Fun for a while, but less than the sum of its parts. [Issue#250, p.57]

Surprisingly deep city-building sim with lots of neat quirks. [Christmas 2009, p.62]

The movement in Mirror's Edge: Catalyst is still strong, but the unlikeable characters and clunky combat get in the way of complete enjoyment. [Issue#253, p.56]

At times too slavish a recreation of tabletop action, Armada is nonetheless entertaining and challenging. [Issue#250, p.68]

While the first few hours are incredible, sadly a lack of depth in handling and content leads to a game that needs a few more hours in the oven. [Issue#253, p.58]

Inoffensive, easy and relatively fun. [Sept 2010, p.60]

A promising start to an atmospheric series, ironically let down by its puzzles. [Sept 2010, p.63]

Anodyne falls between average and perfection, offering a strange, funny, horrifying few hours of old-school action-adventure. [June 2013, p.91]

While not exactly fun in the traditional sense, FS 17 can be a very satisfying way to pass the time. [Issue#258, p.64]

If you want to spend a night out with FreeSpace 2 in a slinky red dress, this is your game. Just don't expect thrilling dinner conversation. [March 2013, p.84]

Your typical Obsidian experience sans compelling companion characters. The foundation's there for a good sequel, at least. [Issue#258, p.70]

A schizophrenic shooter, equal parts entertaining and tedious. [Nov 2009, p.50]

Like an oboe, this game gets ruined in the playing. Well, a bit. [June 2013, p.94]

The game suffers from a major lack of restraint - next time they should focus on a smaller, more varied city with a limited set of better-balanced powers. [Sept 2009, p.70]

Mostly great bosses and some nice narrative flourishes do a lot to make up for the fairly repetitive combat and generic story. [Issue#253, p.63]

A conflicting mash of awesome and awful, with awesome maybe just edging out on top. [March 2013, p.92]

Maps are darker and more atmospheric. [Feb 2010, p.63]

The fur's not flying here - Mists of Pandaria is another solid addiction to World of Warcraft. [Nov 2012, p.68]

Fun but unremarkable sim racing that is impacted by various issues and an overall lack of polish. [July 2015, p.58]

An inventive physics-fueled game that pushes players' patience a little too hard in later levels. [Nov 2012, p.70]

A mix of good ideas, but they come off a little half-baked. [Feb 2010, p.59]

If you loved the first Dead Space, you'll like this one. Just not as much. [Mar 2011, p.64]

A flawed gem that's very much worth playing. [Jan 2012, p.44]

Mediocre gameplay hides an enjoyable RPG with moments of genius. But it could have been so much more. [Aug 2010, p.56]

Always fascinating, this devious puzzle-platformer makes up for in creativity and charm what it lacks in polish. [Nov 2012, p.81]

A pleasant trip down memory lane that’ll appeal to nostalgics and casuals.

Rather than wheel out a new car for this year's season, F1 2012 is content to dust off last year's model and slap on a new set of tyres. [Nov 2012, p.83]

A solid but unremarkable entry in a venerable franchise. [Jan 2012, p.56]

The most detailed Pets expansion for the series. Horses, in particular, are an exciting inclusion. [Jan 2012, p.60]

Unique and beautiful, but barely a game. [Mar 2011, p.71]

Unique puzzle mechanics provide some intriguing conundrums, but things end up stuck in the flat dimension. [Aug 2012, p.62]

Enormous potential, but desperately needs a modding community to realise it. [Issue#252, p.64]

More "Young Guns" than "Unforgiven" but still worth it. [Sept 2009, p.64]

A brilliant treatment of feudalism in terms of strategy and story, but requires major investment to overcome information overload. [May 2012, p.52]

The darker story and high production values make this one worth a peek, but otherwise its nothing special. [May 2010, p.70]

A fun old-school beat ‘em up with a few modern twists.

The kind of eccentric humour and senseless attention to detail makes this worth a look, even if it can seem somewhat short, repetitive and claustrophobic. [Aug 2008, p.61]

Despite its less than stellar story and struggling engine, Storm of Zehir is still an easy recommendation for the right RPG gamer. In many ways it is a more strategic game than the previous titles, just as Icewind Dale was to Baldur's Gate. [February 2009, p.57]

A solid fighting core surrounded by a very bare bones, somewhat unoptimised package. [Sept 2015, p.60]

An interesting take on a classic genre, with some great writing and variably rich worlds to explore. [Sept 2015, p.62]

It doesn’t really push the genre any further forward in terms of gameplay, and as such loses some of the jaw-drop factor that Crysis brought to the market in spades. But then, it isn’t designed to be groundbreaking. It’s designed to preach to the choir. [Dec 2008, p.69]

Conquest of the Aegean has the niche market cornered when it comes to simulating the German attacks on Greece and Crete, and the impressive Pausable Continuous Time engine strikes a reasonable balance between moving symbols around on maps and real-time play. [May 2008, p.63]

A lot of fun, but perhaps a little too polished. [May 2014, p.54]

Conceptually interesting, visually stunning, but ultimately feels hollow in the gameplay department. [May 2014, p.62]

Difficult, nerdy, tedious but satisfying. What more could you want in a lover? [May 2011, p.70]

A fresh take on survival, but narrower in scope than it should be. [Issue#249, p.61]

Modern Warfare plus squads and vehicles, and minus the stick up its arse. A solid multiplayer FPS. [May 2010, p.66]

A short experiment based around a fairly oblique puzzle system, Litter Inferno succeeds as a compelling curio. [Feb 2013, p.75]

Visually spectacular alien-blasting action; another fine port from Volition. [July 2011, p.60]

An amazingly deep and unique roleplaying experience but marred by roadblock mechanics and repetitive game elements (Hollingworth). A deep and fascinating world with a compelling narrative and large degree of player agency (Wilks) [Issue#260, p.53]

Rather satisfying post-medieval combat sim hidden behind jank, bugs, and general awkwardness. [July 2011, p.64]

Amazing rich gameplay that is sadly let down by an overly complex UI and hidden barely there tutorials. Sure to be a long term hit. [Issue#260, p.60]

A strange and effortlessly charming game that rewards those who take the time to parse its various idiosyncrasies. [Feb 2013, p.81]

Specialises in trick shots before mastering the fundamentals. Deeply flawed, but hard to ignore. [Issue#267, p.58]

A unique puzzler which will scratch you creationalist itch. [Feb 2013, p.83]

Frustrating interface and some instability aside, a return to these magical, and bleak, worlds is what we've been waiting for. [Dec 2014, p.60]

This is a gorgeous and amusing diversion, even if puzzling feels tacked-on, rather than integral. [July 2011, p.71]

Fun, but grindy and lacking reasons to return. [Sept 2014, p.50]

A little short but an excellent example of virtually realised physics. [Issue#267, p.62]

As PC's only alternative to GT5, Shift 2 is satisfactory at best. But true racing enthusiasts will need to go elsewhere to really satisfy their...need for speed. [July 2011, p.74]

A charming, multi-genre-hybrid experience, that will appeal to those who don't mind the sometimes tedious underlying gameplay. [July 2011, p.75]

Though it oozes atmosphere, frequent and irritating monster encounters tarnish an otherwise solid shooter. [May 2010, p.56]

Though repetitive with stacks of downtime, Frostpunk has a strangely addictive gameplay loop (more so, I imagine, if you emotionally connect with your people).

A space diamond in the rough, Pandora may not get everything right but exceptional combat and city management shines through. [Feb 2014, p.86]

Not without some significant problems, Ruiner is still a satisfyingly difficult slice of twin stick grimdorkness. [Issue#267, p.73]

A great game held back by poor balance decisions and a layer of petty bugs.

Hardly essential, but worth it if you loved Skyrim's Daedric quests. [Sept 2012, p.52]

The best experience is probably on console. [Oct 2010, p.60]

Pricey, but five hours well spent. [Oct 2009, p.80]

Fans will love it, but it could have been so much better. [Oct 2010, p.62]

Despite its by-the-numbers storyline, the game grabs you into its sucking chest wound of a world and keeps you there until the last chitinous spike has been blasted from the final suppurating torso. [Dec 2008, p.67]

A more-than-capable shooter that is a blast to play. Shame about the pings. [Sept 2012, p.59]

The series' new benchmark for quality. Don't let these bricks get lost under the couch. [Sept 2012, p.62]

A solid foundation for a street racing MMO, but one undermined by lack of local servers. [Oct 2010, p.66]

Terran Conflict is not everybody's game. It may be more accessible than previous entries but that is not to suggest much headway has been made in this area. I would have loved to have scored this game higher but it can't be ignored that this a difficult recommendation to make to most people. [January 2009, p.55]

A ballsy take on the WWII shooter formula. [July 2012, p.65]

Less Hot Shots and more Hot Fuzz. [July 2012, p.66]

An easy-to-play casual RTS. Starts a bit slow but the stylised graphics and immersive sound keep you hooked. [Jan 2010, p.81]

The missed potential of the Napoleon story and some dodgy AI make this one a fun, but not essential, Total War game. [Apr 2010, p.50]

A poorly-made, unashamedly dumb game that nevertheless offers equally dumb entertainment. [July 2012, p.69]

A strange, sad, introspective tone poem of a game. Totally engrossing if you have the patience. [Oct 2015, p.65]

For all its flaws and shortcomings, The Banner Saga's ambitions shine through well enough. [March 2014, p.52]

What initially seems like a game of dressups and progress bars reveals itself to be a much deeper story based affair. [March 2014, p.58]

If you can come to grips with the controls and the rather unhelpful upgrading UI, Ring Runner can be a very rewarding experience. [March 2014, p.59]

Some marvelous mechanics don't add up to enough to detract from stilted writing, an overly grim aesthetic, and repetitive combat.

Incredible work went into the design of almost every element of Risk of Rain, shame that the gameplay couldn't have been more inspired. [March 2014, p.60]

FM 2017 is the best the series has been, and thus the best football management game around. But the improvements are too incremental and the new features too disposable to make this a value-for-money day one proposition.

A beautiful expansion of a franchise hampered by its history. [Oct 2014, p.60]

Not the greatest writing, but the game's many overlapping mechanics make for some great emergent storytelling. [Issue#271, p.54]

It lacks enough pure content to be for anyone but Dawn of War fanatics. [May 2010, p.68]

This isn’t the greatest expansion in the series, but it remains 100% Command & Conquer and that counts for a lot. EA knows their fan-base and with Kane’s Wrath have dished up more of the same to ensure you get your recommended daily dose of the franchise. [Jun 2008, p.55]

A definite step above the original but still not without its problems. [Issue#268, p.60]

Despite pacing issues, Teslagrad's strange blend of science and fantasy prove that opposites do indeed attract. [Apr 2014, p.58]

Substantial expansion with significant new content. But price is very hard to swallow. [Issue#254, p.58]

A simple shooter with some cool puzzles. It won't change your world but acts as a pleasant enough distraction. [Apr 2014, p.59]

With an impressive AI, clever campaign and focus on gameplay, Elven Legacy is well worth the asking price. [Aug 2009, p.59]

A proper video game adaptation of a great boardgame - at last! [March 2015, p.62]

If you're going to buy Homefront, do so for the multiplayer. The campaign is six hours you'll never get back. [Apr 2011, p.52]