Scourge: Outbreak may seek to mimic the thrills and achievements of its blockbuster inspiration, but it serves merely to underline their superiority. Tragnarion has clearly put effort into polishing the game, but it’s fatally neglected to work on the underlying basics that were crooked three years ago.

If there’s one thing that 25 To Life gets to do right, let it bring an end to this destructive preoccupation with the cross-media lure of gritty, crime-flavoured urban violence, and the unacceptably low standards it so often brings with it. [Mar 2006, p.89]

We struggle through, resisting the urge to trigger the final heist early. [Issue#371, p.114]

If there’s one thing that 25 To Life gets to do right, let it bring an end to this destructive preoccupation with the cross-media lure of gritty, crime-flavoured urban violence, and the unacceptably low standards it so often brings with it. [Mar 2006, p.89]

A frustrating experience, though thankfully not a long one. [Dec 2009, p.103]

Its world feels considered. There are decent performances from its cast among the graphical artefacts, and zippy pacing that respects your time and conjures a sense of playing the Schwarzenegger role that never was. But it's been released in a technical state that makes it impossible to enjoy its ideas, with core components of its action left underdeveloped. For the player, that's frustrating. For those who made it, surely, it's heartbreaking. [Issue#413, p.112]

Don't let the vibrant colours of this scene fool you: this is the world as seen in Combat Breaker, a brief period in which time slows down. As son as the meter runs out, it's back to the game's usual dusty dullness. [Issue#370, p.119]

The simple attack-defend volleyball games are the true beauty of Zack Island, frequently raising the pulse as you battle to deliver that killer blow. [May 2010, p.104]

There's little satisfaction in downing an enemy who can't see you, less in getting flattened by an unseen assailant. [Issue#296, p.114]

Realmforge is clearly a student of the genre, but budget is king here, and the studio lacks the financial clout to even pierce the flesh of a crowded market. Despite being crafted with noble intentions, Dark succeeds only in sucking the life out of itself.

Despite the aforementioned illusion of choice, there is really only one pre-determined way to conquer a given mission, each stealthy ability in reality a functional button-press to move the game along. [Apr 2007, p.87]

With its unusual blend of Kinect and controller – of simple missions and complex control – Heavy Armor is a modern rarity: a game designed to be hard work. Whether that translates directly into it being a game for the 'hardcore' is debatable, but From Software has made the best of a bad situation and, aptly, delivered a game that asks you to do exactly the same.

Whether you view the appearance of a game like this on the DS as a crucial step in conserving gaming’s heritage, a convenient nostalgia fix, or a total reversal of everything the machine was supposed to deliver, you’ll most likely greet Bub and Bob with little more than familiar affection. [Feb 2006, p.92]

It's hard to come away from this without a sense of persecution. It isn't just that it's a poor game, it's that it thinks it's good enough to survive on the coat-tails of its license - and that you won't have the wherewithal to discriminate. [Jan 2011, p.99]

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]

Even when you disregard the charmless character, ignore the relentless music and eventually manage to tame the handling, something comes along to spoil the party - an odiously placed bump on the road that causes an unnecessary spin, the sudden inability to respawn even when off the track, resulting in a lost race... the list goes on. [Jan 2010, p.90]

Unlike its namesake, Quantum Theory makes no attempt to depart from classical mechanics - it merely diminishes them. [Nov 2010, p.96]

It’s not often that a war game captures almost perfectly the feel of walking drunk through a Las Vegas casino – that overpowering mix of randomness, mediocrity and nausea. [Sept 2007, p.94]

All the interaction it requires could be better executed, with equal intuition and far greater reliability, on a joypad with an analogue stick. [Nov 2010, p.94]

The game's ambition far outstrips its creator's abilities: damned by execution rather than intent, but damned nonetheless. [July 2009, p.99]

The game's ambition far outstrips its creator's abilities: damned by execution rather than intent, but damned nonetheless. [July 2009, p.99]

It’s a B-movie game in every sense, but approach it with sufficiently lowered expectations, and you may just be pleasantly surprised.

This is a series that probably needs to be retired, because the joke isn’t funny anymore. [Feb 2009, p.89]

Partial blame can be laid on the less-than-stellar CG film Astro Boy adapts, but considering High Voltage so vocally invoked Omega Factor during development, it is not unfair to hold the game to a higher standard. It doesn't come close. [Jan 2010, p.96]

It’s a souring of Bomberman’s classic formula, and it hasn’t been compensated for with any new thinking, leaving older editions to continue reigning supreme. [Nov 2006, p.91]

It's hard not to lament the potential wasted here. [Issue#386, p.120]

The unspoken promise of Sony's portable is console quality on the move, but a thoroughly bloodless version of a massive franchise only feels like going back on that word. This wasn't what Jack Tretton had in mind when he talked about having "a triple-A shooter in the palm of your hands". Rather, Declassified is a single A: awful.

Escape's one resounding achievement, it seems, is that it has somehow managed to be an even poorer game than Dead Island: Riptide. [Jan 2014, p.116]