The ship itself is straight clunky. It feels like everything in the game is fast, except you. [Jan 2002, p.5]

Rayne has been designed by sexiness experts and dropped into a game that features all the erotic appeal of Rosie O'Donnell scarfing down Canadian ham at an all-you-can-eat buffet. [Winter 2002, p.108]

The reality is that only those with a tremendous amount of talent and perseverance are ever going to see much of it. [Fall 2002, p.119]

Visually, Sam looks only decent, and slowdown creeps into play from time to time. You've seen better. [Winter 2002, p.106]

As a game, it's safe and absolutely unambitious. [Jan 2005, p.96]

The narrative style (present action woven with flashbacks) is interesting, and the mechanics are mostly solid, so it is definitely worth investigating - especially if one finds the Xbox's "action-hero-with-amnesia" library lacking. [Nov 2004, p.94]

These bright spots don't really offset the repetitive, frustrating, and sometimes just plain dull parts. [Apr 2003, p.84]

A solid competitor - fast and fun and oddly addictive. [Summer 2002, p.93]

Outrunning the cops while racing on gorgeous international tracks is damn fun... [but t]he intense sense of speed found in the PS2 version is missing. [Winter 2002, p.103]

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

Unbridled rage, piss and vinegar, diminutive features, and cool quips ("The steel is cold, yes!") add up to make Ninja a genuinely likable figure starring in a game that's not as good as it should be, nor as bad as one might fear. [Mar 2004, p.86]

Playing 2005 with its jerky, disorienting fielder cam is akin to slicing up your head on a cheese grater, then taking a vinegar bath.

Its self-concious metacomedy helps elevate what is already a solid game into a sing-songily fine game. [Jan 2005, p.98]

None of the games runs in full-screen mode on Xbox, while the GameCube versions are identical to the 16-bit originals. [Jan 2005, p.98]

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]

With little here to massage the mind or engage the heart, Red Faction II becomes nothing more than a linear on-rails twitch-fest. [June-July 2003, p.92]

Paintball makes up for its lackluster graphics and sound by delivering an exciting tactical shooting experience. [Feb 2005, p.89]

Exceedingly colorful, fun to play, and possessed of a great sense of humor, Movie both stands and delivers. It's some delicious sea food meant to be swallowed - whole. [Nov 2004, p.91]

During the heat of combat, the game controls like a fighter until you get taken into a grappling situation, and resultant shift in style isn't so smooth. [Spring 2002, p.90]

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]

Visually, it recalls the graphical prowess of a Super Nintendo title, while the game's total lack of system link and Xbox Live multiplayer flies in the face of Xbox doctrine. [Jan 2005, p.88]

Superfly's physics are unpredictable and frustrating. [Feb/Mar 2003, p.88]

The graphics are lush, the sense of speed is breathtaking. [Apr 2003, p.87]

A stealth game that dramatically overstays its welcome. [July 2004, p.86]

You'd expect this simple game of aiming and matching like-colored bubbles to feel awfully flat by now, yet amazingly, the bubble-popping action here remains refreshingly effervescent. [Dec 2004, p.93]

There's a good deal of junk included on the disc, and even some of its more beloved titles ("Mortal Kombats II, III" and "Cyberball 2072") have not aged particularly well. [Nov 2004, p.101]

The game's odd predilection for nighttime levels ensures that players will be doing double duty fighting and squinting. [Summer 2002, p.91]

Of the new moves, through-balls and crosses are much better than those in "FIFA 2004." [Aug 2004, p.86]

Playing Wreckless is like being repeatedly shot out of a cannon. [Spring 2002, p.72]

Disappointingly uninspired. [Jan 2002, p.94]

Most, however, are legitimately entertaining even today. [Mar 2004, p.86]

Strip away the sombrerors, spurs, and signature Rockstar sass, and what's left is an average third-person shoot-em-up some gallons shy of a full 10-gallon hat. [July 2004, p.84]

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]

Transworld Snowboarding is the girl who always shows up in the teen movies. She's the ugly one who's revealed to be a hottie once the pretty boy du jour spends some time with her. [Winter 2002, p.97]

An official disappointment on Xbox, yet the game's undying popularity defies critical analysis. [Mar 2004, p.78]

The only area where "2" really shines is in its Xbox Live support, which is among the best in golf games today. Otherwise, you can expect the same dodgy controls and eighth grade fart jokes as before. [Nov 2004, p.99]

Rage has perfectly captured the flavor of the boxing in the Rocky films, and by this we mean there is no pugilism to be found. [Winter 2002, p.107]

Ruthlessly hunting down other mechs in Stealth mode becomes the favored approach in the heat of battle, and makes for amazingly fun, intense gameplay. [Winter 2002, p.96]

It's disappointing to see developer Vicious Cycle nail the look and feel of a Veritech fighter, only to drop the ball on finer details like graphics, level design, and overall story...We wanted something more. [Fall 2002, p.116]

Give Acclaim credit: One year after releasing the crappy "All-Star Baseball 2003," the company has come back strong with an even crappier All-Star Baseball 2004. [Apr/May 2003, p.90]

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

Hopping is very big on Zack island, a magical place where sense has yet to arrive. [Apr 2003, p.78]

Sadly, however, not even the best Indy console game necessarily makes for a great Xbox title. [Apr 2003, p.80]

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]

Dreams is just a by-the-numbers platformer, albeit a genuinely funny oe. [Dec 2004, p.89]

Just another decent, 10-hour-long hop-n-bop to add to the pile. [May 2004, p.91]

Looks spectacular, with dazzling day-glo colors, ultrasmooth movement, and trippy effects. Every stage explodes with breakneck speed, insane loops, absurd corkscrews, and other gravity-defying razmatazz. [Mar 2004, p.82]

Uneven graphics, hollow gameplay contrivances, and a wholesale lack of compelling drama mar the enormous effort which was clearly put into the game. [Fall 2002, p.104]

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

But even when the game's action gets all John J. Rambo, the A.I. remains more like Gomer Pyle. [Dec 2004, p.95]

Valkyrie's controls are so klunky...it feels worse than just awkward, it literally hurts to play Valkyrie for more than a couple hours at a time. [Spring 2002, p.82]

The shoddy A.I. and other flaws are rare or negligible enough so as not to detract from the overall enjoyment of an otherwise great game. [Jan 2005, p.89]

The animation transitions are sloppy, and the A.I. is lacking on both sides of the ball. The controls are simply too slow to respond to your input, as well. [Winter 2002, p.99]

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

The same damn thing with slightly better graphics and a new create-a-player mode that would've been very exciting in 1992. [Fall 2002, p.121]

The problem is, driving crappy cars around dirt tracks as low speeds isn't very much fun at all. [Nov 2004, p.97]

Even with all the problems, Sudeki is still worth your time. It's not the best RPG it could have been - Climax needs better writers, that's for sure (especially concerning dialogue and character motivation) - but it gives you a big, pretty, and at times smartly designed world to explore. [Sept 2004, p.92]

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]

Astoundingly close to toppling EA's mighty "Madden" and Sega's "NFL 2K" franchises... It offers near flawless online play. [Fall 2002, p.110]

Developer WOW takes advantage of Xbox Live's potential to deliver truly compelling multiplayer races. [Dec/Jan 2004, p.98]

Outlaw Golf can be played and thoroughly enjoyed on the couch. [Fall 2002, p.121]

Everything here blows up real well, and it's oddly beautiful to witness the rich pageant of the undead splattered in a magnificent hail of hot video lead. [Winter 2002, p.91]

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]

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.

If one member of the team can handle the game's hot spots, Shrek 2 could definitely gratify little children. [July 2004, p.89]

The game is just realistic enough to annoy the bejesus out of you. [Aug 2004, p.86]

Easily beaten, Mission to Earth provides no real sense of accomplishment or finality. [Winter 2002, p.94]

This is so far from fun it might be made of an entirely new substance: antifun. [Apr/May 2003, p.92]

Four player frantic multiplayer options are topped off by a tremendous Conquest mode in which players form teams and must fight to destroy each other's bases. [June-July 2003, p.94]

If "National Geographic" puts you to sleep, you might be in soporific danger here, too. [Aug 2004, p.87]

The main problems with Fireblade are its boring weapon loadout and repetitive "kill everything" challenges. [Aug 2003, p.87]

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

The game reheats the same scenario again and again, with Rayne forced to toss shmoe after shmoe into a killing device until any hint of fun is sucked bone dry. [Dec 2004, p.96]

It seems strange that Koei would incorporate these RPG-like features into the game in such a halfhearted fashion and the overall effect is sort of like giving the samurai warrior a sort of cool angular armor but no pants. [Aug 2004, p.94]

An oppressive auto-aim system, weak enemy AI, and simplistic puzzles keep gameplay straightforward and repetitive. [Summer 2002, p.93]

It's a curse-at-the-controller-how-can-this-be-so-effin'-hard? Game. [Spring 2002, p.92]

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

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

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

In spite of any inconsistencies, disparities, or shortcomings, Breakdown is an enormously compelling, satisfying game - one imparting a joy of discovery sorely lacking in far too many of today's biggest titles. [Apr 2004, p.88]

The inventory control is needlessly fiddly, casting spells is more trouble than it's worth, and it's very easy to miss a hint and completely lose track of the plotline. Just like Morrowind, though, Arx's core quality stands above all the glaring issues, and it's hard to stop playing once you take up the quest.

With a bumpy learning curve, Dark Summit is a pain to get into, but once you figure out the (not SSX) controls, you can have fun with it. [Jan 2002, p.90]

Blood Wake versus donuts. Point goes to donuts. Duh. [Spring 2002, p.93]

If you value treat gameplay and major challenge over eye candy, Series may be the racer you're looking for. [Aug 2003, p.89]

Everything about the game, right down to its very arcade-style gameplay, is solidly executed and reasonably enjoyable without ever actually being all that exciting. [Winter 2002, p.104]

Incredibly dark - a problem made worse when damaged vehicles ahead of you spew plumes of smoke in your direction. [Summer 2002, p.91]

Even seasoned gamers will have to replay Blinx's tougher levels dozens of times before succeeding... but replaying Blinx's levels more than a few times is just plain boring. [Winter 2002, p.90]

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.

Redshift's well-honed action and lofty technical ambition are let down by a repetitive and dated no-progress-for-second-place structure, overly familiar mechanics, and conspicuous lack of style. [Winter 2002, p.95]

DW3 provides 110 percent of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin K (for killitude) and, moreover, manages to provide every single bit of its brutality in a most beautiful fashion. [Fall 2002, p.115]

Buggy and unfinished - a shameful, full-priced add-on pack tarnishing the original Battalion's golden legacy. [May 2004, p.87]

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

There's a hell of a lot of content, with the three available characters having distinct missions with several enemy layouts. [May 2004, p.89]

The creators have simplified everything to the point of inanity. [Jan 2005, p.87]

This nuts multiplayer "party game" is, happily, something of a treat. That said, shun solo mode like the plague. [Jan 2002, p.96]

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 difficulty is amped up in the latter stages by a maddening focus on precision moves and platform jumps. [Spring 2002, p.92]

For all the back story given, the story should be a bit more compelling but isn't. [Apr 2003, p.91]