Metareview - Reservoir Dogs (PS2)

Ah yes, just the latest in an ever-growing succession of pitiful movie-to-game adaptations. There are exceptions -- Goldeneye, King Kong, and The Warriors come to mind -- but Reservoir Dogs is not one of them.

What's most disappointing about Eidos and Volatile's misstep is that it wasn't developed under the time constraints of a current blockbuster tie-in license, but rather, it was an opportunity to pay homage to Tarantino's influential film. Fourteen years ago we would have expected a Reservoir Dogs game to be terrible, but now? C'mon guys, you gotta do better than this:

• Eurogamer (50/100) - "Tarantino's movie showed audiences just what could be achieved with no money but stacks of talent, while the game merely demonstrates what can be pulled off with current generation hardware and enough spare cash to snap up the rights to a cult movie."

• Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK (50/100) - "A bad idea executed only slightly better." [Oct 2006]

• IGN (30/100) - "At least you have the movie soundtrack to fall back on, but that isn't saying much."

Update: Removed IGN (UK) review; replaced with IGN (US) review.

[Also available on Xbox]