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]

Race Driver 3 understands that a processional win from pole is less fulfilling than a hard-fought, championship-saving fifth place from the back of the grid. And though it can't exactly engineer those situations, it does everything in its power to make them more likely and leave them unpunished. [Mar 2006, p.87]

What could have been an elephants' graveyard of forgotten ideas instead feels like a series-wide victory lap. [Issue#353, p.96]

Once fluent in Hulk's explosive vocabulary of lamppost-javelins, boulder-bowling balls and tank football, it becomes apparent how much there is to praise in this game. It's hard to think of a superhero title that has come so close in delivering the spirit of the hero's super-ness. [Sept 2005, p.95]

It’s a solid formula, of course, and like its wrestler star Drinkbox’s game is dressed up luridly and with flair – but this entertaining romp is more about the costume than what’s beneath it.

Rare are the games that can make us see the world a little differently; step outside and look around after playing Gorogoa and you'll realise it probably deserved that round of applause after all. [Issue#315, p.110]

The original title won fans for its shocks and surprises; the second takes no risks. While its ultraviolence is slick and satisfying, its shtick has calcified. [Apr 2010, p.92]

It's a surprise to find that this relentless numerical tangle of a dungeon crawler is a human story. [March 2016, p.118]

Mage Gauntlet's an action RPG that's perfectly tailored for the pick-up-and-play crowd, in other words. It's a likeable confection that's as witty as it is insubstantial.

Something as transcendent and overwhelming as the game we hoped for – the infinite, mind-boggling space odyssey suggested so early on – doesn’t sell expansion packs. It doesn’t fit on to iPhone. It doesn’t fill the vacuum left by The Sims. [Nov 2008, p.88]

Another excellent outing for Codemasters' rally team, but one that has possibly taken the series to its structural - and commercial - limits. [Nov 2003, p.104]

There's no question that DUB Edition can be pleasurable, especially in the multiplayer games, but the Career mode too often feels like graft. There are tournaments, one-off street races and 'special' events, but each individual race feels much the same as the last. [June 2005, p.92]

It may look chaotic, but this is as controlled as iOS gaming gets. Immaculately calibrated touch controls give you the tools to escape even the most ferocious barrage, while the five stages challenge twitch reflexes, muscle memory and pattern recognition equally. One of the toughest games you'll ever play, then, but also one of the fairest.

There's a great deal of satisfaction in finding the right combination of fighters and feeling the curve of a battle until you hit the tagging sweet spot. [Mar 2011, p.88]

His masterstroke is Eliza itself. [Issue#337, p.120]

Once again, Criterion still manages to stand out and offer something fresh, setting a new standard in open-world driving games with - that word again - a seamless feast of quality. [Dec 2012, p.98]

Of course, horror as reflection of the social and psychological is what we've grown to expect from Red Candle. That it couples here with such a confident step into pastures new, though, means we're keener than ever to see what's next. [Issue#400, p.114]

Previous instalments in this technically strong but creatively lacking series have been one-note, papering over a lack of originality with a hefty dose of shock and awe. Killzone 3, by contrast, attempts to wage a more varied war. It succeeds, just, by offering a tour of locations both more visually interesting and diverse than its forebears, but it all still depends heavily on the brutal impact of the shooting at its core.

It's a game that follows the steps of another while changing the rhythm - and in doing so, never settles into its own groove. [Issue#330, p.114]

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.

Fraught, oppressive and tense, Thumper has been built to a singular vision - and one we can certainly respect, if not always enjoy. [Christmas 2016, p.117]

It’s a strange situation for the series to truly hit its stride in a game that’s both beginning and conclusion, and you can’t help but wish Dante would never grow up, that there could have been more stories of his teenage roundhouse kicks. [Apr 2005, p.90]

In terms of reaching its clearly defined goals, it is a triumph. [May 2015, p.122]

No other game catches the exhilaration of mental exercises, while doing just enough to smooth over their occasional frustrations, in quite the same way as Layton. [Nov 2009, p.104]

Frostpunk's atmosphere, tight structure and sense of purpose make it stand out in a genre often given over to abstraction. [July 2018, p.106]

Plagued by imbalance, the Round 3 career can serve up over 50 bouts before one goes the distance. The new stun punch – a thunderclap of a haymaker – helps to ensure first to third round knockouts for the vast majority of fights. [Apr 2006, p.82]

If Keep Driving isn't the Kerouacian roman-a-clef you might hope for, every trip will leave you with something to remember it by. [Issue#408, p.116]

Just Cause 2 can hardly be called an average game. It's a good one undermined by a selection of mediocre elements, and it's all the more frustrating this time around because Avalanche shows us glimpses of just how much fun two weeks on holiday with Rico should be. [Apr 2010, p.96]