A gripping platformer that cajoles you into platforming amazing feats of dexterity. [July 2015, p.76]

Blizzard at its best, refining a formula until it sings. As good as team-based shooters get. [Aug 2016, p.83]

A huge, complex and expertly written RPG that has the capacity to consume weeks, maybe even months of your life. While its roots are on the PC, it's translated effortlessly to the Xbox 360 with no compromises and stacks up well against the prettiest games on the system. It's more hardcore than Skyrim but by no means inaccessible.

There are rough edges, and a hint of retro, but don't let that put you off a true masterpiece. [Nov 2016, p.77]

As a street-legal version of a purebred racer, Horizon is something that anybody with an interest in cars can pick up quickly and play for ages. And if you don't like cars already, well, it might just persuade you.

Exploding with multiplayer fun! [Oct 2007, p.98]

By being beautiful, imaginative and fun, Grow Up is nothing short of a mini masterpiece. [Nov 2016, p.82]

It's online that Madden 09 really comes into its own. [Oct 2008, p.88]

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.

Small but perfectly formed - a genuine classic of a Hitman level. Check in and enjoy your stay. [Nov 2016, p.85]

An amazing sight to behold. [Apr 2008, p.99]

Codemasters have created their best racing game - and possibly the best F1 game ever. [Nov 2016, p.86]

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]

Crysis 2 skates on the thin ice of its own excellence. There are weaknesses, that might - if the mode-swapping suitplay hadn't been so strong - have dragged the game down. But the story and combat [are] strong enough to carry you through, and if you've got the stomach for competitive multiplayer, the Nanosuit will bring a new world of sneaky, high-jumping tactics to your online game. [Apr 2011, p.84 MC]

Less a party game than clever learning software, Rocksmith 2014 is a highly personalised, customisable and responsive guitar tutoring tool that improves upon the original in almost every regard.

The best music game in the world...ever! [Jan 2008, p.79]

Still fresh 15 years on - and just as much fun. [Christmas 2007, p.107]

Makes co-op gameplay more worthwhile than anything else before it. [May 2018, p.84]

The Walking Dead offers a level of narrative quality that outshines anything else currently available in gaming. It makes the TV series of the same name look dull, poorly paced, and insignificant. These are the most important games released this year, and we simply can't recommend them enough.

It's indisputably an excellent shooter: intelligent, satisfying, and a tiny bit thought-provoking, with big ideas and big fights that are never as clunky, irritating or unfair as BioShock. You should play it. But you should also know that - and here we'll borrow the game's own central theme of parenthood - it's a prodigy that never quite leaves the shadow of its father.

While it's never going to be as surprising or novel as Codies' first stab at Formula One, for a seasonal update there's a remarkable number of tweaks and changes, all of which are for the better. What's more, the game has become one of the most substantial and compelling multiplayer racing offerings around and, with the addition of co-op at whatever diffi culty you choose, is more inclusive for all skill levels than the majority of online racers.

Generous almost to excess, Battleblock Theater is one of Xbox Live Arcade's masterworks, and a reminder that genuine, bona fide imagination is possible even in the twilight of a console generation.

The smoothest, best looking and prettiest Hawk game of the lot. It really has been tweaked to perfection. It's going to be impossible to improve on this one next year. [Dec 2007, p.84]

At its worst, Rock Band 2 feels like a massive expansion pack that just fills in all the missing gaps from the original game. [Christmas 2008, p.92]

An early contender for game of the year. It really is that spectacular. While the hand of Epic is evident, as the team that did the bulk of the work this catapults People Can Fly onto our list of the most exciting shooter devs on the Xbox 360. Brilliant writing, unparalleled production values and thunderous action: this deserves to be number one with a bullet.

Without question a better game than the previous three CoD games and easily the most spectacular in the series.

It's warm, frequently funny, and stylish. It's extremely good value at 800MP. It's just hard enough to keep you biting. And most of all, it's just bloody great.

Earthworm Jim HD is a brilliant example of how games should be remade and remixed on XBLA.