The true Achilles heel of Substance is hardware support. [July 2003, p.92]

Addictive, solid, and smarter than all of its competition combined. [June 2003, p.82]

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

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]

Don't be ashamed if you find yourself gleefully yelling along with dialogue like "Eat crap, flaming craphead!" [Apr 2003, p.99]

Satisfies as a polished-looking shooter, but needs a more energetic design. [June 2003, p.70]

Despite its minor flaws, RE successfully combines the excitement of the restaurant biz with the deep number-crunching of a dedicated business sim. [July 2003, p.81]

Though it's no classic tale, Emperor's Tomb has both actioning and adventuring in spades, whisking you off on a gorgeous cross-continental tour of exotic locales. [June 2003, p.68]

Its innovation definitely injects a shot of adrenaline into a genre that desperately needed it. [June 2003, p.78]

In its maiden campaign, there are glimmers of hope for future greatness, but this rookie offering is sufficiently weak in enough areas to keep it lagging behind 3DO's "High Heat" series. [July 2003, p.74]

Definitely an RTS for cerebral types, but it's a welcome change from tank rushes. [May 2003, p.76]

BHD has environmental richness to spare, and lots of flash and thump. [June 2003, p.64]

As if the flat, static gameplay weren't woeful enough, there's also an apparent bug: sometimes you get hit with high interest loans that you never took out! [June 2003, p.88]

It's received some great tweaks and additions, but it definitely plays it safe in terms of gameplay and doesn't try to break new ground, which is disappointing. [Apr 2003, p.90]

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]

The entire game is just one big jumping puzzle... Right from the get-go, Rayman 3's puzzles are irritatingly difficult. [May 2003, p.78]

Its individual parts are pure hit-and-miss, but if you overlook the misses and get on with killing bad guys, you'll have a good time. [July 2003, p.82]

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]

Ultimately, the developer of "Commandos" has created an amalgam of the two styles, the result of which I will dub a stroke of near-brilliance. But not near enough. [May 2003, p.90]

Forget about the Xbox version. Enclave is an action-packed joy to behold on the PC. [Apr 2003, p.98]

Genesis' gameplay would really benefit from more depth: once you get the basic structures in place and the cash starts to roll in, there's little challenge left. [Apr 2003, p.104]

We've always been major supporters of this series, but it's time for the developers to inject some new life into it. [July 2004, p.75]

At just 12 missions long, the action flies by too fast, but a surprising amount of detail is packed into this well-made little package. [June 2003, p.71]

The interface itself is just plain bizarre: A complete lack of mouse support makes manipulating your rosters and searching through stats more of a chore than it should be. [June 2003, p.72]

Suffers from a severe lack of character development in almost every nook and cranny of its design. But it offers an interesting main story, bottomless value for the dollar in terms of sheer open-ended exploration, and a very cool co-op mode. [May 2003, p.96]

The Gladiators trades in bumpkin-building for fast-paced and hilarious arena combat... An eminently chewable bit of bubble-gum entertainment. [Mar 2003, p.94]

Looks are pretty much the only appeal. The main culprit in sabotaging the attractive premise is the horrible AI. [May 2003, p.82]

The finest WWII prop sim of its era. Perhaps even of all time. [June 2003, p.80]