It all makes it an even greater shame that you'll sometimes feel compelled to jump off and end it all. [Tested with Oculus Rift; Aug 2016, p.116]

Oakmont is a convincing Lovecraftian town - but the point of those stories is that these are places you'd never want to find yourself. [Issue#335, p.114]

Little Nightmares III is partially redeemed by its final third, as it picks up considerably both in terms of imagination and construction. [Issue#417, p.108]

This thirdperson actioner spikes the familiar with flavour, and a tired but reliable vocabulary of wall-hugs, circle-strafe, grenade lobs and headshots with an invigorating Nu-Earth twang. [June 2006, p.94]

This is a freemium game, masquerading as a paid download.

Much of the drive spurring players onwards to completion depends on the game’s cutscenes, and in this respect it’s a backwards step, relying on the crutch of a strong licence to hide fundamental shortcomings. [Christmas 2007, p.92]

One of the 3DS launch line-up's visual standouts: colourful, crisp and with horizons that have never looked so distant. It's disappointing, then, that you'll discover its limits so quickly. [Apr 2011, p.90]

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]

The process of mastering it? Let's just say it's not quite our tempo. [Issue#370, p.123]

The 3rd Birthday remains a strong proposition, marrying eastern and western design sensibilities to produce a strong and relevant update to a latent, outmoded series. [Apr 2011, p.92]

As a platformer it's not Ravenous' best, and as a puzzle game Infestor doesn't quite provide enough material for its parasitic premise to build on.

Varek and Enki's combined abilities - axe, pistol, magic - aren't entirely novel, but with this extra lift they're more than enough to carry us through an adventure that can be wrapped in 15 hours rather than 50. [Issue#401, p.100]

There may be better ways to relive Resident Evil than Deadly Silence, but no version could demote it from its status as a creaky but compelling classic. [Apr 2006, p.94]

It’s formulaic, then, but sticking with what you know doesn’t often produce such satisfying results.

MercurySteam's worldbuilding adds clutter, not depth, obstructing a concept that's left feeling embryonic. [Issue#412, p.104]

It’s wildly exhilarating, and it’s wildly exhilarating because it works, but that’s not to say it works perfectly... Persevere to perfect the right lighting conditions and learn the game’s slightly idiosyncratic perception of your movements, and it is an unparalleled experience, if a slightly shallow sports game. [Jan 2005, p.86]

Its lead's epiphanies - or 'bolts of brilliance' - are his most underwhelming moments. [June 2018, p.122]

It's strange that players aren't given more time to make decisions. [Christmas 2015, p.122]

There's enough warmth and wit here to make Middle Manager Of Justice one of the more palatable exercises in building a game around waiting and offering micro-transactions to skip the wait, but sadly all our spider-senses detect is a missed opportunity.

The action-racing genre has delivered numerous treats this generation, but not one of them has been as rewarding and relentlessly entertaining, nor as feature-packed, as this. This is Ridge Racer unbounded from the shackles of its heritage, rebuilt from the ground up into one of the most subversive, sublime street-racing games ever made.

The game simply folds in extra complications. [Issue#379, p.121]

While World Of Warcraft and its peers provide variety through landscape, Hellgate fails utterly to conjure any motivation to investigate the next instanced dungeon. [Christmas 2007, p.97]

Too erratic for its own good. [Issue#393, p.119]

Nobody, nobody at all, walks into a game shop and thinks: "Hey, goblins are pretty cool. Today I want to be a goblin." When the goblins in question have been rendered with almost no character or charm, this merely compounds the lack of emotional connection. [Mar 2004, p.106]

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

Once again, Volition delivers exceptional tech, but fails to shape it into a truly engaging and sustaining experience.

There is, at least, plenty to build on with the inevitable sequel, retaining all of this instalment's finer points and knocking the obvious dents out of its armour - a Lords of the Fallen 2.5, perhaps. [Issue#391, p.102]

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.

A game that never feels comfortable giving you full command of its star. We're left feeling blue, but not in the way Sonic Team intended. [Issue#379, p.118]

It's never worse than pleasant, and the evergreen villages, the jaunty swagger of its cows and donkeys and the peaceful expansion of your city are exactly the kind of recharging experiences Taylor talked about providing four years ago. It's only a shame that the repetition, and a lack of anything to look forward to, mean that you eventually realise your grass still needs to be cut.

Something of a quirky offshoot than a bold new puzzling dawn. [Jan 2007, p.83]

Its heart is in the right place, but its feet are not - and when you're walking a new path, that's always going to be a problem. [Issue#341, p.112]

It may not be able to compete with the best of prestige TV but, if you're willing to meet it on its own terms, Last Stop is a pleasant groove to slip into for a week or so. [Issue#362, p.116]

Perhaps it's time to rebuild from scratch. [Issue#405, p.122]

There's wild west fun to be had within these simplistic charms, but it's unlikely to replace your favoured multiplayer shooter. [June 2010, p.103]

Uncharacteristically watered-down. [Aug 2015, p.121]

If it isn't as memorable as the games to which it owes its existence, it shares some of their best parts. [Oct 2016, p.112]

Each of the areas you’ll traverse in Scurge feel like they’ve simply had a box of random enemies shaken into it, all making a sudden focused beeline toward you the minute you set foot in the room. [Nov 2006, p.92]

Overkill couldn't, for whatever reason, give Payday the development time it needed for its rough edges to be sanded down, but it remains a game with great potential.

As with any rollercoaster, you can never quite recapture the giddy pleasure of that first ride. [Issue#367, p.121]

It’s a game built with focus and one that’s going in a truly worthwhile direction, but that falls short of greatness. [Apr 2006, p.7]

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.

This is a sensitive employment of free-to-play, but despite its presentation and name, Real Racing 3 remains an arcade game in sim clothing, and one hamstrung by its host format. Limitations that keep it firmly in the tail-lights of deeper console experiences.

It may have few aspirations beyond being a dumb FPS, but it never fails to make the most of its limited talents. [Christmas 2007, p.97]

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]

Singleplayer is weak - despite well-worked tutorial and mission modes it always feels like target practice for combat with friends - and the lack of online support disappoints. But despite a potentially hazardous dimensional switch, it remains as appealing a way of antagonising your friends as ever. [Dec 2003, p.108]

Plenty to sink your teeth into, then, but for a game where you play as a shark, we expected more bite. [Issue#347, p.107]

Approached as the latest work from one of the industry's favoured fathers, The Cave could seem like a tourist trap, packed with old ideas to lure in passers-by. Taken for what it is – a simple, characterful adventure game from an independent developer – it offers just enough to be worth the price of admission.

The franchise is now only a fraction away from realising its full potential. [June 2004, p.107]

It's a detour into new territory that will satisfy co-op players as it maintains, rather than distills, the essence of its ancestry. [Dec 2011, p.122]

For a game that promises a degree of freedom in how you approach a job, you'll often find there's a clearly preferred way of doing things. [Aug 2017, p.112]

Despite the air of brutality Space Marine tries to cultivate, it's ultimately defined by convenience; by linear levels where you follow the green lights of unlocked doors from one corridor to the next, while the gentle trickle of upgrades and new weapons does just enough to keep you playing. The result is sometimes casually enjoyable, but never vivid, or memorable, or truly involving.

An easy recommendation for newcomers. [Dec 2012, p.108]

With only the graphical layer receiving much attention it lacks the necessary breadth and depth to elevate itself far beyond the status of nostalgic curio. [Jan 2009, p.97]

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]

Yes, there’s a good sense of speed, but the dreariness of racing against brainless AI opponents who combine little awareness of their surroundings with a remarkably lethargic and lifeless approach to a supposedly exciting activity soon has that counterbalanced. [May 2005, p.85]

This is a game that’s as riotously entertaining as it is viciously random... It’s gleeful automobile slapstick, but not for anyone who values skill and achievement more than taking a wrecking ball to their opponents’ racing lines. [Dec 2005, p.114]

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]

Go Mecha Ball can be as frustrating as it is exhilarating. [Issue#394, p.104]

Hell Yeah! may wear its warm immaturity on its sleeve, but its jokes are strong, its protagonist and antagonists likeable and its rhythms satisfying.

With better class implementation, carrying through into PvP, it might have been able to assert its own identity. [Issue#333, p.116]

Combat is impressively muscular for a game that presents like a top-down dungeon crawler. [Issue#356, p.102]

If Desert Storm 2 has one flaw, it's that there are only ten maps and these usually channel the player down avenues rather than provide ample playgrounds for strategic experimentation. [Nov 2003, 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]

Pseudo may have avoided the formlessness that afflicts so much vehicular combat, but it has failed to play to its game’s strengths. The greasy, weightless, unmodulated handling and largely unimaginative course design aren’t remotely as satisfying as the raw, explosive scraps between racers. [Mar 2006, p.84]

Smilebit, led by Masayoshi Kikuchi – who has since moved on to work on the Yakuza series, another franchise that pivots around vivid city-building – swam upstream with JSR, defying the rush to photorealism, celebrating rebellion and individuality in one of the most memorable genre mash-ups you're ever likely to come across. Its HD revival is every inch that game, serving as a reminder that originality and passion retain their lustre when all else fades, and that such treasures are worth buffing up to display again.

Gesture recognition is loose and forgiving, and it makes no attempt to suggest Kinect's genuinely interpreting every movement. Instead, each manoeuvre feels like the empty-handed equivalent of pushing a button – albeit a button that tends to idle a little before it triggers anything.

Jett Rocket's mistakes remind us of the N64 days, when developers were feeling their way through Nintendo's brave new 3D world. [Aug 2010, p.99]

In the end, it falls beneath our expectations as often as it stretches beyond them. [Issue#349, p.96]

Single- and multiplayer minigames – and, more interestingly, a fully self-contained production-quality construction kit supporting a viral and burgeoning custom-level trading community – round off an already complete package, making Gripshift one of the PSP's finest and full-featured games to date. [Dec 2005, p.110]

Ultimately, World Rally is not a bad game, just entirely unnecessary.

Like so many similar games, Zombie Road Trip makes you question why you’ve sunk two hours into it rather than BioShock Infinite, but you grudgingly admit to enjoying the ride nonetheless.

In its shrewd monetisation aspects and as a watered-down but sturdy entry in the series, Revolution unarguably achieves its goal. The King Of Iron Fist Tournament is now closer than it’s been for a long time to its arcade roots, but the sense of friendly competition has been replaced with an initially hostile, rich versus poor and, at times, pay-to-win atmosphere.

It’s easy to admire the developer’s evident love for the NES game – it’s clearly been handled with the kind of care only a genuine fan would provide – but after a few repetitive hours bouncing around DuckTales’ pretty but unremarkable worlds you’ll begin to realise that some treasures aren’t worth the effort of unearthing.

This is the kind of ornamental contraption that elicits oohs and aahs when examined from afar, but was never REALLY designed to be played with. [Issue#366, p.123]

The Vault is best left to its long and drifting exile. [Issue#388, p.114]

Judged solely on its Balance Board controls, Skate It comes up little short of unplayable thanks to a bewildering complexity. [Jan 2009, p.96]

As a piece of world-building as assured as this feels like it deserves something more dynamic - something like a BioShock or a Deathloop, with you cast as an agent of chaos in an alien ecosystem. [Issue#378, p.110]

Once you've become fluent in the new pattern of motion the platforming becomes very satisfying, marrying timing and action more intimately than the usual moving platform/timed-jump challenges. However, things become rather unstuck when enemies are introduced. [Feb 2005, p.81]

In the areas money can't buy, it stumbles; its driving model, AI, and repetitive mission structure all cry out for more elegant design, and combine to leave Wildlands in the strange position of looking expensive but feeling cheap. Its blithely misjudged tone and directionless structure suggests design on autopilot, and empty bigness is no longer enough to carry an open-world game on its own. The game's premise may come straight from Trump's paranoid playbook, but its hollow extravagance is arguably the more damaging point of comparison. [May 2017, p.106]

Thief is far from the disaster that many feared it would be, and fans who take the time to customise their settings ahead of their first playthrough will find a rewarding world here to pick clean. Nevertheless, it’s still difficult to shake the feeling that, for all his dexterity, Garrett has stumbled in his attempt to gain access to a new generation.

While there is scope for each skirmish to play out differently, it's simpler to respond in kind to cheap deaths by lobbing pre-emptive grenades into scripted entry points - and in doings so, you're not so much numbed to the shock of Killzone's war as anaesthetised. [Christmas 2004, p.84]

Rarely has something so uneven and intermittently frustrating stolen our hearts this brazenly. [Sept 2015, p.116]

For a while, Arca's Path promises to be a new kind of VR game, but in the end its problems are all too familiar. [Jan 2019, p.121]

Magrunnner’s story is confidently told, and it’s a welcome point of divergence in a game that’s too in thrall to the title that popularised this genre. The Mag Glove’s no less capable of sustaining a game than the Portal Gun – it’s quite possibly better suited to experimental, player-authored solutions. But it needs its own game, not just to be inserted into the framework of another.

It resembles nothing more than a Skinner box, eventually rewarding your endless hours of button pressing with a short, amusing skit or a familiar face from the Star Wars universe. While some will no doubt be snared by its insidious little feedback loops, we can only reiterate Ackbar’s grave warning: it’s a trap.

The arguments and the heartbreaks are worth it, it suggests, to have the chance to see things from another perspective - and in doing so, to have your horizons expanded. When it's all over, the world seems a little bigger. [Issue#357, p.114]

As the platformer has been slowly bent into a sort of adventure game, it's a pleasant shock to be taken back to a time when missing that jump really did mean you had to start again. Collecting things is kept to a minimum and your quest is tightly packed and varied. [Apr 2004, p.109]

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]

For too much of your playtime, then, the game's charms seem like nothing more than a distant fantasy. [Issue#409, p.120]

This is a far more systemically diverse game than Heavy Rain, and its story is certainly more believably told through Holmes, Dafoe and a fine supporting cast. Yet this is a game almost entirely bereft of tension, one in which failure goes largely unpunished and is almost always inconsequential. There is emotion here, but it’s felt passively, as spectator instead of player.

In 2025, Resistance's aim is well off-target. [Issue #408, p.112]

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]

The game's visual and combative energy spark the urge to see where it goes next. If only there was something to do when you get there.

An apparently new and improved game engine is anything but, with regular framerate drops on PS4, bizarrely stilted animations, and sound effects cutting out entirely during action sequences further deadening the impact of already sloppily edited fight scenes. [Nov 2016, p.121]

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

The game's major flaw, however, is its brevity. [July 2010, p.105]

The game’s seven levels may not boast the artistry and meticulousness of its forebears’, but they boast action that at least equals them. [Oct 2008, p.102]