Oddly entertaining, but still short, stunted, and with zero replay value.

A massive upgrade on the first game, but don't blame us if you get a bit tired of shooting people in the face. [Issue#244, p.106]

Ridiculously fast, under-developed and frustrating to control. [Christmas 2004, p.119]

The jokes are tired. [Mar 2010, p.95]

It's not really a title that hardcore gamers are going to be interested in, and it's as linear as hell, but as an arcade platformer for kids, it's a cracker. [Mar 2007, p.77]

Slog through the first few hours of Need for Speed: Undercover and you'll find something worth playing. But should you have to? [Feb 2009, p.96]

One of the main areas in which MotoGP '08 impresses is its extensive career mode. [Christmas 2008, p.99]

Good, but without the "must keep playing" factor. [April 2006]

There may not be many air combat games around these days, but that's no excuse for picking up this lukewarm offering. [Dec 2009, p.58]

There's more here than meets the eye. [Dec 2005, p.97]

Mediocre "Close Combat" update, two years old already. [Christmas 2005, p.102]

Glossy but vacuous; a short-lived, slow-paced distraction. [Aug 2004, p.91]

A surprisingly good RPG adventure with more content than you could shake an orc at. [Dec 2007, p.57]

Even the addition of well animated and suitably menacing dinosaurs can't save this from being a bland, forgettable FPS. [Aug 2008, p.100]

Predictably poor. Proof that every gaming franchise has its limits.

Gives you all the power in the Star Wars universe, but it takes away your opposable thumbs in the process. [Jan 2010, p.85]

Like a good pie, but with crap pastry on top. This is a game weighed down by an army of faults, but it's still periodically entertaining. [Jan 2007, p.64]

Its three hours of solid combat with identical soldiers gets wearing extremely quickly with nothing else to distract you.

Lively, mindless carnage, with wonderful visual excess.

Good hack 'n' slash mechanics are let down by a lack of reasons to care about the action and keep heading back into battle. [June 2011, p.90]

Give it a go when it's come down in price if you're desperate to have the new rosters, otherwise stick with 07. [Nov 2007, p.56]

A game that feels a bit like what Lord of the Rings would have been if Tolkein had decided to write it on an Excel spreadsheet. [May 2008, p.113]

Pointless in the xtreme, unless you're interested in war game archaeoogy. [July 2005, p.97]

Stuck halfway between the arcade slots and po-faced flight simulation, and in the process takes itself far too seriously. [Oct 2011, p.105]

Photogenic arcade action lacking in any real long-term appeal. Wafer thin. [May 2006, p.94]

The problem is that what worked so well in "Kohan" can't help but feel a little artificial when applied to a more realistic milieu. [Christmas 2004, p.110]

When it comes to looks, Strike Fighters is a stunner.

Not so much heroic as the world's most violent way of developing RSI. [Christmas 2005, p.97]

It's got the Western style down pat and though it's incredibly slow-paced it's well worth a bash for any tobacca-chewin' varmint. [July 2009, p.95]

Ignore the lumpen campaign and you have an RTS with some big ideas. [July 2006, p.91]

Homecoming adds a few small elements to the mix. [Jan 2009, p.100]

It's great fun while it lasts, but once you've got over the initial thrill of the dogfight, there's not much here to maintain interest. [Sept 2007, p.58]

In spite of the suitably grubby atmosphere, you always feel as if you're being kept at arm's length from the slimeys. [Aug 2010, p.101]

Blasting action with more depth than your average FPS.

More boring than watching gravel. [July 2006, p.102]

It might be damn pretty but, running on a 1.4GHz system with a GeForce FX, we still couldn’t get a smooth third-person experience.

At times, it feels like "Dead Ringers the Game," with a load of people doing not-quite accurate impressions while looking rather unlike the real actors. [Sept 2009, p.98]

Currently it's flawed, and despite glimmers of competence, the imbalanced combat, terrible connection problems, and lack of reason to play leave the score far lower than a properly finished game might have achieved. [Dec 2004, p.97]

Jump straight into the multiplayer and you'll have a great time without having to wait around, but ignore the single player. [May 2010, p.96]

As dated as the Cold War, but fun. [Christmas 2005, p.96]

Fans of hardcore strategy sims are sure to lap it up, but for everyone else it's a tedious walk in very familiar territory. [Aug 2009, p.99]

Simple, entertaining platform/puzzle fun for the little people. [Feb 2005, p.89]

A nice idea, but the respect system eventually begins to grate. [June 2005, p.97]

A surprisingly entertaining and rewarding experience. Amazing, I know. [Sept 2007, p.54]

Were NecroVision to turn up on Steam for less than a tenner, then it'd be worth considering. [Apr 2009, p.99]

It's actually very well put together, with all the right voices, but suffers from an over-profusion of sub-aquatic advertising taken from the film. [Christmas 2004, p.122]

Overall, there’s certainly been an effort made to do something interesting with The Godfather II – an engaging business model has been strapped onto the familiar crime-sim, but with middling results. If you like your games mediocre, dive right in, otherwise heave a little sigh and move on.

It's all far too much for me. Even the simplest of skirmishes will take upwards of an hour to complete. [May 2010, p.100]

Earned itself a 16+ rating, but anyone over that age will find this game too childish. [July 2005, p.94]

Pleasant enough, but it feels like little more than a glorified iPhone game. [Christmas 2009, p.95]

Serious fun for broadband players, but others should look elsewhere. [Apr 2006, p.88]

Can't decide whether it's a single player game, a co-op game or a tech demo. [Christmas 2010, p.102]

Ditch your standards and enjoy shaping a mediocre world to your will. [Dec 2006, p.105]

Incredibly easy, very short. [Jan 2011, p.109]

Clever and surprisingly rational, Aura is only let down by plot and game length. [Oct 2004, p.96]

Utterly unremarkable. [Jan 2008, p.72]

A spectacularly simplistic game, and bears no relation to the logistics of city building at all. [Jan 2008, p.73]

A more in-depth take on strategy than normal, but not quite a "Rome"-beater. [June 2005, p.93]

Obscure rewards innovation over frenzy, and it seems only fair to do the same in return. [Dec 2004, p.94]

Lazy little film tie-in with some purely irritating features. [Oct 2005, p.99]

A bog-standard, enjoyable romp with enough skills and spells to challenge most but nothing to distinguish it from the crowd. [Nov 2006, p.104]

Like an MMO, there's an undefinable something that keeps you playing, probably far beyond what your sanity can properly stand.

For the jaded gamer with a few hours to spare it's like a zen garden for the soul. [Oct 2011, p.104]

This is an expansion pack for Dungeon Siege II, and little else. [Oct 2006, p.96]

[July 2005]

I'm convinced that the captain of a supertanker has more to do to shift 350 metres of iron than press cursor keys. [Oct 2007, p.64]

This is neither a great racing game nor a particularly terrible one, but it does feel like a missed opportunity. [Issue#244, p.108]

It’s an epic achievement in some ways, but our expectations weren’t met.

There is amusement to be found here, for those with low expectations. [Oct 2005, p.91]

The DRM alone could sink this sim, but the core Carrier Command-style gaming is worth the battle. [May 2010, p.99]

An unexpectedly charming diversion of a game, but one that ultimatey fails to deliver on its early promise. A shame, really. [Apr 2007, p.62]

Not an unwanted game, just one that's an uninspiring, run-of-the-mill shooter - aside from the lead curving. [June 2009, p.97]

A great flyer for beginners, but not enough new features for the hardcore fan. [Dec 2006, p.114]

A silent and deadly change from the usual WW2 percussion. Refreshing. [Mar 2006, p.98]

New York really is the home of swing, but that alone isn't enough to save this potentially tie-in from death by mediocrity. [Aug 2007, p.56]

It lacks enough of a hook for existing MMORPG fans to sink into, and there’s many, many competing titles that offer a more exciting holiday in the land of orcs, elves and shrieking demons with gold up their bottoms.

Could this ever have been anything but an utter disappointment? This misses the mark so much... it hurts. [Feb 2008, p.112]

Achingly beautiful, eccentric combat in the clouds.

A pleasant surprise. [Aug 2007, p.62]

An ordinary platformer that struggles with expectations.

The only steering you'll be doing is steering clear. [Feb 2008, p.113]

Tightly designed macho action strategy. The best Conflict game yet. [Nov 2005, p.97]

A solid, if unspectacular hack and slasher. If you're looking for colourful, mindless fantasy action, this is yer man. [Oct 2007, p.56]

The core game itself can't stand alone and captivate its audience as much as it confuses them. [Oct 2007, p.65]

Ambitious and complex throughout, but lacking the fun factor. [Dec 2006, p.109]

The best golfing sim on the market. [Dec 2007, p.62]

Yes, to the casual user it feels little different – and not that much faster – to the original game; but frankly, no one can criticise Firaxis for giving Civ junkies the multiplayer hit they’ve been demanding for the last year.

There's a well-crafted basketball game here for the fans. [Dec 2006, p.108]

If you get it, just make sure you turn those graphics down. [June 2008, p.110]

Good ideas buried under several layers of below par execution. [Christmas 2005, p.101]

With so many competing FPS games on the market, Red Mercury falls sadly below par..."Splinter Cell" meets "Serious Sam." Not too bad. Not very good. [Dec 2004, p.90]

Quotation forthcoming. [Jan 2008]

Simultaneously fascinating and flawed, it's the definition of high maintenance. [July 2005, p.86]

There is fun to be found in Infernal, but you have to go through purgatory to find it and even when you get there, it's certainly not my idea of heaven. [Apr 2007, p.71]

A comprehensive lesson in how to make a mediocre "GTA" clone. [Oct 2007, p.62]

Appealing alterna-stealth undone by trying to be all things to all men. Specifically, the sexually frustrated teenage ones. [July 2009, p.93]

Reasonably entertaining space-shooty madness. [Dec 2004, p.104]

A classic case of overreaching, with a few too many stats-based irons in the fire, rather generic RTS elements and hugely clunky flight simulation. [Aug 2007, p.61]