For every one success, there are four other times when the game gets it wrong through fault of your own, and you end up drowning in toxic guff. Which, coincidentally, is exactly what this game is. [Nov 2015, p.87]

A very limited online shooter with a somewhat superficial design mode. Shame. [July 2018, p.87]

What takes all of this simple arcade fun and elevates it, of course, is Lionhead's flair for detailing, whether the design team's throwing in nods to the rest of the Fable series via the locations - which range from the sunflower meadows of Millfields to the sandy wastes of Aurora - or tossing in classic enemies, including bobble-headed reinventions of hollow men and balverines.

A frustrating, joyless platformer that buries its few good ideas under apathetic nostalgia. [Sept 2016, p.77]

Decent idea, but far too fussy to be fun. [May 2013, p.85]

A treat for fans and better than "NBA Street." [June 2008, p.66]

Teeth-grindingly frustrating platforming. [Christmas 2011, p.111]

A strategy romp that's as much hit as it is miss. [Nov 2008, p.84]

Fails to convert its potential. [Oct 2011, p.101]

While Lost tries to encapsulate the spirit of the series, it ends up smothered by it, restricted from being anything more than a shiny tourist guide to the set and characters. [Apr 2008, p.84]

Way of the Samurai's freedom is also its biggest problem.

Unfortunately, there are two key aspects of the Lego games that The Infinity Gauntlet fails to emulate: their sense of humour and their lifespan.

Flashy and frantic brawler hamstrung only by its devotion to online co-op. [Aug 2016, p.79]

Seriously, there's nothing incredible about this. [Aug 2008, p.79]

There comes a time when you start to hope that the Circle of Doom in the title is actually the red ring of death so you won't have to play it anymore.

It's all very limited and mind-numbingly repetitive - but the game's also challenging. [July 2007, p.105]

Nicely filling, but could do with some relish. [Dec 2011, p.103]

The career mode is a repetitive series of unlocked events and the addition of an extremely rudimentary Trick Battle mode doesn't do much to break the tedium. At the very most, this is no more than an afternoon's entertainment.

More failed conversion than touchdown. [July 2010, p.102]

Initially quite interesting but ultimately frustrating and unsatisfying. [Sept 2017, p.91]

Easy to play, but not a whole lot of fun. [June 2008, p.79]

Optional extras for your home include a garden, livestock, and even a live-in bard if you're suitably masochistic, and if you manage to build in all three available holds you get an Achievement. However, despite being a very nicely made, commendably affordable bit of DLC, Hearthfire is little more than a quirky cosmetic bolt-on that doesn't add anything exciting to the game. It does give a pretty good approximation of the frustration actual homeowners feel during the building process, though.

A refreshing change of pace and damn good fun. [Feb 2009, p.82]

Ride only really comes alive when you're the only person on the tarmac. [Aug 2015, p.93]

A sweet idea, hobbled by the hardware. [Jan 2012, p.99]

Looks like Potter has lost its magic. [Jan 2013, p.97]

Makes us feel deathly cold inside. [Apr 2010, p.109]

The sole selling point of Devil's Cartel is the fact that you can blaze through it in a haze of blood and brick dust in the company of somebody else. It's never bad enough to truly offend, but it's never good enough to justify its status as a full-price game.

Dull, frustrating and deeply dated cash-in. [Jan 2010, p.113]

The whole time you're playing Warfighter, just behind the sofa, there's a camouflaged Call of Duty-sized elephant sitting in the room - busying itself by practicing scope kills with its trunk. To go up against that beast Warfighter needed to impress on its own terms, and really deliver something new and exhilarating. Instead we got a cloning experiment that went badly awry.

Linear. [May 2012, p.97]

Compared to the heavyweights on the scene like Puzzle Quest and Zuma, Boogie Bunnies is nothing more a crisp packet fluttering past in the breeze, temporarily catching your attention as it twists past your face with its trumpet blasts of cute noise and Haribo colour before it disappears forever, lost down the back of the Xbox Live Arcade sofa to hang out with Word Puzzle.

Advanced video chat...and same old games. [Oct 2007, p.96]

Unexpectedly gratifying. [Christmas 2013, p.107]

The lobotomised, slash-block combat is the final straw. Rise of Nightmares offers nothing in the way of action, puzzles, intelligence, or maturity. It's a heartbreakingly lame way to kickstart the adult Kinect genre.

Fertile with good ideas, but most of them fail to bloom to their full potential thanks to a wonky money system that slows the pace of progression down to that of a clapped-out tractor.

Our advice: fix the career, add in some quirky new modes other than the Gamer Face, and widen the character's fighting styles beyond one special attack, and we'll be queuing up for Round 2.

Better than expected, worse than it should be. [Feb 2010, p.111]

If you want to waste your money on a broken game that barely inspired a smile from us, buy Goat Simulator. Presumably, if Coffee Stain Studios tried making Hilarity Simulator it'd be set in a morgue.

It's the 'fin' end of the wedge for Tetris fans. [Christmas 2007, p.106]

This is dull. So very, very dull.

A generic shooter at best. [Oct 2006, p.76]

As a game Family Guy is average at best. If you've never seen the cartoon, you won't get it. If you love the show then your patience will be tried by the mediocre gameplay. Either way, be prepared to have your willpower tested. [Jan 2007, p.124]

Still feels as shallow and monotonous as ever. [Apr 2014, p.89]

Spills more brains than it actually has. [Aug 2013, p.89]

The most frustrating thing about Xtreme 2 is thinking about all the time super-developer Team Ninja wasted making it. Every day it pissed away creating this nonsense is an extra day we have to wait for it to release its next proper game like "Ninja Gaiden 2." For that, we curse DoA Xtreme 2 to HELL.

This is something we expect to see available on Xbox Live Marketplace as a pricey download, not a full retail release. Disappointing. [Apr 2007, p.89]

The controls are easy to manage, but the game has too many hangovers of the past - enemies that respawn as soon as they go off screen, an irritating lack of direction and largely repetitious segments. [Nov 2007, p.106]

Bugs aside, this trip to Camp Crystal Lake is a bloody irresistible delight. [Sept 2017, p.73]

Like the goblins - it swings and misses. [Oct 2012, p.101]

Happy, sunny, cheesy singing fun. [Feb 2009, p.89]

Clunky, frustrating and irrelevant.

It's flawed, sure, but it doesn't stop the game from being fun, and it's certainly above the typical standards of movie-licence games nowadays. The game challenges your finger-mashing skills, not your puzzle-solving ability, though, so as long as you don't expect a deep, involving cranium workout, you won't be at all disappointed.

A poor attempt at a kids' party game and one that's just as unfunny, repetitive and dull as the Rabbid 'stars' are. [Feb 2015, p.79]

Proof that in life, you get what you pay for. [Feb 2009, p.91]

If you can [ignore the storyline], Bodycount offers a six hour burst of relentless explosions. It's short, but the big levels bear replaying, and a co-op survival mode and deathmatch arenas make good use of those sizey maps. For lovers of spectacle over nuance, Bodycount is a great way to build bad virtual karma.

A decent twin-stick shooter that uses the touchstones of Halo combat effectively, but lacks the longevity or depth to warrant the price tag - and especially the microtransactions.

A substatial no-frills package. [Dec 2007, p.82]

While its core modes are shallower than the competition, NBA Live 15 is breezy and fun to play on the court. [Jan 2015, p.82]

It's too agonising to play through - and while that might be intentional, it's not in any way enjoyable. [May 2009, p.86]

Both glitches and interface niggles conspire to leave our timbers feeling thoroughly unshivered. [Apr 2016, p.91]

Dull and predictable gameplay. Avoid. [Oct 2006, p.90]

Transforms children's dreams into tears. [Sept 2007, p.107]

Confusing, annoying and frustrating. [Nov 2008, p.97]

Kinect Joy Ride provides a crammed package with plenty of games, a fine selection of unlockables and a challenge that offers plenty of room for improvement of your skills. If you're looking for a launch title to really get your teeth into even when you're on your own, you could do much worse than this.

Not perfect, but decent gun-run fun. [Jan 2012, p.103]

Just get some friends around for some local play. In that situation alone, Tenorman's Revenge becomes fully entertaining. [June 2012, p.93]

Some of the ideas at the core of it are brilliant, but the same thing could be said of the atomic bomb. Blades of Time is slightly more pleasant than a nuclear explosion, but that doesn't make it worthy of your money or your time.

An old-fashioned shooter in both looks and gameplay, but done with enough conviction that you can be forgiving. [June 2006, p.58]

Charming but flawed, and lacks ambition. [May 2011, p.101]

Everreach overreaches, struggling with a strong but overly ambitious concept. [Issue#187, p.81]

It delivers one of Dead Rising's most intense shootouts to date. [Apr 2014, p.93]

It's abysmal in singleplayer, elevating itself to merely dull and forgettable in co-op and multiplayer. Welcome to a zombie game that's as lifeless and ragged as its primary antagonists.

A poorly polished, poorly realised and remarkably underwhelming action game. [June 2018, p.82]

If you're a newcomer to the phenomenon of all this Jesus-themed, impossible code-breaking malarkey you'll find parts of The Da Vinci Code pretty bloody annoying. However, you'll find more to like as you explore, especially if you enjoyed Broken Sword.

Too meandering and dull to work as a twitchy arcade game, Spectra is saved from the ignominy of an even lower score by its sparkling soundtrack. A treat for the ears, then, but little more.

This hasn't moved on from the last generation of Tetris at all. [July 2007, p.102]

A further downer is that the campaign missions are relatively easy to rush through. [May 2012, p.99]

If you remain nostalgic about this strange era, love the books, and don't mind turn-based combat, this is surprisingly compelling stuff. Everyone else should approach with caution: don't expect an awesome dwarf to give you the cash back if you hate it.

It's just a bit shallow, and technically flawed with it: the frame-rate is nowhere near as solid as you'd expect from a game that looks only "all right" and the physics system is prone to craziness. Despite all the time in development, it lacks polish. [Feb 2008, p.96]

This one's already ground to a halt. [July 2011, p.103]

It's fun for a little while, but is precious more than a weekend's worth of entertainment. [July 2006, p.86]

It's cheap, but so is Jodie Marsh and we wouldn't shuffle her deck with yours. [April 2006, p.93]

Ropey adventure with semi-redemptive co-op. [July 2011, p.96]

By turns scrappy, hilarious, wearying and completely barmy. [Sept 2015, p.105]

This should have been better. Rebellion has done likeable banter in Rogue Trooper, Shinta Nojiri has made better stories, and they've all cracked jokes that don't fall this flat. But NeverDead honestly feels like a game whose creators gave up on it half-way through. It's a tragedy that it fails on so many levels.

Drearily predictable stain on the franchise. [Apr 2008, p.88]

An appealing-enough concept mired by shoddy execution. Unabashed scope junkies may find something to amuse them here, however, providing you put a bullet through your better judgement.

Lock it to a railing and leave it there. [Sept 2013, p.91]

What doesn't work this time out is Throttle Monkey mode, Atari's way of separating the casual from hardcore gamer. In other titles speeded-up gameplay can be an endurance test; here, it's just unplayable.

Where the mild things are. [Feb 2010, p.111]

Entertaining in small doses but that's about it. [Feb 2010, p.111]

Waters down the Sacred formula until it has no taste at all. You'll spill more grey matter than you'll actually use playing it.

Hindered by generic looks, technical issues and a hit detection that could barely flail its way out of a paper bag. Perhaps there's a reason we've moved on from medieval times. [Feb 2016, p.84]

From then on you’re bashing various robots, giant lizards and zooming through the streets of Metropolis – the flying is easily the most fun element – trying to keep the city’s health up by rescuing injured civilians (which is hugely boring), while cutscenes tell you what Lex Luthor’s doing somewhere else in the city.

The initial reaction when Happy Tree Friends was fired up was "rubbish", "stupid" and "why are you playing this?" It looks bland, boring and slow...Yet for the person playing it, it's endearing, addictive and surprisingly fun.

Babel Rising has a seed of a good idea, but someone got the wrong element, and instead of watering that seed, they blew it.

Fun, in a mindless sort of way, but lacks the big set-pieces and the frenetic action that made lightgun games so compelling. At around three hours long, you'd get better value sticking that gun hand up your nostril.[Apr 2015, p.83]