There's none of the groundbreaking innovations of the "Total War" series or the gloriously strange "Perimeter," just a conventional game made very enjoyable (more so than it perhaps deserves to be) by a brilliant franchise and spectacular animation... Stunning to behold. [Oct 2004, p.88]

The player might not be number one any more, but the game reigns supreme. [Nov 2004]

A neat platformer that misses the final leap to triumph. [Oct 2005, p.98]

The whole process feels just perfectly balanced; this is literally the most expert game you can play, it feels great and fans of the original will love it. [Oct 2004, p.84]

The game is incredibly awkward to play. [Oct 2004, p.99]

Acceptable, but like a photo of the Mona Lisa rather than the real thing. [Nov 2004]

Still great fun, but do you really need to buy it again? [Jan 2005, p.90]

Frantic platforming with a whimsical bent. [Nov 2006, p.104]

High seas trading, not hijacks. Passes the time, but gets old fast.

Bargain multiplayer fun, but tedious if you go it alone. [Dec 2004, p.94]

Leaves on the line may cause brain delays in strategy management.

Obtuse, ugly, hair-teraingly frustrating at times, and only very occaisionally imaginative. [Nov 2004]

Just manages to scrape into the "different enough to be interesting" category. [Oct 2004, p.100]

Overpriced, under-content and thoroughly disappointing all around. [Dec 2004, p.102]

Intriguing plot and visuals, but we've had enough of these lazy adventures. [March 2005, p.104]

Not "Crimson Skies 2," but quite acceptable tipple while it lasts. [Nov 2004]

Surprisingly more depth than there at first appears.

Gorgeous and horrifying , but also dumb and repetitive.

Not so bad that you'll want to pluck your own fur out, but that's all. [Nov 2004]

It's hideous. The graphics are atrocious, the controls are ridiculous, and missions consist of running around the blocky levels, firing wildly until random chance results in you killing everybody. [Oct 2004, p.100]

Messy, clumsy, and deeply unsatisfying beat-'em-up combat. Surpised? Catwoman is a poorly made tie-in game for a rubbish movie. Someone find me a bag and a brick. [Oct 2004, p.96]

If you find your trigger finger itching, you'd better buy yourself a WWII or sci-fi shooter to sate your appetite, because Kuma/War manages to get it very wrong. In every single sense. [Dec 2004, p.101]

A real shot in the arm for what is becoming a dull genre.

Cheap, tired and dull. Avoid it, and the inevitable fourth sequel. [Nov 2004, p.103]

Even the impossibly hard missions are horribly addictive. [Aug 2004, p.83]

Perimeter is capital-‘huh?’ weird from start to finish, in a brilliant way. The trouble is it’s also hard, with the single-player campaign often being incredibly frustrating.

Clever and surprisingly rational, Aura is only let down by plot and game length. [Oct 2004, p.96]

Eminently likeable; as moreish as chocolate kittens, more addictive than smack-sprinkled kebabs. All the key ingredients of an RTS are here: well-balanced varied units, interesting missions, a surprising plot.

It's just a deeply undeveloped game. [Aug 2004, p.90]

A strong game, but be aware that you'll have to put in plenty of gruntwork before you'll have the chance to see it at its best. [Aug 2004, p.80]

This prison lies in a qualitative limbo. The monsters are gorgeous bundles of slime and metal; the atmosphere is dense and layered; it can, on occasion, give you real heebie jeebies. [Aug 2004, p.85]

Thief contains a level more terrifying than anything we've ever encountered before. [Aug 2004, p.76]

A bit like Paul Daniels, its magic is only really going to work on the kids. [Aug 2004, p.86]

A huge number of options, but the graphics are dated and the sound effects are monotonous.

Big, brash and varied, if a little on the crude side, TC is assuredly a top cat. [Aug 2004, p.88]

If it’s championship kicks that you’re after, get yourself a copy of "PES 3," because what it lacks in glitz it makes up for tenfold in terms of gameplay. We certainly wouldn’t be seen kicking about with anything else.

Ostensibly worthy, but fundamentally uninspiring – the only value is the size.

A real romp to play, and there’s very little grind involved – an achievement for any MMORPG. In addition, it doesn’t require you to put your life on hold to get a lot out of the game, unlike the "Everquests" and "Star Wars Galaxies" of the world.

It lacks enough of a hook for existing MMORPG fans to sink into, and there’s many, many competing titles that offer a more exciting holiday in the land of orcs, elves and shrieking demons with gold up their bottoms.

Rather too over-familiar, but still a very entertaining stealth experience.

Gory and pointless – just one more tedious stealth game.

Depth, detail and cars galore, but lacking the spark to be truly essential.

Hugely repetitive action game. Hugely repetitive action game. Hugely repetitive (you get the idea).

Cheap, tired and dull. Avoid it and the inevitable fourth sequel. [Nov 2004]

Slick, with better handling but seen-it-all-before gameplay.

We’re left with a terribly flawed gem that catches the light one moment and cuts with a jagged edge the next. We hope the dozens of glitches, bugs and random crashes can be wiped away with a patch.

Oddly entertaining, but still short, stunted, and with zero replay value.

When Far Cry does what only it can do, it’s a genuine classic (you’ll be waiting in vain to see anything of the scale of the outdoors sections in "Doom III"). When it follows in others’ footsteps, it’s merely a highly superior genre game.

Frustratingly similar to the first, but plenty of good set-pieces in there.

Glossy but vacuous; a short-lived, slow-paced distraction. [Aug 2004, p.91]

Note to Epic: just give us more unique Onslaught maps – and new vehicles for them – and we’ll happily keep playing. But keep churning out endless samey maps and it’s back to "Battlefield" and "PlanetSide" for us.

An enormously rewarding and complicated game Battlefield Vietnam is then, and unquestionably an improvement upon its predecessor. At the same time, it’s so remarkably similar to BF 1942 it’s almost not worth buying if you’re an existing fan.

Even with this variety, Rainbow Six is starting to feel decidedly over-familiar and all its flaws, from the flat combat to the flat graphics and utterly unconvincing AI, are very much in evidence.

Perfect for people who hate helicopters and simulations. [Dec 2004, p.104]

Despite its flaws, Joan of Arc has an unmistakeable pick-up-and-play factor, coupled with a learning curve that makes it very enjoyable, especially acquiring many rare items from the slew of side quests.

Predictably poor. Proof that every gaming franchise has its limits.

Complacency has set in by now and calcifies this ongoing saga.

It’s stable, easy to learn, cheap and has plenty of scope for development, which is perhaps more than the competition offers.

It’s astoundingly beautiful, too – by contrast, "Freelancer’s" visuals are like watching a brick float around a bucket of custard. But, needless to say, X² isn’t for everyone – but if it’s immersive liberty rather than fast thrills you’re after, it offers an almost incomparably satisfying experience, just so long as the really bad stuff doesn’t stop you from putting the hours in.

A superior resurrection of a presumed dead legend.

Creativity and gags galore, but we’re too close to falling asleep.

Had Deus Ex 1 not existed this would’ve been a godsend. But…

A sim of Arnie’s election campaign would be more entertaining.

A bog-standard, enjoyable romp with enough skills and spells to challenge most but nothing to distinguish it from the crowd. [Nov 2006, p.104]

Unfortunately, there’s still the irritating third-person camera and chugging graphics to remind you of BGE’s console origins, and it never comes remotely close to justifying the pretentiousness of the title – at a mere 12 hours or so it’s undoubtedly far too short.

There’s no reason to fear its Xbox origins – while you may occasionally long for extra depth on a mission or perhaps some more involved combat, the rapid pace and dedication to narrative and character will soon have you back hacking away in the thick of the action.

Crazy-arse shooting with its brain in its arse, and a mean streak.

An ordinary platformer that struggles with expectations.

The game’s combat system is competent and fiercely enjoyable for fans of the ‘quick, kill that heavily armed hotelier’ genre.

Updated and revamped, FIFA 2004 is a whole new ball game.

There’s too much replaying of banal levels over and over again until you learn enough button combinations to survive long enough to reach a checkpoint. Sure, there are a few good moments – the sheer scale of the halls of the dead, and the backdrop of hundreds of charging orcs during some of the battle scenes – but the braindead playing of them renders the whole experience futile.

Ultimately, the licence both saves the game, by giving even the most basic of its scenarios a degree of weight, and hinders it by causing regular moments where you double take, realising something isn’t quite right.

The Red Army levels are stunning.

A promising shooter which ultimately ends not with the final movie, but an impassioned cry of “What the hell were you thinking?!”

Provided you have the necessary levels of patience, Gothic 2 inexorably draws you in. It’s resolutely old-fashioned without being tired, and credits you with, gasp, some intelligence instead of handing over every little thing on a plate. Now if just one single MMORPG could be this good.

Naturally wanting to be played with a PS2 joypad, the controls are difficult to use and can’t be changed, although a secondary keymap allows for the more familiar [W], [A], [S], [D] combination.

The visuals have lost their lustre in the transition from 2D. Instead of being the studious girl who had her own style who you always fancied, it’s turned into the bubble gum-chewing underachiever who, when she opens her mouth, spouts the worst kind of gutter drawl.

An example of British resilience, striving on against daft AI.

The unique graphics engine much vaunted by CDV sadly enables little innovation in the rendering of 3D effects, and only the magical powers offer something a little different, which is telling – overall the emphasis is on over-the-top adventure, rather than realistic recreation of history.

Frustrating array of random pointing and clicking.

The best comparison is a C-list Hammer Horror film. Yes, clearly utter trash – but trash that attempts to overcome its limitations through determination and imagination.

If you’ve ever been excited by Sculder and Mully, or terrified by hydrocephalic children, there’s a game for you. It’s not pretty and it’s not perfect, but we’re so glad it’s there.

One of the most rewarding games around for the devout strategist, but those less experienced will find it hard to get started, and may get disheartened by the obstacles.

There’s immense replay value here, there’s a mixture of modes and difficult levels, and there’s a damn fine game, even if it’s not quite the revolution that the first Max was.

When it’s good, it’s exceptional, but when it’s bad it’s just OK. Witness the multiplayer, which, while it isn’t as social as Halo’s first incarnation, is brilliantly handled.

While non-hockey fans can blag their way through the main game, Dynasty mode is a whole different puck game. It takes a real hockey buff to know what's going on with the different team lines, strategies, player trading and draft picking.

It's a simple, short thing, but the truly masterful handling of the lightsaber(s) this time around means it's also perhaps the most genuinely Star Warsy game in a long, long time.

As close as you can get without pen and paper, but for diehards only.

This year’s best RTS.

It teeters on the brink of greatness but never quite gets there.

Despite the heavy emphasis on replayability, only the most die-hard fans of the original series will be happy to chase the same car over an identical track again and again for the meagre promise of TV stills and rehashed video clips.

Lively, mindless carnage, with wonderful visual excess.

It’s an epic achievement in some ways, but our expectations weren’t met.

The puzzle elements are more like extremely simple exercises that you have to complete, rather than challenging problems that need solving, and the same is sadly true for the strategy.

Tron 2.0 is shockingly flawed. Given that there are so many good ideas – the skill system, the gorgeous and unique textureless neon design, the mistakes are that much more upsetting.

Daft idea, but the basic game does all you'd wish for. [Apr 2005, p.113]

It’s doubtful whether fair-weather flight sim fans will get much more out of this than they would from FS2002, but for the enthusiast, A Century of Flight is worthy of the pride and bluster that the title implies.

The focus on wizards adds far more of an edge than Heroes of Might and Magic’s army action, and the increased level of tactics puts Disciples to shame.