Four years on and Republic is revealed as a more familiar and modest proposition. What promised to be revolutionary has emerged as a mere curio. A shame. [Oct 2003, p.90]

For the promising set-up, it collapses in the heat of battle. Nearly a full third of the PSP’s screen is filled by a clumsy status display, clipping the peripheral vision that would have been so useful in the chaos of a Dynasty scrum. [Feb 2005, p.79]

A maddening, misguided mongrel of a game... Luck plays a huge part, and simply navigating the world can be exactly as hard as the hardest challenge: a random, enraging, minutes-long bore, especially with moving enemies straying across your line. [Dec 2005, p.115]

This is the fundamental flaw in Bloodlines 2. Troika's original game was not only about being a vampire but living as one, it's balmy LA nights riddled with chances to fulfill that fantasy. Bloodlines 2, in comparison, has no inner life. [Issue#418, p.114]

It's telling that the more dejected and hoarse your voice becomes, the easier it seems for the forces to understand their orders. Whoever programmed Odama's English speech recognition clearly wasn't having much fun either. [May 2006, p.90]

Its most striking ideas don't fulfil their promise, and its successes are etched by pervasive minor flaws. The towering, terrifying city, and the lens through which it is shot, drag you onwards through the game's lesser parts, but you sense that the real crime in this whole bloody escapade is that it doesn't live up to its dark flashes of imagination.

Dangerous Driving simply isn't suited to a mode that won't let you crash. Patched out, or left optional, these wouldn't be enough to stop most from happily reliving Burnout's heyday; currently, however, it would be reckless to recommend. [Issue#332, p.118]

Criticism has often been aimed at Hudson’s perpetual shrug of the shoulders as to how to milk new games from the same old buttons and analogue stick setup, yet here we find all-new motion controls and still no freshness. [Aug 2007, p.95]

For a studio of this size, this is a game of impressive scale, but for all it offers in scope, it lacks in depth. [Issue#376, p.112]

At its best, Orgarhythm's disparate ingredients coalesce into scenes of thrilling tribal warfare, a winningly eclectic soundtrack stirring your men to march into battle. Too often, however, you end up feeling like your fragmented cabal: disorientated, frustrated and battered into submission by an unforgiving enemy, with little reason to keep on fighting.

It's all a little rote - something we certainly don't associate with Final Fantasy. [Issue#315, p.120]

At launch, matchmaking can't even manage to find a single game. [Issue#348, p.94]

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]

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]

It’s all personality and no muscle, a prime victim for getting sand kicked in its face by the numerous RPG beefcakes currently swaggering around on PS2. [July 2006, p.92]

If Headhunter’s controls were as coherent as its looks, it could’ve made for one of the greatest action-adventure games of recent times. Instead, we’re left with a clunky shooting gallery that is, in parts, a likeable gunfighting game. [Oct 2004, p.109]

With design lifts from here, there and everywhere peppered throughout, it’s safe to say that the developer has rather appropriately played things by the numbers. [Mar 2006, p.88]

Feisty and unapologetic, it’s a game that's happy to break the resolve of those who fail to accept its rules: play casual and compete at leisure. [June 2006, p.91]

There's a fine line between graphic artistry and immaturity, and while Alter Echo makes an attempt at the former, it probably falls into the latter. The hues are creative enough, and the faux-naturelle structures suitably curled and alien but perhaps the real problem is that a world made from plastic would look as dull as it sounds. [Nov 2003, p.109]

Through the crush of it all, Viewtiful Joe's pedigree for fusing entertainment and quality is clearly visible throughout the chaos, even if it doesn't necessarily shine. [Dec 2005, p.100]

There are plenty of games with strong visual design and atmospheric settings that don't make you jump through nearly so many hoops to get to the good stuff. [Nov 2018, p.116]

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]

Global Storm feels like the true heir to the Conflict: Desert Storm games in more than just surname, and remains a worthy war effort, despite there being other games that may do it grander or deeper. [Nov 2005, p.102]

MicroBot is a technically accomplished but sterile experience. As the game settles into a rut, its stylistic strengths lose more and more ground to the sluggish combat, uninspiring upgrades and repetitive stages.

The Good Life makes for a charmingly eccentric getaway for the 12 hours its story lasts, though you'd hardly want to spend weeks, let along months, there. [Issue#365, p.116]

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]

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.

The main quest’s predefined battles do throw up enemy combinations that require more complex tactics, but there’s no denying that, having breached the fourth wall, Behold Studios’ charming game is content to head back inside the building.