The frustrating thing is that these faults don't seem to be the result of poor design or sloppy development, but stem rather from a lack of ambition to turn what is a steady game into something that could have been spectacular. [Dec 2007, p.106]

The name is a little misleading, but it's still probably our favourite Singstar setlist so far. [May 2006, p.93]

It's definitely functional, but MotoGP is far more suited to lazing on a sofa than it is to gaming on the go. [Dec 2006, p.98]

Poker makes more sense in the portable format - still, no Royal Flush. [May 2006, p.95]

Whatever EA says, this feels like an expansion pack. It's a welcome one though, and it'll make your little Sim home all the more complete. [Nov 2006, p.82]

It's good to see someone taking bike racing seriously, but make sure you can do without stabilisers - this is no easy ride. [May 2007, p.84]

A faithful recreation of the world of Narnia, which frustrates and delights in not quite equal measure, but avoids being whiffy. [Apr 2006, p.98]

This extreme racer may be competent, but it's about as fun as wading through marshland in your socks. [May 2006, p.89]

Some nice ideas that could have made this effort stand out from the crowd were it not so chock-full of cliche. [Feb 2006, p.96]

Short but mostly sweet, this is unashamed B-list fare, offering cheap thrills to those who don't take killing too seriously. [Apr 2006, p.98]

The gameplay's hardly moved on in more than a decade, but simplicity is the key to Puyo Pop's appeal. An absorbing if not original addition to the handheld ranks. [June 2006, p.86]

Overflowing with licensed material but severely lacking what it needs the most: involving and exhilarating racing action with decent smash-ups. [Christmas 2006, p.96]

One of the best movie tie-ins you'll play. [Nov 2006, p.135]

Lovely-looking if unadventurous platform fare that does the bare minimum to keep its pre-school audience quiet. [May 2006, p.95]

Iris 2 isn't a landmark game by any stretch. But with a couple of novel features, it's certainly engaging enough to be a good toe-dipper into the world of RPGs. [Oct 2006, p.98]

It's decent enough, but there's a lack of gameplay innovation. [Christmas 2005, p.108]

It's not much return on your 20 quid investment. [Nov 2006, p.140]

Revolution in gameplay it ain't, but its razor-sharp premise and humour make this the best Simpsons game on the market. [Dec 2007, p.92]

As good, if not slightly better than Marvel Ultimate Alliance - it really just depends which company's heroes you prefer. [Christmas 2006, p.82]

A deep, rewarding tennis game that lacks the fireworks of Virtua Tennis and also some of its fun. You will like it...eventually. [June 2007, p.95]

A minor irritation. [June 2007, p.98]

Still trails beind the NBA 2K series, but this is certainly an improvement on last year if you can get to grips with the camera. [Nov 2007, p.90]

A solid and substantial attempt at bringing online RPG play to offline gamers, but it lacks any long-term appeal without others. [Christmas 2006, p.78]

This is really a funky platformer with okay raacing tacked on. Either way, it's still lots of fun, and arguably better on PSP than PS2. [Christmas 2005, p.104]

Too easy and too short but Shrek Superslam still manages to continue the current happy trend of film conversions - or in this case, "inspired bys" - that are less than terrible. [Jan 2006, p.107]

Lara's PSP debut is a captivating adventure that only falls down on the back of a frustratingly awkward set of controls. [June 2006, p.94]

A jaw-dropping adventure that disappoints slightly thanks to a short central plot padded out with repetitive objectives. [Oct 2006, p.78]

Dodgy implementation lets down some genuinely nice ideas and shark-like AI in one of PS2's better gambling games. [Nov 2006, p.106]