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]