Deeply silly and all the better for it, the missed political targets really don’t matter.

With bumping tunes and Y2K inspirations, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk reminds us that, sometimes, looking back can be a way of moving forward.

Lumines Remastered’s lack of online multiplayer is regrettable, its session length still demanding and, frankly, it’s probably a better match on Nintendo Switch, but it does the important thing: it brings a puzzle classic back into focus and proves that Lumines can still shake ya body down to the ground.

Fight past the niggles and you'll find a truly epic grand strategy game with a tremendous sense of spectacle.

Sunken King won’t do anything to convince you to play Dark Souls 2 if you don’t already love it, but stays consistently challenging for even veteran players.

Frozen Synapse 2 has plenty to offer with its campaign, but again, this sequel is at its best when playing against other fallible humans.

Deep and unique enough for genre veterans, yet also simple and welcoming enough for newcomers.

The new features/graphics only ehnance what was already the best baseball game ever. [June 2001, p.64]

Squeezing the last possible drop of gaming goodness out of aging technology yields a tasty treat indeed. [Jan 2003, p.80]

If you don't mind the relative difficulty and dark overtones, forget that footlong and invest your $5 in Isaac. [Feb 2012, p.79]

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

The box says it's guaranteed to improve your real game. I believe it! [Mar 2001, p.83]

Two Point Museum is the coolest, cosiest, and most evolved iteration of the formula to date, even if its more obtuse aspects prevented me from becoming a pro curator.

Boltgun is stupendously fun—a treat for Warhammer players and a worthy member of the growing legion of retro shooters.

Empire at War finally delivers a truly satisfying Star Wars strategy experience. [Apr 2006, p.62]

Still, while this inaugural episode may not be the essential FPS that "Half-Life 2" is, I can't imagine any shooter fan who'd want to miss it. [Aug 2006, p.34]

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

Definitely not the best of the bunch, but still a welcome return to a classic series. [Feb 2001, p.85]

A tense and taxing but wonderfully engaging hybrid of singleplayer roguelike and extraction shooter.

Flight Simulation X: Acceleration is the company's first official expansion pack for its Flight Simulation franchise since 1990, and the $29.99 release adds a trio of new aircraft, dozens of new missions, and a long awaited DX10 graphics upgrade to the best-selling flight simulator. [Jan 2008, p.85]

It's the outdoor areas - roughly 25 percent of the game's 20-plus hours of playtime - that host the kind of epic confrontations that you'll tell your buddies about. [Holiday 2003, p.98]

An RTS designed for entertainment rather than e-sport. Colourful, fun and memorable, its elements mesh surprisingly well.

Both genuinely original and a smart physics puzzler, but aggravating in places, Mushroom 11 falls a few inches short of a classic.

As far as looks go, Red Faction is more like the cute girl next door than a hot fashion model from the Upper West Side: It’s pretty, but it won’t make a man drop to his knees and thank God for giving him sight.

A merciless and thoughtfully-designed online strategy game whose clever systems enable a unique and troubling experience.

A great port of a brilliant fighter with a staggering amount of content beyond multiplayer brawling.

The tech specs are demanding, but this is the Middle-Earth game to rule them all.

A thought-provoking and bittersweet adventure that understands that death is part of living.