According to the manual, Restricted Area was created by exactly two people--and it shows. Now we aren't just talking about the sorely outdated shareware-caliber graphics, the amateurish techno soundtrack, the poorly translated dialogue, the horrible monster A.I., or even the truckload of glitches and crash bugs you'll encounter. No, what we mean is unabashedly dull action-RPG gameplay that will leave your eyes glazed over and your keyboard covered in a puddle of your own drool.

Basically, this is Diablo meets Shadowrun: a run-and-gun clickfest through a dreary near-future wasteland where cyborgs, mutants, and other sci-fi malcontents have taken up residence. You can choose from among four genre stereotypes (Matrix-copycat gun bunny, sword-wielding yakuza reject, psychic bimbo, and punked-out hacker chick), each with an area of expertise and a skill tree that you customize as you level up.

But 10 minutes in, Restricted Area devolves into little more than monotonous mouse clicking as you navigate uninspired dungeons, fight generic baddies, and collect lame loot. You'll also deal with desktop crashes, pathfinding problems, and frustrating areas where enemies will overwhelm you. If you want to share your misery with a friend, there's a featureless two-player online option that lets you do just that. Or you could just hit Alt-Tab, watch the game crash, and then uninstall it.​