Double Fine’s adventure is confident and charming, the studio feeling its way to a comfortable mid-point between the desires of adventure-game fans and its own motivation to move the genre forward – even if only by a small increment.

A truly great detective story needs a satisfying conclusion - and here the Klavins deliver, and then some. [Issue#377, p.116]

Had a few more risks been taken, this too might eventually have been considered a classic. [Issue#418, p.104]

Its flaws are downplayed in the context of its range, its humour, its oddities, and its alternately psychopathic and pandering NPCs. It's as unusual as it is conventional. [Nov 2008, p.99]

This is melee done right, set in an astonishing world, brimming with imagination. [July 2009, p.101]

Jokes are in short supply, as is the serene abstraction often associated with modern puzzle games. The platforming segments and spaced-out checkpoints might annoy the more cerebrally focused, but all told they're a fairly minor part of the game.

RIGS is a compact but deep package, then, and one executed with a confidence that belies its launch-game status. [Christmas 2016, p.112]

Chaos Theory is the game that the original Splinter Cell was meant to deliver: a tight play experience within a trusty framework, one more of enjoyment than irritation, and a game that's no longer exclusively for fans of repeated reloading. [Apr 2005, p.97]

While the streamlined and brisk approach that brushes over some of the minutiae of the previous games might cause some PC fans to baulk, Revolution has concentrated rather than diluted the Civ experience, creating an expression of the concept that's perfectly suited to its platform. [July 2008, p.94]

It's never stronger than in its opening hours, and if it never quite recaptures that first heady whiff of discovery, it at least keeps you on the edge of your seat thanks to its punishing design, the stakes rising in tandem with your achievements.

Racers has an appealing lack of pretension that suggests it has nothing to prove other than that Ridge Racer is a delight to play. And it is, with no call for caveat – for a handheld, for a ‘remake’, for a launch title. It's simply one of the best pure arcade racers to date. [JPN Import; Feb 2005, p.68]

The scenarios are often ingenious finding fresh ways to breathe new life into familiar systems. [December 2018, p.116]

There’s scope to build everything from a two-hour co-op dungeon crawl to a 100-hour purple-prosed epic. It’s that breadth that makes NN2 as much of an essential purchase as genre fans could ask for. [Christmas 2006, p.88]

All that may dent its mass-market appeal, but for open-minded players The Far Shore could well be 2021's most captivating videogame destination. [Issue#364, p.102]

Above all, it's funny...If anything, this is the most bizarre game in the series to date. [Jan 2007, p.72]

One thing’s for sure: it’s the one we’ve been waiting to play.

The game’s depth is matched by a generous breadth of modes and options.

Despite being all about the numbers, FM2010 rises above them to be unexpectedly cruel, kind, and even visceral at times. [Christmas 2009, p.104]

It is, of course, more of the same, but the concept is as compulsive as ever. [Jan 2004, p.107]

Few focused action-adventure games spin a yarn as well as CD Projekt does here, likely keeping you uncertain about your choices to the end. [Issue#390, p.120]

Guwange appears the most accessible of Cave's late-90s output, even if the latter stages of the game, particularly in the two extra modes featured in this update, will require a combination of dedicated practice and natural skill to overcome. [Oct 2010, p.98]

It may not be the game of stealth the blueprints and lingo of red exclamation marks suggest, but Monaco’s loot and scoot play has a winning personality that’s all its own.

The major strengths of the original title remain undimmed; this is as consumate an example of Koei's design skill as its predecessor and every bit as enjoyable - in spite of having seen it all before. [Dec 2003, p.109]

While it hits all the expected beats as a sci-fi horror, Gnosia is playful and warm, too, with a real compassion for its oddball cast. Despite all the death and deception, you'll keep jumping back in, looking for a way to break the cycle - and to save everyone else, for good measure. [Issue#358, p.119]

It's another shining example of a European developer handling Japanese IP with care, remixing and refreshing the genres Japan's native developers often struggle to enhance and honour.

As we wait for the first of the promised updates, then, there's plenty of reason to hope that this is the beginning, after all –the beginning of something rather special.

Occasional misses aside, then, Starstruck is an outstanding debut performance. [Issue#403, p.120]

The best Alien-licensed game not made by Creative Assembly. [Issue#387, p.114]