How free-to-play gaming should be done, in a superhero MMO that's yet to be beaten for fun. More like this please!

A surprisingly deep and well-designed FPS/RTS hybrid. A Team Fortress 2 alternative that needs a community to thrive.

Frustrating for newcomers and disappointing for veterans, Stronghold 3 is a combat overhaul away from being any good.

Set to doom a generation of pony-mad girls. Perfect if you have love in your heart and Sims 3 on your Steam account.

Exhilarating flying over fine scenery, but the story needed to be stronger and longer. Buy ToH for the thrills. Not the dialogue.

Too similar to RailWorks 2 to be a sequel, and with little fresh content, but the series is chugging along in the right direction.

The co-op is a nice topping on a delicious slice of retro action – but you might still feel hungry afterwards.

Fun with physics, if you're happy to dig to find your treasures, Universe Sandbox has them in spades. [Dec 2011, p.112]

Modern Warfare 3 is linear, badly written and one note. It's still, from a certain angle, regressive. It's also fun.

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.

Brilliant and unrivalled multiplayer makes it a game worth playing, despite bugs and crappy singleplayer.

Often beguiling and sometimes infuriating, FM 2012 remains a compelling and comprehensive sim of footie strategy and tactics.

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

A less than great RPG-shooter that you may still love to pieces, but keep a pack if aspirin on hand just in case. [Nov 2011, p.140]

Custom BFGs keep it more BFE than BFD, but the modern successor to games like Contra and Abuse this is not. [Nov 2011, p.136]

It's certainly never short of ideas, but inept execution sends Pirates of Black Cove toppling off the gangplank. [Nov 2011, p.134]

Some conservative choices, and it's tough for tourists, but stoical series vets will relish the change of scene and kit. [Nov 2011, p.132]

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

Good gags can't save this game from its repetitive combat and bland RPG-lite nature. [Nov 2011, p.126]

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

Four pretty but stale multiplayer arenas. One comedy zombie map. Eleven of your pounds wasted. [Nov 2011, p.122]

Some nice touches, but lethargic AI, performance issues, and personality - deficient premiers make the ruling gruelling. [Nov 2011, p.120]

Bite-sized, colourful chunks of randomly generated adventure. It's the perfect casual roguelike experience. [Nov 2011, p.114]

It's beautiful, free and addictive to a point, but Age of Empires Online's battles fail to deliver a challenge. [Nov 2011, p.110]

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

A sluggish interface, weak guns and a few dull sewers can't slow this game down. Dead Island is huge, bloody and beautiful.

If you've got the patience to penetrate this game, and to put up with its dawdling, you're in for a treat.

An indie platform game with endearing retro looks, style, sophistication, and a sadistic streak. [Mar 2010, p.96]