This year's PES is a step backward, and letting players fake injury to draw fouls is the least of the offenses. [June 2008, p.81]

If this is what like as a drug kinpin is like, we'll stick to our day jobs. [Nov. 2006, p.74]

Don't avoid buying Manhunt because it's sick; avoid Manhunt because it has virtually no redeemable gameplay quality, period. [July 2004, p.87]

Admirably, it doesn't just resort to predictable, cliched platformer gameplay - it resorts to that and a respectably varied selection of other gameplay interludes. [Sept 2005, p.80]

It takes more than a pretty cape to impress us these days. [Feb 2002, p.70]

Close Combat also includes co-op and deathmatch, but you'll only lose friends by exposing them to this trash. [May 2005, p.88]

It's largely the same game with the bonus elements of online play, voice-commandable teammates, and a map editor. Nothing more, nothing less. [Mar 2006, p.78]

Sadly, this flashback is best left in the tar pits of old-school. [Jun 2006, p.61]

Gearheads might keep coming back for the toys and outfits, but everyone else will run like hell. [Aug 2011, p.77]

With incredibly poor visibility(apparently by design)and a thumping electronica soundtrack peppered with sophomoric sound effects, Space Giraffe offers a generous 100 levels of damn-near-unplayable technoslop. [Oct 2007, p.74]

Regrettably, Puddle's enticing possibilities are mired in a swamp of irritating issues. Increasingly lethal obstacles take the place of actual puzzles, and overcoming them requires painful trial and error. Meanwhile, the camera frequently focuses on runaway specks even as most of your goop starts to dissolve once it's off-screen.

Shoot Many Robots seemed like a sure thing, and its extensive and amusingly described weapon and gear options - which directly affect stats - are a standout feature; really, they're the only one that feels fully developed here. Nearly everything else around it is as unremarkable as a pile of bolts.

Kudos to Tecmo for the neat ability to swap between the classic 16-bit look and 3D makeover on the fly (offline only), a la Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition. But sadly, the rest of Throwback feels as flat as those ancient visuals. [Jun 2010, p.82]

As a cheap, on-the-go timewaster, this game might work. But at $1[5], forget it. [Aug 2011, p.83]

Throw in groan-inducing power-ups and uninspired graphics, and you'll be bored before the weekend's up. [Feb 2006, p.79]

Dedicated fans of punishing classics like Mega Man might’ve relished the sense of accomplishment, but even they’ll grow tired of the drudgery, despite some tense boss battles against huge machines.

Stick with "Smash Tv" for similiar action with more thrills and better co-op play. [Jun 2006, p.64]

Three deal-breakers emerge in this weak pool game. [Jun 2006, p.62]

Obliterating futuristic forces and corporate landmarks with upgradable lightning, earthquake, and tornado attacks could've made for some stunning natural fury. But you'd never know it from Elements' main campaign, which spans 90 tepid minutes.

Dynasty Warriors 8 should be the pristine, refined culmination of a long-running franchise, but instead it’s a reminder of how much a series can deteriorate when it coasts on its success.

Mind-numbingly repetitive. [Jan 2006, p.75]

As you grit your teeth through 30 missions, you'll run into frustration aplenty. [Feb 2012, p.76]

FN's only rewarding attributes are the high quality character models and the perfect license. Everything else needs work. [Nov 2003, p.130]

Relies on its demanding difficulty to disguise its creative bankruptcy. [Mar 2010, p.83]

This limping Track & Field deserves no medals, let alone any of your Microsoft Points. [July 2007, p.81]

Perhaps the developers should have put a bit less effort into securing voice actors(Mark Hamill, Wayne Brady, and Elijah Wood have roles)and a bit more into fine-tuning the mechanics. [Holiday 2008, p.67]

SNK superfans will covet its three-on-three smackfests, but unless Neowave completes your KOF collection, save your $20. [Jun 2006, p.85]

I'm sure the folks behind this game would've been both pleased and amused to get a "6.9" score in this review. Sadly, this flaccid lump of code is barely worth a third of that. [Dec 2004, p.78]

Hardcore completists may appreciate squeezing the last bits out of Empire Bay, but all others should let this aggravating add-on sleep with the fishies. [Feb 2011, p.76]

Technically proficient with an interesting gameplay system, but with no polish or soul to back it up. [Mar 2002, p.76]

Some of the bigger bosses are fun to take down, and the grim backgrounds are often quite pretty, but robotically pounding or charging the X button for hours on end will wear down the will-power of even the most stalwart gamers. [May 2011, p.71]

It looks like Capcom basically cut and pasted the sprites from the five earlier games, so there's no visual consistency between the characters. [July 2005, p.88]

The cars don't handle realistically, the audio and visuals are weak, and races all feel same-ish, regardless of the track. [Jan 2003, p.74]

Poorly conceived controls destroy what otherwise promised to be exciting and challenging. The simplest tasks become monotonous chores as you exhaust your hands in an effort to keep pace with world-record A.I. athletes.

Sadly, with some polish, this could have been a really good game. [Nov 2002, p.145]

Charming visuals aside, Leedmees does little to distinguish itself, and less to justify its $10 price.

It all works fine, it's just pretty cheesy and not in the least compelling. [Holiday 2005, p.70]

These folks add a considerable amount of content to a game in desperate need of variety, but their fighting styles and special moves aren't enough to make this rigid, repetitive actioner worth enduring. [Jan 2011, p.78]

Whether you’re swinging a pipe or a scalpel, the controls never feel responsive, and rotten collision detection will drive you mad before Jigsaw’s twisted games even have the chance.

The worst, most persistent problem is the ridiculous and unalterable helicopter-style chase view, which lazily swoops from side to side as you tear through each turn.

TMNT's sold redeeming quality is that it lets young fans cut their teeth on a rudimentary platformer. [June 2007, p.76]

At the beginning of the tediously unchanging Adventure Mode (the only mode in the game), you have nearly unlimited time when choosing where to drop a block. That removes any sense of urgency…and you really don’t need to employ any strategy to succeed anyway.

We believe Duke still has at least one good game left in him, but regrettably, this DLC isn't it.

Adults will blow through Space Chimps in under three hours. [Oct 2008, p.85]

Want a way to reap the benefits of multitasking physical and mental activity? Read a book on a treadmill instead. [March 2011, p.80]

Poorly designed levels with lackluster textures and little to no environmental interaction only compound the game's senseless enemy AI. [May 2004, p.84]

Everywhere else, though, this game falters significantly. [Nov 2010, p.83]

Wrecked sabotages itself at every turn.

It does almost nothing to capitalize on the power of the Xbox. Sadly, the gameplay is no better than the graphics. [Apr 2002, p.80]

We say, stick to the show. [Sept 2008, p.79]

What a colossal mistake! [Dec 2008, p.93]

Deadliest Warrior's violent contests are mainly good only for amusement, as the shallow play mechanics and repetitive battles offer more laughs than longevity.

Throw in some bland graphics, awful voice acting, and AI unable to react to events in teh environment - like a grenade landing at its feet - and not even a two-player co-op mode can save this one. [Aug 2004, p.79]

It's not even half tubular, much less totally. [Holiday 2005, p.84]

Do yourself a favor and stick to Street Fighter IV. [Jan 2010, p.75]

Players simply watch the drama unfold with no interaction at all, making Maximum chase a boring plod at best. [Mar 2004, p.81]

Playing DRIV3R is as much of a chore as watching some crappy old cop movie at 3:00 A.M. All we want to do is close our eyes and make it all go away. [Sept 2004, p.80]

You never truly get the sense of being a pro podracer, a vicious monster, or a mighty Jedi, leaving you all-too-aware that you're just playing a videogame…and a mediocre one at that.

The frantic overhead ghoul-slaying of "Gauntlet" worked thanks to simple controls and cunning level design. Monster Madness fumbles the first part of that formula by saddling you with a control scheme that's counterintuitive and overcomplicated. [June 2007, p.74]

With its occult themes and flying ammo, Bullet Witch aspires to be a gritty action epic in the "Devil May Cry" vein, but it lacks the design chops to pull off the job. [Apr 2007, p.89]

Unless you're dying for a lightgun game at any costs, you're best advised to set your sights elsewhere. [Jan 2011, p.75]

Young baseball fans should take a swing at Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers instead. [Oct 2010, p.81]

For a rather simplistic platformer, Alien Spidy’s ultimately just too challenging, in all the wrong ways. Even after many play sessions, we didn’t feel like we were learning what we needed to eventually master it, and that’s a big turnoff.

Mindless shooting of repetitive baddies and unlocking doors across 10 practically identical levels is not fun, and that is pretty much all you do here. [Feb 2004, p.82]

While both adults and children might enjoy the silliness, the simple hop-and-bop mechanics grow old immediately, and the camera's a mess. [Mar 2008, p.92]

It’d be too easy to say that Conquest will appeal only to diehard Tolkien fans; in fact, they’re the ones most likely to hate it.

But it’s not the mythology that brings Via Domus down — it’s the boring and uninspired gameplay, which consists of a bevy of puzzles using fuse panels, a few rudimentary action sequences, and some weak games of hide-and-seek.

The result is a techno-soundtracked, particle-effects-spewing mess that's no more fun to watch than it is to play. [Aug 2007, p.83]

The fast-paced simplicity of such a goofy goal made BurgerTime a hit in 1982's arcades, but World Tour tosses in fresh ingredients with little consideration for the damage they do to gameplay. [Oct 2011, p.81]

An annoying feature that requires you to “buy” unlocked events with earned points adds unwelcome repetition, and 12-person multiplayer only means sharing the pain with others. Steer clear.

Though it's fun to earn enough credit points to pimp your licensed Mazda, Toyota, or Nissan into a serious ride via performance upgrades, ITC's featureless concrete racing environments, detached driving physics, MIA damage modeling, and dated graphics bleed too much air from the tires. [Holiday 2006, p. 80]

Team Rainbow's colors have never looked so bad. [Jun 2006, p.85]

Hope for a fresh star when Cars 2 hit theaters in 2011. [Holiday 2009, p.82]

Hard Lock relies on these barely interactive sequences to the point of absurdity.

The two-player co-op game makes for mild (offline) fun, but the too-short music loops will drive you crazy and your teeth will hurt from the sugar content. The game’s biggest sin? These Bunnies are boring.

This genre still has potential, but Spikeout just doesn't tap it. [June 2005, p.80]

Enduring the samey mission types 20 or more times apiece makes the mundane quest feel like a dull grind, and the challenging boss showdowns and resource-gathering minigames don’t stand out enough to offset the tedium.

On top of frequent loads, lots of quest-to-quest driving, and graphics akin to Sneak King's, it's clear that no one really tried to make the game work. [Jan 2010, p.77]

On Live it's an afternoon's worth of tinsel-tawdry blah; in solo play, you'll clock three hours, start to finish. No reason, then, to bother starting at all. [May 2006, p.77]

Here's the problem with splitting up a game into three distinct parts: if two of them suck, the third doesn't stand a chance, even with a cult hit TV-show license to lend a hand. [Jan. 2007, p.76]

The graphics look like polished PSOne visuals, the physics are awful, the trick system is one of the worst I've ever seen in an extreme sports game, and the audio is only saved by a semi-decent soundtrack. [Sept 2003, p.83]

If you've ever played a platformer, you've seen it all before, and Memorick doesn't push any envelopes. [Sept 2004, p.84]

Shred is a hodgepodge of good-on-paper ideas intended for younger and casual gamers, but the poor execution ends up alienating all. [Jan 2011, p.65]

"Quotation Forthcoming"

The fact that every cheap death forces you to start a mission over from scratch is just the final nail in Xotic's suffocating coffin. [July 2011, p.81]

No matter how fon you are of "WinBack", a Nintendo 64 third-person shooter released in the previous millennium, you're going to be gravely disappointed with this long-in-the-making sequel. [Jun 2006, p.78]

Unless you have loot and robot fetishes, there's little reason to go here. [March 2011, p.81]

Leonardo's inventions were elegant creations, but the clumsy Da Vinci Code game isn't one of them. [Aug 2006, p.82]

This mediocre trudge is definitely one you'll regret. [Apr 2008, p.79]

This game drops the ball in every conceivable way, providing a wholly lackluster experience. [Feb 2002, p.74]

Even at $20, scratch this one. [Aug 2006, p.82]

It tries so hard to keep it real that it comes off hilariously fake. [Nov 2005, p.130]

The slow-to-respond point-and-click gameplay is more pixel-hunting than actual deductive case-solving. [Dec 2009, p.82]

Terrific music and some fun moments can't save Spy Hunter from feeling bargain-bin. [Dec. 2006, p.76]

If you and/or your kid love the show enough to tolerate all that…you should still stick with the infinitely superior XBLA game Wits & Wagers.

After several stages, it becomes painfully repetitive. [Oct 2008, p.85]

No paint job can obscure the fact that connecting blows don't register more than half the time... Worse, basic movement is neither consistent nor natural. [Sept 2007, p.76]

Straightforward, button-mashing combat through the game's Quest mode with up to three friends may clutter up the screen during heated duels against an onslaught of bad guys, but it provides the otherwise muddled Fairytale Fights with its only true high point. [Jan 2010, p.78]