Underneath the mundane masculinity and grimy gun-toting clichés lies a heavily structured and well-considered score-attack game – one that’s worth excavating for all the short-lived interest it holds. [Feb 2008, p.88]

You’d need to have a cold heart indeed not to enjoy a game where you get to see a giant cat using Drunken Master kung fu to break Al Capone out of Alcatraz. [June 2007, p.91]

SideScroller's final stages are arguably among the best things Q-Games has ever done, but be warned: if you're used to the puzzley pace of Shooter, you won't find its playful nature here.

What we've got here is one of the most thoughtfully constructed fighters we've ever played, but Fantasy Strike initially presents as off-puttingly amateurish, and we fear few are likely to give it the second chance it deserves. [Issue#336, p.122]

Wins you over with its charm rather than its virtue. [JPN Import; Jan 2007, p.84]

With its robust clan support MAG still offers a cooperative experience on a rare scale for bands of dedicated players willing to weather the unnecessary confusions and ungenerous structure of the early game. For the rest, MAG rarely deals out the empowerment and clarity of purpose that other team shooters, like the forthcoming Battlefield: Bad Company 2, offer from the get go. It’s not quite ‘welcome to the suck’, but gamers may wonder if MAG’s a battle worth fighting.

There's a real earnestness to Ever Oasis's tale, as Ishii and team meditate on our relationship with nature and the value of coming together to build a better, more hopeful world. It's unfortunate that the actual substance of the game doesn't trouble itself to embody that reaching ambition, content to stay resting comfortably at the wellspring of other, better games' ideas. [Sept 2017, p.114]

There’s a polish here that belies the game’s browser origins, even if the Vita-specific additions – a tilt-controlled camera, rear touch for aiming grenades – are little more than token gimmicks.

This is a package filled with value and historic charm, but viewed devoid of nostalgic mist, the earliest installments of the series feel little more than average. [March 2003, p.106]

Despite its shortcomings, then, Revenge Of The Savage Planet turns out to be a game that was worth saving. [Issue#412, p.110]

It isn't more than the sum of its parts, but those parts are at least expertly arranged to foreground the very best in firstperson athletics. [Issue#369, p.104]

If not quite a five-star ride, Neo Cab is an empathetic and stingingly perceptive insight into the challenges of freelance life. [Issue#139, p.121]

Unadventurous Everybody's Golf may be, but it's wonderfully executed, and its presence at Vita's launch is welcome. With their endlessly smiling characters, cheery J-tunes and bright skies, Everybody's Golf titles are the best Nintendo-esque games a Sony console has ever seen, and this latest iteration is no exception.

A puzzle game that's more puzzle than game, Huebrix is a quiet pleasure – a soothing rainy Sunday afternoon to Super Hexagon's hedonistic Saturday night.

Commander Video needs to be the bigger rectangle and step aside for the two final planned installments. [July 2010, p.103]

It lacks the infectiousness of 80 Days, but as a story and a reckoning with history, it leaves most videogame fantasies in the shade. [Issue#332, p.120]

This is more than just a cynical cash-in conversion, but in pitching itself as a kind of '1.5' iteration it's never clear if the game is a necessity or a distraction for devotees of the Kingdom Hearts universe. For all but the most ardent follower, its off-target execution will imply the latter. [Feb 2005, p.80]

Burn, Zombie, Burn’s serving of arcade chaos is instantly gratifying, if a tad trivial, and its nods to deadsploitation flicks should tickle those not yet tiring of Crypt Keeper chic. [Feb 2009, p.97]

Thoughtfulness pulls Toy Story 3 form the Pixar game mire. [Sept 2010, p.101]

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]

Outerlight will patch out the inconsistencies and interface issues, and the community around it will settle. The final delight: this game will get better. The last frustration: we're being made to wait. [Sept 2006, p.83]

That’s what Shadowrun Return provides, of course: it’s not just a single tale of murder and techno-conspiracy. It’s a ruleset and a tileset, and a promise of more to come.

There are only a few truly transcendent puzzles on offer. [Issue#375, p.120]

Ultimately, the tiny, intricate design just doesn't give Command enough elbow room to develop true depth or challenge, but it's thoroughly satisfying all the same, and a worthy side-show to the Star Fox circus. [Oct 2006, p.87]

The seeds of a decent survival game are here. [April 2016, p.102]

The game bears testament to the strength of Smith’s original vision, a puzzle game that avoids prescribed solutions through the tenacity of its enemies.

For all its flaws, The Evil Within felt like the work of a singular voice. This feels like several shouting at once, eventually settling their differences by compromise. The black bars are gone; instead, it's convention that keeps The Evil Within 2 constrained. [Christmas 2017, p.108]

As a follow-up to Section 8, it delivers much the same experience as its predecessor, albeit repackaged in a more wallet-friendly, downloadable form. [June 2011, p.94]