Despite these imperfections, The Quarry still delivers a deliciously hammy horror tale, filled with personality and humour. [Issue#374, p.116]

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]

Criterion’s ability to make the technology and design of games seem harmonious is a significant strength in an industry where few can pull it off... Black is a fiery example of what can result. [Mar 2006, p.82]

Compulsive and beautifully tuned, Pivvot is a tense, nervy challenge to relish.

In trying to please us all, it leaves a deeper puzzle unsolved. [Issue#415, p.107]

Like playing with a good camera, though, this is really its own reward - something that's a joy to fiddle with for hours at a time, even if no one but you is interested in the results. [Issue#367, p.123]

This is a big game, clocking in at about the 40-hour mark, but the lack of challenge in combat combined with the formulaic missions and frequent cutscenes too often make it feel like a sticky trudge.

Pulling off tricks in OlliOlli – each precision twist, rotation and flick of the Vita’s left analogue stick – feels as satisfying for your fingers to negotiate as any fighting game finishing move. So even if you’re terrible at the game, even if you can’t land a single trick or grind, even if your scores barely creep into triple digits, your avatar’s tumbling faceplant will still imprint the outline of a grinning mouth in the pavement.

Bar a handful of bosses, Dark Dawn is a pushover, never requiring you to brave the combat's depths. Yes, it grants breathing room for testing unlikely combinations, but we'd have liked to put our mastery to the test. [Jan 2011, p.101]

For all that it celebrates tight spaces, Skin Deep is anything but claustrophobic. [Issue#411, p.112]

While most shooters handle the genre's design tradition like fragile cargo, careful to ensure that its arrangement of pieces doesn't fall into disarray, Prey cranks it like a Rubik's cube, cocking its world delightfully askew. [Sept 2006, p.76]

We need more games like this - ones that are confident and individual - but we need them to be less roughly hewn. The core of the game is solid, but the way it's applied throughout the levels just isn't interesting enough. [Mar 2004, p.98]

OutRun 2’s heady caricature of driving is some kind of high-water mark for how much beautifully slick, instantly fluid and, thanks to the excellent use of joypad rumble, gloriously tangible play can be squeezed into five minutes of flamboyant autoerotica. [Nov 2004, p.98]

Katauri's strategy RPG is a compulsive thing. (…) The game hooks the player to a drip-feed of demands that proves difficult to unplug. [Feb 2009, p.94]

It's simple, simple enough that a Bishi Bashi Special minigame had the basic idea years ago, but Match Panic does brilliant things with it. Every time you think you've got a handle on its workings, something changes up and confuses you for just long enough that the wrong thumb falls. It's a one-trick pony, but you should really see what she does with it.

It’s worth experiencing for the artistry in its visual flair, excellent cutscenes and one or two inspired directional moments, but as a game? The previous generation God Of War has the definite edge. [Oct 2007, p.86]

The claustrophobic setting is the game's most glaring weakness: you can't have an epic adventure in a single city any more than a child will be content to endlessly explore his own back garden. [Apr 2011, p.82]

Its characters may initially seem to be lazy stereotypes, but they soon blossom into something deeper, thanks to intelligent writing and uncommonly naturalistic acting. [Dec 2008, p.97]

For most of its runtime, Routine is an extremely well-constructed horror game where even the tiniest detail has a big impact. Even if you've been following it since 2012, it has been worth the wait. [Issue#419, p.104]

All we can say is that six hours of Resident Evil 3 is just enough - and we're aware that's both compliment and curse. [Issue#346, p.88]

Multiplayer can be riotously scrappy fun as you clash hands and obscure one another’s view, evoking the memories and spirit of manic bouts of air-hockey at local arcades.

While Snowblind never truly escapes the feeling of being a well-dressed, derivative run'n'gun shooter, it never fails to get the running and gunning right, and in that respect, at least, it's a sound success. [March 2005, p.86]

To put it in gastronomic terms surely familiar to Air Riders' star, we're left with the feeling of having visited an all-you-can-eat buffet. There's an array of options available, but tucking in to any one of them is unlikely to satisfy, because at the game's core is a soggy souffle that collapses almost before we can get the fork in. After two decades in the kitchen, was it too much to hope that this otherwise talented chef might have come up with something a little less...lightweight? [Issue#419, p.110]

Lego Harry Potter is a more focused experience than, say, Lego Indiana Jones 2, but proves ungainly in its own way. [Aug 2010, p.100]

While by the time the credits roll we've pretty much had our fill, it must be doing something right for 20 hours' worth of moreish, lizard-brain fun to have flown by. [Issue#368, p.116]

That's clearly how Call of the Mountain has been designed: as a technical showcase first and foremost, pushing visual fidelity further that we're used to seeing in this medium, and taking players on a tour of some of its most tried-and-tested mechanics. Taken as such, this is an all but essential companion to PSVR2. As for whether it's enough to convince people to adopt the technology in the first place? Well, that might prove a steeper mountain to climb. [Issue#383, p.114]

Much of the enjoyment comes from the awe and wonder at discovering the simple things in the world. Where previous Harvest Moon titles encouraged workaholic tendencies … the thrill here is in experimentation. [Apr 2004, p.105]

While there are some concessions in place for the mere mortals among us, there aren't quite enough. [Nov 2016, p.116]