One of the few games of its type you can actually play for an hour, take on one of its missions, and have a meaningful unit of experience. Staight in. Straight out. Gamer satisfied. [Sept 2004, p.105]

Viewtiful Joe will undoubtedly test your patience. But the moments that stay with you after you switch off the GameCube are characterised by inventiveness, wit, verve, charm style, vigour and, above all, fun. And that's not something that can be said of that many other games these days. [Sept 2003]

Strafe styles itself as both "the future of videogames" and "the most action-packed game of 1996", and there's a ring of truth to both gags. In folding together and drilling into layers of FPS convention, Pixel Titans has created a game that is at once sentimental and sharply contemporary. It doesn't so much take us back to '96 as transport '96 into the present, picking up threads left by Doom and Quake and weaving its own tapestry out of them, every time you play. [July 2017, p.116]

Twelve-year-old fights feel brand new because of the inclusion of Yakuza 0's switchable combat styles. [Issue#311, p.110]

Much of the enjoyment comes from the awe and wonder at discovering the simple things in the world. Where previous Harvest Moon titles encouraged workaholic tendencies … the thrill here is in experimentation. [Apr 2004, p.105]

Finally, Sega can dust off that classic marketing line, because once you've played Vanquish, everything else seems a little bit slow. [Dec 2010, p.86]

The new control system may ultimately be an upgrade Samus Aran never really needed, but this is still the best – and most logical – Wii reissue from Nintendo to date.

When it works, however, Infinity Blade II represents iOS gaming at its finest. For all Chair's improvements, the first game's nagging sense of hollow repetition will still set in eventually; it just takes longer to arrive this time. But until that point arrives, Infinity Blade II remains a defining, and essential, iOS experience.

With its bright, clean presentation looking resplendent on the small screen, it's a particularly fine fit for Switch's portable mode; for the next few weeks, your daily commute - and occasionally your stop - is likely to fly by. [July 2017, p.119]

Midnight Suns deviates from the XCOM format in many ways, the biggest of which is eschewing dice rolls in favour of a deck of cards. [Issue#380, p.100]

The 3DS' first fighting game happens to be a version of one of the genre's best, and it's lost little in the conversion to a portable system. Token additions, such as the cute-but-unworkable Dynamic (3D) View, bulk out the package, but it's what's stayed the same that's the real triumph here. SSFIV is just as vibrant, fluid and confident as ever – and it's just been unshackled from your TV.

The best tennis game of this generation, if not ever. A crisp, responsive and consuming sports title where the act of hitting the ball is made so effortless that your focus can be instantly diverted towards thinking about tactics and exploring the subtle depth on offer. [Jan 2004, p.105]

Yet if it's messy at times, then these are traits that the game's story tells us are all part of the vivid tapestry that is being human. [Issue#375, p.110]

Ultimately, Makai Kingdom feels more about brutal stat farming than true tactics… Makai Kingdom’s key strategy isn’t so much tactics as just sheer weight of numbers, of accumulation and refinement of properties. [Oct 2005, p.86]

It’s ostensibly an action game, but much more slowly paced than that term would suggest. It’s not quite an RPG either, although there’s levelling and grinding involved. And while its world isn’t open – each area is segmented into numbered zones – it’s a sandbox game in every other respect. Guild quests offer a skeletal structure, but there’s no pressure to stick to it.

This welcome focus on spectacle – and the highly recognisable cast – makes Injustice more accessible than most modern fighting games, but there’s plenty to appeal to seasoned players.

Amped 2 is Amped with the right trigger gently pressed: it's tweaked. Balance meters take away some of the series' grace, but make it more of a game, like Tony Hawk's tilted downwards. [Christmas 2003, p.122]

It’s difficult to shake the sensation that Killer 7 is an important production, as paving for future creative leeway if nothing else. But its likely love/hate status is testament to just how adamant it has attempted to be in its flair for extraordinary presentation. [Aug 2005, p.84]

The most satisfying effort from Ubisoft Montpellier since Rayman Legends. In a rebirth of this calibre, death is a moot point. [Issue#394, p.98]

Over the Top has tempered its obvious ambition with skill and understanding, and the result is a game that’s refreshingly quick to take flight.

Give OFK half a chance, and just as their tunes will burrow into your brain, their stylishly documented journey may yet see them sneak under your skin, too. [Issue#375, p.116]

There's no denying it's a classy product, and since when do we want less novelty? [Issue#400, p.110]

Despite the odd misstep, Infinity Field is a great dual-stick shooter that moves into essential territory with its controls.

Captivating and uncanny, Paper Beast is a rare one: a distinctively weird game that'll stick with you long after your brain has filtered out the little hiccups and frustrations. [Issue#346, p.100]

The Finals offers plenty of sound and fury, but what makes it worth coming back to is what all that signifies. [Issue#394, p.94

What Fireproof has done, in other words, is to literally wrap the mechanics of a point and click adventure, with its abstract puzzles and occasionally opaque logic, around these fantastical contraptions, before suffusing the experience with an air of ghostly mystery.

Its ideas are streamlined, its tight boundaries narrowing what could have been an overwhelming proposition, plunging players all the sooner into compelling strategic depths. [Christmas 2008, p.99]

Sure, the prospect of spending 30 hours with gaming's grumpiest anti-hero and his bratty kid might not sound like fun, but by the time the pair have finally completed their exhilarating, exhausting journey, you'll be delighted you joined them. [June 2018, p.104]