Isn't a game that does anything obviously or overtly clever or innovative. But any game that takes such a simple premise and polishes it, hones it and refines it until it's this engrossing, this absorbing, and this much fun, is quite obviously doing something very clever indeed. [Christmas 2003, p.114]

The freedom of movement requires a new level of spatial imagination. Before Prince of Persia, platform games were like playing Tetris with only the blocks and bars. [Christmas 2003, p.100]

This is ballsy, brash, confident gaming at its best - a lesson in how games don't have to be perfect to be brilliant. [Christmas 2003, p.102]

Comparisons with "Halo" are inevitable. Unfortunately, Fire Warrior shows how developers can steal elements from superior games, while fundamentally misunderstanding why they worked so well in the first place. [Nov 2003, p.101]

Comparisons with "Halo" are inevitable. Unfortunately, Fire Warrior shows how developers can steal elements from superior games, while fundamentally misunderstanding why they worked so well in the first place. [Nov 2003, p.101]

A fairytale comeback. Extravagance was one of the signatures of the graphic adventure: extravagance to bring them in, and a cracking story well told to keep them.Both tenets of the Broken Sword series remain intact here, and that's all the devoted fans could have wanted. [Christmas 2003, p.94]

Beautifully detailed with impressive lighting, accurately modelled protagonists and a terrific sense of speed. A refreshing and captivating direction for the series. [Christmas 2003, p.115]

Beautifully detailed with impressive lighting, accurately modelled protagonists and a terrific sense of speed. A refreshing and captivating direction for the series. [Christmas 2003, p.115]

Excellent. The rhythms of the day quickly become second nature and hypnotically absorbing. There're never enough hours in the day. [Jan 2004, p.106]

Superstar Saga does justice to Miyamoto-san's original vision: a world of deliciously impossible creatures and impeccably illogical logic. A world where you never know what'll happen next but, once it has, you know it's what always should have happened. [Jan 2004, p.100]

Beautifully detailed with impressive lighting, accurately modelled protagonists and a terrific sense of speed. A refreshing and captivating direction for the series. [Christmas 2003, p.115]

Mario Kart isn't a racing game any more. It is a party game, and anyone buying it for anything more than frantic, foolish, social fun will grow tired of being cheated very quickly indeed. [Christmas 2003, p.98]

Beautifully detailed with impressive lighting, accurately modelled protagonists and a terrific sense of speed. A refreshing and captivating direction for the series. [Christmas 2003, p.115]

With no real sense of connection with your monsters, or of engagement with the clumsily delivered plot, there is little here to help the game overcome its tendency towards charmless, chore-based repetition. [Jan 2004, p.106]

This is a stupefyingly linear experience. While the individual stand-offs and shoot-outs are exhilirating, the removal of any sense of choice or any requirement of tactical thought makes this more of a theme park ride than a military operation. [Christmas 2003, p.117]

You get the impression the only person who cares about Kain's legacy any more is the writer. The turgid battling lets an average game down. [Jan 2004, p.107]

It's an 'experience' as much as a game, meaning that it will leave as many people cold as it grabs by the right half of the brain. Beyond good, then, but not quite excellent. [Christmas 2003, p.104]

On retreading the levels enemy attacks become predictable puppet shows, with mad-eyed soldiers lining up to get killed exactly where they did many times before. It's the kind of repetition more commonly associated with lightgun games these days. [Christmas 2003, p.109]

Ratchet & Clank 2 shows all the signs of a game that's been focus tested to death; at no point will you have to repeat a section more than three times. It's a frustration free journey but sometimes feels anodyne. [Dec 2003, p.97]

Nobody, nobody at all, walks into a game shop and thinks: "Hey, goblins are pretty cool. Today I want to be a goblin." When the goblins in question have been rendered with almost no character or charm, this merely compounds the lack of emotional connection. [Mar 2004, p.106]

Even when driven in full race trim, every vehicle feels ponderous and with overly soft suspension often resulting in an unnecessarily laborious control method. It's not a bad game, by any means, but the enjoyment provided is limited. [Oct 2003, p.101]

Nobody, nobody at all, walks into a game shop and thinks: "Hey, goblins are pretty cool. Today I want to be a goblin." When the goblins in question have been rendered with almost no character or charm, this merely compounds the lack of emotional connection. [Mar 2004, p.106]

You get the impression the only person who cares about Kain's legacy any more is the writer. The turgid battling lets an average game down. [Jan 2004, p.107]

On retreading the levels enemy attacks become predictable puppet shows, with mad-eyed soldiers lining up to get killed exactly where they did many times before. It's the kind of repetition more commonly associated with lightgun games these days. [Christmas 2003, p.109]

On retreading the levels enemy attacks become predictable puppet shows, with mad-eyed soldiers lining up to get killed exactly where they did many times before. It's the kind of repetition more commonly associated with lightgun games these days. [Christmas 2003, p.109]

The freedom of movement requires a new level of spatial imagination. Before Prince of Persia, platform games were like playing Tetris with only the blocks and bars. [Christmas 2003, p.100]

Were spirits to play a game while they waited in Purgatory, surely it would be Mario Party. It can take an age to get to the end, and the minigames are interspersed with a turgid board game section that tests the patience to its limits. [Jan 2004, p.109]

It's entertaining, but if SOCOM II is the pinnacle of Sony's online achievement - and it is - then Microsoft has convincingly won the online battle. At least for this round. [Mar 2004, p.100]