A so-so start to this new series. The multiple character stuff is interesting, but weak shooting and bland environments let it down.

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

Genuinely fun – for the first 10 minutes or so, before it gets repetive. [Holiday 2001, p.68]

PES finally finds the balance between stout sim and accessible arcade, but a poor port cast shadow on an otherwise great game.

If you can get past the painfully unfunny "humor," S.W.I.N.E. offers some solid fun for action-RTS fans. [Mar 2002, p.68]

Space Run is a fairly fun twist on tower defense, but it lacks much of the genre’s interesting experimentation.

Bloody good combat carries Ninja Gaiden 4 through its more granular and extraneous "modern" additions.

A good RPG with some unique ideas, but one that ultimately plays it too safe to really stand out from the crowd.

A peculiar experience that’s personal, sincere, and full of questions to unpack, though it asks them far too bluntly.

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

At its best when it's strangest, Inscryption doesn't know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.

If you found Slay the Spire's oppressiveness off-putting, Mahokenshi's easier and dressed up in a pretty kimono.

Despite it's killer opening act, Hi-Fi Rush fails to sustain its blend of rhythm and action all the way until the end.

A charming but slight co-op action game where a basic combat system is elevated by clever bonuses and abilities, and half the pleasure is the world's incidental details.

Despite the craft and heart, Tell Me Why feels like a game at odds with itself.

The beginnings of a PvPvE cult hit. Extinct animal slaughter is fundamentally fun, but the foundations are sparse.

A cool new twist on a grand strategy, hampered by technical problems. [July 2004, p.74]

Lacks the polish of a quality title. It's not a bad game - it's just got nothing under it's kilt. [Apr 2003, p.108]

As a simulator, SimCity advances the achievements of SimCity 4, SimCity 3000, and SimCity 2000, but as a product, it is inferior to all of them. Constant connectivity does have benefits, such as leaderboards, worldwide challenges, and the Global Market, but it’s not even close to being worth the hassle for those features, and hardly touches the essence of what makes SimCity so diabolically addictive and engrossing.

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]

A triumph of sinister mood let down by archaic puzzle design.

Life is Strange 2 promises a classic roadtrip, but fails to put you in the driving seat.

Remember Me is a third-person action-adventure teenager. It tries to act insouciant, and tells its story with the breathless zeal of a youngster flushed with first love. But ironically for a game that requires you to build ‘Focus’ in order to achieve great things, it feels greatly lacking in that department.

This game was just meant to be single-player. [Feb 2003, p.75]

You only get one chance to make a first impression, and Ubisoft Romania's Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII executes an awkward face-plant immediately upon take-off. [Holiday 2007, p.84]

Tartarus shows off some excellent puzzles aboard a disappointingly empty spaceship, but it’s usually more charming than frustrating.

The Division is a challenging co-op cover shooter and a gorgeous open world diminished by bloated and unnecessary RPG tropes.

I'd really love to know how Corruption 2029 came to be. It feels like a very stripped down, bare bones game—a space for the designers to experiment with concepts in a turn-based tactics space. The big problem with Corruption 2029 is that the same developer put out a very similar game with the same strengths and far fewer shortcomings only two years ago. Fans of Mutant Year Zero might want to check it out to get a bit more of that stealth tactics fix, but anyone else should opt for its more illustrious predecessor.