It's a fitting coda to the "Colonial America" story arc that should satisfy hardcore fans. [May 2015, p.68]

A loving celebration of bullet-hell, which relishes its intricate perfection without the distraction of a whole game's worth of content. [Sept 2011, p.63]

Still the best Eastern MMO available for a Western audience. [Jan 2010, p.62]

An able-bodied RPG in the land of bland, but one hardly worthy of the Gothic name. [Issue#185, p.64]

Clearly isn't the game for everyone. [Feb 2011, p.68]

Wholesome adventure fun for Threepheads and newcomers alike. [Oct 2009, p.78]

Still an excellent rendition of a niche strategy board game, but AI problems indicate there's still a way to go. [Jan 2010, p.66]

A mostly triumphant return to form for this unique series. [July 2013, p.86]

Full of promise, but let down by unfortunate control and balance issues. [Mar 2010, p.73]

A very basic adventure game, but more than capable of planting a big dumb grin on your face for its duration. [June 2012, p.64]

A quick, occasionally funny, RPG piss-take, and a welcome diversion for a few nights' gaming. [Jan 2010, p.69]

A surprisingly rich survival horror game that doesn't try to frighten you so much as leave you feeling slightly uneasy. [June 2012, p.65]

For now, though, Bohemia's opus is a boy that would be king; the potential is there, but it's just not ready yet. [Oct 2009, p.70]

Far from a perfect sim, but as a commentary on the industry we follow and love, it's enough to give you pause for thought. [July 2013, p.90]

A pure distillation of old-school gameplay, decanted into a laser-cut crystal goblet of 21st Century awesome. [June 2012, p.66]

Drifting Lands is a genuinely fun shooter/RPG hybrid brought down by a forgettable story and repetitive structure. [Issue#264, p.68]

Overall, Grid is an impressive racer, slick enough to forgive its obvious console origins and deep enough to forgive the frustrating AI. [Aug 2008, p.59]

An excellent free-to-play game, but a less than stellar paid experience. Definitely worth the download, but not worth your cash. [Nov 2011, p.44]

Great old fashioned stealth built on a wonky, badly optimised game engine.

Gorgeous presentation and clever level design are only held back by mild control issues. [July 2010, p.61]

Admirable, but maybe not lovable. Requires stubborn determination on the part of the player. Then it's rewarding. [Nov 2011, p.50]

Innovative tactical RPG that rates higher on iOS coz it's cheaper. [Issue#264, p.70]

If you're into twitchy, fast-paced multiplayer shooters, Altitude might just be worth a look. [Mar 2010, p.75]

Incredible potential squandered by a focus on action and dull quest design. Still a decent romp in co-op, but it could have been so much more. [Nov 2011, p.54]

A game of grand ideas, then, if not grand strategy. There is a core here that deserves further exploration. [Aug 2013, p.83]

A harrowing, relentlessly grim tale let down by workmanlike combat and puzzles. [Issue#266, p.58]

There are some strong gameplay elements in Watch Dogs, but overall it's merely an adequate open world game. [July 2014, p.46]

Before it resorts to some rather cliched horror tropes, Observer is a gritty, oppressive cyberpunk nightmare. [Issue#266, p.60]

Hardcore tank combat clashes with a casual business model, ensuring only the most dedicated tread-heads will get the best experience. [Nov 2011, p.60]

Fight through the performance issues to find that the heart of sub simulation's best franchise still beats strong. [May 2010, p.64]

Elegant and gorgeous but surprisingly difficult. [March 2012, p.64]

An intriguing strategy/RPG hybrid with a lot to offer those who can conquer its more obvious flaws. [Aug 2013, p.88]

Too uneven to be great but there are few games that have done powerful destructive magic better. [Issue#265, p.54]

A chilled action-RPG that ditches combat for crafting and exploration. [Issue#265, p.56]

An interesting change of pace for fans - or, on the flipside, it could be just the thing to get you interested. [Aug 2013, p.91]

The basic feel of this instalment is that it’s a slightly better than normal football yearly re-release, than a drastic overhaul of the game play. [Dec 2008, p.7]

Hawken shows that piloting a mech doesn't have to be a complex task, and it gets players straight into the action. [Aug 2013, p.92]

An almost too accurate reimagination of Age of Empires, in both the best and worst possible ways.

Obtuse, ancient design and infuriating difficulty hides an addictive, oddly satisfying, well-translated hack-and-slash. [Nov 2011, p.66]

Repetitive and lacking in depth, but good solid fun while it lasts. [Dec 2009, p.59]

A dread-drenched take on hide-and-seek which will mesmerise some, and alienate most. [December 2013, p.80]

A celebration of speed and movement. [Jan 2010, p.86]

Instead of reinventing the wheel, Hi-Rez just painted it silver, added some bling, and called it a velocity-transfer-disc. [Apr 2010, p.54]

A lightweight survival lark, but one that proves itself worthy of the great pun in its title. [December 2013, p.85]

So without trying to sound too overjoyed by a game which satirises, and celebrates, a culture of nonchalant melancholia, it would be very difficult to hate this episode. In the words of Max: “You have a castle and a zombie army. What do you have to be so down about?” [Apr 2008, p.68]

Fun enough for some dedicated campers, with some truly tense multiplayer action. [Aug 2014, p.50]

An innovative genre bending game with loads of replay value. [Aug 2009, p.56]

Pretend you’re buying it for your kid brother, or spare your blushes and order online because there is a surprising amount of fun to be had in loading this chubby bad boy up and thrashing the hell out of pigs with sticks for an hour or two. [Sept 2008, p.61]

Although hobbled with a dull combat system and voice work that lacks any real emotion, the story of The Technomancer is a real pleasure. [Issue#253, p.53]

A disappointing collection of technical issues mar an otherwise beautiful cover-based shooter that still kicks arse. [Issue#250, p.62]

The plot, setting and characters are wonderfully strange but the rest of the game feels more than a little unpolished. [June 2013, p.86]

Borrows so much but pays back so little. Seems to learn nothing from games half a decade old. Fun for a weekend. [Sept 2010, p.54]

If Trion can introduce better quest design, this will be a winner. [June 2013, p.88]

Budget purchase at best. [Sept 2010, p.58]

A return-to-roots competitive FPS romp, let down a little by its niche target audience and our smaller local community. [June 2013, p.89]

Perfectly good puzzle design and art direction let down by haphazard writing and animation. Decent, but nothing great. [Aug 2010, p.60]

Gorgeous levels, light story and simple puzzling, though necessary replayability is undermined by backtracking and repetition. [March 2013, p.93]

Chalk this one up as another PC adaptation hemmed-in by the need to make it all work on the PlayStation 3 If Lara's got a saving grace, it's that she's the archetypal 'pub game' girl. To the sozzled, life isn't an intricate cornucopia of detail and possibility, it's a pinball machine one gets hurled through, head first; linear and idiot-proof. [January 2009, p.53]

The difficulty makes Furi pretty inaccessible, but if you like to be punished, this is the game for you. [Issue#253, p.64]

Zero-gravity combat is both fun and disorienting, but the underlying game is too shallow for long-term entertainment. [Feb 2010, p.61]

DICE, please. Slow down, put the brakes on, and take your time. As Battlefield 4 shows, a two-year cycle isn't worth the rush. [Jan 2014, p.86]

A puzzling, polarising first-person-platformer that fails to live up to its potential, despite holding some promise. [July 2015, p.56]

Evokes the spirit of Riven, but fails to recapture its soul. [Issue#256, p.60]

Riddled with problems but charming in its obvious enthusiasm. [July 2015, p.63]

This blast from the past arrives with not a bang, but a whimper. [Nov 2012, p.74]

Hit the cap in the free month, then come back in six. [Mar 2011, p.62]

Exploding heads and taking drugs is fun for a while. [Issue#256, p.65]

Absolution shows the developer is capable of presenting Hitman's systems with a previously-unknown cinematic gravitas without resorting to scripting and cutscenes. Yet, the majority of Absolution sacrifices its full potential for the wrong kind of storytelling.

A great idea with strong visuals hampered by half-realised mechanics and barely functioning online connectivity. [Jan 2012, p.54]

Difficult, ucompromising and obtuse, Inquisition will appeal to fans of the hardest of hardcore old-school RPGs. [Nov 2012, p.84]

Not enough content and too much grinding detracts from the great cast of characters and great presentation. [Issue#252, p.58]

Mildly satisfying. [Mar 2011, p.73]

A tribute to Doom that leaps to great heights, but fails to fully stick the landing. [Issue#252, p.60]

A competent enough shooter, but perhaps a touch too ambitious in its scope. Still, it's a massive improvement on the first Homefront. [Issue#252, p.62]

The rest of us might like future instalments to try something else, or at the very least tweak the formula rather than copy its shortcomings. [Mar 2008, p.61]

The foundation for a sophisticated swordplayer is here, but War of the Roses misses the jugular by forgetting to include the rest. [Dec 2012, p.74]

It might have had a bumpy take-off, but with a bit of hard work Flight should grow into a competent sim worth flying. [May 2012, p.56]

Deeply flawed in execution but fascinating nonetheless, Never Alone shows that different cultures have wonderful stories to tell. [Jan 2015, p.63]

A clever take on traditional tower defence, but little real longevity. [May 2012, p.64]

Preposterous, hilarious, and above all, devious. Tricky doesn't begin to describe it. [June 2011, p.72]

Beautiful graphics don't make up for the oddly empty feeling inside. [Issue#185, p.68]

An ambitious game hobbled by laborious, unsatisfying combat and a "ready-made" approach to quest design that undermines player autonomy. [Dec 2015, p.58]

Really only compelling for folks who keep their gaming world PC-pure. Otherwise, pick this up on the console of your choice. [Dec 2009, p.66]

Bulletstorm is perfectly designed to appeal to the 14 year old boys who can't buy it because it's rated MA15+. [May 2011, p.64]

Fun enough, but hardly anything new under the shooter sun. [May 2014, p.58]

Another victim of the curse of the port, but the golden Ghostbusting heart still shines through. [Christmas 2009, p.58]

At its core, Street Fighter V is a great game, but the lack of meaningful content makes us want to wait for updates. [Issue#249, p.52]

We think Battle March works best as a companion to a serious tabletop Warhammer player… On the other hand, if your love for RTS is equal to your love for Games Workshop, then Dawn of War should remain your Warhammer game of choice. [Aug 2008, p.60]

An immersive environment and interesting story. It can be hard and could do with clearer text. [Issue#249, p.64]

Richly detailed graphics don't make up for the shallow, simplistic trading and combat. [Nov 2010, p.60]

The core gameplay loop is great, but it's too easy to plumb the shallow depths in a few hours. Sea of Thieves needs more meaningful content.

A frustrating, obtuse, weirdly satisfying experience, covered in yayness and cute. [Apr 2012, p.56]

Complex without being deep, Brink is a hollow interpretation of Splash Damage's classic teamplay formula that speaks to the very core of what is wrong with multiplayer FPS today. [July 2011, p.58]

Fast and flashy combat in a shallow fantasy world. For the solo MMO player only. [Apr 2012, p.62]

An intriguing idea that the franchise is yet to live up to. [Apr 2012, p.64]

A fresh, solid roguelike platformer that kills time with as much efficiency as it kills the player. [Feb 2013, p.82]

For its genre, Beijing 2008 appears to have succeeded. If you’re a hardcore gamer, you already know this won’t be your cup of tea. For everyone else, watch out for the RSI and everything will be gravy. [Nov 2008, p.55]

Solid enough, if not a candidate for natural selection. [July 2011, p.68]