Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm makes everyone behind it look like absolute bastards. [Oct 2008, p.69]

Makes you feel clever. [Oct 2008, p.64]

While it does nothing spectacular, it has enough pretty colours and plain, shallow addictiveness to hold your attention for the two or three hours the game lasts. [Sept 2008, p.76]

Hateful game. [Sept 2008, p.60]

I have considered the benefits and cost of this pack, and settled on a representative numberical value. [Sept 2008, p.73]

Addictive. [Sept 2008, p.74]

Considering the budget price, you could do a lot worse on your quest to find an original adventure game this summer. [Oct 2008, p.65]

A great hulking sh.t. [Oct 2008, p.74]

Codemasters' racing studio know what they're doing and have again got the key elements right.

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

Rarely have I come across a set of RTS missions as mercilessly unforgiving as these. [Sept 2008, p.72]

If you are a fan of what BioWare's done in the past, like action with a hefty dose of sci-fi and want something new, or just like playing a really good game, then you owe it to yourself to pick up this fantastic title.

A good puzzler if you're prepared to not only outwit, but second guess the quirks of the development team. [Sept 2008, p.75]

A slightly alienating, yet eventually rewarding, game that lets you create your own levels. [Sept 2008, p.70]

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

However, once you pass the infant stages of the game, play becomes all too familiar, all too repetitive and all too unpolished. I'm not saying avoid Age of Conan - feel free to give it a go and enjoy the early stages with your free 30 days of play.

Its nauseating, greased-pig feel makes it devoid of fun and vlaue. [Sept 2008, p.68]

Clever, original and genuinely pleasing to play, this is easily worth the 8.99 pounds you'll pay for it on Steam. [Sept 2009, p.82]

Blandly fun for a bit. [Aug 2009, p.73]

Combat though, is miserable. [Aug 2008, p.73]

It's terribly inconsistent and feels like a shooter from the last century. [Aug 2008, p.74]

The problem with Jack Keane is that it's just not funny. The game tries too hard to be something its not. [May 2008, p.78]

If the Europa Universalis series is your thing, Rome is a welcome evolution. [July 2008, p.74]

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

An occasionally frustrating and overpriced brain-fondle. [Aug 2008, p.72]

Occasionally weak puzzles and infrequent dud jokes aside, if you mark a game on how joyfully sad you feel at the end, season 2 of "Sam & Max" is second only to "Portal." [July 2008, p.86]

The spectacuar way in which the game is presented is enough to make the most players want to overlook the deep-running problems it harbors and plaudits must be paid to a setting this original and so excellently realized. [June 2008, p.64]

That Overclocked isn't better is sad because there's a good story being told. [July 2008, p.85]

The level design appears to be somewhat lacklustre (there's too much 'take this point! And now this one!'), but it's still an enjoyable romp. [Mar 2008, p.85]

Stranger looks remarkably terrible and plays worse. The game is just hideously optimised...Stranger takes the fantasy RTS genre backwards before breaking it. [Apr 2006, p.81]

If horror films where the screams are sufficiently high-pitched to get the neighbourhood dogs howling are your kind of thing, then ObsCure II is easy to get into, not too taxing on the brain and just about competent enough to keep you playing for its 15-hour duration.

Warriors Orochi never rises above simple hack-and-slash, but is fun, visceral and silly, with daft voice acting and Asian techno-jazz. [June 2008, p.83]

Matters are made worse by the pre-2003 3D models, the atrocious voice acting, and the shocking writing. [Sept 2008, p.77]

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.

A crippling absense in the multiplayer is online play. [June 2008, p.81]

The science may be sub-"Torchwood," but puzzle logic is intact. [June 2008, p.79]

While the story is light and terribly translated at times, the quests are rewarding enough (resource-wise) to keep you doing them. [June 2008, p.78]

If you can turn a blind eye to the ropey skirmishes, you'll be in for weeks of city building goodness. [Apr 2006, p.85]

In adding to the weight of maps and playable factions, as a collection, Dawn of War with Soulstorm alongside it sets itself apart from a lot of the more youthful games out there. [Apr 2008, p.66]

It's really hard to put into words how excruciatingly bad the acting is, but the phrase "unnecessary pauses" comes to mind. [Nov 2008, p.77]

It's the least fun I've had since I had a catheter fitted during a spell in the hospital. [May 2008, p.82]

Criminal lack of story. [June 2008, p.76]

FreeTime isn't bad. Actually, it's very good. [June 2008, p.80]

A puddle-deep affair that struggles to justify a full-price release. [Apr 2008, p.72]

Controlling the horse is a rather troublesome thing on the keyboard, and there's no option to use a gamepad. [Mar 2008, p.82]

A technological feat mingled with a fun, yet shallow game. [May 2008, p.76]

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]

This may be Sam and Max at their most entertaining, but it's not their most logically coherent outing. [May 2008, p.89]

This game fails to bring anything of any lasting substance to the standing-room only tactical shooter party. [Apr 2006, p.82]

Light years ahead of the competition and to miss it would be unforgivable. And if another reviewer writes a better box-friendly quote than that, I'll piss in their face. [May 2008, p.80]

By peddling this sort of single-minded crud to children EA are creating a new generation of absolute morons who won't be able to think one step ahead of themselves. [May 2008, p.86]

Massively ambitious, massively unplayable. [Sept 2007, p.74]

What TWEW lacks in elegance and originality, it makes up for with flashes of imagination and brilliance that have been lacking in the inspirational franchise. [Oct 2008, p.63]

It's slicker, more varied and better-looking than its predecessor. [Oct 2007, p.84]

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]

A strangely satisfying and therapeutic experience. [Jan 2008, p.86]

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]

Moai does manage to disguise the triple-puzzle rut of the series better than the other episodes. [May 2008, p.89]

Compared to superior time-wasters like Peggle or Puzzle Quest, this game has little to recommend it. [Nov 2009, p.77]

A distinctly shoddy game - iffy controls, rubbish bear fights, dull levels and gameplay obsessed with balancing, jumping and the most inane rhythm action ever devised. [Mar 2008, p.84]

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]

Aquaria just oozes quality. [Mar 2008, p.86]

SunAge is a terrible RTS, lacking definition, originality, or fun, wrapped in a half-arsed story. Don't even think about it. [Mar 2008, p.82]

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

An interesting, glitchy reprise. Our most solemn, sincere advice would be to wait for February's boxed version, when everything could - hopefully - be more stable and friendly. [Feb 2008, p.76]

Though somewhat let down by its combat, Kane & Lynch is still well worth a play, even if it's just for the cinematic feel of the levels, the refreshingly different characters and the excellent multiplayer. [Christmas 2007, p.66]

Its single-player campaign may be weak and forgettable, but its true genius lies in the untouchable quality of its firefights, its splendiferous visuals, diverse level design, massive attention to detail and downright awesome vehicles and weapons. [Jan 2008, p.60]

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

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]

An insecure game unsure of who wants to play it, but that's not to say it isn't fun. [Mar 2008, p.78]

Truly a visceral, retro experience that takes us to a warmer, happier time. [Feb 2008, p.90]

I honestly feel like I should donate some money to charity after having paid for such a nasty little swindle of a game. [Mar 2008, p.76]

Crysis thrives on putting the onus on you to create your own brand of action and adventure in its stunningly beautiful locations. You and the game can haphazardly create moments of such gaming brilliance that often you pretty much have to stand up and applaud. [Christmas 2007, p.44]

In terms of the Need for Speed series, this is a dud note. [Feb 2008, p.79]

There's an illusion of depth at play. [Jan 2008, p.74]

It's so lazily developed, so utterly devoid of creativity and verve, that it's not even worth giving half a chance. [Jan 2008, p.84]

Consoles, you win this round. [Feb 2008, p.82]

Highly recommended - it's essential for older players. [Feb 2008, p.91]

It's a shame this isn't a hopelessly bad game, otherwise I could've called it "BlackShite" and been done with it, but instead it teeters on the edge of being a worthwhile purchase before deciding it's comfortable being ordinary and forgettable. [Feb 2008, p.72]

The turn-based action is a mixture of crippling boredom, mild frustration and a mild sensation of imminent doom - based on a huge, hexagonal board-game style map with gigantic pawns that you control scattered across it. [Apr 2008, p.77]

There are bigger, better and cheaper RPGs out there. [Jan 2008, p.87]

It holds it all together with coherency, and more of a sense of storytelling than was ever apparent in Season One. [Jan 2008, p.75]

Mad Doc needs to do the full makeover in the expansion. [Jan 2008, p.72]

If you're not a master multitasker, you may want to ditch the Red Bull and play something less intense, but until then we'll keep our bastard-massive UFO hovering right over your base.

The PC version of Gears of War is a welcome reminder of how much better PC gaming can be, and that it can do big, stupid action way better than the consoles that took stupid to the masses.

Despite its flaws, CM08 is easily BGS's best game to date and is a commendable step forward for the series. Fun and accessible, it provides a decent alternative to the complexities of Football Manager. However, a weak tactical spine and the hit and miss match engine negate the need for any serious tactical tinkering, meaning that while its personality may be split, its mainstream characteristics still dominate its make-up.

This game is badly made and overwhelmingly bleak, and while the original F.E.A.R. still exists, there's absolutely no way I could ever recommend anybody buy this, even if you're on fire and this game is a bucket of water. [Jan 2008, p.80]

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

Smells like teen sh.t. [Feb 2008, p.88]

The plot is incoherent, with the panache of a 12-year-old's erotic Harry Potter fiction and the finish of a turd laced with pipe cleaners and glass. [Feb 2008, p.89]

Call of Duty 4 is just like every other Call of Duty game, but in a radically different setting, and with an ounce of clever-dust sprinkled on top.

Culpa Innata will surprise you with its non-linearity. [Feb 2008, p.81]

Hellgate's done itself a disservice, because it's hidden some decent fun underneath a dated, linear and difficult-to-love veneer.

Let's face it: this is a Tycoon game where you control three numbers. It is, in short, a turd of a game. [Sept 2008, p.69]

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]

To be fair though, it's something of a novelty to have room available in a list of negatives to be able to castigate a game's misogynist overtones - because in every other department The Witcher is an intelligent, adult and thoroughly compelling adventure.

There's no doubt TimeShift is a master of the brand of shootery that cartwheels enemies high, high in the air; but without character, humour or a sustained tone throught the game it never leaps into your affections as much as it should. [Jan 2008, p.66]

Repetitive. [Feb 2008, p.83]