At a time when everyone wants to turn the entertainment world on its head – or at least be seen to – it proves that the entertainment itself, whichever way up it may be, is what matters most. [Christmas 2008, p.86]

A game world that keeps bettering itself, until some kind of disbelief sets in. This dazzling technical feat is mirrored by some terrifyingly fast loading times, with no in-game loading and restarts from any save point in the whole world taking around two seconds. [Feb 2005, p.72]

If it's an imperfect game for an imperfect world, that in itself is something to aspire towards. [Issue #404, p.104]

A beautiful and brilliantly demanding game that barely contains its dense population of ideas. [Sept 2008, p.89]

No other beat 'em up developer is quite as willing to experiment with the form in a bid to stave off the moribundity that's gradually subsuming the genre. [Import - June 2003, p.88]

His masterstroke is Eliza itself. [Issue#337, p.120]

Sure, occasionally it beats you up just because it can. [Issue#397, p.116]

Halo exhibits a single-minded focus that the modern FPS, with its choreographed set-pieces and thrilling scripted sequences, largely disregards. This is a game about the arc of a perfectly thrown grenade, a game about tense games of cat-and-mouse with foes as powerful as you, a game about constant improvisation with the tools at your disposal. It's a game that always feels tactical, and a game that – even now – has the capacity to surprise.

Nintendo has clearly been experimenting with how to better exploit its system's obvious potential, and its solution is a natural, graceful implementation of 3D that complements and even improves its games, rather than feeling tacked on.

Visually, kinetically and intuitively, however, Modern Warfare is relentlessly exciting and an overwhelming triumph. [Christmas 2007, p.88]

Animal Crossing: New Leaf has a revitalising new flavour, and in 3DS it’s finally found the ideal place to settle down and make its home.

It's a pity Poinpy's audience is limited to those who haven't been put off by Netflix's recent price hikes, because this is a game that helps to justify keeping that subscription rolling. [Issue#374, p.122]

For an expansion, HOTS is a dense package, adeptly fashioned and hugely enjoyable. But while its core game might be perfection, HOTS itself isn’t.

This is a game built from great art and clever mechanics, but it's an adventure born of both deeds and words.

You may think you know Diablo, but you don't know it with this level of polish, from the clean brilliance of interlocking skills and classes to the sheer amount of chaos the game's comfortable with conjuring in its later dungeons. It's a testament to what money and confidence (Blizzard's own equivalent of mana and health) can do.

Doom's shimmering, bombastic combat is as absorbing as it is revelatory. [Aug 2016, p.100]

With the first instalment, BioWare built a universe of words – a deeply convincing multicultural sprawl you could read about without ever quite getting to touch. Here, you’re inside it from the start – and the view is often dazzling

That the game hangs together visually is remarkable; that it should cohere so well in design terms, unfathomable. [Aug 2016, p.104]

With the focus on elaboration rather than evolution, Twilight Princess triggers more memories than it creates, yet it's still an effortless classic that towers over the gaming landscape. Ignore it at your own cost. [Christmas 2006, p.68]

A dazzling package. A singleplayer campaign crammed with set-pieces that pull the player through at breakneck speed sits alongside Spec Ops, 23 co-op missions and a MW greatest hits package, before that superlative multiplayer, which really needs no introduction. With such attractions on offer, this is a shooter that demands playing, and playing again. It is still Call Of Duty, but its execution is skilful, mostly thoughtful, and it boasts the highest of production values.

No other beat 'em up developer is quite as willing to experiment with the form in a bid to stave off the moribundity that's gradually subsuming the genre. [Import - June 2003, p.88]

We can't wait to see what he comes up with next. [May 2016, p.104]

If it’s a demo, Ground Zeroes is the best demo ever; if it’s a prologue, it sets up the story so well you’ll spend the next year thirsting for revenge; and if it’s a tutorial, the systems it teaches are so intriguing that the prospect of spending an entire game with them is irresistible. Ground Zeroes is a resounding success in every respect bar its price tag, but value is relative. Fourteen hours in, we’re still learning.

Whatever the project's origins, the result is a thrilling blend of ideas, a game that, despite its fashionable and familiar components, feels wholly unprecedented. Moreover, Nightreign firmly establishes the studio's designers as not only masters of their own domain, but now a new, hitherto undiscovered realm. [Issue#412, p.100]

Every moment feels like it's been lavished with attention; Little King's Story is as rich as it is long, and it's a very lengthy game indeed. [May 2009, p.90]

The degree of refinement and technical polish across every facet of Gears 3 is enough to make most other games look tatty.

Polybius is a profoundly consuming and transportive experience of eye-watering intensity that'll leave you dazed and bewildered in the best possible way. [Aug 2017, p.118]

A monument to the entire trilogy, it allows IO to move on (the studio has another numerically monikered agent in its sights) in the confidence that these masterful feats of in-game architecture will last in the lone and level sand of a new console generation. [Issue#356, p.88]