A dark and astonishing masterpiece...I spend my career, and my gaming life, waiting for a moment when a game just astonishes me, when I can't believe what I'm seeing, what I'm <I>doing</I>. BioShock has five. [Sept 2007, p.66]

Still a solid sports sim, but more features means less fun. [Nov 2007, p.78]

Insta-fun air combat, daft and pleasing.

The new elements it adds feel more like a patch than a genuine expansion whilst the mods are hit and miss - and you can already get the best ones for nothing. Would I want to go back to playing Civ IV without what Beyond the Sword adds? No. But should I have to pay this much for the privilege of balancing a game that, by the very intent of this expansion, its developers clearly feel needs it? Again, no.

Where a game like "SWAT4" manages to be fun, GRAW2 just feels a little bit too much like hard work. The fireworks don't crackle with the kind of spectacle we're paying for, and there just isn't enough juicy meat on the tactical bones for us to regard this as a feast. [Aug 2007, p.74]

The dark addictiveness of levelling is as strong here as anywhere. [Oct 2007, p.85]

This is not the most convincing military sim ever, but it's a good approximation of grinding boredom followed by sudden death - and a virtually unplayable game. [Aug 2007, p.86]

Promising ideas completely wasted. [Oct 2007, p.78]

If Overlord is a villain, then it's one of those buffoon-ish sidekicks in a Disney movie. It tries and tries hard to be dark, to carry out depraved deeds and thwart the heroes. But it just can't help but cutely (and it is cute) bumble every attempt, conform to cliches at every chance, and grin gently at its own sophomoric humour. [July 2007, p.82]

It's brief enough and silly enough that it never stops being dumb, no-strings fun. Even when your VS becomes capable of barely-steerable flight and unbearably slow-to-recharge energy swords, y'know, it's still a flying robot with swords. Also, a generically Xboxian art style aside, it often looks fantastic, the motion blur and haze of snow especially.

Empty-souled, dated GTA clone. [Aug 2007, p.84]

You'll smile at the logic of the solution. [Oct 2007, p.86]

Hacky port that bleongs on consoles. [Sept 2007, p.80]

New ideas save this buggy oddity from walking the plank...just. [Aug 2007, p.87]

Not even those who know their peleton from their paceline will have the stamina to endure this baffling, alienating sim. [Sept 2007, p.89]

It forms a natural companion to "Richard Burns Rally," which will likely remain the more technical racer's weapon of choice. In many ways, DiRT supersedes it, the sheer viscerality of hte roads putting the shoe to anything the older game can offer. [Aug 2007, p.78]

A great pedigree - you'll be hooked on this like grade A catnip. [Sept 2007, p.89]

When was the last time you played a game where you could make your horse slide down the face of a cliff, shooting with the six-gun in your left hand while reading from the Bible in your right? [Oct 2006, p.84]

Night of the living dud. [July 2007, p.86]

Not pretty, plump, or progressive, CaW succeeds in spite of itself. The gripping subject matter, the refreshing absence of turns, and the fact that victory and defeat are often just a couple of bomb or torpedo hits away, combine to produce pace and levels of excitement you don't often find in hardcore wargames.

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

Apathy-inducing hospital undrama. [July 2007, p.74]

The opening battles are simply too difficult to play. [Aug 2007, p.91]

Unless a badly placed hemline is enough to ruin your whole week, this add-on pack won't change your life, just the style of your Sim's flares. [Sept 2007, p.89]

Not as bad as you'd fear, not as good as you'd secretly hope. [May 2008, p.90]

Why am I empty, then? Perhaps because this crass, banal, unchallenging belch of a first person shooter has left me that way, groaning and giggling like a mental patient. [Nov 2007, p.72]

It's sweet and simple enough, but with that, remarkably shallow. [Oct 2007, p.87]

It's only really good for two or three novelty-endowed playthroughs. [Aug 2007, p.72]