As a whole, it is undeniably well meaning and generous, and the individual pieces work well enough, but somehow we find ourselves wishing there was a little less game in this reserve. [Issue#402, p.118]

Whatever tactics game you've enjoyed most in recent years, you're likely to find some element of it refracted somewhere in here. [Issue#402, p.116]

It leaves nothing to blame when disaster occurs but your own failure to understand logic's laws. [Issue#402, p.114]

Combined with the weight of nostalgia, Visions is thus a strangely conservative game. While not lacking the conveniences of modern design (the fast-travel system balances speed with a sense of scale), it's merely evolutionary. [Issue#402, p.112]

Its particular set of ideas and adornments prove unable to elevate the basic structural charms of this mode of game design. [Issue#402, p.110]

It's well-meaning, but unserious. [Issue#402, p.108]

Just as in Assassin's Creed or Far Cry, each activity is enlivened by the knowledge that you have chosen to do it right now, out of many alternative options available in every other direction. So when one DOES hold your undivided attention for an extended span, it must be something special indeed. And of those, UFO 50 has more than its fair share. [Issue#402, p.100]

Visually, this can be a fascinating journey, with its massive-headed monks and no-headed minstrels, but in service of little more than endless duels, hardly an ideal vehicle to dig into the novel's themes. Black Myth, in short, seems unsure what kind of monkey it wants to be. [Issue#402, p.104]

While this economy is enjoyably self-perpetuating, the cash economy beside it feels aimless. [Issue#401, p.123]

In a game that revels in base pleasures, it's just enough to kick our brain into action, before happily switching it back off for another two-minute rush of pure adrenaline. [Issue#401, p.122]

But that's what Arco does, playing on your sense of riding into the unknown, taking risks that might kill for the sake of curiosity. [Issue#401, p.120]

As a game, Flock can be a little too fuzzy for our liking. As a mood-altering experience, though, it works like a charm. [Issue#401, p.118]

Repetition is the point. [Issue#401, p.116]

With 2022's sequel confirmed for global release early next year, then, we feel ready to go the distance and stick with this trail. [Issue#401, p.114]

Dungeons of Hinterberg is more like those all-inclusive package tours that blend together in a mind-collage of cocktails by the pool and the dine of the breakfast buffet: pleasant enough to pass the time but too safe to leave a lasting mark. [Issue#401, p.112]

More broadly, it's let down by how it treats its brutal subject matter, all the way through to a dramatic but glib conclusion. [Issue#401, p.110]

Look for the new stuff, then, and there's no doubt this is a refined and expanded sequel, even if certain issues remain. [Issue#401, p.108]

Even if it doesn't keep its elements in lockstep, then, the colour, soundscape and imagination of Kunitsu-Gami is nothing if not exquisite theatre. [Issue#401, p.104]

Varek and Enki's combined abilities - axe, pistol, magic - aren't entirely novel, but with this extra lift they're more than enough to carry us through an adventure that can be wrapped in 15 hours rather than 50. [Issue#401, p.100]

As it stands, for all the words you cycle through, Until Then does its best work when it focuses on the visual and the novel. [Issue#400, p.123]

In isolation, it's a little thin. [Issue#400, p.122]

Super Monkey Ball had the sad fate of being born perfect, which means that, ever since that GameCube launch title, the series has been competing with memory. Not even a spin dash will get you past that. [Issue#400, p.120]

This sense of unevenness doesn't stop with the characters, and spreads to the design of the combat spaces. [Issue#400, p.118]

Not much here could be called outstanding - if we're hyper-critical, even though the game's visualisation of Japanese myth is a treat, it's not one we haven't sampled before. While there's a decent brew here, then, it doesn't refresh like a really good cupa. [Issue#400, p.116]

Of course, horror as reflection of the social and psychological is what we've grown to expect from Red Candle. That it couples here with such a confident step into pastures new, though, means we're keener than ever to see what's next. [Issue#400, p.114]

Arranger's cheeriness and playfulness thus works its way into every facet of its design, from the craft of its puzzles to the personality of its world and its inclusive embrace. This year has already supplied a pair of best-in-class puzzle games in the shape of Animal Well and Lorelei And The Laser Eyes; now they need to shift over and make room for one more. [Issue#400, p.112]

There's no denying it's a classy product, and since when do we want less novelty? [Issue#400, p.110]

The Final Shape has validated all the efforts that led to this moment, from players and developers alike. It affirms that Bungie is prepared to guide this game to a brighter future still. [Issue#400, p.106]