For those who favour Vice City above all else from GTA's back catalogue, it's the perfect 80's revival: a chance to live in the past, and love it. [Christmas 2006, p.80]

A work of nostalgia. [December 2016, p.114]

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.

THUG2’s biggest step forward – it’s stripped-down Classic mode – is one it takes back. It’s as refreshing as it is nostalgic, taking on old-school Tony Hawk’s levels and goals with THUG’s improved trick set, and proves to be a necessary antidote to the mouthy fluster of the career mode, offering up pure, disciplined high-score play against the clock. [Dec 2005, p.117]

It's not perfect, and even skilled players will struggle with some of the more demanding multitasking required for certain scenarios (the level-skip is an acknowledgement of the inconsistent difficulty), but it's clever, cunning and entertaining.

In no way the cheap plug for the market gap that some have suggested, it may point the way forward for a new model of next-gen development. [July 2006, p.83]

Ultimately, setting out to critique and parody so studiously such a hidebound genre has brought The Bard’s Tale too close to what it was trying to distance itself from. This is a conventional, likeable dungeon crawl whose flashes of brilliance distract you from its accomplishments by hinting at how much more it could have been. [Christmas 2004, p.93]

Word games are only as good as their dictionary is reliable, and while Quarrel has one of the best around, it's occasionally hamstrung by Microsoft's Victorian sensibilities.

The Tormented may read more as a mystery than a truly frightening horror story but, if it’s to be a conclusion to this dark and lonely diversion from the beaten track, it will be a fitting and deserving one. [Jan 2005, p.87]

The result is like the game's own inventory puzzles: disparate notions combining to create ingenious and often surprising new forms. [Issue#369, p.119]

It doesn't willfully withhold information, but it takes some time to acclimatise to what you're supposed to do. [December 2016, p.118]

When you do surrender to Echoshift's world of relaxation, time management, and jarring cruelty, however, time - like your many lives - files by. [May 2010, p.104]

The game, though, is the same enjoyable knockabout romp that it ever was, and Gameloft has thankfully made no attempt to shoehorn touch-screen controls in unnecessarily. If you feel a burning urge to spend 500 points to relive some small part of your lost youth, you won't be disappointed.

Soul Bubbles is so enchanting, its fundamental behaviour so neatly realised, that you can forgive it being a little simple. [July 2008, p.97]

Despite the charm, and despite the sophistication, there’s no disguising that Elebits is a slightly thin idea. Although the locations get grander and the destruction more alluring, there’s little evolution in the task at hand. [Feb 2007, p.76]

A smart and engaging exploration of what Nintendo's strange new machine can muster. Historically, thirdparty releases on a console launch day have been chequered and timid affairs made by inexperienced teams fearful of losing their footing on unknown terrain. When Ubisoft Montpellier's ZombiU works in smart union with its host console, however, it frequently delights.

Playing Not For Broadcast for the first time is akin to having a waking nightmare. [Issue#369, p.121]

For the first time in years, it's easy to meet up with other players, drawn together by enticing new stories. [December 2016, p.120]

Simple and elegant, it takes influences such as Konami’s Ring Of Red and even Pandemic’s Full Spectrum Warrior and elaborates on them to create something unique and interesting. [Christmas 2008, p.100]

With some prudent trimming, this could have been one of Wii U's best games: even with all those maddening missteps, its moments of sparkling brilliance can make it feel frequently close to essential. [December 2016, p.122]

Anyone prepared to look beyond the candy colourings and initially floaty controls will discover a game of real depth and precision. [July 2007, p.90]

Overkill couldn't, for whatever reason, give Payday the development time it needed for its rough edges to be sanded down, but it remains a game with great potential.

City Folk is effectively Wild World 2.0, allowing players of the DS game to migrate to Wii and continue pottering aimlessly around their mature towns, bringing their possessions and neighbours with them. [Christmas 2008, p.97]

Toybox deserves a wider audience. Chunky, colourful and challenging, this is a game that makes the most of its strange conceits. Occasionally those Nobel laureates are onto something, then.

A Frankenstein’s monster that actually works. Its mind is sound, its looks beautiful, its sutures invisible and its stolen parts functional in all the intended ways. It has no soul, of course, nor distinct personality, but that’s the nature of the beast. [May 2008, p.88]

Taking these works in hand isn't merely entertaining, it really does bring us closer to them - a clever touch. [Issue#369, p.123]

Tight ink limitations force creative solutions, but once learnt, certain tricks undermine the action. [Feb 2010, p.94]

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]