Too clever for its own good. [Jan 2008, p.80]

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

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

Rich, gorgeous and endlessly fun.

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.

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.

If only it could have retained its sense of humour, this would be really good stuff. [Dec 2007, p.90]

It has to be that AI again. It just feels too rigid, too tediously functional to capture the sheer fluid exuberance of football. [Dec 2007, p.78]

Much better than last year's effort. The improvements come through broadening the experience rather than heightening the quality. [Dec 2007, p.62]

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.

You can rip off a 7-year-old game and still fall short of your ambition. [Oct 2007, p.87]

Another lazy, cynical cash-in made by people who don't care. [Jan 2008, p.81]

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]

In terms of fulfilling what "Settlers" has always promised - building a city - it's true to its word. It just needs a bit more vim and vigour to it. [Dec 2007, p.68]

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]

Enormously entertaining combat in gorgeous settings. [Jan 2008, p.85]

If the imaginative approach of the Hong Kong levels could have reached Chicago. I'd be hoarse from cheering. As it is, I'm smiling with nostalgia for those days of four hours ago. [Oct 2007, p.80]

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

What could have been an exercise in heart-pounding stealth is just dreary and mechanical. [Apr 2008, p.83]

Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power is a slick hex wargame that wears its theme like a chimpanzee wears a trilby (reluctantly and unconvincingly). Besides the names of the factions, units and characters, there's almost nothing here of the dark, distinctive source material. [Dec 2007, p.84]

A perfectly adequate console port. [Nov 2007, p.84]

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

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]

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

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

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]

A great big walloping drive of a golf game. [Nov 2007, p.78]

Higgledy-bonkers point-and-click nonsense. From hell. [Dec 2007, p.85]