A cheap and cheerful action game that won’t win any awards, but provides solid knockabout laughs.

A traditional RTS essential for anyone interested in competitive strategy games, and highly recommended for anyone who isn't.

It stays close to its inspirations and risks growing repetitive, but Anodyne’s darkly surreal atmosphere is gripping.

Dungeonland is nowhere close to perfect, but in multiplayer it’s a brilliant bastard of a game. Just add friends – or enemies.

Tense and atmospheric, Teleglitch wields difficulty, action and horror to create an unsettling survival experience.

As a simulator, SimCity advances the achievements of SimCity 4, SimCity 3000, and SimCity 2000, but as a product, it is inferior to all of them. Constant connectivity does have benefits, such as leaderboards, worldwide challenges, and the Global Market, but it’s not even close to being worth the hassle for those features, and hardly touches the essence of what makes SimCity so diabolically addictive and engrossing.

Visually stunning and meticulously staged, but hindered by limited depth and stifling linearity.

We suggest you play the original, free, Flash version instead – the full explanation isn’t worth the outlay.

An inspired dynamic score makes for some sublime hiking, but it’s somewhat slim and repetitive for the asking price.

Can occasionally drag, but is a mostly funny and intelligent puzzler that may improve your lexicon to boot.

A muddled collection of good ideas, Impire has charm enough but its flaws are likely to frustrate most players.

Bleed is not as refined as the aforementioned Super Meat Boy, not is its action as satisfying balletic as most bullet shmups. But there's a real spark in it--a spirit that lights the game up every time things slot into place. [April 2013, p.63]

A neat story threads missions together and provided enough of a tug to pull me along. [April 2013, p.63]

Despite a rather ho-hum main quest, Dragonborn is crammed with enough side quests and new stuff to be an exciting add-on.

An excellent horror game burdened with action pretensions – but it still delivers a fraught, polished experience.

It’s still a terrific, dazzling action experience with a core mechanic that empowers you, and ultimately, this feels more like Crysis 2: Episode 2 than a sequel that deserves your maximum enthusiasm.

Deeply underwhelming. Neither staged carefully enough to be scary nor dynamic enough to be exciting, it succeeds only where other players are capable of breathing life into it. There are better linear shooters, better asymmetrical multiplayer games, and better Aliens sequels, and your love of the motion tracker and pulse rifle would need to be profound to surmount those obstacles.

Ace of Spades contains some good ideas and tries hard to ape its influences, but it lacks their charm and stability.

A calming, likeable adventure with an engaging premise, but Waking Mars’s roots could go a little deeper.

There’s solid storytelling and mechanics behind the numbers, but the art and sound could be much more interesting.

Addictive, if soon over. An intoxicating cocktail of molten merriment, Puddle is a glass-half-full kind of game.

Primordia starts abruptly and ends just as suddenly, and the good story that we’re teased with doesn’t quite ever get told.

It’s a welcome addition to the Crusader Kings family, but The Republic can’t quite overthrow its liege game’s throne.

Fixes most of Elemental’s technical and design problems, making it an addictively complex and rewarding strategy game.

Wurm Online is one of the most innovative MMOs around, but damn, will it make you work to appreciate that fact.

Little Inferno's argument against games I would never elect to play left me rather cold. [March 2013, p.79]

Aftermath retains most of the polish present in DICE's previous expansions. [March 2013, p.79]

The whole thing feels a bit bland. [March 2013, p.73]

The result is a Jurassic Park worth visiting once, but not for a long stay. [March 2013, p.73]

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams may provide a few hours of polished puzzle-platforming, but don't be surprised if you ultimately end up estranged.[March 2013, p.65]

Chivalry is Quake to War of the Roses' Battlefield, and those seeking a faster-paced bloodier experience will undoubtedly prefer Chivalry's type of steel. [March 2013, p.65]

Intuitive and accessible but also repetitive, SSZ is a flight combat game that trades on tradition rather than imagination.

Not as tough or as deep as it could be, Omerta is still a destination well worth a visit.

Clever, but sometimes a little cold, this is an accomplished headscratcher of unusually philosophical ambition.

The Cave isn't bad, but it is mystifyingly bland for what it sets out to be – and that ends up being worse than a glorious failure. We need more games like this, with this much love on display. With its actual adventure bits lacking the spark of its concept and artistry though, The Cave ends up sending you on an ill-fated trudge through platform purgatory in more ways than one.

A witty spin on turn-based strategy with some novel mechanics that briefly makes Windows 8 gaming slightly less depressing.

Whatever your thoughts on the redesigned Dante, this is a worthy entry in the series with a marvellous combat system at its core.

A shameless knock-off that repeats many of DayZ's problems. Worst audio ever. Bullets for sale? Really?

A powerfully evocative and beautiful subversion of point-and-click rote, but occasionally opaque and disorienting.

Legends, you're the worst. [Feb 2013, p.79]

The result is an endearing, intelligent little game that's sadly a bit wobbly at the knees. [Feb 2013, p.79]

WRC3's excellent track design counts for little when burdened with unnatural car handling and uninspired design.

Baldur's Gate is still a game that's well worth playing, but the Enhanced Edition isn't the version we'd recommend.

Traveller's Tales have stuck to their formula, but luckily the source material is so iconic, and the tribute so thorough, it barely matters.

Bugs and dodgy design decisions don't quite negate the novelty of spaceshipping in confined spaces.

Mildly rewarding, but largely unremarkable. There are better options for the management- minded out there.

An excellent idea, not perfectly realised but still ambitious and compelling enough to deserve your attention.

This is not a game that likes you much. You'll like it though, even when it goes out of its way to live up to its name.

Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse hates you. It's poorly made, nasty, expensive and exploitative. I hate it right back.

They've nailed the sensation of stomping around in a giant machine, but the F2P model needs an oil change.

Gorgeous, immersive and packed with game modes, NBA 2K13 is one poorly designed keyboard setup away from b-ball glory.

Lacks the polish and panache to be a true champion, but Viking is still solid, no-thrills entertainment.

Disappointingly old-fashioned. Nostalgia isn't enough to save this boring shooter from stagnant FPS limbo.

A fun platformer that gives random generation an online twist, but lack of depth stops this from being a job for life.

A frenzied, elegant action game that pulses with great music and demanding thrills, for only £2/$3.

Unexpectedly engrossing. Heed the mockers and you'll miss one of the PC's finest and freshest driving games.

Evolutionary shooter that creates an involving, sometimes terrifying, tactical battle between two distinct races. Brilliant.

Entertaining storytelling and fantastic naval combat marred by terrible mission design and endemic feature creep.

Storm Legion isn't the most innovative of expansions, but the vast amount of content added makes it practically essential for Rift fans.

For those with the machine to handle it, PlanetSide 2 is never anything less than staggering. On your own, it's a spectacle. Stand far enough back and you can almost take it all in, but there's just too much there to focus on. With teammates, the picture comes into glorious focus.

It's not a big or clever game, but there's value in the small and stupid too, and there's something truly wonderful about it being Steam Greenlight's first release. [Jan 2013, p.69]

Weird restrictions aside, this is a funny, unique, and charming way to kill some time, even if only in small amounts. [Jan 2013, p.69]

You've got a huge island to explore, ridiculously effective tools for scouting every hostile situation, and so many clever intersecting systems to inspire creative ways to conquer them. It's a better stealth game than Far Cry 1, set in an open world that feels richer than Far Cry 2's. That's an amazing thing to play.

I desperately hope the reaction to it is strong enough to convince the developers to change direction, because I couldn't stand to watch the series die like this.

This much belated franchise-resurrection trips in execution due to unit pathfinding issues and the lack of multiplayer.

Though hokey, tired and periodically shambolic, the campaign has a few new tricks, but it's the fulsome multiplayer that saves Blops 2 from shame.

Occasionally entertaining, but plagued by AI bugs and hamstrung by a clunky user interface. Less than the sum of its parts.

Gory, beautiful chaos, if a little frustratingly rough behind the scenes. A good afternoon's chaos, and that's what matters.

A promising enough idea, Lucius shoots for the depths of hell – but poor execution lands it merely six feet under.

A stealth game that turns you into a predator rather than prey. Mark of the Ninja is an engaging sandbox of stealth.

It still feels like a six-year-old game, and that's probably a sign to move on to something a little newer. [Holiday 2012, p.73]

After some missteps, it's Battlefield back to focusing on what it does best. [Holiday 2012, p.73]

Snapshot is a charming, challenging platformer with innovative puzzles and a generous helping of good ideas. [Holiday 2012, p.72]

A smoother, more seamless ride than Hot Pursuit, it's second time lucky for this fast, furious open-world motor show.

A boring, unoriginal, morally bankrupt, ethically dubious glorification of war, that's not worth your time or money.

Transgressive like Grand Theft Auto hasn't been for years, Hotline is violent, quick and compulsive but lacking in depth.

Beautiful game, with some nice puzzles, ruined by your character's inability to perform the platforming as well as you need.

Some subtle tweaks make this the most polished, accessible entry in the Football Manager series in years.

The latest iteration of Konami's football game is fine, but inorganic, stolid, and a little dull. Pick FIFA over this on PC.

A still excellent football game that has been overburdened by features and is hungry for some real innovation.

A dark action-platformer which shows fleeting signs of life, but lacks the vivacity to climb above the competition.

Has its flaws, but with more polish and improved naval and air AI, this could be one of the great light wargames.

Polished and involving, FTL spews superb sci-fi adventures like a cornered Mantis boarder spews hot formic acid.

Brutal, beautiful, emotion-wringing turn-based storytelling muffled by flat base design.

A gorgeous, complex and slick assassination sim, with fascinating systems to play with and huge open levels to explore.

A slight but fun third-person medieval melee game. It's definitely different, but needs more bulking out.

You should play this because it's an inventive story with three or four things you've never done in a game before, and because it suggests a future where games don't insult our intelligence with dull plotting, dire exposition, and endless cut-scenes. [Dec 2012, p.75]

Symphony is fun, pure and simple. [Dec 2012, p.75]

The core principles are engaging and there's a lot of superficial entertainment--I still smile at the way my crew, the trusty Rigonauts, continue pummeling the remains of my defeated, white-flag-waving opponent while I review the "level complete" summary--but it's missing the mission variety that would coax out the engineering potential Rigonauts should have. [Dec 2012, p.67]

Ultimately, TPM might give you the odd chuckle, but you're not really looking forward to it running for a second term in your office. [Dec 2012, p.67]

Unmechanical dazzles with its gorgeous artwork and smart physics-based puzzle, but its ending is ultimately unsatisfactory. [Dec 2012, p.66]

Previous World of Warcraft releases have been genuine events. This one is simply an expansion pack. A good expansion pack, for sure, with lots of content to keep you playing one of the best and most beloved MMOs ever created. Just don't expect it to be anything more.

Agreeable hack-'n'-slash fare – the puzzling and platforming is lightweight, but offsets the roaming and robust combat well.

It's a charming, sunshine-bright indie action-RPG with an old-school disregard for your time. It'll consume you with a smile, and you'll be smiling, too: but it's down to the community to turn it into something special.

A bunch of fun new abilities and cool places but Dawnguard is far too glitchy to justify its steep price.

A cynical attempt at milking players for money. Bullet Run plays like a tacked-on online mode for a singleplayer game.

It seems crass to judge a game by quantity, but this is quantity of quality. So if the amount of money you spend on games is a practical concern, it's worth saying that this one is freakishly good value. Even if it's not a concern, it's worth saying that this one is freakishly good.

Not a feast for the eyes, but there's more than a meal here if you're a glutton for clever, cruel puzzle-based punishment.