Blackbar tells a satisfying dystopian short story, one that invites you to engage directly with its censorship theme.

The overwhelming impression Los Angeles leaves is very slick, but it’s ultimately quite soulless. [Dec 2008, p.86]

A classy, inventive adventure with an absorbing story. [Dec 2014, p.114]

It may not satisfy armchair warmongers used to Supreme Commander’s intimidating depths, but RA3 never threatens to take itself that seriously, and nor would you want it to. [Christmas 2008, p.98]

In an era of flagging service games, it is refreshing to se an old favourite so thoroughly rejuvenated. Blizzard, take note: this is how it's done. [Issue#391, p.112]

And while The Walking Dead had its share of technical problems, here they’re even worse, with lengthy loading times on 360 fracturing the pace and some several-second freezes completely killing the tension during fight scenes.

This is ballsy, brash, confident gaming at its best - a lesson in how games don't have to be perfect to be brilliant. [Christmas 2003, p.102]

A triumphant toolset attached to a decent stab at the karting genre

In remaining more traditional, it fails to provide the kind of innovation that might have made it essential - something that, invariably, Nintendoes. [Issue#417, p.110]

As a cathartic climactic performance ensures Worm Drama get to say farewell to Volcano High on their own terms, the eruption of emotion is likely to be reflected on your side of the screen, too. [Issue#389, p.119]

Enslaved's greatest achievement is standing out in the crowded field of me- too, colour-sapped videogame apocalypses, serving as a vibrant oasis in the otherwise murky brown wastes.

The town-building arc new to 0 resonates because you're renovating an idyllic town you see being reduced to ash and rubble in the game's opening hour. [Issue#419, p.121]

This is Nava's finest hour (or two) since the work for which he's still best known - especially when it focuses on the means rather than the end. [Issue#415, p.96]

It’s a feeling that never quite dissipates over the game’s core 15 missions, a sense of lean and focused game design which prizes the exhilarating tussle of conflict over long, drawn-out army building. [Mar 2009, p.86]

Pacific Rift certainly feels a more complete game than its predecessor, but the state of the art has moved on considerably since the original wowed at launch. [Dec 2008, p.87]

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]

Prey is an accomplished game in an under-served genre. Its problems are those of a game that tries to do more, and give the player more, than most shooters aspire to - and to that extent, they're forgivable. [July 2017, p.106]


In looking outside itself for inspiration, SSX has found a worthy infrastructure to establish an online community and culture. But this same approach has found the brand veering away from some of the fun and fireworks of yesteryear, leaving its more seductive silly side out in the cold.

Once you let go (or are forced to), it all seems a little empty, like perhaps the only thing compelling you onward was the hypnotic effect of watching something go round and round. It doesn't take too many repeats before the theming rubs away, leaving only the exposed machine beneath. How much do we need to feel like we're on an adventure? A little more than this, it turns out. [Issue#357, p.120]

By the time you reach the end of Blacklist everything has grown so big and so explosive that you’re left exhausted but not entirely satisfied, and maybe after all that incoherent action you’ll recall the time when a single flashlight in Chaos Theory’s Panamanian bank made you hold your breath.

Citizen Sleeper doesn't shy away from weighty topics, and excels in managing to explore these while feeling intensely personal. [Issue#372, p.112]

Tekken 7 feels cynically put together, a solid but ultimately 20-year-old fighting system freshened up with mechanical twists and bulked out with gimmicks rather than gilded with the series' signature personality. [Aug 2017, p.114]

Last Light’s pacing – switching as it does between tight tunnels and wide-open abandoned spaces, explosive gunfights and creeping horror, stealth and socialising – could have felt disconnected in the hands of a less-talented developer. Instead it lends its world uncommon depth. The trade-off for a distinctive personality, of course, is that Last Light is occasionally unyielding, but the desire to see what waits in its next tunnel remains a powerful draw throughout.

Though it occasionally goes pear-shaped as an adventure game due to the stinginess of its feedback, Botanicula is never less than a breath of fresh air.

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]

There's a solid adventure title here, but it's spread thin over a densely written airport thriller. [Feb 2011, p.102]

It may not be quite as picture-perfect as we'd hoped for, but Viewfinder's most memorable vignettes will surely earn it a permanent slot in your brain's own photo album. [Issue#388, p.121]

It is about delighting in the journey. [Issue#337, p.122]