Lost Odyssey contains some of the most tender writing ever committed to a videogame. [Apr 2008, p.86]

There are lots of puzzles, a fun environment to tootle around in, and little to dislike. Utterly charming. [Apr 2008, p.95]

The sad fact is that this combat mostly fails to ignite interest, and combined with its cruel difficulty spikes, occasional glitches and a severe differential in graphical quality between 360 and PS3 versions (the latter losing out), Turok's strong contextualisation and smattering of brave ideas get buried. [Mar 2008, p.92]

The sad fact is that this combat mostly fails to ignite interest, and combined with its cruel difficulty spikes, occasional glitches and a severe differential in graphical quality between 360 and PS3 versions (the latter losing out), Turok's strong contextualisation and smattering of brave ideas get buried. [Mar 2008, p.92]

DMC4 is not the grotesque misstep it so easily could have been. DMC4 is hardcore. [Mar 2008, p.90]

With juddering 3D that loses all of Altair's beautiful and intuitive movement, and inflicting a multitude of cheap deaths, this crude chapter neither comes close to emulating original's successes nor utilises the hardware's specific capabilities. [June 2008, p.95]

Sins is undoubtedly a unique achievement, unifying realtime battle and empirical strategy where others have only managed to offer them as separate components. [Apr 2008, p.94]

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

Having moved up an entire notch from inaugural title "Racers," the PixelJunk brand is becoming one of PSN's most promising and confident niches. [Mar 2008, p.101]

Paradise loops its action into an endless rush, the possibilities, for arcade racing and battle enthusiasts alike, increasing with every hour. It’s hard not to see it as the birth of a new era, but in truth it might be the last Burnout you ever need. [Feb 2008, p.86]

Paradise loops its action into an endless rush, the possibilities, for arcade racing and battle enthusiasts alike, increasing with every hour. It’s hard not to see it as the birth of a new era, but in truth it might be the last Burnout you ever need. [Feb 2008, p.86]

It can be a little basic in places, and it isn’t a ‘paradigm shift’ in any sense, but it is proof that games can love their roots and use the quality of being a ‘game’ to give form to their stories – and excel at it. [Feb 2008, p.90]

Arika reminds us that so little of our gaming relaxation time is actually spent relaxing, making this a healthy diversion that deserves recognition. [Jan 2008, p.88]

The same game you've been playing for seven years - or perhaps even longer. And for that it's a thorough success. [Mar 2008, p.97]

What Omega Five lacks in purity, it gains in bombast. [Mar 2008, p.102]

For most players there's just not enough here to hold any prolonged interest. [Mar 2008, p.100]

What it adds to the original formula is essentially redundant, and everything it does that is successful was already in place in the original. [Feb 2008, p.93]

Irrespective of talent, taste, spare time or even online connectivity, it has something for anyone with even a tingle in their trigger finger. [Jan 2008, p.78]

Blacksite is a thoroughly unexceptional title for which unrealistic promises were made, and one that is further let down by a wide assortment of bugs and design issues. [Jan 2008, p.83]

Takes great pride in its science-fiction absurdities and provides a genuinely entertaining skirmish game for those who still hanker for the base-building battles of old. [Feb 2008, p.94]

With just one area to mess about with – and doubtless more to come – it currently feels more seed than flower. [Feb 2008, p.95]

Where there was charm and artistry in the old designs, choosing to detail those basic representations rather than reimagining them makes the look of the new game too generic by far. [Feb 2008, p.95]

Mass Effect is still enjoyable enough to warrant 24 hours of play (completion with sub-missions), and the stops it makes en route are visually stunning. It just doesn’t find what it goes looking for: the myth and exotica to accurately follow Star Wars. [Christmas 2007, p.86]

Minor gripes aside, Rock Band with four players in the same room is quite something to be a part of, a game not only an evolution of the genre but of the social side of gaming itself. [Jan 2008, p.80]

While many players will tire of the gamelong before its last secrets are handed out, its simplicity makes it a strangely compelling experience. [Jan 2008, p.87]

An unrewarding trudge that doesn’t have any ideas beyond the most primitive. [Feb 2008, p.97]

The solid presentation and well-adjusted linear flow of the game make it simple, if mindless, fun. [Jan 2008, p.85]

At its worst, however, Galaxies has some big problems. The biggest is that it is remarkably fond of spawning enemies behind your ship too quickly for you to move away... It can be incredibly annoying – enough, in fact, to slightly taint the whole experience. [Feb 2008, p.92]

While the arcade version of the game (included here in its entirety) is not without serious flaws, this interpretation exacerbates those that exist and throws in significant new ones. [Jan 2008, p.87]

No task is impossible alone, but the ease of co-op mustn't cloud the the fact that Atlus is still to find that sweet spot between virtual and actual brain surgery. [Mar 2008, p.100]

Irrespective of talent, taste, spare time or even online connectivity, it has something for anyone with even a tingle in their trigger finger. [Jan 2008, p.78]

Soldier of Fortune’s damage model is probably its major selling point and, lamentably, the only thing that makes its combat entertaining. [Feb 2008, p.96]

Through judicious pruning and reweaving Naughty Dog has crafted one of the finest action adventures to date. It’s involving in its narrative, a triumph of pacing, and simply a pleasure to play. [Christmas 2007, p.80]

All the games, even the good ones, outlast their welcome. [Jan 2008, p.90]

The meetings themselves are well realised, with the developer putting considerable effort into evoking the right kind of atmosphere. [Christmas 2007, p.99]

Soldier of Fortune’s damage model is probably its major selling point and, lamentably, the only thing that makes its combat entertaining. [Feb 2008, p.96]

If "Far Cry" was a game of ambition, then here is one of power. Power which Crytek has channelled, with both passion and care, into superb freewheeling gunplay. [Christmas 2007, p.84]

Its scenarios are striking in scope, but its gunplay can’t quite keep pace. It features some moments of truly cinematic vision, but the technology and framework can’t quite do them full justice. [Christmas 2007, p.90]

There is some enormous potential here, and for all its failings Assassin’s Creed deserves to be played, and its achievements savoured. [Christmas 2007, p.82]

The Umbrella Chronicles will inevitably attract attention for its roots above all other considerations, but it's a good game on its own terms, bringing together distinct genres and making it all work. [Jan 2008, p.86]

Beating the near-infallible AI to the line is a challenge best described as punitive, and periodically maddeningly unbalanced. [Mar 2008, p.103]

Is there any need, on vertically scrolling levels, for your character to die when they touch the bottom of the screen, despite the fact you know there are platforms there? Do bosses have to seem impossible, and then prove tedious when their patterns have been learned? [Jan 2008, p.89]

Playing it instils a completely neutral response, as though it were no more than a means of absorbing time. [Jan 2008, p.91]

A fairly standard game in a genre overflowing with quality. [Christmas 2007, p.99]

The game’s unique honour system (requiring you to tag and then kill enemies in exchange for upgrades) proves largely irrelevant, and in the heat of battle, toggling your firstperson view and wrestling with the analogue nub to track fast-moving targets proves frustrating and unwieldy. [Jan 2008, p.88]

Soldier of Fortune’s damage model is probably its major selling point and, lamentably, the only thing that makes its combat entertaining. [Feb 2008, p.96]

Since the end of the N64 era, as Nintendo has explored new pastures and methodically tended old ones, it’s been easy to forget the times when every major release from the company felt like this. It’s a bravura piece of design that pulls off stunts no one else has even thought of. [Christmast 2007, p.76]

Blacksite is a thoroughly unexceptional title for which unrealistic promises were made, and one that is further let down by a wide assortment of bugs and design issues. [Jan 2008, p.83]

Blacksite is a thoroughly unexceptional title for which unrealistic promises were made, and one that is further let down by a wide assortment of bugs and design issues. [Jan 2008, p.83]

In terms of creating an atmosphere and playing with it, there’s nothing quite like it on a handheld system. [Christmas 2007, p.96]

Bladestorm works hard to appease both the keen strategist and the action-hungry player, while confidently answering critics who claim that Koei is nothing more than a one-trick warhorse. [Christmas 2007, p.95]

It’s the kind of concept you suspect was conceived more by the desire to ‘leverage brand synergy’ than to create a classic videogame. [Jan 2008, p.90]

Apart from being an excellent reminder of its host’s graphical oomph, Tactical Strike is engrossingly detailed and generous, if not wide, in scope. [Jan 2008, p.91]

Visually, kinetically and intuitively, however, Modern Warfare is relentlessly exciting and an overwhelming triumph. [Christmas 2007, p.88]

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]

Few other titles’ enemies have the power to flood you with real horror as they scramble and skitter towards you. [Christmas 2007, p.98]

The game fumbles its potential with unanticipated incompetence. [Christmas 2007, p.94]

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]

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]

Ditching the self-aware snuff-movie set-up for an unsubtle conspiracy story, Manhunt 2 lacks the redemption of a smart commentary on violence as entertainment. [Christmas 2008, p.98]

The experience certainly isn’t awful, but nor is it in any way exceptional – and up against the accomplished competition, that simply won’t be good enough. [June 2007, p.93]

BW2 is a strategy game that doesn't demand much strategy. That doesn't mean it's not sometimes enjoyable, but it's nothing more than an occasional diversion. [Jan 2008, p.84]

Guitar Hero has one of the most intuitive and subtle control systems of any game, but here it becomes increasingly subservient to making the game – yes – rock hard, and for the average player will often descend into button-mashing. [Christmas 2007, p.98]

There are nice touches – cockroaches that scatter under your flashlight, the occasional puzzle, effective cutscenes – but there is little that you won’t have found implemented in a vastly more satisfactory form elsewhere. [May 2008, p.99]

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]

The game's failure to monopolise on its squad dynamic relegates it to a shooter-by-numbers, and its appeal is then further undercut by the fact that, while Barker clearly has a sense for the grotesque, it is the only note that Jericho plays. [Dec 2007, p.91]

The game's failure to monopolise on its squad dynamic relegates it to a shooter-by-numbers, and its appeal is then further undercut by the fact that, while Barker clearly has a sense for the grotesque, it is the only note that Jericho plays. [Dec 2007, p.91]

Conan is a genuine surprise. It’s not innovative in its entirety, but it does almost as much as it can with the central conceit, and thus proves one of the better examples of the hack’n’slash genre. [Dec 2007, p.93]

A sometimes grim but always compelling experience. [Christmas 2007, p.96]

And the visuals? Well, if you want more screenshots, just pop your head out of the window and look up. [Dec 2007, p.96]

From simple lever cranks to rotational unscrewing, Zack & Wiki finally puts to use the myriad Remote possibilities touched on in WarioWare: Smooth Moves. [Christmas 2007, p.93]

Often you’ll present a piece of evidence on a hunch and find him explaining it far beyond your own understanding. The result is a distance from the story, and a reminder of the paucity of interactivity on offer. [Nov 2007, p.99]

That Insomniac has so confidently found its feet makes the prospect of Ratchet’s annual return an exciting, rather than obligatory, one. [Dec 2007, p.86]

Unlike PSP competitors Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea, this game lacks the colour and complication to really drag players into the depths of its strategy. [Jan 2008, p.89]

That's how it feels: brand extension, dilution rather than enrichment. [Mar 2008, p.102]

It might not be a system seller, but provides further compelling evidence of the Wii controller’s lofty potential. [July 2007, p.92]

Proving Ground is, at best, a functional sequel. It gives the fans what they want, throws in a handful of awkward or undeveloped ideas, and leaves it there. At worst, it’s a poor entry to the Tony Hawk’s lineage. [Christmas 2007, p.91]

A personal and affecting play experience. [Mar 2008, p.103]

As a whole it is almost overwhelming in its depth, irresistible in value and certainly, unreservedly, brilliant. [Dec 2007, p.82]

As a whole it is almost overwhelming in its depth, irresistible in value and certainly, unreservedly, brilliant. [Dec 2007, p.82]

Perhaps, in this fastest of genres, it’s simply six months too late...in a race with "Forza Motorsport 2," "PGR4," "Dirt" and even the likes of "MotoGP '07," there’s the unmistakeable feel that Sega Rally’s been superseded before it leaves the grid. [Nov 2007, p.89]

When it comes to multiplayer options, Bleach kills 99 per cent of known beat ‘em up stars – even the excellent Jump Superstars – dead. [JPN Import; Apr 2006, p.94]

This still stands as one of videogaming’s greatest achievements, one finally properly served by an excellent English translation to reveal a game that feels far fresher than its age, setting and rivals might otherwise suggest. [Nov 2007, p.97]

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]

Its fortunes rely on satisfying a burgeoning community of simulation racers, for whom authenticity is the top priority, and in that respect it’s a success. [Dec 2007, p.94]

No other combat game has maps this lavish, or ambitiously designed. [Nov 2007, p.88]

If zSlide wants to directly compete with WarioWare’s creativity, not toying with the PSP’s optional camera or microphone has been a missed opportunity. [July 2007, p.94]

Ultimate Carnage is a generous package that can be highly entertaining. But it’s a pity that it fails to apply a comprehensive design overhaul to FlatOut’s robust engine. [Aug 2007, p.91]

As efficiently and proficiently designed as Logan’s Shadow is, it’s unavoidably tied to the problems associated with action games of this type on PSP. [Feb 2008, p.96]

It’s uncompromising and involved and may not be for everyone, but you sense it’s the game Bizarre have been meaning to make for the last seven years, and for that alone, it’s precious. [Nov 2007, p.86]

It is an instinctive, ingenious joy to play for every minute, and it sets a new gold standard for game interface design on any platform. [Sept 2007, p.86]

In substance it's nothing new, merely a magnificent, beautiful monster of an FPS sequel. In concept and execution, though, Halo 3 is the future. [Nov 2007, p.80]

The meat of the game remains enjoyable yet underwhelming. [Dec 2007, p.96]

Underneath these niggles and inconsistencies lies the kernel of a solid and interesting game that could blossom if pursued in a future release. [June 2008, p.96]

Skate’s best trick is to make every landing seem like a tiny victory: with physics that at least pay lip service to the realities of gravity and broken bones, simply making it down a flight of steps can be cause for celebration. [Nov 2007, p.92]

Residents themselves are a colourless bunch, a series of knowing archetypes – goth girls, hip DJs, Italian chefs – that lack the effortless charm of Animal Crossing’s simple ciphers. [Dec 2007, p.97]

Often dwarfing the key action, these minigames are a manifestation of a series that’s been unrecognisably perverted from its original purpose, flashes of brilliance or speed only serving as a reminder of what has been lost. [Nov 2007, p.99]

This is one of the finest tactical challenges of 2007 – but only if you play online. [Nov 2007, p.98]