Great bursts of short-term, shallow fun.

While in no way essential, there's worse you could do with your money... [Issue#65, p.104]

Hard to put down – but even harder to pick up, thanks to inscrutable controls. [Issue#181, p.83]

A fan-pleasing odyssey into Marvel lore that's a little overshadowed by past glories. [Jan 2018, p.86]

A race against time with a whole lot of charm. [Christmas 2012, p.93]

It's the one that we want. [Feb 2012, p.101]

A well-refined iteration that plays it safe for the most part, but is still good for a boogie. [Jan 2018, p.88]

If you've only played Absolution, these games will come as a surprise. They're more sandboxy, less handholdy experiences. They lack polish, perhaps, but between them they chronicle the invention of a genre, before it was left behind.

Though ponderous in places, there's nothing quite like this curious sandbox caper. [Jan 2018, p.90]

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

The single-player mode offers some spectacular boss battles, but pads out the experience with long-winded slogs against disposable drones. Without humans to fight, the relative rigidity of combat is exposed, though Platinum could never make hitting something anything less than satisfying. Anarchy Reigns is a brash, scrappy runt in a litter of spectacular action games, but in making online brawling just about work it still offers something of its own.

Addictive, quirky and occasionally funny. [Oct 2007, p.88]

Brief, reasonably entertaining and mercifully cheap. [Feb 2012, p.103]

Too tough, very cool, not as good as Sine Mora. [Christmas 2012, p.97]

F.E.A.R. 2 delivers some meaty combat, but fails to improve on the original. Where was the ambition to innovate or surprise? It's by no means terrible, but for such a major franchise, more was expected. This is still an enjoyable shooter, just not a particularly hair-raising one.

Two great games and an awful one. [May 2012, p.93]

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

Easy on the pockets and surprisingly fresh. [Christmas 2012, p.97]

Thanks to intelligent combat, a lovely aesthetic and some great concepts, this imperfect dungeon-brawler stands out from the crowd.

A dreamy, trippy, cryptic punishing journey. Leads by the nose, not by the hand. [Oct 2016, p.98]

Rough around the edges but with a very shiny centre, and the toughest race on Xbox. [June 2018, p.88]

Oxenfree's easy to like, with its inspired dialogue system feeling like a step forward for this genre. It's the lack of challenge and compelling gameplay that leaves it a few steps behind.

Prototype is something of a mixed bag. It's not quite the empowering experience we hoped it would be, but there is something satisfying about leaping off the Empire State Building and slicing a man in half as you land with a giant mutant arm-blade.

It's the sort of game that, when things are going badly, leaves you spending a lot of time not being able to do anything about it. You've made a mistake, and now you have to sit back and twiddle your thumbs.

The best version of a still great online co-op shooter. [Sept 2015, p.104]

A bold, singular adventure that occasionally touches on greatness. [Oct 2016, p.101]

The exact antithesis of Titanfall. [June 2014, p.84]

It's the story that shines here. All pretense of historical accuracy has been thrown out of the window, and it's the most absurd Assassin's Creed plot yet - which is saying something.