Fans will love how Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 captures the look and carnage of Naruto's anime battling, but it's too restrictive and repetitive to convince as a standalone fighting game. [Apr 2016, p.89]

Capybara's created a truly new kind of shooter, both in-your-face and slyly intelligent - held back only by just how good its central mechanic is and how much more it could have been used for.

Ultimately, it's all about the online: if you have an active social life on Xbox Live then Skate 3 is near-essential, but otherwise you might as well stick to last year's version.

At the end of the day, you'll be left feeling warmer and happier than if you were in the heaving bosom of Lara herself. That's got to be worth the asking price. [May 2006, p.70]

A game of rich variety and strong personality that never gets boring over its ten essential hours - many more if you stop to check out the full and entertaining world... It's shorter than GTA IV, for sure, but it's also much sweeter. [Sept 2012, p.82]

400 Days is by no means an essential purchase - it unfolds so quickly that you don't have that much needed time to mull everything over. But for 400MP, it's a perfectly decent-sized bite that should whet your appetite for Season Two, adding welcome layers of intrigue and complexity to an already exceptional series.

If you're a fan of the series then that will either be enough for you or it won't. We suspect that it will, because stability is as important as progress in those sports updates that already lead their field, and hey, the addition of some serious next-gen sense-candy doesn't exactly hurt.

If you don't already have the previous games, then this is essential.

A risky focus on stealth pays off in this uncompromising and brutally tense side story. [May 2015, p.97]

A beautifully fettled, deeply tactical XCOM-alike that has a shot at cult-classic status.

The NES trilogy and 16-bit sequels are still hugely challenging and worth a look. [Issue#179, p.90]

Fable III is still a great game, but something this brilliant deserves a more considered - and climactic - ending.

Warm and inclusive - if you've got the money. [Christmas 2012, p.96]

It's a decent tribute to an overrated series, and the ports are accurate - to a fault. [Nov 2015, p.87]

Manages to impress. [Apr 2015, p.82]

A welcome apology for last year. [Dec 2015, p.73]

Despite its shtick wearing slightly thin towards the end, at around 4-5 hours long this doesn't outstay its welcome. And it certainly ensures we'll never look at creepy green-hued night vision footage the same way again.

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]

A near-flawless collection of the original arcade versions. Plenty to get stuck into. [Sept 2018, p.86]

Capcom's cult favorite is worth the attention of any RPG/adventure fan out there.

It's the same, but it's a good kind of same. [Oct 2007, p.90]

Truncated but still truly impressive. [May 2010, p.95]

Metro: Last Light is one big dose of more-of-the-same. It has the same mid-2000's flavour, and pulls it off once again by offering a varied set of locations and missions. It has no aspirations above being a linear FPS, and if you're OK with that, it's a treat. If you find your arse being handed to you, though - consider sticking to the darkness.

One of the better sci-fi puzzlers not starring GLaDOS, with plenty to keep grey matter happy. [Nov 2016, p.86]

Inconsistent but entertaining, packed with likeable, iconic characters. [Issue#225, p.72]

It rivals Skyrim's scope, but as a genre piece (albeit a smart one), it lacks the other game's mystery - there's no craggy elusiveness, no glacial hinting at secrets beyond comprehension, to help you overlook the more familiar elements. It's less a world you discover, ultimately, as one you revisit, and that's a failing no amount of fancy footwork can disguise.

This episode ends on a doozy of a cliffhanger, but as a fan of the comics (and to a lesser extent, the TV show), I'm worried it's straying into another kind of scenario we've seen played out several times before. Here's hoping Telltale proves me wrong. Keep that hair short.

A charming game with a wonderful story, but let down by its repetitive combat grind. [Issue#194, p.78]