It’s a non-offensive way to while away a few hours digging up the past, but the core gameplay doesn’t hold a candle to the title it’s so fondly remembering. [Nov 2005, p.108]

A blaster of mediocre proportions that might keep you hooked through sheer determination to see it through (if only because you’ll be convinced that mastery of the twitchy controls is actually possible), but isn’t actually much fun to play. [Sept 2005, p.102]

While really quite enjoyable in small measures (annoyances excepted), Untold Legends is a massively optimistic game and this is its ultimate downfall. [June 2005, p.100]

Even though each puzzle is explained before it gets tough a few stages down the line, there are still a few that are a little too complex for their own good (as if the game wasn’t frustrating enough already.) [Aug 2005, p.96]

A great concept that’s bereft of longevity... It’s definitely a title that needs to be experienced, but whether it should sit proudly on your gaming shelf is less certain. [July 2005, p.113]

If Sony Cambridge had placed as much emphasis on the gameplay mechanics as it had recreating the show’s style, then 24: The Game would have been an excellent action title. [Apr 2006, p.102]

Sly 3 is a solid and inoffensive kids'adventure which perfectly satisfies the needs of its target audience and credits it delivers with a much more discerning nature than other games of its sort. [Dec 2005, p.98]

Mindless fun and little else. [Nov 2007, p.106]

Anyone expecting the DS's first role-playing game to be anything more than average is in for a bitter disappointment. [Dec 2005, p.126]

Far too generic to be considered anything other than average. [Christmas 2005, p.114]

Far too generic to be considered anything other than average. [Christmas 2005, p.114]

Even if Xbox Live does prove Chromehounds’ saviour, there’s no denying that the single-player mode will be relegated to little more than a tactical playground to warm up for the online battle because it’s just a little too one-note, a little too slow, a little too lifeless to truly engage. [Aug 2006, p.112]

There is little depth to the control of the boards, and we don't see why this shouldn't have been an on-foot racer. [Apr 2006, p.106]

Firing in the opposite direction of the seasoned games, The Outfit will only appeal to casual gamers who prefer to smash and grab their way through levels rather than apply strategy. [Apr 2006, p.126]

Don’t be fooled into thinking this adventure makes any kind of departure from the model arrangement of any of the series. [June 2006, p.116]

There are worse wrestling games out there. At least Rumble Roses is solid, if you can put up with its general silliness. [June 2006, p.114]

Wait for the sequel rather than invest in this slightly dumbed-down version. [Sept 2006, p.120]

The traditional Guilty Gear gameplay just doesn’t translate that well to the arena style of play: most of the moves would be better suited to a straight one-on-one fight. [Nov 2007, p.120]

If only as much imagination had been applied to the gameplay as the narrative. [Dec 2006, p.108]

The plea of distinction City Life enters ultimately fails due to tactical elements so facile they might as well not exist. [June 2006, p.120]

Fails to offer anything fresh. The new elements added to the franchise are shamelessly plundered from other games, and generally not as well executed. [Dec 2006, p.114]

For every moment of satisfaction, there's an equal moment of frustration to match it. It's probably just as well for Ubisoft that the novelty of Nintendo's Wii Remote will carry Red Steel as a launch title. [Christmas 2006, p.110]

Occasionally you’ll have to fight in formation, or against an elephant or a slightly bigger Persian soldier, but none are exciting enough to lift the whole experience above its more banal moments. [May 2007, p.115]

Only the mere prospect of reversing a grenade, or shooting a missile in slo-mo will save the gamer from feeling completely brain-dead at the end of the game. [Dec 2007, p.102]

The real tragedy of it all though, is the relative simplicity of the formula required for a once-and-for-all cure - less of the Z-axis, more of the Sonic. [Christmas 2006, p.104]

Not implementing any kind of reward system at all is surely a huge oversight. [Dec 2007, p.133]

It’s a perfectly playable game, but a frankly boring one that quickly becomes a chore to play. [Christmas 2008, p.102]

The resource management and skill chasing on offer is sound, but everything else is repetitive, undemanding, and forgettable. [Oct 2008, p.110]

We will reserve praise for the game’s chapter-skip function, however, because Alone In The Dark seems custom-built to tear your patience to shreds. [Aug 2008, p.98]

Most of the time Ninety-Nine Nights does look like a game which befits the ‘next-gen’ tag, and yet periodically it embarrasses itself with ‘previous-gen’ foibles. Playing N3 is a frustrating experience. [July 2006, p.124]

The core of the title has been removed, and, thanks to this, thoughts of extended appeal and any sort of depth soon become void and Point Blank shows itself for the glorified mini-game that it actually is. [Sept 2006, p.121]

Essentially it's the same five minutes of entertainment repeated over and over again and it quickly becomes wearing and repetitious. [Sept 2006, p.118]

It’s tedious to keep referring to this latest F1 release with the words, 'as in previous versions', but unfortunately that’s the generic and clichéd approach that has been taken with the latest in the series. [Mar 2007, p.121]

While it’d be wrong to criticise EA for encouraging a passing game, abhorrent ‘trick stick’ dribbling assistance is far too jerky to be of any use, making all too many games a pretty, but nevertheless staid, midfield slog. [Dec 2006, p.119]

We can't fault the solid feel of firing a weapon; there is a degree of variety spread across the chapters; and the game’s engine is reliably stable, but none of this stops the game from qualifying as a major letdown. [July 2008, p.110]

As a 360 title, average visuals and wretched clipping problems should be an issue, and the slick-at-times physics and ample combat system just can’t make up for it. [Apr 2007, p.120]

It’s a fun, frothy take on a scene that could have easily led it to drown in detestable ghetto references and urban nods, but even though B-Boy manages to avoid travelling that dangerous path, it remains no more than a guilty pleasure. [Oct 2006, p.121]

It’s a fun, frothy take on a scene that could have easily led it to drown in detestable ghetto references and urban nods, but even though B-Boy manages to avoid travelling that dangerous path, it remains no more than a guilty pleasure. [Oct 2006, p.121]

There’s hope that the better elements can be salvaged for a future sequel then, but for the time being Sega’s Shining Force isn’t quite as shiny as it should be. [June 2007, p.118]

There’s no visual distinction between what is and isn’t interactive – and the fact that some items are ridiculously small and innocuous brings much gritting of teeth. [Jan 2007, p.102]

Could have been a much more adventurously designed PlayStation3 debut for the series. Sadly, Armored Core 4 represents a great opportunity, missed. [Mar 2007, p.106]

The only real stumbling blocks are the mediocrity of the overall experience – something that’s only fully realised once play has ceased – and the repetition that has to be endured. [Mar 2007, p.120]

Anybody who suggests that the volleyball in DOA: Xtreme 2 is a good enough simulation to justify the expense either earns far more money than we do or is simply too proud to admit that animated bosoms float their boat. [Jan 2007, p.110]

It’s important to stress that Clive Barker’s Jericho is really not a bad game. It’s just nowhere near as good as the top shooters that surround it. [Dec 2007, p.124]

Trioncube manages to remain inoffensive at best and is a title we can add to a growing list of Nintendo DS puzzle games that are enjoyable but far from essential. [Aug 2007, p.125]

Rocky Balboa is the second best boxing game on PSP, but then there are only two of them. [Mar 2007, p.102]

Played with the face buttons though, this becomes a competent Virtua Tennis clone with a decent selection of shots, and great animation, but a clone that reveals its weaknesses over time. [Jan 2007, p.116]

As a 3D take on the old-school run-and-gun genre, the mixture of giant enemy hordes and fully destructible environments is often both exhilarating and deeply satisfying, albeit in a very tongue-in-cheek way. [May 2007, p.114]

Only through a scarcity of decent alternatives could we ever truly recommend this, and that’s just about as backhanded as compliments get. [June 2007, p.113]

It’s the same old formula with a few moments of motion-controlled inspiration. [Aug 2007, p.111]

It’s far too easy to tap on a square that’s actually adjacent to where you thought you were planting a tree/erecting a power station. [May 2007, p.125]

The purpose of a review is to help the reader to decide how best to spend their money, and there is little in Undertow’s familiar mechanics that can’t be found better executed elsewhere. [Jan 2008, p.130]

Due simply to its own mediocrity, this is another Bomberman that fails to make a bang. [June 2007, p.114]

For now, Moto GP is still ahead of the pack. [July 2007, p.127]

When the average game of Trivial Pursuit comes packed with thousands of unique questions for around the same price, this kind of wafer-thin package is hardly going to impress Mr and Mrs Non-Gamer. [Sept 2007, p.113]

For those moments of genuine excitement and exhilaration, it’s a game that will put a smile on your face. [Dec 2007, p.132]

You will finish the game having experienced sporadic moments of fun, but your money would be far better spent elsewhere. [June 2008, p.114]

Most devotees openly proclaim they like the game because they wanted to, not because it actually deserves it. [Feb 2009, p.108]

We've little doubt it will be nothing more than a distant memory before the year is out. [Nov 2009, p.124]

A distinctly average Worms game that will likely only be tolerated by exactly the opposite audience it hopes to enthral. [Apr 2008, p.114]

Another predictably mediocre basketball game. [Feb 2008, p.130]

The franchise’s virgin release on the DS does little to mend the flawed reputation of its forebears, but nor does it represent a step back. [Jan 2008, p.133]

Settle into the initially jarring pace of the game and it eventually becomes the sort of RPG that you simply play for the sake of playing, immersing yourself in the world and discovering its many surprises as you go. [Sept 2008, p.108]

A dull, short-lived grind. [May 2008, p.123]

Let’s just hope that if the team release a second shoot-‘em-up they look for inspiration from current Japanese shooters and not an ageing Amiga blaster that wasn’t particularly impressive in the first place. [Feb 2008, p.128]

The cosmetics and style that FaceBreaker offers in spades fail to raise the mechanics and gameplay above average. [Oct 2008, p.125]

The Wii Remote – while no substitute for the original Dreamcast controller – is extremely responsive, and it’s still immensely satisfying to land one of the bigger fish. [June 2008, p.120]

The bones are here for a stunning adventure, but the imagination simply isn't. Our disappointment is palpable. [Sept 2009, p.116]

If you have high levels of patience then there are some excellent moments that are worth staying around for, but we’d wager that most will hang up their controllers by the second or third forced Werehog mission. [Jan 2009, p.102]

There are so many cheaper, better versions in existence that it’s very hard to recommend. [Sept 2008, p.125]

A fun but stingy download. [Aug 2008, p.117]

Afro Samurai radiates style both visually and aurally, but the underlying mechanics do little to raise it above an average experience. [Apr 2009, p.112]

Dedicated genre fans, meanwhile, will find that the concessions in the gameplay – pre-highlighted hot spots and rumble hints – are both insulting to their intelligence and at odds with the entire point of the adventure genre. [June 2008, p.123]

It is possible to learn the delicate demands of each event of course, but that can often take close to an hour of practice for each one – hardly the mark of a casual-interest game. [July 2008, p.125]

Like many of the revivalist action films we've seen in recent years, it is little more than a slick homage that lacks the bite of the real thing. [July 2008, p.123]

The Conduit isn't bad, just anonymous. [Aug 2009, p.128]

Cumbersome controls and an ornery camera make any intriguing ideas irrelevant. [Apr 2009, p.115]

It’s a straight and stagnant affair: win races, progress to the next stage, repeat. There’s none of SimBin’s trademark drive and determination in this area of the game. [Mar 2009, p.102]

It’s difficult to label Go! Go! Break Steady’s use of two genres as a hybrid, because the rhythm–action and puzzle elements sit side by side, rather than one informing the other in any inventive way. [Oct 2008, p.121]

There is very little challenge. And even when you do start ‘digging’ into the past with the Hollow Pen, this involves simply drawing a circle with the stylus and carrying out an obvious action. [Christmas 2008, p.116]

Still Life 2 tries too hard to change the genre when it should have built upon its own strengths instead. [Aug 2009, p.120]

Cursed Mountain admirably recreates the tension of the established survival-horror template, but too infrequently for it to sit alongside the genre greats. [Oct 2009, p.119]

Everything required of you feels functional, mechanical, and pedestrian, and each city is sparse and lacking in the kind of lifelike vitality that gamers now demand from their sandbox environments. [May 2009, p.108]

Unless you’re a big fan of the Homestar Runner series of web cartoons, you’re likely to spend much of your time with the game scratching your head. [Oct 2008, p.114]

The main problem is that the dungeon creation is constantly interrupted by tedious tasks. [Nov 2008, p.122]

The problem isn't that Eat Lead is bad, it's just very, very average and at no point justifies its smarter-than-thou stance. [May 2009, p.117]

By not creating one big stage where all the tables are connected, plus bonus screens and integrated challenges, these high-score tables become quite tiresome. [Jan 2009, p.109]

We can’t imagine that general Rock Band players could justify buying a whole disc just for 18 songs from one band. [Feb 2009, p.123]

We'll be waiting for Phantasy Star Zero to see if that instead can re-awaken the RPG magic the series once held above all others. [June 2009, p.116]

It's the compound effect of its traditional design that causes the most problems. [Issue#93, p.134]

Section 8's major problem is that, despite offering a huge number of options to the player - in both gameplay and ideas - it feels decidedly empty and the shooting lacks the pace and kick of other shooters. [Nov 2009, p.126]

Alien Vs. Predator does a few things right, a whole lot wrong, and somehow manages to feel inferior to a game that Rebellion made ten years ago. [Apr 2010, p.132]

The minigames are the strongest asset. [Issue#93, p.118]

Gameplay is standard stuff, and very little imagination seems to have been given over to making the mini-games feel engaging. [Nov 2009, p.120]

One of the most underwhelming rhythm-action games in some time. [Issue#93, p.132]

Maybe they should have just called it "Bike" instead. [Issue#91, p.127]

The soul of the game ripped out. [Issue#91, p.120]

There's every chance White Knight Chronicles will start to shine in co-op. As a single-player experience, however, which is surely the main reason for anyone to invest, it's distinctly average, suffering from problems that are genuinely a surprise considering the brains behind it. [Apr 2010, p.124]

Mediocrity wins out. [Issue#93, p.124]

On a next-gen console, Strikeforce is a far more humdrum expenditure of time that could be better spent elsewhere. [Issue#93, p.130]

Updates are tricky; they need to be handled with the utmost love and dedication. We're not suggesting Rocket Knight hasn't been, but whatever made its ancestor appealing isn't as appreciable here. [July 2010, p.118]

If fewer ideas were crammed in, and those that were left in were developed more thoroughly. Rooms could potentially be an excellent puzzle concept. [Aug 2010, p.130]

It's a bare-bones package to say the very least, favouring glossy presentational devices to feed into that Christmas Day unboxing euphoria, while offering minimal gameplay value after the event.

To have this checklist of all the genre's flaws step up in place of the ambitious and promising title we were promised is wildly disappointing. [Issue#104, p.106]

The license really deserves a little more care and attention than this. [Christmas 2010, p.108]

TFUII feels like a series of unfulfilled and broken promises that could kill the franchise, even for Star Wars fans. [Christmas 2010, p.92]

More than any other tweak, Costume Quest is in dire need of an alternate progression mechanic. Sure, ticking off all front doors is authentic, but lends the title a stale air. [Christmas 2010, p.120]

The lack of a cover mechanic, limited controls, an awkward camera and some questionable AI result in a peculiar package. [Issue#102, p.110]

Re:coded is content to meander, offering only patronising tweaks to what we once enjoyed about the youngster-friendly mash-up franchise. [Issue#105, p.112]

At its best, it's an inferior retread of some of the first game's finer moments, but at worst, it's dangerously forgettable. [Issue#107, p.112]

Maybe it's the rather lacklustre music, the numerous side-quests that feel more bolted on than they should, or the forehead-slappingly stupid AI of the enemies and your companion, but the whole experience feels decidedly flat at times; not a good sign for a game that's supposed to absorb you into its world. [Jan 2004, p.117]

There are moments when player adrenaline levels will rise above the base level, but they are so few and far between that in the end most will decide that slogging through the copious average sections simply isn't worth the effort. [June 2005, p.116]

If only Namco had put a bit more variation into the actual content of the game instead of placing all the emphasis on the innovative interface, this might have been more than just a good starting point for the future. [July 2004, p.117]

The slightly clumsy controls and overly enthusiastic (read: nearly unbeatable) AI, plus with a new Hot Spot system that feels very random, makes the whole game feel rather lopsided and not much fun. [Dec 2003, p.125]

It's too easy to get comfortable in the routines Reservoir Dogs offers and as such it feels like going through the motions. [Nov 2006, p.125]

Disappointment, thy name is Amped 2. [Christmas 2003, p.122]

Rather than feeling like a mastermind escapologist, your actual role resembles that of an errand boy collecting the pieces of a pre-scripted plan. Yet while nothing here really shines, the overall package is solid enough to counter our gripes. [Oct 2003, p.114]

There's just not enough to do besides the main tasks to justify stealing the GTA concept ... the distinct lack of content reduces the amount of enjoyment you'll get out of it. Better than you'd think, but still very basic. [Nov 2003, p.118]

It's considerably better than last year's sorry attempt but there's still plenty of room for improvement. [Christmas 2003, p.127]

Boy racers will love Underground's edgy urban chic, otherwise you should stick with the less fashionable but ultimately more enjoyable "Burnout 2." [Christmas 2003, p.125]

With just as many levels where you'll pray for it to be over than where you're actually having fun, the game turns out to be a mixture of styles that don't meld together as solidly as they should, as well as having several frustrating joypad-throwing moments and often demanding extraordinary feats of memory from the player. [Mar 2004, p.114]

An average single-player game with competent but not brilliant multiplayer modes tacked onto the side. [Aug 2004, p.106]

In a perfect world all budget games would be of kill.switch's quality - that's where it would soar, that's where it would be ideal. As it is, it's almost exactly six hours of gung-ho entertainment from the moment you switch on your machine. But that's still just six hours. [Feb 2004, p.104]

Its attempt at being a jack-of-all-trades could seem quite appealing to gamers who casually approach the driving genre. Connoisseurs, on the other hand, will own the highest quality examples of each trade that do the job better, leaving R: Racing Evolution feeling mostly redundant. [Mar 2004, p.98]

Gamers will revel in the destruction that unfolds as they guide Spanx and Redmond through the Genron labs, but you soon realise that the humorous touches are hiding a basic and rather childish title. [Mar 2004, p.119]

Many of the puzzles are somewhat straightforward in design, and while ensuring players are less likely to hit those infuriating brick walls typically found in the genre's great titles, your input into the proceedings once again tends to feel slightly shallow and less rewarding than before. [Christmas 2003, p.108]

The 'new' simplicity makes for a fun and fast game that, courtesy of the excellent passing system and decent AI, finds a firm balance between real football and the arcade fun of a five-minute kick about. [June 2004, p.120]

Horror muted by brevity and flat atmosphere... Imitating teen-horror movies is a novel idea, but duplicating their running time and feeble horror leaves the game wanting. [Nov 2004, p.106]

Unfortunately, the difference between what Crystal Dynamics wanted to do with Snowblind and the finished product is a crevasse that good intentions fall well short of bridging, leaving the game lying in a Wile E. Coyote-style could of dust at the bottom. [March 2005, p.110]

Players now react quicker and more like their real-life counterparts when handling the first touch of the ball. And first touches are generally smoother now, with players being able to flick on, trap or kick straight away on receipt. In practice, however, it’s not such a massive advancement and the player movement and control is still fairly sluggish. [Nov 2004, p.121]

L.A. Rush isn't so much bad as uninspiring. Driving round the city is fun for a bit but after that nothing but the mediocre races, ill-conceived stunt sections and the meandering extra missions remain. [Nov 2005, p.110]

It's hard not to like Cold Fear for what it's trying to do, but it's also hard not to see the glaring errors that it makes along the way. [Apr 2005, p.119]

It's a non-offensive way to while away a few hours digging up the past, but the core gameplay doesn't hold a candle to the title it's so fondly remembering. [Nov 2005, p.108]

Far too generic to be considered anything other than average. [Christmas 2005, p.114]

There is little depth to the control of the boards, and we don't see why this shouldn't have been an on-foot racer. [Apr 2006, p.106]

For all it's button-mashing faults, though, Bloody Roar still manages to be fun. It may not be the most technical beat-'em-up on the market, nor is it the most stylish, but one thing works wonders in Bloody Roar's favour - simplicity. [Nov 2003, p.119]

One of the most frustrating aspects is the unbalanced difficulty curve. You're thrust into some tough and often unfair opening levels, only to find the challenge dropping dramatically as you progress deeper into the admittedly enjoyable storyline. [Sept 2004, p.116]

With so much going on, getting any enjoyment out of the multiplayer modes is far too much work and the simple, fun aspect found in titles like Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! has been replaced by, well, clutter. [Jan 2005, p.112]

The action is a little too samey, and things become just too repetitive. Aside from scenery variations, FMV cut-scenes and the odd boss fight, the game is practically the same from start to finish. [Jan 2004, p.125]

This game is big, chunky and bright but no amount of bold colours and cuddly enemies can save Air Ride from being a rather short-lived and simple affair. [Jan 2004, p.120]

There's just not enough to do besides the main tasks to justify stealing the GTA concept ... the distinct lack of content reduces the amount of enjoyment you'll get out of it. Better than you'd think, but still very basic. [Nov 2003, p.118]

The whole tone of the game has shifted; it's no longer a community, just a vast gladiatorial arena. [Aug 2004, p.118]

With just as many levels where you'll pray for it to be over than where you're actually having fun, the game turns out to be a mixture of styles that don't meld together as solidly as they should, as well as having several frustrating joypad-throwing moments and often demanding extraordinary feats of memory from the player. [Mar 2004, p.114]

By trying to compete in the 'ultimate first-person shooter' squabble, many a title finds its grasp underplayed by its reach. The beauty of Serious Sam is its totally nonchalent attitude towards the genre and the way it plays what could be seen as its weakest card as its strength. [June 2004, p.109]

One of the most frustrating aspects is the unbalanced difficulty curve. You're thrust into some tough and often unfair opening levels, only to find the challenge dropping dramatically as you progress deeper into the admittedly enjoyable storyline. [Sept 2004, p.116]

Players now react quicker and more like their real-life counterparts when handling the first touch of the ball. And first touches are generally smoother now, with players being able to flick on, trap or kick straight away on receipt. In practice, however, it’s not such a massive advancement and the player movement and control is still fairly sluggish. [Nov 2004, p.121]

Far too generic to be considered anything other than average. [Christmas 2005, p.114]

There is little depth to the control of the boards, and we don't see why this shouldn't have been an on-foot racer. [Apr 2006, p.106]

Boy racers will love Underground's edgy urban chic, otherwise you should stick with the less fashionable but ultimately more enjoyable "Burnout 2." [Christmas 2003, p.125]

Its attempt at being a jack-of-all-trades could seem quite appealing to gamers who casually approach the driving genre. Connoisseurs, on the other hand, will own the highest quality examples of each trade that do the job better, leaving R: Racing Evolution feeling mostly redundant. [Mar 2004, p.98]

It will be every bit as disappointing to those waiting for the marked change to give the series another shot. [Issue#108, p.109]

A play-for-a-week fad. [Issue#108, p.131]

The fact that, in harking back to earlier days, the game feels stuck in the past, the fact the fighting system really isn't deep compared to other modern-day brawlers, the fact the gore is little more than a sideshow and the fact that most of the fan service appeals to fans who have grown up a great deal since the Nineties throws up numerous reasons to criticise, however.

A fairly competent twin-stick competitive shooter. [Issue#109, p.122]

An enjoyable enough score attacker, disappointingly one-dimensional and middling as it may be. [Issue#109, p.123]

To say the level of humour is an acquired taste would be an understatement. [Issue#110, p.118]

Halts under its own weight. [Issue#111, p.114]

Watching it charge forty quid for it is downright aggravating. [Issue#112, p.108]

Manages to be inviting without being too condescending. [Issue#112, p.124]

The real problem is that success is actually down to luck, trial and error, and the whim of a cheating AI. [Issue#113, p.100]

Batman could probably take Captain America to pieces with one hand tied behind his back. [Issue#113, p.118]

Instead of embracing the technology on its own merits, the game is actually more an exercise in forcing Kinect to ape the functions – sometimes for good, but mostly ill – of a standard controller.

Still a little too much like looking at a table. [Nov 2011, p.107]

It's initially compelling, but starts to feel shallow as combat becomes a grind, and a nagging wish for more of RPG elements creeps in. [Nov 2011, p.110]

The humour and colourful designs are reference-heavy and genuinely quite charming but can only distract so much from what is essentially the same level repeated over and over. [Nov 2011, p.119]

The problem of a distinct lack of variety persists, of course, and the lack of an arena-based dogfight mode feels a wasted opportunity. [Issue#115, p.108]

A package with some technical issues and a generally very shallow feel. [Christmas 2011, p.108]

Fleeting fun and a mild distraction it may be, but The Run finishes this particular race upside down in a ditch. On fire. [Issue#117, p.112]

Passable fluff. [Issue#117, p.126]

A pretty big disappointment. [Issue#118, p.104]

Stops short of truly bad, but also some way short of recommended. [Issue#118, p.108]

Since assembling a team is more luck than judgment, Rumble couldn't be further away from the core values of the traditional Pokemon games. [Issue#118, p.110]

This isn't too bad for a couple of hours of button hammering with two friends. [Issue#118, p.112]

Little more than a mediocre effort. [Issue#119, p.96]

An anemic release, even for a budget title. [Issue#119, p.100]

You'd have to have a hell of a lot of spare time and cash to make room in your life for this. [Issue#119, p.119]

We won't be playing Unit 13 repeatedly. [Issue#120, p.98]

Judged as an Xbox Live Arcade game, American Nightmare has the production values but the novelty soon quickly wears off. [Issue#120, p.105]

Dead Souls isn't a bad game by any stretch; it's just extremely by-the-book on every level. [Issue#121, p.114]

There's little reason for the lonely man to pick this up. [Issue#121, p.117]

Fable: The Journey only has Kinect, and once again it's too unresponsive, too fiddly and too annoying to carve a genuinely enjoyable experience out of Albion. Whether Fable: The Journey was a labour of love or a contractual obligation matters little; when all's said and done the only thing that matters is that this feels like another nail in the coffin for this generation's version of Kinect – and perhaps even its last.

As an entry into a series that has failed to realise its potential, this is safe and dare we say it, also a bit boring. [Issue#135, p.106]

At its core, this is the same game we've played before. [Issue#135, p.112]

While an enjoyable story awaits the dedicated, many will struggle to move past the uninspired design, repetitive puzzles and simplified combat that makes up the bulk of the game's content. [Issue#135, p.113]

It's the epitome of an average game and one of the most disappointing 3DS releases of recent times. [Issue#135, p.121]

By 'refocusing' the game to concentrate on the more realistic side of the sport, Hitz Pro takes the series down a new path that loses any sense of identity that it might have made for itself. [Dec 2003, p.124]

The story is much the same as the game itself, and while there are moments when it seems it could be picking up, it shoots itself in the foot. Normal enemies that take full clips to dispatch, 'puzzles' that make Doom look like a brainteaser... the potholes are all too common and apparent. [Nov 2003, p.127]

The story is much the same as the game itself, and while there are moments when it seems it could be picking up, it shoots itself in the foot. Normal enemies that take full clips to dispatch, 'puzzles' that make Doom look like a brainteaser... the potholes are all too common and apparent. [Nov 2003, p.127]

Half the game it should have been. Whoever came up with the inventive level structuring or spent months mapping LA has every reason to be furious with the lacklustre implementation of their ideas. [Christmas 2003, p.106]

Sadly, the promising squad-based interface is put to incredibly uninspiring use. Despite the impressive scope, this lacklustre playing experience offers little incentive to persevere and explore the strategic depth on offer. [Dec 2003, p.126]

PopTop has spent a significant amount of time creating its own 3D engine to show off the trains. But once you've zoomed in on your new Norris locamotive a few times and watched it disappear into the tunnel you've just built, the novelty does wear thin. [Nov 2003, p.123]

When you reach a dead end, it's usually just a case of retrieving a generic puzzle item from a conveniently inconvenient hiding place before continuing. Cue several minutes of primitive platforming and beating up the undead with a functional combat system before the next 'mash the Triangle button until you find something interactive' session begins. [Nov 2003, p.126]

It's not that this is a bad game, but to ignore the more important elements of gameplay in order to add more gratuitous elements to the cauldron is unforgivable, and in that sense The Suffering is most similar to Soldier of Fortune II and the like. [June 2004, p.123]

We were disappointed when "Frontline" failed to take advantage of its World War II settings, but it's galling to see that EA still hasn't got it right with Rising Sun. If there's ever a case against World War III, then surely this is it. [Christmas 2003, p.100]

While Worms 3D essentially delivers what it says on the tin, in surrendering its intuitive interface the concept has evolved into a far less attractive proposition. A shame. [Dec 2003, p.126]

While Worms 3D essentially delivers what it says on the tin, in surrendering its intuitive interface the concept has evolved into a far less attractive proposition. A shame. [Dec 2003, p.126]

It's almost as though the team forgot that games are meant to be fun, because Ghosthunter isn't. Quite simply, you can't do anything (honestly, anything) or go anywhere the game doesn't want you to; it's almost an insult to your intelligence. [Christmas 2003, p.112]

The genre has moved on, and after over two years in the making we expected more than a basic continuation of the PSone game complete with all the trappings of that generation's first clutch of action titles. [July 2004, p.120]

It's with some remorse that we bestow upon it a fairly low score, but don't let it fool you... anyone with the means to play Lifeline shouldn't let a chance to sample this unique title pass them by. [July 2004, p.114]

A game of two halves, neither of which is finished … It is so cursed by glitches and bugs, and so devoid of anything approaching AI, that it's really impossible to believe the code sitting in your local store is anywhere near complete. [Aug 2004, p.100]

Neo Contra sees the series willing to move into a brave new world, but on this evidence it hasn’t put it’s best foot forward. [Feb 2005, p.92]

Contrived shooter with little to no depth... This is as generic as they come. [July 2005, p.122]

Invasion’s innocent looks and gameplay do have some cohesion and its very simplicity is its one saving grace. It’s bubblegum for your mind and never offensive. If it had appeared five years ago at the same price it would come recommended for the younger gamer. [Feb 2005, p.108]

Switching from an open threat such as the desert to the enclosed dangers of the Vietnamese jungle has caused Conflict: Vietnam to effectively cut out much of the need for having a squad in the first place; instead of having more freedom and creativity in taking down your enemies, your team become more like fish trapped in a jungle-shaped barrel. [Oct 2004, p.108]

Switching from an open threat such as the desert to the enclosed dangers of the Vietnamese jungle has caused Conflict: Vietnam to effectively cut out much of the need for having a squad in the first place; instead of having more freedom and creativity in taking down your enemies, your team become more like fish trapped in a jungle-shaped barrel. [Oct 2004, p.108]

Brian De Palma’s film was an indictment of violence and capitalist greed; here they are your primary goal – the developer is relishing in the brutality and profanity and severely missing the point in the process. [Dec 2006, p.123]

The core gameplay is somewhat lacking. ‘But it’s for kids,’ we hear you cry. Maybe so, but even kids - or those who are just young at heart - will no doubt want a challenge that lasts longer than it would take to watch the original trilogy. [May 2005, p.109]

The core gameplay is somewhat lacking. ‘But it’s for kids,’ we hear you cry. Maybe so, but even kids - or those who are just young at heart - will no doubt want a challenge that lasts longer than it would take to watch the original trilogy. [May 2005, p.109]