Gorky Zero: Beyond Honor

Its bargain basement credentials are evident in a lack of visual polish, poor mission balancing and dodgy enemy AI. Character animations are clunky, enemies fail to become alarmed by bullets ricocheting next to their heads, and the stealth mechanics are a little hazy.

Its main selling point is realism, not in all aspects but enough to make the game more unique than it would first seem. It's flawed, but if you give it a chance you'll discover a reasonable game wrapped up in an excellent story.

The simple fact is that there's nothing new here, and anything that is here is done badly.

The dodgy camera, the impossible shooting set-up, the annoyingly slow stealth mode and the lack of a decent story! For the first time ever for me, I can say that there is nothing good about this game.

The weapons line-up is too predictable, with just a pistol, sniper rifle and explosives at your disposal, and the automated targeting arrangement means that even when you do take folk down, there is little satisfaction to be had. The graphics are flat, the voice characterisations plodding and the whole experience way too sterile.

What annoys me most about Gorky Zero is that although it's crap, it's not amusingly so. Some games are so dire that you find yourself laughing before you shred their shiny disks, but this is so generic and uninspiring that it's frustrating.

How generic can a game be? How devoid of charm, ideas, or entertainment? How relentless in its march towards cliché and boredom?