Offers up one of the drabbest looking and tedious opening sections witnessed anywhere. [Oct 2009, p.62]

Peacekeeper. [Oct 2007, p.75]

A charming indie outing. [Mar 2009, p.72]

Boring combat. [Jan 2010, p.76]

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]

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]

We'd like to see Bright Future focus on improving the in-game engine, scale back the extraneous nonsense and provide a better core game experience. [Feb 2009, p.85]

Safe and very sorry. [July 2007, p.77]

Cossacks II remains an enjoyable re-enactment of wholesale slaughter as any of you couuld hope for. [Sept 2006, p.74]

More medium than XL. [Christmas 2009, p.77]

With the superior "Company of Heroes" looming over the proceedings, JTF's lovely graphics, underused media twist and modern settings mask a solid but perhaps rather uninspired take on the genre. [Dec 2006, p.82]

EndWar's a little too repetitive and you'll probably end up using the same basic strategy in every battle. [June 2009, p.69]

A hollow, mind-numbingly dull MMORPG grind that stretches the boundaries of good taste and sensible design decisions.

Imagine "The Sims" sans animated characters, depth, humour and variety. [Dec 2006, p.104]

In much the same way that "Total War" proved that the war game could be stunning to look at, accessible and fun, SOTS is almost as impressive in its own low-budget way. [Oct 2006, p.76]

The multiplayer side is where it pushes the score into Recommended territory. But the single player mode won't hold your attention for more than a few rounds. [May 2010, p.91]

Dramatic, entertaining and charming in the way that every Fallout expansion should be from now on. [Nov 2009, p.72]

It's deliriously gory, unwaveringly confident and spectacular fun. And, at the very least, it's far better than the dogsh.t films. [Apr 2010]

It's fun, tough, cheap and really hard to stop playing; sometimes it's good to look back. [Oct 2007, p.86]

While the tactics are meaty enough and there are stacks of multiplayer options, the whole package falls short due to ball-achingly bland battles and a particularly user-friendly learning curve. [Dec 2007, p.84]

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

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.

An experience, not a game. [Oct 2009, p.70]

A disappointing and flat experience that's only really any fun when played with a friend, who may make an occasional error. [Nov 2009, p.75]

Looks good...not enough is new. [Feb 2010, p.83]

Slow paced and processor intensive...Saying that, like swimming in a vast body of molasses attached to a couple of long-necked ungulates, once dry land is spotted, the drive to continue is strong. [Mar 2007, p.73]

It's very good at what it's doing, but the problem is that's very limited. [July 2006, p.83]

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]

If you can get over the extremely slow pace of the gameplay, you might find a relaxing-yet-spooky adventure to immerse yourself in on a wet Sunday afternoon. [Feb 2009, p.84]

Wooly, hollow and redundant. [Aug 2007, p.78]

With nothing beyond a grim gambling fascination, I quickly went from reckless overbetting calamities to profitably unsexy play. [May 2006, p.87]

There is a solid, immersive and occasionally fun game here, with plenty of retro appeal, and for around a fiver through Steam, it's worth a look. [Nov 2008, p.64]

All the polish in the world could not mask the nagging feeling of tactical emptiness. [May 2009, p.59]

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

It's professor Rubbish AI and his evil sidekick Shite Physics. [Sept 2009, p.60]

A wonderfully engaging game; striking in its ease of use and rewarding in terms of depth. [Sept 2006, p.64]

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]

East India Company manages to whisk you on a sedate journey through teatime. [Nov 2009, p.75]

You really would be better off buying The Sims 2 and its Pets expansion though, and making up your own stories in your head. [Sept 2007, p.82]

A hit-and-miss product that'll no doubt satiate the hardcore, but probably prove a tad too irritating for the rest. [Christmas 2007, p.86]

A bit more attention to the puzzles, the pace and the script, and this old-school adventure might have been more of a turtle's dream than a turtle's head. [June 2007, p.77]

It's all still hard, and it still suffers a little from a lack of intuition and dropping you in the deep end. But the pleasure and satisfaction to be had from completing a mission is still there. [Dec 2006, p.100]

Having just reached HOMMV's end-game, I'd rather have waited a bit longer and received a bit more. [Jan 2007, p.83]

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

DMC3 has a few conversion issues - low-res textures and fiddly joypad setting-up - and lack of quicksaves can be infuriating when you have to begin a boss battle all over again, but overall it's infernal fun. [Oct 2006, p.78]

Everything is big and clunky. [Sept 2009, p.74]

Pretty absorbing. [May 2008, p.87]

An adequate and traditional (read 'hugely dated') point-and-click, and there's some charm to the puzzles and story. [Jan 2007, p.76]

There's a platoon of issues lurking to ambush the unwary. [July 2007, p.70]

Desperados 2 looks a bit dated, and the AI is basic 'search if you're heard, attack if you're seen.' However, it's still enjoyable - and with the effort comes a grumbling sense of achievement. [July 2006, p.89]

The AI has some dumb moments. Several enemies remained inactive until I'd shot them three times. [Sept 2007, p.70]

It's perhaps not in the same league as "Children Of The Nile" in terms of depth and complexity, but it certainly has its won sedate charm. [Sept 2006, p.80]

More Tufnell than Warne. [Nov 2009, p.74]

The menu system is a confusing mess. [June 2009, p.73]

If you own the first, then there's little reason to upgrade. [Apr 2010, p.90]

It's not really doing anything groundbreaking. [Dec 2007, p.76]

Right now, Star Trek Online is a mess of a title with little to recommend beyond the novelty of flying around in a replica of the Enterprise. As soon as that novelty wears off (ideally within the 30-day trial period), this will be one universe badly in need of a reboot.

A boring game. [Aug 2009, p.72]

Something about Granado Espada is fiendishly addictive. What stops it from being truly great is the fact that it's both simple and rather boring at times. [Oct 2007, p.83]

A decent strategy offering. [Oct 2010, p.81]

The puzzles are the main problem. [May 2010, p.90]

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]

Gets boring quickly. [Feb 2009, p.82]

It can be good fun when you've got the hang of things. [Feb 2009, p.81]

Adds nothing new to the genre and the game world itself isn't very large. [Jan 2007, p.74]

Provides a simple, but pleasing action experience, with a refreshingly polished veneer. [Dec 2009, p.74]

Granted, there's potential aplenty here, but with AI this idiotic, Legion Arena can only go down as a massively missed opportunity, more fit for the glue factory than the glories of war. Shame really.

Two Worlds isn't a masterpiece, but it is entertaining. It's deep. [Nov 2007, p.78]

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

With patience and perseverance there's plenty of reward. [Oct 2008, p.72]

A series of spectacularly presented levels. [Feb 2010, p.68]

A massive improvement on "Cossacks" and its kin, and it's a real pleasure to play. [Nov 2006, p.86]

Apart from the amount of content, things haven't moved on very much since the 2004 version. A few nips and tucks here and there, refined content controls, better tutorials and a slight expansion of the simulation 'rules' to make driving your choochoos a touch harder, but otherwise it all looks much the same as before.

A few performance issues mar an otherwise fun little racer. [Aug 2010, p.87]

I can't deplore enough how little story there is. [Apr 2009, p.66]

Frustrating controls. [July 2009, p.70]

One of the better games from the consistently recommended franchise. [Dec 2007, p.80]

It's just not good enough to warrant shelling out for both this and the original. And that is the real problem. [Apr 2008, p.70]

A headache. [Feb 2008, p.88]

You typical modern adventure really: none too shabby, but none too brilliant either. [July 2009, p.75]

Rise & Fall manages to bring some welcome action to a normally slower-paced genre, but it sometimes feels like this is at the expense of tactics.

Homecoming is too old-fashioned and lacks the originality and tension that made the previous games so enjoyable. [Mar 2009, p.70]

Annoyingly, there's no way to change the controls and looks-wise, it won't win any medals. [Sept 2007, p.84]

At its best, Impact is an exhilarating, old school blaster that's very easy to dip in and out of. But at its worst, it's simplistic, repetitive fare with not enough to it. [Sept 2010, p.88]

An effective, old school strategy game of properly strategic proportions. [Oct 2006, p.70]

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

Challenging, but not infuriating. [June 2009, p.70]

May EA blight us with more Harry Potter games than our PCs' hard drives can possibly tolerate. [Oct 2009, p.71]

If it is indeed the last gasp of C&C as we know it, it's an incredibly sad way to go out. With a little more money, a little more time and a whole lot more reverence for what makes C&C C&C, the tiny exploding acorn underneath this confused, scrawny thing could have become a mighty oak of modern strategy.

Officially generic. [Oct 2009, p.70]

Excellent recreation of Hogwarts. [Sept 2007, p.80]

NecroVisioN is out-and-out old school corridor (or rather trench) blasting and is unrepentant about it. [Apr 2009, p.69]

An above-average sci-fi adventure, but if you're fond of rollercoasters, join a different queue. [Aug 2008, p.71]

The Godfather II is an improvement over its predecessor, though that's hardly a gratuitous compliment. How about this - The Godfather II is surprisingly not as plain as you might have thought it would be, all things considered. [May 2009, p.70]

Despite it being more intuitive than the Combat Mission games, Africa 1943 is no picnic. [May 2010, p.88]

Curious, patient gamers add 20. [Mar 2010, p.81]

Considering there's nine years' worth of work here, there's relatively little in terms of content, and you'll tear through the career mode in a couple of sessions.

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]