Refreshingly different, Silent Storm is a must-own for fans of the squad-tactics genre. [Mar 2004, p.61]

Crash 4 is the kind of retro throwback that actually earns its spot as a successor to the original trilogy. There’s the occasional bandicoot stumble, but it's a responsive, precise platformer that looks as good as it plays.

A flavourful and inventive 4X full of incredible spells and engaging empire management.

Not since lemmings has a game so seamlessly mixed humor, cutscenes, and cruelty. [Holiday 2011, p.77]

Beautiful, touching and messy. Life Is Strange is good—not great—but I'd recommend it to anyone.

Fun, but it lacks depth compared to other PC roleplaying games. [Nov 2005, p.78]

A quality-made but unsurprising multiplayer FPS that offers refined versions of the current most popular modes and top-tier shooting.

What the Golf? has been in development for a while—I feel like I've tried it at several indie game events over the past few years—but now that it's out I'm delighted to see its a fun, funny, extremely inventive puzzle game and a pleasure to play from the first hole-in-one to the final cat-in-seven.

Looks better than it plays, but it's got a good heart.

A beautiful, smartly designed game set in a gorgeous futuristic city, but with a story that doesn’t quite do it justice.

Parkitect, for all its quality, is content to be a fairground attraction: fun and mechanically sound, but not something you’re going to queue up hours for.

Those of you still playing UT2K4 won't find many core gameplay changes in UT3; the advancces here are primarily aesthetic. [Feb 2008, p.66]

A stark statement about war delivered through deftly designed stealth survival and resource management. Important, but unrelentingly cruel.

A beautiful and engrossing detective game packed with mysteries, puzzles, and intrigue.

The high-point of a consistently strong series, and a great showcase of adventure game design that fits the story's theme.

What could've been a pure moment of celebration for a series that's overdue for a great videogame is complicated by the fact that its success is a win for JK Rowling, and all the bad feelings associated with the desire to play the cool new wizard RPG.

It's truly rewarding to see your tactical decisions pay off (and devastating to see a tight lead blown). [Dec 2009, p.77]

Consider this game a creative homage rather than a remake of all things Lara Croft, and a perfect chance for newcomers and diehards alike to jump back into the series' seminal single-player action. [Aug 2007, p.60]

A gorgeous remake of a true classic that could, and maybe should, have tried to do a tiny bit more.

An exemplary game that's a must-buy for wargamers. [March 2005, p.70]

A mind-boggling grand strategy game that tries to do way too many things, but ends up doing some of them extremely well.

"Quotation Forthcoming"

Beautiful, bold and varied. Slightly Mad are uncompromising in their simulation.

Even if you loved "Myst," you'll have a frustrating time with this sequel. If you do buy it, get your hands on the strategy guide ASAP. [Jan 1998, p.289]

Hokkaido is a confident and experimental end to a great season.

So Two Point Campus doesn't really rock the boat, fitting firmly into the mould of its predecessor—but replicating one of the best management games of recent years is a smart strategy. Genuine surprises are few, and I hope the UI flaws are fixed promptly, but this is still a guaranteed good time, bursting with energy, charisma and slapstick shenanigans. You should definitely consider enrolling.

It seems that the difficulty in scoring is the developers' way of balancing out the appalling defensive AI. [Feb 2003, p.63]

With some nifty tweaks to the engine, A-class writing, and a dazzling implementation of the D&D 3rd Edition rules, ID II is like hauling out yesterday's burrito casserole and realizing that it tastes even better reheated. [Oct 2002, p.87]

It's very much a product of "WarCraft II" cloning, but Age of Empires is a surprisingly sound and enjoyable real-time strategy game. [Dec 1997, p.240]

Hardcore fans will be enthralled by the (optional) authentic engine-management procedures necessary to keep each of these magnificent machines airborne. Also, in a cool departure from current industry practice, an honest-to-goodness 155-page printed manual is actually included in the box. [Dec 2004, p.102]

An engrossing survival city builder with intricate production and farming systems.

Familiar and inventive, tough yet easygoing, World of Goo 2 is a whole world of fun.

A solid game that does everything at least mostly right, but almost everything seems a little duller and more tedious than you'd expect from a next-generation MMORPG. [Feb 2005, p.76]

Repetition and trial-and-error learning can be numbing. Only dedicated explorers will unearth its interesting gameplay. [Sept 2011, p.80]

Little Nightmares 2 understands exactly what it wants to be, and mostly pulls it off.

Structural innovations and strong presentation, held back by grind and an old-fashioned business model.

If you're after an infinite action RPG then Destiny 2 is a few DLC packs and expansions away from that, but if you're after a regular light dose of beautiful sci-fi shooter fun, the perfect post-pub co-op jolly, or the game that will have your fireteam shouting in joy at your monitors when a raid boss goes down, Destiny 2 is a very well-made shooter and one of the best co-op games on PC.

Old school strategy, sensibly modernised. Creaky cutscenes and character art aside, the visual overhaul works wonders.

A truly magical fusion of tabletop RPG and CCG that’s only missing pizza and beer—and co-op.

A solid improvement over the original, though still not up to the standards of prior classics. [Jan 2001, p.137]

A well-crafted off-road racer that'll appeal to sim buffs and arcade fans alike. [Apr 2001, p.85]

It's received some great tweaks and additions, but it definitely plays it safe in terms of gameplay and doesn't try to break new ground, which is disappointing. [Apr 2003, p.90]

Perhaps the most impressive feature is the remarkably deep Career mode, where careful management of sponsorship deals, vehicle upgrades, and race purses will help you advance from the minor leagues to the pros. [May 2003, p.94]

Go ahead and buy Doom II - if you think you can take the heat. [Dec 1994, p.134]

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

I'm itching to play again once I finish this. If you have someone to team up with, get it without hesitation. If you don't, hesitate slightly, then notice it's only £12 and get it anyway.

Hitman is back. Confident design and a willingness to experiment produces some of the best missions of 47's long career.

I was able to breeze through Prey in around nine hours--probably because of how easy it is to resurrect yourself after death--making it a short but very sweet game. And definitely worth the wait. [Sep 2006, p.43]

A stylish, elegant brawler with an absurd sense of humour. More of this sort of thing on PC, please.

Starseed Pilgrim is composed of interesting elements and neat twists, but suffers from the assumption that you can encourage exploration simply by refusing to tell the player what to do. [Aug 2013, p.73]

It took its sweet time, but it's still a genuinely skin-twitching survival game with an original twist to the combat. [May 2012, p.78]

Not enough of a game to knock "Links" off my leader board. [May 2002, p.77]

A brilliant and rewarding combat system propels a story that never becomes as interesting as it seemingly should.

A fun, charming, and occasionally brilliant Yakuza game, let down by an overabundance of repetitive turn-based battles.

An excellent remake, prequel, and game in its own right—Crisis Core has it all.

A satisfying disassembly sim wrapped in cutting workplace commentary, Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a gig well worth taking up.

A subtle and intriguing story encourages you to climb ever higher in this melancholy adventure.

This is where universe sandbox succeeds brilliantly: players experience godly power to create or destroy, while almost unavoidably learning something about the physical properties or our universe. [Sept 2011, p.69]

It’s got its hooks into me: it’s a better game than the original in every way, and it nails the battle between pitcher and batter that’s at the heart of baseball. If you’re a fan of the sport, it’s a must-own.

A stylish and creative adventure with a clever time-rewinding hook.

An even better version of one of the best Early Access survival games.

In fact, World at War is a deeply symmetrical reapplication of CoD4's brilliant design, though executed with noticeably less polish. [Jan 2009, p.44]

A complex, challenging, and grimly satisfying simulator.

A sensational audiovisual experience that starts to drag around halfway in.

A great game that narrowly misses classic status due to its bugs. [Dec 2000, p.160]

Has something to offer for anyone with a working trigger finger, a penchant for aerial destruction, and $10/month to spare. [Mar 2003, p.92]

Thoughtfully-designed levels and versatile combat abilities make Katana Zero worthy of a rewind despite cookie-cutter characters.

Ambitious but uneven, Shadowlands is an exciting evolution of World of Warcraft.

Race 07 may not reinvent the genre, but for $29.99, you won't find a better new PC racing option this year. [Holiday 2007, p.74]

A sharp, snazzy and accessible fighting game, held back by the unnecessary sexualisation of its antagonists.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles has the rush of excitement of the courtroom but chooses melodrama over mystery.

Fantasian will make you work hard for every win, but the reward's always worth the effort.

It runs perfectly in a window while you're doing something else on your PC; attend to it in free moments to rack up loot, levels, new spells and satisfaction. [Nov 2010, p.86]

Gorgeous and invigorating, Abzû flounders a bit with a hamfisted story, but there’s still nothing quite like it on the PC.

A satisfying detective adventure based around a weird and wonderfully imaginative retro internet.

The crappy force-feedback effects and poor controller support (both my FF joysticks proved useless for playing the game) are sharp reminders of CMR 2005's console roots. [Holiday 2004, p.96]

Enhanced with hi-res sprites and a spiffier soundtrack, this indie success story has received the update it deserves.

Grounded is a delightfully creative and occasionally terrifying survival sandbox.

Disc Room provides hours of high-stress fun for daring adventurers, and a few mysteries to solve.

The new design focus has created a schizophrenic game in which neither single-play nor multiplay is successful. [Holiday 2004, p.90]

A long game of choose-your-own-chosen-one with high highs to balance the lows.

Server issues aside, Helldivers 2 is a bombastic, strategically engaging and funny squad shooter.

Inkle builds a weirdo computer for the ages, then let you use it to solve a beautifully-written mystery. Outstanding.

You can race as many as 24 human opponents online, and apart from some sporadic large-field stuttering issues, the action proved largely seamless. [Holiday 2008, p.70]

Despite somewhat samey missions and a flat protagonist, Khazan's combat and boss design are some of the best I've seen in a soulslike.

A smart and silly spin on 3D platformers and 2D classics that’s delightful from start to finish.

Brash, solid, run ‘n’ gun goofiness that’s a tad too underwrought to be truly brilliant.

Lies of P is a competent Soulslike if you can shrug off its flaws.

A mismatched mix of genres grafted onto a moving, beautifully presented story.

My problem with I-War 2 is its vertical learning curve...Combat is brutal and fleeting — some dogfights ended in my destruction just scant seconds after the first shot was fired.

New life for the Myst franchise, but the non-believers won't be convinced. [July 2001, p.62]

Who knew Sid Meier's protégés had a secret, and completely brilliant, Persona game in them?

Sworcery is worth a look for the presentation and music, but despite the upgrade to HD the mobile version is still the one to go for. [Aug 2012, p.77]

If you missed Col the first time around (and most of you probably did), now is an excellent chance to pick it up and dive into the colonial era. [Nov 2008, p.62]

Disappointing campaign aside, Steel Division: Normandy 44 is a compelling and challenging real-time wargame.

It captivates me because—imperfectly, impressionistically, and perhaps a little amorally—it lets me orchestrate the most titanic armed struggles in history, from the fussy economic details to the cut-and-thrust of mechanized warfare. There are other great strategic-level wargames out there. But I have never played anything like Hearts of Iron 4.

There's not another game quite like EU III out there. If it hooks you, it may be the only game you need this year. [Mar 2007, p.62]

A tense and spooky strategy roguelike that's as satisfying as it is harrowing.