Unlike iOS title The Room, here intricacy proves a weakness, and Open Me doesn’t have the rich atmosphere of Fireproof Games’ award-winning puzzler to compensate for its mechanical awkwardness.

What used to be a decent fighting game with comical breast physics is now a pervier DOA Xtreme with punches instead of presents. Honestly, we're getting a bit old for it, and so is the industry around it. [Issue#331, p.116]

The short-term gratification is gradually diminished by too-obvious regeneration of the damage you cause, and there's not enough variety of experience to sustain a monthly subscription. [June 2006, p.90]

There's nothing to stop a dedicated RPG fan from having a thoroughly good time but the Arc the Lad games have always had a derivative heritage and this is competent but sadly no different. [Sept 2003]

Seeing the game from beginning to end reveals its true artistic merit: it never gets stale; every episode has been drawn with minute care and attention. It would have been an incredible achievement if the gameplay had matched the outstanding art direction. [Dec 2003, p.94]

The battles, meanwhile, are engaging despite their simplicity, and it's beautiful to watch each turn play out. [May 2010, p.102]

Much has been sacrificed in service of making a brilliant central concept work, then - and yet it's the very thing robbing Legion of any star quality. [Issue#353, p.118]

The game carries you through its disappointments and annoyances on the back of its brilliantly realised microworld. [Feb 2009, p.88]

In its modest, unassuming way, it's gently profound, too. [Issue#352, p.116]

Army Of Two is relatively straightforward thirdperson shooter, focused on large-scale skirmishes and the dynamics of a two-man team. It’s serviceable enough in some regards. [Apr 2008, p.91]

But at least there's less of the narrative mush to wade through this time, and if we start to flag late on, much is forgiven when Unfinished Business grants us control of an ED-209. [Issue#414, p.122]

The memories of that abysmal story mode soon fade, and those prepared to put the hours in by themselves will find a game as fluid and flexible as any on the market. [Dec 2017, p.110]

Pac ‘N’ Roll is regrettably short and, with few rules to master, its replayability is quite limited. With the DS’s library rapidly expanding beyond minigame collections and touchscreen experiments it’s a tough sell, but as a fast, cheap diversion there’s enough simple fun in exploration to make it worthwhile. [Nov 2005, p.113]

None of this is nearly enough to spoil everything Scarlet and Violet get right, such as some of the best (and downright strangest) monster designs in some time, and absorbing final act and postgame, and a soundtrack that could well be a new series peak. [Issue#380, p.121]

Dig beneath its cutesy surface and you'll find a small but tasty crop that's well worth harvesting. [Issue#359, p.117]

A simple bloodsport, and only a rudimentary level-up system affords any sense of progression. [Aug 2009, p.106]

It becomes, in the very best sense, an anarchic fetch quest played by Takahashi's whimsical rules. [Issue#341, p.114]

This is no Guitar Hero, or even a rhythm-action game, but something more akin to a portable notepad for musicians. [Nov 2007, p.97]

Though the stage design is carefully plotted to the last pixel, there’s little room for deviation – and none for the ultimate three-star prize. As such, it’s a case of brute-forcing the solution over dozens of repeated attempts, a process that feels less engaging here than in some of its peers.

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]

A Frankenstein’s monster that actually works. Its mind is sound, its looks beautiful, its sutures invisible and its stolen parts functional in all the intended ways. It has no soul, of course, nor distinct personality, but that’s the nature of the beast. [May 2008, p.88]

The Splatters ultimately feels as much like the heir to Trials HD as to Rovio's feathery world-beater. Maybe it belongs on XBLA after all.

The enthusiastic shouts that greet immaculate performances may be too generous a reception for Symphonica, but this disarmingly good-natured game is certainly worthy of appreciative applause.

We can't help wondering if a narrowing of scope, instead of crowbarred-in construction mechanics or a baffling option to interact with NPCs that function like in-world AI chatbots, may have given this fiction real room to breathe. For now, there are too many winds blowing in different directions. [Issue#418, p.108]

There's a genuine sense of storybook adventure to proceedings, which a limited budget and uninspired enemies can't quite erode. [Christmas 2010, p.91]

A charming adventure, and a lengthy one, but the overwhelming amount of rough edges rather spoil any indulgent feelings toward its foibles. [Aug 2009, p.99]

Haunted Hollow’s charismatically ghoulish visuals can, at times, make for a cluttered board, and its decision to hide certain units and items behind micro-transactions grants those who pay more tactical breadth. Accept this last point in particular and there’s fun to be had with Haunted Hollow, but Firaxis’ creepy monsters can’t quite compete with its extra-terrestrial threats.

Its foremost pleasures are the evenly paced exploration, the pleasant graphical style and the unexpectedly humorous characters... While far from essential, this is a much more enjoyable adventure than, on paper, it has any right to be. [March 2005, p.92]