Access Games' take on the Monster Hunter formula attempts little beyond a straightforward recreation of that series' structure. [Mar 2011, p.107]

Ultimately what was intended as a thoughtful depiction of a terrible mental illness has ended up casting it as something of an asset: a helpful superpower that can give you the strength to soldier on through the darkness, so long as you can put up with the odd breakdown here and there. That, we suspect, was not what Ninja Theory intended. It's certainly not what we had hoped for. [Issue#310, p.112]

It's true, they don't make 'em like this any more. Unfortunately, Wanted: Dead only demonstrates why not. [Issue#382, p.104]

Even at its best, when using the AV8R stick, Damage Inc feels clumsy, badly implemented and lacking in imagination. Mad Catz is unlikely to drive sales of its peripherals with a game in which every flight feels like work and every kill is, at best, a Pyrrhic victory in a tedious war.

The pretty basic minigames are bland, and the worst, such as Pot Luck, are based on blind, dumb chance. So are the best, sadly. They’re fun with four people, but what isn’t? [June 2007, p.92]

It's the cutest game we've seen in a while, but not nearly as good as it looks. [July 2010, p.105]

There are bold ideas floating around Unbeatable's ether, but for the most part it feels like an underpowered B-side. [Issue#420, p.102]

It's a game that makes you desperately want to feel like a Jedi, arcing your lightsaber across the screen, ducking under attacks, parrying counters and going in for the kill, but the subtlety just isn't there. [July 2005, p.94]

Supernauts is both too limited to succeed as a town-builder and frustratingly restrictive as a creative tool, while its superhero interludes are disempowering and dull. [Sept 2014, p.116]

The irony is that in mining some unforgettable games, Curve has delivered a forgettable hodgepodge. [Mar 2011, p.105]

The components here function and rarely frustrate, but the machine they comprise only manufactures mediocrity. [Sept 2009, p.95]

In action the game is undeniably pretty, as long as you can stomach the monstrous camera. But beyond ther anime-inspired visuals, the action turgidly limps along without ever really engaging or entertaining. [May 2003, p.94]

Holy disappointment, Batman. [March 2017, p.107]

If we're at a point where one way to make COD feel "new" is to revive ideas from more than a decade ago, that is perhaps a sign that the series needs a break, or at least a hard reset. [Issue#419, p.112]

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]

Fights descend into muddled brawls, as blobs of mobs smack into each other until one side keels over. [Issue#385, p.118]

A Witch's Tale is the teacher who says 'look, but don't touch.' [Sept 2009, p.97]

A remake that's peculiarly of its time: a western-style, casual gaming aping of the Japanese shoot 'em up that's less homage than banal dilution, and the game sucks the life and vibrancy from its rich lineage. [July 2008, p.99]

In-app purchases require delicate balancing, but with T-Coin bundles costing up to £69.99, and annual T-Club subscriptions available for £20.99 a year, EA could hardly be more obvious in letting you know that, as far as it's concerned, the 69p you paid to download the game was only the beginning.

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]

Nintendo's most boring smartphone outing so far. [Issue#336, p.120]

Its particular set of ideas and adornments prove unable to elevate the basic structural charms of this mode of game design. [Issue#402, p.110]

Given that its bland combat is little enhanced by the ability to create cover, you suspect that the promises made for the technology have simply dug its own grave. [Dec 2008, p.90]

This is a cheap game with an expensive price tag, and there's nothing remotely super about it. [May 2017, p.123]

There are some interesting ideas here, but in practice the game is overloaded with cut corners and blunting repetition. [Mar 2010, p.97]

It's a long, repetitive grind that fails to reward your efforts. [Sept 2012, p.100]

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]

To an industrious, moralising serial killer, Saw would seem an apt punishment for a life wasted on videogames. [Christmas 2009, p.99]