While it's not as cleverly structured as the pinnacle of the series, "Symphony of the Night," it resurrects that game's hallmarks of seductive exploration and satisfying topographical progress. It breathes new life back into one of viedogaming's oldest franchises. [Jan 2004, p.92]

Each gruesome death brings a sharp pang of regret and leaves you wondering if it might have been avoided. [Oct 2015, p.114]

Turns out that Tekken's big new idea for online play is rather underwhelming: you can customise your outfit and fight with it on. [Dec 2009, p.103]

A remarkably sure-footed followup. [Issue#259, p.110]

Exquisitely presented. [Sept 2010, p.100]

Hothead games may just have discovered that the best way to dispel Diablo's shadow is to make light of it. [Sept 2010, p.92]

As an accessible, powerful game-building tool, LBP 3 is remarkable, and offers more scope than we dared to expect. [Christmas 2014, p.108]

Future Soldier exemplifies a developer honouring the 'fun first' ethos of its publisher's canon, even as it stays true to the seriousness of its espionage licence. Yes, it's lost some tactical edge, but a disciplined commitment to entertainment focuses the experience. In the overmasculine world of the thirdperson shooter, this is a game that stands out for being delicately beautiful even as it delivers brutal thrills.

If The Unfinished Swan didn't do such a marvellous job of tantalising players with its patiently evolving visual signature, it would be easier to sense the messy whiteboard of ideas churning beneath the surface. It's not that the game feels unfinished, just ungainly.

It revitalises both old and recent characters and, despite the basic environments having the odd clunky element in their geography, triumphantly succeeds as a new breed of fighting game. [Oct 2009, p.90]

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]

At least no one can accuse Brace Yourself of staying in its lane, even if you sometimes wish its monsters would. [Issue#408, p.121]

Like the Trebhum, The Eternal Cylinder thrives despite its deficiencies, relying on a unique ensemble of qualities to find a way. [Issue#367, p.118]

Unlike the creature at its centre, Isolation isn't structurally perfect, but it is brilliantly hostile in a way that's likely to shock many players. [Dec 2014, p.102]

Though the necessities of catering to two different audiences mean that it perhaps never quite reaches the heights of either of the pair’s best individual outings, as the credits roll, you’ll likely experience a hollow feeling, the emptiness that only the best stories leave behind.

It's strangely fitting that there should be moments of boredom: if the world occasionally seems too big and your destination too distant, well, isn't that what being a kid's all about? [Issue#337, p.112]

Ultimate's new characters, improved online offering and Heroes And Heralds make for a generous package given its budget price-point, and once it clicks, it dazzles.

Unusual, startlingly innovative and engaging. Its nuanced storytelling offers something few games have been able to meaningfully achieve – true conundrum, with little indication from the game telling you what you're supposed to do to be 'good'. Frustrating, beautiful and bizarre, Catherine stays with you.

Like an electrified baseball bat, The Beast is silly and perhaps disposable, but you can still have a great time swinging it. [Issue#416, p.110]

It sends traditional multiplayer mores into a dizzying spin and, bolstered by a cheery script and amicable tone, creates ever-evolving thrills across the course of the singleplayer campaign.

Hours after closing the game, we often find ourselves absent-mindedly drumming a table or walking in step to a song we'd never pick out normally. It's in our bones now. [Issue#377, p.112]

Undemanding kids will have a whale of a time, but from an innovator like Sackboy, we've come to expect a little more. [Issue#353, p.121]

While you won't necessarily win without some loyal subjects from your friends list, there's a deceptive amount of fun you can have while trying. [Oct 2009, p.94]

For the most part the game's worldview is surprisingly progressive. [Issue#409, p.108]

Even though Situation: Comedy zealously aims for the easiest of targets – cheap television – its satire can feel obvious at times and its parodies fall flat a little more frequently than they should. [Feb 2007, p.85]

There's a dazzling seamlessness to every aspect of Prototype 2. You feel it as you traverse the world, sprinting powerfully up buildings, bounding high into the air just as you reach the lip of the roof and then transitioning with a tap of the right trigger into a glide that will take you to the next rooftop.

With your monster ally at your side, it offers glimpses of something more intriguing, but its most interesting idea is the one that feels frustratingly underexplored. [June 2011, p.101]

Pac-Man's rotund physique and the millimetre-perfect tilt controls make him a delight to bounce up and down and around the edges of the screen, while a forgiving drop distance encourages a cavalier attitude.