The only thing missing are the severed limbs. Oh, and an overwhelming sense of quality and/or fun. [Spring 2002, p.93]

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

The tracks are fun(ish), the graphics are good(ish), and the controls are responsive(ish), but the outrageous "only in a videogame" components are curiously missing. [Spring 2002, p.93]

Heartily mediocre. [Mar 2004, p.90]

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]

Academy isn't so much a first-person shooter (although there are nifty rayguns) as it is a third-person lightsaber hack-em-up, and the laser sword combat here is about as graceful as that tubby Star Wars kid (Google hime for a preview). [Mar 2004, p.98]

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

If anything, this game sounds precisely like "Alias." Looking and sounding like the show isn't really enough, though. Alias also needs to offer thrilling gameplay...and, well, it doesn't.

Full of uninspired backgrounds, bland water effects, and collision detection that will make your skin crawl. [Spring 2002, p.92]

When playing against human opponents of varying skill levels on Xbox Live, the game becomes surprisingly fun and entertaining. [Mar 2004, p.101]

It sits in the same stagnating pool as every other generic 3D platform title. [Dec 2004, p.89]

A decent story and some excellent stealth-based play prevent Revenge from sinking head-long into a hole of suck. [June-July 2003, p.95]

It's the curse of making a reasonable, realistic surfing game - it just doesn't offer a very compelling videogame experience. [Fall 2002, p.120]

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

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

The game's title perhaps best describes the taste left in one's mouth after playing it than anythihng else. [Fall 2002, p.118]

A short-lived one-trick pony that's pretty much run its course. [Mar 2004, p.101]

Once again, it's the series' fun two-to-four-player splitscreen mode that sets it apart from other fog-of-war games. [Nov 2004, p.92]

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

No matter how easy it is to do, kicking someone off his four-wheeler never stops being satisfying. [Apr/May 2003, p.93]

This is no Tony Hawk. [Jan 2002, p.96]

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

Unfortunately, in the game, that process is nowhere near as compelling and fast-paced as in the show. [Feb 2005, 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]

Here was a game with real potential to be what everybody had basically hoped for: "Grand Theft Auto" with really good graphics. Instead, what's here needs an air bag.

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

It's just genuinely unfortunate that the cartoon consistently scores touchdowns whereas the game fumbles like a man with melted butter on his fingers. [May 2004, p.91]

Ultimately, the game's strict adherence to realism trips it up. [June-July 2003, p.95]