Maybe, after all, Ubisoft has managed to simulate the existence of the average pirate. Perhaps that's what the fourth 'A' stands for. [Issue#396, p.112]

The mission finale is climactic; a frantic last stand awaiting your dropship, enemies pulled in droves towards the beacon, palpable relief if you and your buddies dive through the boarding hatch before your saviour jets from the landing pad. [Issue#396, p.110]

It might be a latecomer, then, but Vanillaware's most accomplished release to date warrants the air of bravado with which it sweeps in - and, for that matter, it's place in the pantheon of classic tactical RPGs. [Issue#396, p.106]

So full and comprehensive is this modernised SquareSoft RPG, in fact, that beyond finishing the story, the trilogy finale may struggle to justify itself. But that's the future's problem, of no concern as we feast on the spread in front of us. In a triple-A climate where development costs spiral and content often replaces craft, the generosity and ambition of Rebirth is a convincing argument that, once in a while, too much is exactly what you want. [Issue#396, p.102]

As a whole, it's remarkably cohesive, a compound puzzler that should be added to your collection with express speed. [Issue#395, p.123]

This may not suffer the indignity of being delisted, but it's highly unlikely anyone will remember it in a decade's time. [Issue#395, p.122]

As Sid Meier once said, games are a series of interesting decisions. Well, Balatro has those in spades - and hearts, clubs and diamonds besides. [Issue#395, p.120]

After eight years in development - initially under PlatinumGames - this long journey has had a happy ending. [Issue#395, p.118]

This is a game that requires serious commitment. [Issue#395, p.116]

It remains to be seen whether Bandai Namco's game can achieve what Street Fighter 6 hasn't quite managed, and bring in a new generation of players, but this is the first time in decades that these longtime rivals have felt so well matched. [Issue#395, p.114]

Ultros remains a fully formed Metroidvania. [Issue#395, p.112]

Yet there is heart in Banishers, and it beats strongest in the doomed romance at its centre. There's emotional heft in its ending, too. [Issue#395, p.110]

The game's crafting and customisation systems work together to form an incredible sense of ownership. [Issue#395, p.108]

But there's no denying that this feels like straightforward filler, granting rewards without ever feeling rewarding. Much like the brainwashed metahumans the game asks us to put down, we expect the highs of this reluctant forever game are already behind it. [Issue#395, p.104]

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]

There is genuine character in its presentation, too, from the four distinct jingles that follow successful sprints to the anticipation-heightening Cambridge chimes that precede a new run, the leaderboards celebrating the 'top five brave cats' and the game-over text - 'It's cooooooold!' - that somehow mollifies the frustration of a run prematurely ended. It's a reminder that good ideas are timeless. Another 40 years from now, we suspect it won't have aged a day. [Issue#394, p.107]

With a little more mechanical variety, this might've been a minor classic. [Issue#394, p.106]

Go Mecha Ball can be as frustrating as it is exhilarating. [Issue#394, p.104]

For better and worse, they conjure fond reminiscences of the originals and the developer that made them. [Issue#394, p.102]

Too often, what's on offer feels like a succession of incomplete experiments - the shoulders of giants on which other VR games might build. [Issue#394, p.100]

The Finals offers plenty of sound and fury, but what makes it worth coming back to is what all that signifies. [Issue#394, p.94

The most satisfying effort from Ubisoft Montpellier since Rayman Legends. In a rebirth of this calibre, death is a moot point. [Issue#394, p.98]

Narrative designers everywhere should be taking notes from a psychological horror that gets well and truly inside your head. [Issue#393, p.123]

Even in such a tired genre, Turnfollow's capacity for emotional storytelling is remarkable indeed. [Issue#393, p.122]

Despite its futurist Wikipedia aspirations, Neurocracy today feels more like falling down the Wayback Machine. [Issue#393, p.121]

We find ourselves absorbed by Boulder's story, enough to witness all the grisly premature ends that meet him before he finally gets his hard-won feelgood finale. [Issue#393, p.120]

Too erratic for its own good. [Issue#393, p.119]

But while it might be unreasonable to expect EVERY VR title to advance the medium, surely it's not too much to ask that a game develops an idea or two beyond its own first hour? [Issue#393, p.118]