All these practical problems obscure Sum's flat-out brilliant mission design. [August 2002, p.70]

Despite a few AWOL features, however, it can still deliver a healthy 230-mph kick in the pants when pushed. [Dec 2003, p.102]

The Gladiators trades in bumpkin-building for fast-paced and hilarious arena combat... An eminently chewable bit of bubble-gum entertainment. [Mar 2003, p.94]

The immersiveness that made "Black & White" so appealing is distinctly absent. [Mar 2002, p.56]

A lean roguelite that never feels like it's wasting your time, even if it's got some rough edges.

However invested you become, however much enjoyment you take from competency and victory, however many times you watch that replay back of the Volta goal you scored by flicking it backwards over a defender, losing another with an elastico and backheeling it into the net (at least double figures now), FIFA 20’s biggest failing is in producing an enjoyable football match.

An enthralling horror mystery that, outside of its relatively short length, doesn't seem to have suffered at all from the difficult circumstances of its development.

CoD's multiplayer is as dependable as ever, but Vanguard's campaign and Zombies mode fail to capitalise on what could be interesting ideas.

A beautiful, fascinating exploration of a world that may soon be nothing more than fantasy.

Even stranger than its premise and scarier than it looks, The Station is a short ride to a great ending.

Auto Assault's biggest issue mmaay be its lower-than-normal player population at launch. If the world doesn't attract more players, its post-apocalyptic setting may be more appropriate than the developers intended. [July 2006, p.77]

Despite all the ongoing updates and patches, the most critical element is missing: The game hasn't received a fun patch. [May 2004, p.68]

XIII is rounded out by a tantalizing multiplayer component. [Feb 2004, p.62]

Flotilla is a charmingly crafted bite-size portion of tactical fun. [Jun 2010, p.81]

There are some brilliant, original ideas in here, but Vampyr tries to do too much at once and suffers for it.

Arcade offroad racing of the like we’ve played four times previously.

Watch Dogs Legion's play-as-anyone gamble just about pays off. Most of London's citizens are way too ordinary to be much fun, but the few I grew to care about wound up feeling more important to me than most videogame protagonists ever do. Not bad for a group of randomly generated misfits. And I even wound up loving all those drones.

A cool idea with a well-realised theme, but this game would've benefitted from longer in Early Access.

Less assured and sorely missing story mode, this feels like a downgrade over F1 23.

GreedFall's combat, dialogue, and romance are overshadowed by better RPGs, but it's competent enough to recommend with caveats.

Thrilling night races make Heat the best Need for Speed in years, even if I want to batter every one of its racers.

Rail Simulator only offers a handful of structured scenarios in its four routes, and once these are complete, there's little else to do but muck around the sandbox mode or develop your own routes and content. [May 2008, p.58]

With more pronounced effects than the first expansion, Snowfall adds new challenges and complexity.

Blades of Fire can be great fun, but it definitely overstays its welcome.

The Great War: Western Front is a bleak, conservative attempt to capture the brutal battles of World War I.

Genesis' gameplay would really benefit from more depth: once you get the basic structures in place and the cash starts to roll in, there's little challenge left. [Apr 2003, p.104]

Solving The Path of the Shell without a walkthrough will require endless patience and the ability to brainstorm in four dimensions. [Nov 2004, p.88]

Swords of Legends Online's endgame is great, but you're going to have to put up with a lot of crap to get to it.

At $10, Shank 2's hardly a regrettable purchase. Just a largely forgettable one. [May 2012, p.71]

Bloody playable. [Aug 2009, p.77]

It's a great way to spend your casual hours, if a little pricey--but its still cheaper than a trip to the casino. [Aug 2011, p.73]

The once proud sim-racing marque splutters across the finishing line and slowly rolls to a halt. Time for a new model.

Empire of the Ants features a lavish rendering of the world from a few millimeters high, but fails at the basics of interesting RTS play.

Technical issues and lack of a substantial upgrade aside, Until Dawn remains the perfect interactive horror movie.

An all-time favorite takes a forward step in its second life as a 3D series. [Jan 2001, p.153]

Gets bogged down in a few of the traps created by its ambitious, free-form design, but an invigorating game emerges anyway. It's certainly in the same constellation as "Freelancer," if a lot more challenging. [Mar 2004, p.66]

A fresh, fearsome realisation of a classic Warhammer race that revitalises the core game.

Marvelous’s mechfest looks beautiful and plays like a dream on PC, but it's held back by repetitive action.

If you're looking for something new, you're certainly not going to find it in The Phantom X. But if you're cool with gacha games and are down to see a different set of Phantom Thieves, this game'll carry you through at least a few months of fun. Budget-friendliness depends on you, of course.

One of the most exciting racing game environments for years, unfortunately bound to a slew of dull races and superfluous story.

The PC game is actually a late-to-the-table port of a 2005 Xbox and PS2 release, and it shows. [Apr 2006, p.98]

The very definition of style over substance. Great art, but boring levels, lightweight combat, and dubious minigames sour the experience.

Easy going in tone but frantic and stressful by nature, Screencheat seizes on a single novel idea and builds an enjoyable couch shooter around it.

Citizen Brown's story is predictable, its dialog lacks Telltale's usual subtlety, and it takes far too long to ramp up the action. [July 2011, p.77]

A moreish snack, You Must Build A Boat is whimsical enough to make you forget how efficiently it's sapping your attention.

A superb remix of Grow Home that gives BUD a bigger sandbox to play in, at the expense of some challenge.

A brave effort with interesting puzzles, but boring RPG elements really make you want to see how PopCap alone would have handled the same concept. [Mar 2010, p.84]

Somerville never hits its stride, thanks to flat direction and frustrating mechanics.

It's nice to see that the developers actually tried to make a good game, rather than just take advantage of the LEGO brand. [Apr 2003, p.102]

It’s so damn fast and pretty that it’s more fun watching than actually playing it. [Mar 2002, p.68]

It's a lot of fun. [August 2002, p.72]

A mildly entertaining but distinctly clumsy attempt at a Formula One game. [Oct 2000, p.127]

Though not the game "Freelancer" fans have been waiting for, space-adventurers will still find plenty of targets to blow up here. And we'll take what we can get. [Oct. 2006, p.105]

The actual gameplay is quite solid, although a few AI quirks remain from "Live 2005." [Jan 2005, p.106]

Admirably open levels that reward exploration means there’s high replay value if you’re prepared to overlook the back-tracking.

An above average game that doesn't rock the boat. [Feb 2003, p.84]

Though the game’s not as detailed as many hardcore simmers might expect, the ability to man each of these stations does a lot to impart the feel of driving a sub. [Feb 2002, p.71]

Aside from the move to 3D graphics and the requisite new spells and characters, changes or enhancement are surprisingly lacking in this sequel. [Feb 2002, p.67]

A cleverly written adventure game, and offers a thought-provoking twist on the ol' murder-mystery genre. [Sept 2002, p.76]

Poker Night is weak on the fundamentals of card playing, but it's worthwhile for several hours of comedy dialog. [Feb 2011, p.78]

A stylish metroidvania with crunchy combat and a delightfully melancholy mood, but some will find it too safe and frictionless.

A handful of changes don't go far enough to differentiate East from West. [April 2011, p.77]

Paradoxiana at its most approachable and bellicose. Engaging engagements, feisty AI, low price.

Goat Simulator 3 neither excels at gif-able joke physics nor at being a structured singleplayer platformer.

An old-fashioned game in a shiny new package, The Bard's Tale 4: Barrows Deep is a worthy addition to a classic series.

Shadow Warrior 3 buries a fun shooter so deep in muck that it’s not worth dirtying your hands.

A fun diversion if you want mindless space action. But I guarantee you'll have a better time with a bargain-bin copy of "FreeSpace 2" or "Freelancer." [Feb 2005, p.64]

Narnia could be an all-time great movie adaptation, but its difficulty makes it unsuitable for its kiddie audience...and for pretty much everyone else, too. [Mar 2006, p.102]

I was pleasantly surprised at the simplicity of the hunt. [Holiday 2003, p.105]

Galaxies has a few annoying aspects that seem endemic to MMORPGs - with tedious cross-country treks and features that are broken upon initial release - but it still delivers a lot of varied and innovative gameplay. [Oct 2003, p.92]

Heretic's innovative design deserves applause. [July 2005, p.73]

Rise of the Hutt Cartel is decent in its own right, but ultimately too little too late for all but the most dedicated fans.

An exciting concept begging for structural refinements and more meat on its robot bones.

We've always been major supporters of this series, but it's time for the developers to inject some new life into it. [July 2004, p.75]

Aside from the newly balanced weapons, you won't find many tweaks or fixes to the tried-and-true BF2 formula--long load times and the red nametag bug still hinder the game. [Jun 2006, p.52]

Between the scares, your interactions with living characters are hampered by poor voice acting, an inability to skip conversations, and constant dialogue sync issues. [June 2008, p.71]

What gives Legacy its old school charm though is that as much as it's weighed down by an obviously low budget and the mechanical sacrifices of jumping back a decade, there's a love for its style underpinning the action. The result isn't likely to do much for anyone raised on a diet of The Elder Scrolls, and even at its best is a nostalgia trip rather than call for revolution.

A few well-designed systems struggle to overcome lifeless presentation. Capable, but ultimately hard to recommend.

It’s not just cashing in on a fad—there’s a genuine love for everything '80s that seeps into every fuzz-filtered sound and every crunchy pixel. But there are so many games like this around right now. They’re doing fantastic things with the genre, to boot. Unless you’re screaming for a synth-tracked adventure, it’s hard to recommend Rad over its more contemporary counterparts.

A plodding and predictable 4X strategy game that's relaxing in its own way, but rarely challenging.

Squanch's FPS sequel has more creativity in its left shoe than most entire games, but High on Life 2 falls short of excellence.

Occasionally clunky, and sporting an unremarkable combat core, but offers an irresistible slice of stealthy co-op coordination. [Oct 2012, p.62]

A hard campaign (if you play on the hardest mode) and breakneck multiplayer are a good time, if often infuriating.

Resurgence is the perfect mash-up of dramatic Star Trek storytelling and Telltale-style decision making, but with too many QTEs.

This series is suffering from terminal welschmertz. Time to put this warhorse out to pasture. [Dec 2000, p.167]

All you get is a well-polished strategic wargame that offers a ton of depth, unique scenarios, and historical accuracy.

One of D&D's best adventures gets an endearing, if not spellbinding, rendition. [Nov 2003, p.138]

Our advice: check out the game, skip the movie. [Mar 2006, p.102]

There's a good story here, but it's marred by carelessness. [May 2017, p.89]

A gorgeous game with frustrating combat and glitchy exploration, Trek to Yomi is the definition of style over substance.

With only a couple of minor decisions to be made and just a short shootout section there's no significant replay value to KSM, but you do get a marginally improved SMG, a stealthy, lethal companion and a snazzy new casual outfit to strut around the Normandy in. [July 2010, p.79]

An efficient and well-designed galactic fighter. [March 2005, p.75]

An undeniably appealing treatment of cross-country "raid" rallying. [August 2002, p.73]

Forget about the Xbox version. Enclave is an action-packed joy to behold on the PC. [Apr 2003, p.98]

As empty-headed a treatment of modern conflict as you’re likely to find on store shelves. [Feb 2002, p.80]

Both Holmes and Lupin deserve better than this middling. [Aug 2008, p.71]

This version is fine for a single-player quiz, but it's no party. [April 2011, p.75]

A brilliantly absurd arcade brawler that’s brimming with personality, but suffers from repetition and a glaring lack of online multiplayer.