A promising debut, but just too light on options - both inside and outside the Octagon - to be the champ it desperately wants to be.

Because Remember Me has moments of novel brilliance. The Memory Remix segments aren't particularly challenging, or even puzzles in the real sense. They're more a fun way of tinkering with things, and seeing what happens. They do work perfectly well as a narrative device, and a change in pace. The combat system, which might appear strategically moribund to anyone with long experience of gaming, develops constantly throughout the game, which helps prevent you from becoming bored.

Typically entertaining multiplayer gameplay let down by single-player campaign riddled with indecisive AI and unfunny narration. [Aug 2014, p.85]

So, no major surprises then, and ultimately Cars is a mediocre racing game for anyone over the age of about 13. But taken on its own terms, as a game geared towards pre-teens and fans of the movie, its flaws and shortcomings don't matter one bit and will probably pass young 'uns by quicker than Lightning McQueen himself.

A tiresome Diablo pretender that's somewhat elevated by a fangs-sharp script. [March 2018, p.80]

It's a furry platformer with combat that suffers through repetition. Just like the first game, Alice doesn't quite match up to its own grand ambitions - let alone the classic stature of the source material. After 11 years, they should have got it right by now.

Stick with it and you may find yourself disappointed by the uneven challenge factor and scanty online features, but these are obscured by all the brightly-coloured nonsense and if you get far enough in to notice then you're probably enough of a fan not to care.

We're happy to sing this game's praises. [Jan 2010, p.113]

While the AI in "SFII" can be difficult, it was never unfair. UMK3 offers no such assurance. [Christmas 2006, p.108]

A special experience for a certain type of gamer. Try it if you're brave.

If you hate online multiplayer, avoid Homefront like you would a naked laughing man, waving his own severed leg in the air. If you're in it for the multiplayer, then it offers a clean, coherent and genuinely entertaining experience.

But at the end of the day it's intuitive and makes for a highly playable game. We just wish they'd realized that when they killed the crosshair.

At worst frustrating, usually just reminiscent of better, more innovative platformers. [Sept 2015, p.99]

A unique but flawed puzzle game set in a world that is never less than engaging.

Hit The Mitts shows you what Zuffa could have done - a mini-game that reacts well to your punches.

Atmospheric taste of life as a vamp, nicely balanced between action and investigation. [Aug 2018, p.88]

VT has always been a party game, and it pulls that off well enough to excuse the rough edges. If the more technical Top Spin 3 is posh dinner in polite company, this is a pie and a pint with friends - a little boisterous, maybe, but you don't need etiquette to have a good time.

A simple, strange, and flawed game. But quite memorable at the same time. [Christmas 2018, p.83]

Not as cool as it could have been. [Mar 2010, p.115]

A great classic with a few flaws. [March 2013, p.85]

Despite niggles, Apache: Air Assault manages to walk a fine line between po-faced simulation and Desert Strike-esque explosive arcade fun.

Had this been a £39.99 retail game like 2010 FIFA World Cup was then we'd be coughing "rip-off" under our breaths, but kudos to EA for giving UEFA Euro 2012 a price tag that reflects its likely lifespan.

If you can demonstrate a bit of self-control, though, or better yet actually risk failure by limiting the number of continues you get in the menus, this is definitely one of the better sidescrollers around.

A short, funky old-school nostalgia trip that fails to fulfil its potential.

Nice idea, but Toy Soldiers does almost all this does, bugger and better. [March 2016, p.87]

Performance issues and progression complaints compromise this survival fantasy. [Nov 2017, p.86]

A surprisingly playable stealth endeavour from Cyanide, with a startlingly repulsive lead.

The cost is too high and the extras too slim to make this excellent. [Feb 2016, p.86]