It's a journey that bears repeating. [July 2015, p.117]

A whole lot better on phones than it is on 3DS. [July 2015, p.115]

A quiet game within which burns a fierce revolutionary spirit. [July 2015, p.114]

It's a high-stakes heist simulator with no time for malice aforethought. Stealth's just one tool in your roll bag. [July 2015, p.112]

A virtuoso feat of creativity. [July 2015, p.110]

It may not be the most refined of strategy games, but it's an entertaining, accessible and outstandingly polished example of its type. [July 2015, p.108]

The most comprehensive and involving driving simulator we've seen on consoles in years. [July 2015, p.106]

Your achievements in the game stem from legitimate advancements in your understanding of physics. [July 2015, p.102]

[CD Projekt's] reputation as a studio of remarkable technical prowess has been tarnished a little, however noble its intentions. [July 2015, p.98]

Deceptively simple. [June 2015, p.123]

Collaborative play transforms the challenge. [June 2015, p.122]

Where the game partially redeems itself is in its hammy tone, and variety of inventive guns and missions. [June 2015, p.120]

It's a pity that it has exited development before it was fully evolved. [June 2015, p.118]

A staggering display of imagination, design and performance. [June 2015, p.116]

Essential. [June 2015, p.114]

There's no denying that Obsidian's soul was in the effort. [June 2015, p.110]

Netherrealm has taken a number of welcome steps forward with Mortal Kombat X, but no momentum is gathered, because it's stopped in its tracks by an avalanche of needless distractions, some miserable netcode and - oddly, for a game so obsessed with death in all its grisly forms - poor execution of decent ideas. [June 2015, p.106]

Proves that what works as a prototype does not necessarily translate to a final product. [May 2015, p.123]

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

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]

Beyond its undoubted visual appeal, Ori doesn't quite have enough ideas of its own to set itself apart from the genre classics of which its developer is so clearly enamoured. [May 2015, p.118]

Many of the new additions do not work. [May 2015, p.116]

A dazzling work of dank, abject horror that cements Miyazaki as one of the all-time greats. Sixteen months after PS4's launch, the new generation has finally begun. [May 2015, p.112]

It feels like just that: a lower-budget sideshow to the glitzy main event. [May 2015, p.108]

It's much like Twitter itself - raucous and ridiculous, funny but infuriating. [Apr 2015, p.122]

Briefly diverting. [Apr 2015, p.121]

Feels like a proof of concept for a much more substantial, and refined, counterpart. [Apr 2015, p.120]

A gritty, satisfying coda. [Apr 2015, p.118]

The most shameless vehicle for the series' gun fetish yet. [Apr 2015, p.114]

At launch, it feels neutered, and far too inconsistent to establish a lasting dominance on the multiplayer scene. [Apr 2015, p.110]

Despite the obvious talent at work here, the studio has chosen to bury The Order's potential under a fug of dissociative, QTE-focused game design that's as stifling as the smog that creeps through its Victorian streets. [Apr 2015, p.106]

There's less motivation to persevere in erecting a monument to your skill when there's no one around to see it. [March 2015, p.112]

An ugly, throwaway cash grab. [March 2015, p.110]

Few games reward your investment in such exhilarating fashion. [March 2015, p.108]

Likeable despite its flaws. [March 2015, p.106]

The locales in Life is Strange feel much less like rigidly framed theatrical scenes and more like real places. [March 2015, p.102]

Frontier's ambition reaches considerably beyond what's in the current build. [March 2015, p.98]

It collapses entirely when it comes to combat. [Feb 2015, p.122]

Not every layer of Talos finds its mark, but the discourse created by navigating them is a brain-taxing process to match the genre's greats. [Feb 2015, p.120]

Rather than expanding on what came before, too often it punishes the committed player, their weapons rendered obsolete, their best gear reset, their flair for teamwork hamstrung by aggressive mobs. [Feb 2015, p.118]

You'll need to protect your best troops as much as your idols, positioning blockers so that your big hitters can wind up. [Feb 2015, p.116]

While the game delivers its smooth-edged package efficiently enough, it never manages to raise the pulse like its predecessor, and like an ancient tomb, close inspection reveals some worrying cracks. [Feb 2015, p.114]

Fans of Westeros will likely be delighted by Telltale's exploration of a formerly undocumented northern clan, but there's nothing here yet to match up to the greatness of The Walking Dead. [Feb 2015, p.112]

Outrageously pretty. [Feb 2015, p.108]

While moments of genuine beauty exist, they occur in the context of a game that otherwise simply cannot compete with its contemporaries when it comes to visual presentation - a symptom, perhaps, of the seven-year development cycle. [Feb 2015, p.104]

These are the most generous entries since HeartGold and SoulSilver. [Jan 2014, p.123]

These are the most generous entries since HeartGold and SoulSilver. [Jan 2014, p.123]

A fragile container for a tale of such inestimable value, and what ought to be universally welcoming instead must be approached with caution: come expecting revelation on an emotional level, not a mechanical one. [Jan 2014, p.121]

The game's unflinching depiction of wartime suffering is particularly unsettling in a medium that commonly focuses on pyrotechnics and headshots. [Jan 2014, p.118]

Escape's one resounding achievement, it seems, is that it has somehow managed to be an even poorer game than Dead Island: Riptide. [Jan 2014, p.116]

There's much to admire and to enjoy, but we've come to expect more from a developer of EAD Tokyo's calibre. [Jan 2014, p.114]

While a smattering of minor blemishes mean it shines a bit less brightly than 2014's other headline acts, it's not less essential for it. [Jan 2014, p.112]

Assuming you're simply content with content, Ubisoft busies you with donkey work. [Jan 2014, p.110]

At release, it offers a staggeringly beautiful world filled with unfinished systems, ugly cash grabs, and a string of missed opportunities. [Jan 2014, p.108]

The most ambitious game BioWare has ever made. [Jan 2014, p.104]

Far Cry 3 asked for the definition of insanity, and its sequel answers it. [Jan 2014, p.100]

To give in to its spell, you just need to let go. [Christmas 2014, p.123]

Fantasia is a novel twist on the music name, then, but one lacking the sprinkling of Disney magic its title promises. [Christmas 2014, p.122]

Sure, Platinum has made flawed games before, but nothing nearly so bland or as uninspiring as this. [Christmas 2014, p.120]

Very much a sidewards step for the series rather than a bold leap forwards for its kind. [Christmas 2014, p.118]

There's still much enjoyment to be found in the interim grinding between boss fights, but Lords Of The Fallen's greatest sin is that all feels rather soulless. [Christmas 2014, p.116]

After a clumsy opening, The Evil Within hits its stride towards the end and the fist act and the tension rarely lets up. [Christmas 2014, p.114]

Advanced Warfare is still Call of Duty, but it's more playful, knowing and refreshing than COD's been in years. [Christmas 2014, p.112]

As an accessible, powerful game-building tool, LBP 3 is remarkable, and offers more scope than we dared to expect. [Christmas 2014, p.108]

Best approached as you would any caffeinated energy drink. In small gulps, it offers an exhilarating sugar rush, but too much will leave you with a headache. As such, it's best consumed in moderation. [Christmas 2014, p.104]

It would be a pity if this erratic, wonderfully offbeat adventure ended here. [Dec 2014, p.123]

Irritations never last long in Smash 3DS, sandblasted away by the winningly varied combat and the sheer torrent of ways to enjoy it. [Dec 2014, p.122]

The astounding breadth of the missions is enough to distract from finicky systems and low-res textures. [Dec 2014, p.120]

In short, it's sweet. [Dec 2014, p.118]

It's a shame that the terrain you wander through as you do all this is so visually substandard. [Dec 2014, p.116]

A classy, inventive adventure with an absorbing story. [Dec 2014, p.114]

It's a shame that Forza's much-vaunted AI tech proves an ill fit for open-world racing. [Dec 2014, p.112]

For all its successes, the fact remains that even after significant delays, what's been delivered is far from finished. [Dec 2014, p.110]

What is most amazing of all is that despite its litany of weird little problems, Destiny is fantastic, its combat up there with the very best, the thrilling rhythm of its battles still not fading the 30th time through, and it has no single systemic problem that is not fixable. [Dec 2014, p.106]

Unlike the creature at its centre, Isolation isn't structurally perfect, but it is brilliantly hostile in a way that's likely to shock many players. [Dec 2014, p.102]

Unlike a good spy, however, it flubs its final execution. [Nov 2014, p.116]

The game's fusion of rhythm-action and RPG never quite fits as neatly as you'd hope. [Nov 2014, p.115]

Its successes drown out its flaws. [Nov 2014, p.112]

An uneven season finishes on a high. [Nov 2014, p.110]

There is a tremendous amount going on, to the point that it's all too easy to miss a mission-critical SOS. [Nov 2014, p.108]

A conservative sequel, one that drills down into the bedrock of what The Sims has always been. [Nov 2014, p.104]

Sega's loss is Nintendo's gain: Bayonetta, twirling away from a gigantic demon's maw and smacking the highest choir of angels on the nose, has just given Wii U its first true classic. [Nov 2014, p.100]

The craftsmanship is easy to admire, but 1001 Spikes can be a hard game to love. [Sept 2014, p.117]

Supernauts is both too limited to succeed as a town-builder and frustratingly restrictive as a creative tool, while its superhero interludes are disempowering and dull. [Sept 2014, p.116]

For all its delightful art and writing, the cold logic in its Gordian design is unrelenting. [Sept 2014, p.115]

There's a whiff of trial and error at times, but no puzzle's Eureka moment comes by accident. [Sept 2014, p.114]

A love letter to the NES era, Shovel Knight is punishingly difficult, a game of quick reflexes and exacting precision. [Sept 2014, p.112]

A colourfully written and often funny game, but one that doesn't deviate much from the fantasy rulebook, an area where a more substantial break from the past would have been welcome. [Sept 2014, p.108]

Boss fights aside, Ubosoft's consideration for its subject matter throughout is striking. [Sept 2014, p.104]

Infinity is extremely limited, both in terms of what little content it offers and your ability to access it. [Aug 2014, p.119]

It’s the combination of this collective roleplay with direct competition that makes the game so compulsive. As such, Blade Symphony is as close as you are likely to get to the fantasy of slowly becoming a master swordsman.

The revelatory finale will leave you winded, but also heartened by Krillbite’s assertion that firstperson horror needn’t be confined by crumbling walls and straitjackets.

For your money, however, this is the best new MMOG since Guild Wars 2 and arguably the most feature complete an MMOG has ever been on launch.

Crucially, Autosport’s career structure and nuanced vehicle handling combine to alleviate any potential frustration for players weaned on effortless victories.

It feels, in other words, an awful lot like classic Street Fighter, and praise doesn’t come much higher than that.

But content is no substitute for quality, and while Sniper Elite III might have made for an engaging design document, it isn’t much of a game.

A nice core bit of gameplay tarted up with unnecessary pretensions and stretched too thin, even over its short playtime. It feels like a minigame from a bigger title – specifically, those minigames from God of War and Dead Space 2 in which you guide a plummeting hero through falling debris. What it doesn’t feel like is a full a game – let alone the artsy indie hero Sony would like it to be.

This is a remarkably assured game for such a young studio, the work of a small team that knows exactly what it wants to do and executes it almost without error.