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

While the graphics are very appealing, your progress is utterly railed, which sort of defeats the purpose of all the impressive architectural design. [August 2002, p.69]

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

As it stands right now, this game is a mess. [Jan 2002, p.77]

Tunguska's lush, atmospheric background art and slick FMV cut-scenes add measurable value to the experience, but its terrible English voice dubbing--Nina sounds like a teenage Nancy Drew--and the puerile(and occasionally sexist)dialog are often excruciating. [Feb. 2007, p.70]

If you've just taken a course on Greek history, you might appreciate the setting, but for both strategy and visuals, Spartan is very...well, spartan. [Dec 2004, p.106]

While not an objectionable gaming experience, it's not something you should go out of your way to try, either. [Feb 2008, p.70]

Disappointingly old-fashioned. Nostalgia isn't enough to save this boring shooter from stagnant FPS limbo.

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]

Future Wars takes a well-worn template and executes it with little more than mediocrity. [Nov 2010, p.83]

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

Not half bad. Until the half that is makes for a disappointing return.

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

Far from the RPG that Game of Thrones deserves, but still better than its components have the right to be. [Sept 2012, p.58]

Half a great 4X game, dragged screaming into the nearest black hole by its lesser components.

An interesting horror game that never manages to escape the shadow of its ‘90s inspiration.

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]

The scariest part of Cronos: The New Dawn is probably the frustrating combat, and while it boasts a selection of surprisingly cool puzzles, they're not enough to save the experience.

Bleeding Edge's characters are cool, but the combat is too shallow to hold attention for long.

Type-0 certainly gets real-time combat right, but this port of an RPG that began on handheld is otherwise not much fun to play on PC.

Lacks balance and grows repetitive, but provides a handful of good puzzle chambers if you're willing to pay for them.

A middling contender in the most oversubscribed genre around. Trades too hard on being free.

Gamedec is half of a good RPG and falls far short of its tantalising premise.

This phlegmatic Poirot caper will likely appeal to hardcore adventure game and Agatha Christie fans, but for the rest of us, Evil Under the Sun is all talk and no action. [Jan 2008, p.80]

A novel premise wrapped in an awkward and repetitive survival slog.

A first-person mode adds some intensity, but Vancouver 2010's not going to offer more than a few hours' fun. [July 2010, p.79

Fun but forgettable. [Sept 2011, p.68]

Resident Evil 3 is essentially a chain of action set-pieces, threaded together with a paper-thin story and a few too many cutscenes. This is the direction the series started to take post-Resident Evil 4, when it seriously lost its way and we ended up with the abysmal Resident Evil 6, and I'd hate to see that happen again.

Dear Philos: I know we want "hard," but I don't think we asked for "cheap." I guess we're just old-fashioned that way. [Dec 2003, p.97]

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.

A good idea that get tripped up in boring details. [Feb 2001, p.73]

It's debatable whether making players responsible for creating content is genius of laziness--doing so helps bond players to the game, but since Faces as few players to being with, you'll likely end up bored. [Sep 2006, p.70]

Definitely an ambitious project, but unfortunately, it's only the floating-island concept and not the actual gameplay that will make it stick in the minds of gamers. [Feb 2003, p.80]

But unless you prefer games that you watch and don't play, there's simply no reason for either history or strategy buffs to waste the coin. [May 2004, p.75]

Unfortunately, the platform physics are as bipolar as the hero, turning the game's excellent animation into a veneer for unpolished gameplay. [Sep 2006, p.96]

With improved AI, reworked story and dialogue, and less restrictive level design, this game could've been stellar. [Jan. 2007, p.71]

Tree of Savior's biggest grind lies in chipping away all of its flaws just to experience its nostalgic charms.

Despite its greater scale and visual splendour, this sequel fails to escape the shadow of its predecessor with a muddled tale that Senua herself feels out of place in.

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

The visuals may not be pretty, but what else are you going to do off-season. [Sep 2006, p.96]

The effort made for new palyers is commendable. [August 2002, p.73]

Guardians of the Galaxy's story may eventually get someplace interesting, but it's a poor fit for Telltale's simple quick time events and stiff dialogue sequences.

If you have a capable rig—and don’t experience the crashes I did—I think it’s a worthwhile experience. Still, it’s less interesting than Dark Souls in terms of plot and setting, and full of wandering and grinding that first tested my patience, and finally made me as powerful as some of the bosses. If I could take its combat system, weapons, and enemies and put it in another more interesting game, I would.

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]

Reloaded has recreated APB, but reined in its ambition. Most of the same problems are here, but for a better price. [Mar 2012, p.70]

Nightfire has some of the worst AI I've ever seen in a big-budget game release. [Feb 2003, p.61]

Restrictive design decisions sap the energy from a series that revels in it, and technical issues deal the killing blow.

Cris Tales never manages to build its curious premise into an entertaining tool.

Art of Murder gets most of the fundamentals right, but after spending an hour or so with its grating characters, banal dialogue, and inept plot, you probably won't care. [Oct 2008, p.63]

Toothless writing, old-fashioned open world design, and ropey port work undermine what should be a thrilling cinematic adventure.

Passive AI and a flawed economy ruin what could have been a refreshing 4X experiment.

Shockingly un-shocking, it's too much mood and little "boo." [Mar 2004, p.73]

Italian folklore makes for a unique setting, but Enotria lacks the smooth combat and smart mechanics you'd look for in a decent soulslike.

But it seems that developer Frogwares spent more time attending to the genre's flaws than crafting an engaging adventure game. [Sept 2008, p.72]

MM4 is what a game about toy cars shouldn't be--boring. [Oct. 2006, p.108]

If party trivia is your thing, buying the Trivial Pursuit board game is a better investment. [Nov 2004, p.87]

For all its awkwardness and self-regard, we need more games like this, that try to broaden the medium and aspire to better it. Eventually, we'll get one that succeeds. [Apr 2013, p.109]

In expanding on its predecessor, Layers of Fear 2 sinks into a state of deep confusion.

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

Crisp combat let down by boring enemies, repetitive missions and a disconnected story.

Not hard enough to be a challenge, but not painless enough to be relaxing.

Finding opponents (on the internet) proved a chore given that there's no central lobby or matchmaking service - you have to know the IP address of another player. [Feb 2004, p.67]

Few games have had me scratching my head over design decisions like this one, and yet I'm still avidly playing it nearly three weeks later. [May 2003, p.64]

Occasional thrilling battles can;t make up for the fact that a majority of the time spent in BSG Online is just plain dull. [Sept 2011, p.72]

If you can turn off your brain, Enforcer can be fun for 20-minute sessions. [July 2001, p.73]

Nearly every game I played (via a cable-modem connection) was hindered by lag issues at some point, and "network disconnects" were common. [July 2003, p.80]

The initially exciting novelty of seeing those plastic men go to war starts to wear thin in short order. [July 2002, p.66]

The end result is just to routine to be scary. [Holiday 2007, p.84]

A quirky, overly saccharine life sim that quickly descends into a dispassionate grind. [April 2017, p.90]

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]

Trade Empires simply isn’t much fun. It’ll appeal only to fans of maddeningly dense economics sims "with a twist."

While the idea of creating a more "realistic" sci-fi shooter is a good one, Chrome never rises above some bad design decisions and an overall lack of polish... The next mediocre shooter. [Jan 2004, p.115]

Blandoid RTS knock-off. [Feb 2003, p.81]

The dinosaurs just don't do much, whether you plop them down in their own cages or mix them in with modern animals. [Sept 2002, p.88]

A meaty action game let down by a persistently rubbish camera and a lack of variation in its stages.

It's just that not enough of the missions stand out, and the majority feel like sleepwalks through pirate lore that would bore a pre-teen. [June 2007, p.60]

A rush-job, and certainly not worth your time if you already own "FIFA 2002." [August 2002, p.67]

Despite all the ongoing updates and patches, the most critical element is missing: The game hasn't received a fun patch. [May 2004, p.68]

Pleasant but rarely compelling characters undermine this spiritual sequel to Gone Home.

It rips my heart in a spray of gore to have to say it, since the weapons and animations are wonderful and the attack combos have their moments, but Shank's awkward controls really hold it back from being a more satisfying, edgier game. [Jan 2011, p.81]

A jog-fest with sluggish combat and inconsistent stealth, but a story that will pull you toward the end anyway.

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

As soon as the novelty of elemental attacks wears off so does EoW's appeal. [Sept 2011, p.75]

Fans of the Cthulhu Mythos may go straight to heaven with such a faithful adaptation of Lovecraft's spine-chilling years. Others may find that <i>Call of Cthulhu</i> drives them to the mountains of madness. [July 2006, p.55]

Ultima fanatics might stick with it, but most players will give up in frustration. [Jan 1998, p.262]

A solid survival horror experience unfortunately plagued by bugs and control issues.

There's not an original idea in this competent but dull game's pretty little pre-programmed head. [June 2002, p.61]

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

While I am all for a rousing 2D game, Dofus gets old way too fast. [Apr 2006, p.78]

Dragon Ball: The Breakers is the latest game to cash in on the cat-and-mouse multiplayer boom. Unfortunately, it does so without any of the mechanical depth that makes those games great.

Watching your favourite game genres make out sounds exciting, but God of Rock doesn't quite nail it. It leaves a game that feels at odds with itself, sometimes fun to play but mostly frustrating or uninteresting.

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

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

Not necessarily a bad superhero game, just one we’ve seen countless times before. The web-swinging, goon-bashing, crime-fighting fundamentals simply aren't fun.

ZZZ is a shallow, polished front for a relentless online store.

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

A delightfully weird aesthetic is wasted on a fighting game-platformer hybrid with shallow combat and structural twists that failed to grab me.

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