Still dark, cool, beautiful, smart substantial, funny, creative and endlessly entertaining. Only now a bit better. [Jan 2014, p.88]

Rich, gorgeous and endlessly fun.

This is the finest WWII strategy game I've played. Hell, I'm having real trouble thinking of <I>any</I> strategy game that's this spectacular, this intense, this <I>fun</I>. [Oct 2006, p.70]

Astonishing...Immense... A strategy masterwork. [Mar 2009, p.54]

Mesmerisingly challenging... If there's another wargame that blends geopolitics with tactics this brilliantly, or portrays war so memorably, then I'm unaware of it... The new king of wargames. [Dec 2006, p.56]

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.

This is the most enormously detailed game world I've experienced, its history stretching back thousands of years, its cultures vivid, beautiful and flawed, the battles enormous, the humour superb. Roleplaying games now have a great deal to live up to. [Dec 2009, p.74]

After playing Far Cry 2, I'm simply unable to go back to straight and simple first-person shooters. This game has executed my expectations. [Nov 2008, p.62]

The first fighting game in a decade built for flesh and blood gamers and simply the best brawler available on any platform. [Sept 2009, p.86]

It's got all the nail-biting high tension of a control point assault/defence of Team-Fortress 2, mixed with the tightly designed levels of Half-Life 2 and the weapons of Counter-Strike. As long as they keep introducing new missions, there's no reason why it won't be sucking on your bandwidth for years to come.

A delightful puzzle classic. [Dec 2008, p.78]

Episode Two is the most sumptuous chapter of the Half-Life saga, and by a country mile. It's as if Valve's tech and art teams are trying to outdo each other: the Source engine has had a striking technical overhaul that renders textures, materials and curves uncannily well, and the artists clearly relish having a fresh palette to work with.

A triumph. Competitors beware: this is the best MMO in the world. Once you're hooked it's impossible to stop playing. [Feb 2011, p.91]

Oblivion is a messy masterpiece; accomplished, bold, huge and occasionally rough around the edges. Your adventures are more varied than those of any other game I could name, and magnificently rendered by the game's powerhouse graphics and physics... Narcotically addictive. [Apr 2006, p.68]

Still the best looking online world out there. [Jan 2009, p.64]

It's the peripheral distractions of both going out with Roman, and meeting your girlfriends, that really make your virtual life so worth living. Although incredibly simplistic, they're oddly touching...One of the finest videogames ever. [Christmas 2008, p.87]

SimBin have concentrated their efforts exactly where it counts - on the driving itself. And what they've created is the finest, most complete racing sim ever. [Oct 2006, p.78]

A charming hack-and-slash RPG, with an excellent soundtrack, great colouring, and a superb narration gimmick. [Nov 2011, p.124]

For the single player, though, Master League is where it's at and, personally speaking, it remains the greatest game mode of all time in any game ever. [Dec 2006, p.84]

Dizzying, baffling and staggeringly clever. It's a game that uses parts of your brain you didn't know you had. [June 2009, p.94]

A beautifully designed masterpiece of a platform game, that will chill, challenge and charm in equal measure. [Oct 2011, p.78]

The most exhaustively detailed, realistic combat jet simulation you'll find outside of a classified U.S. military facility.

Gorier, chainsawier, co-opier, and more infectious. A refreshed stack of content for the best zombie game ever.

A spectacular and beautiful sci-fi epic. [Christmas 2007, p.78]

A cracked and original masterpiece. [Feb 2009, p.60]

It's a tighter, more focused experience than the continental sprawl of "Empire" and "Napoleon", sacrifices none of their intricacy, and brings improved AI to the battlefield. In the final count, it's consistently thrilling, grand in scope, surprisingly atmospheric, and bloody hard to put down. [Mar 2011, p.75]

The perfect entry point into the series for PC gamers. Time to clear some desk space. [Sept 2011, p.82]

Portal is a magnificent puzzle game. The titillating wrongness of every solution and the wonky thinking required to get there make you feel like a space-folding genius, and yet you'll almost never get stuck.

Spore's triumph is painfully ironic. By setting out to instill a sense of wonderment at creation and the majesty of the universe, it's shown us that it's actually a lot more interesting to sit here at our computers and explore the contents of each other's brains. [October 2008, p.64]

There's a reason I haven't said much yet about the RTS that sits serenely at the core of Rise & Fall. That reason is there really isn't much to say beyond it's good solid stuff with a strong whiff of Ensemble's best work. [July 2006, p.85]

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

This is the biggest and best combat flight sim money can buy, but it's by no means flawless. [Jan 2007, p.70]

Stunning graphics and excellent voice acting. [Sept 2010, p.86]

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

Episode One is full of sophisticated visual effects. [July 2006, p.64]

Broken Steel enhances the entire Fallout 3 world with new items, quests and monsters, extending an awesome experience. [July 2009, p.88]

A remarkable piece of work, and a worthy successor to "Total Annihilation." Strategy games don't come this big, and this ambitious, and they never demand <I>this</I> much from you. Take command - if you think you can handle it. [Feb 2007, p.62]

Thrillingly dark, gruesomely adult and one of the most atmospheric games ever. [Dec 2008, p.66]

A dramatic and ingenious rethink. [July 2008, p.78]

A wonderful toy that easily justifies the price. [Sept 2008, p.82]

An amazing blend of high stakes and comedic timing, one that will leave you hungry for constant four-player action.

How DLC should be done. A chunk of game almost as substantial as the full release for a third of the price. [Feb 2011, p.94]

A delightfully challenging platformer, and the most fun you'll have by dying repeatedly. [Feb 2011, p.98]

It's warm, deep, intricate beyond belief, so very funny (just wait until you meet the gnome bard), and opulently involving... A marvellous RPG with stunning tools. [Dec 2006, p.68]

Improved but basically the same, The Sims remains a joyful simulation, and celebration, of life and all its dramas.

Frighteningly compelling. [May 2009, p.74]

There's almost no reason not to mount your horse and charge through the doors of PC World, beheading the security guard with a Zweihander and screaming blood-oaths as you enter your pin number, to get hold of a copy of Kingdoms. Only the weak will not be buying this expansion pack, and frankly, the weak are there to be trampled. [Sept 2007, p.82]

More accessible, still daunting for newcomers, life-swallowing for anyone with an interest in the beautiful game. [Christmas 2009, p.102]

Where Mass Effect 2 completely won me over was in the amazing climactic mission, easily one of the best game endings I've played in recent years.

A gorgeous puzzle-platformer that's both a treat for the eyes and a thorough workout for the mind. [July 2013, p.82]

Large, engrossing and exquisite. [July 2008, p.68]

It's just the kind of intelligent silliness that's always made GalCiv a joy to play, and worthy of even the most discriminating Space Miner's downtime. [June 2007, p.86]

The most satisfying brawler ever coupled with an uncommonly creative stealth game. Only the bosses drag it down. [Nov 2009, p.94]

Despite the 'semi-sequel' tag, there's as much here as the original game. This isn't like the expansion packs we knew in the past. This is World War, Too. [Dec 2007, p.64]

An addictive, attractive, thoughtfully made dungeon crawler. But it could have taken some risks. [Christmas 2009, p.114]

As much mental workout as excellent puzzle game, SpaceChem challenges and entertains, plus it has an engaging story.

This is UT3's contribution to the formula: spectacle, drama, mad heroics. Hurling yourself on the enemy Orb like it's a live grenade, dodging bullets on the hoverboard as you escape with the flag, bailing from an explosive bike aimed at the enemy's star player, and yeah, hanging from a flying metal octopus. That's why it's essential, even in spite of the AI shortcomings.

An elegant game of pure tactics and psychology, won by wits instead of reflexes. Good against AI, great with friends.

Something of a triumph...Simply the best Guild wars yet. [Christmas 2006, p.76]

FIFA 14 has the same old problems as previous incarnations, but it remains the same great football game. [Dec 2013, p.84]

An arcade game par excellence, as inviting as the open road and just as compulsive. [Sept 2006, p.104]

A gorgeous, sci-fi themed platformer, rich with tough puzzles and smart design. Simple, but amazingly detailed. [Mar 2010, p.94]

The pacing is damned smart, the difficulty curve pitch perfect. [Nov 2009, p.92]

A labour of love, and as a result, it's a pure pleasure to play. [Sept 2012, p.98]

Exactly what Dawn of War 2 needed: a generous dose of variety, options, and vicious silliness. play through it at least twice.

None of the three strategy games I just mentioned can match Red Alert 3's spirit of bloody-minded fun. [Christmas 2008, p.92]

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

The PC version of Gears of War is absolutely the definitive take on one of the most talked about games of the last few years. [Christmas 2007, p.70]

Leaks fun like a cracked sump leaks Castrol. Thoughtful additions ensure it's as irresistible as its predecessor.

It's a game with relentless pace, but where flanking, careful sniping, and support actions are all a part of a successful co-operative experience.

Singlehandedly saves fantasy 4X. [Christmas 2008, p.68]

FM 2007 remains a blinding mass of statistics at first sight, but they yield an intoxicating world of heartbreaking injuries, transfer coups, heroic defeats and the pursuit of glory. In short, it's football. No other game comes close. [Dec 2006, p.104]

A fresh, fun idea, beautifully and expertly made. Any game this inventive and clever is worth your £9.

Whether your preference is for PvP or PvE, the frustrations of aimless wandering and vague directions are gone.

There's really nothing that can match Dark Messiah's combat. The mixture of weaponry and convincingly cause-and-effect physics really does take first-person fighting to new places. [Nov 2006, p.62]

It's entirely its own creature and brilliant. [Nov 2007, p.74]

We've seen wide open singleplayer FPS games before, but they've never had this pace or this lust for physical player freedom where every building and every rooftop has been designed to work like a bullet playground. [Oct 2007, p.68]

A racer made of style and substance. [July 2008, p.84]

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

Rich in atmosphere and big on scares, Amnesia: The Dark Descent goes where survival-horror fears to tread.

An impressive second season that fixes our gripes from the first game and turns F1 into an accomplished racer.

Its excellent customisation and clever AI makes for one of the best tower defence games around. [Aug 2012, p.104]

For those new to this strange epic, the raft of under-the-hood fixes and balances makes it the best place to start. [Feb 2010, p.101]

It's a game that's precisely as ambitious as it needs to be. No plot. No anti-aliasing. No in-store cardboard standee. Just you, a physics engine and an armadillo. [Sept 2006, p.96]

There's some superb gaming here, no sci-fi indulgence, no grim Star Wars fanboyism, no recourse to statistics or tedious switch. This is an action-puzzle game for all brains great and small. [Oct 2006, p.94]

TDU's MMO elements are slight compared to quest-and-kill fare, but it's still the greatest advancement of the driving-a-pretend-car concept in years... A car fancier's wish-dream. [Feb 2007, p.74]

Silent Hunter 4's awesome intro movie demands immediate wordage. [May 2007, p.84]

Funnier than any game in years, and delightfully rude. Point-and-click adventuring done right for a change. [Sept 2009, p.74]

Great physics; the best PC fighting game since "Rag Doll Kung Fu." [Christmas 2006, p.90]

Excellent espionage, with superb cooperative play. But we can't recommend you buy this game with the current DRM. [May 2010, p.73]

The astounding realisation of this environment covers any mechanical cracks. [Mar 2010, p.90]

Defcon is an equation that looks simple but can never quite be solved, and it always leaves you scratching your chin, your mind bristling with ideas for new atrocities to engineer. [Nov 2006, p.70]

The bravest, most futuristic survival horror game since "System Shock 2"...A singularity in the landscape of PC games, it deserves careful exploration. [Apr 2007, p.90]

A splendid puzzle made glorious on PC. [Apr 2008, p.70]

Nothing else is this slick, this viscerally impressive, this overwhelmingly addictive.

The sick filth you've been looking for. [Mar 2009, p.64]

An excellent balancing act between arcade racing and simulated driving, with shudderingly fast cars. [Dec 2009, p.102]

A gem of a game on a par with the type of shiny jewels that Lara herself might travel all over the world to acquire.