There's not actually that much to do here. [Sept 2007, p.108]

It looks and plays like a budget title, and doesn't really offer anything new aside from curiosity value. Best left dead and buried.

The AI is exceptional and we found the middle level to be a good match for even experienced players. [Sept 2007, p.108]

Transforms children's dreams into tears. [Sept 2007, p.107]

Tedious puzzles and repetitious level design makes Overlord become very predictable all too quickly. [July 2007, p.90]

Ultimately the game proves how powerful a storytelling medium gaming has become. Like the best cinema, the feeling of being privy to this dark world lingers long past putting down the controller. Its memory festers inside you - of a deeply disturbing experience, and an unforgettable one at that.

Tons of Nazis to shoot, but still mediocre. [Aug 2007, p.80]

Magical game fun for kids; brief fun for adults. [Aug 2007, p.99]

Refreshingly unique. [July 2007, p.104]

You play "Forza" for the modding, community stuff and realism; you can play Colin because it's a bloody good, old-fashioned arcade rally game. [July 2007, p.96]

Thoroughly average. [Aug 2007, p.93]

Fluid and uniquely told. A classic reborn. [Aug 2007, p.102]

Another failed idea is the ability to pick up items littering the different districts and use them as weapons. [June 2007, p.93]

Sloppy effort. Such as disappointment. [Sept 2007, p.104]

More old than wild wild west. [Aug 2007, p.98]

Great to look at and the new mazes rock. [Aug 2007, p.103]

Certainly not a game for anyone expecting a challenge or long-term entertainment. [Oct 2007, p.86]

It IS "Micro Machines," right down to the dinky size of the cars and power-up based racing buffoonery. [Aug 2007, p.101]

The car handling is incredibly complex and varied, and the superb modding Garage lets you tweak handling beyond belief - but only if you want. [July 2007, p.88]

In terms of graphics, in terms of variety, in terms of accessibility, it’s a failure on both 360 and PC. Overall, we’re coming down on the side of foolhardy over brave.

Senko No Ronde can be amazing to watch, but it simply doesn’t make enough effort to make itself intelligible to a Western audience and there’s not enough variety in the gameplay, despite the selection of combatants. We can see the parallels with rounders immediately.

One for hardcore collectors only. [Aug 2007, p.101]

Score whores will be entertained for a while. [Aug 2007, p.100]

A scabby swab that plumbs the depps. [July 2007, p.100]

Plenty of modes, but still overpriced. [Aug 2007, p.100]

Shrek the turd, more like. [Sept 2007, p.106]

The end fight where you have to plug every single enemy and boss before facing the unfairly tough villain is the stuff of legends...Co-op play is essential if you want to finish the game. [Feb 2007, p.100]

It’s strategically strong, with custom setups, objectives and teams available. The ten or so maps are, as always, well balanced though uninspired, and the AI can be a beast – humans even tougher.

A lack of development time this time round is surely the only possible explanation for the game’s unfinished feel...There’s a fantastic title in there, one that Treyarch has obviously worked hard on, but we can’t help but feel it’s a case of embarrassing premature web-ejaculation.

The minimal animation style underscores that this is the deepest strategy and most hardcore game on Live Arcade, if not on the Xbox 360. [Jan 2007, p.96]

It's all very limited and mind-numbingly repetitive - but the game's also challenging. [July 2007, p.105]

Eets has got the glee of design that made Worms and Alien Hominid exciting and unpredictable, without the violence. [June 2007, p.96]

A great pinball sim let down by limited tables. [June 2007, p.97]

A decent enough game with a crazy design and the best Xbox Live Vision Camera integration yet, but with a rabbit-sized lifespan. [June 2007, p.90]

A solid enough minigolf game; good for a laugh. [June 2007, p.95]

A dated and repetitive shooter. [July 2007, p.105]

The sad thing about BBR is the lack of variety. [June 2007, p.97]

Another competent ball-matching puzzler. [July 2007, p.104]

The beauty of Guitar Hero II is it's just as playable and addictive in single-player, with a career mode taking you and your band out of the sticks and onto the road of rock stardom. [Apr 2007, p.80]

Delicious design. [June 2007, p.92]

It’s definitely a worthwhile Live Arcade download for Oblivion fans, rejuvenating it and giving your character some wonderful new tricks. Frankly, you’d have to be mad to miss it.

It was, and still is, a gaming masterpiece. The term ‘Must Buy’ was created for games like this.

The only problem with VT3 is also its greatest asset - it really does play and feel identical to the Dreamcast game we played every day for six months back in 2000 and for large chunks of most years since. [Apr 2007, p.84]

Disappointingly average. [July 2007, p.92]

Ultimately, the repetition and rough edges do hurt the expeience, but Earth Defense Force's wacky charm will certaily keep you entertained for a while. [May 2007, p.90]

There are countless days of single- and multiplayer amusement to be had, ensuring that you'll be kept suitably entertained until the next FIFA installment rolls off the EA conveyor belt...which will no doubt be in a few months' time. [Apr 2007, p.86]

A glaring oversight. The turtles all differ, but there's no multiplayer option in the game, either in the main adventure or a separate mode. [May 2007, p.92]

This hasn't moved on from the last generation of Tetris at all. [July 2007, p.102]

It's a good solid beat 'em up, if occasionally a little unfair. [June 2007, p.95]

Perfect multiplayer customisation. [May 2007, p.94]

It's just a pity there isn't as much variety in the fighting as there is in the outfits, as we could've been looking at an even higher score. [Apr 2007, p.91]

Quite simply, GRAW2 is the game the original Advanced Warfighter should have been. It’s GRAW with a proper running time, GRAW without feeling penned in by invisible walls and the endless and constraining "You’re leaving the battlefield!" warnings. GRAW2 promised to be bigger, better and more – and it’s delivered all three.

It's wonderfully creative and all it lacks is online co-op and a little more variation in its action. [Mar 2007, p.93]

The enjoyment only kicks in as a two-player experience. [Christmas 2007, p.98]

The gameplay is riddled with bug-induced frustration, uninspiring combat and a sluggish control system that lacks any kind of invention. [Mar 2007, p.88]

This is something we expect to see available on Xbox Live Marketplace as a pricey download, not a full retail release. Disappointing. [Apr 2007, p.89]

It plays brilliantly and is astonishingly easy to get into...For outrageousness and pure entertainment value, Crackdown is the most fun sandbox game to date...It's all-out action. Crackdown is an absolute riot. [Feb 2007, p.8]

It's a great game in short spurts, but isn't good enough to play in the big leagues. [Apr 2007, p.95]

Its difficulty will put off those who want an easy ride, but for the hardcore, those who want something different from their games, it's the Holy Grail on wheels. [Apr 2007, p.96]

Quirky, funny and colorful, Root Beer Tapper is both cheeky and challenging and a cheap distraction on a Wednesday night. [Feb 2007, p.101]

It looks the same, plays the same, feels the same and, praise the lord, actually is the same. Maybe a bit too 'the same' if you've played it every year for the last five years, but still. It'll do.

Everything it does is solid, workmanlike and shipshape; even the plot has slightly more class than other generic World War II games, tracking two friends and their gradual promotions from Pearl Harbour to being leaders at the mighty sea-battle of Midway. It’s not funny and it’s not clever, but it is slightly more subtle than most of the ham-fisted war stories we normally get. However, the game doesn’t move beyond competent and it’s hardly the most graphically wonderful title – outside of cutscenes, it does betray its Xbox and PS2 origins regularly.

Everything about this game smacks of a half-arsed Xbox Live Arcade title that's blundered into the full retail schedule by accident. [Apr 2007, p.93]

The frantic 2D play, the limited movement options and the massed death from above make it a challenge even to twitch gamers. Throw in four-player survival, a boss battle mode and great co-op and it’s a must-buy.

Playing Lost Planet is like battering "Ghouls and Ghosts" for the first time. You simply won't believe how stunning it looks. But more imortantly, it's one of those games that pits you against incredible odds and satisfies by making it just about possible to beat them! [Jan 2007, p.8]

WSC 2007 is a very solid first-outing for the sport on Xbox 360, although it's a bit slow in places. A frame of pool in the pub iwth mates is going to be more fun, but so far, this is the best Xbox 360 snooker sim. [Jan 2007, p.92]

A miniscule improvement over the original. [Feb 2007, p.100]

Overall, it makes for a slightly better game than "Pac-Man" and "Ms Pac-Man," though that's not saying much. [Feb 2007, p.101]

If you like your car-based beat-'em-ups and don't fancy 20 for a second-hand copy of "Full Auto," then this is a worthwhile investment. [Feb 2007, p.102]

Beautifully thought through, has wonderfully coloured and varied levels and crazed bosses. [Mar 2007, p.92]

The controls of your spaceships just aren’t good enough. You rotate your ship in 3D. You rotate the camera in 3D. You fight in 3D – it’s all just too much 3D.

It looks like it's been lazily ported from the PlayStation 2 because, frankly, it has. [July 2007, p.103]

Despite some control issues, the game could have been a full retail game rather than a Live Arcade title; it's graphically superior to any xbox or PS2 game, it's not short and it features some innovative mechanics.

Small Arms is pretty blatant about copying the gameplay of Nintendo's "Smash Bros," but it's exactly the kind of frantic action suited for online play. [Jan 2007, p.97]

From then on you’re bashing various robots, giant lizards and zooming through the streets of Metropolis – the flying is easily the most fun element – trying to keep the city’s health up by rescuing injured civilians (which is hugely boring), while cutscenes tell you what Lex Luthor’s doing somewhere else in the city.

While the 'tough as nails' shoot-outs won’t see this on everyone’s must buy list, Ubisoft's run of creating stunning showcases for the Xbox 360 remains unbroken.

Our x-ray vision can see through this one. Not quite super enough. [Christmas 2006, p.126]

Obscure, irritating and redeemed a little only by its addictiveness and the variety of the Bionicles that you control. [Christmas 2006, p.98]

We think it's too unforgiving, but try telling that to the people who've maxed out the scoreboard! [Jan 2007, p.97]

Next-gen Sonic is awkward, dogged by awful levels and a terrible hub system, plus the basic action never gets that challenging. When you die, it’s because you couldn’t see, or you fell off by accident. It's hugely frustrating.

If you want all the moves, entrances, costumes and storylines you know and love perfectly rendered, then this is a consummately crafted experience tailored just for you. Yet for the beat 'em up fanboy or non-wrestling fan - newbies beware! - this is going to be very short-lived entertainment.

Movie tie-in unable to flourish because of a by-the-books approach. [Jan 2007, p.94]

Great things are expected of the Eragon franchise, but this could be a thousand games we've played before. No single feature stands out as special, and the gameplay is all far too familiar.

It's just a shame that with such a great idea, it could have been twice as addictive. [Mar 2007, p.90]

The most frustrating thing about Xtreme 2 is thinking about all the time super-developer Team Ninja wasted making it. Every day it pissed away creating this nonsense is an extra day we have to wait for it to release its next proper game like "Ninja Gaiden 2." For that, we curse DoA Xtreme 2 to HELL.

There’s always something to do on your plot of land, and it’ll be a long time before you encounter every species of Piñata and see everything this bright colourful world has to offer.

Of all of Konami's retro games, this is the best. Contra is manically tough, and even Live co-op play doesn't make it that much easier. If you can get to the end without continuing then we'll salute you as a hero.

Gears of War is absolutely rammed with excitement, innovation and atmosphere. This is a next-generation game in every respect, trampling convention and really rewriting the shooter genre with flourish and pace.

While the [single-player] combat is still brilliant and it looks a lot better, the unskippable cutscenes, unvaried locations, irritating characters and mini-games all really grate. However, adding in the much improved multiplayer with a variety of cool vehicles, Treyarch has really rounded off Infinity Ward's vision. [Dec 2006, p.90]

If you want more of the same but shinier, and slightly more serious Tony Hawk action, this is the best skate game for some years.

F.E.A.R. is a good-looking FPS with great sound and amazing gunfights, but it lacks variety – sharing Condemned’s bent for basements, air vents, abandoned factories, offices and so on, and the identikit enemies don’t help.

There's plenty to do and the sheer size of the city will keep you busy for weeks. But Carbon's new features don't stand out enough to make it warrant an immediate purchase if you've already raced through Underground 1 and 2, Juiced or Midnight Club.

It looks great and plays amazingly.

An extremely polished, utterly playable update.

It’s not quite as open-ended as genre titans like World of Warcraft, but there’s a lot to like about PSU; it offers a vast, engaging and personal online and offline experience – plus there’s just something blissful about hitting robot Ewoks with a giant sword.

The actual action-adventure gameplay and the plot is pretty boring for all but hardcore comic book guys, but it's obscured behind a gloss of heroic RPG add-ons. [Christmas 2006, p.84]

Jetpac Refuelled has a lot of charm, and the inclusion of the Spectrum original is a nice bit of nostalgia, but the game lacks the depth and intelligence of other arcade games from that era.

A great license and great idea scuppered by the 'seen it all before' feel of the gameplay. Big shame. [Nov 2006, p.72]