It's one of those mixed-bag situations - flashes of genius and genuinely enjoyable moments of success, occasionally mired by unbalanced weapon damage, clumsy AI and the odd bit of unfair level design that requires astounding feats of memory. [Dec 2003, p.98]

The ideas Grin has introduced work well within the plot put forward by the comic books, it's just a shame they don't hold up over an extended period. [May 2009, p.110]

As a simple platformer, however, its interesting control scheme makes Ivy The Kiwi? a rather fun and unique game, just not a great one. [Issue#99, p.127]

Sadly, Floor Kids lacks the variety or freedom in its core design to ever really offer more than surface-level engagement. [Issue#197, p.78]

While all the pieces seem to be in place to deliver something special, they never quite gel. That's not to say that Chrome isn't a reasonably good game, but too many inadequacies prevent the action from seriously challenging the big guns. [Nov 2003, p.114]

Anyone who has played any of the previous Rogue Squadron titles will know what to expect from most of this title, but while its predecessors have been unadventurously solid, Rebel Strike is quite the opposite. A valiant effort with some wonderful moments but it promises more than it can deliver. [Dec 2003, p.96]

Dark Void demonstrates promise that a sequel may realise, but as a spiritual successor to Crimson Skies it's in severe need of liposuction. [Feb 2010, p.118]

An engaging and pacey swashbuckling romp through the highs of an accomplished franchise that will delight Pirates enthusiasts and Lego fans alike. [Issue#110, p.120]

If you go with the flow of how you're supposed to play Republic Commando this can be good fun. It is, after all, a Star Wars game and, for this reason alone, a small proportion of gamers will enjoy it. But pleasing a small number of gamers hardly sounds like the policy of the kind of republic we'd like to live in. [March 2005, p.96]

The excellent characters and simply beautiful looks throughout the many cut-scenes will do a fine job of impressing those looking to see what their PlayStation 3 is capable of, but despite these highs, it’s likely to be the lows that stand out. [Oct 2007, p.112]

A merely serviceable afterthought. [Sept 2014, p.125]

Those able to get a feel for the menu-heavy gameplay will revel in the kind of breathtaking depth and infinite scope you simply won't find in any other console title. [Apr 2004, p.120]

Throwaway fun as strange as it is captivating. [Issue#197, p.83]

Don’t come here expecting one of the wonders of the gaming world, just a solid RTS that delivers what it has to and no more than that. [Apr 2007, p.115]

Without the control confusion, this could have been a modern classic to rival Super Monkey Ball; instead it can only be recommended for people with a serious amount of patience. [May 2009, p.128]

In its 'free' state, Wii Sports is a triumph when presenting the abilities of your new console, but in reality, it's an extended victory for the console itself and not praise that should be bestowed upon the game. [Christmas 2006, p.106]

Square Enix's least enticing DS offering thus far, a disappointment given the company's growing ambition in handheld development. [May 2009, p.120]

A solid grappler, if a little pointless … it's fairly easy to see everything the game has to offer in a very short time. The fact that the only way to unlock many fighters is to repeatedly play through the same modes ultimately proves tiring, rather than bringing out the completist in you. [Aug 2004, p.105]

A solid template, then, and interesting foundations on which for the inevitable paid follow-ups to build. [Issue#110, p.132]

Moments that recall the sparkling brilliance of NiGHTS Into Dreams are, of course, scattered throughout this Wii sequel but they are buried beneath so much filler. [Feb 2008, p.126]

Zoo Tycoon will have a very narrow appeal beyond families. [Issue#142, p.90]

When only a couple of challenges require you to break the million point barrier, only the weakest players will have trouble acing the game in hours. [Christmas 2005, p.107]

We wouldn't put this too close to the top of the pile. [Issue#106, p.120]

A couple of fun mini-games and one intriguing new mode aside, Lost In Blue 2 still doesn’t quite offer enough for those who endured then eventually enjoyed the original. [June 2007, p.117]

Fans of the Mystery Dungeon series will know what to expect from this latest offering: its new additions aren’t radical enough to ruin what makes it fun or, crucially, fix what makes it monotonous.

Great gameplay marred by poor ergonomics. [Oct 2008, p.116]

A missed opportunity. [Issue#144, p.102]

This is the first James Bond game of the century in which we met the final credits regretting the unexplored potential. Bravo. [Christmas 2008, p.120]

Lococycle is initially very enjoyable due to its marriage of different elements from popular genres, but the ideas unfortunately soon run dry. [Issue#142, p.93]

Only the coldest of hearts could fail to find joy in whispering sweet nothings to a pretty young girl while an old man is distracted by a giant monkey. [July 2010, p.119]

By trying so hard to justify exciting new uses for the DS's touch screen, NST has forgotten such crucial elements as a rear view mirror or the ability to track your opponents on each map.

It's far from perfect, but Marvel fans have been served well, and those who like their Gauntlet served with extra statistics will have a game they can place just behind the last Dark Alliance. [Dec 2004, p.109]

Silent Hill: Downpour frustrates and irritates, it confuses and confounds. It doesn't scare as much as it should and it doesn't impress as much as we wanted. But there's no denying its ability to keep you playing; to push through to the end.

On an objective level, Frog Minutes is hardly the sort of game that's going to establish the iPad as a hardcore games console, but it does have a strange hypnotic charm that makes those minutes tick by rather enjoyably.

The biggest complaint is the size of the game - despite the 3D stylings making everything seem bigger, the game is just too darn small to last that long for any but the most inexperienced Castlevania player. [Jan 2004, p.110]

There's a lot of frantic back-and-forth; every scenario soon descends into little more than an exercise in plate-spinning. [Issue#95, p.116]

Infinity Ward has really struggled to push the Call of Duty formula forward in any meaningful or significant ways. [Issue#142, p.96]

There is simply no getting around the sheer awfulness of the main characters. From their unoriginal looks to their irritating dialogue, they serve to spoil the game from start to finish. [July 2009, p.122]

There's no shortage of ideas on display, featuring some of the best use of AR tech on the handheld to date, but ultimately the 3DS feels more like a curse for the franchise, rather than a blessing.

It’s hard to dislike a game that displays such breezy charm, and it would be harsh to dismiss Thrillville as a kids’ RollerCoaster Tycoon as it’s streets ahead of much of the licensed tat out there. [Jan 2007, p.100]

Nobody is shooting for the moon here, just aiming to give the fans more of what they enjoyed. [Issue#163, p.110]

Demands a very different strategy from practically any other kind of shoot-'em-up. [Aug 2008, p.119]

Riptide is full of the juddering frame-rate, buggy environments and unwieldy frame-rate, buggy environments and unwieldy collision detection that plagued its predecessor; it makes it feel and handle like a very long piece of DLC. [Issue#135, p.110]

Professor Layton certainly has soul, but the puzzles themselves just aren't imaginative enough to save the adventure from feeling frequently out of breath. [Nov 2009, p.123]

Play it with a friend for a few yours and then forget about it; it's so simple to learn that you'll have [it] mastered in that time anyway. [Issue#156, p.117]

As a retail product, this just isn't strong enough to be called a sequel. A shame considering how pleasing Sega's arcade sim can still be. [July 2009, p.118]

You could do far worse than invest in a copy of Sonic Rivals, and a nice foundation has been laid for a sequel to eradicate the cracks present here. [Jan 2007, p.99]

It’s a game with a huge amount of ambition, not to mention imagination, but a few unrefined core mechanics and tedious world can overshadow all of its fun.

Every now and then it just hits that level of cool we all want from a Driver game. [Issue#113, p.112]

A no-nonsense, honest-to-goodness platformer. It knows what it wants to do and presents things in a way that looks good and works well. But despite being sturdily put together and instantly enjoyable, it's hard not to think that it loses the impact it once held in the face of the latest batch of fresh and technologically impressive titles in the genre. [Feb 2004, p.106]

A fun game. [Issue#144, p.115]

It's a little dull - particularly without PvP - but shouting "danger zone" at the top of your lungs will no doubt alleviate some of the mundanity. [Issue#150, p.116]

This lack of angling variation feels like a missed opportunity. [Issue#144, p.116]

It's just a shame that its later stages don't make good on the genuinely entertaining gameplay that it initially promises. [Issue#104, p.119]

You can’t fault it in terms of artistic design, and although it’s no better than its predecessor, it’s certainly no worse. [Oct 2008, p.120]

There will rightfully be criticism for the slender single-player modes here, but the true worth of Mario Tennis Open is in multiplayer, both as the game's biggest strength and a quiet indicator of Nintendo's online handheld revolution.

At once entertaining, frustrating, beautiful and fleeting, The Cave is way better in concept than execution. And as much as it has going for it, some poor design decisions mean that frustration and boredom will quickly get rid of players that would otherwise have lapped this up.

Ham-Ham Games delivers everything you could hope for from a GBA title. It’s not particularly big and it’s not especially clever, but it is good fun and that’s what matters. [Sept 2004, p.114]

The Punisher does exactly what it sets out to do. Picking up the controller gives immediate access to a theatre of death and destruction, and while originality is gunned down at some point during the first few levels, there’s plenty of fun to be had, especially for fans of the comic. [March 2005, p.106]

Hopefully tri-Ace will revive these characters for a second game, which can fix the niggling flaws of this imperfect but enjoyable adventure. [Nov 2008, p.106]

No matter how many minigame collections Ubisoft cranks out, Rabbids will still remain charming and enduringly funny. [Issue#104, p.127]

Impressive at times, but well-beaten by the competition. [Issue#164, p.89]

It it had just managed to add a little more depth to this Windjammers update, it might have made something better than this nostalgic celebration. [Issue#192, p.81]

Disaster: Day Of Crisis is good for a single playthrough with expectations adjusted accordingly, and can be enjoyed on the same level as a mindless blockbuster. [Dec 2008, p.130]

Somewhere beneath the threadbare cloak Rogue is wearing, last year’s far superior title exists and as such it’s not a disaster, but a missed opportunity seemingly not given enough time.

An incomplete package. [Issue#142, p.127]

With drab visuals, lifeless towns, frequent performance problems and little sign of an enthusiastic player community – the chat channels are very quiet – Auto Assault feels like a game where the key is in the ignition but no one’s quite got around to turning it. [July 2006, p.134]

There's one big problem that can’t be concealed by Boom Blox's triumphs: it's almost entirely devoid of challenge. [July 2008, p.124]

Physically throwing that spear and yanking your foe towards you is immensely satisfying – it’s given the franchise a new appeal. [July 2007, p.122]

An enjoyable and taxing puzzler, and when played in short doses will provide PSP owners with many months of head scratching before all 100 ‘questions’ are conquered. [Mar 2006, p.120]

Ultimately it's a dull, dated experience that needed to change a lot more than it actually did. [Feb 2010, p.116]

Consistently entertaining until its final third. [Chrismas 2007, p.110]

This is EA’s take on NHL action as it’s always been, rejigged with improved animations and new moves so it’s inevitably the best version yet. [Nov 2004, p.119]

Bright, intriguing, but lacking depth. [July 2018, p.74]

Obscure II doesn’t need reminding of its faults, because it wears them on its sleeve; it’s a guilty pleasure that, despite being technically unimpressive, still provides dollops of cheap entertainment. [Oct 2007, p.119]

Second Sight's fair share of nice touches (such as weapons handling and level design) demonstrate terrific attention to detail. It's a shame, then, that these minor good points seem to be offset by the game's failings in several more important areas. [Oct 2004, p.110]

Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition could arguably be the best portable version of the core series yet produced, but this is testament to the severely limited nature of what came before rather than any standout success on this game's part.

The atmosphere is electric, the sense of making tiny in-roads to solve a great problem as satisfying as it is frustrating... Spark never allows you to forget that outside the restrictive confines of the first-person viewpoint there’s a much, much bigger fight going on involving thousands of men. [Jan 2005, p.110]

Winter isn't quite here yet. [Issue#164, p.100]

King Kong is perhaps a redefinition of the cinematic videogame – entirely based on peaks and troughs of excitement, and devoid of any sense of choice. Just like a movie, but interactive. [Christmas 2005, p.98]

Feels very much the stock update, disappointing in so much as it doesn't actually add anything of note or substance. The cruel under-utilisation of the cats, meanwhile, could genuinely disappoint fans of felines everywhere.

It's far from perfect, but Marvel fans have been served well, and those who like their Gauntlet served with extra statistics will have a game they can place just behind the last Dark Alliance. [Dec 2004, p.109]

Even with its overly ambitious new 'Off The Ball' interface the FIFA series is still a long way from capturing the true essence of the beautiful game. [Dec 2003, p.127]

The lack of any online modes coupled with the still very prevalent frame rate issue means Tony Hawk’s Project 8 is a weaker PS3 game than it is on 360. [Apr 2007, p.131]

A strong, if sometimes frustrating debut. [Issue#206, p.81]

Despite a veritable host of respectable changes and additions, this still can't live up to the standards of the original game. An improvement over the last console effort, but with so much more potential than is actually realised, Bustin' Out still disappoints a little. [Christmas 2003, p.126]

Feels very much the stock update, disappointing in so much as it doesn't actually add anything of note or substance. The cruel under-utilisation of the cats, meanwhile, could genuinely disappoint fans of felines everywhere.

On the occasions when the game flows it's possible to produce some breathtaking football, but all too often the game slows to a crawl and it's extremely difficult to produce anything like a constructive passing move. [Nov 2005, p.116]

Feeling somewhat bland against some of its predecessors, Mario Party 6's games come off as lacking in skill, not to mention creativity; the coating may look different, but the core concepts are incredibly repetitive. [Feb 2005, p.106]

Much like the film, there’s a sense that content has been stretched, while new narrative has been crudely implemented to paper over the cracks.

An engaging, if brief, narrative adventure. [July 2018, p.84]

Feels very much the stock update, disappointing in so much as it doesn't actually add anything of note or substance. The cruel under-utilisation of the cats, meanwhile, could genuinely disappoint fans of felines everywhere.

Disappointingly by the books, but has charm. [Issue#206, p.82]

Considering the state of Platinum’s last licensed title, The Legend Of Korra, not to mention the clear budget and time constraints from Activision, Transformers: Devastation could have been much worse. But then again, it could also have been much, much better.

Somewhere in Devil Summoner is a brilliant game obscured by a multitude of minor flaws and bizarre design decisions. [May 2007, p.122]

Every five or six levels the game ups the difficulty by throwing in the most frustrating levels we've ever seen.

The lasting memories of Just Cause 3 will be the small moments where everything comes together to make the most insignificant action feel like a unique event. The fact that all of the mechanics work together so seamlessly is impressive, but the magic is fleeting.

Once you're past the silly set-up, irritating characters, terrible dialogue, and the game's generally patronising tone, there's a reasonably solid - if not needlessly convoluted - skater to be found here. [Christmas 2010, p.110]