An imperfect romp that manages to cover its flaws with charm and relentless action. [Oct 2010, p.84]

As long as you realise that Crayon Physics Deluxe is a sandbox in disguise, you won't be disappointed by this charming physics puzzler. [Apr 2009, p.70]

Addictive and it's fun, but it is more frustrating and rage-inducing than other PopCap efforts of late. [Feb 2010, p.85]

Old-school, classic, no-nonsense joy based around possibly the finest trilogy of films ever made. [Aug 2008, p.64]

Graphically dated. [Feb 2010, p.76]

With new scenes and sets, such as blue-screens and miniature cities (for your highly original 'Nodzilla' and 'Codependence Day' movies), as well as the ability to control the camera's positioning within a scene (which greatly increases freedom of creativity), along with new costumes, effects and a bunch of fancy camera overlays like night vision and raindrops, The Movies: Stunts & Effects is an essential addition and should not be missed by fans of the original.

A refinement and general improvement on Vegas, as it's better paced, more consistent and bigger. [June 2008, p.70]

While slightly linear, obviously console-led, and a little repetitive, if you suspend your disbelief and let the game take you on a ride, you'll find your pulse pounding like a kettle drum. [Sept 2008, p.64]

As long as you're not some kind of hippy who abhors violence, besides the slightly repetitive level design, the game is a masterpiece of nerve-jangling tension the first time round. However, the linear levels, short length (ten hours of play), story that's never fully explained and lack of multiplayer don't offer much in the way of replay value.

An intelligent, realistic, absorbing simulation of football. [Dec 2006, p.98]

That this is the last game in the Penumbra series is a genuine tragegy, because the series has finally found its footing. [Apr 2006, p.84]

So polished. [May 2010, p.93]

With the War Of The Ring turnbased campaign also receiving some minor though effective tweaks, this is one add-on pack you should snap up like a slavering Warg. Amazing what's possible when consoles don't get in the way, isn't it?

Even though it feels so very wrong to say this, Open For Business is a Sims expansion worth buying.

Immaculate physics. [Christmas 2009, p.84]

Great setting and atmosphere. [Sept 2009, p.68]

As far as Sims expansions go though, it's mediocre. I mean, come on, it's bloody weather...And gardening. What's next? "The Sims 2: Picking Your Arse?" [June 2007, p.86]

A tight, gorgeous-looking game. [Feb 2008, p.86]

It rewards a determination to enjoy what it has to offer. But equally, the game's finer moments could equally pass people by. [Oct 2007, p.56]

Fans of the series will still find it entertaining, and newcomers will have plenty to see and do, but there's simply not enough new content to recommend it over "NFS: Most Wanted." [Jan 2007, p.90]

It has a fantastic atmosphere, a good backstory, and a combat system that, when stable, is more fun than other MMOs'. It fails to break the MMO Quest/mission structure though. [Jan 2008, p.70]

You'll be having Duke Nukem flashbacks and shouting "I've got balls of steel" in no time. [July 2010, p.84]

Good fun, if a little short for the money. [June 2009, p.68]

Strategy gaming doesn't get much more hardcore than this. But if you, as I, have ever harboured ambitions of serving of quartermaster to a major military formation, this is for you. [Oct 2006, p.70]

This is a pure action RPG with huge production values, great visuals and a fairly diverting levelling system. It doesn't rewrite the rules of the genre because it isn't supposed to.

I had a great time, all things considered, but it would've been more satisfying to have felt like I was part of a story. [Oct 2010, p.64]

It's for the patient. [Aug 2009, p.62]

Best advice is to pretend Al Emmo is a lot gem from the '80s that you've just discovered. It'll feel far more precious that way. [May 2007, p.75]

Other than a rubbish level in which you twat statues on the head with a stick you won't find many more issues. [Aug 2009, p.70]

While it's never going to match "Pro Evolution Soccer" on the pitch, the authenticity does genuinely make a difference. [July 2006, p.79]

Not PC friendly. [Dec 2008, p.75]

Kane's Wrath is undeniably good value, but it is a bipolar expansion. While the campaign mode is at times unbalanced and blood-pissingly annoying, the Global Conquest mode is hours of the finest strategy action I've ever played.

For all its merits and imagination, all its potential and breathtaking battles, Universe at War is lacking an essential ingredient of real-time strategy games: strategy. [Mar 2008, p.72]

The puzzles are solid enough, too. [Dec 2009, p.75]

It's not a bad game, and if you're one of the aforementioned strategy fans, you will likely enjoy it. [Nov 2009, p.76]

Brilliantly beefy strategy.

The dialogue is effortlessly hilarious and seriously crass. This game is the crudest in recent memory. [July 2008, p.72]

An accessible business strategy game with choo choos - but behind the faintly sickening opening video, there's a silo full of deep fun to be had here. [Christmas 2006, p.85]

Truthfully, HOMMV is better in every department than its predecessor. It's grittier, funnier, prettier, more accessible, more strategic and rammed full of multiplayer goodness.

The tackling has been improved, and while the whole thing can feel a bit spongy, it still plays a decent game of football. [Christmas 2007, p.76]

Fantastic soundtrack with integrated riffs and tunes. [Aug 2008, p.70]

Risen is a solid, engrossing and beautifully presented RPG that's well worth your time and money. [Dec 2009, p.72]

Sure, Stranglehold isn't a perfect game - in fact, in many areas it's a bit duff. But even if the stupidity and brevity gets you down, I guarantee you won't have played a better representation of such utter, needless carnage. [Nov 2007, p.68]

The quality of the content on offer is above cynical expectation - in fact, I'll come right out and say it: Northern Strike is a good expansion pack. [Apr 2007, p.79]

Somehow the game, as a whole, comes together beautifully. [Oct 2010, p.70]

It's not terrible by any means, but it's just not very exciting either. [Apr 2007, p.76]

The larger number of tracks, cars and mini-games feel like only relatively minor improvements over the original and the whole thing ends up feeling like more of an expansion than the next evolution. [Sept 2006, p.62]

As follow-ups go, it's certainly up ther with the best, if not quite the elite. [Sept 2007, p.66]

So while it's a Sims 2 expansion, and while it's about pets, it's a wellmade, superbly polished addition to the original game.

A simple little game that's polished and varied enough to compete with the big boys in terms of pure, joyful fun. [July 2010, p.82]

A near perfect port at a perfect price point. [July 2007, p.76]

Dark Corners is at its best when you can immerse yourself in the story and get to work solving the biting mysteries on offer. Unfortunately, by the end of the game everything succumbs to a bit of FPS butchery, putting you in shotgun shootouts rather than mysterious crime scenes.

A cheaper, slightly longer and certainly more rewarding slice of saccharine silliness than before. Still not perfect, but very, very cute. [July 2006, p.74]

Every care has been made to make this a game that anyone from any region will enjoy. However, there just isn't that intangible harmony nor inset differentiation that the game would need to compete with WoW - and that's a shame, because otherwise, Aion is damn good at what it does. [Christmas 2009, p.74]

A lazy game that makes no effort to be atmospheric or fun, leaving only a husk of ideas that could have, potentially, been fun. [Apr 2008, p.76]

Addictive and joyous. [Dec 2008, p.66]

It's not perfect, there are little problems and niggles that can be found if you look for them, but none of them spoil the game or ruin the playing experience.

If you want a simple game that doesn't require you to devote the whole of your brain or your evenings, can buy into the game's modern-retro visuals, and can forgive a few flaws; it's undeniably worth a spin. [Dec 2008, p.76]

The single-player campaign is varied and hardly ever falls into genre convention, which makes Rush for Berlin a decent WWII strategy romp. [Aug 2006, p.78]

Combat feels clunky and unsatisfying. [Feb 2010, p.72]

A wonderful idea, and a thoughtful variation on multiplayer gameplay - what intesity you lose from speed, you gain from tension. [Oct 2006, p.66]

Falls a little short of the bar set by the likes of "SimCity 4." [July 2006, p.80]

So sloppily ported. [May 2007, p.68]

A better proposition than the first remake. [Aug 2010, p.86]

A very solid start to the series. [June 2009, p.72]

An unreliably enjoyable experience. [July 2009, p.68]

The only major shortfall here is a clunky natigation system, but this aside, Eschalon: Book I is a very accomplished RPG. [Apr 2006, p.86]

Unless you can't get enough of the original game or you're a Star Wars fanatic who's been hankering for some new plot developments, then it simply isn't worth corrupting your hard disk with what has sadly turned out to be another promising but ultimately inadequate add-on.

Playing Forgotten Sands is like playing a slicker "Sands of Time." [Sept 2010, p.86]

Clear Sky is a unique experience, so far unparalleled save for its predecessor. [Oct 2008, p.52]

Dreamfall never taxes the brain, and progression is more often than not a case of running to the next location and having a bit of a chat. [July 2006, p.75]

A definite improvement over "Euro Force." And that's pretty much the best plaudit I can muster. [Oct 2006, p.81]

While Extraction Point certainly does pick up towards the end, providing some absolutely sublime moments of action, ultimately it feels far too much like the worst bits of F.E.A.R. all over again, masquerading as something we love.

Muzzled! isn't as laugh-out-loud funny as the previous episodes. [Oct 2009, p.73]

Treat The Maw as a casual half hour game and you'll be well satisfied, but don't expect any maw than that. Sorry. [June 2009, p.75]

A flawed gem. [Jan 2010, p.79]

If you can, buy this with four friends, make a team and watch in awe as an excellent RPSRPGRTS unfolds around you. [Apr 2008, p.74]

While it may not be the most groundbreaking of shooters, Emergence's merits far outweigh its smattering of faults, and with six to ten hours of entertainment to be had, you can't argue that it's not value for money, especially as it also comes bundled with a copy of the original SiN. Eleven quid you say? Bargain.

Timely, compelling, packed with features and slickly presented. [Oct 2007, p.88]

A decent Transformers game, at last. [Oct 2010, p.78]

BattleForge runs smoothly and is pretty enough, with a wide selection of large units to choose from. However, battles see you going up against the same units - the ones players have identified as being the best. So the only real variety BattleForge provides is on paper. [May 2009, p.73]

The levels feed artificially protracted. [July 2009, p.74]

It has an amusing script, good puzzles and wonderful voice-acting. [Sept 2010, p.88]

Anyone with half an eye can see how the presentation levels have been slipping like a ferret on ice over the last few years. [Nov 2007, p.84]

In injecting regime change with such sheer raggedy-ass size and balls-out bluster, the developers have joined Rico Rodriguez in pulling off something of a coup. [Dec 2006, p.86]

A solid game, but one that suffers somewhat from stilted gameplay and a cliched plot. [May 2009, p.74]

Surprisingly deep. [July 2009, p.66]

A money sucking expansion whore. [Oct 2010, p.88]

Puzzles aren't too hard, but they aren't too easy. [Feb 2009, p.80]

If you're a reality fan looking for a full-on Civil War experience, this is it. [Aug 2006, p.54]

Muddy great fun. [Dec 2007, p.82]

Truly repellent content. [Sept 2007, p.75]

In a disappointing move, we don't get to play any of the Ghostbusters. [Oct 2009, p.64]

A curious but elegant levelling system. [May 2006, p.88]

Long-time fans will be pretty appalled by this effort. [Dec 2009, p.70]

Effective time Hoover. [July 2008, p.84]

Love it or hate it though, you simply can't argue that Armed Assault is one hugely accomplished modern combat simulator. If that's what you're looking for, you won't be disappointed. [Mar 2007, p.60]

This is a simple game for simpler minds. [Dec 2009, p.76]