Darkwatch doesn't amount to much more than your run-of-the mill first-person shooter. [Sept 2005, p.91]

The best thing about Play 2 is the fact that almost all 12 games are actually collections of three or more games. [Sept 2005, p.90]

A monotonous shooter with a crippled camera and a crush on "Psychonauts." [Sept 2005, p.93]

The other big addition offers a nice contrast to the traditional franchise mode, which returns as fully featured and deep as ever. In NFL superstar mode, instead of focusing on the fortunes of one team, you follow the career of a character you create (or import from "NFL Street 2" or "NCAA Football 06"). [Sept 2005]

For me, the simple combat takes a backseat to turning everything I love into a videogame character. [June 2005, p.95]

There always seems to be a slight disconnect between the controls and the onscreen action, making it difficult to really get your timing down. [Oct 2005, p.106]

What Makai Kingdom lacks in visceral appeal it more than makes up for in complexity and nuance. It's fun in a brain-taxing kind of way, but in the end a bit too cold and piecemeal to love. Though it may be fun and challenging, it never quite hangs together as a compelling whole.

The biggest problem is that it all just gets kind of boring, which is rather criminal for a game that's about heated, bloody battles. [Aug 2005, p.83]

The expanded table and wacky ideas are great, but it's the novel stuff that wears thin first. [Aug 2005, p.83]

There just isn't enough here to hold your attention. [Aug 2005, p.83]

This new Fullmetal Alchemist is an improvement over the first game, but an incremental one.

A great game, but most of the new features don't really feel like they're all that new. [Aug 2005, p.82]

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

Ultimately, it's the style and absurdity that make Killer7 bearable. You're almost willing to deal with terrible loading times, poor puzzles, and weak shooting mechanics just to see what kind of madness will happen next. [Aug 2005, p.88]

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

You know the drill with anime games: They're typically a bit half-assed, and with Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam too much effort was spent on fanboy frills and not enough was spent under the hood. It's a fun ride, but this series is showing its age.

While multiplayer is a nice feature, its novelty wears thin quickly since part of the fun is being in a hectic firefight with several enemies and not just a couple of people.

While at times a throwback to the last generation of RPGs, it's surprisingly full-featured and charming; fans of the item crafting in "Star Ocean" will be in heaven. [July 2005, p.75]

Fantastic 4 is short. Most players will finish it in less than six hours--and judging by the fact that finishing levels within certain time limits is among the mission bonuses, Activision doesn't expect anyone to take too long to play it.

A paradox in game form. It's both a technical marvel and a technical disaster. It's a great game, but it's also just a port. You're going to have to decide which of these aspects is most important to you, but one thing is certain: Midnight Club 3 absolutely wipes the floor with other street racing games currently available for the PSP in both multiplayer and single-player options.

Despite technical annoyances and later-level frustrations, Psychonauts is an absolute joy to play. [Aug 2005, p.80]

Instead of the feeling of freedom found in a really good sandbox game, Destroy All Humans! generates a feeling of, well, boredom. You're walked mercilessly through the main story in baby steps, and side missions are infrequent and uninspired. [Aug 2005, p.86]

Fighting battles, debating policy, dueling, and expanding an empire with an endless series of menus does have its charms. [July 2005, p.75]

While details like the appearance of the movie's actors in their same roles (the tutorial is standard fare, except it happens to be delivered by Liam Neeson, of all people!), the Burnout 3-inspired Batmobile sequences, the quirky minigames, and the moments of sneaking and combat make the game fun to play, its linearity keeps it grounded to the "average licensed property" area.

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.

If it had been out a year or so ago, it would have rocked our worlds much harder. [July 2005, p.76]

Should please dance freaks looking for something a bit more serious than DDR.

The nonlinear design, careful difficulty ramp, and outstanding presentation bring this one above the pack. And hey, at least it doesn't have an Omaha Beach level.

But at full price, there's just not enough variety here to justify the purchase for most people.

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.

Overall, the mechanics are OK, though the camera is kind of unwieldy. But very frankly, that probably won't matter all that much to the target audience.

A castrated version of its console counterpart. [Aug 2005, p.89]

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

Buy it knowing that you'll be getting a solid chunk of action hijinks, but nothing more and nothing less. [June 2005, p.92]

Most of the mechanics in the game hearken back to an era when the survival-horror genre was still in its infancy. [June 2005, p.92]

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]

Fortunately, the 1-on-1 fighting sequences are there to save it, but it would've been great if there were more of them and less of a focus on the average action sequences. If anything, it would've made the game last longer than the five hours it takes to beat it.

One of the least user-friendly gaming experiences I've had in a long time.

Using a simple, intuitive interface to disguise a game of surprising depth. [Aug 2005, p.89]

If you can get over the learning curve for the controls, you'll have fun brining it to the streets. [July 2005, p.79]

The ideas that drive the game are really good, and this could have easily become the best Predator game to date, except for all the mediocrity. [July 2005, p.77]

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]

An engrossing experience for the hardened campaigner. It's chock-full of quests, items, battles, and moral ambiguity, offering a fine-tuned gameplay experience that anyone who's been longing for the next Final Fantasy Tactics should enjoy.

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

While technologically astounding and generally satisfying in terms of gameplay, Area 51 could have used a deeper, clearer story and another five to 10 hours of play time. [March 2005, p.86]

The create-a-player mode is surprisingly deep and offers you a wealth of options. [July 2005, p.79]

It's not "Splinter Cell," but it's similar enough to be familiar and different enough to be reasonably fresh. [July 2005, p.77]

A huge, solid game that's seriously crippled by an unworkable control scheme. [July 2005, p.78]

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

Great graphics...Unreliable controls. [July 2005, p.79]

The garage feature in Midnight Club 3 offers so many different customization and tuning options that it could've easily been its own car customization game.

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]

A nice puzzle compilation for those who are dexterous of hand rather than mind. [July 2005, p.78]

Despite the more simplistic nature that could seem to "Nocturne" fans like a step backward, this might make it a better game for FF fans needing their fix.

Rise of the Kasai proves that a game can still be compelling without being impossible to play. The real fun is in seeing the story unfold—and once in a while, that's OK.

Oh man, General Grievous is a cool boss. He has four lightsabers! Four!

It's a very basic portrayal of the ninja lifestyle, and as such, there's nothing that will really keep your interest, particularly considering the poor camera and spotty controls.

The action might draw fighting-game fans, but Dynasty Warriors has no real back-and-forth. [May 2005, p.89]

Patience, careful planning, and a certain tolerance for trial and error are far more important than quick reflexes and an itchy trigger finger, which means it's not really for everyone. But if you're willing to put forth the effort, you're in for a supremely satisfying time.

It's a bit unfortunate, though, that after a few missions the game starts to feel monotonous.

Although Darkstalkers doesn't really possess a level of depth that hardcore fighting fans can appreciate, there's still an inherent layer of novelty in playing an arcade-quality fighting game on the go. [June 2005, p.100]

1) Real players make the game 10 times more fun. 2) Deathmatching across the continent on your PSP makes you feel like you're from the future.

An extremely solid - if uninspired - port of the Tiger franchise that's every bit as addictive as its PS2 counterparts. [June 2005, p.99]

Remix is a damn fine port of a very solid game—it's better than anyone had any right to expect on a handheld and a pretty impressive showcase of what the PSP is capable of.

A thoroughly solid, if short, spin on the franchise. [June 2005, p.100]

People do not play games because they break new ground. People play games because they are fun. And fun is God of War's greatest strength... This is not a perfect game, but it is a great one.

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

Pros: Beautiful art, unique team mechanic. Cons: Repetitious battles, poor A.I., slowdown. [March 2005, p.101]

If you're a Ford nut, you've got a nice little virtual showroom here, with a competent racing game to boot. [July 2005, p.76]

Uninspired art and level design. [June 2005, p.95]

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]

There's just an undeniably addictive aspect to Ridge Racer's single-player and multiplayer modes. [May 2005, p.111]

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]

As solid as the turn-based gameplay is, I still have to warn you that your brain might fold in half as it comprehends how the game works. [May 2005, p.114]

The only real strike against the game is that there's no random setting for the backgrounds and music. [May 2005, p.115]

Both utterly forgettable and strangely addictive, the ultra-simple hack-n-slash model works surprisingly well in a portable format. [May 2005, p.111]

I eked a few enjoyable play sessions out of One the Loose, but the camera-control difficulties prompted me to ditch it for "Lumines." [June 2005, p.101]

So say what you will about TimeSplitters being too arcadey or too cartoony or not serious enough—I'll just be over here having a hell of a time. Last I checked, that's what games were for.

The controls in the street slalom are so shoddy that it's more annoying than entertaining. [June 2005, p.99]

The vehicles are fairly well balanced, with bikes being able to grab more air while the ATVs have easier landings. In fact, that's the biggest issue with Unleashed: It's often difficult to judge where your bike wheels are lined up, which leads to a multitude of crashes.

The action is solid, and fans of the series will definitely get a kick out of it. [May 2005, p.115]

Pure is like a highly paid runway model: heartbreakingly gorgeous and dangerously thin.

Although its filled with flaws, this is still a very playable on-the-go b-ball game, even with the occasional bugs and an unthinkably bad free-throw system. [June 2005, p.98]

When the strategic squad combat works, it's neat... The strategic squad combat rarely works. [May 2005, p.106]

I just wish it had that pick-up-and-go, addictive quality of its predecessors. [May 2005, p.104]

There's enough content to keep puzzle fans busy, but expect plenty of frustration, too. [May 2005, p.96]

Despite Musashi's quirky look and interesting mechanics, the elementary mistakes made with the camera and the poor pacing ultimately make the game feel more like its 1998 predecessor than a modern sequel.

A perfectly average survival-horror action game crafted by the genre's originators. [May 2005, p.94]

It's a good game, but its depth just won't appeal to everyone. [May 2005, p.108]

WTS has its shortcomings, but in the long run it ends up trumping its big PS2 brother. [June 2005, p.98]

A great fill-in during the lockout. [June 2005, p.98]

Builds on a good engine from last year to produce a solid sim with few gameplay flaws, but it lacks the gimmicks, presentation, and general fireworks the other games have to bring it to the next level. [Apr 2005, p.110]

Gives you an adequate adrenaline rush and provides a realistic experience (minus the bruises and broken bones, of course), but it lacks the polish of other EA Sports titles.

Capcom took the formula that worked so well for the original Devil May Cry and added depth with new techniques that work incredibly well given the way enemies act in the game. This—plus the excellent cut-scenes, amazing backgrounds, and great character models—proves DMC 3 is a worthy successor to Dante's original adventure.

It's safe to say that Fight Night Round 2 is the best boxing game to come along in the past 15 years, and only slightly riskier to say that it's the best of all time.

A fantastic presentation and good extras anchor a highly enjoyable game - only its baserunning and fielding are a step behind its competitors. [Apr 2005, p.110]

Tekken 5 is great because it not only refines the wall-attack system and other skills like counters, but it also remains totally accessible to even the most novice fighting-game fans.

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