It’s not even surprising,? ?despite all? ?this,? ?that Resident Evil? ?5? ?is a good game.? The surprising,? ?and sad,? ?thing about? ?Resident Evil? ?5? ?is that it feels old.

Next Encounter is one of the grandest and busiest console battlefields yet created. This is a spiritual update to Space Invaders, a one-trick pony that kicks harder than most FPS thoroughbreds, making the "Medal of Honour" series seem like a vain diva by comparison. [June 2004, p.109]

As an open-world game, Second Son feels emaciated. There’s little to do in the way of side missions, and what is here becomes repetitive, unlikely to sustain interest beyond a single playthrough. Approach it as an action game that just happens to be set in a nonlinear environment and it makes more sense, but its not-inconsiderable achievements take effort to uncover.

Despite its paucity of detail, Jade Empire is still many, many things, some are fine and some poor, but for a game to contain so much is a testament to its breadth, and the reason why it'll remain a worthwhile expedition for many. [June 2005, p.80]

While it ties its narrative strands neatly enough to work as a standalone story, Mizrahi and Scout would be well worth a sequel. [Issue#344, p.114]

The only black mark is for the controls: the on-screen buttons feel reasonably responsive most of the time, but you'll experience a definite stickiness when things heat up.

For dedicated Ghosts GRAW 2 is a no-brainer. For the rest of us it's just the exact game "Advanced Warfighter" should have been and would have beeen if the clock wasn't watching; Ubisoft rewriting history and charging us twice for the privilege. [May 2007, p.89]

It refreshes with its purity of purpose and ambition, even if, as a mechanising of the grieving process, it’s a game few will wish to return to once completed.

Ubisoft has taken a flawed game of boundless promise, destroyed some (but not all) of its appeal, fixed some (but not enough) of its problems, and jeopardised the whole endeavour by making the same mistake twice and rushing it to market before it was steady on its feet. Prince of Persia is strong and supple enough to survive this with many of its immense virtues intact. But it deserved so much better. [Christmas 2004, p.80]

This is a game that’s as riotously entertaining as it is viciously random... It’s gleeful automobile slapstick, but not for anyone who values skill and achievement more than taking a wrecking ball to their opponents’ racing lines. [Dec 2005, p.114]

In taking away direct control Miniland Mayhem has intensified the appeal to players' protective instinct which exists at the heart of the series. [Jan 2011, p.103]

The single-player campaign is fast-paced if rather unforgiving on occasion, and the online community is refreshingly vibrant given the game's steep learning curve. Recollection's only real problems exist in the form of a handful of irritating crash bugs and server disconnects, along with an unwelcome over-eagerness to drive you towards in-app purchases as you seek to bolster your sickly starter deck.

Epic Mickey may not always be entirely satisfying to play, but it's still enormously interesting to wander around with an eye open for the detailing. [Jan 2011, p.92]

It's the tutorials that stick in the mind: Skullgirls' real win is via Zaimont grasping that fighting games needn't be easier to play, but should be easier to understand.

It hangs together because its distinct strands feed into one another just enough, even if that relationship is as crude as a dialogue tree leading to you gaining a stat-altering card that you can play during the campaign phase.

Conan is a genuine surprise. It’s not innovative in its entirety, but it does almost as much as it can with the central conceit, and thus proves one of the better examples of the hack’n’slash genre. [Dec 2007, p.93]

This is a good expansion, a solid foundation for the next year of updates, and a lousy place for newcomers to start. [Issue#370, p.108]

For its dramatic and cinematic flair, its lovingly crafted chaotic destruction and above all its network of interconnected personalities, it's an adventure that shouldn't be missed. [JPN Import; June 2006, p.92]

What’s left is, while smartly streamlined, a thoroughly orthodox game within a well-established type, a niche within a niche that’s getting smaller all the time.

If some activities are variants on familiar parlour games, they’re enlivened by creative twists and side objectives, while others are brimming with invention.

Magic Pengel isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, a rounded and satisfying videogame. But it is, without question, a rounded and satisfying stretch of the imagination. [Nov 2003, p.92]

If you share director Ragnar Tornquist's view that being engaged in dialogue is a form of gameplay, then there's a richness here that few other titles have the ability or luxury to create. [June 2006, p.86]

It feels more like a yearly update than a sequel, a new campaign with old multiplayer. The game isn't distinct from its predecessors in any important way, and fatigue sets in quicker than before. [Jan 2011, p.94]

This is a game you'll complete, chuckle at and show off. [Sept 2010, p.98]

Its keen sense of drama is as authentic as it is exhilarating: arcing a 40-yard free-kick around the wall and into the top corner in the last-minute of a cup final is as thrilling a moment as you'll witness in any FIFA match. It's hardly the beautiful game – its visuals are perfunctory at best – but Simon Read's creation smartly captures the capitalism, the artistry and the sheer, glorious unpredictability of its subject.

It looks great, and the boosting system means that, as a time-trial game, it's fantastic. If your progress wasn't so easily sabotaged by a thoughtless collision, it would be a fantastic racer, too. [June 2004, p.104]

An incredibly solid universe with barely a technical glitch to be found, but it’s soulless and almost bereft of plot or character. This is a sandbox game that’s begging for a purpose. [March 2005, p.80]

It feels more like a yearly update than a sequel, a new campaign with old multiplayer. The game isn't distinct from its predecessors in any important way, and fatigue sets in quicker than before. [Jan 2011, p.94]