Best serves dedicated otaku-style collectors and quick-play arcade gamers. [Oct 2005, p.106]

Throw in the aforementioned boobies - crammed into some hot leather corsets, mind you - and Darkwatch is all this bloodthirsty pardner really needs. [Oct 2005, p.104]

The problem - Madden is merely good. If you're the only NFL game in town, Mr. EA, you better bring it in spades, not in drips. [Sept 2005, p.78]

Multiplayer maps feel thoroughly playtested, with more game types than you can shake a stick of C4 at. [Nov 2005, p.122]

It's a competent, interesting game that will usually entertain but never thrill. [Oct 2005, p.100]

Outlaw Tennis' blend of comedy mishap and gameplay genius makes for an odd cocktail. But for a mere $20, it's a shockingly good one. [Oct 2005, p.110]

Mixing the party-friendly mini-games with Xbox Live and offline multiplayer may be enough to warrant a purchase, provided you're able to temper your single-player expectations. [Aug 2005, p.84]

It's a lifeless action game crossed with a shallow strategy game; a game that seems to take the safe route in all things... but one that I still can't stop playing. Arrrrgggh! [Aug 2005, p.80]

This third-person adventure had a lot of potential, but the bugs and overall sloppy design make this sweet treat leave a bad taste in our mouths. [Oct 2005, p.102]

A truly fantastic college football game. [Aug 2005, p.88]

It's the surprisingly effective tweaks to the melee and grenade damage, however, that remove any shred of doubt as to the value of this expansion. [June 2005, p.34]

Another gem in a surprising embarrassmenet of [Xbox] brawling riches. [Aug 2005, p.85]

Creaky and sometimes clever - yes. Fantastic - not so much. [Sept 2005, p.86]

A package of really fun times interspersed by some really annoying parts that will have you jumping in your car to go run over the first squirrel you see. [Aug 2005, p.82]

Wickedly clever...Strikes the right balance between imagination, creativity, and a little borrowed inspiration. [Aug 2005, p.79]

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]

More a dreary exercise in solving the developer's puzzles, and less about the thrill of being Batman. [Sept 2005, p.82]

The heart of Juiced is the pedal-to-the-medal street racing. And that's where it shines like a freshly buffed coat of pearlescnet paint. [June 2005, p.83]

A good step in the right direction for a great franchise. [Aug 2005, p.81]

It's just that brilliant. [Aug 2005, p.76]

With too much backtracking between locations..., short play time, and a frustratingly inconclusive ending (closure be damned), Still Life limits its appeal to the already converted. [June 2005, p.81]

The gameplay takes its cue mainly from games like "Phantasy Star Online," except simpler, a lot rougher, and yet plenty more convoluted. [Sept 2005, p.80]

All told, Advent Rising does a whole lot more right than it does wrong. If this really is the first of a trilogy, we'll be first in line for the next installment. [July 2005, p.86]

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]

If you want an action-packed ride that finally allows you to cut loose as Darth Vader, then you've come to the right galaxy. [July 2005, p.84]

While Pariah tastes fine and won't leave you gagging, it's doubtful you'll be hankering for seconds, either. [June 2005, p.84]

But the overall experience just somehow feels a tad incomplete, like a shiny Ferrari Enzo with an old Burger King wrapper on the passenger seat. [July 2005, p.80]

Sadly, we can't even write this mess off as a movie tie-in rush job. It's just unforgivable. [June 2005, p.78]

If Midway's goal was to make a first-person shooter that was as deep as the lightgun blast-'em-up arcade game of the same moniker, it's succeeded admirably. The problem is, this is 2005, and the simple run-and-gun FPS went the way of the crop circle about six years ago. [Apr 2005, p.78]

Mostly, it's recipe for frustration. [July 2005, p.85]

The videogame equivalent of all-you-can-eat shrimp week at Sizzler. [June 2005, p.86]

Call us crazy, but we're willing to bet the farm that the world of Psychonauts is the most inventive, creative, and downright vision that's ever graced a videogame. [May 2005, p.76]

The franchise is clearly in need of an overhaul to address those core gameplay frustrations. [June 2005, p.76]

Almost the definition of a triple-A title. It's got everthing - good online play, amazingly fun and addictive action, options up the wazoo, a graphics engine that will make your eyes well up - and it's all polished to a glistening shine... It's a spectacle to behold. [March 2005, p.32]

Jade's world is its foremost strength. A fantastical mix of myths and pure fiction, you'll find it hard to put the controller down once you've been sucked in. [Apr 2005, p.40]

Dumb fistfighting sequences from the original are back. [June 2005, p.74]

If there's one notable flaw in Midnight Club 3, it's that the graphics can't quite hang with "NFS Underground 2." [June 2005, p.72]

A madcap, farcical mishmash of both online and offline multiplayer options, along with a fairly weak, platformer-centric single-player Story Mode. [July 2005, p.89]

If more attention was paid to the actual mutant -fueled action, it could have been a heck of a lot of scary fun. Instead, it hardly elicits a goose bump. [June 2005, p.81]

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 a cute toy without enough pieces to build anything truly great. [May 2005, p.84]

The Hell levels are beautiful in their nightmarishness. Add in cool features like online play and the inclusion of older Doom games, and you've got a genuine horror masterpiece for the Xbox. [Apr 2005, p.82]

An all-killing, all-leaping game in which you can neither kill nor leap...that truly does spell the end of honor for this Ninja. [Apr 2005, p.87]

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

A fine translation of last year's PC adventure. [June 2005, p.82]

Between the compelling gameplay of the single-player missions, the value of the versus mode, and the perfect integration of co-op play over Live, this is the definitive Xbox game. The zenith of the platform... An utterly spectacular accomplishment. [Apr 2005, p.72]

Cheap games don't have to be devoid of imagination, and Combat has no excuse for stapling together a bunch of tired cliches and calling it a bargain. [June 2005, p.82]

While the character models may leave something to be desired, the environments in Iron Phoenix impress with detail and variety. [June 2005, p.85]

The floaty physics is surely intended to make the game more "mass market," but it's just silly to watch vehicles drift through the air like gravity was a myth. [May 2005, p.81]

Even at $20, this is a mess. [May 2005, p.80]

The tracks are nicely designed as well, but again, the effort seems fairly wasted due to the extremely dated graphics engine. [June 2005, p.86]

Two-player co-op is okay, but it's still fans-only for this one. [June 2005, p.88]

These repeated cheap deaths make the sparse checkpoints and the lack of a mid-mission save feature all the more obvious. At least there are no load times between deaths. [Aug 2005, p.85]

The graphics aren't the greatest, the core gameplay doesn't deliver great innovation, but there are so many game types, mini games, and little pieces to play with that it doesn't seem to matter. You'll have fun, whether you intended to or not. [Apr 2005, p.86]

It's the fighting that matters, and that, fortunately, is deep. [Feb 2005, p.74]

Just because you can cut a worm in half to get two new ones doesn't mean you actually should. [Apr 2005, p.81]

Proves enjoyable and instantly accessible. [Apr 2005, p.87]

It packs a ton of bedwetting frights into those [few] hours, and there's nothing like a game that leaves you craving even more. [May 2005, p.83]

This is a perfect example of how a compilation should be done. [June 2005, p.88]

Not even cel-shaded reptiles can save a game cursed with tissue-thin design, weak AI, and repetitive gameplay. [June 2005, p.78]

In a market of precisely one, this package lacks a number of bells and whistles (decent multiplayer most of all), but it had me pursuing a repeat of England's World Cup victory for many hours. [Apr 2005, p.88]

Both its single-player and multiplayer facets deploy innovative, brilliantly crafted gameplay that makes this WWII action/strategy blend an evolutionary step forward in combat videogames. [Apr 2005, p.76]

You'll want to spend a lot of time immersed in these worms. [Apr 2005, p.81]

A surprisingly entertaining, blissfully uncomplicated shooter... But it's not the kind of game that you'll absolutely fixate on finishing. [Apr 2005, p.80]

The boxers ripple with animated musculature and move with a lightning smoothness, while the brutal injuries and blood sprays make you sincerely regret every opening you leave for your opponent. [March 2005, p.76]

The entire time I was playing, I kept thinking how this cool premise should have made for a better game. Alas, it never realizes its potential. [March 2005, p.78]

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

While the exterior looks great, within is a flawed baseball game that needs a good bit of work. [Apr 2005, p.85]

A jack-of-all trades first-person shooter. It does everything very well, but none of its ingredients leave a truly lasting impression. [March 2005, p.72]

Not only definitive but also indispensible... Newer fighting games might be bloodier, flashier, or sexier, but Street Fighter Anniversary Collection offers purity and impeccable gameplay. [March 2005, p.80]

It's like the game was born with cement shoes - destined to sink. [Feb 2005, p.80]

The closest digital equivalent to real baseball. [Apr 2005, p.84]

If you're an armchair general, it's hard to imagine a more appealing game on your Xbox than this. [Feb 2005, p.76]

RPM Tuning isn't even worth a dumb racing joke about flat tires and blown engines. Please, Kemco: Stop. [May 2005, p.86]

Much like Keanu's performance in the film, it just goes through the motions. [May 2005, p.82]

Beautifully restyled graphics make a stellar first impression as larger, more realistic players stride with feline grace across courts that drip with lavish colors and lighting. But true beauty lies on the inside, and V3 has layer after layer to peel away. [Feb 2005, p.73]

With realistic-looking players, a full suite of edit options to let you tailor names to your liking, and core on-field action that plays just so smooth, Winning Eleven 8 is the way to go if offline soccer action is all you crave. [March 2005, p.81]

Despite a few missing links and annoyances, Stranger still emerges as a beautifully fun beast. [Feb 2005, p.71]

Despite quirky animations and some long-drawn-out relationship-building, I found myself quite enthralled with the magazine-publishing gameplay. [March 2005, p.82]

A decent "Max Payne" clone whose gimmicky kills eventually wear off and yield to the mediocre gameplay. They're on the right track, though. [Feb 2005, p.81]

As any gamer will tell you, it's not necessarily about the innovative pathways a title forges, but in how it handles - and Tork handles the curves smoothly. [March 2005, p.79]

It doesn't have the clever story or wacked-out writing of "GTA", but it trumps that game so severely when it comes to doing the same kind of gameplay that it deserves its own sub-genre of clones. [Feb 2005, p.78]

Hardcore MechWarrior fans who won't play online much may be disappointed with MechAssault 2. But for Live addicts/multiplayer buffs, expect big returns on your investment. [Feb 2005, p.82]

Delivers lots of slick new ways to prance with the pigskin, but over time, the experience lacks the feeling of next-level evolution that defines a great sequel. [Feb 2005, p.72]

Sure, it's got a few unique nuances, but in the end, a half-assed game deserves a half-assed score. [Feb 2005, p.84]

A clunky interface is your gateway to placeholder text, graphical glitches, and other telltale signs of simply not giving a crap.[March 2005, p.84]

The creators at Obsidian have crafted an amazingly compelling story with just the right tweaks and upgrades to keep the action fresh. [Jan 2005, p.30]

Warrior Within is not perfect - there's too much backtracking, too many low-poly character models, recurring cheap deaths on small platforms - but it's the closest the adventure genre will come to it in this generation of systems. [Dec 2004, p.30]

Taking your talents onto Xbox Live is the real key. [March 2005, p.84]

Entertaining, but hardly groundbreaking. [Holiday 2004, p.64]

If you're already on the booty-shakin'-wagon, all the Live options make it worth a spin. [Holiday 2004, p.68]

If you wish your home had room for a pinball table, put this in your collection. [Feb 2005, p.80]

Demon Stone is absolutely relentless. [Jan 2005, p.81]

The defensive side of EA Sports' game is like the St. John's men's team: weak and vulnerable. [Holiday 2004, p.82]

This year we're picking Sega's game over EA Sports' - it just feels more like the real thing. [Holiday 2004, p.82]

A decent experience, but not one you're likely to spend much time with. [Jan 2005, p.72]

Ah yes, multiplayer. It is an incredible experience...While single-player is mostly solid, multiplayer is, like the original game, GR2's real star. [Holiday 2004, p.74]

With better graphics and better (read: more fun) controls, Crash 'n Burn could be a standout racer. [Holiday 2004, p.87]