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

It's a distinctly average game from Harry, so a fittingly average mark for him as we give him a "five".

It's time to stop pedalling this game. [Sept 2012, p.95]

Overall, it makes for a slightly better game than "Pac-Man" and "Ms Pac-Man," though that's not saying much. [Feb 2007, p.101]

If you're a retro fetishist with a Jeff Minter costume, you might want to download this game, but we don't recommend it! [Jan 2007, p.96]

The controls of your spaceships just aren’t good enough. You rotate your ship in 3D. You rotate the camera in 3D. You fight in 3D – it’s all just too much 3D.

Kung Fu fun that quickly wears thin. [Aug 2011, p.101]

Judging by the amount of new content, this is more of a stop-gap than a sequel. Hardcore fans will be best off waiting for the next installment, because this add-on feels desperately half-hearted.

A lack of development time this time round is surely the only possible explanation for the game’s unfinished feel...There’s a fantastic title in there, one that Treyarch has obviously worked hard on, but we can’t help but feel it’s a case of embarrassing premature web-ejaculation.

This slight offering started life as a mobile game, and it shows. [Dec 2015, p.87]

The Six Nations Championship brings fresh hope that we might finally get a great rugby game, but this engaging effort fails to convert where it counts.

Reasonably fun in local multiplayer, but too basic to justify the price you pay. [Sept 2018, p.82]

Sadly, the game's not much fun - you get bored easily and there's not much variety to be had waving your arms up and down. [Dec 2006, p.99]

We're all for dolled up remakes of arcade classics, and those are some lovely backgrounds, but this one needs to be rescued from the limitations of its own design.

Open Season is definitely a good kids' game - nice to look at and very easy with it. However, adults will burn through this game in less than six hours with no real difficulty.

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

It's an error to think of Fatal Conspiracy as a game. That creates an expectation of fun - a level on which CSI doesn't try to deliver. [Issue#67, p.103]

A grind in more ways than one. [Sept 2011, p.101]

Fighting still feels good, but the ring's power corrupts everything that made Shadow of Mordor special. [May 2015, p.96]

This is dull. So very, very dull.

Badland is a lightweight time-waster at heart, and it shows. It's perfect for a bus journey, out of place on a console that's about as portable as the Himalayas.

Sonic works hard, but looked better in the '90s. [March 2013, p.85]

The game's ultimate wrong turning is that it looks and plays like something released several years ago. [May 2008, p.88]

Far from being a knockout. [March 2013, p.87]

A nasty game through and through. Not in terms of its gore, which just comes off as childish, but in most other respects. [Feb 2008, p.100]

Fun while you're causing mischief around the house, but it doesn't rise to the occasion. [April 2017, p.90]

A fascinating break from the RPG norm let down by terrible performance problems. [April 2017, p.92]

Venetica is a neat idea for an RPG hamstrung by an engine that can't do the maths quick enough and some terrible production values.

Decent game hindered by hidden costs. [Jan 2012, p.98]

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]

Takes all comers in a stand-up fight, but somewhat flounders on the ground.

Not Nierly as much fun as we'd hoped. [July 2010, p.96]

The result is that the game's flow shudders and starts - a ponderous affair punctuated by sudden bouts of extremely messy and imprecise combat.

A loose kids' game that could do with some titaning up. [Dec 2007, p.90]

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

It's hard not to feel sorry for Dark Void. It feels like all it ever wanted to be was a popcorn B-movie blockbuster, and there are plenty of moments where you can see how it might have managed it. But they're all so disparate, so badly arranged, that its latent charm is completely lost.

Hardly the feel good hit of the summer. [Aug 2012, p.110]

No amount of lovely art can prevent this statfest from causing chronic yawns. [June 2016, p.83]

Overall, though, with its fundamentally flawed handling, glitchy physics and a tendency for the game to just play itself, Sonic Riders is a huge disappointment. [April 2006, p.84]

A by-the-numbers budget shooter with very little in the way of spark. Not a total stinker, but hardly worth your cash either. [June 2006, p.69]

Football without rules equals a mess. Add some crap gameplay and annoying animations and it's a complete joke. [April 2006, p.94]

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

Tries to address fans' wishes, but wobbles under the weight of its hollow generosity. [June 2016, p.86]

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

Do yourself a favour and pick up a decent shooting game, or a head injury, anything's better than this - because otherwise you'll only encourage the creators to churn out another similarly disappointing movie license in six months time.

Paper armies are all the rage these days; this is just enraging. [Jan 2015, p.89]

The problem that this and indeed any retro shooter has nowadays is Bizarre Creations 2D tour de force, Geometry Wars. Still one of our Xbox Live download favourites, Galaga by comparison is a poor substitute.

It's a waste of some fairly pleasant graphics. [July 2012, p.105]

Sadly, the one time we really enjoyed ourselves was watching a bullet sink into a camel's buttock. [Aug 2013, p.87]

A terribly slim idea for a game, with none of the slick execution, elegant scoring or busy leaderboards to make you want to improve, or even bother trying again. [May 2014, p.93]

Turgid storytelling, poorly explained mechanics and abysmally unoptimised code. [Sept 2017, p.86]

And it's a testimony to their patience and kind-heartedness that they didn't punch us in the face for wasting an evening of their precious, finite life.

It's hard to overlook the lack of a killer hook. [Dec 2014, p.87]

The wobbly plot and hateful characterisation could be forgiven were The Cartel's shooting superlative. It's not. Guns feel flimsy, and enemies stick fastidiously to cover, hopping up and down and waiting to die.

For all its promise, this is another entirely superfluous superhero game. [June 2008, p.70]

Your moves are clumsy, and unresponsive. Arenas wear you out, rather than challenge you. Boss battles are overwrought and underwhelming. The God at the climax of the Land of the Dead is defeated by a drawn-out process of ranged health-whittling and dodge-rolling.

But Despite the artful simplicity of the game we just can't justify paying money for this. Throwback kudos and nostalgia value aside, the game involves too little skill in comparison to the likes of Joust or the aforementioned "Geometry Wars."

Don't be seduced by the trendy soundtrack or gnarly subtitle; there are already too many fantastic racing games fighting for space on the pre-owned racks.

Quantum of Solace never manages to be a Bond game: at the tiniest of nudges, it panics and starts unleashing gunfire. It's clumsy, it's messy, it's not much fun and most of the time, it's not even the right film.

Like Roman Reigns, it looks the part, but the wrestling is rubbish. Scrap this and start again, 2K. [Christmas 2016, p.86]

Any Temple Run player will be familiar with the basic premise, and Infinity Runner does little to shake things up – instead delivering trial-and-error gameplay, dodgy production values and repeated.

Fiddly mechanics and non-intuitive gameplay make this a niche within a niche. [Christmas 2016, p.90]

This is impossible to get excited about. [Jan 2014, p.84]

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

A promising start gives way to an underbaked story and clunky survival mechanics.[Issue#225, p.87]

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

Amiable adventure game that gets more annoying as it drags towards its lacklustre end. [Sept 2016, p.79]

And there's no sign of GLaDOS either. Boo! [Sept 2013, p.93]

With the hilarity of multiplayer locked until you finish the solo missions, and a slightly too-high price, this is one to miss. Shame. [July 2008, p.94]

A monotonous one-note brawler. [Apr 2013, p.87]

It worked as a free demo, but now it costs real money, it'll leave you feeling Fleeced & Furious. [June 2015, p.91]

I've not felt wronged by a game to this degree in a long time. Hatred just about captures the emotion. Killer is Dead has the kernel of an acceptable game, swathed in unlikable characters, a Benny Hill attitude to women, alienating self-regard and some obnoxious gameplay decisions. It's impossible to recommend.

The introduction of the flow system early in the game seems innocuous at first, but it will quickly become the bane of your boarding existence. [Issue#67, p.88]

A tragically neutered experience. [Sept 2012, p.103]

Not really worth investigating. [March 2012, p.91]

A sloppy sci fi swing for the Dark Souls crowd which sadly misses. [July 2017, 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]

Lost Planet 3's basic competence doesn't mask an almost complete reliance on recycled fetch quests. Its story ends on a relative high, but once the pace finally picks up in the final couple of hours, it's much too late and the 14-hour slog to get there isn't worth the payoff.

Contender for the dullest game ever made. [May 2008, p.93]

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

A mildly entertaining RPG full of technical issues and simplistic combat. [Issue#177, p.88]

A handful of clever ideas hamstrung by poor execution that leaves the game a tedious grind. [Issue#178, p.86]

Movie tie-in unable to flourish because of a by-the-books approach. [Jan 2007, p.94]

If you really must satisfy your bloodlust, then "Conan" is the slightly better option. [Jan 2008, p.91]

Nothing we haven't seen before. [June 2012, p.101]

At times, the experience of play manages to feel even more dated than the camp innuendo of the movies...It becomes a begrudging joke, particularly in the stealth sections.

Naughty bore more like. Yeah. [Sept 2010, p.88]

Funny at times, but not a lot of fun to play, metal wolf chaos feels too much like a relic. [Issue#182, p.85]

Stagnant and lacking in substance, Battleship is a bit of a floater. [June 2012, p.105]

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]

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

The controls are so badly implemented, you feel like you're fighting with the game. [Feb 2014, p.87]

One for board game veterans only. [Feb 2010, p.109]

Turns out that fighting the machine has rarely been this dull. [Jan 2018, p.78]

More a case of sink than swim. [Feb 2012, p.91]

A game most of today's gaming fraternity can waltz through. Its an overhead shooter for first-timers, yin to Ikaruga's bullet-laden yang.

Feels empty and faintly depressing. [Christmas 2012, p.93]