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 most successful MMO ever adds another thick layer of icing to its cake. [Feb 2011, p.100]

Indie gaming's finest hour and the best puzzle game since "Lemmings." Easy on the eyes, your system and your wallet - it's a triumph. [Christmas 2008, p.94]

There are moments that let Butcher Bay down - the melee combat, cack-handed first-person boxing, feels radom and ridiculous; there's some irritating mystical babble; and it's too short - but overall, the game's a gem. [Jan 2005, p.86]

From the ridiculous to the sublime: one for fans of undersea combat. [June 2005, p.98]

As good as Civ ever was, with some interesting new additions and, better yet, no more stacks o' doom. A worthy series update. [Issue#245, p.98]

It's ugly, clunky and stilted, but channel your psychotic Sam Fisher and you'll find some fun. [Oct 2011, p.103]

A sensory feast, GTR2 takes you so close you can almost smell the burning rubber. The best PC racing sim there is. [Oct 2006, p.90]

The most grown-up GTA and the best realised, but it doesn't respect the PC much. Enjoy the multiplayer madness if you can. [Christmas 2008, p.96]

It's the finest Total War game CA has ever made, with a beautifully focused campaign and involving multiplayer too. [Apr 2011, p.94]

A colossus of a game. The challenges presented by the Grand Campaign firmly establish Empire as the stuff of legend: it’s far-reaching, truly massive and utterly engrossing. Once more, CA has refused to rest upon its laurels, creating one hell of a time-filching game; expect some late nights and canceled social engagements once Empire hits your hard drive.

It’s managed to make ostensibly the same game as it always has, but with just a little bit of lateral thinking has revolutionised its own formula. Bring on Age of Bomber Jackets, already.

The PES series has always been about realistic football simulation rather then hi-octane arcade action. [Dec 2005 p.85]

The role playing element is where this game comes into its own...You can engage in mind games with any other manager, striking up friendships and burn bridges, and your players will react to what they say about you too. The fun that cna be had by continually prodding a virtual Kevin Keegan to see what he'll do next...[Dec 2004, p.82]

Possibly too relentless for the less devout mouse-jockey, but it's astounding proof that being a brain-dead shooter is a very good thing. [Jan 2009, p.86]

Gory, thrilling and this year's essential play. [Christmas 2009, p.84]

Mass Effect's impressive storytelling struggles against remarkably clunky combat action, and wins - but only just. [July 2008, p.100]

Nearly perfect drop-in, drop-out fantasy fun. Top-notch stuff. [July 2005, p.91]

It's imposingly deep and demanding. [Dec 2005 p.89]

Another masterpiece from the folks at Massive, and one of the most beautiful visions of warfare you're ever likely to see. [Oct 2007, p.30]

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.

While other games may offer more to immediately get excited about, its charms will last long after their 3D glories wane, and for fast-paced but thoughtful strategy action, you simply cannot do any better.

Battlefield 1942 is absolutely a multiplayer title – and don’t let anyone tell you different – and in that respect it really does the business.

With stunning visuals and a racing model so finely-judged Codies has done it again. An oil-stained masterpiece. [Jan 2010, p.82]

A superior resurrection of a presumed dead legend.

Strategy game of the year, perhaps of the millennium.

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.

As cinematic games go, Mafia is in a league of its own.