For dedicated Ghosts GRAW 2 is a no-brainer. For the rest of us it's just the exact game "Advanced Warfighter" should have been and would have beeen if the clock wasn't watching; Ubisoft rewriting history and charging us twice for the privilege. [May 2007, p.89]

There’s a desperate lack of innovation on display here; nondescript levels based around ice caves, pyramids and inevitable Mayan temples. The boring locations exacerbate the sneaking feeling that the levels, which can easily take an hour or longer to finish, are simply too large. [JPN Import; Mar 2007, p.81]

As far as either an authentic simulation or a fun re-imagining goes, it’s like some strange negative of the emperor’s new clothes; the pretty wrapping is there but the body is not. [Mar 2007, p.83]

It's an enjoyably twisted and often satisfying piece of fantasy, then, even though the reality of its more generic aspects poses a serious threat to its achievements. [JPN Import; Oct 2006, p.92]

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

Even in this compromised form, Virtua Fighter 5’s depth and beauty are unrivalled, and it can finally take its rightful place as the only game in town. [Apr 2007, p.76]

There’s a fine-line between rote-learning frustration and seat-of-the-pants glee in on-rails arcade games, and Secret Rings wobbles either side of it perceptibly, but seldom stays on the wrong side for too long. [Apr 2007, p.81]

Compared to so many free-roaming games to date, it so rarely stumbles. It’s the very skeleton of the genre, those bones strengthened to the point where they alone can stand as a game, rather than serving as hangers for threadbare ideas to be dangled from. [Mar 2007, p.76]

Without the challenge and cruelty that can make a classic, the results here are likeable, confident, and nowhere near essential. [Mar 2007, p.86]

Supreme Commander is the polar opposite of lazy Sunday afternoon strategy: the anti-"Civilization." With a name as apt as the infinite slaughter of "Total Annihilation," it really is a supreme commander’s job. [Mar 2007, p.78]

While there are occasional sparks from things like laser weapons, or games of tag in the arena combat, too much time is spent racing the same courses at the same speed, with only a very gradual increase in AI awareness to differentiate each step up through the ranks. [Mar 2007, p.85]

Stages are smaller and battles are often less intense but Size Matters makes up for the shortfall in calibre with a visual imagination that, for the first time, makes a Ratchet & Clank games feel like an actual adventure instead of a sequence of shootout-corridors threaded along a necklace of planets. [Apr 2007, p.88]

While the appeal of Ghost Rider palls in the long term (the game is simply too samey, unless your thirst for fighting overrides your need for variety and pacing) it’s a strong and well-considered title. [Mar 2007, p.86]

Time and again in The Angel Of Death, a perfectly obvious solution is ignored in favour of an absurdly contrived one, and whenever a puzzle hinges on the responses of NPCs... these prove bizarre and unpredictable. [Nov 2006, p.84]

Fast, engrossing and perfectly attuned to the needs of a handheld, Lunar Knights addresses the previous games’ failings without feeling like a retreat, providing refinement without too much dilution. [Apr 2007, p.86]

The net result is a product that can't be faulted on its accessibility, but has less subtlety than ever with which to hide the inherently, and sometimes unrelentingly, mechanical process that caring for your sims represents. [Mar 2007, p.85]

Rare’s late-‘90s obsession with currencies and unlockables, combined with the new additions to adventure mode, make Diddy Kong Racing feel at times like a maze of conditions and transactions in search of an actual game, and put many of its attractive new features behind bars with no word of how to free them. [Apr 2007, p.87]

It’s a testimony to the rapid evolution of this once moribund genre that Rogue Galaxy has been left so far behind. But it’s also a testament to Level 5’s inherent instinct for charm and compulsion that this game manages – even in 2007 – to hold its head above the crowd. [Apr 2007, p.78]

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]

The plot proves strong enough to keep even the most disappointed player clicking through the dialogue trees, and in the final chapters the endless conversations finally give way to something more engaging. [Mar 2007, p.80]

Wins you over with its charm rather than its virtue. [JPN Import; Jan 2007, p.84]

Above all, it's funny...If anything, this is the most bizarre game in the series to date. [Jan 2007, p.72]

Really, this is a game of strong, simple virtues: knockout action, beautiful character design, lovingly articulated models, crisp sound and overall polish. Every now and then it'll overstretch, at which point it falls. [Jan 2007, p.76]

Even though Situation: Comedy zealously aims for the easiest of targets – cheap television – its satire can feel obvious at times and its parodies fall flat a little more frequently than they should. [Feb 2007, p.85]

Despite the charm, and despite the sophistication, there’s no disguising that Elebits is a slightly thin idea. Although the locations get grander and the destruction more alluring, there’s little evolution in the task at hand. [Feb 2007, p.76]

Vengeance feels like a small-minded attempt to corner the Remote-controlled shooter market at the earliest opportunity. "Red Steel" may have failed in a similar bid, but at least it had the excuse of being a new franchise, not one already established. [Feb 2007, p.78]

While suspension of disbelief can stretch to accommodate the odd genuine flaw – inconsistencies between what objects you can and can’t punch through, for example – the sequel has too many to hide. [Feb 2007, p.80]

Full of bravado, packed with features and brimming with invention, this 20-year-old veteran is as vital and relevant as ever. [Jan 2007, p.84]