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]

At least no one can accuse Brace Yourself of staying in its lane, even if you sometimes wish its monsters would. [Issue#408, p.121]

Like the Trebhum, The Eternal Cylinder thrives despite its deficiencies, relying on a unique ensemble of qualities to find a way. [Issue#367, p.118]

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]

Though the necessities of catering to two different audiences mean that it perhaps never quite reaches the heights of either of the pair’s best individual outings, as the credits roll, you’ll likely experience a hollow feeling, the emptiness that only the best stories leave behind.

It's strangely fitting that there should be moments of boredom: if the world occasionally seems too big and your destination too distant, well, isn't that what being a kid's all about? [Issue#337, p.112]

Ultimate's new characters, improved online offering and Heroes And Heralds make for a generous package given its budget price-point, and once it clicks, it dazzles.

Unusual, startlingly innovative and engaging. Its nuanced storytelling offers something few games have been able to meaningfully achieve – true conundrum, with little indication from the game telling you what you're supposed to do to be 'good'. Frustrating, beautiful and bizarre, Catherine stays with you.

Like an electrified baseball bat, The Beast is silly and perhaps disposable, but you can still have a great time swinging it. [Issue#416, p.110]

It sends traditional multiplayer mores into a dizzying spin and, bolstered by a cheery script and amicable tone, creates ever-evolving thrills across the course of the singleplayer campaign.

Hours after closing the game, we often find ourselves absent-mindedly drumming a table or walking in step to a song we'd never pick out normally. It's in our bones now. [Issue#377, p.112]

Undemanding kids will have a whale of a time, but from an innovator like Sackboy, we've come to expect a little more. [Issue#353, p.121]

While you won't necessarily win without some loyal subjects from your friends list, there's a deceptive amount of fun you can have while trying. [Oct 2009, p.94]

For the most part the game's worldview is surprisingly progressive. [Issue#409, p.108]

Even though Situation: Comedy zealously aims for the easiest of targets – cheap television – its satire can feel obvious at times and its parodies fall flat a little more frequently than they should. [Feb 2007, p.85]

There's a dazzling seamlessness to every aspect of Prototype 2. You feel it as you traverse the world, sprinting powerfully up buildings, bounding high into the air just as you reach the lip of the roof and then transitioning with a tap of the right trigger into a glide that will take you to the next rooftop.

With your monster ally at your side, it offers glimpses of something more intriguing, but its most interesting idea is the one that feels frustratingly underexplored. [June 2011, p.101]

Pac-Man's rotund physique and the millimetre-perfect tilt controls make him a delight to bounce up and down and around the edges of the screen, while a forgiving drop distance encourages a cavalier attitude.

It's a game confident enough in its core ideas to simply offer greater volume and variety of enemies in its later stages, and it has the balance and poise to ensure that's more than sufficient.

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

Despite these imperfections, The Quarry still delivers a deliciously hammy horror tale, filled with personality and humour. [Issue#374, p.116]

In taking away direct control Miniland Mayhem has intensified the appeal to players' protective instinct which exists at the heart of the series. [Jan 2011, p.103]

Criterion’s ability to make the technology and design of games seem harmonious is a significant strength in an industry where few can pull it off... Black is a fiery example of what can result. [Mar 2006, p.82]

Compulsive and beautifully tuned, Pivvot is a tense, nervy challenge to relish.

In trying to please us all, it leaves a deeper puzzle unsolved. [Issue#415, p.107]

Like playing with a good camera, though, this is really its own reward - something that's a joy to fiddle with for hours at a time, even if no one but you is interested in the results. [Issue#367, p.123]

This is a big game, clocking in at about the 40-hour mark, but the lack of challenge in combat combined with the formulaic missions and frequent cutscenes too often make it feel like a sticky trudge.

Pulling off tricks in OlliOlli – each precision twist, rotation and flick of the Vita’s left analogue stick – feels as satisfying for your fingers to negotiate as any fighting game finishing move. So even if you’re terrible at the game, even if you can’t land a single trick or grind, even if your scores barely creep into triple digits, your avatar’s tumbling faceplant will still imprint the outline of a grinning mouth in the pavement.

Bar a handful of bosses, Dark Dawn is a pushover, never requiring you to brave the combat's depths. Yes, it grants breathing room for testing unlikely combinations, but we'd have liked to put our mastery to the test. [Jan 2011, p.101]

For all that it celebrates tight spaces, Skin Deep is anything but claustrophobic. [Issue#411, p.112]

While most shooters handle the genre's design tradition like fragile cargo, careful to ensure that its arrangement of pieces doesn't fall into disarray, Prey cranks it like a Rubik's cube, cocking its world delightfully askew. [Sept 2006, p.76]

We need more games like this - ones that are confident and individual - but we need them to be less roughly hewn. The core of the game is solid, but the way it's applied throughout the levels just isn't interesting enough. [Mar 2004, p.98]

OutRun 2’s heady caricature of driving is some kind of high-water mark for how much beautifully slick, instantly fluid and, thanks to the excellent use of joypad rumble, gloriously tangible play can be squeezed into five minutes of flamboyant autoerotica. [Nov 2004, p.98]

Katauri's strategy RPG is a compulsive thing. (…) The game hooks the player to a drip-feed of demands that proves difficult to unplug. [Feb 2009, p.94]

It's simple, simple enough that a Bishi Bashi Special minigame had the basic idea years ago, but Match Panic does brilliant things with it. Every time you think you've got a handle on its workings, something changes up and confuses you for just long enough that the wrong thumb falls. It's a one-trick pony, but you should really see what she does with it.

It’s worth experiencing for the artistry in its visual flair, excellent cutscenes and one or two inspired directional moments, but as a game? The previous generation God Of War has the definite edge. [Oct 2007, p.86]

The claustrophobic setting is the game's most glaring weakness: you can't have an epic adventure in a single city any more than a child will be content to endlessly explore his own back garden. [Apr 2011, p.82]

Its characters may initially seem to be lazy stereotypes, but they soon blossom into something deeper, thanks to intelligent writing and uncommonly naturalistic acting. [Dec 2008, p.97]

For most of its runtime, Routine is an extremely well-constructed horror game where even the tiniest detail has a big impact. Even if you've been following it since 2012, it has been worth the wait. [Issue#419, p.104]

All we can say is that six hours of Resident Evil 3 is just enough - and we're aware that's both compliment and curse. [Issue#346, p.88]

Multiplayer can be riotously scrappy fun as you clash hands and obscure one another’s view, evoking the memories and spirit of manic bouts of air-hockey at local arcades.

While Snowblind never truly escapes the feeling of being a well-dressed, derivative run'n'gun shooter, it never fails to get the running and gunning right, and in that respect, at least, it's a sound success. [March 2005, p.86]

To put it in gastronomic terms surely familiar to Air Riders' star, we're left with the feeling of having visited an all-you-can-eat buffet. There's an array of options available, but tucking in to any one of them is unlikely to satisfy, because at the game's core is a soggy souffle that collapses almost before we can get the fork in. After two decades in the kitchen, was it too much to hope that this otherwise talented chef might have come up with something a little less...lightweight? [Issue#419, p.110]

Lego Harry Potter is a more focused experience than, say, Lego Indiana Jones 2, but proves ungainly in its own way. [Aug 2010, p.100]

While by the time the credits roll we've pretty much had our fill, it must be doing something right for 20 hours' worth of moreish, lizard-brain fun to have flown by. [Issue#368, p.116]

That's clearly how Call of the Mountain has been designed: as a technical showcase first and foremost, pushing visual fidelity further that we're used to seeing in this medium, and taking players on a tour of some of its most tried-and-tested mechanics. Taken as such, this is an all but essential companion to PSVR2. As for whether it's enough to convince people to adopt the technology in the first place? Well, that might prove a steeper mountain to climb. [Issue#383, p.114]

Much of the enjoyment comes from the awe and wonder at discovering the simple things in the world. Where previous Harvest Moon titles encouraged workaholic tendencies … the thrill here is in experimentation. [Apr 2004, p.105]

While there are some concessions in place for the mere mortals among us, there aren't quite enough. [Nov 2016, p.116]

That conviction gives it charm next to the bloat of certain other Star Wars games, but when you're skimming the hull of an exploding frigate, it's hard not to wish for more. [Issue#352, p.102]

If Race The Sun’s tracks remain as consistently well-paced and tiered as the raft of stages we’ve experienced to date, then it can be considered a success rather than an experiment: a confident genre hybrid worthy of your time and patience because who knows, today could be your day.

The game's crafting and customisation systems work together to form an incredible sense of ownership. [Issue#395, p.108]

And as it brings the melancholic undercurrent that has defined its parent series to the surface, Age of Imprisonment succeeds on two fronts: as a classy Warriors spinoff and a surprisingly vital piece of Zelda history. [Issue#418, p.116]

Never has a physics-based vehicular puzzle game bestowed such a vivid sense so generously before. [Issue#331, p.114]

Alienation sort of stops when it really should be getting going, routes closing off as they should be opening up. [July 2016, p.118]

The gravitational force is strong with this one.

This is a whirlwind romance, a week-long fling rather than a lasting love, like Lumines or Tetris. But for those first few days, the sparks will fly fast and frequently; you won't be able to keep your hands off it.

A small diversion, in other words, that lives up to both parts of the equation. [Issue#365, p.118]

Only its brevity and the limited multiplayer modes keep Judgment firmly in the ‘not a real sequel’ world, but it’s a template for the next generation of Gears and a licence to experiment with the series’ most sacred mechanics.

Sacrificing a degree of nuance at the altar of spectacle is a trade-off most Halo fans will be happy to make. Yet, at times it feels like you're just smashing toys together and watching the carnage unfold. But what wonderful toys they are. [May 2017, p.114]

Don’t Starve is by no means a bad trial run for Klei’s new way of working, but it’s a pursuit for those with a wealth of patience and an appetite for pain. Klei may have modelled Hell brilliantly, but that doesn’t mean we want to live there.

The execution can be uneven, but in all of Road 96's wild ambition there is a touch of genius. This doesn't feel like the endpoint of all these ideas, but the marking out of a route forward. It's one we'd love to see explored further. [Issue#362, p.102]

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]

Captivating and uncanny, Paper Beast is a rare one: a distinctively weird game that'll stick with you long after your brain has filtered out the little hiccups and frustrations. [Issue#346, p.100]

It represents a sublimely efficient means by which to enjoy competitive multiplayer an on all-new platform, doing so amid a shower of sparks. [June 2005, p.94]

This is a beautiful game from top to bottom: a feast for the eyes, a treat for the ears, a test for the brain and thumbs and a good old stress-test for the heart and tear ducts. This is a rare sort of debut: one that marks out its developer as one to watch. [Issue#342, p.112]

OutRun 2 remains a pinnacle of the arcade racing tradition, a peak that, through both design and circumstance, may never again be topped.

Come to terms with its idiosyncrasies and you’ll find a unique and wonderfully characterful action game; it’s well worth suffering those early scratches for the moments where it really begins to purr.

It's disappointing to find that a game so reliant upon riding earthy mounds, avoiding rocks and leaping chasms leaves the player feeling disassociated from the environments. For all the sensory feedback you could as well be controlling a futuristic hoverboard. [Oct 2003, p.102]

Smart Remote-pointer-based controls and Mason's nimble pace around the snowy locales ensure Shattered Memories is not a disagreeable six hours, but it is very rarely scary or spooky. [Feb 2010, p.93]

It's clever without being intimidating, delicate without being volatile, and immediate without a sense of panic. [Feb 2011, p.99]

Part auto-runner, part RTS, and part puzzle game, there are enough strange ideas here to make up for a grindy campaign and awkward aiming controls. Shellrazer's an odd kind of game, perhaps, but it ultimately benefits from its own eccentricities.

Below Zero excels when it commits to its free-flowing open-world sensibilities. [Issue#360, p.114]

Pinballing between boost blocks on the shorter stages is an undoubted thrill, but when a single, late mistake on the lengthier levels proves decisive, the less patient among us will likely find that an old-fashioned punishment too far.

These smart updates to the classic RPG formula mean the wilfully archaic design choices that remain in place stand out all the more. [Issue#398, p.110]

Given a new lease of life by those whip-smart changes, in the moment-to-moment Overwatch 2 sings. [Issue#378, p.108]

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

This instalment breathes new life into a series that, for all its triumphs, had started to feel too constrained by its own illustrious history. [Issue #408, p.108]

Aptly enough, there are two opposite ways to view Mirror’s Edge, ours obviously being the less forgiving one. Its ostensible break from the norm, its sparkling monoliths and its Nordic skies perform some kind of counterbalance, but there is simply not enough depth or reward to the realisation of parkour that lies beyond that sheen. [Christmas 2008, p.92]

Without characters to care for or a story compelling enough, only the most dedicated genre faithful will make it through Blue Dragon’s three discs. [Sept 2007, p.88]

The eventful, minute-long matches and frantic to-and-fro make Mario Strikers a suitable curtain-raiser for online gaming on the Wii, but a balanced and deep extreme sports game this is not. [June 2007, p.87]

Could allowing complete freedom to draw support sharply designed puzzles? Mid-way through the completed game’s 80-plus levels, you’ll still be wondering. [Mar 2009, p.94]

A strangely admirable bore: smart enough to take direct movement out of your hands, but not quite smart enough to find anything suitably enjoyable to replace it with. Never less than earnest, Doom Resurrection ignores the central lesson of much horror fiction: there are certain things you probably shouldn't do, even if you can.

Accept those technical shortcomings and it's hard not to marvel at the way this feels like a complete, self-contained world. [Issue#377, p.122]

In its still somehow unique blend of humour and heart, spectacle and introspection, that Like a Dragon roars loudest. It may be nine years late, but we're glad it got here in the end. [Issue#382, p.94]

Cliffhanger endings are fine when the next episode of a TV show is days away, but less so when the wait is likely to last a couple of months. Yet Telltale has already achieved something remarkable, proving – to both Clem and to you – that there’s life after Lee.

There's plenty to like here - the script almost justifies a playthrough by itself - but it's a little overlong, a little padded out, it's obvious charms soon obscured by busywork, reputation and irritation. [Christmas 2017, p.122]

Zuma's simple ingredients have once again brewed up a surprisingly powerful brand of magic. [Nov 2009, p.104]

It is, however, successful as an adaptation that gets to the core appeal of the original tabletop game, and uses it to the betterment of the strategic campaign system that it has adopted from elsewhere. [July 2018, p.116]

The end-of-stage bosses remain something of a saving grace. [Issue#410, p.112]

Alien Hominid is just about an essential title for anyone who's caught themselves yearning for a forgotten past, or to any young blood wondering what people mean when they say they don't make them like they used to. [Jan 2005, p.97]

For all Tina's spirited efforts as dungeon master, every aspect of the Borderlands experience is showing its age. The next instalment needs more than dismal puns and wonky guns if it's to avoid being the butt of the joke. [Issue#371, p.112]

For all the very human flaws in its script, it ends up somewhere in the uncanny valley of narrative games: it looks the part, but behind that glistening exterior, something vital is undeniably missing [Aug 2018, p.96]

That Disgaea 3 is perhaps the finest of its self-referential and casually wicked yarns, is almost an irrelevance. We’ve got numbers to think about. [Dec 2008, p.97]

Yakuza 4 is ultimately too set in its ways to welcome anyone new to the family, and too laden with cutscenes to let its nuances. [Apr 2011, p.99]

What was once a pleasing console compromise now seems overly restrictive post-"Knights of the Old Republic." Despite hints of moral choices and a dusting of side-quests, it soon boils down to a straight slog, mashing the 'A' button as you wander through prettily rendered - if largely linear - dungeons. [Feb 2004, p.100]

Festival Of Blood has plenty of ideas, very few of which are its own, but such is the way of the open-world superhero game. Where it succeeds is in casting aside the main game's mechanics in favour of fast, graceful movement around one of the most generous worlds available on the download services.

Lost Odyssey contains some of the most tender writing ever committed to a videogame. [Apr 2008, p.86]

Too much of it is cut from old cloth instead of woven from its own loom. [Aug 2015, p.116]