If anything, the fighting is more frustrating than ever. [Dec 2011, p.111]

With very little progress since the last Narnia, even huge fans will want a price cut. [Sept 2008, p.83]

A big disappointment. [Christmas 2011, p.113]

The world needs more risk-takers like Wideload. But this gamble didn't pay off. [Dec 2008, p.83]

Certainly faithful to the fiction but inferior to the last game in almost every single way.

Fleetingly daft fun but this is too expansive, too charmless and too hard. [Nov 2009, p.91]

If you need to satisfy your perverted cravings for dwarf tossing, go and play Oblivion (yet) again. But, please, don't buy this. [March 2011, p.100]

Bang for your buck - but the bang of a party popper rather than a nuke. [Mar 2009, p.79]

Perversely, and in spite of its difficulty, Facebreaker can still be completed with just two buttons.

Lack of imagination and repetitive combat send this hurtling into Mount Doom. [Feb 2012, p.96]

Some fun to be had, but not for long. [Feb 2011, p.108]

Could have done something really worthwhile with the genre, but... didn't. Nazi stuff.

Not the worst FPS on 360, but it's a clear second place. Nowhere near good enough. [Apr 2008, p.68]

Pretty, vacant. How 18 months' development could result in a game so trite is beyond us. [May 2011, p.101]

A semi-decent racer hidden behind layers of bad design and presentation. [Christmas 2008, p.72]

A curio piece lacking enough quality games to justify the price tag. [July 2009, p.83]

We appreciate that mini-games must be simple and intuitive, but that doesn't mean they can't be imaginative, or hide subtle depths and plenty of replayability, or at least pretend they're doing something exciting. Party Animals does none of these.

In a genre overlaoded with turds this one floats to somewhere near the top of the pile. [June 2011, p.98]

Ambitious but flimsy, and on 360 it lacks the one Tiger-beating weapon in its arsenal. [Issue#98, p.90]

When you make Michael "Bayhem" look smart, something's gone very wrong. [Oct 2009, p.94]

Utterly rubbish, but bizarrely addictive. [March 2011, p.102]

Another 'classic' Sega franchise turns to bum gravy. Sonic, eat your heart out. [Jan 2009, p.67]

Enjoyable nothingness. [May 2011, p.99]

Fancy time with Scofield, Sucre, Abruzzi and co? Buy the first season on DVD; it's much more fun.

It's a shame, as what initially looked promising all those months ago when we first saw it, is in fact one of the worst games on Live Arcade. Avoid.

A dull, dreary game. [Dec 2009, p.88]

Should be put out of its misery. [Christmas 2009, p.98]

Great music, but this is prime DLC material and definitely not worth 30 quid. [Mar 2009, p.82]

Not the best, but Fatal Conspiracy is better than its individual parts would have you believe. [Jan 2011, p.82]

Technically woeful by-the-numbers tot with a few perversely enjoyable bits. [Jan 2010, p.79]

The addition of online co-op and Deathmatch modes maybe elevates Monster Madness above the bottom tier of Live Arcade titles, but at full price there will probably be so few people playing that it's unlikely to be a vibrant online community.

It's Family Game Night with just one (dull) game. [Feb 2011, p.108]

A juvenile wishlist of swords, guns, girls and gore - really not much cop a game. [May 2009, p.42]

Laughable. [Feb 2008, p.85]

Cheap or not, this has nothing to recommend it, bar morbid curiosity. [Jan 2008, p.83]

Not terrible, just utterly mediocre and, crushingly dull throughout. [Oct 2008, p.92]

We often found shooting to be off-target. [Feb 2012, p.109]

A questionable franchise makes for an awkward game. It's not terrible, just utterly miserable. [Issue#98, p.105]

Who needs more than one Kinect dance game? Answer: not us, and not you. [Jan 2011]

A mildly entertaining fantasy yarn tragically coded by a team without any 360 experience. [May 2010, p.102]

No more than a tech demo for the next game - "Smackdown 2009" preview code is twice the game this is. [Dec 2008, p.90]

An RPG needs to entertain for hours, to fully immerse you in its universe and not let go, but Two Worlds starts to show cracks before the tutorial is over. It's a -10 for execution, with no chance of a saving throw. [Nov 2007, p.76]

A good concept ruined by clunky mechanics and a poor progression system. On a par with Midway's "TNA Impact." [June 2009, p.80]

Short and forgettable. [Aug 2009, p.82]

Any redeeming features are soon bludgeoned into oblivion by the relentless tedium of Bolt's combat. [Apr 2009, p.88]

Rigorously mediocre. [Oct 2009, p.95]

Aside from a few nice options, sadly this is second-rate sword-slashery. Try Ninety-Nine Nights instead.

A few pleasant additions to the tried and tested formula but DW7 isn't searching for new fans. [June 2011, p.94]

A lightweight gimmicky kids' game made completely verboten due to messy controls. [Sept 2011, p.93]

A conversation so watered down it's hard to find where the good game has gone. [June 2008, p.96]

Alienates gamers to appease the fans and ends up impressing neither party. [Jan 2010, p.75]

A shooter with all the usual pieces but none of the smarts needed to entertain.

A good combo which works well, but the elements are already fun enough without muddying the waters. [July 2008, p.96]

A thoroughly average change of pace. [Sept 2008, p.97]

Tedious, restrictive puzzler which happens to be beautiful and made by Darth Vader's dad. [Christmas 2009, p.120]

Good humour, good looks and great audio, wrapped around an average game. [June 2009, p.95]

Some board games translate well. This doesn't. [Aug 2008, p.99]

Suffers from being in a big sea of similar titles. [Jan 2011]

Not terrible, but largely without merit. [Jan 2011]

Another fitness game with added 'Spicey' goodness. [Jan 2011]

Ponderous and lightweight racing atop near-vaporous water. Go and have a bath instead. [Oct 2010, p.121]

Episode one was weak; episode two clearly didn't notice. Who botches the Watchmen? [Nov 2009, p.105]

A blast from the past that should have stayed unblasted. Play the free version if you must. [Nov 2007, p.94]

A license squandered on a game which would have been no different with the Trek taken out. [Aug 2009, p.103]

If you've played Feeding Frenzy, you'll be okay doing without the sequel. [Christmas 2008, p.94]

Four modes, 18 different ships, loads of weapons and power-ups, none of it especially enjoyable. [Sept 2007, p.96]

Swag aside, there's nothing in this reductionist hotchpotch for fans of what Fallout 3 does so well. [Apr 2009, p.103]

How a game which looks like this can have a framerate like THAT is beyond us. Knock yourself out, though. [Apr 2008, p.96]

Too much Ball Z and not enough brawl. If you know what we're Saiyan. [Aug 2008, p.85]

Well-made and well-presented, but there's not nearly 1,200 points worth of game in there. [Jan 2009, p.104]

A good game in its original form, but a port so shoddy can't be encouraged. [June 2009, p.95]

Thoroughly unambitious. [June 2008, p.96]

This pedestrian offering is a little too sterile, a little too similar, a little too short yet somehow a little too long. [Aug 2008, p.99]

You'll need to be a serious American football/robot fan to get stuck in now. [Dec 2007, p.96]

Time hasn't been kind to Quake Arena. [March 2011, p.118]

Hold out for infinitely superior "Streets of Rage 2." [Oct 2007, p.96]

Innovative, pretty, interesting at first glance... but ultimately: boring, boring, boring. [Oct 2007, p.96]

Annoying, frustrating; even Mr ESC couldn't rescue this game from complete disaster. [Jan 2008, p.94]

A gimmick in need of a game. [May 2008, p.97]

Average even on release. If you have "SF2 Turbo," you don't need this. [Dec 2007, p.96]

Online play is the only redeemable feature of this 'update.' Get "Puzzle Quest" instead. That got three stars. [Christmas 2007, p.98]

Adds very little to the already flawed and tepid Exit. If you didn't buy that, you won't want this. [May 2009, p.105]

An RPG-lite that's just too watered down to be at all enjoyable. [Mar 2008, p.94]

Bland, convoluted and plagued with counter-productive level design. [Dec 2009, p.105]

It's rubbish. Of course it's rubbish - it's a game where you bang one button, forever. [Oct 2009, p.103]

A decent, mindless rampage online for the converted. [Feb 2009, p.104]

A totally competent golf game which ultimately does too much wrong and to little right. [Sept 2008, p.97]

Sixteen years on and it's not so fast, or smooth, or fun. The controls are stiffer than cold porridge and the new HD graphics are no improvement. [Sept 2007, p.96]

This is a very basic, very rubbish side-scrolling shooter with some knobs on. [Aug 2007, p.92]

We'll go easy on it for being a kids' game, but it's certainly not a good one. [Feb 2008, p.94]

A tedious top-down racer priced at three times its worth. Disappointing stuff from the N+ boys. [June 2010, p.121]

A morbidly obese platformer from a developer which just didn't know when to stop. [July 2009, p.104]

Occasionally innovative, but not nearly hard or fast enough for the game's dedicated fanbase. [Mar 2009, p.95]

We loved her when she was young and tasty, but now this old bird's, er, old. [Aug 2007, p.92]

The weirdest, floatiest controls imaginable. [Feb 2008, p.94]

A lukewarm experiment, and while a partner is required for fun, everything is fun with two. [Oct 2008, p.102]

The "Giraffe" has already trod this ground before. [Mar 2008, p.94]

One of Atari's better visual upgrades, but not nearly as much fun 28 years after it first hit arcades. [July 2008, p.96]