Weather effects are, believe it or not, even better now, highlighted by the blowing rain in the final single-player mission. [Sept 2003, p.79]

Not on quite the same quality echelon as "Madden" or "NBA Street Vol. 2," but it's the exact shot in the arm that the state of arcade football genre desperately needed. [Mar 2004, p.82]

A wide-ranging and entertaining beast of a simulation, but it's showing its age. Issues we've seen for years now — like garish sideline details, poor transitions, and incorrect stadium surroundings — remain untouched, with new ones added to the mix (like odd facial texture glitching).

The dogfighting, though, feels aimless unless you're playing with people who really know what they're doing: We predict it'll be the stomping ground of the uber-hardcore pilots. [Nov 2007, p.88]

Though its missteps won’t have you eagerly trading Lego Marvel Super Heroes around with your friends when you’re done, leafing through its open-world NYC still succeeds as a goofy, absorbing time sink.

This game isn’t one you stick with for its story. A bully’s quest to end bullying among cliques by relentlessly bullying everyone does not make a good yarn. But it does make an impressively wide-open world full of tons of gameplay types and nuggets of surprise. Your inner game explorer won’t be able to resist.

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]

Still, even with these issues, Tekken 6 punches through as an excellent addition to the fighter library on 360. [Jan 2010, p.73]

Terrific character-unlock system. [Oct 2009, p.82]

This has never been a game for just anyone. It takes a specific type of gamer to be able to wade through the seemingly mundane tasks and details. [Dec 2002, p.112]

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]

What's available here remains as ridiculously appealing as ever. It's still a thrill unique to the series to be perched six stories high, looking out across miles of meticulously rendered game world - even if that dazzling, danger-filled world has grown overly familiar, having traded what was once revolution for iterative evolution.

Madden 07 marks a turnaround for the franchise on the 360, and that's reason enough for football fans to rejoice. [Oct. 2006, p.77]

Feels a bit like an expansion pack. But it's a big expansion pack that you can completely vanish into and emerge a couple of weekends later feeling like you got your money's worth. [Dec 2009, p.74]

Serious golf fans will want to spring for this game, even though it’s a lightweight but quality upgrade on Tiger 09. But if you’re more casual and you only fire up Tiger every now and again, you’ll be fine waiting for next year’s game and what will hopefully be a beefier step toward golfing nirvana.

Condemned 2 was designed to mess with your head, and boy, does it succeed. We’re glad we got the chance to return to Metro City, but the old town has changed — in some ways for the better, but a little for the worse.

Blood Dragon becomes too easy too soon, thanks in part to the steady stream of health-bar upgrades and damage-reduction bonuses you’ll unlock as you tear through 30 experience-based levels of personal progression. By the end you’re practically unstoppable, so you’ll almost certainly overcome all seven story missions, and complete every optional hunting excursion and hostage rescue, in under five hours.

Driver: San Francisco hasn't got much in the way of cutting-edge visual pizzazz or precision physics, but it gets enough online mileage out of the body-snatching gimmick to make up for some offline disappointments.

Modern mechanics give this chestnut new life. [Mar 2009, p.81]

Despite the off-tone retelling, though, Lego Lord of the Rings succeeds in being the most authentic and complete LOTR videogame to date.

From Dust's malleable world is intoxicating to wield power over, even if your control feels more like work than actual fun at times. Juggling resources and racing against the cycles of nature isn't for everyone. Though stages grow progressively harder, the game doesn't really have a climax to break up its even-keeled rhythm, making it less of a thundering ride and more of a blissfully Zen, workman-like process.

Highly honed, it beautifully perfects the elements that the first three games almost nailed without reaching for the next great thing the way a truly classic game does. [Mar 2007, p.76]

Greatness. The one-liners and parodies are still funny, the level design is outstanding. [Nov 2008, p.64]

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

Diverse online multiplayer battles are exciting and accessible. [Apr 2010, p.80]

The Darkness II's copious gore might upset sensitive stomachs, but it's vastly superior to its predecessor in every respect, spinning a frantic, fantastic neo-noir nightmare you won't want to end. Even those who ordinarily dismiss horror with a shake of the head should give it a shot.

What pushes the gameplay over the top is how at any time you can let go of the rope, pull off some wild tricks and call the rope back. [Aug 2003, p.76]

Punishing but fair, Trials Fusion is a fast-paced platformer with fantastic level design and a few new ideas. It’s just a shame that the new ideas aren’t implemented better.