It's the first game we can recall, for instance, to feature a them tune comprising a single note. [Sept 2009, p.96]

A charming jaunt. [Sept 2009, p.94]

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

A debut of rare success in the genre: one at once fresh yet familiar, both visually arresting and mechanically enticing. [Apr 2010, p.99]

Heroes consistently relies on its cartoon charm to plaster over its messier elements. [Sept 2009, p.92]

A clever game, then, but not a particularly fulfilling one. [Sept 2009, p.99]

Genre-defining as it is, the drama of Fight Night remains squarely within the ropes. [Aug 2009, p.103]

Nintendo is claiming that The Conduit might attract Halo fans to its console, but this game isn’t fit to wait Master Chief’s table.

Atlus succeeds in creating another idiosyncratic concoction of narrative and play, one that twists convention as often as it builds upon it. [Sept 2009, p.98]

The components here function and rarely frustrate, but the machine they comprise only manufactures mediocrity. [Sept 2009, p.95]

Even if some of the fundamental stuff has been sacrificed to the creation of this huge world, Fuel still makes it across the finish line on a far-from-empty tank. [July 2009, p.97]

A charming adventure, and a lengthy one, but the overwhelming amount of rough edges rather spoil any indulgent feelings toward its foibles. [Aug 2009, p.99]

So, then: the best expansion so far and the game at its worst. Such a contradiction could only be made by Bethesda.

Unite doesn’t offer the kind of transformation at its higher levels that you might expect – the essential purpose is the same throughout: kill monsters, craft new shin pads out of dino-bladders, and swap your pig’s wings for a magician’s hat. Nonetheless, these simple motivations give way to a huge depth of execution which empowers and requires four players.

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]

As a script, Flower, Sun And Rain is, for at least two thirds, hugely witty and effortlessly mad, eliciting enough regular laughs to cover for the game's otherwise painfully tedious forms of interaction. [JPN Import; Dec 2008, p.96]

Let's Tap isn't merely innovative, it's an original concept applied over five distinct types of game that works extremely well. [Mar 2009, p.90]

A curiosity worth looking at. [Sept 2009, p.100]

Prototype does what it does, and does it with distinction. [Aug 2009, p.90]

Black Sigil's big-picture rewards are too fleeting and familiar to justify the considerable effort. [Sept 2009, p.101]

The poor relation of its canceled 360 and PS3 brothers. This is a stripped-down version of a game that never was, offering only fleeting glimpses of a magnificent concept through a console and engine that could never, even with four more years to work at it, have handled it. [Aug 2009, p.98]

Rock Band: Unplugged’s heart is genuine and soulful, evidence perhaps that, in game-making as much as music-making, it pays to never forget one’s roots.

Far more than just a quirky and adept multiplayer romp, then, Swords & Soldiers has found a deeply satisfying sweet-spot where chaos and control are almost perfectly balanced, and the result is a game that towers above everything else WiiWare currently has to offer.

Granted, this is hardly the most drastic of sequels, but it didn’t need to be: instead, it stands as an indicator that, even as the DSi heads ever deeper into the online space, on some level at least, it’s still business as usual.

In many ways, Trash Panic represents the kind of inventive, inimitable Japanese release that comes all too infrequently – but here, such creativity has not been enough to turn an interesting idea into a brilliant one.

For its fights alone Knights In The Knightmare is a worthy effort, another semi-successful attempt to find the sweet spot for stylus-driven roleplay. [July 2009, p.101]

Though the explosions scale with progress, and the act of detonation continues to be a giddy pleasure, Mars could do with a thicker atmosphere.

Though the explosions scale with progress, and the act of detonation continues to be a giddy pleasure, Mars could do with a thicker atmosphere.

If there’s one great story in The Sims 3, it’s of how the biggest game in the world continues to act like it, expanding in some respects, shrinking in others, but always evolving. And it’s about EA learning more and more how to act like the world’s biggest developer, the production values, build quality and feature set here being almost overwhelming.

Even if some of the fundamental stuff has been sacrificed to the creation of this huge world, Fuel still makes it across the finish line on a far-from-empty tank. [July 2009, p.97]

Even if some of the fundamental stuff has been sacrificed to the creation of this huge world, Fuel still makes it across the finish line on a far-from-empty tank. [July 2009, p.97]

Just when the whole thing seems in danger of becoming a cold study in design brilliance, however, the on-screen clock comes into its own, raising the game’s temperature by turning each challenge into a speed-runner’s dream.

The concept at the core of Yosumin Live is robust, but it fails to hold up under extended play. Either Square Enix has happened upon a brilliant mechanic that has yet to fully bloom or one that it has been unable to sustain. The scant progression Yosumin has made in its transition from webgame to XBLA release indicates that perhaps it is the latter.

The game's ambition far outstrips its creator's abilities: damned by execution rather than intent, but damned nonetheless. [July 2009, p.99]

The game's ambition far outstrips its creator's abilities: damned by execution rather than intent, but damned nonetheless. [July 2009, p.99]

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]

The game's ambition far outstrips its creator's abilities: damned by execution rather than intent, but damned nonetheless. [July 2009, p.99]

Undisputed can be complex one moment and crude the next, the dominant ‘full mount’ position (the holy grail of ground-and-pound fighters) far too achievable against even experienced opposition.

While the fattened numbers - levels, game types, building tools - are the products of mere evolution, the lean, focused fun is new to the mix. [July 2009, p.94]

So wasteful of its source material that it should be held up as an example of how not to handle this kind of production. [July 2009, p.101]

The overriding impression is of a game that's physically too big for its action. [June 2009, p.88]

The most comprehensive remake Nintendo has ever undertaken. [July 2009, p.94]

A simple bloodsport, and only a rudimentary level-up system affords any sense of progression. [Aug 2009, p.106]

While See the Future undoubtedly delivers on its title, giving you a single feverish glimpse of a potential new direction for the series, this odd collection of entertainments offers far more than a mere early-warning hype machine dressed up with a few free haircuts for your dog. In its cheeky refusal to conform, it’s also a chance to see Albion’s present, and take another look at a game that’s both fascinating and gently flawed.

An extremely unambitious sequel. [Jan 2009, p.92]

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]

In feeding constant surprise, engaging wit and sharply pitched challenge during its course, Plants Vs Zombies proves again PopCap's incredible knack of taking an established game form and making it all its own. [May 2009, p.94]

While it lacks the scope or density of Oblivion’s The Shivering Isles, it’s the most you’re going to get out of Fallout’s current batch of DLC. And as a long-anticipated reopening of the game’s original map, it at least gives you something to live for.

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]

Lacking the tools to really upset her enemies or cope with them when she does, Summer relies on a wafer-thin playbook of obvious traps and distractions. [July 2009, p.96]

For beginners and intermediate level players, Oratorio Tangram presents an unmatched experience, a bright and energetic burst of fantasy combat, still quite unlike anything else in videogames.

Its basic form is a succession of things that you hit with little emotion or interest. Approaching such a task co-operatively can only distract you for so long. [June 2009, p.95]

Action Forms’ moments of ingenuity and the sophistication of its writing demonstrate that it could do great and yet more terrifying things with a more intimidating budget. [Apr 2009, p.124]

The game bears testament to the strength of Smith’s original vision, a puzzle game that avoids prescribed solutions through the tenacity of its enemies.

This is melee done right, set in an astonishing world, brimming with imagination. [July 2009, p.101]

It's the Excitebots themselves that disappoint most, so drearily conceived that they make the predecessor's humble trucks look like flaming DeLoreans. [July 2009, p.100]

OutRun 2 remains a pinnacle of the arcade racing tradition, a peak that, through both design and circumstance, may never again be topped.

The enticing depths of strategy coupled with the affectionate, colourful realisation of the various characters you control ignites curiosity - and their abilities in battle are well-realised, gratifyingly powerful and many. [June 2009, p.90]

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]

Shorn of its accoutrements and sumptuous presentation, Flock's basic appeal remains a little woolly. [June 2009, p.96]

One corker of an action game. Perhaps the biggest mention goes to the 'vo-cap' tech behind its extraordinary performances. [May 2009, p.88]

Coupling this mostly successful strategic management to a realtime 3D world is unconvincing. More than that, the places where the RTS bits meet the shooting bits exist on some weird fringe of reality, where the symbolic shorthand of tactical games clashes absurdly with the pavement-pounding veracity we've learnt to expect from open-world crime. [May 2009, p.91]

There are moments of compelling spectacle...But the stop/start intrusion of missed QTE presses hurts these moments of the game, even as the dramatic visuals start to win over the most skeptical player. [June 2009, p.95]

Where we once observed burgers grilled with the power of rap, we now meet a policeman who doesn't like littering. All very toothless. [June 2009, p.93]

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]

More diversion than challenge, and never leads to stress. [Aug 2009, p.107]

Burn, Zombie, Burn’s serving of arcade chaos is instantly gratifying, if a tad trivial, and its nods to deadsploitation flicks should tickle those not yet tiring of Crypt Keeper chic. [Feb 2009, p.97]

The game effectively highlights the difference between a sandbox which facilitates player experimentation, and a game environment that only allows prescribed actions. [May 2009, p.95]

Certainly, releasing it so close to Halo Wars suggests deliberate commercial suicide - that it’s genuinely progressive ideas will be ignored and lost as a result is a minor tragedy. [Apr 2009, p.118]

A stunt-filled shooter in the vein (but not the league) of Stranglehold, it's a game that takes control away, reverts to how things used to be done, and judders between debilitating combat and haywire presentation. [May 2009, p.92]

A stunt-filled shooter in the vein (but not the league) of Stranglehold, it's a game that takes control away, reverts to how things used to be done, and judders between debilitating combat and haywire presentation. [May 2009, p.92]

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]

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]

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]

A stunt-filled shooter in the vein (but not the league) of Stranglehold, it's a game that takes control away, reverts to how things used to be done, and judders between debilitating combat and haywire presentation. [May 2009, p.92]

The most remarkable thing is how smoothly it runs: a flawless 60 frames a second that makes any caveats about the slightly pixellated visuals disappear in the wind. [Dec 2008, p.99]

Resistance Retribution might be shallow, but its good looks and refined controls lend a certain mesmerising pleasure to it nonetheless. [Apr 2009, p.124]

This is a delightfully risky experiment, and the end result is pure alchemy: the blending of two fiercely traditional genres into something both unique and entirely natural. [Apr 2009, p.125]

No other GTA has felt so trim and robust while making good the promise of a living, breathing action world. [May 2009, p.86]

This may superficially resemble any of a dozen other DS SRPGs, but it has many twists and a clever, manipulative philosophy at heart that lifts it above the crowd. [May 2009, p.97]

The three marathon levels might have been better broken into a series of shorter sprints, and the four-person co-op is a stressful frustration, but as a single-player score-rush, Bit.Trip Beat is mercilessly targeted to the most masochistic part of your psyche. The result is by turns infectious, delightful, and entertainingly cruel.

It’s not even surprising,? ?despite all? ?this,? ?that Resident Evil? ?5? ?is a good game.? The surprising,? ?and sad,? ?thing about? ?Resident Evil? ?5? ?is that it feels old.

Resident Evil 5 is a good game. The surprising, and sad, thing about Resident Evil 5 is that it feels old. [Apr 2009, p.112]

As a big joke about violent-for-the-sake of it games, MadWorld just about gets away with it. But it won't bear a repeat performance. [May 2009, p.93]

There are some gently taxing puzzles here, and just enough variety to keep the game ticking along, but the real surprise is just how winsome Docomodake’s fungi are, each section ending with a guilelessly warm celebration of family values. [Mar 2009, p.95]

It’s a feeling that never quite dissipates over the game’s core 15 missions, a sense of lean and focused game design which prizes the exhilarating tussle of conflict over long, drawn-out army building. [Mar 2009, p.86]

No other game takes on whole eras of combat with such a combination of respect and fetishism for the rules and wisdom of battle, and no series treats history like such a serious playground of possibilities, yet features such comic-book characters. [Apr 2009, p.114]

As an arcadey flight game it’s just about on the enjoyable side of average, especially when compared to its still superior genre stablemate Ace Combat 6. [Apr 2009, p.122]

The left to right weaving that gave Secret Rings old-fashioned zip has been jettisoned for narrow paths, funneling you from one fight to the next. Add on-rails cart rides and regular pauses to hand rings over to local villagers and this becomes Sonic's most static adventure yet. [May 2009, p.97]

Unless you possess a particular zeal for collecting and upgrading slightly different weapons, the familiarity of slicing through yet another batch of spawning creatures soon grinds way at the thin gameplay. [June 2009, p.97]

But without the first game’s ambiguities,? ?a sense of humour or even an ounce of? ?intrigue,? ?its story stinks.? ?It’s so slight you could play the levels in random order to? ?little ill-effect,? ?and it assumes knowledge of everything and everyone,? ?not once recognising the real-world echoes of its premise:? ?an allied invasion of an enemy? ?the allies themselves created.?

At a time when science fiction has never been handled with more vim and vigour, Star Ocean threatens to miss out on all the fun of the genre resurgence through its total lack of ambition. [June 2009, p.92]

Shellshock 2 is a scandalous FPS made with no apparent knowledge of the genre, little but contempt for its audience, and few tools beyond a spluttering engine and a hammer. [Apr 2009, p.116]

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]

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]

Relic seems afraid to let any of its ideas meaningfully vary your experience, in case the result isn’t as satisfying as the scenario it has clearly tested so well. [Apr 2009, p.119]

Race Pro engages like few driving titles manage, even if the driving model doesn’t quite meet the standards of the most advanced PC sim-racers such as Live For Speed. [Mar 2009, p.88]

Prinny sabotages the player's platforming with unsympathetic controls. [Aug 2009, p.106]