It's a by-the-numbers adaptation with more than 1000 built-in multiple choice questions, which should sate trivia buffs for a while, though the sluggish pace and the host's incredibly repetitive quips turn grating after only a few rounds.

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

What makes matters worse is the bizarre targeting scheme: there is none. Players merely steer their car in the right direction and hope their reticules cross over an enemy. [Feb 2004, p.78]

SvC will make the hardcore audience that lives for technical fighting games extremely happy; most other gamers will be left wondering what all the fuss is about. [Dec 2004, p.90]

Repetition can be an issue, despite the brief five-hour campaign, but Bolt remains a pretty entertaining adaptation of the Disney flick of the same name, and one that might surprise some older gamers. [Holiday 2008, p.74]

This game is anything but polished, but it's also solid enough that you get more than what you paid for. [May 2010, p.77]

Disappointingly, the experience becomes a painful chore if you play solo. [Jan 2014, p.69]

So what's missing? Replayability. Using unlimited continues (an option we do appreciate), both one- and two-player games top out at just under 30 minutes. [June 2007, p.73]

You won't confuse this $15 arcade game with a full-priced marquee shooter, but its distinct flavor and fresh gameplay make it worth cracking out whenever you want a break from the genre's big boys. [March 2011, p.78]

This repetition, combined with Severed's short runtime(two chapters beaten in around two hours), keeps it squarely in the realm of diehard devotees. [May 2011, p.75]

The franchise finally shows a bit of potential. [Mar 2002, p.70]

But between its quaint characters and charming attitude, it's still an entertaining enough way to while away a few afternoons in service to imaginary nobility. [Jan 2011, p.66]

Four-player online co-op also takes the sting out of the dumb A.I., and it showcases how this $10 game should be played. [Holiday 2007, p.70]

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

While it’s got some irritating rough patches, Dead Island: Riptide’s 15-hour campaign still manages to be a lot more fun than it has any right to be.

The combat sequences feel like afterthoughts and the story is ultimately a bore, boasting no memorable bosses or a reason to be told other than to bring the two Spideys together...sorta.

While it looks like a second cousin to the Ice Age films, Freefall Racers is utterly devoid of personality, and it's also rather slight, with just eight tracks split between a handful of drab cups and no real long-lasting pull in sight. Frivolous as it may seem, however, it's still a rare bit of Kinect-enabled fun, especially for little ones.

If you were lucky enough to snag a free copy from the Guitar Hero 5 mail-in promotion, you'll likely be pleased with this adequate iteration. But we can't imagine any non-hardcore Halen fans feeling good about dropping $60 on this half-hearted effort. [Jan 2010, p.76]

Wrecked sabotages itself at every turn.

Hampered by mediocrity. [Mar 2002, p.79]

Super-fun robo-badminton for just $5. [Aug 2009, p.77]

We're sure some of the more masochistic shooter fans will bask in Death By Cube's tough-as-nails difficulty level, but all others should move along. [Apr 2010, p.83]

But the gameplay is unnecessarily complicated, with the busy HUD being the worst example. [Nov 2008, p.75]

Prizefighter is definitely a contender in the guilty-pleasure category: its story mode trumps the competition’s, and though its fighting mechanics won’t dethrone the current champ, they still pack a simple, straightforward wallop.

All you're really left with is accumulating points...but since the game has no multiplayer to spice up that trivial pursuit, why even bother. [Aug 2007, p.81]

With 110 cars, seven stupidly gigantic courses, amazing (if arcadey) graphics, and staggering freedom of movement (once you unlock free roam modes), it's hard not to recommend this. [July 2003, p.84]

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]

The game falls prey to the traps that eventually led to the degradation of the side-scrolling beat-'em-up: There's nothing more to do. [Dec 2003, p.144]

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

There's a strange charm to Bound By Flame that helps paper over the performance issues. There's a well-acted but profoundly bewildering script, a baroque crafting system, and drawn-out boss battles. It's not great, but it's fairly... interesting.

SkyHeroes isn't bad, and we aren't getting a new Crimson Skies anytime soon, but don't rush out to buy this kid-skewed substitute. [Nov 2010, p.71]

Temporary frustration (and upper-arm pain) will fade as you mow down hordes of blade-throwing rabbits and hammer-toting elephants. Diabolical Pitch may not be a perfect game, but it's definitely an All-Star effort.

A slick yet largely routine exercise in jumping, balancing, and fast-twitch hand-eye coordination. [Sept 2007, p.76]

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

Fortunately, these stumbles won't keep you from enjoying most of Carnival's offerings, especially if you play it with friends. [June 2011, p.83]

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

It could've been soon much more. [Aug 2009, p.70]

Unless you're an avid Shinobi fan, let this one pass you by. [Oct 2009, p.77]

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]

Warrior isn't nearly as deep as other Arcade fighting games, but when buddies and beers are near, it's a decent choice. [Oct 2010, p.81]

But as the last of Dragon Age's downloadable expansions, Witch Hunt closes out the story with more of a whimper than a bang. [Nov 2010, p.81]

Another month, another retro space shooter on Xbox Live. This one, however, isn't as much fun as you remember. [July 2007, p.81]

While we would've had the first female Dead Rising hero headline a full length game, Fallen Angel is a nice add on with excellent storytelling beats and a beefier adventure than Broken Eagle. [May 2014, p.77]

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]

If Dr. Seuss made Xbox games, they'd certainly be more creative than this factory-issue snoozer. [Jan 2004, p.73]

Value is also a question, as the game's campaign spans less than two hours; and even with survival stages and a quirky bonus where you can fight up to four friends who plug in controllers, this hardly feels like a $40 game. But if you're willing to shell out for it and deal with the control flubs and brevity, Kung Fu High Impact serves up some good, dumb fun.

Forget pushing game design forward--Sonic Riders doesn't attempt to do anything particularly new or inventive on the mascot-racing circuit and offers up only short-lived fun tailored strictly for Sonic's most diehard fans; [Apr 2006, p.85]

Party's certainly not as deep as its predecessor, but it features some of the most engaging mini-games on 360 to date. [Holiday 2007, p.80]

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]

Even on easy, beating the story means a thumb-callusing workout (And progress can't be saved.) [Feb 2003, p.78]

Skydive offers a chance to experience what it’s like to fall from the sky without the fear of splattering yourself all over the ground below.

Ignoring the PC-to-console porting issues, RTS games simply don’t get any bigger, deeper, or more voluminous than this. So if you missed out on the Windows chapter, the Xbox 360 edition of Supreme Commander will keep you maneuvering, battling, and strategizing for weeks.

Prince Caspian's contrived charms don't run especially deep, but they present just enough middling excitement to make it worth playing for younger teenaged fans of the film. [Aug 2008, p.75]

A decent upgrade or introduction to the series. [Feb 2010, p.88]

Unless you're plagued with a kimono fetish, you're just better off creeping around elsewhere. [Aug 2007, p.82]

Fifty bucks. That's a lot to pay for what's basically a movie-licensed action-platformer aimed at a younger audience, but color us surprised that this ogre-cat-donkey sim earnestly plays to the rafters with a multi-tiered carnival of goofy fun. [Aug 2007, p.73]

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

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.

Between lag, lockups, and a general lack of players, Bloody Good Time guarantees that you'll have anything but. [Feb 2011, p.79]

Aside from replacing ancient Chinese warlords with robots from the all-pervasive classic anime series' mythology, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam changes as little as possible. [Oct 2007, p.81]

Even without a huge diversity of modes, there are worse ways to spend $10. [Dec 2009, p.81]

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]

Street-brawling combat is fun, gleefully violent.

Parents won't like this one, but the rugrats will enjoy it. [Jan 2003, p.92]

Crazy Machines Elements might turn your crank for a day or two, but only if your enthusiasm for Rube Goldberg-style mechanical oddities knows no bounds. [Dec 2011, p.71]

Given its feel as a challenging, enjoyable homage to gaming's past, we relished Crimson Dragon for serving hard-earned silver linings to those wiling to stick with it.

Playing alone is a tepid affair(even with create-a-clip Director Mode), and we would've liked meatier mini-games and more interactivity in general(waiting and watching are your primary actions), but this $70 package offers enough amusing antics and cheesy clips in it's four-player mode to warrant an audition at your next party or family gathering. [Jan 2009, p.75[

The worst sin, however, is the appallingly long load times, not only before each event, but even when restarting the same event or just exiting to back to the selection screen. [August 2002, p.78]

With washed-out textures and an overall lack of detail, the visual impact doesn't match up to Xbox standards - and unfortunately, neither does the rest of the game. [June 2003, p.84]

It’s still nice to see Tecmo Koei making enhancements, even if the fundamental formula is a bit flat these days.

You can also play with the old graphics and relive that '80s charm. [Oct 2007, p.74]

Smash Court Tennis 3 straddles the line between Virtua Tennis’s arcade style and the technical aspects of Top Spin, but ultimately it comes off only as a sluggish imitator of both.

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]

The game itself is only slightly evolved from previous versions. [Nov 2002, p.138]

At 800 points, Battlestar is cheap, but in a sky already patrolled by the superior "Wing Commander Arena", these toasters don't stand a chance. [Holiday 2007, p.81]

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

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]

Make no mistake: this is the definitive version of Konami's amphibian-driven arcade game. But because the original wasn't quite the masterpiece Pac-Man­ and Space Invaders were, it falls just short of those homages.

The main reason to play? You'll be able to transfer gold earned here to your Fable: The Journey character.

Yar's Revenge isn't bad, but all its pleasures are decidedly short-lived. [May 2011, p.71]

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.

So yeah, Chosen One has its woes, but gameplay is what’s always made this series fun. If you’ve got some tolerance and some RTFM time, Chosen One will deliver.

Even if you ordinarily shy away from a daunting challenge, give this one a shot. As difficult as War of the Worlds is to conquer, it's also more than satisfying enough to be worth the struggle.

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]

That simplicity is also its biggest problem--pointing and clicking requires little strategy, so rather than always playing, you'll be watching dudes fight. Yawn. [Dec 2008, p.73]

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.

A tiresome, soon-to-be-forgotten exercise in tedium. [Oct 2003, p.84]

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.

Despite the awful visuals and crummy combat camera, watching the world react to your different play styles makes this short story a satisfying feudal tale that's worth seeing through. [Dec 2009, p.80]

Still, the writing and voice-overs match the quality of the cartoon. Is that praise? If you answer "yes," then you'll enjoy this game. [Feb 2011, p.76]

Demolishing a city may make for a fun weekend rental, but not quite an incredible one.

Though the combat grows repetitive, the game manages to look lovely while you slap around your foes. If you’re a fan of large-scale battle games à la Dynasty Warriors but prefer to play solely as one character, Circle of Doom makes for a great after-holiday snack.

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]