Disciples III has a strong heritage, but wears out its welcome with too much repetition, stunted difficulty and weird pacing. [Oct 2010, p.78]

Sand Land is just another forgettable tie-in to add to the existing anime game pile.

This Is The Police looks and sounds gorgeous, but becomes dull and repetitive after the first couple of hours.

Steep’s freedom is exhilarating and it looks stunning, but clunky, imprecise controls tarnish the experience.

One flipping good idea can’t save this repetitive roguelike deckbuilder from only rolling above average.

Has fantastic parts, but isn't the sum of them. Wait for the inevitable remix version, which may fix some of the problems. [Aug 2012, p.55]

Simple, explosion-packed action is what SS:BR looks like, and that's exactly what it'll deliver. Nothing more, nothing less. [Oct 2011, p.78]

A game all about gliding and exploring trips over its own feet.

Forspoken occasionally has small sparks of greatness, but then quickly douses itself in fear of ever being anything other than an upsettingly safe open-world RPG.

Robocop: Rogue City's fantastic shootouts are held back by a dull narrative and bloated pacing.

For pirate lovers and diehard roleplaying fans only - a pass for everyone else. [Oct 2003, p.118]

A magnificent city full of exciting assassination missions, marred by broken co-op and technical issues.

​Game of Thrones gets the feel of Martin's universe right, but it relies too heavily on familiar themes to form a memorable identity of its own.

Haphazard gameplay and varying narrative quality put a damper on Night Call's strong mood and hints of brilliance.

Ghostrunner deserved a sequel; specifically, a sequel better than this one.

Looks better than it plays, but it's got a good heart.

It's just a shame the journey from infant to megashark isn't populated with a wider variety of activities. Like Hooper said, sharks just swim and eat, and that's unfortunately not enough to fill even a short action-RPG like Maneater.

It’s so damn fast and pretty that it’s more fun watching than actually playing it. [Mar 2002, p.68]

Seeing poker-star Howard Lederer on the box piqued our interest, but once you get in the game, WCP2 hits you with weak voice acting, substandard graphics, and wonky animation. [Apr 2006, p.100]

The resolution maxes out at an ultra-cruddy 800X600, the sound effects are wimpy, and the dialogue is like a sad butchery of Hong Kong subtitling. [Apr 2004, p.70]

Though the game isn't deep enough to keep it from growing repetitive rather quickly, there's something satisfying on an almost primal level about being able to squash hordes of invading space bugs. [Jan 2005, p.83]

The simplified avionics are well-suited for novice PC aviators, but with Wings' bland terrain and cookie-cutter campaign missions, it just doesn't pack enough ordnance for disconcerning jet-sim fans. [Jan 2005, p.90]

Not even close to being a worthy successor to "NBA Live 2000." [May 2001, p.60]

Mistmare has some truly wondrous landscapes and jaw-dropping monsters and such, thanks in no small part to the LithTech engine, but it just came out of the oven too early. [Nov 2003, p.118]

Half enjoyable adventure, half clunky mess, Beat Cop is a talented rookie in need of a long talk with HR.

A great world and an interesting story, but this short second entry lacks the tense decision-making of the first.

A pleasant, samey slasher that may bore your digits while making your GPU sweat.

For Disney fanatics, its biggest flaw will be stingy access to real Disney props and settings. [Dec 2002, p.110]

Visually stunning but mechanically lacklustre, Valiant Hearts gets in the way of its own storytelling.

There’s solid storytelling and mechanics behind the numbers, but the art and sound could be much more interesting.

Occasionally amusing and sometimes bewildering, the latest "Runaway" is an odd mixture of flaws and fun. [May 2007, p.65]

Uneven, bleak and unflinching. You won't enjoy it, but it's one of a kind.

Out of the box, the game falls disappointingly short of its promise--there's plenty of content here, but not nearly enough challenging ways for gamers to use it. [Feb 2008, p.80]

A robust puzzler whose colourful visuals can't mask a lack of personality.

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny represents the design tenants of a bygone era, more often for worse than better.

Rhem 3 doesn't reinvent the graphic adventure genre "Myst" pioneered in the 1990's--it downgrades it, if anything--but it does make the argument that sheer quantity can sometimes trump visual quality. [June 2008, p.72]

GRAW's bipolar AI makes the single-player campaiggn a punishing excercise in babysitting. [Sep 2006, p.44]

Gearbox has tried to match the pace and storytelling style of Telltale's Tales from the Borderlands but falls short with a rushed story and uninspiring characters.

A joy to view but sometimes a chore to play, Last Day of June delivers a touching story that’s worth finishing.

Air battles is a quality product that'll likely find an audience, but discerning PC pilots, new or old, can get much more bang for their buck by simply accessing the options menu in the original "BoB II" and toggling all the hard stuff to easy. [June 2007, p.57]

Does little to innovate or excuse its technical shortcomings. [Holiday 2004, p.102]

Tactical systems and satisfying ballistics marred by irritating levels and punishing sight-detection by the enemy.

Manages to pull of a surprising amount of chuckles with its well-written dialogue. [Apr 2002, p.80]

Still, if you can get beyond the cluttered interface and the tedium of reading so much text, ardent adventure fans might find the clever concept worth checking out. [June 2008, p.75]

Know someone who's never experienced Fable, or has only played Fable 3? Get them on this.

If feats of mind over matter were really possible, this game would be a lot better. [May 2005, p.72]

Kids might enjoy Dragonica as a starter MMO, but once they get started they'll want something more. [Jun 2010, p.84]

A casual timewaster for people who are into the Witcher enough to get the references, but not married to the idea every Witcher game has to be a big RPG.

An ambitious game but one which exposes and compounds the weaknesses of solitaire.

This series is suffering from terminal welschmertz. Time to put this warhorse out to pasture. [Dec 2000, p.167]

But it feels more like a fleeting dream than a game--it needs more complexity to grow beyond a diversion. [Feb 2011, p.77]

Lovers of real-world ballistics, cautious tactics and persistent stats will be eager recruits. [Nov 2009, p.80]

Also, the stability of the mission is precarious--it may crash abruptly and cause you to restart from your most recently saved information. [Mar 2008, p.78]

Halo Wars 2's cutscenes are pretty, but the controls remains too console-focused for PC and the strategy is a little thin.

Functional, yet prosaic. Constructing robots is a highlight, but Automatron's quest is short and unremarkable.

The result is a Jurassic Park worth visiting once, but not for a long stay. [March 2013, p.73]

A slight and repetitive but cute farming game, Slime Rancher doesn't quite reach the heights of its sub-genre.

Fun in a simple, almost mindless way, the oceans of Windward are beautiful but not especially deep.

A rough-edged but worthwhile spin on historical 4Xs that oddly leaves Civ's greatest flaws untouched.

For all its many flaws, LOTR: Gollum is an oft-beautiful and oddly endearing adventure.

Each new career is entertaining in its own way, but you probably won’t want to play through them more than once.

Sea of Solitude is a gorgeous adventure that knows its way around mental illness, but doesn't make great use of the medium to tell its story.

The once proud sim-racing marque splutters across the finishing line and slowly rolls to a halt. Time for a new model.

It's worth buying if you're sick of getting shot by premium players' overpowered new weapons on regular servers and want to equip the new arsenal yourself, but Battlefield 3's hectic fighting fails at CoD's smaller scale. [Oct 2012, p.71]

Inventive in some ways and stagnant in others, Elex will appeal to die-hard RPG fans and few others.

A deep but fragmented PvP MMO that's not nearly as original as its early promise suggested.

Thrives during missions, but suffers when you're exploring its open world and bearing witness to its odd design choices. [Aug 2017, p.80]

While <i>AGON</i> is deep, with subtle clues and intricate puzzles, the story often drags, and seems little more than a preamble to the board games--which aren't that scintillating themselves. [July 2006, p.99]

Graphics and sound are passable at best, but I found it intriguing to manage the development of a burgeoning company.

An innovative format for a mystery but lacking in story and performances, and overly reliant on peer approval.

Clash’s brilliantly surreal world is hampered by uncompromising combat and level design.

In fact, everything about SoTA feels done in a perfunctory and barely interested way. [July 2007, p.58]

Layers of Fear is an intriguing experimental haunted house, but without a proper sense of pacing, it fails to scare.

There's half of an amazing game in Broken Roads. Trouble is you have to play the other half.

The Prince's royale style-makers may have done their job, but the programmers needed to take another run at it. [March 2005, p.64]

A one-trick pony of a multiplayer fighter, Gang Beasts is sometimes hilariously messy but often just a mess.

A simple, bite-sized game that will still eat your face, but many levels shallower than its rivals.

Battles are almost always won by veteran troops &#150; which means it all comes down to who&#146;s willing to log in epic amounts of playtime. [Holiday 2001, p. 82]

Mindblowingly generic. [Nov 2006, p.86]

Heavy grind will rightly put people off, but make it to grouping and its combat shines. Some of the races are still creepy though.

Messy, varied and inadvertently hilarious: A Way Out is an unusual but uneven tandem ride.

Pretty, mindless action that only superficially resembles hockey. [Holiday 2004, p.98]

An average action game saved by a charming sense of humour and an intoxicating sense of fun.

Pretty visuals and fun multiplay aren't enough, though, and ultimately Zero Hour is cut off at the knees by a surprisingly long list of problems...There's simply no excuse for this expansion's bug-riddled state. [Holiday 2003, p.102]

The vintage jets are a delight for the eyes, and Wings over Europe can challenge your air combat maneuvering and bombing skills as well as many A-list flight sims do. [Aug 2006, p.90]

Relaxing exploration and some lovely scenery coupled with repetitive systems, frustrating menus, and a lack of real discovery.

To be brutally honest, you are as imaginative as dry, unbuttered toast. [July 2004, p.65]

Try though it might, <i>Blazing Angels</i> is no <i>Crimson Skies</i>. [July 2006, p.97]

A solid 4X that fails to capture the spirit of its colourful setting.

The Stronghold series isn't like Total War, doing a hundred different things; it just needs to get the castles and combat right. On the evidence of Stronghold Crusader 2, Firefly is moving in the right direction, but it still has a way to go.

Enjoyable enough, with an undeniably good design pedigree, but marked down for the rush feel and lack of polish. [Dec 2013, p.68]

A gritty Eastern Front soldier sim rushed to the front far too soon. Wait for patches if you're squeamish.

Still, successfully saving all survivors from a zone and turning the tide in the war against the great zombie menace is rewarding enough to keep m,e playing. [Jun 2011, p.74]

Spacebase Startopia is a missed opportunity to meaningfully build on a classic, but it's still an entertaining management sim.

Rise of the Hutt Cartel is decent in its own right, but ultimately too little too late for all but the most dedicated fans.

I had high hopes that Legacy would be the game that rejuvenates the dormant Star Trek franchise, but it's just another addition to my pile of disappointing Trek games. [Mar 2007, p.58]

LOJS is such an unapologetic console port that the enclosed instructions on keyboard commands elicit more of a sense of amusement--how sweet of them to pretend this is useful!--than education. [Nov. 2006, p.116]

Riding and maintaining your bike is great—the boring world, dull missions, and overly serious tone, not so much.