[CD Projekt's] reputation as a studio of remarkable technical prowess has been tarnished a little, however noble its intentions. [July 2015, p.98]

Deftly capturing both the low-key horror of loneliness and the ways we might attempt to deal with it, Birth is a quiet triumph for this compassionate creator. [Issue#382, p.114]

Earned In Blood might not seem like a radical departure from the original but the gloriously cascading AI and open maps have effectively transformed it into a very special WWII experience. The fact that there's nothing quite like it in such a crowded genre speaks volumes. [Dec 2005, p.103]

The biggest difference between Automata and its director's previous work is that those weird ideas finally have a robust mechanical shell to house them - one flecked with patches of rust, perhaps, but a fine piece of engineering all the same. [May 2017, p.102]

The town-building arc new to 0 resonates because you're renovating an idyllic town you see being reduced to ash and rubble in the game's opening hour. [Issue#419, p.121]

It's difficult to shake the sensation that Killer 7 is an important production, as paving for future creative leeway if nothing else. But its likely love/hate status is testament to just how adamant it has attempted to be in its flair for extraordinary presentation. [Aug 2005, p.84]

It's an irresistible way to spend two minutes. [Issue#379, p.122]

The most comprehensive and involving driving simulator we've seen on consoles in years. [July 2015, p.106]

And though a clutch of score-based challenges are both too few and too brisk, they contribute to an iOS game of rare generosity and substance.

If only the mechanics matched the atmosphere. If only Rapture was a less linear world to move through. If only BioShock was the wholly brilliant experience you know, from your moments within it, it could have been.[Oct 2007, p.88]

They may unplug the servers, but those connections will never be fully severed. [Issue#388, p.120]

The focus on the rebellious, non-conformist side of youth has its drawbacks, but means Persona 5 is something to which its predecessors could never lay claim. It is, simply put, cool. Everything, from the intro movie's disco house to the battle-mode cutaways and even the basic UI, is achingly, confidently stylish. Criminally, the DualShock 4's Share button functionality is blocked for the duration, but this is one of few true blemishes on a game that, while at times a bit too familiar, never comes close to breeding contempt. [May 2017, p.110]

It's disappointing that basic irritants are still evident in the singleplayer game. But it's the online version - which takes the hunter/hunted metaphor to chilling extremes - which ends up being one of the most nerve-racking gaming experiences of all time. [Apr 2004, p.98]

It may not be quite as picture-perfect as we'd hoped for, but Viewfinder's most memorable vignettes will surely earn it a permanent slot in your brain's own photo album. [Issue#388, p.121]

Yes, Wipeout 2048 conjures a less fanciful racing grid than we've seen previously, and it's also a less immaculate, less finessed racer than the home console iterations of the series we've played down the years. Instead, it's an attempt to try something new on the newest of platforms. While it may not offer something for everyone, when it flies, it soars.

Vietnam is not about skill or proving your worth. It's about taking part in recreations of famous battles, crawling on your belly, loving every minute. And when it works, nothing can touch it. [Apr 2004, p.103]

It's feature-creep, in short, bloat orbiting an excellent core. In that regard, at least, For Honor is a Ubisoft game. [May 2017, p.112]

"Holy Metacritic, Batman! They've finally bothered to dedicate considerable time and resources to putting you in a decent videogame!" [Oct 2009, p.86]

It's a high-stakes heist simulator with no time for malice aforethought. Stealth's just one tool in your roll bag. [July 2015, p.112]

Forget the artful placeholder nature of the title, then: the rotating octopus character moves through a meticulous game built with a rare sense of poise.

It is at its core a forgettably designed, cookie-cutter open-world game, that is elevated by its traversal, its combat and stealth, by the eventually irresistible pull of its story. It may not have legs, but while it lasts it is delightful. The Amazing Spider-Man? Not quite. But it is frequently spectacular, and given Parker's rather chequered videogame past, that feels like some achievement. [Issue#324, p.104]

The most ambitious game BioWare has ever made. [Jan 2014, p.104]

Beneath this joyously aimless frolicking flows a gentle undercurrent of melancholy, which comes to the fore during the game's bittersweet finale. You're asked beforehand whether you're ready to go; it says much for this fuzzy, wistful daydream of a place that leaving it behind proves a surprising wrench. [Issue#378, p.123]

Stacking's best qualities are its eccentricity and ingenuity. The puzzles lack the tortured bite of Double Fine's early work, but in broadening the narrative-led puzzle game's scope and carefully choosing which elements of tradition to keep and which to discard, Stacking is a bold and charming reinvention.

In a family whose every member shouts from the rooftops, it risks palling into the background. Set it on its own, though – or besides absolutely any other 2D platformer – and it shines with dazzling kaleidoscopic brightness. [July 2006, p.78]

What is for sure is that over its six-hour span we're engrossed in Still Wakes The Deep far more often than not. [Issue#399, p.100]

This is a game that skilfully blends the safe with the courageous in an alchemical fusion of old and new, somehow brave and default all at once.

With a superior control system and a raft of incisive upgrades, this year’s update is a connoisseur of the boxing arts. [Apr 2005, p.103]

Perhaps that's Infinite Fall's ultimate triumph: with a group of 2D animals it's built a cast that's more rounded and identifiably human than any mo-capped blockbuster. [May 2017, p.116]

It’s debatable whether Oblivion is a great adventure, but it’s certainly one of the broadest around and one that’s a willing canvas for a variety of approaches from its players. [May 2006, p.84]

In the big dumb act of blowing its extraordinary world to kingdom come, Crysis finds itself smarter than ever. [Nov 2008, p.97]

Stacking's best qualities are its eccentricity and ingenuity. The puzzles lack the tortured bite of Double Fine's early work, but in broadening the narrative-led puzzle game's scope and carefully choosing which elements of tradition to keep and which to discard, Stacking is a bold and charming reinvention.

In time, however, it is the parry system that reveals itself to be the game's core point of difference and strength. [Issue#383, p.100]

Whatever tactics game you've enjoyed most in recent years, you're likely to find some element of it refracted somewhere in here. [Issue#402, p.116]

Inventive, malleable and rambunctiously entertaining British puzzler. [May 2017, p.121]

The strength of the Mario RPG series has always been the convincing lunacy with which it depicts the 'ordinary' life of the mushroom kingdom. You may have steered Mario through some strange odd-jobs in your time, but Paper Mario 2 is your best chance to actually be him. [Christmas 2004, p.86]

This dark world - frequently illuminated by its eccentric characters and cheeky dialogue - is so captivating that the slight loss of late-game momentum is easily forgiven. [Issue#399, p.114]

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

This is a fresh take on the battle royale that deserves to be experienced. [Issue#342, p.106]

While it's not as cleverly structured as the pinnacle of the series, "Symphony of the Night," it resurrects that game's hallmarks of seductive exploration and satisfying topographical progress. It breathes new life back into one of viedogaming's oldest franchises. [Jan 2004, p.92]

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.

Temple Run 2 is a beautiful looking, natural extension of the series that never breaks stride for a second. The game's only liability is that, as beautiful as its environments may be, their unceasing repetition can eventually grow wearisome. Like a child hearing about the concept of living in heaven for eternity and asking, won't I get bored?

Despite the laundry list of issues that have arisen as a result of Asobo's ambition, in the end, it's those sudden sensations - especially the frequent feeling that we've finally got our hands on something truly next-gen, imperfect as it may be - that count for the most. [Issue#350, p.88]

This is a beautiful game from top to bottom: a feast for the eyes, a treat for the ears, a test for the brain and thumbs and a good old stress-test for the heart and tear ducts. This is a rare sort of debut: one that marks out its developer as one to watch. [Issue#342, p.112]

Despite the criticisms, though, The Great Circle isn't so much defective as in tension with itself. [Issue#406, p.102]

It is a breath of fresh air to play a game that doesn't merely use its science-fiction setting as attractive window dressing, its outstanding writing and voice acting more than compensating for its visual shortcomings. [Issue#399, p.116]

It's wonderfully refined, boasting a glut of ideas without ever feeling overstuffed. [Issue#342, p.114]

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

Isn't a game that does anything obviously or overtly clever or innovative. But any game that takes such a simple premise and polishes it, hones it and refines it until it's this engrossing, this absorbing, and this much fun, is quite obviously doing something very clever indeed. [Christmas 2003, p.114]

Packed with detail, both in terms of its environments and mechanics, this is a game that pays back investment in spades. [March 2012, p.122]

Whatever the oddities and missed opportunities of its singleplayer mode, Bad Company 2 delivers a fulsome online game that continues to hone a winning formula. [Apr 2010, p.90]

The frame-rate occasionally chugs, but little else can truly hold Mr. Dreamer back. This is a confident twist on a popular genre, and a case study in how a good idea needs little embellishment.

That teetering battle between pride and strategy than ensues every time you decide whether to comprehensively flatten a villain with an unnecessary monosyllabic flourish or gamble on saving it for your next target, hoping the board doesn’t get scrambled before you get a chance to show off.

Vivid, smart and perhaps a little mocking, then, Infinity Gene, like Extreme, has exchanged the cold depths of space for the trippy vortex of some strange digital migraine: this classic isn't growing old with grace, but it's certainly continuing to evolve.

As enveloping a puzzle space as any (outside of wells and hotels) we've encountered this year. [Issue#399, p.120]

It feels revelatory, like rediscovering a lost art. The keyboard! How wonderful. [Issue#402, p.123]

While a smattering of minor blemishes mean it shines a bit less brightly than 2014's other headline acts, it's not less essential for it. [Jan 2014, p.112]

In your travels you'll stumble upon and unfold an intricately spun web of character interactions, warmly drawn personalities every bit as rewarding to explore as the physical environments themselves. [Sept 2005, p.86]

Reveals that the series can be both a chaotic toy box and a lattice of fantastical set-pieces that unfold meaningfully. [July 2011, p.126]

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.

Whether she’s huddled up against the cold or sending five men to their doom with an explosive arrow, this is still Lara Croft, one of gaming’s most distinctive heroes – and now she has a personality that extends far beyond the bounds of her bra straps. If the purpose of a reboot is to redefine a character and set them up for the future, then this is a job well done.

It can be too obtuse at times, but the rewards are quite unlike anything else in games: the music peaks, a laser beam rockets off into the sky, and you turn, heading off after that distant synth, in search of your next project deeper in the neon unknown.

There's an incredible amount to do within the confines of a traditional racing game. Flawed, then, but pushing for the top of the podium all the same. [Christmas 2017, p.116]

Nintendo’s nervousness around punishment, for fear of putting off newcomers, continues to undermine ALBW’s attempts at novelty.

Often we're reminded of one of the oldest, simplest examples of Halo's sandbox: what happens when one grenade is applied to an unexploded stack of its peers. A cascade of possibilities, all these tiny moments of pleasure bouncing off of one another in a way that could never be fully scripted in advance. [Issue#367, p.98]

With the RTS genre on the back foot in recent years, it's hardly surprising that it should choose to crib from its turn-based cousins - and it has annexed those ideas without sacrificing the heart of its well-oiled war machine. [Issue#383, p.110]

Compulsive and beautifully tuned, Pivvot is a tense, nervy challenge to relish.

In terms of the game’s central challenge, it excels at dividing the player’s attention between ambitions for continuous expansion and the manual maintenance of the empire as it stands. [Sept 2007, p.97]

Chaos Theory is the game that the original Splinter Cell was meant to deliver: a tight play experience within a trusty framework, one more of enjoyment than irritation, and a game that's no longer exclusively for fans of repeated reloading. [Apr 2005, p.97]

It's almost tempting to say that this feels like the combination of pinball and platforming that Sonic The Hedgehog wishes it was. [Aug 2018, p.108]

It's a game confident enough in its core ideas to simply offer greater volume and variety of enemies in its later stages, and it has the balance and poise to ensure that's more than sufficient.

Frustrations rarely linger in a game with such a bright, celebratory vibe. This is a love letter to the early history of two mediums - imperfectly written, perhaps, but deeply and sincerely felt. Charming, distinctive and impossible to forget, Cuphead is the kind of game you'll immediately want to talk about, yet be desperate not to spoil. Like we said, quite the paradox. [Christmas 2017, p.114]

Embellished with delightfully grotesque aesthetics and accompanied by some wonderful tunes... [Issue #421, p.112]

Redacted makes no apology, yet somehow escapes from the shadow of its inspiration. [Issue#404, p.116]

It's more an effective reminder of why these games have been so captivating, though than the evolution they'll need, sooner rather than later. [Issue#406, p.122]

Like a kaleidoscope, El Shaddai offers a constant variety – sometimes confusing and out of focus, but often sparkling brilliantly. So long as you're not looking for any deeper meaning, you'll find plenty of novelty and beauty here, if not quite an eternity.

Codemasters is as attuned to track-building and racecraft as it has ever been. [Oct 2009, p.92]

It's unlikely Innocence will lead to an epidemic of similarly snappy games, but we'd love this particular contagion to catch on. [Issue#341, p.116]

The game’s major achievement is an emphasis less on personal advancement, but rather on working as a cohesive unit to achieve your collective goal – the hunting of monsters, truly absurdly monstrous monsters... It’s an excellent exercise in humility and cooperation, and one that should not be passed by. [Dec 2005, p.108]

Halo 5 is full of good decisions and fantastic multiplayer experiences, but in trying to catch up, it might have shown how far behind it really is. [Christmas 2015, p.98]

Tying everything together is an engagement with creativity in all its forms, and a delight in messing with the various shapes videogames can come in. [Issue#406, p.123]

These are the most generous entries since HeartGold and SoulSilver. [Jan 2014, p.123]

Seasoned with tragedy and humour, it’s a poignant tale that courts cliché but which, thanks to its charm and creative twists on well-worn themes, represents one of the narrative high points of the series. [Apr 2009, p.123]

That's clearly how Call of the Mountain has been designed: as a technical showcase first and foremost, pushing visual fidelity further that we're used to seeing in this medium, and taking players on a tour of some of its most tried-and-tested mechanics. Taken as such, this is an all but essential companion to PSVR2. As for whether it's enough to convince people to adopt the technology in the first place? Well, that might prove a steeper mountain to climb. [Issue#383, p.114]

What a laugh. [Issue#338, p.104]

As with Ocarina, at first there is a rush of nostalgia. As it fades, it's replaced by the realisation that, in many ways, the original was the playable prototype and this is the true final product, a fantastic fit both for the hardware's portability and feature set.

It's infectious, and it is difficult to imagine that anyone with any affection for rock music could fail to appreciate it. [Dec 2015, p.116]

As we play, we realise that Pathologic 3 is rich in a large variety of relatively shallow systems. [Issue#421, p.116]

Its characters may initially seem to be lazy stereotypes, but they soon blossom into something deeper, thanks to intelligent writing and uncommonly naturalistic acting. [Dec 2008, p.97]

With a superior control system and a raft of incisive upgrades, this year's update is a connoisseur of the boxing arts. [Apr 2005, p.103]

There is a lingering sense that Jett's ultimate form lies somewhere between The Far Shore's guided storytelling and the hands-off puzzling here, but this generous and welcoming expansion is deserving of any time given over to it. [Issue#381, p.98]

The final riddle's convolutions are forgiven by its payoff... [Issue#422, p.119]

As a snapshot of a moment in time, there's truth captured within the frame. [Christmas 2015, p.106]

These are the most generous entries since HeartGold and SoulSilver. [Jan 2014, p.123]

It occasionally uses those worn tools to achieve something profound. [Issue#421, p.120]

This relaxed, arcade-like approach makes for something that's not so much about simulation, but more emulation; letting you thwack the ball with all the verve of an expert, without the worry of any homework. Fun, then, and lots of it. [Nov 2003, p.107]

Sharp, funny writing is elevated by superb voice acting. [Issue#341, p.119]

It's a process as intuitive and satisfying as any merge-based puzzler... [Issue#422, p.121]