Take Queen's Gambit as a harbiner that the original is now worth playing. If and when you've exhausted that, then this is waiting for you. [Dec 2007, p.58]

A well designed game totally let down by the software and structure supporting it. This could have been a must-play. [Nov 2012, p.100]

The appealing characters and occasionally entertaining puzzles can only take it so far. [July 2011, p.99]

An acceptable, lighthearted RPG that's often too simple, too staid and too black and white to be much fun.

A smarter camera and tighter controls might have made its other flaws less noticeable. [Mar 2011, p.85]

At root, this is another "Blitzkrieg" ringer. [Aug 2009, p.89]

DLC and diligent modders could make it seaworthy, but until then, a galleon-T attempt that lacks necessary depth. [Oct 2009, p.76]

Basic competence. [Christmas 2008, p.72]

As a distraction, Triple Town is a solid puzzler, especially without the freemium annoyances in other versions. [March 2013, p.99]

Great monsters and partly interesting multiplayer, but weak campaigns and clumsy controls reduce AvP's long-term appeal. [Apr 2010, p.94]

A game that runs on human tears. [Christmas 2013, p.93]

S&M mistakes 'wackiness' for comedy, alliteration for timing, and cliche for characterisation...Telltale just need to realise that writing funny is hard work, and they're not yet doing nearly enough. [Feb 2007, p.70]

Get "Legion Arena" instead. [July 2007, p.88]

Too garage for its own good. [Christmas 2006, p.80]

A fantastic story and great characters, but hours of tedious traps and mazes shows why Fallout is best without walls. [Apr 2011, p.98]

A by-the-book roleplaying jaunt in fantasy-land. There's enough to do in Risen, but never enough to thrill. [Dec 2009, p.118]

Takes a dangling plot thread and ties it up, but unsatisfyingly and with a lot of repetitious combat.

A mean pricing system and lack of strategic control hamstring an otherwise promising management sim. [Christmas 2010, p.88]

Worst of all is its absense of an Undo function. [Aug 2006, p.78]

A dusty laboratory of puzzling complexity. [Oct 2008, p.91]

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

A smart strategy game that doesn't work at the frantic pace it requires. Clever idea, but it's not cleverly designed. [Aug 2011, p.90]

1849 finds a few glittering flecks in taking a well-worn RTS template into gold-rush California, but no prime nuggets. [July 2014, p.78]

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

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

When half a battalion decides to leave your borders undefended while they wage their own private suicide-o-war, it's more than a little galling. [May 2006, p.96]

While it's a competent shell of a game, the only scrap of ingenuity is in the way each character picks any two of eight skill trees, and even that's been pipped at the post by "Guild Wars." [Aug 2006, p.84]

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]