As Dangerous Golf begins to build on its core mechanics – causing as much damage and mayhem as you can before putting the ball in a hole to bank your score – it continues to deliver a fresh take on the concept.

This situation isn’t helped by an array of dreary technical problems either: scenery is flat and lifeless, dirt and dust effects are disappointing, while the sound effects will leave you wanting. This, combined with a frequently erratic frame-rate, produces a game that desperately needed more time and money for the developers to fully realise its vision. It’s a shame, because Rally Evo boasts such an attractive feature set – and from a studio we know is capable of mastering simulation mechanics – but this year it just couldn’t compete with Codemasters’ stellar return to the scene.

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.

Certainly different and endearing, but struggles to keep up with the initial momentum. [Issue#149, p.116]

Unique ideas hampered by finickity gameplay. [Issue#205, p.74]

All too often you'll find yourself thinking about what might have been and how another game - more than likely to be the sequel - is bound to do all of this better in the years immediately ahead. [Issue#75, p.104]

The kind of puzzle game you can put your feed up and coast through on a laptop, or sit back in your office chair and play at your own pace. [Issue#112, p.122]

Consistently, SAO:LS made us feel frustrated and a little ashamed with ourselves for actually sitting through it. Die-hard fans of the franchise may find something to enjoy thanks to the relentless fan-service but others would do better to go and actually play an MMORPG.

It might have started off as a joke, but the funny thing about Goat Simulator is that it’s a much better game than it has any right to be.

It's just hard to shake the feeling that Islands of Wakfu is, at its heart, something of a promotional item for its bigger brother. [Issue#109, p.103]

Outside of novelty value, there's little reason why anyone should pick this up with their Vita over the vastly superior WipEout 2048. [Issue#119, p.97]

Highly entertaining, in its own unique way. [Issue#139, p.117]

The overall tactile quality is of a PS2 title that has migrated to a more powerful system and finds itself surrounded by far tougher birds. [Dec 2009, p.126]

Conflict: Global Storm is such an improvement over the debacle that was Vietnam that it's amazing to think they came from the same developer. [Nov 2005, p.118]

The action never inspires. [Issue#142, p.124]

You'll quickly realise that it's button bashing and not finesse that will aid you in your quest. Add to this a tacked-on rhythm-action game and you're left with a shallow and derivative game that offers no redeeming features. [Nov 2003, p.122]

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]

The story and characters are excellent and the game is enjoyable, but the open world detracts from the experience rather than adding to it. [Issue#257, p.62]

The game is a weak attempt to get your money, by patronising and giving you exactly what you expect... An ugly game that's affecting all its attitude. [Issue#191, p.76]

Super Bomberman R doesn’t ruin the classic B-Man recipe, but with a price tag as big as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you can’t help feeling this is a digital-only arcade title with the wrong price stuck to its box.

There's a major flaw in actually controlling Mario, as the physics just don't seem to act as they should - aiming at specific targets can be extremely tricky at times, making completing some tasks more infuriating than challenging. It's a shame, because everything else about Super Mario Ball is so impressive.

We can only come to one conclusion here: Odama really isn't any fun to play. At all. [May 2006, p.122]

It may have its good points, but when it comes down to it PowerUp Forever isn’t as good as many of the other similar titles available over Xbox Live. [Feb 2009, p.113]

It’s the same old formula with a few moments of motion-controlled inspiration. [Aug 2007, p.111]

A nice collection, but nothing excels. [Issue#186, p.79]

It offers all the right elements that the genre needs, but fails to utilise them in any particularly original, entertaining or - indeed - working state. [Issue#162, p.112]

Rather than providing the knockout punch they are intended to give, the comic extremity of the executions tends to diffuse the tension the game so effectively manages to build. [Aug 2007, p.106]

Story aside, everything that’s in the game is very competent and enjoyable but it doesn’t quite go out of its way enough to push the envelope as far as the overall experience goes, when compared to where the genre is today. [Oct 2004, p.116]