We could well be looking at a number one here. Unfortunately, Batman Begins won’t deserve such an elevated status as it’s average to the core. [Aug 2005, p.106]

It’s harmless mass-market entertainment; the kind that any discerning gamer should already know to leave well alone. [Christmas 2005, p.116]

Ultimately, Shattered Union is just too frustrating to be enjoyable. Its accessibility problems are crippling and even after you've got to grips with how the game works, it still feels unbalanced and confusing. [Dec 2005, p.127]

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]

The game is so immensely frustrating and linear that moments of fun are few and far between. [Apr 2006, p.124]

The game is so immensely frustrating and linear that moments of fun are few and far between. [Apr 2006, p.124]

Dragonball Z: Shin Budokai is as soft a beat-‘em-up as you’re likely to find and, worse still, one that offers nothing more than the previous games, aside from the fact that it’s on a portable console. [May 2006, p.130]

Ease of play combines with the game’s slow pace to undermine all Taito’s good intentions. [Aug 2006, p.128]

There are better examples of the genre for sure, it's just a shame they're not on any console. We'll say one thing for it - it's miles better than "Final Fantasy XI." But then, that's not saying much, is it? [Christmas 2006, p.130]

It may be a technical marvel, a beautiful game of staggering scope and scale, but its gameplay is narrow, linear and never changes. [Chrismas 2007, p.122]

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]

Clichéd, generic, bland, boring and infuriating. [Mar 2008, p.120]

This is gaming for the masses; completely undemanding and uninspired, but solid enough to appease the cerebrally challenged. [Jan 2007, p.116]

There’s a fun story to be experienced here, but it’s constantly halted by the lack of progression. Any notion of pace, suspension of disbelief or immersion is constantly shattered by obtuse puzzling, aimless wandering and wooden, static performances. [Nov 2006, p.104]

It’s a real shame that a game with such promise has to be scored so low because of inefficiencies within the industry, especially if the version that’s on retailers’ shelves is now far tighter than the copy in our possession. [Dec 2006, p.125]

This being Pro Evo it’s still possible to knock the ball about with reasonable proficiency and score the occasional memorable goal, but if it’s handheld football you’re after, then this is simply not the right console. [Mar 2007, p.110]

Perhaps the biggest letdown of all is that Wario’s mischievous side is never allowed to flourish with few opportunities to create havoc in Kaitou Wario The Seven’s sprawling levels. [JPN Import; Apr 2007, p.108]

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]

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]

No amount of sentiment can raise this game above the average. [Sept 2007, p.120]

For all or its attractive locations and pleasant similarities to the films, it’s simply not an engaging game. [July 2007, p.117]

A Sonic game struggling for its own identity. [Nov 2007, p.108]

The non-existent friendly AI combined with the relentless assault of dull attackers makes The Simpsons an almost depressing experience. It doesn’t feel quite right to be laughing when you’re not enjoying yourself. [Chrismas 2007, p.120]

Yes, it’s bright and character-filled, but with such bewildering mechanics and erratic difficulty, there won’t be many youngsters that will tolerate it for any great length of time. [Mar 2008, p.135]

The Sixaxis presents both a problem and joy for Toy Home. On one hand it’s a hindrance as you’ll never go in a straight line. On the other, successfully boosting and drifting around corners is great fun. [Feb 2008, p.135]

Curling and figure skating, as engaging as they are, are not sufficient to rescue this sub-par package from non-league status. [June 2008, p.116]

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]

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]

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

Velvet Assassin accentuates the negatives of the genre rather than it emphasises the positives. [July 2009, p.108]

Too short-lived to justify even the standard Live Arcade entry fee. [Aug 2008, p.113]

The Clone Wars is spared irrelevance by its style and personality, but only just. [Jan 2009, p.108]

There’s no getting around the fact that it’s often more tempting to run past the majority of enemies and complete the game in a couple of hours, than it is to actually brawl your way through. [Apr 2009, p.113]

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

As you do your first turn and notice your character eerily rotating through space in a box, no apparent bodily movement guiding the trick, the realisation dawns that there's almost no fun to be gleaned from satisfactorily pulling off a stunt in Stoked. [Nov 2009, p.112]

There’s something strangely likeable about it all – the ambition and passion of the development team is actually oddly appealing. It’s just all so misguided. [Mar 2009, p.124]

It may have its good points, but when it comes down to it PowerUp Forever isn’t as good as many of the other similar titles available over Xbox Live. [Feb 2009, p.113]

An insipid and trite game that struggles with plot, consistency and character, settling instead for a mindless headlong charge. [Mar 2009, p.118]

It's only with extended play that Retribution's meaningless sadism, over-the-top machismo, mish-mash of gameplay elements and backdrop of futile storytelling destroy any possible reason not to put down the controller. [Issue#96, p.126]

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]

Technical issues aside, the main problem is that each set of games is not a random selection from a larger bunch but the same set of five every time. As such, you'll experience all the game has to offer in less than five minutes. [June 2009, p.129]

Mercifully, Staff Of Kings is a very short game and it won't be too long before you unlock the vastly superior bonus game, Fate Of Atlantis. [Aug 2009, p.127]

As an exercise in flexing evil, it's far more tiresome than it is enjoyable and as an advert for the freedom of evil, it may as well be Hitler's screaming head in a vacuum-sealed bell jar. [Aug 2009, p.126]

There's just no thrill to the combat and no spark to the characters or story, which ultimately makes Magna Carta II a step backwards in an already static genre. [Dec 2009, p.103]

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]

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

Another Code R commits all the same crimes a bad novel would: the dialogue is uninteresting, the characters unlikeable, the pace slow and the premise so uninspiring that you soon lose the motivation to see what happens next. [Sept 2009, p.122]

The overall tactile quality is of a PS2 title that has migrated to a more powerful system and finds itself surrounded by far tougher birds. [Dec 2009, p.126]

Ill-advised from concept to execution. [Issue#93, p.112]

Calling's biggest failing is that you never ever feel scared. [Issue#95, p.124]

Forget any notion of playing this "Again", there's very little here to justify even playing through once. [Issue#96, p.110]

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]

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]

Trinity Universe's combat lacks the depth that Nippon Ichi and Gust have shown in the past. It too often feels repetitive, clunky, and lacking the strategy we've come to expect. [Aug 2010, p.124]

Feels like a trip back to the last generation. [Issue#99, p.122]

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

Blade Kitten saves itself from the lower reaches of the ten-point scale with some genuinely impressive level design. It's complex without being confusing, the tangled and involved areas seemingly offering multiple avenues but always pushing you along the correct route. [Issue#101, p.127]

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]

The inclusion of the original Splatterhouse titles as unlockables, along with its many old-school sensibilities - such as side-scrolling stages with arranged music from the old arcade soundtrack - just about tip this into guilty pleasure territory. [Issue#104, p.108]

It's clear that considerable effort has gone into Shred, but for those with fond memories of the Birdman's glory days, this could be the final insult. [Issue#104, p.118]

The driving mechanic in itself is an interesting display of ever-increasing possibilities of the kit, and we look forward to seeing its like implemented in more compulsive, sophisticated titles further down the line. [Issue#104, p.127]

Three games in one it may be, but the sum total of Razing Storm is disappointment, and a reminder that the Time Crisis franchise lost its way a long time ago. [Christmas 2010, p.111]

TV Superstars is a deeply cynical product that manages to bring together the worst of modern culture with the most vapid shovelware the Wii has suffered. [Christmas 2010, p.112]

For hardware nuts, Final Fantasy obsessives and PS3 owners, FFXIV does offer a fairly distinctive MMO experience. [Christmas 2010, p.94]

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

Another unfortunate example of a classic game that has been marred by a shoddy modern redux. [Issue#106, p.124]

A poor script and worse voice-acting. [Issue#107, p.94]

More like a clinically insane uncle; you'll spend time with it because it's family, but it will confuse and embarrass you with every opportunity it gets. [Issue#107, p.114]

Okay, so it's hard to knock the presentation... but when the game's this bland and has virtually no replay value, it hardly seems worth bothering. [Apr 2004, p.114]

The problem really lies with the game being far too stilted and linear, shunting players from one mission to the next without giving them much choice in the matter. In drawing the game back to its rawest roots, Rockstar has done the series an injustice by taking one step back too many. [Christmas 2004, p.116]

Various publishing houses have pushed and pulled the direction of the game and the resulting product dazzles with its incoherence and dated nature. [June 2004, p.114]

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]

A tendency to lose track of your player amongst hordes of slathering foes and a constantly changing camera spoils any potential fun ... leaving the whole package somewhat less than we were hoping for. [Dec 2003, p.124]

One of the most frustrating things about OV is the fact that there's very little feeling of control. But what seems at first to be a truly pathetic attempt at a sports game does take shape (of sorts) once you put some time into learning exactly how it plays. [Nov 2003, p.125]

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]

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]

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]

A relentless conveyor belt of cannon fodder ensures the carnage is kept at a suitably frantic rate, yet with every wave of cookie-cutter thrown to the mercy of your crosshair, repetition becomes an increasingly prevalent factor. [Mar 2004, p.116]

Capcom may well have delivered a game that can offer an online experience like nothing else currently available, but it's presented in such a haphazard fashion that many gamers will grow frustrated with the connection problems and simply go back to their other online titles. [May 2004, p.106]

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]

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]

The game is so immensely frustrating and linear that moments of fun are few and far between. [Apr 2006, p.124]

It's almost as though Jam can't decide what kind of fighting game it wants to be, thanks to a dramatic clash of styles in terms of both combat and visuals. [March 2005, p.118]

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]

It's harmless mass-market entertainment; the kind that any discerning gamer should already know to leave well alone. [Christmas 2005, p.116]

Ultimately, Shattered Union is just too frustrating to be enjoyable. Its accessibility problems are crippling and even after you've got to grips with how the game works, it still feels unbalanced and confusing. [Dec 2005, p.127]

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]

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]

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]

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

The more you play, the more it becomes obvious that this is more than a case of shattered hopes. There are some serious issues concerning gameplay and enjoyment that leave this Star Fox game a fair way short of its predecessors. [Apr 2005, p.92]

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]

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]

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]

As limiting as it may be, the recreation of a Pokemon universe is a delightfully escapist one, but after the first week or so it'll take some serious staying power to keep coming back to your yellow friend. [Mar 2004, p.106]

Recommended only for DDR completists or people who would seriously consider Mushroom Kingdom cosplay. [Dec 2005, p.122]

It's harmless mass-market entertainment; the kind that any discerning gamer should already know to leave well alone. [Christmas 2005, p.116]

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]

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

It quickly turns into a daily act of attrition rather than anything that promotes mental or physical growth, and a game that is unlikely to hold the attention of anyone - of any age - for very long. [Issue#108, p.125]

A bunch of misfit characters, bland stages and overly repetitive, mash-happy action. [Issue#109, p.110]

You simply can't ignore the fact that the developer has been unable to match the scale of its ambition in the lacklustre final product. [Issue#109, p.112]

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

The most inadequate of games: a platformer that struggles in its platforming. [Issue#110, p.122]

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

Consistently let down by poor design decisions and outdated play mechanics. [Issue#111, p.116]

It's time the developer started exploring the potential. [Issue#112, p.119]

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]

Bland gameplay and weak narrative implementation. [Nov 2011, p.106]

In the most competitive genre in gaming Bodycount just doesn't measure up, and certainly doesn't get anywhere near the brutal brilliance of Epic and People Can Fly's Bulletstorm. [Nov 2011, p.108]

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

It just feels too much like an engaging tech demo that had nowhere solid to expand to. [Issue#115, p.110]

While the deviant design maintains the unsympathetic difficulty, here it feels cheap and archaic within the context of such plodding action. [Christmas 2011, p.107]

If this is edutainment, it could do with a lot more of the latter part. [Issue#117, p.118]

A gutless turn for a franchise that prides itself on being the exact opposite. [Issue#118, p.115]

The animation is clunky and below par, but the art direction is quite good, in a lowbrow, pulp comic book kind of a way. The script is trite, and music and voice acting both well below par, but you still couldn't accuse it of being a technical shambles. Design wise, though, it's formulaic, tedious and messy.

It's repetitive, monotonous, and just plain boring. [Issue#119, p.94]

Outside of novelty value, there's little reason why anyone should pick this up with their Vita over the vastly superior WipEout 2048. [Issue#119, p.97]

Kinect Star Wars is a hodgepodge of ideas that, either through the Kinect's limited functionality or slipshod execution, simply aren't cohesive enough to deliver the Star Wars experience that fans demand. Our advice? Go outside and pick up a stick.

A truly disappointing sequel. [Issue#121, p.104]

It comes nowhere close to living up to its title's protestations. [Issue#121, p.112]

It's a trudge of a game, and while it performs its chosen task moderately well, it's about as ambitious and captivating as a drizzle-soaked walk to the local shop.

Fundamental control niggles mean very few players will persevere to unlock everything DP has to offer. [Issue#122, p.104]

Shoddy combat racing. [Issue#122, p.105]

There's no doubt that you'll find a lot of praise for Episode II out there, since it addresses the physics issues with the first episode so well, but games™ can't honestly recommend a game so under-developed on quality controls alone.

By journey's end, it's only a passing interest in the increasingly intriguing story that holds attention. Indeed, this is a deeply flawed and overly ambitious attempt for a developer unable to grasp the genre basics. Its only real triumph is that it doesn't completely tarnish the licence's sterling reputation.

It's not a horror experience. There are attempts to slap on some kind of Silent Hill-esque story to everything, but it's utterly worthless. Silent Hill: Book Of Memories is a shallow dungeon-crawler, with even the likes of Dungeon Hunter: Alliance providing more fun. It is, in short, a failure; not the sort of thing we want from Silent Hill, nor the sort of thing we want for the Vita.

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.

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.

You'll quickly realise that it's button bashing and not finesse that will aid you in your quest. Add to this a tacked-on rhythm-action game and you're left with a shallow and derivative game that offers no redeeming features. [Nov 2003, p.122]

What we have here is the absolute bare bones of the stealth genre mixed with shock video scenes that attempt to add flavour to the otherwise bland action. Essentially, the gameplay works as follows: track down a Hunter, get behind him, hold down the X-button...and...that's it. [Jan 2004, p.122]

Rigidity under the façade of freedom … prevents Rogue Ops from being aything other than a sub-standard stealth clone. Against the competition, which is growing stronger by the month, it's hardly surprising, but we expected better than this. [Feb 2004, p.110]

Ironically, the developer has actually been very successful in mapping a superbly intuitive control system to the gamepad, and by enabling direct control of your Titan a basic action element is introduced. Yet by totally amputating any strategic scope from the RTS equation, the ensuing battles becoming virtually pointless affairs. [Mar 2004, p.111]

Dilute, disjointed and uninspiring. Feeling more like a staggered set of obstacles than a wholesome game, the action sadly boils down to little more than a tediously dull showcase for your equipment and abilities, which are put into use against some questionable AI stooges. [Jan 2004, p.118]

Life in the flat is a painfully hollow experience to which the eventual moment of intimacy becomes an inevitable anti-climax. [May 2004, p.122]

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

Despite ticking all the correct boxes Arenas lacks any synergy between components, making it the "Turok Evolution" of racing sequels. [Feb 2004, p.123]

We're cataclysmically disappointed that Rogue Agent even exists. Just when it seemed like EA had pulled its socks up and become a real unstoppable force with games to match its resources, we get this ' perhaps the most cynical and cobbled-together excuse for a key release we've ever seen. [Christmas 2004, p.111]

It’s an immense letdown – so much so that the first few hours of play are filled with disbelief, as players are forced to lower their expectations with each new disappointment...The Getaway: Black Monday should be avoided by all but the most fervent lovers of mediocrity. [Christmas 2004, p.112]

This is clichéd, tedious, frustrating nonsense, as archaic in its gameplay as it is banal in its story. [Sept 2005, p.120]

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]

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

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

It bears all the hallmarks of a game rushed to meet a deadline and its refusal to use the touch screen is the biggest faux pas a launch game can commit on the DS. [Jan 2005, p.121]

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]

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]

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]

Samurai Western is a mess of a game, one that dangles a fun-looking carrot in front of your nose before bludgeoning your face in with a mallet. [Sept 2005, p.122]

Quite simply, Revenge… is the worst kind of Star Wars game - one that looks good enough to appeal to impulsive fans, but ultimately fails to deliver by being a horribly derivative, stale and linear example of the genre it so lazily falls into. [July 2005, p.114]

It's a horrible, cynically produced, soulless and poorly designed racing game that manages to be as equally boring as it is frustrating. [Dec 2005, p.107]

Once the contentment of seeing the impressive 'ultimate'look of the Spider-Man characters has faded and the comic book flair has become old news, it's still going to be a very bitter pill to swallow. [Dec 2005, p.118]

The touch screen is now just another method of input and, as such, a compendium of weak mini-games will no longer cut it as entertainment. [Mar 2006, p.122]

It’s such an exercise in drear that only a masochist would get any pleasure out of it, and even they’d have to ignore the hackneyed sub-Uwe Boll narrative. [Apr 2006, p.107]

The story isn’t interesting and you’ll often find yourself flying aimlessly through space, waiting for your next set of orders. It may be realistic in relation to the world of Star Trek, but that doesn’t mean it’s fun to play. [Feb 2007, p.107]

Dirge is an ugly, cynical and tiresome videogame, the likes of which the next generation will hopefully eradicate. [June 2006, p.130]

Repetitive tasks have a history as a means of punishment that goes back to ancient myth. Kingdom Under Fire: Circle Of Doom seems keen to emulate this for reasons known only to its sadistic creators. [Mar 2008, p.128]

Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires would be less annoying if we hadn’t played it about eight times before. [July 2006, p.132]

Wait for Pro Evo 6 if you can, and in the meantime be happy with FIFA 06 if you really must play EA’s sim. [June 2006, p.122]

When accurately describing videogames, we tend to use the word ‘dross’ rarely, but this particular X-Men title has forced the word from us in a spectacular fashion. [July 2006, p.130]

When accurately describing videogames, we tend to use the word ‘dross’ rarely, but this particular X-Men title has forced the word from us in a spectacular fashion. [July 2006, p.130]

When accurately describing videogames, we tend to use the word ‘dross’ rarely, but this particular X-Men title has forced the word from us in a spectacular fashion. [July 2006, p.130]

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

Blade Dancer is an RPG lacking in character, soul, and most importantly, entertainment. Not recommended. [Oct 2006, p.129]

Futuristic racing never felt so outdated. [Sept 2008, p.117]

Its nicely cel-shaded characters pull off impressively over-baked attack combos in colourful stages, but it lacks balance and plays with no subtlety. [Mar 2007, p.111]

Lair amounts to nothing more than an unpleasant mixture of boredom and irritation. Not exactly the system seller that the machine is positively screaming out for. [Nov 2007, p.104]

It bears no relation to the real thing: fine if it’s fun, but unpleasant and frustrating when it’s not. And it’s really not. [June 2007, p.127]

Although bundled with a Wii Remote, it's still impossible to recommend Wii Play. Many of the mini-games feel clumsy, and the ones that don't are destined to be short-lived at best. [Christmas 2006, p.136]

Dead ‘N’ Furious never scares or repulses, and neither does it attempt to be anything more than a shooting gallery with targets dressed up in bloodstained clothes. [Oct 2007, p.124]

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]

If you’re truly worried about your vision we recommend spending the £20 on an eye test instead, as Sight Training will offer you nothing but prolonged boredom and headaches. [Jan 2008, p.127]

Tedious, clumsy and uncomfortable to play, Box Office Bust is one of the least enjoyable platform games we've been subjected to this generation. [June 2009, p.123]

Far too often your hands will be in the right physical space, but the Wii thinks they’re elsewhere – inexcusable in this kind of videogame. [Dec 2008, p.126]

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]

As soon as you pass the initial novelty of feeling like Legolas, or whatever character the Scout corresponds to - though we’d argue its inspiration is the Spy class from Battlefront - half of the gameplay disappears into the ether. [Feb 2009, p.118]

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]

How ironic that Revenge Of The Fallen should be weighed down with options to keep you coming back, yet offer pitifully few reasons to play it in the first place. [Sept 2009, p.120]

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]

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]

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]

As an extra disc to a six-film box set its existence is just about justified, but placed against a slew of superior titles it offers nothing more than an evening's mild distraction. [Christmas 2009, p.128]

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

Acquire has included little structure to complement the story's broad narrative scope or offer a sense of attachment, leaving it trapped somewhere between a Kung-Fu style wanderer's chronicle and a point-to-point adventure-lite that simply features too much wandering. [Apr 2010, p.109]

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

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

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

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]

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]

There's nothing in Nail'd that is outright offensive, but the sloppiness of its execution damn-near eradicates any fun that could have been gleaned from it. [Issue#105, p.122]

With daft mini-games and Gadgets designed for four players to huddle around a single GBA, it's stupidity of the highest order that Nintendo should invent the 'one man party'. [July 2005, p.102]

Diluted, disjointed and uninspiring. Feeling more like a staggered set of obstacles than a wholesome game, the action sadly boils down to little more than a tediously dull showcase for your equipment and abilities, which are put into use against some questionable AI stooges. [Jan 2004, p.118]

You'll quickly realise that it's button bashing and not finesse that will aid you in your quest. Add to this a tacked-on rhythm-action game and you're left with a shallow and derivative game that offers no redeeming features. [Nov 2003, p.122]

Ironically, the developer has actually been very successful in mapping a superbly intuitive control system to the gamepad, and by enabling direct control of your Titan a basic action element is introduced. Yet by totally amputating any strategic scope from the RTS equation, the ensuing battles becoming virtually pointless affairs. [Mar 2004, p.111]

Rigidity under the façade of freedom … prevents Rogue Ops from being aything other than a sub-standard stealth clone. Against the competition, which is growing stronger by the month, it's hardly surprising, but we expected better than this. [Feb 2004, p.110]

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

We're cataclysmically disappointed that Rogue Agent even exists. Just when it seemed like EA had pulled its socks up and become a real unstoppable force with games to match its resources, we get this ' perhaps the most cynical and cobbled-together excuse for a key release we've ever seen. [Christmas 2004, p.111]

Quite simply, Revenge… is the worst kind of Star Wars game - one that looks good enough to appeal to impulsive fans, but ultimately fails to deliver by being a horribly derivative, stale and linear example of the genre it so lazily falls into. [July 2005, p.114]

We wanted to like Spikeout, we really did, but less than a day of enduring what the game had to 'offer' and having so many flaws thrown in our faces was more than enough to convince us never to play it again. [June 2005, p.115]

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]

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]

When accurately describing videogames, we tend to use the word 'dross' rarely, but this particular X-Men title has forced the word from us in a spectacular fashion. [July 2006, p.130]

Ironically, the developer has actually been very successful in mapping a superbly intuitive control system to the gamepad, and by enabling direct control of your Titan a basic action element is introduced. Yet by totally amputating any strategic scope from the RTS equation, the ensuing battles becoming virtually pointless affairs. [Mar 2004, p.111]

We can only come to one conclusion here: Odama really isn't any fun to play. At all. [May 2006, p.122]

When accurately describing videogames, we tend to use the word 'dross' rarely, but this particular X-Men title has forced the word from us in a spectacular fashion. [July 2006, p.130]

Rigidity under the façade of freedom … prevents Rogue Ops from being aything other than a sub-standard stealth clone. Against the competition, which is growing stronger by the month, it's hardly surprising, but we expected better than this. [Feb 2004, p.110]