A slow-paced and overly simplistic take on city building and war waging, but blessed with wholesome looks and a relaxing atmosphere.

The same shabby AI and pathfinding that plagued the original have survived the trip. It's truly despicable that none of the problems were fixed. [Jan 2003, p.110]

A bland alternative to a genre-defining game millions of people are very familiar with.

Has flickers of brilliance, but the painfully slow and gruelling survival simulation routinely snuffs them out.

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]

Don't expect a miracle. Duke is still the hero we love, but struggles to keep up with modern times. Crude humor and classic weaponry keep him in the 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]

The control scheme is horrifically oversensitive to any analog input: it's often a huge struggle just to keep the car tracking in a straight line. [June 2003, p.86]

We suggest you play the original, free, Flash version instead – the full explanation isn’t worth the outlay.

Dear interactive movies: Go away, go away, go away. And get eaten by dinosaurs. Thank you very much.

The story wouldn't be half-bad if it weren't for cliched dialogue (delivered by overly dramatic voice actors) and forgettable characters. [Jan 2005, p.81]

When played against three other human rivals, this game rocks! [Dec 2002, p.110]

Suitable only for the most forgiving, or perhaps younger, Star Wars fans. [May 2001, p.62]

When it comes to RTS design fundamentals, Achron is frustratingly primitive, which depreciates its brilliant twist. [Nov 2011, p.81]

Play never feels fluid, a problem compounded by the horrible, poorly ported PC controls. [Sept 2012, p.61]

Repetitive and middling, Crackdown 3 is a totally average open-world game that doesn't give itself a way to stand out.

It's such a disappointment that I'm worried this will kill any chance of us getting a meatier Legacy of Kain game—but at the same time, given how Ascendance sets up Elaleth's further adventures, it might be better if Kain and his pals go back into their coffins.

If you want to learn Hold 'Em strategies, I recommend one of the many free poker websites over Stacked. [Oct. 2006, p.104]

As a tag-team multiplayer brawl it's good fun, but it doesn't have much staying power. [Feb 2003, p.75]

Not as tough or as deep as it could be, Omerta is still a destination well worth a visit.

Dangerous Golf has a good variety of levels and lots of stuff to destroy, but offers weak, unsatisfying control over that destruction.

The level of freedom afforded is quite unparalleled for a game of this type. [Apr 2004, p.72]

A hideous collage of unconsidered platforming and vapid combat in a procedural world bleached of meaning. [Aug 2012, p.70]

Fascinating, but not in a good way. It's rare for a major publisher to release something that, for a significant part of its short length, feels so bad. Yes, the bike sections are standard fare for the series. RedLynx is good at making Trials levels, and has made a handful of them here. But their quality only serves to highlight how bad the other levels are. This is the worst Trials game. It's also the worst Blood Dragon. Neither series comes out of this partnership looking good.

This game should really be called "The Rather Mediocre Escape." [Nov 2003, p.116]

A cynical attempt at milking players for money. Bullet Run plays like a tacked-on online mode for a singleplayer game.

The Last Worker's free-flying hovercraft gameplay is inventive, but its most exciting implications are left boxed up.

Recommended only for history buffs on a budget. [July 2006, p.67]

It's unfortunate that the same level of fun didn't make it into the single-player campaign. [July 2004, p.73]

Just a series of abstract puzzles strung together by a very thing story, and no real interaction with other characters. [Dec 2004, p.89]

The main problem is, there isn't enough new here to maintain interest. [Mar 2002, p.64]

MUD TV's detail is swamped in white noise, and no amount of fiddling with the antennae will help a game so poorly tuned. [Jun 2010, p.85]

Shadwen begins with promise, but has neither the depth nor the variety needed to fulfill it.

Like a dinosaur skeleton in your local museum, Dino D-Day is barebones, missing some pieces, and ancient-looking. [July 2011, p.78]

These design flaws--along with some pedestrian puzzles and those aforementioned protagonist miscues--ultimately turn Belief & Betrayal into a servicable but largely forgettable European church tour. [Oct 2008, p.70]

Staving off complete suckage, multiplay is where Thrones actually works. [May 2004, p.69]

A big-time ripoff of other, better roleplaying games. [Apr 2002, p.73]

Redfall's empty open world, flimsy shooting, and siloed systems make for a flat, dull experience.

A free massively multiplayer tactical first-person shooter in the vein of "Counter-Strike" and the "Battlefield" games? Sounds too good to be true! And, guess what? It is! [June 2007, p.66]

When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die--there is no middle ground. [Holiday 2011, p.74]

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]

Only for nostalgists and those who love getting lost on spelunking holidays.

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.

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]

Definitely not for the squeamish. [Dec 1996, p.82]

It's not the most ambitious game ever, but All-Stars can become oddly addictive. [Sept 2002, p.81]

This clumsy, dated misadventure steals from all over and contributes no ideas of its own. Brilliantly bad dialog though. [March 2014, p.58]

You know you've got problems when the feature meant to enlighten a game makes it more tedious. [Sep 2006, p.94]

The Chosen is single-player only, which is probably for the best--you'd be hard-pressed to find many other people playing it. [Mar 2008, p.74]

The bare bones of a hugely exciting strategy RPG hybrid. The the AI just isn't good enough to make it special, yet.

A furiously entertaining action RPG whose horrible monsters are a delight to slay, whether you're playing solo or co-op.

It has some good moments, but it shouldn't take an archaeological expedition to reach them. [Sept 2007, p.58]

For some reason, Greek developer Anima PPD thought the world was yearning for a new FMV game, <I>and</I> one with the production values of a Malaysian music video. [Jan 2004, p.105]

Darkness Within oversells its Lovecraftian theme because there's just way too much reading and not enough adventuring to keep our interest up. [Mar 2008, p.81]

Even God would need cheat codes to beat this strategic RPG. [Feb 2006, p.50]

Bionicle's horrible controls and confusing camera angles (which shift at inopportune times) make it a terribly frustrating experience. [Feb 2004, p.77]

A massive overworld combined with a playful lick of humor doesn't mask Krater's wasted promise and grindy design. [Oct 2012, p.66]

It's quite simply a foul-mouthed stinking piece of adolescent crap. [May 2004, p.73]

The saddest part about Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is that the only people willing to endure such a sloppy port are hard-core Spider-Man fans--the same group to whom the plot will make the least sense. [Jan 2009, p.59]

But, even if it were more stable, lackluster controls, awkward camera angles, and a too brief story would still make Via Domus a game fit for fanatical completionists only. [June 2008, p.77]

If you don't ahve high expectations for a Trek RTS, then you won't be disappointed. [Nov 2000, p.160]

If you're dying for an excuse to play as a sniper, or you have $20 you're itching to spend, Marine Sharpshooter II certainly isn't the worse budget military game we've ever played. [Oct 2004, p.95]

A dumb shooter that feels like a rubbish stealth section dragged out across the length of an entire game.

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]

Bugs and dodgy design decisions don't quite negate the novelty of spaceshipping in confined spaces.

Mighty No. 9’s dash mechanic is a lot of fun, but bad art, imprecise hitboxes, and awful level design make the experience extremely frustrating.

Despite the considerable issues with the PC version, I've still had long stretches of fun with Fallout 76. I really wish PvP had more at stake then lost junk (or at least more willing participants) but the world retains a lot of what I love about Bethesda's previous RPGs with finely crafted environments, enjoyable weapons and crafting, and surprising little scraps of story to uncover and investigate.

Simply missing too many features to justify the purchase. Collectible-card-game fans should opt for "Magic: The Gathering Online" instead, so they can face truly challenging opponents: other human players. [Apr 2004, p.83]

I need Professor X to wipe the memory of this game from my brain. [Aug 2006, p.85]

Shelter 3's environment may be pretty, but it's not enough to forgive a game that ultimately feels unfinished.

GWN: Sparta offers little desides gameplay as ancient as the Spartans themselves, and should probably fall on its sword. [Aug 2008, p.72]

My advice? Forget about this accursed game and play "Diablo II", "Dungeon Siege II", or "Titan Quest" again. [Apr 2007, p.68]

It deserves some credit for its realistic physics and attempts at creativity, but it's just not a whole lot of fun. We still await the "Virtua Tennis" of bowling games. [Apr 2004, p.78]

The Walking Dead gets the zombies and the theme just right, but everything else is a mess.

The sandbox play that makes up the bulk of Superpower 2 is alternately tedium and lunacy. [Feb 2005, p.70]

Some solid puzzles can’t rescue what is an otherwise terrible adventure game.

Well, there's always the 2004 edition to look forward to. [Nov 2000, p.151]

It's a testament to the dullness of this game that its 25 missions feature a wide variety of mission types, yet all of them feel like the same monotonous hunts for brain-dead adversaries. [Oct 2002, p.100]

Aside from some frustrating quirks and unrefined space missions, Breed is a good shooter that offers "Halo" fans a veritable add-on pack. [May 2004, p.72]

Nostalgic "bookshelf value" aside, this collection isn't really worth the time or money. [August 2002, p.67]

I spent my first hour in Dead Reefs spinning my character in circles while trying to WASD him through doors. [Oct 2007, p.66]

Headspun is a well-meaning attempt at exploring a fascinating topic. Wandering around certain rooms like the Dream Theater and Memory Bank, you see some some vivid imagery, and are faced with interesting questions about the relationship between memories and identity. But it never delves deeper, restricting you to tedious minigames and superfluous base-building while you wait to see how story pans out. Headspun failed to entrench itself in my memory, and I wouldn't feel differently even if its swarms of bugs were squashed.

Whatever charm the campy dialogue provides wears off after about 10 minutes, leaving you with a game that suffers from obstructive camera angles, tedious gameplay, and uninspired combat. [July 2008, p.70]

You never really feel engaged in this run-of-the-mill shooter. [Nov 2004, p.86]

Menacing robots, a gorgeous world, and an intriguing premise, but ultimately too minimalist for its own good.

The contrast between cartoonish characters and sprays of blood only continues the rollercoaster of pain and confusion. Make sure to play on an empty stomach. [June 2003, p.88]

The biggest frights of the ever-expanding series without quite the same unease and variety.

You can’t just chuck players in a maze with a ghost and tell them to be scared. Unfortunately this is exactly what Daylight does.

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

Impressive ogre battles and challenging, hectic missions, but I just wish there was a bit more to Extinction.

About as deep and immersive as naval combat sims come. [May 2002, p.68]

A nonstop tour de force of insulting insanity. And even though I should be disgusted by the potty humor and derogatory caricatures, I had a blast playing through it. [June 2003, p.74]

Sounds promising, but from the shoddy graphics to the horrid enemy AI, this game fails to be any fun at all. [July 2004, p.68]

While it's an ambitious and lengthy adventure, the game is spoiled by an overly confusing story, many ambiguous puzzles, and a flawed interface. [July 2002, p.73]

EEIII aims high, but falls victime to over-ambition--there's a lot going on here, but not enough of it has been effectively refined into an entertaining gaming experience. [Jan 2008, p.84]

Those seeking a PvP-based massively multiplayer game may want to wait for "Guild Wars," which will offer PvP straight out of the gate as opposed to 70 levels in. [July 2005, p.61]

Its generic plot and presentation are so bland, the game's few inventive features are very likely to be lost on most who play it. [Holiday 2004, p.94]

All you get here is abysmal action, miserable controls, and a story ripped piecemeal from the cartoon. [March 2005, p.75]