A horrid single-player quest mode offers frustrating, ill-designed scenarios. [Mar 2004, p.91]

Put simply, Drive is Xbox Live-enabled Tab when there's already Coke and Pepsi. [Mar 2004, p.80]

You're forced to face off against eagle-eyed, sharp-shooting pricks who are so overpower[ing] that competing against them feels like crossing the piranha-filled Amazon River wearing a 40-pound mean suit. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.96]

A rare take on World War II that doesn't involve storming a beach. [Mar 2004, p.94]

The game's incredible sense of speed, seat-of-your-soild-trousers physics, and overall production polish is second to none on Xbox. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.81]

A superb basketball game, with Grade-A action, intuitive controls, and more bells and whistles than an ice cream truck. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.85]

It's not the tightest coding ever seen in a videogame. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.85]

The game achieves excellence through realism, feel, and transparent interface. [Mar 2004, p.88]

More glaring than the minigames' poor quality is their length, as each one takes several minutes to complete, and repeats ad nauseum. [Mar 2004, p.98]

The list of omissions is epic: decent A.I., car damage, real-life car parts, an in-dash view, analog gas and break buttons - and, well, you get the point. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.84]

It's an RTS that's about 25 percent less filling, and if it doesn't taste entirely great, it's still pretty darn yummy.

Go easy on yourself here, and watch the only FMV worth watching: the DVD of the film this mercury-like pile of T-1000 excrement is based on. [Mar 2004, p.79]

Visions could have been more imaginative with the weapons, which though numerous in appearance, offer almost zero variation among missiles, mines, and force fields.

The twisty story is compelling enough to pull you through the game like a rabbit tied to a rush-hour train. [Mar 2004, p.92]

Online play affords Links players an option "Tiger" simply can't compete with. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.94]

You'd have to be very sick of "Halo" and "Counter-Strike" to even consider this one. [Mar 2004, p.95]

You can, in practically one extended sitting, blow through the entirety of this dumbed-down, bloodless, sanitized version of America's hard-fought victory. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.88]

You realize that Bilbo Baggins' dash maneuver (a sort of pole-vault jump) is faster than running, so you go through the whole game pole-vaulting like a ninny. [Mar 2004, p.98]

One begins to wonder where the company found the nerve to release a game that plays as if it were coded by the ultimate beach personality, Jeff Spiccoli. [Mar 2004, p.80]

Elementary use of math reveals that a mediocre Sphinx game combined with an excellent Cursed Mummy game averages out to a very solid and enjoyable Sphinx/Mummy hybrid. [Mar 2004, p.91]

It's not a good sign when a game's replay mode outdoes its interactive sequences. [Mar 2004, p.90]

Blowout's dialogue and overall production value are sufficiently self-aware so that they're oddly amusing. [Mar 2004, p.98]

This giant cat that wants to pinch mommy's ass is one ripe for the highway and an oncoming truck.[Mar 2004, p.79]

Both games' inherent brilliance remains intact. As playgrounds, they're marvelous. As experiences they're undeniably powerful. [Mar 2004, p.77]

Sadly, Vengeance's extreme difficulty and arbitrary save system bleed off any entertainment value. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.89]

The new formula succeeds partially, but football maniacs are advised to look elsewhere for a more satisfying gridiron experience. [Mar 2004, p.80]

Basically an all-you-can-kill, hack-and-slash buffet from start to finish. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.82]

Ultimately, whether 2004 is, in fact, a better game than Konami's "Winning Eleven 7" on PlayStation 2 is debatable; what is clear, however, is that this is easily the finest game of footy to be found on Xbox.

Riding feels "real"... In short, Barbie's first foray onto Xbox is not a stinker. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.100]

The True Crime universe feels emotionally and psychologically barren - and, therefore, inconsequential. [Mar 2004, p.76]

The camera alone is enough to condemn Drake to the eigth circle of gaming hell. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.90]

The sort of game that you objectively know is as mediocre as all the rest, but has a certain inexplicable charm that makes the game impossible to hate... The best Nicktoons game for Xbox. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.100]

Heartily mediocre. [Mar 2004, p.90]

Heavy Iron may not have been especially creative here, but at least it's stealing from the right places. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.100]

These new options are perfect for the hardened "Morrowind" veteran, adding just the right amount of innovation to an already solid RPG, and fortunately, this edition is compatible with old save files. [Mar 2004, p.91]

Criminals hide in the same places every time, so players can memorize the trouble spots and restart if necessary. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.89]

It's ugly, this gladiator's life. But at least it's got a good personality. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.86]

The best tennis videogame ever made. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.93]

Like its predecessor, Redeemer shines brightest when played with friends. Lonely players, on the other hand, draw the short straw yet again, and are left with little more than a shallow button masher, though the allure of the license may help ease any gameplay pangs.

With all-or-nothing rail and jump placement, the game can sometimes feel shorter and more difficult than it really is, while at other times a bit too easy. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.91]

The major malfunction here: busted level design. Many missions suffer from unclear objectives or load you up with tiresome chores - such as seven minutes of formation flight - only to have you repeat these tasks ad nauseam if you foul up. [Mar 2004, p.79]

It's surprisingly solid, providing definitively that it's possible to take a fictional sport and bring it to digital life. [Mar 2004, p.82]

The slightly clunky controls and contrived level design - with its faux open-ended gameplay - leave the impression of a hack job. Paint-by-numbers puzzles and stolid A.I., sadly, only dig the pit deeper. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.92]

Serves up round after round of smart, strategic firefights, challening both mind and reflex. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.99]

The on-foot play mechanic and the expanded story mode stand as the game's weakest elements. [Mar 2004, p.85]

Of all the anouncers in the world, ESPN utilizes the unfailingly annoying Kevin Frazier. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.84]

In defiance of the weak missions, air battles are frantic affairs, and they are great. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.78]

Ghoulies goes whole hog on its graphics and half-asses everything else. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.90]

Where most licensed brawlers feel sloppy and half-finished, Turtles is smooth and cohesive. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.81]

A smooth framerate, flawless camera, and spot-on control makes the experience nothing short of sublime, and the game a near-perfect mix of exacting artistry and technical wizardry - not unlike snowboarding itself. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.91]

The solid control and pretty grapihcs don't make up for the relatively bland stages and extremely short length. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.100]

The combination of solid graphics, cooperative play, and an established format works well here, and Sin Tzu is nothing if not a fun third-person beat-em-up. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.87]

Charming yet flawed, Zoo might be too much of an acquired taste and too little of a worthwhile experience. Consider this duo hardly dynamic. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.89]

The "Howard the Duck" of videogames. [Mar 2004, p.95]

It's downright spooky how well this one turned out. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.87]

If there's ever been a better basketball videogame than NBA Live 2004, it resides on the Planet Degloop, yet unavailable for human pleasure. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.84]

Perhaps the most creatively bankrupt fun game ever made. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.95]

This one comes straight from the backyard. It should return there, preferably buried deep by the family dog. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.95]

Easily eclipsed by its competition. [Mar 2004, p.101]

While level design is solid, NPCs have the personalities of spatulas, and environments are often jarringly noninteractive... Worth the ride, certainly, but this one could have done with a little less fighting and a little more freedom. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.98]

Everything about it screams budget ,sure, but there are much worse full-priced games on the Xbox. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.99]

Midway's given the game a facelift and polish to great effect, replacing the overbearing amounts of flash and glitter with solid gameplay. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.99]

It simply can't contend with the 400-pound gorilla that is Electronic Arts' "NBA Street." [Dec/Jan 2004, p.85]

A good gimmick can only carry a game so far, and Vince simply doesn't have - to speak in the rough language of the streets - enought junk in the trunk to elevate it far beyond mediocrity. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.86]

A gratifying, kinetic approach to swinging the club mimics real life. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.94]

Pound for pound, it's gritty play - and experience points - propel NHL 2004 to a hard-fought win [over "ESPN NHL Hockey"]. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.97]

It isn't polished, it's only marginally engaging, and most of the time, it feels more like some kind of unnatural amalgamation of "Gauntlet" and "Diablo" than anything else. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.87]

Mildly amusing. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.97]

Tragically, the game's camera system is a joke. Players won't actually get to see what they're shooting more than half the time because the camera has a tendency to point in all the wrong directions at the right time. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.92]

Smooth controls top this delightful meal and tons of replay value make Hit & Run, dare we say it? Ehhh-xcellent. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.91]

One kick-ass game. If you're a fan of NASCAR racing, you've never had it so good on a home console. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.97]

The title makes no bones about the unfinished state of the wrasslin' found within. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.95]

Goals are alternately too easy because the bike's brute speed makes gaps and jumps so simple, or too hard because twitchy steering and excess velocity make delicate maneuvering impossible. [Aug 2003, p.87]

The in-game graphics are acceptable at best, with the cut-scenes barely making the grade. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.92]

ESPN Hockey's offensive game is sublime... Unfortunately, playing defense can become frustrating, as players are often slow getting back to the goal. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.97]

Warriors is fantastic, and not even its flaws, notably, slowdown when enemies choke the screen and popup of random objects on the horizon, spoil the beautiful brawling. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.85]

If there was no "Madden," ESPN NFL Football would easily be the best football game this year. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.96]

There's nothing to complain about in terms of the game's controls or its trick system; they've been tuned to perfection. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.87]

Nearly everything about Otogi, from its art direction to its intricately balanced game design, is infused with careful thought, consideration, and much love. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.86]

It may be realistic to have a fishing game where the fish are all in hiding or killed off by man-made pollutants, but it's certainly not much fun. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.91]

A cartoony visual style and color palette dilutes the hard-hitting realism of the game. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.95]

Competent, but not innovative. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.93]

Like playing the slowest, most dropping-laden tactical FPS of your life. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.95]

Unlike most 3D fighters, Calibur II's melee system isn't so mcuh an elaborate re-creation of the canned rock-paper-scissors style gameplay as it is a vast metaphysical playground giving players unprecedented freedom to create their own deadly techniques. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.88]

Treads no new ground, but neither does it degrade into a sanguine mess. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.93]

Everything works as it should, but the sum of these parts is booring with as many extra "O"s as you please. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.93]

The camera never quite gets it together during combat, and the animations are stilted and choppy. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.99]

Attempts at creativity here fall flat... It's standard prime-time fluff. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.93]

Aurally and visually stunning, Madden 2004 is easily the best re-creation of digital football ever made. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.94]

Not a bad game - there's just not enough here, and players may find themselves wishing for a match in Britain against and extraterrestrial blancmange, just to add a little bit of variety to the mix. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.93]

What these scenarios lack in creative inspiration, they more than make up for in strategy and gameplay design. [Aug 2003, p.86]

Embarrassing show tunes notwithstanding, it's the game's artificial difficulty that puts this bird in a nose-dive a third of the way through. [Aug 2003, p.81]

This is action at its most basic (see the enemy, press A, repeat) and adventure at its most boring (fetch widget and return to random townsperson). [Oct/Nov 2003, p.85]

A subpar effort marred by weak graphics and terribly repetitive gameplay. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.87]

The game sinks in the perilous minefield that is RTS convention and its de rigueur level design. [Aug 2003, p.84]

A very uninspired shooter... The game is painfully generic. [June-July 2003, p.91]

In what appears to be a rush job, the game is riddled with inexcusable bugs such as persistent crashing and invisible walls that prohibit movement. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.91]

This game quickly strays into "Hogan's Heroes" territory, with comically stupid enemy A.I. and an endless string of overfamiliar formulas and cliches. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.85]