The best pleasure in Tiny Invaders isn't really the white-knuckle action. It's those moments spent mentally sketching its levels out before launching into them and executing perfectly - or getting smooshed. Infesting humans slowly and inexorably with an army of cheerful germs – Tiny Invaders isn't perfect, but it definitely brings a smile to your face.

As a reinvention it's a resounding success, and there are no pretenders to its comprehensiveness [May 2004, p.107]

It's a victory for style over substance, in which style smashes substance's head into a million pieces. [May 2016, p.116]

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.

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]

GW2 offers an alternative, lighthearted take on a genre that can often feel po-faced. [May 2016, p.118]

At its best, Infamous is an amped-up Crackdown - a game about bounding across a cityscape, discharging your enemies however you please. Even if ropey execution impedes its appeal, Infamous still has this essential spark. [June 2009, p.88]

Builds on the gothy charm of its predecessor, refining its hit-chaining combat and dialling up the scope of its artistic ambition. [June 2011, p.102]

Far more polished than its ragged forebear. [Aug 2009, p.100]

There’s more to be got out of this new kind of play than Nintendo has found this time around, and some of it could be better implemented. But, for now, it offers an experience that can’t be matched. [July 2005, p.89]

It's on Live, though, that Ten Hammers truly explodes into life, the absolute requirement for tactics creating jumpy matches that outgun anything so far on Xbox or its baby brother. [Apr 2006, p.92]

A game betrays its obvious understanding of scratch music with its mechanics: turntablism involves releasing a scratch at exactly the right moment, something that doesn't seem possible here.

If, like us, you're the kind of nerd who gets worked up by good interface design, Anomaly's swiftly accessed tactical map and upgrade overlays may just leave you misting up your monitor or touchscreen. [June 2011, p.103]

In its best moments (of which there are plenty), this is about as good as Life is Strange has ever been. [Issue#364, p.112]

While the overall blandness means Galactrix is unlikely to truly thrill many people, it also means that it won’t exclude anyone either, and the ever-reliable pattern-spotting blends with the steady trickle of meaningless rewards to exert a pull on its audience that is truly Pavlovian. [Apr 2009, p.125]

Allow the mood to feel its way into you and the sticky combat and occasional something's-missing-don't-know-what confusion become part of the experience. [June 2003, p.94]

Little Nightmares 2 is a slight dispersal of the original's concepts, adding some fabulous locations and grotesqes without cleaning up the platforming or developing a soul of its own, but it's in some ways a more complex horror story. [Issue#356, p.96]

Sareth’s adventure does tire, however, during later moments when the game leaves you with neither an objective nor waypoint, but instead an arduous hunt for the next NPC trigger or gateway. [Christmas 2006, p.84]

The rethink has inspired some of the most cunning, least arbitrary Monkey Ball level designs since the first game, and though Banana Blitz is the model of accessibility, it’s also plenty tough enough. [Christmas 2006, p.85]

It's an 'experience' as much as a game, meaning that it will leave as many people cold as it grabs by the right half of the brain. Beyond good, then, but not quite excellent. [Christmas 2003, p.104]

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

Mechanically, it's fantastic. Structurally, it's a mess and a missed opportunity, designed in direct contradiction to its developer's stated ambition. [April 2016, p.98]

For players who find themselves similarly unsure of their own identities, it could well resonate long after the amps and stage lights have been switched off. [Issue#364, p.116]

For all its incongruousness, it prompts a set-piece so joyous and liberating that it's hard to mind. [Issue#322, p.116]

Previous instalments in this technically strong but creatively lacking series have been one-note, papering over a lack of originality with a hefty dose of shock and awe. Killzone 3, by contrast, attempts to wage a more varied war. It succeeds, just, by offering a tour of locations both more visually interesting and diverse than its forebears, but it all still depends heavily on the brutal impact of the shooting at its core.

Even for those players who are too young to perceive the winds of nostalgia blowing through Eastward, this is a game that shows the endurance of the Super Nintendo-era RPG template as a vessel for storytelling across decades - and that is a magic of its own, too. [Issue#364, p.118]

But this is a production that feels increasingly aged in the face of modern game design. The creeping and eventually overriding feeling is that this meticulously precise simulation, and its lovingly constructed catalogue of automotive history, deserved a little more game to come along for the ride.

What's here stands out simply for being the first convincing example of a VR FPS that doesn't make you feel sick. [Aug 2017, p.120]

For players who have dismissed the mech genre in general and Armored Core in particular as requiring too much effort for too little reward, For Answer could offer a compelling reason to dabble. [Jan 2009, p.94]

The sport's on-track jousting is potentially some of the fastest and most exhilarating source material around, but by default developers appear to struggle to present it in anything other than a dry and overly technical fashion. [Jan 2010, p.91]

What's here is enough to be going on with, but we'll have to wait till next year's updates and in particular, that possibly seismic battle-royale mode, to discover whether this is truly a Battlefield that stands apart. [Jan 2019, p.114]

Like its enigmatic protagonist, Unravel is never anything less than charming, even during moments when it doesn't quite hold together. [April 2016, p.108]

If patience is required, though, it's equally repaid. Playing as the Sandfox remains inherently pleasing, along with the game's story and atmosphere. A little post-launch care could see it truly shine. [Issue#412, p.120]

If the worst part of war is the waiting, 11-11's writing is often strongest when it's lingering on the mirth, grief and boredom of soldiers before and after the bloodshed. [Jan 2019, p.116]

The creative aims are clear and well-met: to create a Final Fantasy game with a more serious and grounded story, a more fashionable battle system and more mature world in which magic and monsters exist, and their effects on human ambitions and systems of power. On these counts, Final Fantasy XVI's gamble is a success. But whether this is a game to inspire passion among a new generation, in the way the high points of the series did, is debatable. [Issue#387, p.106]

Fascinating. [Issue#356, p.106]

Groove works you harder than lots of rhythm action games, although that's often because players will find themselves waving unnecessarily, unsure whether their hits are going to register. This is where the game suffers most: It lacks the tactile response of its peers. [Jan 2004, p.103]

That this is one decidedly average experience and one decidedly great one jammed together becomes clear long before you’re freed to fully enjoy yourself. [Jan 2005, p.86]

Pragmata has an original combat system, some smart toys and tight engineering, yet its rhythm and structure are a touch too singular. This is no mere 3D printout, but an exercise in the pristine and clinical nonetheless. [Issue#424, p.96]

With a little more in the way of technical polish and a few more hours of playtime thrown in, this would have been one of the best film-based games of all time. [July 2009, p.90]

This is easily the better sequel, a firm improvement on "Warrior Within." So why the long face? For the simple and saddest reason of all: ennui. [Christmas 2005, p.100]

A sandbox where waypoint distances are measured in pixels, and journeys are over in seconds, is surely one worth celebrating. [Issue#334, p.122]

The game's underlying sense of humour and its obvious affection for giant robots save it from feeling ordinary. [Sept 2011, p.110]

We're not saying it'll make you understand the more virulent strains of Trumpism, but playing as a surrogate Rudy Giuliani for a couple of hours turns out to be a far better use of your time than you'd expect. [Issue#356, p.107]

If the future's to be sustainable - let alone bright - we may need to reduce our reliance on single-use game design. [Issue#424, p.100]

This wasn’t a game created to win any design awards. It was created to give any DS owner the power to turn a roomful of friends into squealing, scheming, cursing, laughing Bombermen, and as such, it’s hard to imagine why anybody would want to be without it. [Aug 2005, p.96]

While undoubtedly nectar of the gods for series fans, the incremental tweaks and polishes to the game's mechanics that a decade of sequels grants make it by far the most rewarding and investible Musou game to date for all-comers.

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 its best only when the structure is there to support it. Find eight people to play with regularly, and invest in voice communications to streamline tactical discussions, and Guild Wars offers an intelligent and demanding thrill - bringing the best of the skill and strategy of FPS deathmatches to the grandeur of a role-playing world. [Aug 2005, p.88]

Apart from being an excellent reminder of its host’s graphical oomph, Tactical Strike is engrossingly detailed and generous, if not wide, in scope. [Jan 2008, p.91]

It's an 'experience' as much as a game, meaning that it will leave as many people cold as it grabs by the right half of the brain. Beyond good, then, but not quite excellent. [Christmas 2003, p.104]

It may drive you potty at times, but this really is Paris as you've never sen it before, and you won't forget it in a hurry. [Issue#322, p.120]

ArmA 2 isn’t just dogmatic and unforgiving – it’s also very awkward in its construction and the weight of its ambition frequently proves too much for the sometimes-brilliant main campaign to pull off. Nonetheless, its vast, detailed world and unapologetic dynamism turn the game from sandbox to snowglobe – something you can’t resist shaking up just to see how it looks.

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]

It can feel like all work and no play, but it's work that's professionally rendered, adding some solid detail and feedback to the traditional GTA-style framework. [Dec 2006, p.84]

Given the game’s marketing as one woman’s war against the corporations, the irony of Perfect Dark Zero is that the quality of the game experience it offers degrades in parallel with the number of people playing it. [Jan 2005, p.80]

As a package, it's generous and deep, but Sumo has fallen victim to its own success. While enjoyable in their own right, boats and planes simply can't match the moreish handling of the karts.

As for how it compares to its predecessor, there's really no better summary than Roland's response to Evan when asked to describe his home: "I guess it's ahead of this world in some ways, and behind in others." [May 2018, p.104]

There’s a great twitch game beneath this hostile exterior, but Ragequit can’t afford to test players’ endurance on so many levels if its niche shooter is to thrive.

What's most frustrating about Tiberium Wars is that it chooses not to accentuate the breakneck battlefield thrills of C&C's arcade stylings, opting instead to preserve the old blueprint. [May 2007, p.86]

There are lots of puzzles, a fun environment to tootle around in, and little to dislike. Utterly charming. [Apr 2008, p.95]

The strongest MMO launch for a long while, and the genre’s deftest ever take on PVP – but its appeal may yet prove too narrow. [Christmas 2008, p.93]

Fundamentally a curiously lovable game - one of long, lonely roads, of painstaking parking manoeuvres, and slapstick write-offs when simple turns are misjudged. There's nothing else quite like SCS's brand of cargo-hauling action. [April 2016, p.119]

The improvements are largely cosmetic, with everything about this sequel – from the menus to the maps – more polished and user friendly, springing to life on Retina-equipped iOS devices with bursts of colour and character.

It’s a solid formula, of course, and like its wrestler star Drinkbox’s game is dressed up luridly and with flair – but this entertaining romp is more about the costume than what’s beneath it.

For those who can tolerate having their brain beaten numb by it, the game entails often enthralling, occasionally awe-inspiring sights and sounds. But little is there that’s new compared to much that needs renewal. [Christmas 2005, p.96]

This may be Onion Games' most conventional release to date, but still Kimura finds a way to bend the rules. [Jan 2019, p.122]

As it stands, you can only cast your actors and dress your sets, so Unlimited doesn't quite live up to its name, but for those willing to span the game's structural deficiencies with their imagination, it's intensely rewarding.

During Tropical Freeze’s most exacting sequences, you may yearn for Mario’s reliability, but the bludgeoning force of Retro’s presentation is enough to carry a powerful, if traditional, platformer over the finish line.

It’s on Live, though, that Ten Hammers truly explodes into life, the absolute requirement for tactics creating jumpy matches that outgun anything so far on Xbox or its baby brother. [Apr 2006, p.92]

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.

Just Cause 2 can hardly be called an average game. It's a good one undermined by a selection of mediocre elements, and it's all the more frustrating this time around because Avalanche shows us glimpses of just how much fun two weeks on holiday with Rico should be. [Apr 2010, p.96]

The campaign prevents Battlefield 6 from hitting all of its marks. [Issue#417, p.96]

This is a rich, interesting design, then, but one whose capacity for long-term competitive play is questionable.

A brilliant fighting game for newcomers, and a wonderful one for genre fans, that somehow still manages to feel like a disappointment for so comprehensively failing to bring its two demographics together. [Apr 2018, p.112]

As the game strays further from this core fantasy, its charms are dulled. Nioh 2 is a rather conservative sequel. [Issue#346, p.96]

Trace Memory is a sound and striking dissection and rebuilding of the adventure game, one that wraps itself well around the specs and strengths of the DS, but one that isn’t the sum of its parts. But it is a worthy and touching whole, nonetheless. [Aug 2005, p.96]

An exercise in turning the volume up to maximum and keeping it there. The sound it emits is powerful, but with its constant presence can become mere noise. PlatinumGames has mastered the way of the ninja as a furious mass-death machine, yet somehow Ninja Gaiden 4 isn't a true killer. [Issue#417, p.100]

Yes, in places, it's a little too familiar, sometimes ungainly and unsure of itself. Yet it's also big-hearted and likeable, with a hero that, even at the peak of his powers, remains endearingly human. By the time the credits roll, you might be convinced that Parker should extend his vacation. [Issue#353, p.104]

The antithesis of the arcade fix and, despite the fact that this stance is unfashionable at the moment, comes highly recommended, not least because it offers a different view of gaming's future. [May 2003, p.97]

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]

It's a game that celebrates the idea of two disparate beings finding a shared language and using it to overcome their problems; in these troubled times, such moments are powerful indeed. [Apr 2018, p.114]

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]

Liberation's narrative is rather picaresque, while the less said about its asynchronous multiplayer mode, the better. Yet it avoids the console game's occasional longueurs to offer something altogether more compact and focused. It may not be a true Assassin's Creed experience on a handheld, then, but this sensibly streamlined game is a fine companion piece.

As a launch title, Resistance proves itself to be a crisp and powerful piece of software, but not quite as robust a videogame. [Jan 2007, p.68]

With it’s limited range of costumes (broadened with lazy palette swaps) and unambitious Tag and Team battles, DOA4 remains as familiar as the mild disappointment it delivers. [Feb 2006, p.84]

In remaining more traditional, it fails to provide the kind of innovation that might have made it essential - something that, invariably, Nintendoes. [Issue#417, p.110]

Blackbar tells a satisfying dystopian short story, one that invites you to engage directly with its censorship theme.

This is no true sequel, nor is there the intent or transformative change to suggest that it could've been. The result, however, is no less appreciated – lavish, generous and a step to the left of the standard follow-up. [March 2005, p.88]

Mundaun is both a densely imagined horror game and a story about a young man getting back in tune with the place of his birth. The mountain might be an object of terror, but it's also one of nostalgia. It's something you learn to live with. [Issue#357, p.116]

This is easily the better sequel, a firm improvement on "Warrior Within." So why the long face? For the simple and saddest reason of all: ennui. [Christmas 2005, p.100]

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

A wonderfully honest game that points out how important it is to acknowledge the hole, but reminds us that, at the end of the day, it's what's - and who's - around it that counts. [Nov 2018, p.121]

Global Storm feels like the true heir to the Conflict: Desert Storm games in more than just surname, and remains a worthy war effort, despite there being other games that may do it grander or deeper. [Nov 2005, p.102]

Its magpie picking of influences leaves it with too little personality of its own, and comparisons with its sources are often unflattering. Still, it boasts scale, action and variety that make it a welcome addition to PS3's multiplayer roster.

Classes and skills are well-balanced, and even though you’ll cycle through the small map selection quickly, they offer enough possibilities to stave off fatigue until Ubisoft adds more arenas. With more modes and maps, Phantoms would be a formidable offering, but it’s worth dipping into until then.

Lacks the genuine desire for change that the genre so desperately needs. [Aug 2008, p.95]

For every moment of epiphany, wide-eyed with an awareness of a resolution, there's an equal number of blunderingly hapless wins, falling or jumping accidentally to new and advantageous positions. [June 2008, p.89]