It's good shooting, of course, pulled off with the studio's signature style, but it's come at the cost of Syndicate's imagination and ambition.

The game’s inimitable character bursts at the seams of what was clearly a limited budget. There is none of SquareSoft’s dull-eyed cinematic waste here, which will no doubt alienate swarms of both genre fans and critics. But the charm of the title coupled with its breathtaking breadth and depth will win over more discerning gamers. [Aug 2005, p.91]

That becomes a bigger problem late in the game, where it resorts to the cheapest method of raising the difficulty by simply throwing high-level enemies at you in increasing numbers. In one battle, you're tasked with holding a position for a given amount of time, before being told that isn't enough; you must now finish off all the remaining enemies. At which point it has become clear that no matter how effective the synergy of our augs, mods and weapons may be, our survival hinges upon us grinding side-quests to raise our level. What a shame The Ascent should make the final steps of its climb so arduous - even if there is evidence here that its maker could yet go all the way to the top. [Issue#362, p.110]

Blur will take you on a fantastic holiday, then, but perhaps not the most relaxing one. [May 2007, p.88]

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]

It feels best when you're making snap decisions, the action moving along with a satisfying pop, pop, pop rhythm that echoes the films. [Issue#133, p.104]

The world is a pulpy delight: captivating, unique, and a genuine pleasure to spend time in. [Oct 2016, p.116]

Stick with Bloom & Rage through the hard times, though, and you might well be ready to take comfort in that lie. [Issue#411, p.110]

For all Team Ninja's talk of keeping it more real, DOA5 is mostly business as usual. There are tweaks to the formula and aesthetic, but nothing too sacrilegious or enticing. It's disappointing, then, that this has little to offer over its forebear.

And if this animalistic chaos all sounds a little too weird, consider this: strip away the surface strangeness, and you're left with a surprisingly identifiable tale of a mammal negotiating the pits and pitfalls of the concrete jungle, constantly worrying about sex and death as they try to make their way in a hyena-eat-elephant world. Well, at least until the velociraptors arrive.

We emerge from Awakening's eight or so hours feeling as though we've spent much longer underground. [Issue#405, p.106]

One of the most quietly devastating moments involves a character simply shaking their head softly. [December 2016, p.110]

For all its potential, Infected delivers precious little in either world: a singleplayer that blooms too late, and an underdeveloped online experience that withers too soon. [Jan 2005, p.85]

Surviving isn't supposed to be easy, of course. But there's a line between challenging players and screwing them over, and The Flame In The Flood regularly crosses it. [April 2016, p.106]

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]

Thankfully, the conversion from keyboard and mouse to pad has been made with rare judgement - movement is smooth and aiming is easy. The classic gameplay has made the transition too, and is as rewarding as ever. [Jan 2004, p.110]

Fantastic Four and Captain America-themed tables complete a package of rare value on the eShop; this may not be the finest version of Marvel Pinball you can buy, but Nintendo's store can only benefit from more third-party offerings of similar quality.

While the thrill remains and the audiovisual show lives up to the billing, then, you wonder if the designers of genre classics might have pushed the envelope even more. [Issue#402, p.122]

Despite the vertiginous learning curve, however, Puzzlegeddon’s mechanics intersect neatly and offer some depth – even if most early games will descend into manic clicking. [Feb 2009, p.97]

This is a fine calling card for the Derbyshire developer: far from flawless, but clear proof that this new hybrid has a bright future ahead. [Issue#350, p.102]

There's an unexpected clarity to solo play that's lost amid the tumult of human competition, but what's never obscured – and what stands as its great accomplishment – is its fond and intricate celebration of all things PlayStation.

If only there was substance to match the undeniable style. [Issue#357, p.123]

Flying Wild Hog has re-imagined a cult classic while maintaining Shadow Warrior’s unique personality in a shamelessly flawed and flimsy shooter concerned more with laughs and blood-letting than balance, and the team’s bold embrace of the game’s roots goes a long way to excuse the game’s problems.

The gems that this sequel is connecting - the RPG and match-three puzzler - still need one more to complete the chain: character. [Oct 2010, p.94]

It's totally faithful, and if you're of a certain age worth it without question for the nostalgia hit and sheer fizz of the nutty robots and explosions.

The trappings of high society barely conceal the violence yet to come, and the air crackles with anticipation. [Issue#384, p.108]

But as brutal as its buzz-saw races can be, they pale compared to the marketplace for online multiplayer into which it's throwing itself. [Issue#403, p.110]

Buy into Arma 3 now and you’re buying into many promises. Bohemia’s pledge of a coherent campaign, its promise of a wider array of military toys to play with, and its intent to tweak and update AI errors, scripting issues, and pathfinding problems. But these promises are backed up by thousands of the world’s most dedicated players, people who’ve spent years crawling through Arma 2’s rough terrain to find the comparatively even ground of Arma 3. Buying Arma 3 at launch is buying a promise, then, but few games are so meticulously realised, or show so much promise.

Those looking for a rigorous score-attack challenge should look elsewhere. [Nov 2008, p.103]

Control can be an issue at times – the one button combat system relying on the distinction between taps and holds makes it easy to muddle attacks – but challenge seekers will find plenty to get stuck into, impaled on and cut to shreds in this macabre, frenetic onslaught.

Continues the series' longstanding struggle with combat mechanics. [July 2010, p.98]

Why take such efforts to unearth them in a remaster that goes above and beyond in so many ways, only to leave basic flaws intact? A puzzle for future generations of podcasters, perhaps. [Issue#359, p.114]

With only the blocky aesthetic and familiar monsters to show for its heritage, whether you're here for the Minecraft or the Dungeons, you'll feel that much more could have been excavated from both. [Issue#347, p.96]

Fortunately, the backbone of strategy means that behind every chaotic disaster lies the digestible conclusion that, with better planning, it could have been avoided. [May 2005, p.87]

There's loads to do here. [June 2010, p.105]

Far from perfect but enduringly hard to dislike. [Dec 2007, p.95]

The Hellfighters' story is one worth hearing - even if Valiant Hearts hits a few bum notes in its telling. [Issue#382, p.112]

Where FlatOut felt like racing in a field, FlatOut 2 feels like racing on a film set. It has been reshaped into the archetype, competent arcade racer. [Aug 2006, p.89]

There may not be much to the game, but Sumo has done an astounding job of bolstering it with online facilities that are entirely uncommon on the platform. For what it is, it's as worthy a remake as you could possibly want. [July 2008, p.98]

If you can forgive those insecurities, perhaps the result of trying to balance a mainstream genre game with more experimental narrative ambitions, The Old Country has an enormous amount of heart. [Issue#415, p.88]

By departing from established videogame norms and offering an experience that is unfettered by restrictive goals and objectives, Tecmo has succeeded in evoking a supremely relaxing vacation atmosphere and producing a quite unique, and singularly satisfying game. [March 2003, p.86]

Seeing the game from beginning to end reveals its true artistic merit: it never gets stale; every episode has been drawn with minute care and attention. It would have been an incredible achievement if the gameplay had matched the outstanding art direction. [Dec 2003, p.94]

As adequate an expression of the genre as it is, it somehow can't quite conjure those high notes of enthusiasm - akin to the way in which a whiteboard diagram of demographics and key features fails to inspire heart palpitations. [Feb 2010, p.84]

Multiplayer’s not much better, and is a rare area in which Shadow Fall suffers technically, the action slowing to a crawl when things get busy thanks to an unlocked framerate.

Gameplay purists may scowl, but Read Dead Revolver is a triumph for beautifully observed atmospherics, characterisation and slapstick set-pieces you cannot fail to enjoy. [June 2004, p.100]

Instant deaths, glitchy combat, uninspiring boss encounters and twitchy controls conspire to make this a below-par experience. If it wasn't for the occasional flashes of imagination and the familiarity and richness conveyed through the license then The Emperor's Tomb would be utterly forgettable. [May 2003, p.99]

As [Vince] laments the formulaic impositions of the game in successive cut-scenes, it only serves to remind you how much of a chore it is to play - and raises the question; why does every platform hero have to be a wiseguy? [Dec 2003, p.108]

Avalanche imparts the varying depths of snow, anything from sheet ice to knee-deep drifts, much better than its nearest rivals. Crouching for speed, leaping precipices and then absorbing the shock upon landing is a majestic sensation only bettered by the original. [Feb 2004, p.104]

Where FlatOut felt like racing in a field, FlatOut 2 feels like racing on a film set. It has been reshaped into the archetype, competent arcade racer. [Aug 2006, p.89]

For all its quirks, the overriding impression of Just Cause is favourable. There’s an almost childish enthusiasm at work here – and an unparalleled sense of freedom that can be enjoyed just as easily as it can be criticised. [Nov 2006, p.82]

A few dramatic sequences do land. [Issue#370, p.121]

It certainly lacks the variety and sense of progress that great platform games can offer. But then it was never supposed to be a great platform game. It was supposed to be, and is, a great DS game. [Apr 2005, p.102]

It's not bad at all, but it's not different. It might add to Skyrim, but it doesn't enrich it in doing so.

But while it might be unreasonable to expect EVERY VR title to advance the medium, surely it's not too much to ask that a game develops an idea or two beyond its own first hour? [Issue#393, p.118]

An absorbing reminder of the power of words and how we wield them. [Aug 2018, p.114]

When it works, it's intoxicating. [Issue#406, p.106]

It's a throwback rather than an advancement. [Issue#350, p.100]

You'll need to protect your best troops as much as your idols, positioning blockers so that your big hitters can wind up. [Feb 2015, p.116]

A commendably brazen and unfussy shooter, featuring one continuous dialogue of throwaway gunfire and nothing else. [Feb 2004, p.106]

This is a treacly origin story for a crew we wouldn't be on seeing again. [Issue#366, p.104]

You wonder if players will have wanted to spend this amount of time loafing around the Homestar Runner universe, or whether their interaction with it is best limited to ten-minute bursts via their web browser. [Oct 2008, p.101]

A little slicker, and Pandora's Tower could have provided a surprisingly effective alternative in the character-action genre. Its blend of pointer controls and button-based combat begs to be further explored. But as it is, this a clunky action title – albeit one with a flicker of genuine emotion at its heart.

Defeat in Nowhere Prophet can be creeping, as your resources drain away, or sudden, as you fall victim to an unexpected combination of cards. Either way, it feels like playing against an opponent who overturns the table when they win, leaving you to gather up the spilled cards. It'll be another couple of hours before you have a deck that feels unique, before you escape the mire of enemies and text events you've seen a dozen times. It's enough to make you a sore loser. [Issue#336, p.118]

There's little, then, in the way of meaningful deduction; rather, you're rewarded more for being thorough. [Issue#372, p.123]

While the details and relationships are sharply observed, everything around them is a little fuzzy. But then so is the moment it's trying to reflect. [Issue#362, p.122]

Seeing the game from beginning to end reveals its true artistic merit: it never gets stale; every episode has been drawn with minute care and attention. It would have been an incredible achievement if the gameplay had matched the outstanding art direction. [Dec 2003, p.94]

NES Remix 2’s superior selection of games means it should maintain your interest longer than its predecessor; only rarely will you curse the controls that mean the more exacting platforming challenges can be infuriating to master.

Maddening moments are far enough between to be only a minor blemish on an otherwise fantastic portable action game. [Jan 2005, p.90]

Ultimately, Urban Chaos doesn't have the reach to deliver what it promises, and ends up retreating into cliché. A few months more, a few dollars more and this could have made a much more defiant stand. [June 2006, p.93]

Surely anyone with a taste for adventure will appreciate the ingenuity and character of such an intricate and secret-stuffed world. [Aug 2016, p.120]

Rarely does dying feel like the player's fault and, in typical "Sonic Adventure" fashion, the best bits are when you find that the majority of control has been taken away from you, and you're flung around the world at escape velocity. [Mar 2004, p.105]

There's always a place for classic concepts executed well, and despite being somewhat rough around the edges,that's precisely what R-Type Final 2 delivers. [Issue#359, p.116]

Double Exposure handles an adopted legacy with care, and crucially always feels like it's shifting the needle in a direction that's personal to you, which makes the smattering of lacklustre puzzles a frustrating but ultimately forgivable sin. [Issue#404, p.110]

It's a real treat to examine the craftsmanship of the models in close-up, while the soundtrack is one of Kirby's best to date. [May 2015, p.120]

It's exactly how we felt the first time we played Portal, and the first-person puzzlers that followed afterwards, and it's been a good while since we last played one. Tunnel Vision is more than comfortable in that shadow and, honestly, so are well. [Issue#342, p.122]

An acceptable game rising from the foundations of a great one. Hutch has proved it can do amazing things with Apple's touchscreen but, this time at least, it's provided dubious implementation of almost everything else.

A whole lot better on phones than it is on 3DS. [July 2015, p.115]

It’s sure to be a more compelling experience online, albeit one that relies heavily on the honour of your opponents, and its rough-edged charm is compulsive. [Mar 2007, p.87]

It’s insight into what lay beneath GoldenEye’s unforgettable skin is commendable. But the subsequent attempt to update and embellish the formula is, while a gleeful pleasure, not wholly successful. [July 2005, p.88]

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]

No but(t)s about it: Takahashi's most complete-feeling game since Katamari sees him operating in a mode that suits him... down to the ground. [Issue#412, p.112]

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

A fragile container for a tale of such inestimable value, and what ought to be universally welcoming instead must be approached with caution: come expecting revelation on an emotional level, not a mechanical one. [Jan 2014, p.121]

It’s refreshingly exacting about timing, though too forgiving when it comes to grading – you can miss several prompts, take plenty of damage and still earn gold.

This endearingly scrappy effort could teach bigger games a thing or two about the value of good writing. [Issue#328, p.122]

To appreciate the game's dilemma, look no further than its multiplayer modes, which have so little room for manoeuvre that they needn't have existed at all. [May 2007, p.94]

The end result is a rather cold and uninvolving game. Too subtle to be a Tetris replacement, too plain to be an engaging puzzler, Chokkan Hitofude adds up to something a little greyer than its crisp black-and-white stylings might suggest. [JPN Import; Jan 2005, p.95]

Argonaut's latest platformer is certainly a curious brew. You get the impression that loads of ideas have been thrown into the pot but, unfortunately, none of the weaker ones have been rejected. [Feb 2004, p.101]

Its hero might be forever wearing someone else's hat, but there's something to be said for a series that's this comfortable in its own skin. [May 2018, p.112]

Wolverine isn't lazy - its frequent repetitions and fine repertoire of glitches are signs of a product hurried to launch rather than bankruptcy of imagination. [June 2009, p.94]

A return to Hogwarts to relive Harry Potter’s school years, this remaster features an enjoyable adventure for fans who haven’t taken this trip before. Though the games are still fun to play, the experience doesn’t offer anything new (other than updated graphics) from the original releases. While the Harry Potter movie world keeps expanding, game fans get a rehash, which is something of a downer. If you haven’t played the Lego Harry Potter games before, this is a great package in terms of value and sheer amount of gameplay. Otherwise, it would be better to play one of the newer releases in the franchise.

Beyond breaking a set challenge score for each level, the prospect feels more like an endurance challenge than a great deal of fun. Strange Scaffold thus shows once again that it has no shortage of slick ideas. With this hook, though, we need a little more to keep us on the line. [Issue#412, p.123]

It's disappointing mostly because its strongest elements, from its dialogue to its excellent soundtrack (see "Radio ga ga"), are packaged within a limp rerun of its superior predecessor, providing scant few reasons to face the ghosts of the past a second time. [Issue#387, p.112]

Given all the admirable character work and tactical substance on display, it's a shame that individualism isn't spread more evenly. [Issue#391, p.118]

For all the atmospheric window-dressing, it doesn't extend its reach beyond competent familiarity. [Jan 2007, p.85]

We've seen so many of these puzzles before. [Dec 2015, p.121]

The player is required to reap their principle enjoyment from the narrative and the cinematic rather than the interactive. The traditional flow of play has been turned on its head: cut-scenes are the new king, gameplay elements little more than lines to link the drama. [Apr 2005, p.104]

If you share director Ragnar Tornquist's view that being engaged in dialogue is a form of gameplay, then there's a richness here that few other titles have the ability or luxury to create. [June 2006, p.86]