Occasionally satisfying combat can't overcome a bland world, unbalanced skills and obtuse crafting systems. What a mess.

Lots of swearing as you protect a world that hates and fears you. [Aug 2006, p.85]

Some nice ideas, but a mere damp squib as a spellbinder. [July 2007, p.79]

The game beneath is distinctly below par and none of the story missions, or indeed the side quests, managed to grab my attention or imagination. [Oct 2009, p.79]

An 80-year-old mystery wearing the skin of a teenage boy. Ew. [Feb 2009, p.71]

A few clever mechanics and great weapons against a backdrop of surprisingly immersive Civil War and WWII battles. [Oct 2009, p.87]

It's tedious beyond belief, has a plot that must have been ripped from the Eragon junior colouring book and action scenes that makes me cry. And they've gimped the dragons. [Jan 2007, p.80]

What's perhaps best about Warriors Orochi is that you can play two-player split screen, with the pair of you taking on the entire story mode. [June 2008, p.84]

Apathy-inducing hospital undrama. [July 2007, p.74]

Not even those who know their peleton from their paceline will have the stamina to endure this baffling, alienating sim. [Sept 2007, p.89]

Doesn't wander far enough from the path to make it worth picking up over the other, more content-filled MMOs. [Oct 2011, p.88]

Throw in flaky pathfinding and a frustratingly close-up camera and EE3 took me dangerously close to angry letter-writing. [Jan 2008, p.78]

Why must Star Wars get all the good games? [Jan 2010, p.102]

It's distractingly unrealistic rather than joyously cartoonish. [July 2007, p.89]

Truly awful - one of the worst adventure games in years. [Aug 2008, p.87]

Stiff, confused. [Jan 2009, p.70]

This promising material is all remorselessly forced through the sausage-grinder of inept execution... About as much fun as having your ear cut off. [Nov 2006, p.77]

A festering pustule of dreadfulness. [June 2006, p.97]

It shouldn't be imaginable for a game to be released in this state. It's an insult to you that they think they can get away with it. [Oct 2006, p.99]

Unbelievably repetitive and shallow. [July 2009, p.85]

A puzzle game that plays like Portal and does everything else like Ed Wood. Enthusiastic, but it's not high-art. [Dec 2009, p.93]

A poor substitute for more focused action or strategy. [Apr 2012, p.116]

If only it had set its sights on capturing the same sense of fun. [May 2007, p.80]

The 16 campaign sorties feel so HAWXian so Ace Combatish, you'll swear you've flown them before. [June 2012, p.101]

Thankfully, the designers chose to drive down a more unusual route. For the price of the ride, especially, it's worth a spin... Team-based racing with a difference. [Apr 2006, p.92]

It poorly combines the micro-management of Men of War with the pacing and tactics of Company of Heroes. [Apr 2011, p.83]

Unless a badly placed hemline is enough to ruin your whole week, this add-on pack won't change your life, just the style of your Sim's flares. [Sept 2007, p.89]

The fact is, you must bring so much effort to the PCM equation - a simple interest in bikes won't do - that it's hard to think of it as a game. It's hard to think of it at all. [Sept 2008, p.95]