It's on Live, though, that Ten Hammers truly explodes into life, the absolute requirement for tactics creating jumpy matches that outgun anything so far on Xbox or its baby brother. [Apr 2006, p.92]

A game betrays its obvious understanding of scratch music with its mechanics: turntablism involves releasing a scratch at exactly the right moment, something that doesn't seem possible here.

If, like us, you're the kind of nerd who gets worked up by good interface design, Anomaly's swiftly accessed tactical map and upgrade overlays may just leave you misting up your monitor or touchscreen. [June 2011, p.103]

In its best moments (of which there are plenty), this is about as good as Life is Strange has ever been. [Issue#364, p.112]

While the overall blandness means Galactrix is unlikely to truly thrill many people, it also means that it won’t exclude anyone either, and the ever-reliable pattern-spotting blends with the steady trickle of meaningless rewards to exert a pull on its audience that is truly Pavlovian. [Apr 2009, p.125]

Allow the mood to feel its way into you and the sticky combat and occasional something's-missing-don't-know-what confusion become part of the experience. [June 2003, p.94]

Little Nightmares 2 is a slight dispersal of the original's concepts, adding some fabulous locations and grotesqes without cleaning up the platforming or developing a soul of its own, but it's in some ways a more complex horror story. [Issue#356, p.96]

Sareth’s adventure does tire, however, during later moments when the game leaves you with neither an objective nor waypoint, but instead an arduous hunt for the next NPC trigger or gateway. [Christmas 2006, p.84]

The rethink has inspired some of the most cunning, least arbitrary Monkey Ball level designs since the first game, and though Banana Blitz is the model of accessibility, it’s also plenty tough enough. [Christmas 2006, p.85]

It's an 'experience' as much as a game, meaning that it will leave as many people cold as it grabs by the right half of the brain. Beyond good, then, but not quite excellent. [Christmas 2003, p.104]

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

Mechanically, it's fantastic. Structurally, it's a mess and a missed opportunity, designed in direct contradiction to its developer's stated ambition. [April 2016, p.98]

For players who find themselves similarly unsure of their own identities, it could well resonate long after the amps and stage lights have been switched off. [Issue#364, p.116]

For all its incongruousness, it prompts a set-piece so joyous and liberating that it's hard to mind. [Issue#322, p.116]

Previous instalments in this technically strong but creatively lacking series have been one-note, papering over a lack of originality with a hefty dose of shock and awe. Killzone 3, by contrast, attempts to wage a more varied war. It succeeds, just, by offering a tour of locations both more visually interesting and diverse than its forebears, but it all still depends heavily on the brutal impact of the shooting at its core.

Even for those players who are too young to perceive the winds of nostalgia blowing through Eastward, this is a game that shows the endurance of the Super Nintendo-era RPG template as a vessel for storytelling across decades - and that is a magic of its own, too. [Issue#364, p.118]

But this is a production that feels increasingly aged in the face of modern game design. The creeping and eventually overriding feeling is that this meticulously precise simulation, and its lovingly constructed catalogue of automotive history, deserved a little more game to come along for the ride.

What's here stands out simply for being the first convincing example of a VR FPS that doesn't make you feel sick. [Aug 2017, p.120]

For players who have dismissed the mech genre in general and Armored Core in particular as requiring too much effort for too little reward, For Answer could offer a compelling reason to dabble. [Jan 2009, p.94]

The sport's on-track jousting is potentially some of the fastest and most exhilarating source material around, but by default developers appear to struggle to present it in anything other than a dry and overly technical fashion. [Jan 2010, p.91]

What's here is enough to be going on with, but we'll have to wait till next year's updates and in particular, that possibly seismic battle-royale mode, to discover whether this is truly a Battlefield that stands apart. [Jan 2019, p.114]

Like its enigmatic protagonist, Unravel is never anything less than charming, even during moments when it doesn't quite hold together. [April 2016, p.108]

If patience is required, though, it's equally repaid. Playing as the Sandfox remains inherently pleasing, along with the game's story and atmosphere. A little post-launch care could see it truly shine. [Issue#412, p.120]

If the worst part of war is the waiting, 11-11's writing is often strongest when it's lingering on the mirth, grief and boredom of soldiers before and after the bloodshed. [Jan 2019, p.116]

The creative aims are clear and well-met: to create a Final Fantasy game with a more serious and grounded story, a more fashionable battle system and more mature world in which magic and monsters exist, and their effects on human ambitions and systems of power. On these counts, Final Fantasy XVI's gamble is a success. But whether this is a game to inspire passion among a new generation, in the way the high points of the series did, is debatable. [Issue#387, p.106]

Fascinating. [Issue#356, p.106]

Groove works you harder than lots of rhythm action games, although that's often because players will find themselves waving unnecessarily, unsure whether their hits are going to register. This is where the game suffers most: It lacks the tactile response of its peers. [Jan 2004, p.103]

That this is one decidedly average experience and one decidedly great one jammed together becomes clear long before you’re freed to fully enjoy yourself. [Jan 2005, p.86]