It’s a product of a time when hardened roleplayers were better noted for their patience – and its difficult to see many players tackling the adventure in its entirety. The walking speed for example, especially in the overworld, proves irritating in its sluggishness. [Feb 2007, p.83]

The game suffers from a slow start, the first six chapters indistinct and repetitive. [July 2008, p.92]

A fairytale comeback. Extravagance was one of the signatures of the graphic adventure: extravagance to bring them in, and a cracking story well told to keep them. Both tenets of the Broken Sword series remain intact here, and that's all the devoted fans could have wanted. [Christmas 2003, p.94]

As a place, Los Angeles simply isn't as much fun as Liberty or Vice. Too much of this silicon LA exists simply because the designers wanted to show that it could be done rather than because it serves any gameplay purpose. [Christmas 2003, p.107]

This is a game of rare thematic consistency and mechanical brilliance. [Issue#347, p.102]

Faraday's enthralling quest is up there with the best games Devolver has published to date. [Issue#356, p.105]

What is for sure is that over its six-hour span we're engrossed in Still Wakes The Deep far more often than not. [Issue#399, p.100]

Suddenly, your herd is let off the leash. As you witness a train rattling along a nearby track, it's hard to resist the urge to race it. [Issue#415, p.100]

Housemarque has certainly put in the effort, but the twin-stick shooter might simply be more rewarding when you're skidding over the smooth-scrolling surface of one of Super Stardust's wraparound arenas than stumbling through darkened alleyways with a tangle of undead shambling after you. [Jan 2011, p.100]

Did a purse-holder at Activision one day grapple fruitlessly with the last game's control system and scrawl in their subsequent notes "Make the next one so that I can play it"? Speculation aside, someone sure messed-up Spider-Man. [Dec 2005, p.108]

What it does have is bundles of charm, a gorgeous art style, and enough bite-sized chunks to last many a journey. [July 2010, p.104]

The lack of instruction here is telling: Lucky Frame wants people to discover the joy of making music for themselves, and this stylish and entertaining curio represents a fine place to do so.

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]

The chemistry of control, animation, AI and environmental damage systems is absolutely spot on, both in finding Hard Boiled’s groove and providing coherent, rhythmic and unpredictable action. [Nov 2007, p.91]

While a game that tries to be something for everyone will always fail to be everything to someone, Riders Republic has that certain something that makes it hard to stop. [Issue#366, p.110]

Enemies hit like trucks - and not just the ones that ARE trucks. [Dec 2015, p.114]

It's the misjudged reuse of ideas like this that makes the game feel like a classic '80s rock song being played by the band's contemporary line-up.

Assuming its most patience-testing proclivities don't put you off, there's a good chance it'll capture your heart. [Issue#351, p.104]

The game's first half in particular demonstrates real clarity of vision. [Issue#380, p.123]

That initial feeling of being a tangible part of the inside of a videogame will forever be fantastic, even if much of the rest of the experience feels like it's been done before. [Tested with Oculus Rift; June 2016, p.112]

It remains disarmingly single-minded throughout, yet any repetition is offset by intuitive, precise controls, and satisfying audiovisual feedback.

With no real sense of connection with your monsters, or of engagement with the clumsily delivered plot, there is little here to help the game overcome its tendency towards charmless, chore-based repetition. [Jan 2004, p.106]

As a place, Los Angeles simply isn't as much fun as Liberty or Vice. Too much of this silicon LA exists simply because the designers wanted to show that it could be done rather than because it serves any gameplay purpose. [Christmas 2003, p.107]

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]

Few other titles’ enemies have the power to flood you with real horror as they scramble and skitter towards you. [Christmas 2007, p.98]

The action is so fast, and the time to kill so low, that anyone outside of the hardcore COD audience is in for a rough ride. [Jan 2017, p.110]

It’s a brave game that dares to weaken players in one way as it empowers them in another. Comcept may be wrong in thinking Monster Hunter would be better if it was just about hunting monsters, but Soul Sacrifice is courageous and thematically bold enough to distinguish itself from the clones that have followed in the wake of Capcom’s phenomenon. As with Inafune’s recurring criticisms of Japan, however, it proves repetition isn’t always the best way to make a point.

Among this "grab-bag of myths and masks" are moments of genuine intrigue, but its vague storytelling lacks the specificities that would make it universal. [Issue#361, p.121]

Redacted makes no apology, yet somehow escapes from the shadow of its inspiration. [Issue#404, p.116]

Need For Speed seems like it would benefit from choosing a priority to stick to: be either a rowdy pursuit rampage or a lustrous street racer unbothered by traffic or law enforcement, as mixing both can leave it feeling much less than the sum of its generously many parts. [Christmas 2006, p.89]

Ironically, it’s people who haven’t played Champions rather than veterans who could find the most to like, given that it’s a year’s worth of tweaks and polish on that game’s largely positive foundation. [Apr 2005, p.105]

We suspect Chimera Squad might not be to the taste of genre purists, having sacrificed perhaps a little too much of the player's control over strategic outcomes in favour of reactive encounters. In some ways, it's XCOM for those who prefer action games - a hybrid that isn't afraid to ruffle some feathers, even if the resulting beast loses a little of its identity. [Issue#346, p.94]

Has enough in that expertly-pitched control system to keep you replaying the same courses over and over, relaxing into a groove before smashing through the score barrier on one perfect run. It's an iPhone game you'll come back to for the controls alone – and that's not something you can't say every day.

For players to get more out of this world, Crimson Desert requires a greater sense of purpose - a reason to remain invested in persevering through its most testing moments, to press on for hours in the faith that it will attain some kind of shape. [Issue#423, p.98]

Crisp of cut-scene, blessed with a refreshingly light touch and low-key compared to the po-faced chest-beating of its peers, Second Sight could well be a high water mark in storytelling through games (as opposed to storytelling around them). [Oct 2004, p.104]

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

If its unpredictability is a double-edged sword, though, we can imagine ourselves returning to this as we would a beloved horror novel or film, albeit one whose macabre myths are capable of wrongfooting us even on the umpteenth revisit. [Issue#391, p.120]

Its ideas are streamlined, its tight boundaries narrowing what could have been an overwhelming proposition, plunging players all the sooner into compelling strategic depths. [Christmas 2008, p.99]

Platforming feels more involved than in "Stray," though clipping issues and an inconsistent camera can lead to frustrating falls. [Issue#399, p.122]

Much like the humble jigsaw, it's never less than a pleasant distraction. [Issue#404, p.123]

Like poking a dream-plagued bear, not everything here is a sensible idea, but at least there's always a chance something interesting will happen. [Issue#408, p.104]

The breasts get in the way. Dragon’s Crown’s 30GG bosoms have made any discussion of the game impossible without first acknowledging that, yes, those things are preposterous. While art director George Kamitani’s assertion that he exaggerates male characters’ masculine characteristics to the same extent holds water, the saucy fairy and spread-legged female monk don’t help combat the suggestion that Dragon’s Crown is wantonly objectifying women.

Metro is at its best deep underground, away from the demands of a modern action game and engrossed in the cultures that cling to its tunnels, the atmosphere boosted by subtitled Russian and the writing and voice-acting creating fascinating windows into a struggling world. [May 2010, p.99]

It’s hard to find reasons not to point to Exit as a prime piece of PSP gaming. It’s rich colours and bold stylings bring out the best in the machine’s screen; the short, compelling levels are perfect for playing in bite-sized chunks, and wi-fi connectivity means new levels – of which Taito has already made a good few available - will sustain your enthusiasm longterm. [Fe 2006, p.90]

Had the level design have been a touch more ingenious, and the creatures exhibited more guile, this could have been memorable. [June 2004, p.106]

FFXI may not technically be the future of MMORPGs, as there’s no ignoring its derivative nature. However, it has cleverly assimilated all the elements that make the genre so popular and married them with international brand popularity well beyond the reach of other, more ghettoised MMORPGs. [Dec 2005, p110]

You won't even break a sweat before you get to the Silver Cup in the Expert class, and F-Zero stalwarts will feel patronised by the ease with which this short-lived Tournament mode can be completed. [Feb 2004, p.110]

For all its polish, Reflect Missile has managed to retain the loose energy of a quirky prototype: a 500 Nintendo Point exercise in pure mechanics that is lithe – and slight – enough to suggest that a talented designer may have knocked the whole thing up over an inspired series of lunch breaks.

Judged purely on its battle system, Grandia III is the best RPG on PS2...But battles are only part of the RPG experience, and elsewhere the game struggles. [May 2006, p.93]

Isn't a game that does anything obviously or overtly clever or innovative. But any game that takes such a simple premise and polishes it, hones it and refines it until it's this engrossing, this absorbing, and this much fun, is quite obviously doing something very clever indeed. [Christmas 2003, p.114]

The result, Llamasoft's best game since Polybius, is dazzling in every sense of the word. [Issue#382, p.114]

There's a pleasingly wide range of enemies to fight. [Sept 2012, p.110]

The Gunstringer's biggest problem, however, is that it's a score-based shooter with little incentive to return. With only one weapon type available at any given time, there's none of the tactical interplay between attacks that makes aiming for high scores in Child Of Eden so tempting.

Shuggy's a clever game rather than a truly smart one – a smart game wouldn't do half as much to undermine itself along the way – but it's still worth sticking with to its bitter and infuriating end.

A large number of possibilities awaits the ambitious tactician. From tunnelling assaults to flying barrage defences, Perimeter relies on the imagination of players to become genuinely interesting. [Aug 2004, p.105]

Ultimately, Makai Kingdom feels more about brutal stat farming than true tactics… Makai Kingdom’s key strategy isn’t so much tactics as just sheer weight of numbers, of accumulation and refinement of properties. [Oct 2005, p.86]

Why roam freely (when the game lets you, which is by no means always) when all that's out there to find is an empty trek between jarring episodes of production-line gaming? [Christmas 2005, p.105]

Great concept; questionable delivery.

A smart and engaging exploration of what Nintendo's strange new machine can muster. Historically, thirdparty releases on a console launch day have been chequered and timid affairs made by inexperienced teams fearful of losing their footing on unknown terrain. When Ubisoft Montpellier's ZombiU works in smart union with its host console, however, it frequently delights.

The highscore table and note-perfect humour (which, just like the pixel-art graphics and whimsical audio, strikes the perfect balance between faux-naivety and self-awareness) proves more than enough to keep you playing in the traffic.

In its present form, Hero Academy is a fairly lightweight confection, but it digs its nails in until you find yourself impatiently anticipating the notification alert, and then starting a fresh battle with a random opponent to shorten the wait.

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

If there's surprising strategic depth alongside the amusement of the premise, though, the package itself is on the miniature side. [Issue#420, p.107]

In short, the system - mostly magically - works. [Issue#407, p.94]

None of this matters too much when you're taking one gamble after another and they're all paying off. [Issue#376, p.108]

"Killzone 2" has the technology and spectacle; FEAR 2 has class, direction and a most mischievous sense of humour – and technology and spectacle. [Mar 2009, p.84]

Kids are often underestimated, but that doesn’t mean their games should be. Lego Star Wars has an appeal that goes beyond age, even if it’s one that rarely goes beyond 20 minutes at a time. [May 2005, p.84]

The synthesis of all The Sims Medieval's many personalities and inspirations creates something genuinely unique and compulsively entertaining. It's a funny and sweet time sink, and something that any Sims fan can wholeheartedly enjoy.

There is a design challenge here. [Issue#417, p.116]

This beautiful, high-velocity leap into the unknown deserves points for style AND daring. [Issue#367, p.102]

Why roam freely (when the game lets you, which is by no means always) when all that’s out there to find is an empty trek between jarring episodes of production-line gaming? [Christmas 2005, p.105]

Puzzles are too child-friendly, their solutions more fiddly than mentally taxing. The pleasure earned from cracking Miymoto’s designs is instead targeted by flashy 2.5D level design – snaking sights that admittedly look wonderfully crisp on Wii – and set-pieces for the impatient. [Mar 2009, p.95]

It's a tremendous shame, because the bosses themselves are a finely conceived, smartly designed and varied bunch. [Issue#296, p.121]

This dazzling, determinedly populist experience was not made according to the standards other games are made by, and when judged – or even just described – by those standards, it might seem slender to the point of frailty. [Christmas 2005, p.101]

No task is impossible alone, but the ease of co-op mustn't cloud the the fact that Atlus is still to find that sweet spot between virtual and actual brain surgery. [Mar 2008, p.100]

It might not be a system seller, but provides further compelling evidence of the Wii controller’s lofty potential. [July 2007, p.92]

What a shame that a story whose opening promises to wade into deeper waters should resort to paddling in the shadows. [Issue#375, p.118]

A Toyko Tale is brief and entirely linear – in the main, you’re simply walking between numbered waypoints, though you can unlock certain dialogues by losing your servant status – but Ayabe transports you so utterly to an unfamiliar time and place that it matters little. By the outlandish and oddly touching final act showdown, you’ll be a rapt spectator, cheering on the heroes alongside Sohta and his newfound friends.

Peggle’s secret is the way it makes you feel about these successes – and it’s here that this most feels like a true sequel. Clear out a level and the resulting Ultra Extreme Fever is a bigger festival of light and colour than ever, and Xbox One’s Game DVR popup serves as an extra pat on the back. The accompanying crescendo is no longer limited to Ode To Joy either – each Master has their own piece of classical music.

If Massive Damage's kitchen-sink approach to combat systems threatens to become overwhelming, it is at least built upon solid foundations. [Issue#351, p.107]

The fact that it’s just mental arithmetic simply doesn’t matter: all it makes you realise is that most games are mental arithmetic one way or another. [May 2006, p.95]

At its best, New Super Luigi U is an exhilarating test of skill, but on occasion it dangerously approximates a fan-made ROM hack, mistakenly believing that an increased enemy count equates to satisfying design. Some will undoubtedly find its challenge inviting, but others will rightly expect more ingenuity from Nintendo than this.

For the time being, Exordium represents a kind of success, even if it’s tempered by the evident struggle to achieve an objective that may, in the end, prove to be a fool’s errand.

Ronimo has made an ingenious Trojan horse by delivering the structure and systems of a cult PC genre on consoles, wrapped in the glamour of classic console gaming. Rather than alienate the wrong audience, Awesomenauts could – and should – make plenty of converts to its cause.

In quests played with up to three friends the experience improves, but the game does nothing clever, original or compelling enough to recommend local questing over MMOs. [May 2008, p.95]

A curiosity. An inferior imitation of a two-decade-old series, it's nevertheless delivered with obvious affection for its inspiration and considerable charm of its own. [June 2010, p.105]

For console owners used to having to fiddle with power sliders in order to orchestrate their shots, it brings a nigh-on edible element of tangibility to the experience... An accomplished bundle. [May 2004, p.109]

Squids is clever, but it's a cleverness that can slowly give way to devious manipulation: the game has fallen for the easy money of microtransactions, and it's fallen hard.

It has all the hooks you'd associate with a streaming service binge-watch...But American Arcadia has something to say, too. [Issue#393, p.116]

A beautiful disappointment – a great look in search of a great game to go with it. The genre template may be rock solid, but the end result is an adventure that's been strung across a fault line.

When was the last time a game managed to pierce your heart with its third or fourth dialogue choice? [Issue#381, p.96]

Yes, it really does get good after 20 hours, but even then it never lives up to its name - not-so-bravely defaulting to genre convention at almost every turn. [Issue#357, p.108]

Crysis 3 has neither direction nor freedom, though it does have human weapons, alien weapons, a cloaking device, an Armour mode, and a bow. And with this many options at your disposal, Crysis 3 insists, surely you must be having fun.

It froths with colour and confidence, revelling in its influences as you grind your way to the top. And make no mistake, it is a grind – one best taken in short doses and requiring the basest of mental activity but one that has enough content, unlocks and options to compensate.

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

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]

It's undeniably a one-trick pony, then, but it's a good trick, performed with flair and polish. Those inclined to correct grammatical howlers in friends' Facebook missives will find this a far less confrontational way of sating their inner pedant.

This is a whisper of what the IP has to offer videogames rather than a realisation, and there's no disguise in the universe that can hide that. [Aug 2010, p.94]