After last year's abysmal MLB 2K13, a new contender seemed like a breath of fresh air, but R.B.I. Baseball 14 is a poor alternative. [July 2014, p.82]

If Mayhem 3D emphasized convincing handling and powerful impacts over graphic-novel gimmickry, we might've spent less time grinding gears and more time high on adrenaline. [May 2011, p.75]

Retribution's grim, obscenity-packed narrative fails to hit any high notes. [July 2010, p.83]

Torino's 2006's lack of ambition and polish keeps it in the corner to be quietly steamrolled by college hoops and MLB spring training. [Mar 2006, p.78]

Dead Rising led by unrepentant killer could be perfect, but Chaos Rising sinks like a stone. [May 2014, p.71]

The ride is short and bittersweet. [June 2002, p.77]

Unfortunately, the lack of intuitive physics is the real killer.

Blood Knights is too easy to ever become actively irritating, but its deficit of danger makes it too darn dull to hold even a devoted horror nut’s attention for long. Perhaps it’s a blessing, then, that the whole ho-hum campaign clocks in at just four hours.

But unless you're an absolute aficionado of international soccer, you'll be lost. [Holiday 2009, p.85]

Far Cry Classic exhibits many of the ideas that came to define the series, but this decade-old shooter doesn't hold up very well thanks to antiquated design and a spotty porting job. [May 2014, p.82]

But most of the time, you're simply playing furniture inspector in an environment that's about as spooky as an episode of Scooby-Doo. [Nov 2010, p.71]

The world's first bona fide videogame mascot deserved better than to have five failures trotted out alongside four dirt-simple classics, and the inflated price of admission doesn't do his flawed exhibition any favors. [May 2014, p.83]

If you're looking for quiz show entertainment, you're bound to be disappointed. [Jan 2010, p.69]

But the expansion pack-sized experience--we completed it in just a single day--also retails for 50 whole dollars. [Jan 2008, p.69]

It's an ambitious approach to a hunting shooter, but its execution misses the mark. [Nov 2010, p.79]

Really, it’s the same old story — if you like all things Warriors, buy this with confidence. If you don’t, then don’t. Easy.

Online play undercut by crummy design choices. [Mar 2010, p.83]

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]

Swaying your arms and sliding down an ice tube is lightly amusing, but it doesn't add up to much - you can clear all of Crashed Ice's events in an hour, leaving you with little to do but chase leaderboard rivals.

What'll positively set your teeth on edge, though, is how any sense of breakneck speed comes as the result of a ridiculous eye-torturing wide-angle camera (not shown in screens at right). It's like racing while staring through a hotel-room peephole. Spare yourself the headache.

Even players with an insatiable lust for fiery explosions will be disappointed when they find that the whole affair’s easily finished in under four hours. Thunder Wolves is mindless fun if you're in the right mood, but it's just too flawed and fleeting to be a good value.

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]

Local co-op play requires constant communication and generates some small excitement, but isn't enough to make Shrek-n-Roll more than an overpriced novelty. [Jan 2008, p.69]

Our advice: just save your money and pop in your old copy of "Unleashed". [Jan 2008, p.64]

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]

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.

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.

Fleeting moments of decency can't make up for the overall trudge, though. With such better Sonic outings in recent years, this old speedbump is best avoided.