There's just uninhibited hubris masquerading as knowing, swaggering braggadocio, a technological Frankenstein's monster. [Issue#111, p.98]

The 3D effect itself, cheerfully rotating its wheels in the background, does absolutely nothing. [Issue#108, p.116]

There are times when nostalgia wins out; when you realise this is an actual Cannon Fodder sequel, but that's quickly squashed down and washed away by a glitchy, boring and hugely underwhelming experience. In fairness, it's nowhere near as bad as might have been expected. But saying that about a game doesn't mean it's at all good.

Salvation is too derivative, too short, and too repetitive to be a worthy recommendation. It feels the very definition of an easy movie cash-in. [July 2009, p.124]

Developer Killaware has managed to whittle interactivity down to its barest form, reducing the medium's defining characteristic to little more than a progression through text boxes. [June 2009, p.126]

Certainly, many of Colonial Marines’ flaws could have been excusable back in the early days of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but now, when every title is polished to a near excruciating level of quality, it just doesn’t cut it.

A tiring slog of a game that doesn't offer enough reward to justify the energy expenditure required to play it - even if it does keep account of how many calories you burn throughout. [Christmas 2010, p.113]

A grubby looking, badly conceived and hastily programmed game that does nothing for the genre except add unnecessary limitations. [Apr 2005, p.110]

True, Beat Down isn’t entirely without potential, but the execution is woeful. For your own sake, avoid it at all costs. [Nov 2005, p.104]

A woeful misstep into the pantheon of disposable first-person shooters, and a balsa wood ghost town of a game that no amount of support patching could possibly shore up. [Issue#113, p.96]

Every hour, you are presented with the ideas that the developer had but simply couldn’t afford, and that only serves to make Legendary’s unrelenting run-and-gun approach harder to swallow. [Christmas 2008, p.96]

One or two puzzles aside, there’s no ‘wrong’ response to anything asked of you, and no advantages to being right first time, completely negating any kind of satisfaction you might have gleaned from figuring out each case. [Sept 2008, p.112]

The design of the islands, which seem to have been put together with a random level generator, adds to the sensation that Wing Island is more of a tech demo than a carefully planned game. [Apr 2007, p.119]

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]

A poor Tenchu wannabe that simply fails to deliver enjoyment. We played it because we had to - you don’t. [May 2005, p.96]

Destiny is so bad that it could force players to question their cherished memories of Eternal Darkness. [Issue#115, p.106]

With core mechanics this flawed, no amount of cut-scene-laden story modes, create-a-move editors or unlockable extras will make up for what is a truly putrid videogame. [Aug 2006, p.127]

Just don't expect it to live up [to] the potential of the D&D license. [Issue#111, p.112]

A poor Tenchu wannabe that simply fails to deliver enjoyment. We played it because we had to - you don't. [May 2005, p.96]

What would make it better? If it had wheels. [Issue#91, p.118]

Weirdly attempting to serve two masters, Supermini Festa tries to add both casual fun and hardcore depth to the original formula, with mixed results. [Apr 2010, p.130]

This could have been so much more, but the shoddy engine and woeful AI let down some fairly solid and slightly confusing concepts. [Nov 2005, p.125]

This could have been so much more, but the shoddy engine and woeful AI let down some fairly solid and slightly confusing concepts. [Nov 2005, p.125]

It's hard not to wonder just what exactly High Voltage Software is trying to prove. [Issue#99, p.114]

Despite glaring issues with aliasing and shaders, Sniper is a technically adept game. [Issue#99, p.126]

Ninety-Nine Nights 2 is not a bad game; it's merely one whose appeal is limited to those blessed with saintly patience, an insatiable need to play every fantasy game, a penchant for mass genocide or some unlikely combination of the three. [Issue#101, p.106]

Main Man can only be recommended if you enjoy to run around and shoot things for no real reason, and there are countless other games that do better without the annoyances that accompany this stereotypical title. [Dec 2006, p.127]

Street Trace boils down to a mostly random arena shooter where victory is assured through lucky button mashing rather than any kind of skill. [Nov 2007, p.126]

If only the developer hadn’t completely messed things up with its restrictive camera angles and unfair challenges then it could have had a uniquely fun DS game on its hands. [Mar 2009, p.120]

As a catalogue of all the errors you can ever expect to see in a clunky first-person shooter Fall Of Liberty excels. [May 2008, p.120]

Even at a budget price point, this is one slip-up that can't be blamed on banana skins. [Issue#112, p.120]

Erase those memories of halcyon days spent nurturing your arthritis with the original coin-op, because Streetwise does it no kind of justice. [May 2006, p.124]

Thanks in part to an atrocious camera, extremely dislikeable characters and a handful of amazingly frustrating sticking points, all this iteration of Sonic The Hedgehog manages to achieve is a yearning for the old days. [Apr 2007, p.129]

Occasionally playable, but just mostly horrible. [Issue#108, p.116]

Reprehensible on both qualitative and thematic levels, Naughty Bear is a downright disgraceful attempt at a game. [Issue#99, p.116]

With combat relying on clever use of items and plenty of RPG-esque searching and equipping, Rengoku does show some potential, but it’s far too little, and with so many better-quality titles already on the market, it’s definitely too late. [Mar 2006, p.116]

Still thinking of buying this? You must be out of your mind. [Issue#106, p.106]

Erase those memories of halcyon days spent nurturing your arthritis with the original coin-op, because Streetwise does it no kind of justice. [May 2006, p.124]

Game Republic may throw a whole bestiary of mythological Greco-Roman creatures at the player, but when killing them feels so unremarkable, the end result feels like a lot of wasted effort. [Aug 2010, p.127]

Things On Wheels is too pedestrian to catch on in the demanding Live Marketplace, and too frustrating to be fun. [Feb 2009, p.121]

A lifeless carcass in the FPS mould lies in its wake. [Issue#109, p.104]

The sluggish fighting feels surprisingly weighty. [Issue#115, p.102]

There's simply not enough material here to justify the asking price, and the small amount on the disc is sub-par entertainment on almost every level. [Dec 2009, p.111]

An affront. [Issue#96, p.114]

A fumbled attempt at an interesting yet obviously tricky fusion of genres and no amount of laughs - intentional or otherwise - can save it. [Oct 2009, p.131]

Even at the bargain-bin price that Rock Revolution is undoubtedly going to hit mere weeks after it is released, the game is an irredeemable waste of time. [Feb 2009, p.114]

It highlights Kinect's flaws rather than showcases its strengths, sending out one, clear, reverberating message – Kinect simply isn't refined enough to unite the hardware with the hardcore.

Had the handling and collision detection been improved, then Wheelspin might actually have been a good game. [Issue#91, p.114]

Our review code froze four times during play, each occasion coming as a blessed relief, a welcome respite from the tedium. [Issue#101, p.111]

It’s a solid FPS, but its failure to provide a truly original take on an ever-tiring genre or something even vaguely resembling half-decent AI means that it could never be considered anything better than plain average. [Aug 2007, p.114]

You’ll likely find that the motions are easily confused and unresponsive, with some situational moves, such as weaving, next to impossible to pull off with the degree of consistency that would make their inclusion worthwhile. [Apr 2009, p.122]

It's not a game. [Issue#118, p.106]

Kung Fu Rider remains virtually the same from the first moment until the last, and singularly fails to justify its frankly baffling price tag. [Issue#101, p.126]

The huge, sprawling levels, multiple routes and breadth of choice on offer may be countered by awkward controls and uninspired vehicle sections, but there's a modicum of entertainment beneath the obvious design flaws if you look hard enough. [Aug 2009, p.114]

To say that the gameplay feels clunky is a huge understatement. Throw in a cover system that defies belief, which is often essential for boss encounters, and it's a tiresome slog. [Oct 2009, p.128]

There are some laughs to be had at its expense, and everything here works, but that's absolutely all it does. [Issue#122, p.110]

Multi-player over Xbox Live … is the only reason anyone should consider investing in Bomberman Act:Zero. [Oct 2006, p.132]

If Amy ever had a chance of keeping its head above water and surviving these problems, the awful checkpoint system ensures it drowns in them.

Declassified is a sorry way to end 14 years of coding history at Nihilistic. The kindest thing you can say about it is that it's a reasonably authentic facsimile of the Call Of Duty blueprint, yet it feels like the work of an artist who is painstakingly tracing a masterpiece but lacks the craft to replicate the magical that made the original so attractive in the first place.

In practice, Gundam: Crossfire is barely playable. We blame the game’s frame rate which we reckon must run as low as 10 fps and only as high as what looks like about 20fps. [Jan 2007, p.103]

This fun mockery of a bygone age becomes nothing but a regrettably cumbersome slog. [July 2008, p.120]

We Rock: Drum King proves that drumming simply doesn't satisfy without the acknowledging thwack and rebound of stick meeting skin. [June 2009, p.118]

It's as if the developer simply ceased to care, or ran out of time, or both. Who knows? What we do know is that Terminal Velocity has crafted something truly loathsome and undeserving of its heritage. [Issue#135, p.108]

Like booting up a mediocre run-and-gunner from the mid-Nineties. [Issue#109, p.114]

What would we change? Just about everything. Rogue Warrior isn't broken, but it is bland and characterless. [Feb 2010, p.128]