Treyarch has taken just enough from COD4 to make World At War a broad success, but it remains firmly in its shadow. [Christmas 2008, p.90]

In trying to please us all, it leaves a deeper puzzle unsolved. [Issue#415, p.107]

There’s nothing here that wasn’t done bigger, in more detail, and with more options, in Eidos Montreal’s game, while the story so far fails to introduce new ideas or themes.

Without characters to care for or a story compelling enough, only the most dedicated genre faithful will make it through Blue Dragon’s three discs. [Sept 2007, p.88]

The breasts get in the way. Dragon’s Crown’s 30GG bosoms have made any discussion of the game impossible without first acknowledging that, yes, those things are preposterous. While art director George Kamitani’s assertion that he exaggerates male characters’ masculine characteristics to the same extent holds water, the saucy fairy and spread-legged female monk don’t help combat the suggestion that Dragon’s Crown is wantonly objectifying women.

Wideload has placed a welcome knee in the groin of the status quo, but by taking its subject too lightly it’s also failed to turn an adventurous prototype into a durable production. [Christmas 2005, p.102]

Often you’ll present a piece of evidence on a hunch and find him explaining it far beyond your own understanding. The result is a distance from the story, and a reminder of the paucity of interactivity on offer. [Nov 2007, p.99]

It's very easy to while away the time just terrorising the populace of each level in an increasingly destructive fashion, but to actually care enough to contribute anything to a completion percentage is another matter entirely. [July 2005, p.86]

In the great crapshoot of Namco thirdperson action games, it’s a better than average throw. [Nov 2006, p.92]

Marvel's Avengers has a lot of good parts, a lot of indifferent ones, and an overall lack of direction. [Issue#351, p.90]

Its ragged edges mean it feels more like a competent cover version that occasionally strays off key, rather than the genuine article. [Dec 2017, p.120]

Offers the most blissful vision of rural Britain since "Everybody's Gone To The Rapture." [Issue#360, p.120]

It’s formulaic, then, but sticking with what you know doesn’t often produce such satisfying results.

With Suda we’ve come to expect the unexpected, but the most disappointing thing about Killer Is Dead is that the unexpected has become predictable. By adhering too rigidly to its creator’s esoteric template, it gives us pretty much exactly what we were anticipating.

Pitch detection is accurate and, for the songs you know, Konami couldn't have provided a better arena for belting out the warbles you've perfected in the shower. But for the songs you don't know - and there are likely to be many - those warbles will be your undoing, capsizing an otherwise satisfying quest for high score. [Aug 2004, p.106]

That's how it feels: brand extension, dilution rather than enrichment. [Mar 2008, p.102]

Katauri's strategy RPG is a compulsive thing. (…) The game hooks the player to a drip-feed of demands that proves difficult to unplug. [Feb 2009, p.94]

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.

This Arkham Origins is a brawny, brainless offering, then, that takes one aspect of the series and remixes it for iOS in a way that should temporarily scratch that Batman itch ahead of the main event.

One day you sense Shin'en will make a game that plays as good as it looks. Until then, this is a polished and attractive shooter that you'll likely have a reasonably entertaining few hours with before forgetting it ever existed within a month. An ideal launch game, then.

Part fishing simulator and part Lovecraftian adventure but while the two concepts work together surprisingly well, they both feel disappointingly undercooked.

While many players will tire of the gamelong before its last secrets are handed out, its simplicity makes it a strangely compelling experience. [Jan 2008, p.87]

Over-dependence on legwork over the bulk of each world robs the game of its sparkle, making it feel more work-ethic sweatshop than well-paced sweetshop. [Dec 2005, p.111]

Creatively, New Vegas gets almost everything right. Mechanically and technically, it's a tragedy. So, it's a simultaneously rewarding and frustrating game, the gulf between what it is and what it could be a sizeable stretch indeed.

From bedrooms containing clever and mysterious moving panels to a 'Land of the Giants'-style pool challenge, each section delivers something new and exciting to motivate deeper exploration. [Apr 2004, p.110]

The fifth in the Colin McRae series is still a fine game if - and here's the major caveat - you didn't play last year's update. Those who did will get more fun out of playing spot the difference. [Nov 2004, p.107]

A fleeting novelty.

Creatively, New Vegas gets almost everything right. Mechanically and technically, it's a tragedy. So, it's a simultaneously rewarding and frustrating game, the gulf between what it is and what it could be a sizeable stretch indeed.