There's no emotional soul, but Dead Island is an excellent open-world zombie hacker, slasher, and co-op loot party. [Nov 2011, p.65]

A perfect balance of accessibility and strategic depth, elevated by charming visuals and buckets of personality.

Safecracker strips away all the narrative hoo-hah of traditional adventure games and tosses you into a labyrinth of mind-benders that range from simple sliding puzzles(requiring extreme patience)to code-breakers that throw you with unexpected twists. [Nov. 2006, p.120]

Just like in the old days, performance issues and bugs don't stop Stalker's mad, wonderful heart from shining through.

Combat quibbles and muddy graphics do little to spoil the fun of this enjoyable RPG.

A terrific game...Not a revolutionary leap like its predecessor, but it's still a satisfying experience. [Dec 2003, p.128]

Outstanding game - indeed, it's what last year's Battlefront should have been. [Jan 2005, p.54]

An excellent turn-based strategy that shines in spite of some minor annoyances.

Hearts of Iron 2 acolytes will dig Doomsday; I just hope its scope doesn't scare off new players. [Aug 2006, p.50]

With the right hardware, Invisible War offers a thought-provoking, multi-layered journey with a side order of free choice. [Jan 2004, p.81]

Still untouchable on the footy front—but shelf life and that inconsistent 3D engine chip away at its tender Achilles.

If you can forgive some small gameplay faults, Nexus pleases like a deep space production on the scale of a Roddenberry saga. [Apr 2005, p.74]

Donut County is a short, entertaining tale of a trash panda who just wants a sweet quadcopter.

Obsidian manages to distinguish itself as a truly different adventure, where traditional puzzling melds with abstract thought. [May 1997, p.124]

Almost everything you'd want of a TrackMania, but as a TrackMania 2 it leaves a lot to be desired, and hopefully fixed. [Holiday 2011, p.76]

It may not look like much with its dated 2D graphics, but beneath the surface is one of the richest empire-builders around. [July 2005, p.85]

It's a little hobbled by old-school stylings and the story could be better, but few modern hack-and-slash RPGs are quite so fun.

But despite the visual inadequacies of the graphics engine, the game more than compensates for deficiencies with its constantly challenging gameplay. [Oct 2007, p.54]

Trine 2 is far from mould-breaking, but the edges have all been smoothed and it's lovelier than ever.

The pace may not win over fans of first-person shooters or real-time strategy games, but it's a darn good yarn for adventure gamers who can stomach a double-helping of gore. [July 2005, p.73]

Everything you've ever loved about the series has been given a gorgeous new visual treatment. If you've got the patience to handle the tough difficulty, it'll be a fun game. [Mar 2003, p.112]

This deep off-road sim delights in giving you a hard time, but every victory is all the sweeter for it.

Great for anyone with good reflexes and an appreciation for air-sailing stunts. [Jan 2001, p.167]

Wasteland 2 lives up to its legacy. It’s a game that has come full circle—from inspiration for Interplay’s Fallout, to spiritual successor for that franchise’s roots. This wasteland is deep and dark and dangerous, and a great place to get lost in.

My initial impressions of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords wasn't very favorable, but as I invested more time in it, and really dug deep, I realized that this is indeed a highly complex and addictive strategy game. [May 2006, p.70]

There are a couple of Arkham games better than this, but also a couple that are worse.

A refreshingly asymmetrical FPS with terrific competitive depth, but the thrill of the hunt eventually begins to wane.

This is the sort of smart, focused resurrection of old games I want more of, something that feels old and new with every expedition step. I managed to put more than 40 hours into this quote-unquote small game.