It feels more like a yearly update than a sequel, a new campaign with old multiplayer. The game isn't distinct from its predecessors in any important way, and fatigue sets in quicker than before. [Jan 2011, p.94]

It feels more like a yearly update than a sequel, a new campaign with old multiplayer. The game isn't distinct from its predecessors in any important way, and fatigue sets in quicker than before. [Jan 2011, p.94]

Although the basic joy of rolling realistic water around might be short-lived, it's bolstered by the far greater satisfaction of solving the game's intuitive, well-paced puzzles. [Jan 2011, p.102]

Epic Mickey may not always be entirely satisfying to play, but it's still enormously interesting to wander around with an eye open for the detailing. [Jan 2011, p.92]

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]

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]

Rather than gradually introduce the many plates you have to spin, it puts them all into action at once, starting with 20 near-identical walkover levels and then spiking brutally when it assumes you've worked everything out. [Dec 2010, p.101]

The subtlety of these exchanges suggests that a strategy game of some greatness exists beneath the cumbersome framework, and we trust Stardock, a developer of proven diligence and passion, to continue refining it. [Nov 2010, p.93]

The beauty of Deadly Premonition is that it's a straightforward whodunnit viewed through the cracked prism of an unreliable narrator, conjuring an atmosphere of suspicion and confusion throughout. [Dec 2010, p.92]

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]

It's a vehicle that may win over more action fans than true-bloods, but its plagiaristic tendencies represent a shrewd way of ensuring that the series gets a firm footing outside of the 2D realm. [Nov 2010, p.84]

All good clean fun, then, but it's not really anything we haven't seen before. [Nov 2010, p.95]

It remains an early PS Move highlight, but one that can't boast the charm or accessibility of its Wii rivals, despite the improved tech. [Nov 2010, p.92]

That twist, however, is the root of the game's disappointments, hinting at something beyond a typical platform game, yet leaving players to go through the genre's familiar motions - just in the shade. [Dec 2010, p.91]

It all adds up to what is easily the best and most progressive rhythm-action game ever made, if that label even applies anymore. [Christmas 2010, p.76]

Puzzle hunting is the only hassle in an otherwise laidback world. This niggle aside, Professor Layton remains a fine antidote to dull Sunday afternoons. [Dec 2010, p.99]

It's a well plotted and paced, if straight-laced, action adventure that takes most of the strengths of the main franchise while removing a few of the weaknesses. [Christmas 2010, p.100]

Scribblenaut's levels have gone from being unfocused sentences in which a few choice nouns can dominate to rigid, over-punctuated impositions on player creativity. [Dec 2010, p.93]

Civilization's revolution is daring for a series built on expansion. It strips and pares away, making management easy and command enjoyable. [Nov 2010, p.91]

To be fair to The Shoot, it gets the basics right. It just attempts very little beyond them. [Christmas 2010, p.101]

It never hits Neversoft's golden-age standard, but it comes much closer than such a daft premise would lead you to suspect. [Dec 2010, p.95]

All the interaction it requires could be better executed, with equal intuition and far greater reliability, on a joypad with an analogue stick. [Nov 2010, p.94]

A largely muddled package. [Nov 2010, p.95]

Mediatonic's experimental blend of tower defence, scrolling shooter and invincibility doesn't always gel, but approached as a survival score-attack in the vein of Canabalt, Who's That Flying?! becomes an uncommonly moreish Mini.

It all adds up to an uneven brawler, a game with the resources and technology to break through the walls of the developer's lineage but one unprepared to fully let go and take a chance. [Dec 2010, p.90]

So indebted is dev studio Matrix to the old ways that it seems to have granted a free pass to the old problems. Quest signposting is buried in unclear dialogue snippets, bosses are beaten through trial and error, and grinding is rife. [Dec 2010, p.99]

The ideas and content here are thin on the ground, and limply implemented, too - it's inexcusable that a game whose sole interaction is hand-to-hand combat should not be able to tell the difference between dodging and headbutting. [Christmas 2010, p.98]

There are minor things for which The Fight can take credit. The progression of skills is well-paced, its 'street' aesthetic pioneers a delightful new direction for extreme cheese, and your flailing proves quite the workout. [Christmas 2010, p.101]

Not since Yoshi's Island's designers broke out the crayons has a Nintendo platformer looked so much like a work of craft, but it's a pity that, for the most part, the levels don't feel as fresh as they look - a platform made of butterfly stitching is still just a platform. [Christmas 2010, p.93]

With its Ikea backdrops and clipart objects, Bright Light has perhaps paid too much attention to functionality and not enough to form. [Christmas 2010, p.90]

"Quotation Forthcoming"

Unlike its namesake, Quantum Theory makes no attempt to depart from classical mechanics - it merely diminishes them. [Nov 2010, p.96]

The majority of SMB is a finely executed tightrope act of death and rebirth, as funny as it is fun and as precise as it is inventive. [Christmas 2010, p.103]

There's a genuine sense of storybook adventure to proceedings, which a limited budget and uninspired enemies can't quite erode. [Christmas 2010, p.91]

"quotation Forthcoming"

This is not, as it needed to be, the Pro Evo of mixed martial arts. [Dec 2010, p.94]

Yes, you really do feel in chargeof steering, but when the amount of speed put into a tight bend is dictated by the game, not the player, that feeling only delivers so much. [Christmas 2010, p.98]

Finally, Sega can dust off that classic marketing line, because once you've played Vanquish, everything else seems a little bit slow. [Dec 2010, p.86]

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]

In giving fans what they want, and delivering what a modern audience needs, the studio has created a game that, while not quite a classic, sometimes reminds you of one. [Christmas 2010, p.89]

Criterion has taken the series back to its first principal of cops vs racers, and constructed a high-octane combat racer of beauty and depth. [Christmas 2010, p.82]

Retro Studios has done a fine job with the Donkey Kong Country concept, ably translating its appeal for a modern platform, but it doesn't push it much further. [Christmas 2010, p.92]

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.

The game's intended target audience is likely to respond to the beautifully animated pets with squeaks of delight, though exposure to the Edge test family did result in two children vying for the attention of a camera that would one accept one of the little terrors at a time. [Christmas 2010]

A more joined-up package than many games of its type. Unfortunately, it's just a rather limited one. [Christmas 2010]

A collection of ideas executed with variable success, which at times coalesce to form an effective whole, and at others feel like flashy distractions from an otherwise unambitious central formula. [Christmas 2010]

This is Dungeon Keeper by way of Viva Pinata - building a devilish defence against do-gooders by massaging a delicate and extremely elaborate ecosystem. [Christmas 2010]

There are things to admire here, and The Ball's simple challenges ensure a pleasant, if casual engagement, enhanced by the skilful drawing of this subterranean world. [Dec 2010, p.96]

No game since Wii Sports has done so much to capture Nintendo's mixture of initial accessibility, entertainment value and wide appeal. [Christmas 2010, p.95]

When Dance Central works, the feeling is borderline euphoric - in the blood-pumping, serotonin-inducing way that only dancing can be - as you find yourself stringing moves you learnt individually into coherent routines. [Christmas 2010, p.94]

With the exception of fleeting moments, the game's milquetoast mechanics don't cut it - watching a superspy and being one are very different things. [Christmas 2010, p.88]

The game's parts are by turns novel and enjoyable, but when played in longer bursts feel repetitive. Brotherhood is Assassin's Creed II 2, its new mechanics feeling more like extensions of an existing form than innovations. It's a greatest hits disc, then, a weighty, good-value deal that plays the series' best bits – but there's the constant danger that you've heard them before.

Guwange appears the most accessible of Cave's late-90s output, even if the latter stages of the game, particularly in the two extra modes featured in this update, will require a combination of dedicated practice and natural skill to overcome. [Oct 2010, p.98]

The concept may be a worthwhile shot in the dark, but its choppy execution is straight to video.

It's a system that very naturally sets up some excellent multiplayer modes, and this is one of an elite few that can truly even the odds between players at different difficulty levels.

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

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

Creatively, New Vegas gets almost everything right. Mechanically and technically, it's a tragedy. So, it's a simultaneously rewarding and frustrating game, the gulf between what it is and what it could be a sizeable stretch indeed.

Creatively, New Vegas gets almost everything right. Mechanically and technically, it's a tragedy. So, it's a simultaneously rewarding and frustrating game, the gulf between what it is and what it could be a sizeable stretch indeed.

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.

Sonic 4 is neither straightforwardly heinous nor a glorious return to form. It's a beautiful homage, and on balance an enjoyable one, but things aren't as uncomplicated as you might hope.

Enslaved's greatest achievement is standing out in the crowded field of me- too, colour-sapped videogame apocalypses, serving as a vibrant oasis in the otherwise murky brown wastes.

As the more intimate title suggests, this may be as much about Croft's brand awareness in the face of unprecedented (and Uncharted) competition. [Oct 2010, p.96]

The result is competent and complex, but not convincing enough to raise any significant emotion other than impatience. It feels like a clockwork approximation of football, lacking the grace, variety and scope of FIFA.

The inadequacies of the PSP camera shatter what little illusion is conjured. At one point, Brian Blessed whispers. All is not right in the world. [Jan 2010, p.96]

Whatever its bias or excisions, MOH rejects the sort of gung-ho globetrotting baloney seen in Modern Warfare, and makes an honest attempt not to trivialise the lives of US soldiers, creating an air of sober authenticity which is unusual among shooters.

An experience lacking flavour, with a transparent design, the game shares many qualities with its elemental subject matter. It is entering a super-competitive environment, and its premium DLC will need to be something special to turn things around.

As the more intimate title suggests, this may be as much about Croft's brand awareness in the face of unprecedented (and Uncharted) competition. [Oct 2010, p.96]

F1 2010 remains a game to be uttered in the same breath as Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix, Bizarre Creations' Formula 1 '97, and Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II.

Reach is a fine conclusion to Bungie's stewardship of the series, but that's what stops it from being anything more. Halo felt like the future. Reach is merely a brilliantly engineered present.

Headstrong's effort shows a developer of some calibre, with a clutch of decent ideas, bowed beneath the weight of a multimedia franchise and hobbled by family friendly obligations. Its execution is uneven besides, but the challenge is so light that its flaws are largely irrelevant - and, unfortunately, that applies to the game's few triumphs too.

The conservative setting and lack of an engaging storyline may do little to excite RTS veterans but, in its ruleset, Ruse expands upon the genre in a way that goes beyond gimmick. [Oct 2010, p.95]

In miring the action in a crayon-written plot and applying the brakes to anything going too fast, the screaming thrills it does provide are the exception, not the norm. [Oct 2010, p.97]

Other M dabbles in cinematic tricks and sensational set-pieces, but its strength is in the foundations: it builds an enveloping 3D world from straight lines and right angles, and ups the gears of its rewarding basics constantly. It offers an uncluttered slice of sci-fi action, a singular take on the thirdperson adventure, and a combat system of pared-down beauty.

Murky, muted visuals and a lack of ground detail let the game's presentation down, but the satisfying combat and customisation - especially when you unlock the Tune menu, which lets you add custom parts to your aircraft - do their best to hold your attention despite the frequently repeating missions. [Oct 2010, p.99]

Its battle system still provides an excellent alternative to the rigid chess boards of many a strategy RPG, but one which feels compromised rather than optimised for its new setting. [Oct 2010, p.88]

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.

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.

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.

Enjoyably whipped through in three hours, And Yet It Moves finds rare extra pull in unlockable modes.

Though 2K Czech's operation doesn't run entirely smoothly, there's a definite spark of potential and the roots of an abandoned attempt to engineer something more than throwaway entertainment. [Oct 2010, p.90]

As the more intimate title suggests, this may be as much about Croft's brand awareness in the face of unprecedented (and Uncharted) competition. [Oct 2010, p.96]

Its most striking ideas don't fulfil their promise, and its successes are etched by pervasive minor flaws. The towering, terrifying city, and the lens through which it is shot, drag you onwards through the game's lesser parts, but you sense that the real crime in this whole bloody escapade is that it doesn't live up to its dark flashes of imagination.

Its most striking ideas don't fulfil their promise, and its successes are etched by pervasive minor flaws. The towering, terrifying city, and the lens through which it is shot, drag you onwards through the game's lesser parts, but you sense that the real crime in this whole bloody escapade is that it doesn't live up to its dark flashes of imagination.

A detailed and intelligent fraud: a slice of cool, corporate entertainment for an audience that probably sees no contradiction within that notion. [Oct 2010, p.98]

It's certainly going out with a bang. [Sept 2010, p.97]

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.

Clash Of The Titans' many failings are all the more surprising given that the movie is just one of many CGI-heavy offerings accused of feeling more like a game than a movie.

Given its lineage, it should hardly be surprising to discover that Blizzard has once again demonstrated such a keen sense of balance: with Wings Of Liberty, it offers established players a welcome return to familiar battlegrounds, while providing intrigued bystanders with their best chance yet of engaging with a bewildering, brilliant and punishing genre.

Playdead's debut title is a rare thing – a wholly realised place as well as a successfully realised game, and both Limbo and the Limbo inside it are one-of-a-kind places to be stuck in.

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.

Hothead games may just have discovered that the best way to dispel Diablo's shadow is to make light of it. [Sept 2010, p.92]

The voice acting, dialogue and narrative itself are all weak, thereby demanding that the underlying systems do all the heavy lifting in terms of player engagement - something they sustain, but only to a certain point. [Aug 2010, p.97]

Huge in scope and strong on detail, IX has ironed out the kinks that have made the series less palatable outside Japan, and with Nintendo's support, IX is sure to have the wider impact that the series has craved. [Aug 2010, p.92]

A mediocre game a genre stocked with the highest quality. [Sept 2010, p.99]

At its best, this is more than just the purest, most narcotic action game in the world – it's a cultural pinnacle. Every superhero, be it in comic books or the movies they've inspired, wishes they could visit its playground.

ToL's only saving graces are the hammy acting and daft moves. [Sept 2010, p.102]

Hits more than it misses. [Sept 2010, p.95]