Not rubbish, then, but one to pick up from the bargain bin. [Aug 2012, p.103]

The detail is there, but thanks to the mild handling and thin, generic audio, the magic isn't. [Aug 2012, p.97]

Great customisation and a compelling clan war layer, but the multiplayer just isn't interesting enough to support them. [Aug 2012, p.96]

A decent slow-mo shooter spoilt by technical issues and a heavy focus on an empty plot. Wait for patches or a demo. [Aug 2012, p.88]

Does it justify the steep price? No. [July 2012, p.99]

Unluckily, it costs 20 quid, which is significantly more than it's worth. [July 2012, p.99]

Exploring is fun, resource exploitation is basic and extermination is tedious. [July 2012, p.84]

What starts out unforgettable, ends up feeling disposable. [June 2012, p.111]

A different take on tower defence, but one that needed more thought before being released on an unsuspecting public. [June 2012, p.110]

A welcome gulp of sea air for jaded real-time strategy fans, slightly tainted by campaign conservatism. [June 2012, p.108]

It's a cute and pacey game. [June 2012, p.105]

The ghosts are fun and have plenty to say, even if the humour regularly falls short. [June 2012, p.105]

The 16 campaign sorties feel so HAWXian so Ace Combatish, you'll swear you've flown them before. [June 2012, p.101]

At a mere 2 quid, you'd have to be insane not to pick Wizorb up. [June 2012, p.101]

On its own merits, it's an okay hack-and-slash but one that feels as old as it is - and nothing special when there's the likes of Recettear and Fortune Summoners offering other flavours of action-JRPG in more interesting ways. [June 2012, p.100]

Short but sweet - a relentlessly imaginative adventure from Double Fine that never wears out its welcome. [June 2012, p.98]

For its price and playability it's well worth a look. [June 2012, p.97]

The new scenarios are enlivened by the fantastic timeline system. [June 2012, p.97]

Tremendously ambitious but agonisingly incomplete. Its battlefield is buggy and crude, and its RTS credibility is MIA. [June 2012, p.96]

It's a formula that works surprisingly well, and, at such a small price, Waveform is a bargain. [June 2012, p.95]

Cubemen's simplicity is of the arrogant, even brash kind. [June 2012, p.95]

The MoW formula still satisfies, but familiar units and a stale setting leave this swansong feeling superfluous. [June 2012, p.94]

Endearingly cheery, but slightly shallow stealth-action dosed up with black humour, and a few fresh gimmicks. [June 2012, p.88]

This game has been spread too thinly: while initially engaging, it quickly becomes repetitive and dull. [June 2012, p.87]

A game offering joyously vapid four-player carnage and some smart unlocks, but lacking substance. [June 2012, p.86]

Eugen Systems put the "real" back into RTS. The result is spacious, subtle, deeply satisfying tactical gaming. [June 2012, p.84]

Scoregasm may lack the polish and extra modes of the best examples the genre, but its frenetic pace and level variety ensure it's worth more than a quick fumble. [May 2012, p.113]

There are better and more rewarding ways to exercise your creativity. [May 2012, p.113]

An often frustrating game built around a clever idea. It could have become something so much greater. [May 2012, p.112]

It's utterly compulsive. [May 2012, p.111]

The bulk of JULIA feels like an attempt to pad out the story. [May 2012, p.111]

Still too dour for most. [May 2012, p.110]

Satisfying. [May 2012, p.105]

Remarkably basic. [May 2012, p.105]

A novel use of fluids, but sometimes scuppered by cumbersome platforming and the annoyingly happenstance physics. [May 2012, p.104]

This is a flight sim light on content, but it's not like you have to pay for it, is it? [May 2012, p.102]

An anarchic lo-fi MMO with a refreshing disregard for your sanity. Unrepentantly simplistic and fun. [May 2012, p.94]

A beautifully animated, brilliantly scored, exquisitely judged platformer, equally modern and classic. [May 2012, p.92]

A solid Motocross racing game that skids and falls flat on its face in the mud when it tries anything else. [May 2012, p.90]

A beautiful alternative to the standard MMO, but unlikely to draw you away from more structured questing for long. [May 2012, p.88]

Unfinished, unpolished. [May 2012, p.87]

A serviceable compilation wrapped in a dodgy console conversion. [May 2012, p.87]

Unlikely ever to fuel frenetic action akin to Galcon, or plumb great strategic depths. [Apr 2012, p.121]

A thoroughly enjoyable, hardcore platforming challenge to tackle. [Apr 2012, p.120]

A poor substitute for more focused action or strategy. [Apr 2012, p.116]

The game's later levels get brutally devious, and the trial and error can become tiresome. [Apr 2012, p.113]

If enjoyable, charming, bite sized platforming is what you want, Storm in a Teacup is the right brew for you. [Apr 2012, p.112]

Beneath the endless text, Analogue is smart, focused, and refreshingly unpleasant stuff with a style all of its own. [Apr 2012, p.112]

For 8 quid, this add-on manages to bite out Dead Island's biggest chunk of fun. [Apr 2012, p.98]

Two cool new brawling modes with no upper limit on challenges. That's worth 2 quid if you're getting seriously good. [Apr 2012, p.98]

Pretty standard, but entertaining enough. [Apr 2012, p.98]

Well worth the 5 quid. [Apr 2012, p.98]

If you were ever in your life a child, you'll love it. [March 2012, p. 107]

If you're going to be offensive, you need a point. This has none, either as satire, commentary, videogame or comedy. [Mar 2012, p.118]

What Chaos Unleashed adds is solid, but there's nothing essential enough to warrant fighting against the game's lazy matchmaking system. [Mar 2012, p.117]

There's enough of the terrible stuff to drown out the scant few passable bits. [Mar 2012, p.117]

If you weren't a big fan of the original's combat or writing, there's nothing to recommend about Origins. [Mar 2012, p.117]

Does absolutely nothing with this age-old genre. [Mar 2012, p.113]

If this was a budget release, it would merely be a rubbish game. At full price, it's unforgivable. [Mar 2012, p.113]

You end up playing three intertwined games simultaneously. [Mar 2012, p.111]

The one Shogun DLC I have trouble getting enthusiastic about. [Mar 2012, p.109]

Hate seeing your battle banners blanche? Go Ikko Ikki. [Mar 2012, p.109]

A very fair price for the pleasure of their covert company, even if you only end up leading them for a couple of campaigns. [Mar 2012, p.109]

An engaging and enjoyable take on medieval strategy. [Feb 2012, p.107]

There are no hidden depths in Waves, but it's worth splashing out on it. [Feb 2012, p.112]

Even the best moments of parody are undermined by the fact that it simply isn't as good as the games it mocks. Shame. [Feb 2012, p.101]

The game is an aesthetic pleasure to lose yourself in. [Feb 2012, p.101]

Feels like a showcase of a brilliant game mechanic, but that doesn't excuse the sparseness of the game around it. [Feb 2012, p.99]

Rochard is just four or five hours long, but it has boatloads of charm and a surprising amount of character. [Feb 2012, p.99]

If you know what it expects of you, there's a thrill to some of Generations' showier moments. If not, prepare to hit a series of brick walls at high speed. [Feb 2012, p.93]

A short burst of too easy fun at too high a price. [Feb 2012, p.93]

A punishingly tough light RPG that'll draw you in and spit you out without a second thought. Worth it for the presentation.

There are a few glimmers of brilliance. [Jan 2012, p.141]

It's very pretty, but for a game so enamoured with the action, it never clicks. [Jan 2012, p.141]

A big, detailed database wrapped in a friendly UI, then wasted on an unresponsive and inaccurate pitch simulator. [Jan 2012, p.122]

A brave attempt at a promising genre, but not hard-boiled enough to earn the traditional $25 a day plus expenses. [Jan 2012, p.120]

Quickly loses steam thanks to repetition and bland design. [Jan 2012, p.114]

Simply getting things done is a grating process. [Christmas 2011, p.107]

A good idea that allows for some fun co-operative strategising, but too often the mechanics or technical issues get in the way. [Christmas 2011, p.100]

Immersive, absorbing, annoying, and very long – if you're after getting a tan from your monitor, get in there.

How free-to-play gaming should be done, in a superhero MMO that's yet to be beaten for fun. More like this please!

A surprisingly deep and well-designed FPS/RTS hybrid. A Team Fortress 2 alternative that needs a community to thrive.

Frustrating for newcomers and disappointing for veterans, Stronghold 3 is a combat overhaul away from being any good.

Set to doom a generation of pony-mad girls. Perfect if you have love in your heart and Sims 3 on your Steam account.

Exhilarating flying over fine scenery, but the story needed to be stronger and longer. Buy ToH for the thrills. Not the dialogue.

Too similar to RailWorks 2 to be a sequel, and with little fresh content, but the series is chugging along in the right direction.

The co-op is a nice topping on a delicious slice of retro action – but you might still feel hungry afterwards.

Fun with physics, if you're happy to dig to find your treasures, Universe Sandbox has them in spades. [Dec 2011, p.112]

Modern Warfare 3 is linear, badly written and one note. It's still, from a certain angle, regressive. It's also fun.

The games we normally call open worlds – the locked off cities and level-restricted grinding grounds – don't compare to this. While everyone else is faffing around with how to control and restrict the player, Bethesda just put a fucking country in a box. It's the best open world game I've ever played, the most liberating RPG I've ever played, and one of my favourite places in this or any other world.

Brilliant and unrivalled multiplayer makes it a game worth playing, despite bugs and crappy singleplayer.

Often beguiling and sometimes infuriating, FM 2012 remains a compelling and comprehensive sim of footie strategy and tactics.

A huge and exciting new mission riddled with creative possibilities. And it ends on the boss fight the main game deserved.

A less than great RPG-shooter that you may still love to pieces, but keep a pack if aspirin on hand just in case. [Nov 2011, p.140]

Custom BFGs keep it more BFE than BFD, but the modern successor to games like Contra and Abuse this is not. [Nov 2011, p.136]

It's certainly never short of ideas, but inept execution sends Pirates of Black Cove toppling off the gangplank. [Nov 2011, p.134]

Some conservative choices, and it's tough for tourists, but stoical series vets will relish the change of scene and kit. [Nov 2011, p.132]

Not as clever as Recettear, but just as cute, and a strong second outing for the translation team behind it. [Nov 2011, p.130]