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]

A surprisingly stirring, entertaining experience. [Feb 2005, p.82]

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]

The kind of game Dragon Ball fans can enjoy without feeling guilty. [Jan 2005, p.110]

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

The sound effects are without any shadow of a doubt the most amazing I've ever heard in a videogame. The rasp of the engine is so unbelievably believable that you can actually feel the reverberation of the exhaust as the ower surges through it. It will change your expectations of what a game can sound like. [Dec 2004, p.120]

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]

It's pretty elementary and it won't take you very long, but at $20 it's a good starter option for the young race fans in your life, who should get quite a few hours of enjoyment from it. [Feb 2005, p.83]

The problem is, right out of the gate, the career mode makes things way more boring than it needs to be. [March 2005, p.95]

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

I'll admit it's nice to play as a girl instead of watching one prance around the ring for the boys. Unfortunately, the experience bogs down amidst the sex appeal; for a game with such an overage of cleavage, it's ironic that after a couple hours, Rumble Roses starts to feel flat.

It's not an awful game, just shallow and aimless. [Feb 2005, p.83]

Nowhere near as tough as "Jak II" is. Those of you who pride yourselves on your old-school hardcore platforming skill may find this disappointing, but it's great news for the rest of us. "Hard" does not necessarily mean "good," and most of us don't like feeling as though a game is trying to give us an aneurysm. [Dec 2004, p.104]

It's rather like cotton candy - fun if insubstantial, without any redeeming nutritional value. But there are times when cotton candy hits the spot just fine. [Jan 2005, p.102]

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]

The EyeToy camera tracks the position of your head and hands and translates your movements into character action. And it works amazingly well. [Dec 2004, p.118]

Once you get past the negligible new features, there IS some fun hack-n-slash gameplay to be had with the four new characters. [Jan 2005, p.118]

The regular duets mode lets two singers meld their vocal stylings on karaoke duet standards like "Love Shack," adding the points into a composite score. [Dec 2004, p.106]

While the shot aiming is smart, the shooting meter is funky - you have to use timing to ensure the biggest blast. [Jan 2005, p.111]

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]

Friendly enough for the first-time platform player, deep enough for platform veterans, and funny as hell...It's a brilliant game. [Dec 2004, p.126]

Substantially deeper than any EyeToy title I've seen so far. Granted, that's not hard to do, but it's still a nice surprise.

While Killzone delivers on visuals, it mishandles movement. This is a game that looks better in screenshots than it does in motion; simply put, the PS2 can't handle what Killzone is throwing at it. [Dec 2004, p.110]

A sloppy fighting game that may be good for a few laughs and nothing more.

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

Taking an obvious cue from Xbox Live, the online mode is seriously user-friendly, providing tons of community-building tools—the polar opposite of Offroad Fury 2's laughable online attempt.

There are no previews of song titles, so it's hard to keep track of what you've done and what you haven't. [Feb 2005, p.87]