The darling of the indie scene for so many years, it's a pleasure to see the game proving itself all over again. [June 2010, p.98]

At its best only when the structure is there to support it. Find eight people to play with regularly, and invest in voice communications to streamline tactical discussions, and Guild Wars offers an intelligent and demanding thrill - bringing the best of the skill and strategy of FPS deathmatches to the grandeur of a role-playing world. [Aug 2005, p.88]

This relaxed, arcade-like approach makes for something that's not so much about simulation, but more emulation; letting you thwack the ball with all the verve of an expert, without the worry of any homework. Fun, then, and lots of it. [Nov 2003, p.107]

As Bernadetta's heartwarming lethality proves, the payoff is well worth the investment. [Issue#336, p.110]

This is one of the finest tactical challenges of 2007 – but only if you play online. [Nov 2007, p.98]

Core game play remains largely undeveloped from Symphony Of The Night, and, despite the additions, is aspirational rather than inspirational. It’s certainly the best handheld Castlevania game, but Igarashi’s team is too dedicated to the framework he masterminded for this to be anything innovatory. [Nov 2005, p.108]

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]

Nonetheless, LA Noire is a success story. Over its 20-hour-plus length, it cuts a cross-section through the moral, social and geographical landscape of a city that carefully treads the line between a plausible '40s LA and the morally bankrupt City of Angels found in hardboiled fiction.

This is a grand, unwieldy behemoth of a sequel, buckling under the weight of its features and bombast. In lacking a sense of direction, though, it sometimes delivers in unexpected ways. [Issue#413, p.102]

For a new developer to arrive with a game that excels in as many categories as Far Cry is a rare thing indeed. This is a uniquely beguiling game, and frequently beautiful in every sense.

Sonic And Sega All-Stars Racing is the most fun karting game on iOS, and an update taking care of those online hiccups can only make it more essential.

It feels rare to play a game that coheres so completely around its protagonist and his value system; rarer still given those values are puppyish enthusiasm, unquestioning compassion and the unashamed pursuit of interactive entertainment. [Issue#395, p.100]

That past half-decade, then, was evidently time well spent. Barring one or two lingering frustrations, where certain randomised elements combine to produce inescapable hazards, this feels like Cuphead distilled: an amalgamation of the best bits of the base game, with few of its shortcomings. Naturally, it's an exhilarating showcase of the Moldenhauers' breathtaking art and animation... [Issue#373, p.100]

So perhaps, we conclude, it's the right balance of the two styles that pays the biggest dividends, tagging each other in at intervals, oscillating between tension and release - after all, it's only when one character goes absent for too long that the game strains. [Issue#422, p.98]

Charting a course through Earth's imminent destruction is as unashamedly difficult as it was in 1994's X-COM. It's possible, through bad planning and bad management, to doom the planet early on, making the game feel unfair. Get it right, however – survive the stresses of management, and the strains of aliens – and you'll feel like world's greatest hero.

Apex Legends arrives fully formed, feature complete, free and quite, quite brilliant, a game that pushes its host genre forward, refining and redefining its template in the process. [Issue#330, p.102]

The sense of having travelled somewhere that games have never taken us before. [Issue#370, p.116]

As an enigmatic whisper of a narrative concludes in delightful, uplifting fashion, you’ll likely be left wanting more.

As audiovisually accomplished as any game has been, at least on PC, its deference to prescribed spectacle is an assiduous realisation of blockbuster gaming tastes, with an increasing reliance on 'video' rather than 'game'. EA wants Battlefield 3 to be all things to all people, and it's right in thinking that the addition of a singleplayer duck shoot doesn't detract from its other substantial offerings. But in this act of imitation, and limitation, it disregards the choice and tactical empowerment which make the series near-peerless and preciously idiosyncratic in multiplayer.

The game's excellent controls and stream of grisly scares make it the current standard for survival horror, and it now boasts eruptions of blockbusting action that rival this generation's biggest games. [Feb 2011, p.94]

We think about exactly what it means for a PS4 game to have cracked open sculpting, composing, coding, performing, curating, cinematography and game design for more players, more kinds of people, all at once to a nearly unlimited degree - alongside a philosophy that might encourage the most reluctant to consider what they might be capable of, and what it might mean to them. How does it all stack up? It feels almost silly to ask. [Issue#344, p.106]

It's not just a sense of humour and a flair for mayhem that Riddick shares with its star; it's a compact, muscular, single-minded piece of work, too. Flawed, yes, but so confident and independent that it's hard not to like. [Sept 2004, p.98]

Gran Turismo 4 is fundamentally unconcerned with furthering the art of the videogame. This titanic franchise, this critical, load-bearing pillar of PlayStation, is barely even a videogame at all. It’s a hobbyist software suite, a racetrack tutorial, an encyclopaedia you can get in and drive off. [March 2005, p.78]

DrawRace 2 isn't just everything a sequel should be – it's more. DrawRace was a solid foundation, but what RedLynx has created here goes far beyond what is usual – or even exceptional – in the industry. It's an essential purchase, a game shot through with brilliance, and one that will live with its players for a very long time indeed.

Advance Wars 2 isn't really Advance Wars 2, it's Advance Wars 1.5. Still a superb game, it's only close to perfect for those who've never experienced perfection before. [Sept 2003]

When it works, however, Infinity Blade II represents iOS gaming at its finest. For all Chair's improvements, the first game's nagging sense of hollow repetition will still set in eventually; it just takes longer to arrive this time. But until that point arrives, Infinity Blade II remains a defining, and essential, iOS experience.

True, there's no single moment to touch the climax of his heartbreaking 2013 debut, Brother: A Tale of Two Sons, but Fares's third - and best - game as director suggests the Oscars' loss is very much videogames' gain. [Issue#358, p.108]

With an eye and an ear for the theatrical, the wonderfully evocative staging turns you into a horrified, fascinated voyeur; you might be late for the Obra Dinn's fateful voyage, but you have a front-row seat to its frequently thrilling demise. [Christmas 2018, p.122]