101]

This barely qualifies as a game. [Jan 2006, p.100]

Devil Kings' mailed-in gameplay is a classic example of what developers should avoid at all costs in the future. [Nov 2005, p.117]

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

DICE is so utterly amateurish it's almost depressing. Stay very, very far away. [Nov 2005, p.96]

If tweaking out on robo-parts is your thing, proceed. If serious robo-combat is your thing, abort. [Nov 2005, p.90]

Even worse, it doesn't do the stuff you've seen before with much panache. It's not comic - it's tragic. [Nov 2005, p.90]

A buggy mess that should be avoided in favor of "NHL 2K6" or "NHL 06." [Dec 2005, p.115]

Another cynical exploitation of a fad, but hey, at least it's portable. [Dec 2005, p.139]

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]

Great for players who have absolutely no desire to experience what real poker is like. [Dec 2005, p.132]

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

Old brawler mechanics, GTA elements don't mix in particularly well. [Oct 2005, p.107]

Allowing your kid to play this game is considered child abuse in 29 states. [Oct 2005, p.102]

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

Everything is passable--no aspects of the game are missing, nothing's technically wrong. It's just that it doesn't strive above any of the old, established conventions of the genre. It has an average overwrought RPG story line, average graphics, and an average (to poor) combat system that has shifted from turn-based combat to real-time combat.

I really tried to understand the appeal of Digimon, but the bland little scamps just rub me the wrong way. Digimon World 4 won't convert anyone who doesn't already get it.

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

My advice to the developers is next time, skip the shaking, the timers, and the laughable cinemas and spend more time polishing and testing. [June 2005, p.101]

It's like trying to fly an airplane with no wings, and you can't even tell the passengers to kiss their asses good-bye. [May 2005, p.92]

No other game in the PSP launch window is so miserably underachieving. [June 2005, p.101]

A functional but boring game that attempts to cash in on the violent-game buzz. [July 2005, p.76]

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]

Crap aiming and a crap camera combine with boring, nonsensical missions to translate into horrid gameplay for the main story.

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]

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 monotony of item collecting will turn anyone off long before frustration over poor control sets in. [May 2005, p.96]

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]

Note to the videogame industry: Mapping attacks to the right analog stick isn't a good idea. Put all the crossover dribbles and jukes you want on the analog stick, but for brawling games like Death by Degrees, this method of control simply doesn't work.

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

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]

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]

Did I mention the shooting interface itself? Picture the annoying timing of the triple-tap Hot Shots model combined with the occasional imprecision of the analog Tiger model, and you'll have some idea of what we're talking about here: It's the worst of all possible worlds!

Most of the Atari 2600's great titles had little to do with Atari.[Feb 2005, p.91]

Why can't you have more than six players at a table? [March 2005, p.95]

The game is one long wave of monotonous, sloppy combat. [Jan 2005, p.102]

The absence of Ed Norton's and Brad Pitt's likenesses makes the generic characters look like a pack of half-naked Ken dolls, excepting the one with man boobs. [Dec 2004, p.108]

What really makes this game a disaster is the presentation. The character models and environments look like they were made using "Fighter Maker," which is to say that one one with a fundamental familiarity with 3D modeling was hired to make this game. [Feb 2005, p.91]

As bad as the roster is, the game itself is fine, and by fine I mean you couldn't have possibly made it more boring. [Jan 2005, p.109]

After that brief spasm of historical insight, the charm rapidly wears off, mostly due to clumsy programming. [March 2005, p.95]

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]

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

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]

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]

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

Appropriately enough, InuYasha plays like self-insert fan fiction: It's just as trite and doubly as embarrassing. [Feb 2005, p.85]

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]