Kat, at least, wants to make everyone happy, no matter their social status, their motives or lack of manners. That's a noble goal, but an impossible one - and one the game that surrounds her, with its bland combat, its stodgy missions, and its wayward camera, fails to provide to the player. [March 2017, p.102]

A sometimes grim but always compelling experience. [Christmas 2007, p.96]

To focus on what's missing would be to overlook the joys that remain. [Issue#340, p.106]

BF2142 fails to stimulate to the same levels as previous titles in the series, all of which have benefited from a more solid grounding in real-world settings and situations. [Dec 2006, p.87]

But what of the gamers who have paid WayForward’s bills, the Contra lovers and Shantae fan clubs? They're rewarded with extreme difficulty spikes, enacted by the amorphous lovelies of a Miyazaki film. A Boy and his Blob panders to the Wii’s unique audience all too well, dividing itself, and its impact, in the process.

It remains compelling, but much of that compulsion is in expecting the game to truly deliver - a moment you'll likely still be awaiting at the anticlimactic conclusion. [Jan 2005, p.89]

Those accustomed to the adult world of online PC gaming may have reason to sniff at the more streamlined play, but Pandemic has given consoles a whole new genre, pretty much perfectly formed... No game has ever felt quite so much like playing with Star Wars figures. [Nov 2004, p.102]

Rivals’ systems show potential, but it is considerably less than the game it might have been.

The choice to bring six armies to the pretend tabletop leaves Retribution short on one playthrough, but overflowing with things to do in comparison with its predecessors. [May 2011, p.95]

Plenty of games can be as awkward or frustrating as Dead Rising 2, but none are as insanely, violently, engagingly bonkers. [Nov 2010, p.88]

The three marathon levels might have been better broken into a series of shorter sprints, and the four-person co-op is a stressful frustration, but as a single-player score-rush, Bit.Trip Beat is mercilessly targeted to the most masochistic part of your psyche. The result is by turns infectious, delightful, and entertainingly cruel.

Fatal Fury may have to think again before taking on another fight. [Issue#411, p.108]

There's no denying the milestone that Infinity Nikki marks for the Nikki series, taking it from a modest mobile dress-up app exclusive to China to an expansive global release of a stature rare for femicentric games. Yet... [Issue#406, p.116]

Even if it doesn't keep its elements in lockstep, then, the colour, soundscape and imagination of Kunitsu-Gami is nothing if not exquisite theatre. [Issue#401, p.104]

This new outing for Sega’s ever-appealing sports series is a deeper, more serious and demanding beast than before, yet happily manages to retain the series’ lighthearted atmosphere and is, on occasion, utterly bonkers. [Apr 2007, p.84]

It takes a level of persistence that many won't be inclined to reach. [Issue#340, p.120]

Engaging, absorbing. [Jan 2007, p.79]

From its overpowered weapons and gormless AI to its pedestrian objecctives, the singleplayer game is as dumb as it is misguided – an embarrassment to the rather splendid mulitplayer game that, fortunately, represents all that's really important. [Dec 2005, p.101]

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

You have expectations when you see Capcom's logo as a game loads up, particularly with its flagship titles. Shoddy workmanship isn't one.

If you've come this far on Lee's journey, Around Every Corner's ending will make the final chapter a near essential purchase: not just to see how this supposedly reactive, in part player-authored story ends, but to see if Telltale really can pull it off.

While Rising’s combat is hugely satisfying to experiment with, and a sight to behold when played well, it’s undermined by technical issues and a singleplayer campaign that peters out just as you think it’s getting going. There’s replay value here, and for Platinum’s most devoted fans it won’t matter if the game is five or 50 hours long, but others will, rightly, feel a little short-changed.

It's a sensitively told story that's brought in to land with a thunderous final chapter, delivering suspense, spectacle, and a deeply moving resolution. [Issue#385, p.112]

A brave game in many ways, then, but above all, an enjoyable one.

An accomplished effort that is every inch the Soul Calibur of the home consoles, just squeezed on to a smaller screen. [Oct 2009, p.98]

It may not linger in the mind for too long once it's over, but it provides at least an evening's worth of quiet magic. [Issue#410, p.123]

As a first adventure for beginners, young or old, this gets a lot right. No alarms, then, but a fair few surprises. [Jan 2019, p.119]

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]