Inertial dampers prevent a sense of speed, and our comm link forces pilots to endure commands repeated endlessly in battle. [Dec 2003, p.100]

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 poor framerate, bland textures, awful character models, clipping bugs, and a messy interface all suck the fun out of what should be a solid RPG. [Jan 2004, p.76]

Features the ability to visit other locales. This is huge...Sims fans, get ready to kiss the next month of your life good-bye. [Holiday 2003, p.104]

Car models and framerates are superb, and some of the courses look great, but overally, you could be forgiven for thinking you'd turned on your PS2. [Jan 2004, p.60]

This isn't a horrible game, but with the movie long since forgotten and better games ("LOTR") out there, we can't recommend it to anyone but the biggest of Crouching Tiger fans. [Mar 2004, p.80]

Games are meant to be played, not watched, and this one has more cinemas than "Metal Gear Solid." [Jan 2004, p.79]

Despite the visuals, slow pacing, clunky camerawork, and somewhat unsatisfying controls, this is a generally solid pool game. [Jan 2004, p.79]

Technical things like weak AI that lets you take down enemies around corners without them reacting, and below-average animation that makes what should be a terrifying boss battle laughable. [Mar 2004, p.80]

The design has managed to capture the essence of the genre while making everything contextual to your controller, an impressive feat. [Jan 2004, p.84]

The game plays well, handles easily, and provides plenty of slapstick humor. It's just too bad that its flaws restrict it to a merely enjoyable distraction. [Jan 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]

It may be an obvious clone (of "Splinter Cell"), but it's incredibly well done. [Jan 2004, p.72]

Technical quibbles aside, Deus Ex is a brilliant RPG that manages to pull off freeform gameplay without a hitch. It's as smart as you want it to be, and cuts no gameplay corners. [Holiday 2003, p.72]

The most surprisingly addictive shooter of the year. [Holiday 2003, p.84]

The fact is that there's no other Xbox game that offers you the uniquely multi-layered experience that BG&E does. And isn't that what gaming is all about? [Dec 2003, p.98]

A prettier, better-playing sequel that fails to make any new gameplay strides but is an incredible thrill ride for the all-too-short time it lasts. [Jan 2004, p.68]

At a mere $20 it represents impossible value and is probably a must-have for crusty old gamers. [Dec 2003, p.92]

The main problem with Spawn is that it's simply dull... The entire game feels as though it was just phoned in. [Jan 2004, p.82]

It's more like a frenzied full-body execution of the instructions on a binary punchcard, but it's addictive and fun. [Jan 2004, p.83]

Jedi Academy was a solid game on PC, but sadly, the Xbox version falls far short in nearly every regard. [Holiday 2003, p.85]

What's here is only half a game. Live play may be brilliant, but the single-player experience is sorely lacking. [Jan 2004, p.78]

It's a stunning achievement in design, playability, good old-fashioned fun, and in my humble opinion the best Xbox game this year. [Dec 2003, p.82]

A stunning and rare achievement that makes you feel happy to be a gamer. [Jan 2004, p.56]

The biggest fault in Rivals is the A.I. - your teammates seem terminally lost, neglecting to chase loose pucks or go after rebounds. [Dec 2003, p.106]

All of this action and adventure is brought to life by a combination of tight technology and superb control. The graphics are colorful and do a great job tapping into the Xbox GPU while maintaining a great frame-rate throughout. [Nov 2003, p.100]

Bunny + Weasel is a whip-smart idea. Too bad the joke gets old fast. [Jan 2004, p.74]

Deep, wonderfully balanced Magic battle system. [Dec 2003, p.100]