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]

Genesis Alpha One splices the DNA of some good ideas, but doesn’t execute any of them well enough.

After the frenzy of battle wears off, so does the appeal of SpaceForce. It's not a bad game; it just goes through the motions. [Sept 2007, p.62]

This pyrotechnic orgy probably offers up more explosions per minute than any other game of its type, but that's about all it offers. [Holiday 2002, p.105]

Despite its token connection to the recent CGI-enhanced MGM movie, Flyboys isn't a standalone aerial shooter so much as a repackaging of iENT's subscription-based Warbirds/Dawn of Aces online combat-flight-sim service. [Apr 2007, p.52]

SNS's powersliding physics, six-player GameSpy action, and assertive AI are as entertaining as ever, but a horribly unrealistic "Velcro Wall" effect (lightly grazing the outside barrier now slows your car to a virtual standstill) and some persistent graphics, audio, and controller glitches eventually thrown an unwelcome wrench into the proceedings. [June 2004, p.77]

But all that nice environment design is wasted by far too much wandering about, talking to people, and collecting trash to sell at vendors. Your character moves with a kind of halfhearted jog, too slow to cover ground, jerky, and unable to traverse any kind of obstacle. Meanwhile you can jump on your horse, which is much faster but handles like a stick of butter in narrow areas. It's all just kind of… slow and tedious to progress. Environments seem large simply for the sake of size. Much like the game's entire aesthetic, it's not really clear why things look the way they do.

Beautiful graphics and fantastic controls are wasted due to a lack of content and an abundance of bugs. [Dec 2011, p.72]

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

A bunch of fun new abilities and cool places but Dawnguard is far too glitchy to justify its steep price.

Daemonica is not the kind of RPG that will appeal to most hardcore gamers. [July 2006, p.77]

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

Too much games-as-a-service cruft gets in the way of a potentially decent action-RPG.

Broken Worlds doesn't offer enough new gameplay to interest anyone other than the most dedicated "Dungeon Siege" fans, and its once-innovative engine now feels clunky and no longer looks impressive. [Nov. 2006, p.98]

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]

Homefront: The Revolution feels slapdash, and after the initial fun of learning its systems, drab repetition reveals obvious exploits.

This entry, however, is hardly legendary. [Jan. 2007, p.76]

Die-hard Potter fans will thrill throughout to checking Hogwarts' huge and detailed environs, but Order of the Phoenix's repetitive gameplay will make many wish someone would cast an Avada Kedavara spell in their direction and put them out of their misery already. [Oct 2007, p.66]

This franchise is as stale as a holiday fruitcake. The new engine is needed NOW. [Mar 2001, p.86]

A slide-show adventure, so it's required to have at least one confounding maze in it. Skip it unless you were a fan of the original. [July 2003, p.93]

An inventive puzzle game that’s too short and easy to recommend—worthwhile only for the novelty of its concept.

The background scenery is attractive, but the game's floaty vehicle physics significantly undermine the actual driving experience. [May 2003, p.70]

The laborious mechanics of control and observance make "gameplay" feel much too random. [Jan 2003, p.100]

Enemy Engaged 2 has potenttial, but remains a patch or two away from completion. [Nov 2007, p.77]

It's not a chore to conquer China in Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14. It's just underwhelming. Especially when we've seen this era represented so much better by Creative Assembly so recently, I couldn't come up with a compelling reason why I'd play this instead. Only die-hard fans of the franchise who want to see Koei's specific takes on these characters will be likely to find much to get excited about here. And given that this is the fourteenth entry in the series, I expected a lot more.

HighFleet has appealing vision, but breaks down due to opaque systems and lack of difficulty options.

An increased focus on action and unsatisfying cases overshadow the decent bits in this detective adventure.

If you're dying for an RTS game set in China, here's one. So there. [June 2001, p.80]