The sights and sounds of the Star Wars universe, delivered with enthusiasm and authenticity throughout, at least make it easy enough to be swept along. [Issue#403, p.104]

It gains points for plot and the audacity of simulating an online world, and could have scored higher, but its simplicity and inflexible save system drag it down. [Apr 2004, p.108]

Games are so rarely funny by design, but Jazzpunk is much more than a funny videogame. It’s a comedy, and one that wouldn’t be possible – or anywhere near as powerful – in any other medium.

Whatever it becomes in time, the GT Sport of right now is defined by the features it leaves on the cutting-room floor, rather than those it adds. [Christmas 2017, p.118]

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]

It's just a shame that this unique combination of still-alivers didn't result in something truly innovative.

More broadly, it's let down by how it treats its brutal subject matter, all the way through to a dramatic but glib conclusion. [Issue#401, p.110]

You get the impression the only person who cares about Kain's legacy any more is the writer. The turgid battling lets an average game down. [Jan 2004, p.107]

More intelligent than your average online shooter, ... this quirky concept deserves recognition. [May 2004, p.108]

When it clicks, though, you'll find yourself in the middle of a thoughtful and intricate puzzle game, in which you feel more like an electrical engineer than the magic builder or celestial removal man most match-three titles cast you as.

There's a prevalent fashion at the moment for games to contain a multitude of games styles, a presumption that suggests consumers have become bored of single genre games. But Rogue Squadron III exposes the lie. It's a game that tries too hard to do many things, but only manages to do a few of them well. [Dec 2003, p.92]

DaWindci's a sedate, slow burning thrill.

It's a sparse recipe that makes for a sometimes infuriating, but always compelling, puzzler which is spiced up by the inexorable progress of your dot.

True, these lively, boisterous scuffles are probably best enjoyed in short bursts. But it's hard to dislike a game that dares to break the sacrosanct rules of its genre - even if it sometimes reminds you why they existed in the first place. [Aug 2018, p.106]

A freeplay mode and breezy multiplayer component let Hexagroove's bare essentials shine through. [Issue#338, p.106]

A game with energy and personality in abundance, but it fizzles out too easily [Issue#358, p.114]

The resulting sense of forward momentum helps keep the frustrations from growing tiresome. [Issue#367, p.114]

The best Alien-licensed game not made by Creative Assembly. [Issue#387, p.114]

RR3D is the most convincing handheld iteration of the series to date, and an encouraging illustration of how 3DS's flagship feature can be more than a pretty visual twist. [May 2011, p.104]

As an RTS, Black & White 2 is less deep, but just as flexible and responsive – and when creatures, miracles, wonders and large armies are all in play it’s arguably the greatest show in gaming. [Nov 2005, p.94]

It delivers on its promise of realising pursuit scenarios in a fast-paced and energetic manner – it's a pleasing experience, but not exceptional. [Dec 2005, p.102]

The single-player campaign is fast-paced if rather unforgiving on occasion, and the online community is refreshingly vibrant given the game's steep learning curve. Recollection's only real problems exist in the form of a handful of irritating crash bugs and server disconnects, along with an unwelcome over-eagerness to drive you towards in-app purchases as you seek to bolster your sickly starter deck.

If the Crew's ultimate fate is to be a kind of racing game variety pack, the role seems to suit it. [Issue#390, p.126]

With a room of onlookers, it's certain to provoke some of the most raucous laughter you'll hear playing a videogame this year. [Issue#392, p.122]

This is a game for those who grew up in Hyrule but spent more time in Lordran in recent years. Some finicky platforming also frustrates, but then Link didn’t get an auto-jump until Ocarina Of Time.

It can be too obtuse at times, but the rewards are quite unlike anything else in games: the music peaks, a laser beam rockets off into the sky, and you turn, heading off after that distant synth, in search of your next project deeper in the neon unknown.

Playful touches abound. [Issue#379, p.120]

For the duration of its story, it grips like a grasping, otherworldly arm. [Issue#371, p.104]

This is a vision of immense craft and feeling. Should there be more behind the curtain? [Issue#410, p.110]

Uprising may not break any new ground in a genre that is arguably an endangered species, but it does a good job of breathing life into the dying breed. It's a reminder that an artist's eye, when met by a designer's understanding of modern tastes, can revitalise a struggling brand and make the old feel new again.

Sin Episodes promised us one part of an epic, but we’re in danger of getting a generic formula over several iterations, ageing technologically each time. [July 2006, p.85]

It's doubtful you'll endlessly return past the few hours necessary to beat the game, but for now it remains both a welcome introduction to a new system and its own unique and rewarding experience.

It's in Mafia II's second act that it takes a real dive, and familiarity plunges into cliché. When the writers run out of literary coal, there's little to keep you on the rails, and nowhere to take a time-out. It descends into a festival of stereotypes and expletives, laying waste to the hints of narrative depth proffered earlier and offending beyond justification as it ticks the down-and-dirty genre boxes.

Namco’s design process seems so addled by the multiform calls for improvement – the aforementioned mission design, multiplayer modes (which remain entirely offline), storylines and sheer content volume all trailing expectations – that it’s momentarily lost its focus. [July 2006, p.88]

A finale that blends Lovecraft and Spielberg seals the deal. [Issue#346, p.106]

Right now, there's enough here to capture the imagination for a handful of playthroughs, but for The Wandering Village to go the distance, Onbu may have to shoulder additional burdens. [Issue#414, p.118]

While it lasts, it’s one of the better platformers available on XBLA, and the inability to die and general ease of progression make it ideal for very young gamers. [Mar 2009, p.92]

Raskulls is many things – racer, puzzler, platformer – but it struggles to be all these things at once, or to do them equally well. Beneath the charming, brightly coloured exterior, there's a fascinating twist on the block-based puzzler at Halfbrick's game's heart – but you might just miss it when blasting through at high speed.

It's a vivid, rapid, entertaining strategy game, shot through with strikingly smart design decisions... It's problems are, inevitably, of balance. Developer EA Phenomic has accepted an impossible task - weighing all possible combinations of 200 units against one another. [May 2009, p.96]

Despite the charm, and despite the sophistication, there’s no disguising that Elebits is a slightly thin idea. Although the locations get grander and the destruction more alluring, there’s little evolution in the task at hand. [Feb 2007, p.76]

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]

The Full Metal Furies experience is as patchy in the hands as its attempts at humour. [Apr 2018, p.118]

As with Sony’s other long-awaited exclusives, Lair and Heavenly Sword, Folklore pulls its punches, and the romance of its vision ultimately all but vanishes in a puff of fairy dust. [Dec 2007, p.88]

The game’s depth is matched by a generous breadth of modes and options.

The levels can sometimes feel artificial and depopulated, the game neither recreating sprawling, unrelenting conflict, nor managing to suggest a greater world through the controlled cinema of more linear shooters. [Mar 2008, p.94]

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

Real strategic thinking is less useful than exploiting the single-mindedness of the enemy AI. That rings true of many SRPGs, but can leave a cheap aftertaste to an otherwise decisive victory. [Sept 2004, p.102]

Mercury exhibits a perfect hierarchy of challenge and reward... The pain becomes the pleasure because, in spite of the extraordinary degree of trial and error (practically requiring a degree in the subject), there’s never any moment that feels broken or exploitative. [June 2005, p.91]

In short, it’s a game with its spirit, its satisfaction and its structure intact. [Jan 2005, p.88]

This is a welcome conversion of Bliozzard's cherished 16bit strategy actioner and well worth a punt for those who like to challenge their grey matter as well as their reflexes. [May 2003, p.103]

There's substance, too. [Issue#408, p.123]

The result is a game that, while built from familiar components, feels unique as a whole. The Farm 51 should be commended for its bold design decisions, and for attempting to create something that dispenses with videogame conventions. That it doesn't always hang together quite as well as it could is disappointing, but that doesn't make experiencing the studio's singular vision any less worthwhile. [July 2017, p.110]

If some activities are variants on familiar parlour games, they’re enlivened by creative twists and side objectives, while others are brimming with invention.

One thing is certain: Concrete Genie's identity crisis proves its creators still have some maturing left to do. [Issue#340, p.106]

The faults are present at the glamorous, high-stakes launch party and, as a result, Hitman is once again prevented from defining the genre. [May 2016, p.112]

As for a return trip to hell to see how alternative choices might have played out? It would have to freeze over first. [Issue#139, p.116]

And while its camera and controls are a huge improvement over its predecessors, the odd hiccup still persists. But most of the time, with the soundtrack - a mix of laidback house, hip-hop, and funk - doing its thing in the background, and the world gradually opening up to you, it's easy to fall into a pleasant trance for long stretches. [Issue#389, p.118]

Bridge Crew transforms an ordinarily isolating technology into something irresistibly social: it's an anecdote generator par excellence, and a VR experience that handily overcomes its limitations as a game. [Aug 2017, p.119]

The premise may be wild-eyed, but the systems that fire it are robust... Deserves the small but vociferous following it will no doubt find. [Apr 2010, p.95]

Showdown is not just a party game, nor is it the limp refurb you might expect this late in a console life cycle. It feels like something as crucial to Codemasters Racing as any of its predecessors – less a spin-off than a deliberate change of tack.

Like the movies that doubtless inspired it, Shank ultimately has more style than substance. It looks fantastic but it's hardly a lengthy game, and it does little to trouble your brain. As throwaway entertainment goes, though, it's solid popcorn stuff.

Despite the game's uncluttered arenas, the camera regularly manages to find a way to flip out and point you in the wrong direction. [Dec 2009, p.101]

Nearly all enemy behaviour consists of direct charges, calling on the butt of your gun as frequently as its barrel. While it's undeniably intense, it soon becomes apparent that this intensity is the only string on the designers' banjo, plucked with increasingly feverish rapidity instead of ever-changing chords. [Nov 2005, p.105]

Its game may rarely do anything you haven’t seen done better elsewhere, but the developer knots a slew of disparate elements together with no little skill, leaving the whole feeling irresistibly fresh.

The pretty basic minigames are bland, and the worst, such as Pot Luck, are based on blind, dumb chance. So are the best, sadly. They’re fun with four people, but what isn’t? [June 2007, p.92]

What will stop you in your tracks is the scale, detail and beuty of the environments. Even after repeated play it's impossible not to pause and breathe in the magnificant view from the top of the Deep Amazon Temple. [May 2004, p.94]

In refusing to let the PSP’s home-console-style graphical capabilities dictate the nature of its gameplay, Acid is a valuable blueprint for future PSP development. [Feb 2005, p.77]

Like a kaleidoscope, El Shaddai offers a constant variety – sometimes confusing and out of focus, but often sparkling brilliantly. So long as you're not looking for any deeper meaning, you'll find plenty of novelty and beauty here, if not quite an eternity.

Beneath The Dishwasher's grungy surface is an original and polished take on a genre that may yet have its best years ahead of it. [June 2009, p.96]

The most contagious thing about Echoes Of Time is its humour, and there's no shortage of intrigue and mishap in the quests to come. Nor, however, is there a surplus. [May 2009, p.96]

When you do surrender to Echoshift's world of relaxation, time management, and jarring cruelty, however, time - like your many lives - files by. [May 2010, p.104]

Ultimately, setting out to critique and parody so studiously such a hidebound genre has brought The Bard's Tale too close to what it was trying to distance itself from. This is a conventional, likeable dungeon crawl whose flashes of brilliance distract you from its accomplishments by hinting at how much more it could have been. [Christmas 2004, p.93]

In your travels you'll stumble upon and unfold an intricately spun web of character interactions, warmly drawn personalities every bit as rewarding to explore as the physical environments themselves. [Sept 2005, p.86]

It's almost as if Capcom has distilled its Onimusha series, extracting the two core components of the franchise ' epic, fierce confrontations, and puzzle-pocked exploration of lavish settings ' and given each more room to breathe, with their own character, style, atmosphere and pace... Fresher, but not better. [Jan 2005, p.82]

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

It may not be enough to rouse those with shooter fatigue, but this is a terrific genre piece: there’s a pleasing sense of weight and feedback in its gunplay, levels are snappy and replayable, while collectible cards offer an education in the real history of the era.

It's a smart concept, skilfully realised in the main, and yet it's compromised by a truly boneheaded piece of design: the default perspective offers such a limited view of the field of play that you're forced to squeeze the zoom button throughout to make it playable, with no option to toggle it.

In every sense, the pleasure here is in the playing. [Issue#315, p.122]

The studio cannot seem to reconcile with itself, and in this sense, it's unwittingly proved the point its latest narrative fails to: with so many sides to consider, not all stories are so easily tied up. [Issue#351, p.106]

One of the finest WWII games of recent memory. Hidden & Dangerous 2 manages to distract you from errors that would cripple a lesser game through its sheer ambition and scale. [Christmas 2003, p.120]

Warp tends to the lightweight - almost a confection - but as with anything that offers this sort of energetic sugary high, sometimes it's good to be left wanting more.

It’s accomplished and inventive, but there’s not enough to quicken the pulse, and you feel relief, rather than satisfaction, when the trickier challenges are conquered. The constant metallic clanks are the sound of a game whose nuts and bolts are fully functional, but this tin man of a game is missing its heart.

For all its appealing idiosyncrasies, No More Heroes has lost some of its urgency and, with that, its potency. [Issue#363, p.116]

There’s certainly something to be said for such a calming, stress-free adventure – a game that goes out of its way to provide a holiday as much as it does entertainment. [Mar 2006, p.95]

By trying to do too much too soon elsewhere, however, Rivals reduces many of its heroes to sidekicks. [Issue#406, p.110]

The whole is far greater than the subtraction of its failures would suggest, and will attract many put off by the wonderfully absurd complexities of Nippon Ichi’s brazen coup. [July 2005, p.90]

In confronting Peter's regrets, it leaves us with one of our own - that we didn't stop 15 minutes sooner. [Issue#376, p.121]

Combo timings can feel a little strict - and, like so many games in this genre, could be better explained to novice players - but that's easy to forgive in a game that strips away so many common fighting-game frustrations with such an easy elegance. [Issue#323, p.118]

Kubrick would surely approve. [Issue#334, p.106]

At its core, though, is Hydro Thunder Hurricane's handling model. Swerving between subtlety and throttle every few seconds, it graces tracks that provide both competitive dashes and full-on fairground rides. All this is wrapped up in a perpetually rewarding structure that keeps these precious elements fresh, making up a comeback that holds its first principles close.

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 virtual interface does little to help players and, if anything, slows the game down as you wait for it to catch up with things that are already evident to players – such as victory, failure and boredom. [Dec 2007, p.89]

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]

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]

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

The Gardens Between is at its best when it marries whimsical design with fresh twists on logic puzzles, each level delicately exploring a new idea before moving onto the next. [December 2018, p.122]

As much as Carrion's moment-to-moment feel might benefit from the uniquely wobbly shape it gives you, the game as a whole wears its own amorphousness a little less elegantly. [Issue#349, p.98]

As a game, Flock can be a little too fuzzy for our liking. As a mood-altering experience, though, it works like a charm. [Issue#401, p.118]