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]

As a continuation of the story, however, the episode works well. [Dec 2009, p.91]

A genuinely beautiful place crawling with magnificent beasts, host to interminable hours of mindless, soulless grind. [Dec 2009, p.110]

Order of war is irrefutable proof pretty Panzers are no longer enough. [Dec 2009, p.91]

Overstretched on launch, Fallen Earth is broken in too many places. Wait a while and the ambitious world could be impressive. [Dec 2009, p.84]

Essentially a very promising tech demo. [Christmas 2009, p.110]

An intriguing spanner in the strategy game works, but one that causes too many malfunctions to justify its existence. [Dec 2009, p.90]

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

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

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

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

PopCap charm permeates the experience - the dialogue and tool tops are hilarious - but the halfway mark signals a massive surge in difficulty, and you'll frequently get pinned for hours on a single stage. [Dec 2009, p.117]

It's just a good game. [Nov 2009, p.98]

The closest thing HoE has to a distinguishing feature is something called the 'ace kill.' [Dec 2009, p.105]

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

Original, fun and funny. A demanding, adrenal pleasure that's a few critical tweaks short of true brilliance. [Dec 2009, p.104]

It's quite broken in many ways, but it quickly grows on you, and becomes surprisingly endearing. [Nov 2009, p.82]

Satisfying combat and interesting mission structure saves this from the yawns of a thousand identikit space marines. [Nov 2009, p.102]

A surprisingly moreish zom-bomber. [Dec 2009, p.109]

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

A colourful, campy and unfrustrating caper. [Oct 2009, p.84]

If you can play it without yearning for "PlanetSide" or "ArmA 2", you're a better/weirder man than I. [Nov 2009, p.100]

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

Even with the silly-alien theme, Zeta is utterly humourless. [Oct 2009, p.79]

This wet weekend in Wigan doesn't even come close. [Oct 2009, p.84]

Good, excellent, tip-top, neat, sound, and indeed marvelous. A casual adventure for even the most hardcore word geek. [Oct 2009, p.86]

Insultingly banal. [Nov 2009, p.100]

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