Far more than just a quirky and adept multiplayer romp, then, Swords & Soldiers has found a deeply satisfying sweet-spot where chaos and control are almost perfectly balanced, and the result is a game that towers above everything else WiiWare currently has to offer.

By departing from established videogame norms and offering an experience that is unfettered by restrictive goals and objectives, Tecmo has succeeded in evoking a supremely relaxing vacation atmosphere and producing a quite unique, and singularly satisfying game. [March 2003, p.86]

Between the taut design and violent screenshake, Roto Force feels like the kind of game Vlambeer would still be making were it still around. [Issue#387, p.121]

In a growing field of downloadable shooters, it stands out as one of the best. [Aug 2007, p.94]

It’s debatable whether Oblivion is a great adventure, but it’s certainly one of the broadest around and one that’s a willing canvas for a variety of approaches from its players. [May 2006, p.84]

Mario 64 DS is a magnificent execution of entirely the wrong content. Happily, despite its age, that content is so robust and remarkable that the result is still surprising, spectacular and, yes, downright Super. [Jan 2005, p.78]

In giving fans what they want, and delivering what a modern audience needs, the studio has created a game that, while not quite a classic, sometimes reminds you of one. [Christmas 2010, p.89]

Absorbing. [Issue#361, p.112]

While the mechanics are well worn by subsequent Quest dabbling, the narrative structure remains an interesting premise to this day. [Oct 2008, p.100]

It's a real treat to examine the craftsmanship of the models in close-up, while the soundtrack is one of Kirby's best to date. [May 2015, p.120]

This may not be the best choice for a player without an existing co-op team, but if you do have three friends who are willing to learn, and die, together, it's a work of unmissable claustrophobia. GTFO indeed. [Issue#368, p.110]

That Insomniac has so confidently found its feet makes the prospect of Ratchet’s annual return an exciting, rather than obligatory, one. [Dec 2007, p.86]

It may be formulaic, but that formula is still one of invention, surprise and excellence. [Jan 2005, p.87; JPN Import]

You need a decent stick (or a god among pads) to facilitate the split-second Just Impacts, Ukemis and sidesteps that consistent victory demands. This, more than the abundant content is the game's defining improvement - one to snap you out of the sleepwalk by which most Namco fighters are conquered in singleplayer. [Christmas 2005, p.103]

Neo may not have the game-changing novelty of the original, but what a thrill it is to discover that, 14 years on, TWEWY continues to march to its own beat. [Issue#362, p.98]

In terms of reaching its clearly defined goals, it is a triumph. [May 2015, p.122]

While born from the stuff of Little Nightmares, Reanimal transcends the confines of another sequel, leaving a uniquely devilish stain behind. [Issue#421, p.106]

What it takes from Resident Evil 4 – and it takes covetously – is the clever stuff, the enemies built entirely around your weapon-set, the combat full of upset rhythms and immoral thrills, the unrepentant game-isms, and the vital ability to wrong-foot players at all the right moments. [Dec 2008, p.82]

Ninja Gaiden II is a fascinating and hugely replayable game that shows Team Ninja has a gift beyond the vast majority of developers in that genre. [Aug 2008, p.92]

Its multiplayer component is far better suited to the game’s design potential than a singleplayer campaign that’s more the frontline rookie, dazzled and dazed by blast upon blast upon blast. [May 2006, p.88]

The controls are excellent and the visuals might be a touch more rakish, but what really matters is that Radiangames has found a hectic pace that lends the blasting a kind of cumulative drama. In doing so, this until now polite series has picked up a bit of an attitude.

While the specificities of lead developer Abhi's lived experience give Venba its distinctive flavour, they serve a story with which anyone can identify. [Issue#387, p.123]

This is a game with great characters, and of great character. [Issue#362, p.106]

Ultros remains a fully formed Metroidvania. [Issue#395, p.112]

If Spellsword's enemies are disappointingly generic, there's a tactile joy in dispatching them: slimes and bats explode messily as blasts of wind launch them into walls, and it's possible to enjoy a brief game of swingball with the laser-shooting eyes that dangle elastically from the ceiling.

If there is a criticism, it's the essentially unvarying mission objectives. In the hands of a lesser developer, it might have resulted in a monotony over the game's long life span. That it never does is a testament to Drag-on Dragoon's excellence. [Dec 2003, p.98; JPN Import]

Feeling the buzz of Genji’s countering system is the key to enjoying it, making the eastern promise of demanding play feel attainable, if less exotic for those already well-versed in mastering such endeavours. [Sept 2005, p.92]

An accomplished effort that is every inch the Soul Calibur of the home consoles, just squeezed on to a smaller screen. [Oct 2009, p.98]

It’s utterly relentless in its provision of new activities and distractions to the point that it’s hard not to become absorbed, a feeling backed up by the fact that most plot missions introduce a new location or interior environment to revisit and explore. [Dec 2006, p.80]

A distinctive twist on an established formula, and a remarkable accomplishment for such a small team. Its subject matter might seem like serious business, but this game about death feels thrillingly alive. [Issue#362, p.112]

It’s the most loveable, exasperating, unhinged, pretentious, ambitious, gorgeous, funny, tedious, thrilling, subversive and just plain silly Metal Gear yet. It’s the most Metal Gear Metal Gear yet, a franchise turned in on itself, a snake eating its own tail. It’s perversely wonderful. [Jan 2005, p.80]

Big Huge Games has dressed the RTS in its finest coat-tails, sent it on the most captivating of journeys and transformed its communication skills. There's no question it has become a creature with broader horizons and more refined taste, but there's also no question it's still a familiar figure. [June 2006, p.84]

In a game that revels in base pleasures, it's just enough to kick our brain into action, before happily switching it back off for another two-minute rush of pure adrenaline. [Issue#401, p.122]

Housemarque's adventure wears its ambitions so openly that the comparison is inevitable. By no means a classic on those terms, Outland is nonetheless a well-executed game that - hopefully - lays the groundwork for future iteration upon its central ideas.

While it doesn't always gel in a way that feels genuinely new, there are enough successful unfamiliar concepts here to make Quantum Break feel like a step forward for Remedy. [June 2016, p.100]

Over-familiarity and stagnation has bred a cancerous apathy among gaming's cognoscenti. FFX-2, like it or not, gives players a reason to take notice again. [Jan 2004, p.98]

V isn't the only one with two souls wrestling for one body. Cyberpunk 2077 ends up being a sometimes-unnecessary exercise in building a better merc, and a propulsive open-world tale about building a better life. If you can ignore the inconsistencies of the former and enjoy the latter, there's a lot to love in Night City. But if Johnny Silverhand teaches us anything, it's that two heads aren't always better than one. [Issue#354, p.98]

A hybrid game of mixed success, Legacy reconciles Ace Combat's past and present while failing to offer enough diversity and features to make the results essential.

With both real-time and turn-based flavours of haphazard carnage on offer, Glitch Tank is willing to mess with your brain at a variety of speeds. Michael Brough's certainly given iPad owners something to think about, then – even if few will have the patience and foresight to feel truly comfortable on this strange new playing field.

This is a puzzle-platform game pared down to its base essentials, with a sweet, simple tale and an artfully imagined world wrapped around that core. [July 2013, p.122]

After eight years in development - initially under PlatinumGames - this long journey has had a happy ending. [Issue#395, p.118]

Despite the familiarity of the characters and the story, this is strange, exotic territory, and quite like anything else. [June 2016, p.108]

The game never judges you, offering no morality system despite the frequent dilemmas and difficult choices its systems organically generate. But it certainly tests you. This is as close as we’ve come to putting our lazily daydreamed zombie survival plans into effect.

The game is full of charm, from the easily-distinguishable block types and hero in dressing gown, to the sequences that detail the game’s story and a delicate hint mode. [July 2007, p.93]

The overwhelming impression Los Angeles leaves is very slick, but it’s ultimately quite soulless. [Dec 2008, p.86]

The result is a game that may not leave you full, but it'll taste pretty sweet while it lasts.

What a pity, then, that the story is the one element that doesn't have the courage to stay true to its narrative successor. [Issue#354, p.110]

The battles, meanwhile, are engaging despite their simplicity, and it's beautiful to watch each turn play out. [May 2010, p.102]

There’s a fantastic combo system at Killer Instinct’s core, but right now it feels like half a game – one full of promise, certainly, but not an especially next-gen one either. The cascade of particles may not be enough to retain player interest until the rest of the game arrives.

You'll soon learn the groove: shoot, dodge, shoot, dodge. It should get tedious, but it doesn't. P.N.03 rewards skill above all else and mastery brings huge satisfaction. Grace under fire has rarely been done better. [June 2003, p.96]

The result is a game that may not leave you full, but it'll taste pretty sweet while it lasts.

Relic seems afraid to let any of its ideas meaningfully vary your experience, in case the result isn’t as satisfying as the scenario it has clearly tested so well. [Apr 2009, p.119]

While the details and relationships are sharply observed, everything around them is a little fuzzy. But then so is the moment it's trying to reflect. [Issue#362, p.122]

There's not as much depth as Tetris or Puyo Puyo, but there's not much that disappoints about Bombastic apart from a rather lacklustre platform game that's been bolted on. The deeply involving puzzle mechanics brilliantly build on the foundations laid down by Devil Dice. [Christmas 2003, p.124]

Rodriguez's bright, resourceful debut is a compact little treasure that's well worth dredging up. [Issue#368, p.120]

No, it doesn't make any damn sense. But consider us compelled. [Issue#354, p.112]

Its game may rarely do anything you haven’t seen done better elsewhere, but the developer knots a slew of disparate elements together with no little skill, leaving the whole feeling irresistibly fresh.

From the pixellated sweat-drops of exertion as Red nudges a weighty block along to the arpeggiated chime that celebrates a stage's completion, its simple pleasures add up to a quietly transtemporal experience. [Issue#368, p.7]

Polyphony has produced a handling and physics model that is unmatched by any other racer, but failed to provide AI competition capable of showcasing it to its fullest.

If not quite a five-star ride, Neo Cab is an empathetic and stingingly perceptive insight into the challenges of freelance life. [Issue#139, p.121]

Add the odd cruelly-placed save point, and you've got an adventure that occasionally explores the agonies, as well as the ecstasies, of gaming's past. At least it's honest.

Driver has escaped near-death with a captivating and colourful return, and one where everything from systems to cinematics is of a quality build. As surprises go, it's a juggernaut. [Apr 2006, p.84]

It's an attractive game, too, its painterly art style and creative enemy design sullied only by the occasional drop in performance and that persistently unhelpful camera. If wrestling with the right analogue stick is no one's idea of a good time, such frustrations are worth enduring for a daring and sometimes exhilarating boss rush.

Only the length disappoints us. Even by the studio's standards, Pilgrims is a slip of a thing. [Issue#139, p.122]

As simple as Alba may be, it's nonetheless a relaxing summer getaway for children and the young at heart. [Issue#354, p.118]

Series veterans may find there's no individual mission that can compare to past highlights like the nails-down-a-blackboard dread of Return To The Cathedral or the emergent possibilities of Life Of The Party, but they remain admirably clever pieces of level design. [July 2004, p.101]

Undisputed can be complex one moment and crude the next, the dominant ‘full mount’ position (the holy grail of ground-and-pound fighters) far too achievable against even experienced opposition.

A gentle joy in a horrible year - a window upon a parallel world that makes life seem a little kinder in our own. [Issue#349, p.100]

When you're playing a Ninja Gaiden game and not dying until the eighth chapter, it doesn't bode well for the future of the series as we know it. Oh, and the camera's still rubbish. [Nov 2009, p.100]

Its hero might be forever wearing someone else's hat, but there's something to be said for a series that's this comfortable in its own skin. [May 2018, p.112]

Tropico is as vibrant and capricious as the setting, and never dry or formulaic in the way that other management games can tend to be. [Christmas 2009, p.106]

Made in Wario confidently sticks two fingers up at an industry that seems to have lost its sense of humour … it displays a refreshing intertextuality that manages to poke fun at and celebrate videogames. [June 2003, p. 103]

It’s an introspective RPG not just in theme, but in the outlay of time and thought it asks of the player to make sense of what’s otherwise a cosmetically unfair challenge. It’s a work of art, but one on such a dauntingly high pillar that only the most dedicated will appreciate it to the full. [Christmas 2004, p.87]

The game occasionally drags, arguably due to representing the bleakness of its environment and the challenges of existing within it a little too keenly. Autosave points are few and far between, which means that on anything above normal difficulty your frequent restarts will result in much repetition. Likewise, I Am Alive's platforming is occasionally cumbersome and inexact. But nevertheless this game offers a journey worth charting, one of physics, social decline and welcome terror in a market overrun by zombies.

Whether you're flipping a fried egg or turning a dial, this is tactile and satisfying, if slight, entertainment. [Tested with Vive; June 2016, p.121]

A bleak meditation on the idea that the most one can do in such difficult times is to keep your head down, and keep moving. [Sept 2017, p.116]

A lender and borrower with a few ideas of its own, Kami Retro's not quite perfect, but is worth a hundred more generic clones.

Crimson Skies really comes to life online. Up to 16 players can duke it out in the skies and the dogfights are terrific. This is better than you'd ever have expected. [Christmas 2003, p.123]

Singleplayer is weak - despite well-worked tutorial and mission modes it always feels like target practice for combat with friends - and the lack of online support disappoints. But despite a potentially hazardous dimensional switch, it remains as appealing a way of antagonising your friends as ever. [Dec 2003, p.108]

Whereas our appetite for entertainment is such that we happily consume similar amusements again and again, we have to ask if we really need to learn these lessons twice. [Sept 2007, p.97]

Through the crush of it all, Viewtiful Joe's pedigree for fusing entertainment and quality is clearly visible throughout the chaos, even if it doesn't necessarily shine. [Dec 2005, p.100]

Despite the sheer, breathless volume of new ideas, there's a sense of wonder missing from the sequel. The well-meaning tale feels a little rote in comparison to the first game's supernatural arc of redemption. [Sept 2017, p.118]

The beginning is a sensible place to start, but rest assured, it gets much, much better. [Feb 2009, p.91]

Siren's grand ideas are to be applauded, but savouring them takes effort. If you can invest the time, and look away in all the right places - such as the genre's trademarks of outrageously bad combat and dogsbody objectives - then there's a uniquely suffocating horror experience waiting to be survived. [Mar 2004, p.99]

Fundamentally, it's hard to bear a grudge against a game with such generosity of spirit and pleasant delivery. But having tangled with mythical sea beasts and alternate Londons, isn't it time for Layton to solve the greatest mystery of all: where does he go next.

A game that is not only at its best when played with other humans, but is critically dependent on them. [Issue#344, p.112]

Though generous with its ideas, Flexile can't quite make them stretch across 60 levels, and while the controls are as good as virtual buttons can be, some challenges are too fiddly to be fun, with a curious fussiness when it comes to triggering your blob's powers. Even so, this is a bright and attractive puzzler that is, thankfully, far smarter than its title would suggest.

Despite the grim subject matter, Before I Forget isn't just about the pains of living with dementia; it's a deeply emotive tale that highlights an extraordinary life. [Issue#349, p.105]

Messy but oddly mesmeric, Bad Hotel is perhaps more successful as a curious plaything than a game, but it's no less essential for that.

At its worst, however, Galaxies has some big problems. The biggest is that it is remarkably fond of spawning enemies behind your ship too quickly for you to move away... It can be incredibly annoying – enough, in fact, to slightly taint the whole experience. [Feb 2008, p.92]

It’s not even surprising,? ?despite all? ?this,? ?that Resident Evil? ?5? ?is a good game.? The surprising,? ?and sad,? ?thing about? ?Resident Evil? ?5? ?is that it feels old.

Next Encounter is one of the grandest and busiest console battlefields yet created. This is a spiritual update to Space Invaders, a one-trick pony that kicks harder than most FPS thoroughbreds, making the "Medal of Honour" series seem like a vain diva by comparison. [June 2004, p.109]

As an open-world game, Second Son feels emaciated. There’s little to do in the way of side missions, and what is here becomes repetitive, unlikely to sustain interest beyond a single playthrough. Approach it as an action game that just happens to be set in a nonlinear environment and it makes more sense, but its not-inconsiderable achievements take effort to uncover.

Despite its paucity of detail, Jade Empire is still many, many things, some are fine and some poor, but for a game to contain so much is a testament to its breadth, and the reason why it'll remain a worthwhile expedition for many. [June 2005, p.80]

While it ties its narrative strands neatly enough to work as a standalone story, Mizrahi and Scout would be well worth a sequel. [Issue#344, p.114]

The only black mark is for the controls: the on-screen buttons feel reasonably responsive most of the time, but you'll experience a definite stickiness when things heat up.

For dedicated Ghosts GRAW 2 is a no-brainer. For the rest of us it's just the exact game "Advanced Warfighter" should have been and would have beeen if the clock wasn't watching; Ubisoft rewriting history and charging us twice for the privilege. [May 2007, p.89]

It refreshes with its purity of purpose and ambition, even if, as a mechanising of the grieving process, it’s a game few will wish to return to once completed.