Beyond Eyes isn’t going to take longer than a few hours for anyone to complete and the price doesn’t quite reflect the brevity of the experience.

But overall, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is a very difficult game to dislike. It was never intended to break the mould, it’s no kind of reinvention and it probably won’t win the series many new fans. It is resolutely more of the same, but robust and varied with it.

Electronic Arts has found a great balance between speed and technical understanding. The game’s tuning system is exhaustive, and given that the only way to acquire new cars is to win them, understanding the modifications and their effects offers greater rewards that ever before. [Chrismas 2007, p.118]

Genuinely good fun for all – A pleasant surprise. [Feb 2008, p.132]

It's ironic that a game about robots wanting to be human has so much heart, but is failed by technology that simply won't reach as far as its developer would like. [Issue#120, p.112]

If this is to be Irrational’s last hurrah then it’s a mixed but compelling swansong for a company that often took bold, divisive design and narrative avenues. It might not hit the highs of some of its best work, but it’s a fitting testament to the studio’s unbridled creativity and theatrical magnificence.

For all its inventive turns and standout moments, however, much of Alice's return feels a little too templated for it to truly embrace the nonsensical.

A true 'thinking man’s shooter', then, and one that can be enjoyed by all those capable of engaging their brain before pulling the trigger. [June 2005, p.109]

Do not underestimate Little Ninjas; it is worthy of everyone's time - a beautifully conceived product by all accounts. [Nov 2009, p.116]

A very accessible game for all to play, and a pretty decent way to spend a few pounds and a couple of hours of your time. [Nov 2007, p.109]

An unusual, occasionally powerful, must-play game. [Issue#189, p.79]

For those who thought splitting monsters across two carts was a bit rude originally, this is surely the ultimate swindle. For anyone else, there's a healthy slice of monster hunting to be had. [Nov 2004, p.118]

Fans of adventure games who don't find block-pushing and switch-flipping tiresome will enjoy a long-lasting challenge, as will fans of the original. Everyone else, however, should approach with caution. [Aug 2005, p.118]

Serious gamers after a good mixture of challenge, story and mechanics may be left wanting. [Issue#167, p.79]

It might be derivative in many ways, but there's a certain charm to the low-rent Futurama antics of the Ratchet & Clank universe: it knows its audience and panders to it without shame, scooping up a disparate medley of platforming/shooting tasks and weaving them all into a quietly epic narrative framework. [Christmas 2004, p.106]

No concessions are made for anyone other than diehard real-time strategy fans and it does seem a little unfair that the difficulty is so high. [June 2008, p.117]

Merely a pretty decent game. Which, to be fair, is better than some might have expected.

It's a gorgeously constructed fusion of puzzling and subtle storytelling with a final stage that hints at the complexity KO_OP might achieve if it ever gets around to making a sequel. [Issue#189, p.79]

Killzone: Liberation has considerable depth that really manages to please. [Dec 2006, p.130]

It’s easy enough to ignore the terrible story and get on with what Defiance does best: letting you bask in the glory of marauding through a vast open world with an army of players sitting (silently) by your side.

As far as free-to-play goes, this is deeper than most and will become quite the time sink if you have the patience to master it. [Issue#167, p.82]

It may sound like a bad idea, but the surprising truth is that this mixture of genres works very well indeed, and there are plenty of inventive and unique features in Chaos League to silence those who bemoan the lack of innovation in modern gaming. [Sept 2004, p.120]

It'd take the most hardcore of fighting fans to put together an argument that this wasn't a decent fighter at its core and they'd struggle even harder to claim that it wasn't at least entertaining. On a base level, though, it's business as usual. It's a beat-'em-up loaded with increasingly damp and dirty scantily clad ladies whose breasts defy physics and one that has an Achievement for watching every questionably shot, moist, groaning defeat pose.

At its heart, HW2 is a console RTS that does what it needs to fit the broader appeal of the modern console generation. On PC its approach to game design will keep it off most GOTY lists, but on Xbox One its seamless gamepad control scheme and hefty selection modes make it a must for Halo devotees. Look past the shortcuts and you’ll find the best effort yet to light the real-time strategy fire on console.

With many games feeling hampered by a desire to try and blend authenticity with sensationalism, Battlefield 1 is a hell of a lot of fun – a visual powerhouse and a fine return to form for DICE that’s sadly hampered by stretches of extreme frustration caused by the studio’s desire to take one step too many into the past.

Enjoyed for what it is, this is bold and compelling – it draws from the traditional and the contemporary to deliver a uniquely modern and elegantly told adventure. [July 2006, p.131]

It doesn't bring much at all new to the table and can feel derivative at times, even old. Also, while rarely unfair as such, that doesn't stop it from being frustrating at times – and the shooter sections, while fun, do feel a bit overplayed.

You can’t help feeling a proper Rainbow Six sequel, set somewhere else and given proper time to stew, would have been a far tastier prospect. [Apr 2008, p.106]