With a huge load of content comes unforgiving difficulty and complexity. Challge seekers inquire within. [July 2008, p.58]

Vivid and tactically demanding, Assault Squad is a brilliant multiplayer game that's even better with friends. [June 2011, p.78]

An otherwise strong season drops the ball at the death. Clementine deserved better.

The least amicable city council meeting you've ever attended and probably the best game you'll play this year.

I'm a sucker for giant robots. Especially when it's giant robots dishing out beautifully rendered displays of mass destruction. With Arena Wars, that's exactly what you get, wrapped in an extremely simple but nonetheless fun RTS package. [Holiday 2004, p.94]

Element4l knows what it wants to be, a new kind of platform game, and nails it with audacity. [Oct 2013, p.66]

When the smoke clears, you're left with a great feeling of satisfaction at having beaten such vicious single-player AI. [Feb 2004, p.66]

Deep, brutal, and hauntingly atmospheric, The Long Dark is a survival game done right.

Solasta's storytelling may not be up to much, but its tactical combat and accessible approach to D&D rules make it worth considering for CRPG fans.

Cute, with a battle system that has more depth than it lets on, but the game's tone gets rather irritating.

Often obtuse in its puzzle design and not that artfully told, The White Door is still effective at taking you to another place.

Lack of depth and variety, and some platforming missteps, stain an otherwise great, oppressive experience.

It's far from perfect, but Universe of War accomplishes what few RTS games have dared to attempt--introducing three sides that have completely unique gameplay experiences. [Jan 2008, p.76]

Cozy, meandering fun for One Piece fans, but swabbies should set sail from other ports.

Fae Tactics takes an enjoyable swing at streamlining a complex genre, but doesn’t reinvent it in the process.

A fine combat system soured by poorly explained complexity, and a lovely looking game let down by a lack of graphics options.

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]

Simpler, with a more muddled story than SupCom, but still more complex and packing more huge mechs than any two other strategy games combined. [Apr 2010]

A novel perspective on totalitarian surveillance. Orwell may not make you think, but it should keep you entertained.

Back 4 Blood is an exceptional FPS that sets a new standard for co-op zombie murderfests.

Fans of Penny Arcade will get a good laugh out of playing alongside Gabe and Tycho, but the game is a little more than interactive comic strip fun. [July 2008, p.82]

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

A beautiful game to look at, and wonderfully polished, but a thimble-deep RPG.

At times, Watch Dogs can seem like a game we've played before, just another open-world city to speed through in a series of stolen cars, another crowd of hoods and hitmen to add to your body count, another moody, growling protagonist to endure in cutscenes. When it deviates from the familiar, however, it really soars: hacking the city of Chicago and all its cameras, utilities, and communications is freeing and fun, and invading the games of unsuspecting players is an unusual and welcome thrill.

Whether you're an old-timer who wants to revisit the past or a noob looking for an accessible economic sim with a great theme, Railroads! should be on your shopping list. [Jan. 2007, p.62]

A great one-shot adventure or an enjoyable grindfest, depending on which you want.

The Paris Hilton of motorcycle racers: rich, pretty, but a little too easy. [Nov 2005, p.72]

A little abstract in nature, but Genesis Noir is an all-around stunning audio-visual adventure.