A major accomplishment and an excellent game. [Dec 2004, p.75]

It's so deep that is simulates nearly every facet of college football, right down to telling you whether a player has a girlfriend or not.

It offers all the epic space opera milieu of a game like Master of Orion but none of the micromanagement.

The mippy-mappy goodness of the new graphics system makes you just shake your head in awe at some of the landscapes and creatures. [Apr 2003, p.71]

Enjoying Dominions II involves marshalling the power of your imagination to breathe life into all the detail, which is what gaming is all about when it was played on tabletops. If you accept this basic premise, there's no fantasy game more epic, varied, and vivid than Dominions II. [Feb 2004, p.82]

Screws you in the end with a serious cliffhanger that doesn't actually reveal all the game's secrets. [Aug 2005, p.78]

Perhaps the single most thrilling instance of how far shooters have come. [Sept 2005, p.44]

when you've got a game this good, "just a port" is all you need. [Dec p.93]

Galactic Civilizations II may not lead to a resurgence of space conquest games, but as long as it's available, the renaissance can wait. [May 2006, p.53]

All 14 new planes are superbly detailed inside and out, with intricate virtual cockpits and comprehensive damage models...With Microsoft's patch (included with the game) and FirePower, "Combat Flight Simulator 3" goes from an also-ran to a top-notch simulation. [May 2004, p.66]

Its well-developed plot, unique races, intuitive interface, and excellent campaign editor make it worth the price of admission, especially for those that liked "Warcraft II."

The emphasis on story and involving missions, combined with great visuals, audio, and exceptional control make this a top-notch game.

This game is beautiful to look at and is, at times, photorealistic. [Oct 2003, p.94]

The real treasure here is the addition of new jobs, which is a first for the game's North American player base. Overall, this is a great package, with even more promises down the road, including Chocobo breeding. [Sept. 2006, p.80]

An outstanding game, both for its graphics and its gameplay, but it is not for everyone. Ground Control glaringly omits some standard genre features: there is no in-mission save, no speed control, no skirmish mode, and the AI is hit or miss. Yet this is truly a case of a game being greater than the sum of its parts.

The kind of game that makes it hard to keep a grin off your face. You constantly feel like you're getting away with something you shouldn't.

The new pilots are smarter, making for more challenging - and more convincing - air combat. [June 2003, p.76]

Extra marks to LucasArts for giving the game an impossibly large number of options... Ignore the story and immerse yourself in the incredible environments - you may never want to come back.

It's exactly like one of those big-budget Hollywood summer blockbusters: You wish it gave your brain as much of a work-out as your finger, but there's no question that its superb action, terrific pacing, and actual puzzles combine to make Prey the best single-player first-person shooter since "HalfLife 2." [Sept. 2006, p.73]

An addictive game that's quick to play, easy to learn, delightfully detailed, and almost infinitely replayable. [Oct 2002, p.72]

Hall of Fame was released for the major console systems in 2004, but this PSP port comes with extra tables, all presented as virtuoso 3D recreations, fully playable from your choice of six camera views that can easily be switched on the fly. [Mar 2006, p.91]

An understated, thoughtful game that is highly replayable and continually challening - the sort of game that will still be on your hard drive when all the other games you are playing right now are gathering dust on a shelf. [June 2003, p.78]

A brilliantly reworked world with technology to die for. [March 2005, p.66]

This spectacular golf sim has plenty of the just-one-more-hole mojo that helped classics like "Links 386" turn everyone into insomniacs. [Dec 2004, p.86]

The element that sets Space Empires IV apart from other games in the genre is common sense, which is the glue that binds its components together.

The full PDF manual for Allied Force clocks in at 716 pages. [Jan 2006, p.58]

The unit AI is good enough that you can give broad orders without worrying about your men and monsters doing too many dumb things. [Jan 2003, p.60]

TOCA 3 is just TOCA 2 with a lot more stuff, but that makes it just about perfect. [Jun 2006, p.66]