You will laugh. [July 2011, p.99]

Great fun, but goes out on a whimper, rather than a bang. [Feb 2009, p.62]

In short, not bad for a game where you still can't jump. And you don't need to. So there.

BCR is at once beautifully reminiscent of its era, and polished enough to be palatable to a modern audience. The core grappling and swinging mechanic is satisfying, the weapons a joy to wield and the levels are imaginatively designed.

For all its worthiness it's fairly dry in terms of action. [July 2007, p.90]

For all its singleplayer niggles of slightly gutless, meagre gunplay, the astonishing-looking Prey is often great fun, occasionally very creepy and frequently highly impressive. Just don't go taking it seriously. [Aug 2006, p.74]

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

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 "Hellgate" left you with deep wounds of despair, this is the healing potion for you. [June 2008, p.80]

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]

Not one to buy if you own the original. [Feb 2011, p.82]

For only 1.99, it's a trip back in time worth taking. [March 2013, p.95]

The most realistic wargame simulation available today, albeit burdened by poor performance. [Aug 2010, p.100]

It's deeply hilarious - as aracde-feeling as strategy games can get...It does everything it can, bar a song and dance routine, to entertain you. And it succeeds. [Apr 2007, p.62]

An ambitious and beautiful RPG that falls just short of greatness, thwarted by a stunted finale and imbalances.

FlatOut is the kind of game that's fun to win, but the charm quickly peels off when frustration sets in - and it will. [Oct 2008, p.82]

An incredibly refreshing reinvention of the S&M games, much funnier, and far, far more interesting to play. [June 2010, p.96]

7 quid is a good price for a universe. [Sept 2011, p.89]

A sluggish interface, weak guns and a few dull sewers can't slow this game down. Dead Island is huge, bloody and beautiful.

Space Marine is just endless war. Thanks to powerful weapons and excellent pacing, that war is pretty damn fun.

We don't give marks for effort, so the game they've ended up with is all that matters. It's a great and truly new one, just not varied or exciting enough to live up to this particular name. [Feb 2009, p.54]

The most enjoyable independent game I've played since "Defcon." Funny, challenging and cute, in the old school it's absolutely top of its class. [Mar 2007, p.76]

An inventive and enjoyable puzzle platformer. [Sept 2010, p.84]

Deep, logical and ambitious, Hearts of Iron 3 is a daunting prospect. Be prepared to lose entire weekends to it. [Oct 2009, p.88]

The puzzles are excellent. [Sept 2010, p.105]

Why on Earth would you learn to play real guitar when you can play this? [Jan 2008, p.72]

Bite-sized, colourful chunks of randomly generated adventure. It's the perfect casual roguelike experience. [Nov 2011, p.114]

Satisfying, unintimidating war with rich visuals, held back by flavourless map design and a poor singleplayer mode. [Apr 2010, p.85]

It's Panzer General in a new greatcoat. A perfect introduction to the wonderful world of wargaming. [Oct 2011, p.80]

Aesthetically, emotionally, narratively and in terms of the interactions it demands, Supreme Commander is hard. [Jan 2008, p.82]

It's not bad value if you're new to Race 07, but is perhaps a raw deal for those who own the base game. [Christmas 2009, p.106]

A flawed but irresistible MMORTSCCG. [Apr 2009, p.74]

The combat and final mission are weak, but the story strands that bind it all together are excitingly unique to each other. [July 2010, p.87]

Flawed RPG fixed. [Nov 2008, p.88]

The campaign is nothing special, but you get more than your money's worth in the Conquest multiplayer mode. [July 2011, p.96]

The old soldier shows his gregarious side. This is gruelling but great WWII action, spanning every theatre.

A satisfying self-contained chapter, driven by an engrossing story, with exploration encouraged. Plus flying laser robots.

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

The core game remains unchanged, the AI still quirky, the music ace, and the commentary surprisingly intricate and relevant. [Dec 2006, p.101]

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

For all the action, for all the explosions, for all the adamantium-spined squad members, it's really not for the impatient - but if you don't mind fighting the control system as much as the Krauts, it's a refreshingly different take on what was rapidly becoming a tired setting. [Nov 2006, p.74]

Atmospheric and gorgeous, an excellent indie calling card. [Feb 2008, p.83]

Excellent house-breaking multiplayer that's great while it lasts, but may wear out early due to lack of maps.

A surprising treat. [Dec 2009, p.109]

Short, sweet, and entirely too touching for a platform game about bouncy squared narrated by Danny Wallace. [Oct 2012, p.96]

An exciting, surprising and thought-provoking adventure rendered in a beautiful art style. Gemini Rue earns respect.

A cheap and filling snack of carnage. [Apr 2007, p.80]

Mystically charming. [Nov 2009, p.91]

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

This voyage is shaping up very well indeed. [Nov 2009, p.91]

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

A fantastically imaginative gameworld of gods, dinosaurs and giants, beautiful but messy and poorly explained.

Shift 2's sheer weight of stuff – from mud-ring circuits in a VW Golf to Bugatti duels at the Nurburgring – gives it a deep bag of appeal. There's an array of fiddly details for car geeks to poke at, and a range of control-difficulty settings that allow you to tailor races to your ability. The only downside to such a complete package is that it demands so many hours of acclimatisation before the cars start to make sense.

Takes merciless puzzling into the war room. Obssessive fun. [Feb 2009, p.62]

It's Far Cry 3 dressed as trashily as you can imagine; the joke only goes so far, but it's definitely fun to play. [July 2013, p.90]

Although it's a shorter, shallower and less sexy version of Dragon Age: Origins, this is nonetheless still long, deep and sexy. [Apr 2010, p.88]

Too fiddly and unforgiving for the popular palate, but those after reality-rooted WWII challenges should clearly investigate. [Aug 2011, p.94]

The best war sim around. [July 2014, p.86]

An impressive game, but not one that will be to everyone's tastes, especially not those after a quick thrill. [Sept 2010, p.88]

You can't help but get the impression that this was a sequel made out of obligation, rather than creative drive. [Apr 2006, p.95]

A brilliantly realised world wrapped around a story-driven shooter that occasionally forgets you want to play it. [June 2013, p.71]

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

For the price, it's easy to recommend. [Sept 2009, p.89]

Codemasters manage the near-impossible - delivering a fresh, approachable, and (largely) credible F1 game.

Entertaining online war, in the shadow of beastly "Battlefield 2." [May 2006, p.96]

There are times when - beaten by twitchy analogue controls, insufficient feedback and maybe just a sheer lack of hardcore skills - it can feel like a dispassionate sim rather than an affecting, involving game. [Jan 2007, p.90]

Something that raises a smile in your inbox, instead of spam. [Christmas 2006, p.93]

For those involved in fighting, and those attempting to avoid it, the game's particular brand of 'real-time' combat is eventually effective. [Apr 2006, p.84]

It's clearly worthy of the spit and polish it's received. [July 2007, p.70]

It's not a rehash, nor a reinvention, but instead an appropriate incarnation in a post "Prince of Persia" world. [May 2006, p.74]

Addictive as hell, with a splash of awesome-funky-cool-o-rama. [Feb 2008, p.83]

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

It lacks the stylistic nuances and gratifying climax scenes that really made FEAR work, and much of the level design is perfunctory at best. [Dec 2006, p.66]

Luckily, this expansion pack does the series proud. [Dec 2007, p.88]

If you can penetrate the mysteries of its boardgame-based rules, Blood Bowl can offer true barbaric happiness. [Oct 2009, p.74]

It's clear that Darkstar One is the most amusing space game in many months. It's just a shame that it weighs in like a cash starved version of "Freelancer," without any particularly inventive ideas to back up its broad scope and sense of ambition. [Sept 2006, p.98]

No singleplayer game I know offers more scope for creativity, more surrealism, or a more original commercial model. [Aug 2006, p.82]

A few clever mechanics and great weapons against a backdrop of surprisingly immersive Civil War and WWII battles. [Oct 2009, p.87]

Repetitive, but well worth repeating. [Dec 2006, p.78]

Chaotic but magnificent bouncy fun. [June 2007, p.76]

The tidier interface is certainly welcome. [June 2006, p.97]

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

It does everything you'd want from a pet-focused expansion pack. Nothing more, nothing less. [Dec 2006, p.115]

A fast, deep and exciting card game let down by its business model. Great when you're on a roll, rough when you're not. [Apr 2014, p.84]

This is a big, tight game that's just lacking in greatness or spark. [Feb 2007, p.78]

Stealth and free-running are jettisoned: all that is left is a constant barrage of swordfights. It's a disaster, a betrayal of everything the player has learnt so far. It abandons even the slim veneer of choice that the very best games offer us, turning into Double Dragon in a monk's robe.

Devilishly tricky. [July 2010, p.95]

Genuinely hilarious. [Nov 2008, p.80]

An expansion to delight EverQuest die-hards. [Jan 2007, p.86]

A mammoth update that caters for mid to high level players. [Aug 2010, p.90]

Bulletstorm is not art by any metric. It's difficult to defend, like a friend you take to a party who ends up pissing in a vase. You don't want to be associated with him, but sh.t, he provides an evening of excitement. It's a game that's very proud of the f-words it's learnt, and it uses them a lot. Fast. Frantic. Fatuous. Full-on. And yes, that other one: fun.

Pleasingly varied new multiplayer modes for an excellent game, hampered by a paucity of maps [June 2009, p.90]

Fun, but easily forgotten. [July 2006, p.75]

Purchase with confidence. [July 2009, p.86]

A brave and courageous publisher would have let the sublime source material dictate the design rather than reach for the nearest proven formula. [Apr 2006, p.80]

With a tasty main game and moreish extra levels, Eets is a gaming snack to recommend. [June 2007, p.91]

A delight. [Dec 2013, p.95]

It packs an emotional punch when it counts. [Nov 2014, p.92]