Wolverine isn't lazy - its frequent repetitions and fine repertoire of glitches are signs of a product hurried to launch rather than bankruptcy of imagination. [June 2009, p.94]

Lacking the tools to really upset her enemies or cope with them when she does, Summer relies on a wafer-thin playbook of obvious traps and distractions. [July 2009, p.96]

For beginners and intermediate level players, Oratorio Tangram presents an unmatched experience, a bright and energetic burst of fantasy combat, still quite unlike anything else in videogames.

Its basic form is a succession of things that you hit with little emotion or interest. Approaching such a task co-operatively can only distract you for so long. [June 2009, p.95]

Action Forms’ moments of ingenuity and the sophistication of its writing demonstrate that it could do great and yet more terrifying things with a more intimidating budget. [Apr 2009, p.124]

The game bears testament to the strength of Smith’s original vision, a puzzle game that avoids prescribed solutions through the tenacity of its enemies.

This is melee done right, set in an astonishing world, brimming with imagination. [July 2009, p.101]

It's the Excitebots themselves that disappoint most, so drearily conceived that they make the predecessor's humble trucks look like flaming DeLoreans. [July 2009, p.100]

OutRun 2 remains a pinnacle of the arcade racing tradition, a peak that, through both design and circumstance, may never again be topped.

The enticing depths of strategy coupled with the affectionate, colourful realisation of the various characters you control ignites curiosity - and their abilities in battle are well-realised, gratifyingly powerful and many. [June 2009, p.90]

While the overall blandness means Galactrix is unlikely to truly thrill many people, it also means that it won’t exclude anyone either, and the ever-reliable pattern-spotting blends with the steady trickle of meaningless rewards to exert a pull on its audience that is truly Pavlovian. [Apr 2009, p.125]

Shorn of its accoutrements and sumptuous presentation, Flock's basic appeal remains a little woolly. [June 2009, p.96]

One corker of an action game. Perhaps the biggest mention goes to the 'vo-cap' tech behind its extraordinary performances. [May 2009, p.88]

Coupling this mostly successful strategic management to a realtime 3D world is unconvincing. More than that, the places where the RTS bits meet the shooting bits exist on some weird fringe of reality, where the symbolic shorthand of tactical games clashes absurdly with the pavement-pounding veracity we've learnt to expect from open-world crime. [May 2009, p.91]

There are moments of compelling spectacle...But the stop/start intrusion of missed QTE presses hurts these moments of the game, even as the dramatic visuals start to win over the most skeptical player. [June 2009, p.95]

Where we once observed burgers grilled with the power of rap, we now meet a policeman who doesn't like littering. All very toothless. [June 2009, p.93]

Beneath The Dishwasher's grungy surface is an original and polished take on a genre that may yet have its best years ahead of it. [June 2009, p.96]

More diversion than challenge, and never leads to stress. [Aug 2009, p.107]

Burn, Zombie, Burn’s serving of arcade chaos is instantly gratifying, if a tad trivial, and its nods to deadsploitation flicks should tickle those not yet tiring of Crypt Keeper chic. [Feb 2009, p.97]

The game effectively highlights the difference between a sandbox which facilitates player experimentation, and a game environment that only allows prescribed actions. [May 2009, p.95]

Certainly, releasing it so close to Halo Wars suggests deliberate commercial suicide - that it’s genuinely progressive ideas will be ignored and lost as a result is a minor tragedy. [Apr 2009, p.118]

A stunt-filled shooter in the vein (but not the league) of Stranglehold, it's a game that takes control away, reverts to how things used to be done, and judders between debilitating combat and haywire presentation. [May 2009, p.92]

A stunt-filled shooter in the vein (but not the league) of Stranglehold, it's a game that takes control away, reverts to how things used to be done, and judders between debilitating combat and haywire presentation. [May 2009, p.92]

The most contagious thing about Echoes Of Time is its humour, and there's no shortage of intrigue and mishap in the quests to come. Nor, however, is there a surplus. [May 2009, p.96]

The most contagious thing about Echoes Of Time is its humour, and there's no shortage of intrigue and mishap in the quests to come. Nor, however, is there a surplus. [May 2009, p.96]

It's a vivid, rapid, entertaining strategy game, shot through with strikingly smart design decisions... It's problems are, inevitably, of balance. Developer EA Phenomic has accepted an impossible task - weighing all possible combinations of 200 units against one another. [May 2009, p.96]

A stunt-filled shooter in the vein (but not the league) of Stranglehold, it's a game that takes control away, reverts to how things used to be done, and judders between debilitating combat and haywire presentation. [May 2009, p.92]

The most remarkable thing is how smoothly it runs: a flawless 60 frames a second that makes any caveats about the slightly pixellated visuals disappear in the wind. [Dec 2008, p.99]