It continually sidetracks you with diversions that aren't in the book, when all you really want to do is get to the good stuff that Tolkien crafted. [Feb 2004, p.76]

Even worse are the ridiculously tough environmental puzzles. Unless you're a member of MENSA, chances are you'll need a walkthrough to finish the game. [Mar 2004, p.62]

A somewhat shallow but brilliantly faithful re-creation of an age-old classic. [Feb 2003, p.72]

This lack of innovation is disheartening. [Feb 2008, p.72]

This game is terminal. Let it find the peace it deserves. [Mar 2006, p.50]

Tharsis is well made, but not well designed—an attractive, interesting board game idea, but only the first draft.

At $40/£30 it definitely isn't a steal, but for chatty entertainers who enjoy multiplayer storytelling over technical perfection, Friday the 13th can be thrilling, stupid, and hilarious.

WRC3's excellent track design counts for little when burdened with unnatural car handling and uninspired design.

While the critical control element isn't as slick as it could've been, it packs one hell of a visual bang, and it can cough up some pretty addictive gameplay. [Dec 2002, p.104]

Starship Troopers: Extermination's cooperative battles are mechanically innovative and can be enormous fun, but a general lack of polish and a slapdash single-player hold it back from greatness.

It's too shallow for gamers, and the stars' lackluster effort may disappoint the show's fans. [July 2003, p.78]

Effectively dodges dull micromanagement in pushing faster tactical action, but it still throws some sticks in the spokes of smooth gameplay. [Feb 2003, p.81]

Lifestyle simming is engaging for a little while, but its sluggish pacing and repetitive tasks do irreparable damage to the game's fun quotient. [Jan. 2007, p.78]

The best on the track but the weakest everywhere else, F1 2015 is an inconsistent lapper.

While no single aspect of Nexagon is truly unique, the total package is a winner - surprisingly fun and addictive. [Nov 2003, p.110]

Just a few years back, golf ruled the PC scene. Now we've got one game left, and it's a crappy third-rate console port. [Dec 2007, p.76]

EYE's lack of inspiration is matched only by its ineptitude. [Nov 2011, p.68]

A cleverly designed tongue-in-cheek conversion of the show for the main-stream-friendly price tag of $19.99. [Holiday 2006, p.112]

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

A mediocre romp through a muddied story, with acceptable breaks for engaging combat. [Nov 2002, p.140]

This game was just meant to be single-player. [Feb 2003, p.75]

Still, if EA Sports wants to release yearly updates to its sports games, that's all well and good, but it had better make sure the new versions are worth the "new release" price or more gamers will wise up and just pick up an older model at a fraction of the cost. [Dec. 2006, p.126]

Look elsewhere. [July 2008, p.63]

It’s Left 4 Dead with aliens down to the very core, but a flattering rendition of the formula that’s worth playing with friends.

The resource management is deep, but the city itself never quite feels like a city.

An unsatisfying, forced march through the source material.

Lacking the tension of jungle warfare and adding deathmatch multiplay that's utterly bland, Vietcong 2 ends up being just another passable effort that neither flops nor inspires. [Mar 2006, p.51]

Some omissions and flaws, but balanced by excellent alien races and ship design. A welcome addition to the crew.

Fighting bugs on Mars is a repetitive exercise only enlivened by the presence of your chatty pal Hurk.

The ambition of Signal Ops is admirable, but playing it is like trying to paint your hallway through the mailbox. [Aug 2013, p.73]

Ryse: Son of Rome's combat and incredible graphics are entertaining, but it's too narrow and repetitive, even for a short game.

A conspicuously mediocre chapter in a perpetually flaccid series of arcade-racing games. [Apr 2003, p.95]

Once you learn the ins and outs of the complex menu-driven tactical situation, the battles are absolutely breathtaking. [Mar 2002, p.78]

The online option has potential, but fighting human opponents doesn't improve the core gameplay, which hasn't evolved since I was talking all that college smack 10 years ago. [Mar 2004, p.74]

Sound fun? It is, though monotony may set in for some about halfway through. There just aren't enough roads or storylines to keep the journey captivating over the long haul. [Nov 2003, p.112]

There's nothing here gameplay-wise that's new or original, or even competitive, given the season...The lag in online bouts is atrocious. [Holiday 2004, p.34]

Getting from point A to point B doesn't get any more wearisome. [Aug 2008, p.74]

The basic combat is fine, but WWE 2K17 botches everything, from performance to presentation.

Unless it receives some extreme patching, don't bother with this game. [Sept 2005, p.64]

A wonderful art style and interesting setting can’t make Traverser’s shallow puzzles and exasperating stealth sequences acceptable.

With its fundamentals unchanged and last year’s foray into classic cars removed, F1 2014 provides very little beyond a perfunctory car and track.

To underestimate this lively RTS game would be a mis-step for fans of the genre. [Mar 2002, p.78]

A game that really is unlike any other, in both good ways and bad ways. [Oct 2000, p.134]

Perhaps an online community would provide a spark, but as it is, it’s pretty rusty.

Beautiful, polished and painfully hollow. Ravenlok’s bones are immaculate, but lack meat or connective tissue.

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

A great, merciless speedrunning platformer and twitch shooter with a mediocre presentation.

Infernal isn't offering anything really new, but if you're just out to have a good time doing the devil's dirty work, blasting through legions of soldiers and using gadgets like some kind of demonic James Bond, then you'll find it to be a good use of your time. [June 2007, p.62]

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

Parallel Lines is an energetic driving/action/shooter with loads of personality and twice the depth of its underperforming predecessor. [Nov 2007, p.76]

A straightforward cliché that feels out of place in the new wave of cRPGs.

There are only so many ways you can arrange poker tables and slot machines. [July 2002, p.67]

A pleasant five-hour distraction, but nothing more.

Though it looks gorgeous and is entertaining to play at times, it's conspicuously underpowered in three critical areas: physics, AI, and gameplay depth. [Holiday 2002, p.110]

Though the puzzles are usually more frustrating than challenging, the game art is quite creative and the voice-acting pretty solid. [May 2003, p.94]

It doesn't do enough to raise itself beyond being just a solid (albeit fun) brawler. [May 2009, p.70]

More game than you might expect, but still best played for an audience.

Toss in some dated graphics, a clunky arcade flight component, and some carryover stability issues, and Pacific Storm: Allies just barely keeps itself afloat. [June 2008, p.72]

It's got all the depth of a Petri dish. [Oct 2005, p.63]

Ghost in the Sheet is an original, if low-budget take on the mystery/adventure genre, but poor narration and low-quality visuals make it a challenge to finish. [May 2008, p.64]

Over quickly and hardly exhilarating, but illuminating in a way games rarely bother to be.

Rogue Trooper Redux is crude, repetitive, and still looks rather dour, yet it manages to retain a certain lo-fi charm and never overstays its welcome.

Unfortunately, after a two-stage porting job, all that's really left is some third-hand game code that won't even work properly on many current-generation PC setups. [Sept 2002, p.72]

Burdened with dreary, murky visuals, this Atlantis is better left sunken. [Nov. 2006, p.120]

Stuck on your own, easily ignored. With a friend, a solid hack-and-slash, but nothing special, or half as funny as it thinks.

Held back by a difficulty that isn't satisfying to overcome, but annoying for its fiddly controls and cheating AI. [May 2012, p.77]

A mod too short on content and aspiration to warrant the price as a standalone release.

Slow, technically flawed and dogged by premium microtransactions. A sorry take on a classic card game.

There are a handful of intriguing puzzles, but with its sumptuous atmosphere and superb voice acting--slightly stylized and exaggerated to pump up the melodrama--Murder succeeds less as a classic adventure game than as a splendidly illustrated piece of interactive fiction; in this case, a subtle but important distinction. [Mar 2007, p.65]

A failed attempt at a cross-genre historical hybrid. [May 2004, p.70]

Story aside, this would be one of Destiny 2's more forgettable campaigns. But thanks to its wide-ranging overhauls, it's become memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Synduality has some smart ideas, but the end result is a misguided, hollow franken-game.

Mildly rewarding, but largely unremarkable. There are better options for the management- minded out there.

Pirates of the Caribbean Online is only good for those who want to feel tangentially connected to the movies. [Feb 2008, p.82]

An "Air Quake" for the masses with no noteworthy features to speak of. [Feb 2001, p.79]

By the time you've learned the mysterious mechanics, you'll be bored with the game. [August 2002, p.71]

Makes you work a lot for very little. The repetitive churn of missions and activities further spoil an only occasionally entertaining shooter.

It's a slick mix of Total War and Panzer General, but the strategic map is far too chaotic and implausible. [Nov 2011, p.77]

Space Siege isn't a bad game; it's just a very ordinary one with an inordinately large amount of squandered potential. [Oct 2008, p.58]

The core principles are engaging and there's a lot of superficial entertainment--I still smile at the way my crew, the trusty Rigonauts, continue pummeling the remains of my defeated, white-flag-waving opponent while I review the "level complete" summary--but it's missing the mission variety that would coax out the engineering potential Rigonauts should have. [Dec 2012, p.67]

A mountain of issues gets in the way of the gratuitous monster murder and engaging customisation.

The new chapter of the IL-2 Sturmovik series is a dark one--Cliffs of Dover is visually stunning but technically hobbled. [July 2011, p.74]

If BlackSite were merely bland, it might be a good time waster, but it has a large helping of technical issues, too. [Feb 2008, p.76]

Despite its stability problems, impenetrable plot, localization issues, and repetitive missions, Tarr Chronicles will likely still find an audience with long-suffering space simulation fans. [Jan 2008, p.87]

Does a tremendous job of reproducing the excitement and wheel-to-wheel action of radio-controlled race-car competition. [Nov 2002, p.126]

This much belated franchise-resurrection trips in execution due to unit pathfinding issues and the lack of multiplayer.

It's short and simple, which is just as well. [Mar 2010, p.83]

An epic clash between the some of manga’s most famous characters shouldn’t be this dull, frankly.

Don’t be a fool of a Took and rush into Moria. An authentic and authentically grueling game.

Little more than a rudimentary console port replete with dated graphics and sub-par vehicle physics. [Nov 2002, p.134]

An imperfect port of an unambitious sequel, TFU2 joins a growing list of Star Wars games that don't live up to their potential. [Jan 2011, p.72]

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

With about 5 more updates, PSU might be capable of holding one's attention. [Feb. 2007, p.72]

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

Despite these small issues, BIONICLE Heroes is a successful extension of the buildable toy line that delivers an enjoyable gaming experience for kids of all ages. [Feb. 2007, p.76]

After just a few of the 10 missions, it becomes painfully evident that the Myth II engine was simply not designed for the task of modeling modern combat.

This is a good FMV game. Just don't expect to be entertained for very long. [Oct 1996, p.172]

Sparta doesn't have much meat on its bones - we've all been there and done that, just maybe not as Spartans. [Sept 2007, p.62]