Dredge draws a line between Animal Crossing's pun-laced fishing minigame and Lovecraft's fondness for a seaside locale, and the two prove a surprisingly natural fit. [Issue#384, p.117]

It captures the original's atmosphere of inescapable threat but struggles to engineer new possibilities within it, though its take on player death is worth a longer discussion. [Issue#352, p.110]

Inventive, malleable and rambunctiously entertaining British puzzler. [May 2017, p.121]

Bold and distinctive. [March 2014, p.102]

The expanded range of strategic choice and admirably polished presentation push Grimoire Of The Rift right into the top tier. [Sept 2008, p.93]

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]

Unlike the elegant lead, who's grey-haired but unbowed by the end of the adventure, Assassin's Creed has been quietly compromised by age.

Feels high-stakes even before the opening bet reaches three figures. [Issue#373, p.120]

The best of the series yet, and has incredible potential, it's just that it's up to you what you'll make of it. [Nov 2015, p.120]

Ultimately, Invisible War is a very fine game spread too thin. It's a game that's made the effort to name the cat in the secretary's desk photo but not to make jumping work properly, that bothers to script loving exchanges between insignificant NPCs but pits you against clumsy and stuttering AI. [Feb 2004, p.94]

A limited, but well-honed, experience. There's craft evident everywhere, from the stylised environments and the vibrant characterisation to the well-rounded storyline. A beautiful, enchanting and unusual game. [March 2003, p.90]

There's also the beauty of Uncharted's exotic locales, which act as a great showcase for Vita's astonishing display. And even if Golden Abyss starred a power-armoured space marine fighting his way across the cardboard-box planet, it would still be a robust thirdperson shooter, the likes of which we've simply never seen on a handheld. The core Uncharted experience is still here, in other words. It's stripped a little bare, but it's just about enough.

Spider-Man 2 presents players with a city ripe for action and exploration, but once you swing down out of the clouds and take a closer look at the grubby streets and roads strewn with vehicles, you'll find little to pique your interest. [Sept 2004, p.100]

Twelve-year-old fights feel brand new because of the inclusion of Yakuza 0's switchable combat styles. [Issue#311, p.110]

It’s too fantastical, its violence occurring anywhere and everywhere to ever-decreasing effect. [Apr 2008, p.88]

This isn’t Far Cry 3 at its best mechanically, but it’s definitely the game at its most charismatic. Because as a bunch of well-worn VHS tapes at Ubisoft Montreal undoubtedly prove, the ’80s knew how to do personality.

Despite the big budget, SIE London Studio has approached Blood & Truth with a modest ambition: to make you feel special, and strong, and more than a little silly, in a love letter to the city it calls home. It has done so with a flourish. [Issue#334, p.118]

This is another ugly blunder. Pacific Assault demonstrates that bewildering battle scenes are no equal for clever level design and attention to detail. [Christmas 2004, p.92]

The price of this intricacy is that Gwent is anything but accessible... It feels both remarkably grown-up, and finely aged by its years of open development. [Jan 2019, p.120]

This is a cautionary tale of what happens when our human need for answers overrides common sense - and its disturbing finale drives that home with commendably blunt force. [Issue#377, p.120]

Lego TLOTR is, despite its many flaws, still broadly enjoyable. It has charm, it has its moments and the series holds an undeniable attraction for kids both actual and inner. It's a Lego game, in other words. But it's bloated, too, full of half-formed, shoddily executed ideas and frustrating glitches.

Sports Resort is controlling, and even solemn, about just how much fun you should be having with it. And that’s a development that should chill every Wii owner to the bone.

Outlast’s combination of stealth, platforming and horror is exceptional, the benefits of the diverse experience of its highly talented development team always in plain sight.

From Dust's not magnificent because of its breezy intricacy and rugged grasp of geology. It's magnificent because it's designed with a playful deity in mind. It's built for a god who knows that to succeed is human, 
but to err – and to be creatively led astray time after time – is truly divine.

This is without doubt the most comprehensive entry in Nippon Ichi's once-trailblazing series, packaging its accumulated ideas alongside a clutch of innovations of its own. And yet repetition has dulled the appeal, with the complexities acting as a tall barrier to newcomers while the innovations are simultaneously too meagre to sate any but the most eager devotee.

Guardians keeps you strapped in for the ride, and while it does dip once too often, the emotional highs outweigh the patience-testing lows. [Issue#366, p.108]

The whole thing is just so gleefully off its head that you can forgive its little missteps. [Aug 2016, p.114]

Whatever you conclude about the bigger picture, this is special stuff. The claustrophobic buzz of flies, the distant muezzin drone, the desperation as you crouch uncertain in the dust whilst your men call frantically for orders will lodge in your mind long after you've walked away from the game. [July 2004, p.98]

It's telling that, as our getaway car peels away to safety with ten seconds remaining, our first instinct is to try again. [Issue#372, p.110]

So well integrated is the card collection/reward mechanic that the traditional RPG exploration elements slip easily between the staccato rhythm of the battles. For this reason, the game takes on an invigorating freshness that overrides most of its generic frustrations. [Jan 2005, p.93]

Through design or serendipity, maybe the best thing to do after finishing Wanderstop is make yourself a cup of tea, take a seat, and mull it over for a while. [Issue#409, p.118]

Solo players are likely to be left wondering what happened over all those years. [Issue#403, p.112]

The details of each individual victory may fade with time, but you’ll never forget the fractal patchwork rippling beneath you, or the stormy static of the clouds that clash overhead.

It's derivative, gratuitous and needlessly profane, but beneath the gruesome veneer lies a tale of – believe it or not – genuine tenderness.

It offers one of the most beautiful worlds ever created on a console, heavy with atmosphere and wonder, laden with the treasures of the Final Fantasy heritage. However, it asks too much expense and hassle and it inflicts too many setbacks, frustrations and restrictions to come close to being a fair exchange.

To focus on what's missing would be to overlook the joys that remain. [Issue#340, p.106]

Modern Warfare is precariously balanced. On a straightforward level, its multiplayer is admirable in its reform and a touch undercooked in its execution, while the inventiveness in its six hours of campaign remind players why this became such a juggernaut name in the industry. But underneath that, there's an unease about the way Modern Warfare pushes the player's buttons without demonstrating respect for or responsibility to its source material. [Issue#340, p.110]

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

There's an interesting personal story here, yet when it comes to the work itself, we can't help but feel we've gone a little too far back in time. [Issue#411, p.123]

From the patchwork fields of the Dover coastline to the unforgettable sight of Berlin burning in the pouring rain, the carefully characterised locations are as integral to the experience as its encyclopedic line-up of planes. [Oct 2009, p.97]

In time, however, it is the parry system that reveals itself to be the game's core point of difference and strength. [Issue#383, p.100]

Ascension’s biggest success is a colour-coding system that effectively lets you know when you have an opening and when to run. Unblockable attacks are signalled by a player glowing red, white denotes invincibility, and blue signals a player in recovery. It’s a simple, smart system further improved by rock-paper-scissors combat (heavy beats parry beats light beats heavy), cooldown-controlled special moves and a logical, consistent approach to hitstun. Consider our expectations defied: this is the star of the show.

It’s through the internet, however, that Buzz! refreshes its familiar format; strengths and weaknesses alike. [Aug 2008, p.99]

Eden’s precise artistic vision, dreamlike menus and sharply contemporary Japanese ambience is a perfect fit for PSN, but for all its purity this is an Eden too mechanically flawed to match its presentation. [Oct 2008, p.98]

Super Time Force hands you a super weapon that feels super – one that gives you the impression you’ve hacked into the game’s code to gain the upper hand – and then dares you to try to break the game with it. That it never buckles, despite allowing you to continually rewrite history as a horde of player characters and hundreds of projectiles fill the screen, is nothing short of remarkable.

To focus on what's missing would be to overlook the joys that remain. [Issue#340, p.106]

When the offscreen narrator, voiced with arch-Britishness by Stephen Greif, welcomes you to “the magical theatre of the strange and fantastic”, his adjectives are right on all three counts. And you rarely get magic that feels quite this immaculately handcrafted.

Some may argue over what the series should have become, but what’s important is that it has made that tough decision for itself, and established a rock solid foundation for inevitable, now justified successors. [May 2006, p.86]

Quibbles aside, the good news is that the frantic swiping and tapping to negotiate track obstacles while squeezing in showboating tricks for extra points remains as ebullient as ever. Sitting down to play five minutes of Infinity and losing an entire evening: that’s the real danger.

Goat Up isn't the most challenging game Llamasoft has ever made, but it's certainly one of its most imaginative and lovely: meanness would seem out of place. No other developer could, or would, turn the twitch platformer into a farmyard idyll.

There's something vital about this first episode's endearingly messy setup: to err is human, after all, and Life is Strange is nothing if not that. [December 2018, p.121]

And in a genre preoccupied with conquest, it's hopeful concluding note of independence - the Legion's actions in Russia are tied to the formation of the First Czechoslovak Republic - makes for a welcome epilogue indeed. [Issue#392, p.118]

A charming jaunt. [Sept 2009, p.94]

Sadly, the mixed results even apply to our canine friend, whose limitations clash against the design of many bigger bosses. [Issue#388, p.118]

Its magic can feel frustratingly elusive, but the thrill of chasing it down just about makes it worthwhile. [March 2019, p.112]

Attempting to explore the Eastern Front thematically proves misjudged, while persistent unit stupidity is wearing thin after seven years and four games. Counteracting that are the core mechanics, which are as enjoyable as ever, and there are smart new missions to test series veterans. It’s not a glorious revolution, then, but COH2 is a solid continuation of the finest WWII RTS around.

In pairing back its design and focusing on only a few key elements, the studio has created an uncommonly beautiful, open-hearted game. The team's self-deprecation and shaky confidence belies an assured, courageously executed vision. The resulting adventure will give you chills and should stay with you for a very long time indeed. [July 2017, p.102]

After the first game, the series was in need of a rethink; now all it needs is refinement. [May 2010, p.94]

Though its essential concept is well worn, Ninjatown is sturdily designed and offers a commendably flexible set of strategies for survival against the hordes. [Christmas 2008, p.97]

MotoGP may only bring a handful of new bikes and tracks, but it’s still a handsome package. [July 2006, p.82]

Captivatingly clever. [Issue#373, p.123]

This disquieting, disorienting place leaves us as properly rattled as we've been by a videogame since Immortality. [Issue#378, p.114]

Masterful use of haptics and audio ensures that when your finger, so often an unstoppable force, meets an immovable object, you hear AND feel it. To play is to experience the pleasure of successfully picking a lock, or cracking a safe, or perhaps even repairing a watch: there is a constant sense of tension and release, as you find ways to free those gummed-up gears, to oil that rusted sliding-bolt mechanism, to feel the click of that tumbler dropping into place. [Issue#390, p.139]

Jonasson is evidently confident that his game has enough to keep you coming back regardless. He's right to be. [Issue#391, p.122]

As much as Gran Turismo TV and its frontend might push Prologue toward being a multimedia experience, the actual racing has become more of a game - a little less clinical, a little more diverse and characterful. [June 2008, p.88]

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]

Captivating, strategic and, despite the monstrous aliens, oddly welcoming. [Jan 2013, p.102]

If the nostalgic, arcade sensibilities of Cosmic Heroes may not hold us as long as Absolum's Roguelike depth, then, mastering our favoured dynamic duo - to borrow a phrase from a rival universe - just might. [Issue#419, p.122]

In terms of quest interaction, there's simply not a great deal going on. Fable III largely gets away with it through sheer charm, and the infectious sense of fun in its detail. [Christmas 2010, p.80]

The hope is that Riot quickly puts in the work required to fix these issues, which are distracting enough to shake you out of the magical flow state that Valorant induces. If it does, we've got a feeling this one's destined for glory. [Issue#348, p.96]

Kat, at least, wants to make everyone happy, no matter their social status, their motives or lack of manners. That's a noble goal, but an impossible one - and one the game that surrounds her, with its bland combat, its stodgy missions, and its wayward camera, fails to provide to the player. [March 2017, p.102]

A sometimes grim but always compelling experience. [Christmas 2007, p.96]

To focus on what's missing would be to overlook the joys that remain. [Issue#340, p.106]

BF2142 fails to stimulate to the same levels as previous titles in the series, all of which have benefited from a more solid grounding in real-world settings and situations. [Dec 2006, p.87]

But what of the gamers who have paid WayForward’s bills, the Contra lovers and Shantae fan clubs? They're rewarded with extreme difficulty spikes, enacted by the amorphous lovelies of a Miyazaki film. A Boy and his Blob panders to the Wii’s unique audience all too well, dividing itself, and its impact, in the process.

It remains compelling, but much of that compulsion is in expecting the game to truly deliver - a moment you'll likely still be awaiting at the anticlimactic conclusion. [Jan 2005, p.89]

Those accustomed to the adult world of online PC gaming may have reason to sniff at the more streamlined play, but Pandemic has given consoles a whole new genre, pretty much perfectly formed... No game has ever felt quite so much like playing with Star Wars figures. [Nov 2004, p.102]

Rivals’ systems show potential, but it is considerably less than the game it might have been.

The choice to bring six armies to the pretend tabletop leaves Retribution short on one playthrough, but overflowing with things to do in comparison with its predecessors. [May 2011, p.95]

Plenty of games can be as awkward or frustrating as Dead Rising 2, but none are as insanely, violently, engagingly bonkers. [Nov 2010, p.88]

The three marathon levels might have been better broken into a series of shorter sprints, and the four-person co-op is a stressful frustration, but as a single-player score-rush, Bit.Trip Beat is mercilessly targeted to the most masochistic part of your psyche. The result is by turns infectious, delightful, and entertainingly cruel.

Fatal Fury may have to think again before taking on another fight. [Issue#411, p.108]

There's no denying the milestone that Infinity Nikki marks for the Nikki series, taking it from a modest mobile dress-up app exclusive to China to an expansive global release of a stature rare for femicentric games. Yet... [Issue#406, p.116]

Even if it doesn't keep its elements in lockstep, then, the colour, soundscape and imagination of Kunitsu-Gami is nothing if not exquisite theatre. [Issue#401, p.104]

This new outing for Sega’s ever-appealing sports series is a deeper, more serious and demanding beast than before, yet happily manages to retain the series’ lighthearted atmosphere and is, on occasion, utterly bonkers. [Apr 2007, p.84]

It takes a level of persistence that many won't be inclined to reach. [Issue#340, p.120]

Engaging, absorbing. [Jan 2007, p.79]

From its overpowered weapons and gormless AI to its pedestrian objecctives, the singleplayer game is as dumb as it is misguided – an embarrassment to the rather splendid mulitplayer game that, fortunately, represents all that's really important. [Dec 2005, p.101]

The weapon animations remain gorgeous to the last drop, but what about the other two-thirds? [Issue#424, p.108]

The Finals offers plenty of sound and fury, but what makes it worth coming back to is what all that signifies. [Issue#394, p.94

You have expectations when you see Capcom's logo as a game loads up, particularly with its flagship titles. Shoddy workmanship isn't one.

If you've come this far on Lee's journey, Around Every Corner's ending will make the final chapter a near essential purchase: not just to see how this supposedly reactive, in part player-authored story ends, but to see if Telltale really can pull it off.

While Rising’s combat is hugely satisfying to experiment with, and a sight to behold when played well, it’s undermined by technical issues and a singleplayer campaign that peters out just as you think it’s getting going. There’s replay value here, and for Platinum’s most devoted fans it won’t matter if the game is five or 50 hours long, but others will, rightly, feel a little short-changed.

It's a sensitively told story that's brought in to land with a thunderous final chapter, delivering suspense, spectacle, and a deeply moving resolution. [Issue#385, p.112]

A brave game in many ways, then, but above all, an enjoyable one.

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 may not linger in the mind for too long once it's over, but it provides at least an evening's worth of quiet magic. [Issue#410, p.123]

As a first adventure for beginners, young or old, this gets a lot right. No alarms, then, but a fair few surprises. [Jan 2019, p.119]