Undisputed can be complex one moment and crude the next, the dominant ‘full mount’ position (the holy grail of ground-and-pound fighters) far too achievable against even experienced opposition.

Messy but oddly mesmeric, Bad Hotel is perhaps more successful as a curious plaything than a game, but it's no less essential for that.

Little Nightmares 2 is a slight dispersal of the original's concepts, adding some fabulous locations and grotesqes without cleaning up the platforming or developing a soul of its own, but it's in some ways a more complex horror story. [Issue#356, p.96]

Final Fantasy XIV’s shine wears off as your level increases.

This is a game that takes its fantasy as seriously as it needs to be, which is to say both lightly and with rigour in homage to the communal games that make up videogames’ heritage. But it’s also a real original.

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]

It’s impossible to ignore the fact that, with titles like this, Nintendo has perfected a genre. [July 2007, p.95]

Spider-Man 2 presents players with a city ripe for action and exploration, but once you swing down out of the clouds and take a closer look at the grubby streets and roads strewn with vehicles, you'll find little to pique your interest. [Sept 2004, p.100]

The antithesis of the arcade fix and, despite the fact that this stance is unfashionable at the moment, comes highly recommended, not least because it offers a different view of gaming's future. [May 2003, p.97]

Yes, we've been here before, but Puzzle Fighter is one of the handful of Tetris clones that at least lies in the same league as Pajitnov's masterwork. [May 2003, p.102]

It's a journey that bears repeating. [July 2015, p.117]

It's wonderfully refined, boasting a glut of ideas without ever feeling overstuffed. [Issue#342, p.114]

It lacks the connective tissue to join its bite-size skirmishes into a seamless epic, but as a lightweight pick-up-and-play romp, Resistance 3 is hard to resist.

In spite of its balance wobbles, Orcs Must Die 2 is a frenetic blast of co-op joy - the ideal 30-minute post-pint pick-me-up, be it a step-change sequel or not. [Oct 2012, p.106]

Despite the sheer, breathless volume of new ideas, there's a sense of wonder missing from the sequel. The well-meaning tale feels a little rote in comparison to the first game's supernatural arc of redemption. [Sept 2017, p.118]

For better and worse, Octopath Traveler manages to evoke the games its creators grew up with, without ever quite matching the profusion of new ideas that made them so beloved in the first place. There's still much to enjoy here, but if Acquire had shared the courage of its protagonists' convictions, this could have been a journey worth making eight times over. [Issue#323, p.104]

The characters, however, are what make it sing. [Issue#370, p.106]

A thrilling ride, but with so little strategic variety, and without the benefit of multiplayer, a certain sameness takes hold and unfortunately cuts short what could have been a fantastic portable shooter resurgence. [Christmas 2005, p.111]

The game is sumptuously constructed - its spindly and grotesque sense of caricature is a delight and the lively score is maddeningly hummable. [Apr 2010, p.97]

Just when the whole thing seems in danger of becoming a cold study in design brilliance, however, the on-screen clock comes into its own, raising the game’s temperature by turning each challenge into a speed-runner’s dream.

While most shooters handle the genre's design tradition like fragile cargo, careful to ensure that its arrangement of pieces doesn't fall into disarray, Prey cranks it like a Rubik's cube, cocking its world delightfully askew. [Sept 2006, p.76]

The final riddle's convolutions are forgiven by its payoff... [Issue#422, p.119]

THUG2's biggest step forward – it's stripped-down Classic mode – is one it takes back. It's as refreshing as it is nostalgic, taking on old-school Tony Hawk's levels and goals with THUG's improved trick set, and proves to be a necessary antidote to the mouthy fluster of the career mode, offering up pure, disciplined high-score play against the clock. [Dec 2005, p.117]

It's a vehicle that may win over more action fans than true-bloods, but its plagiaristic tendencies represent a shrewd way of ensuring that the series gets a firm footing outside of the 2D realm. [Nov 2010, p.84]

Tying everything together is an engagement with creativity in all its forms, and a delight in messing with the various shapes videogames can come in. [Issue#406, p.123]

Crisis Core gets arguably the most important thing right: its story is often expertly engineered and delivered, and despite the odd misstep (Genesis becomes especially tiresome as the game wears on) is some achievement in itself. [June 2008, p.86]

Few games are as initially opaque as Starseed Pilgrim, and few offer as rich a dawning sense of discovery in return.

In spite of these shortcomings, Starfield exerts a curious gravitational pull: there is a pleasant mindlessness to it that means it can easily become a black hole for your free time. But if it's not a BAD game, it's an achingly unambitious one, failing in what should be one of the foundational aspects of any space exploration game (see Post Script). True, we've come a long way in six decades. But zoom in on the recent history of games - and that of its maker - and you're forced to concede that we've not covered much distance after all. For Bethesda, this isn't so much a giant leap as barely a small step. [Issue#390, p.112]