Yeah it looks amazing but [*FISTBUMPS*] do not a good racing game make. [Issue#250, p.69]

Offering very little progression on Dead Island, this is one for the fans. Series newcomers should get the cheaper original instead. [June 2013, p.92]

Survival mechanics obscure an otherwise competent but uninteresting adventure. [Issue#253, p.62]

A lot of potential with disappointing execution. [March 2013, p.86]

Developer Keen Software House has overextended its reach. [March 2013, p.90]

If you haven’t played Lost Planet before, and mindless shooting of various people/things in some gorgeous locales is your cup of tea, the budget price sounds just about right. But for everyone else, it’s safe to give this one a miss. [Aug 2008, p.62]

As it stands, Eternal Crusade is far too unpolished to be much fun. [Issue#256, p.55]

Intermittently creepy, yet it all feels like an overblown student project; a proof of concept for a slicker, scarier game. [Jan 2014, p.91]

Nicely balanced in many ways, but frustrating for the single player. Not detailed/stable enough for interactive, co-operative play yet, either. [May 2013, p.86]

Enjoyable new content, but strangled by enduringly small lots and an inability to save, load and experiment. [Jan 2014, p.92]

The high price and lack of polish make this one to avoid for now. For art-deco die-hards only. [Jan 2014, p.93]

It’s the gaming equivalent of a made-for-TV SF movie in more ways than one, then. Your hoity-toity intellectual forebrain knows you’re too good for this candy floss, but your theme-park glands respond nevertheless. [Jan 2008, p.45]

Sadly, I immediately wished I’d left Carson for dead on the girders, saving myself the time and tedium of seeing things through to the bitter end. [Jun 2008, p.60]

Admirably essential in its space-tradingness, but should have stayed on the tablets. [Nov 2012, p.80]

Neither hardcore sim nor arcade fun, Take On Helicopters can't even get in the air. [Jan 2012, p.46]

If you own any previous COD, there's little reason to buy MW3. [Jan 2012, p.50]

For me, this was one of the most frustrating gaming experiences in recent memory. Most frustrating of all is the fact that this could have been a great game. Like a pack of half-starved zombies, the developers have simply bitten off more than they can chew. [Sept 2008, p.57]

What we have here is a slightly updated version of FIFA, with a couple of additions, and a sackful of seemingly new bugs. [Dec 2009, p.58]

Too muddled to be a good experiment, but it's still an interesting game. [Aug 2012, p.63]

A great premise hampered by a smirking script, repetitive combat and arbitrary questing. [Issue#252, p.64]

In a post-WIC world, it's hard to consider this much more than average. [Dec 2009, p.60]

When it's not going out of its way to be terrible, Syndicate is simply mediocre. [May 2012, p.54]

The presentation is great but the actual gameplay is firmly rooted in the early 90s. [Sept 2015, p.59]

Despite the weird controls, console nature and repetitive play, WOS almost becomes fun (in a kind of ridiculous way) once you get into the groove. Possibly better when drunk. [January 2009, p.60]

A buggy, ultimately dull recreation of a 90s classic. [May 2012, p.62]

This gets three bonus points for being less snooty than Agricultural Simulator 2012 which clearly has some kind of underdog issue. [Dec 2012, p.84]

Apart from that fairly strong central concept, everything else is distinctly bargain-bin quality. [May 2011, p.60]

An intriguing gimmick, but neither polished nor entertaining. A tech demo on stilts. [Oct 2011, p.54]

An acceptable solution for the time-poor, but unless you've played them to death, you're better off with the originals. [Sept 2013, p.90]

A scientific and psychological thriller, involving great characters you will go out of your way not to talk to, but it's over much too soon. [Oct 2011, p.62]

Everything in Sword Coast Legends works as intended, but that only serves to highlight that the games that inspired it are still better. [Dec 2015, p.56]

Animal Gods is little more than a disappointing glimpse of what might have been. [Dec 2015, p.60]

A bold experiment in semi-interactive narrative that doesn't quite succeed. [Issue#249, p.58]

Stick to human-on-human multiplayer. There's simply no reason to engage with campaign mode or Skirmish at all. [May 2010, p.60]

The real-time combat isn't the problem; it's everything else, which was done with a depth and confidence 13 years ago that this reimagining lacks. [Apr 2012, p.54]

Despite its pretty engine and originality, RUSE's slow pace and tedious control makes it a game with little appeal. [Nov 2010, p.64]

An amateur effort that comes together well in places, but also one that gives no real incentive to buy it. If only the writing was a little funnier. [Apr 2012, p.67]

Perhaps the console kiddies might think this is tactical compared to Call of Duty, but no PC gamer will find this satisfying. [July 2011, p.69]

While we're left feeling a little cold, it's possible a half-price sale or similar could rekindle the flame once more. [Feb 2013, p.85]

Get it if you're a Prison Break completist. [June 2010, p.62]

Despite the quirky aesthetic and presentation, Redshirt is ultimately as disposable as the poor, easily-killed people it's named after. [Feb 2014, p.84]

Serellan seems dedicated to shaping Takedown into its original pitch, but it needs far more time in the planning phase. [Feb 2014, p.90]

Unless you feel like paying for an extended beta, wait for patches or an expansion pack to fix FFXIV's myriad problems. [Issue#185, p.71]

This shoddy console port has cast a shimmering invisible cloak over what would have been a serviceable third-person shooter. [Sept 2012, p.55]

Atavistic PC racing for when you want to party like it's 1995. [Sept 2012, p.61]

Martin's world deserves better than this. [July 2012, p.64]

Bearing in mind that you’ll need to do some serious thinking, Stranger is otherwise a pretty thoughtful game and one that is worth a good many hours play. [Mar 2008, p.62]

Adding this one to your collection is nothing to be blowing one's golden trumpet over, except if your movie-to-games section is begging for attention. [Feb 2008, p.55]

I Am Setuna might fill a current market gap, but it doesn't do anything new or interesting. [Issue#254, p.53]

Time is a harsh mistress, and the 11 year sleep has not been kind to Rogue Trooper. [Issue#268, p.71]

The world building is excellent, the game building is deeply flawed. [Issue#268, p.72]

A frustrating experience. [Nov 2014, p.60]

A wrong-headed sequel that doesn't really address most of its predecessors' problems. [Issue#272, p.48]

Solid gameplay marred by clunky controls and an almost painfully generic story. [Apr 2011, p.68]

A Hobbesian God of War clone: nasty, brutish, and short. [Aug 2011, p.72]

Plays like MOBA, smells like Heresy. [Issue#262, p.51]

Visually sharp, technically accomplished, but hardly memorable. [Aug 2011, p.75]

When it works it works pretty darn well. Unfortunately that isn't too often. [Issue#262, p.56]

A cool concept without much game behind it that's ready to be tossed into the growing pile of Braid-a-likes. [Apr 2013, p.84]

Denied Ops is strictly for those who want big explosions, with no thought required. Pretty much like actually mercenaries. [May 2008, p.60]

Familiarity breeds contempt. [Issue#269, p.49]

Based heavily on Dungeon Keeper 2, this title with its twelve year old trappings has ignored all the innovations that have come since. [June 2015, p.62]

There's fun to be had, but for every step towards the Light Side, there's a foot stuck firmly in the Dark Side of bad design decisions. [Issue#269, p.52]

An indie platformer that never quite gets past proclaiming "Me too!" It's enjoyable in parts, but also forgettable. [Jan 2013, p.83]

Perseus Mandate trumpets a bunch of “new, new, new!” with its parallel story and extra characters, yet it’s quite happy to sit back and rely on its textbook knowledge of how to scrape by on the bare minimum. [Jan 2008, p.56]

Design and technical implementation issues mar a promising adventure. [Oct 2012, p.83]

Nearly charming and challenging enough to be worth enduring sadistic mission design, bugs, and bad controls. Nearly. [Christmas 2011, p.56]

A poor interface and repetitive, hard-to-follow action unfortunately limit Sengoku's already niche appeal. [Dec 2011, p.64]

Nothing more than a League of Legends clone, with a few subtle differences that aren't going to win over any genre fans. [Christmas 2011, p.62]

A competitive off-road sim that backs away from arcade mechanics, but also from any sense of fun or adventure. [Christmas 2011, p.66]

An unfortunate step backwards for Bethesda. [Nov 2009, p.58]

If the developers had really looked hard at what they’d made, they would have found they’d committed that cardinal sin; to make a game that just isn’t fun. [Nov 2008, p.53]

Awesome idea but amateur execution means it costs an arm and a leg for what it is. [June 2011, p.62]

A promising sequel that, despite its improvements on the original, still retains as many bugs as it does zombies.

As a replica of the board game, Space Hulk is a success. Unfortunately, as a videogame, it's barely average. [Oct 2013, p.91]

Don't hope to be blown away. Little stirs in this valley. [June 2012, p.56]

Quantum Break is a great game on Xbone, but shoddy PC optimisation and the issues associated with the Win 10 store fundamentally break the game. [Issue#251, p.55]

Not brainy enough to satisfy the hunger of zombified strategy enthusiasts. [June 2011, p.69]

Entertaining, but flawed; just like its mythological counterparts! [June 2011, p.71]

Neither funny enough to forgive the easy puzzles, nor hard enough to get away with meh jokes. [Issue#259, p.64]

Absolutely gorgeous visuals are marred with completely uninspired gameplay. Just go watch the film for your Tron hit. [Feb 2011, p.62]

Cold and expressionless. [Jan 2010, p.57]

An excellent adaptation of the board game that completely forgets to include that all important social aspect. [Feb 2011, p.66]

Competent hack-'n'-slash with a few neat ideas wrapped in a package that's remarkably unremarkable. [Sept 2011, p.64]

Has solid foundations, but there's not enough there to keep you engaged for the long hours it takes to finish. [Jan 2010, p.65]

A monotonous attempt to relive the glory days of RPG combat. [June 2012, p.62]

A combination of DRM and instability ruins what should be an excellent game. Pick this up on console. [Apr 2010, p.58]

Will amaze for how thorough the dev team were in taking an exciting, original idea and making it as boring as humanly possible. [July 2013, p.91]

Empire Earth is a disappointment; a title that snubs its core audience only to ineptly target a new one. [Jan 2008, p.57]

A realistic, but relatively bland title that's part recruitment poster and part tame FPS. [Sept 2009, p.62]

A decent indie effort, but the sims from ten years ago still show how it should be done. Pick up FreeSpace 2 instead. [March 2012, p.65]

Overall, it just feels too casual, too cartoony. On a tablet that can be forgiven, but as a PC game it seems more than a little limiting. [July 2014, p.63]

Via Domus is a game for the fans only. And even then it gives only limited insight into the world of the show. Meanwhile, its puzzle aspects just aren’t strong enough to amuse serious gamers. [May 2008, p.62]

If you're really into a D&D style game, why not just get a bunch of friends together and play D&D? [Aug 2013, p.90]

A disjointed approach to play harms The Missing Link's value to Human Revolution's main story arc.

A modest, modern attempt at a hacking sim that unfortunately doesn't capture the magic of Introverion's classic. [Nov 2011, p.68]

Occasionally funny but mostly rather rote, How to Survive drowns under the weight of the developer's ambition. [December 2013, p.83]

No matter which way you slice its solid shooting mechanics, it still doesn't feel like Shadow Warrior. [December 2013, p.90]