The problem with Apocalypse Weekend is that it lacks the cleverness and thoughtful execution that made the original worth laughs. [Oct 2005, p.72]

Say hello to another cheap bottom-feeder from Europe. [Nov 2005, p.76]

Does a better job than most adaptations of reviving the energy and excitement of its source material. Just don't expect it to do so for very long. [Sept 2005, p.63]

Hack-and-slash addicts will enjoy the old-school experience. [Aug 2005, p.58]

Truly epic historical strategy. It's a good pick for RTS fans. [Aug 2005, p.60]

Puts out where it counts. Cold Fear is a pants-browner. [Aug 2005, p.68]

This game will find an audience...that could fit into a high-school gymnasium. [Sept 2005, p.70]

The games provide a compelling diversion as you dream of those virtual dollars being real. [Oct 2005, p.74]

The absence of any damage or collision modeling will rankle some (cars pass right through one another), and the insane difficulty of some of the later stages - exacerbated by pneumatic Hot Wheels driving physics - will drive many players bonkers. [July 2005, p.69]

So much squandered potential, it's mind-boggling. Needs serious patching. [Aug 2005, p.66]

If you're a new player, this is not the expansion you're looking for. [Aug 2005, p.56]

The pace may not win over fans of first-person shooters or real-time strategy games, but it's a darn good yarn for adventure gamers who can stomach a double-helping of gore. [July 2005, p.73]

Not only does it give high-level characters new playgrounds, but it's also a second shot at life for AC 2. [Sept 2005, p.63]

Generic Shooter # 7,491, but with some cool weapon upgrades. [July 2005, p.70]

PC racing fans of all stripes will have a blast with GTR, but serious driving aficionados - those with synthetic motor oil in their veins and lots of horsepower in their towers - will go absolutely hog-wild over this amazing new racer. [May 2005, p.76]

It hurts to say, but it must be said: This one's a mythtake. [Aug 2005, p.61]

Even with its shortcomings, Cossacks II stands out in a cookie-cutter RTS world. [Aug 2005, p.61]

What it lacks in flash, it delivers in sheer strategic brilliance. [June 2005, p.56]

A superb multiplayer RPG that moves the boundaries of what an MMO can be. [Aug 2005, p.64]

This is rip-roaring strategy for gamers who love the RTS genre and have been waiting for it to get on with growing up. [June 2005, p.78]

Ditch this loser and go play one of the three far-superior Splinter Cell games. [Oct 2005, p.68]

This one will move a few units at Wal-Mart, but no more. [July 2005, p.69]

It's so goofilfy hilarious, you may just find yourself a wisecrack away from peeing in your Jockeys. [June 2005, p.76]

Positioning yourself for combat is more enjoyable than the actual battles. [July 2005, p.58]

If you're into serious castle-building and siegecraft, nothing else comes close. [July 2005, p.64]

Heretic's innovative design deserves applause. [July 2005, p.73]

ObsCure's smell of teen spirit freshens up a staid and stodgy genre. [July 2005, p.62]

It has a realistic edge and a hardcore, immersive feel. [June 2005, p.66]

Fold this one. [Oct 2005, p.74]

Even though Resurrection of Evil might be something of a one-trick cacodemon, I still got creeped out all over again. [June 2005, p.54]

A good find for Star Wars fans who don't take the license too seriously. [July 2005, p.72]

To say that Chaos Theory is a tension-packed ride would be a vast understatement. This is easily one of my favorite franchises, and I'm already hungry for the next installment. [May 2005, p.74]

Much deeper than "Axis & Allies," but just as accessible. A new strategy addiction. [June 2005, p.70]

A bug-ridden quagmire that rivals the 'Nam itself. [Aug 2005, p.57]

Bargain bins are overflowing with shooters that are oldies-but-goodies. This one's a newbie-but-crappy. [July 2005, p.65]

The Matrix Online has done a rare thing: it's taken a movie license and made me feel like a contributor, not a spectator... Captures the feel of The Matrix and delivers a sharp massively multiplayer game. [June 2005]

Driv3r's broken gameplay mechanics are just too significant to overlook. Ultimately, they turn this high-budget vehicular shooter into a mediocre "GTA" clone with two flat tires. [June 2005, p.69]

Each of the game's three sides is incredibly well-balanced. [June 2005, p.60]

A quck-and-dirty port that's worth trying, especially for "Deus Ex" fans. [July 2005, p.60]

A final word about the dynamic campaign: it's incredible... This mode could keep some people going for years. [June 2005, p.64]

This game has evolved from admirable statistical sim to full-on addiction. [July 2005, p.57]

The strategy in Supremacy has all the depth of a wading pool. [June 2005, p.65]

Ultimately, it's more of the same. Thankfully, the first game left us wanting more. [May 2005, p.64]

It temporarily wrests the verisimilitude crown away from "Call of Duty" and - amazingly - revives Normandy's "dead horse." [May 2005, p.56]

I'm still so amazed over Mortyr II's playability that I'm not thinking straight. [June 2005, p.72]

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

Multiplay is fun, but it's not THAT fun, especially since there are plenty of turn-based games with free multiplay. [June 2005, p.65]

The second problem is that your squad will heal each other and you: you "die" only when your entire squad has been felled. [Apr 2005, p.76]

An awful and punishing experience... It's not as if adventure games needed another punch to the crotch. [June 2005, p.74]

Brings a generous number of new elements to the Sims 2 core game. But you're forced to focus on the more mundane, tedious aspects of Sim life, and that makes it a bit too hard to enjoy all the cool new stuff. [May 2005, p.68]

And the mundane levels have been stretched out with keycard hunts, mile-high ladders, and endless corridors. [June 2005, p.72]

Heritage of Kings unceremoniously abandons the heritage of Settlers. [May 2005, p.62]

If you can forgive some small gameplay faults, Nexus pleases like a deep space production on the scale of a Roddenberry saga. [Apr 2005, p.74]

Thrills abound for PC baseball fans who can live with an imperfect game. [May 2005, p.85]

A near-ultimate meat-and-potatoes meal for naval simmers. [Apr 2005, p.68]

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

For dynamic looks and pure depth of gameplay, Winning Eleven 8's smooth, stylish, fast, and fluid style of soccer is a joy to behold. It's better than "FIFA," and that's the bottom line. [May 2005, p.63]

The online action is remarkably lag-free via a broadband connection, and the game's built-in Voice Over IP component adds a welcome sense of community to the proceedings. [Apr 2005, p.64]

If you've been away from EverQuest for a while and you're thinking of coming back for this add-on, don't bother unless your goal is to eliminate corpse-runs. [June 2005, p.74]

Sith Lords tends to exaggerate the best features and few flaws of its predecessor. Its environments are still linear and some are less polished, but the combat, character interactions, and story are all terrific. [Apr 2005, p.62]

It's a pity this game wasn't given more time to come together. [May 2005, p.60]

Four gigabytes of music and cinematics is a clear sign of self-indulgent game design..., but Aerial Strike ultimately lasers all this extra blubber to deliver a compelling sci-fi shoot-'em up. [May 2005, p.60]

In the future, everyone holds their pistols sideways "gangsta-style," which I find hilarious. [May 2005, p.69]

A good-looking game - more so if you're into softcore porn (to paraphrase Tom Wolfe, it's a "one-handed video game") - but "The Sims 2" still looks better and beats it by miles for depth. [Apr 2005, p.66]

Flashpoint's fresh subject matter, clever approach, and deep strategies make it worth playing. [May 2005, p.]

The biggest problem with The Punisher, however, is its uninspired gameplay... You'll spend most of your time running and gunning, and after a while it all becomes rather tedious. [Apr 2005, p.72]

An exemplary game that's a must-buy for wargamers. [March 2005, p.70]

More regrettably, the sexual content is as limp as a pre-Viagra Bob Dole. [Apr 2005, p.67]

If any game deserves George Lucas-style tampering, it's this one. [Feb 2005, p.53]

An enjoyable brew of lush graphics, solid voice-acting, and fun gaming that once again reminds me why I'm still hacking and slashing 20 years down the road. [March 2005, p.66]

Gates is a fun game. [May 2005, p.67]

Short, intense, and gripping is far superior to 40 hours of average FPS action, and Riddick is too excellent to miss merely because of its first-impression pedigree. [March 2005, p.62]

If converted to a turn-based game, many of D-Day's concepts, graphics, and missions would work well. In their current form, however, they don't. [Apr 2005, p.73]

What it lacks in complexity, it more than makes up for with intense action and ease of lay that consistently draws you back for more. [Feb 2005, p.48]

Disaster. Despite a beefy visual upgrade, this insultingly short add-on plays like a skanky collection of deleted scenes from the original game. [Feb 2005, p.68]

Seems more like a cosmetic upgrade to a game we played to death two years ago rather than a truly new experience. [Holiday 2004, p.92]

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 rehash with a flawed engine, but its sense of battlefield tactics is appealing. [Feb 2005, p.53]

As far as RPGs go, Konung 2 may very well be the worst I've ever played... Stay away from this disastrous sequel, even if someone gives it to you. [Apr 2005, p.70]

By merging some of the genre's best ideas with the appealing Warcraft mythos, the game could well become the first "mainstream" MMO. [Feb 2005, p.44]

A reasonably effective balance between traditional RTS action in the "Warcraft" mold and the large-scale tactics of the "Total War" series. [Feb 2005, p.62]

Combat is extremely fun and very easy to control - you can play the entire game using just your keyboard's Numpad. [Feb 2005, p.46]

The new maps make getting into the heart of the battle much quicker and easier, and the new vehicles make battles go by much faster. [Feb 2005, p.64]

Making matters far, far worse is the game's tendency to randomly crash to the desktop when you enter new areas. If you must play this game (and I emphasize the word "if"), remember to save often. [Apr 2005, p.73]

A poor man's take on the franchise's 16-bit salad days. [March 2005, p.72]

For all its style in terms of graphics, backstory, and iterface, EVE remains a complex and slow-paced game that will prove anathema to anyone currently hooked on the simpler, more immediate delights of, say, "World of Warcraft." [March 2005, p.71]

History in the making. It raises the bar for interactive entertainment, and then uses that bar to club all other games into submission...Valve has forged the framework for the next generation of games, demonstrating what our medium can and should be able to accomplish - an exhilarating entertainment that can emotionally move you one moment, kick ass the next, and keep you immersed the whole time. [Dec 2004, p.48]

An engrossing story of urban vampirism, but with a touch of glitchy anemia. [Jan 2005, p.92]

Ubisoft's true crime is in trotting out lame production values... again, for the third time. [March 2005, p.74]

Gives PC bike-racing fans a welcome and all-too-rare outlet for some mindless two-wheeled hijinks. [Feb 2005, p.74]

True multiplayer support could've nudged this expansion over the top, but as it is, it's mostly a tinker tool and not for those seeking substantial new content. [March 2005, p.71]

Undulates between periods of manic maintenance and mundane management, with long stretches of ho-hum in between. [Feb 2005, p.58]

If EA can work in some car damage, a hard-core physics option, and some proper cockpit views for the next chapter, this franchise will leap into a league of its own. [Feb 2005, p.54]

A fun diversion if you want mindless space action. But I guarantee you'll have a better time with a bargain-bin copy of "FreeSpace 2" or "Freelancer." [Feb 2005, p.64]

The physics are a joke, even for an arcade racer - driving these machines is about as exciting as pushing heavy wooden blocks around a cement floor. [Feb 2005, p.71]

A solid game that does everything at least mostly right, but almost everything seems a little duller and more tedious than you'd expect from a next-generation MMORPG. [Feb 2005, p.76]

Carefully balanced and well-rounded, Children of the Nile will be great fun for armchair history fans or anyone who digs smart RTS simulations. [Jan 2005, p.78]

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]