To attempt to build a shooter as grand as Gradius V takes some courage; Team Ladybug has the talent as well as the guts. [Issue#374, p.119]

At a time when Nintendo's status as a creative powerhouse is slipping, Pikmin 2 demonstrates that there's still no company that can touch it when it works its alchemy of rigorous play mechanics, artistic excellence, irrepressibly communicative characters and all-round appeal. [July 2004, p.102]

For some, Yakuza will feel dangerously dumb, due to its unrefined and relentless combat, but it's just as dangerous to risk overlooking its capacity to be fiercely capable and loveably playful in plenty of other ways, always aiming to provide captivating entertainment. [Oct 2006, p.84]

Yes, deaths you suffer might linger in the memory longer than the runs themselves, but pixel for pixel, this is as exciting in the moment as anything we've played all year. Light the fuse, stand back and prepare to gasp in wonder. [Issue#352, p.106]

Bigger rarely means better, but Guacamelee 2 entertainingly proves the exception to the rule. [Nov 2018, p.108]

Double Exposure handles an adopted legacy with care, and crucially always feels like it's shifting the needle in a direction that's personal to you, which makes the smattering of lacklustre puzzles a frustrating but ultimately forgivable sin. [Issue#404, p.110]

It's certainly going out with a bang. [Sept 2010, p.97]

It’s almost shocking how seamless, engrossing and accessible Fahrenheit is. It’s sad, then, that it shows weakness in the one area where it needed to be stronger than any other game: the script. [Oct 2005, p.84]

RR3D is the most convincing handheld iteration of the series to date, and an encouraging illustration of how 3DS's flagship feature can be more than a pretty visual twist. [May 2011, p.104]

As the studio name suggests, this is a game design team that's in love with books, and so it's amongst books that its first offering reveals its true potential.

Only a supreme apologist could suggest that such performance dips aren’t as damaging as they are disappointing, but conversely a realist should soon become capable of accepting them, momentary as they are. [Apr 2006, p.95]

This core loop of planning and upgrading defences while plugging the gaps in your frontline is enriched by art that imbues surprising amounts of character into your microscopic soldiers, and sound design that turns the clash of swords and crackling fizz of magic spells into a compulsive symphony.

What follows is positively giddying, in the manner of a well-tuned ghost train or haunted house, provoking chuckles and squirms at the same time. [Issue#398, p.116]

Those who like their puzzlers to have a supplementary hook will find it wanting on that front, then, but you will struggle to find more ingenious challenges than these in any other game this year. [Issue#371, p.121]

In a world whose sales charts are regularly topped by ever-more-homogenised military shooters and action games, playing Origins feels like stepping into an alternate reality in which the 16bit era evolved by increasing in fidelity, not dimensions.

This first segment is potent. [March 2013, p.106]

This is a smart, savvy evolution of the "Spire" formula, one you suspect Mega Crit, flattery be damned, would have been happy to put its name to. [Issue#348, p.105]

In its modest, unassuming way, it's gently profound, too. [Issue#352, p.116]

Prototype does what it does, and does it with distinction. [Aug 2009, p.90]

As the standard bearer for mech-building and fighting, Armoured Core's depth is still as profound... The greater emphasis on overheat and a new tuning system will be to the taste of some veterans and not others, but the beauty of the machines will please all. [June 2004, p.110]

Thanks to this astonishing overhaul, it's now quite impossible to ignore. [Feb 2012, p.120]

It's a game from which you'll find yourself needing to consciously unclench, its rhythm of tension and release proving borderline irresistible. [Issue#352, p.118]

It's a reminder that 'accessible' - along with 'Project', 'Gotham', 'Grid' and 'arcade' - isn't such a dirty word after all. [May 2011, p.92]

We're filled with a sense of unease as our thumb slides upwards, but there's something else here, too: doomscrolling with a side of voyeurism. [Issue#352, p.119]

For now, though, we'll settle for appreciating those moments, the ones that outlast the frustrations, where we sit back in our chair and marvel at the results of our own work. And on that basis, Planet Zoo is a triumph. [Issue#340, p.102]

While a misplaced desire for innovation once pushed it off course, the series has found its way home. Though it may never learn consistency, it’s remembered how to keep even the most jaded gamer beguiled. [May 2005, p.80]

The same game you've been playing for seven years - or perhaps even longer. And for that it's a thorough success. [Mar 2008, p.97]

While the fattened numbers - levels, game types, building tools - are the products of mere evolution, the lean, focused fun is new to the mix. [July 2009, p.94]