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]

It's a parody of Lucas and it's a parody of knobbly bits of plastic, sometimes both at the same time. It's just brilliant, and that's where its charm lies. [Nov 2006, p.62]

If you've got the time to master it, there is, as ever, about a year's worth of play to be had. [Dec 2006, p.99]

From the unfriendly, baffling set-up screen, everything is unwieldy and cobbled together. [Oct 2006, p.79]

A farily well done RTS that suffers from a few problems that put you off, like banging your teeth on a sausage gristle. [Aug 2006, p.77]

An unpolished, bland mess of a game that doesn't deserve a single megabyte of your hard disk space...It ends up looking like shit as well as playing like it. [Mar 2007, p.68]

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]

The admirably innovative gameplay still feels like it's from Mars. [Feb 2007, p.80]

If you have a knowledge and love of golf, this might give you a more substantial - if less fun - game than "Tiger Woods."

From now on, every "Stuff" pack you release will be scored one per cent lower than the previous "Stuff" pack, until you stop making them. This isn't even funny any more. [Jan 2007, p.73]

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

This update isn't monumental. It's merely the bacon topping on an already bulging turducken. That's turkey, duck and chicken. [Dec 2006, p.99]

A proper ship simulator. And within that bracket, it faithfully reproduces long, combatless floating sessions. [Sept 2006, p.75]

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 X series' universe is much more dynamic and vibrant. DSO does story better, but very little else. [Oct 2006, p.72]

Still feels like watching Oh Dae-su slog his way through that goon-filled corridor. [Nov 2006, p.62]

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

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]

Plenty of tactical depth and a wealth of historical information. [Nov 2006, p.73]

Not so much an expansion - more six little intricate waterfalls of complexity that siphon hours of gameplay from the vast Civ reservoir. It's a success, but one that runs far deeper than some might like. [Oct 2006, p.62]

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

At its most unimaginative and ill-executed. The controls are faintly cumbersome, the camera a wild, mindless beast, the visuals dour, the combat tedious. [Dec 2006, p.91]

The multiplayer is what you'd expect: solid, if generic, shooting action around the levels that bored you in single-player. [Nov 2006, p.84]

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

It's so pregnant with ideas and beautiful movements that you'd be a sad fool to to deprive yourself of the experience. If the sequel is longer, a bit more difficult, and plays slightly more intelligently, then I can't imagine it being anything other than a Classic. [Aug 2006, p.58]

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

Once the armies swell in size, the laborious job of shuffling them around the battlefield is like shovelling coal. [Oct 2006, p.65]

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]

The script and the acting is great, but the imagination going into the levels is hugely lacking. [Oct 2006, p.78]

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

The PC market should revel in the fact that it can do console games, and do them better than the consoles can. [Sept 2006, p.70]

If it's multiplayer automotive giggles you're after, "FlatOut 2's" party mode is far superior. [Sept 2006, p.78]

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.

It's a bit shit...Dialogue is laughably bad. [Christmas 2006, p.94]

For just over eight measly quid, you get one of the most challenging Total War campaigns to date. [Sept 2006, p.58]

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.

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]

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]

Boasts a horribly uninteresting storyline, mundane point-and-click tasks and blindingly dire voice-acting. [Aug 2006, p.83]

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.

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

Overwhelmingly unremarkable. [Nov 2006, p.84]

Without a shadow of a doubt, Half-Life 2: Episode One contains the best Freeman moments ever conceived, but by necessity it carries too much over from before to be as consistently entertaining as its forbear. [Aug 2006, p.67]

With its amazing sets, inventive ways of killing, solid storyline with a great twist at the end and more emphasis on stealth, 47's latest is not only the most accomplished Hitman title ever, but a serious contender in the world of stealth gaming.

The menus are too awkward - selecting a betting amount is fiddly beyond reason - and there's too much competition out there for Stacked to distinguish itself as anything other than one of the ugly cliches from its own character selection menu. [June 2007, p.74]

The AI doesn't match up to the ambition. [Aug 2006, p.68]

Looks and plays like a game from 1999. [Christmas 2006, p.93]

Finally though, kudos to the scriptwriters and actors for providing a stream of banter that never once made me want to pull my jaw off and mash my teeth against my forehead. Something so rare, I added two to the score.

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.

While it lacks the charm and cleverness of the "Broken Sword" games, it retains the compelling one-more-chapter allure of the novel. [Aug 2006, p.83]

Unless my brain is being fried by professor Xavier's Cerebro machine, I quite enjoyed X-Men: The Official Game. [Aug 2006, p.81]

By taking all that's best from the real-time build-and-conquer template, mixing it with elements of Civilization and Total War, and wrapping it up in an impressive (though not quite eye-popping) engine, Big Huge Games have taken the genre in a bold and exciting new direction.

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.

The satisfaction of finally winning a battle doesn't even begin to outweigh the frustration of having to win it all over again.

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 world is fully realised, it feels solid and vibrant. The enemies are smart, the allies are smarter.

An admirable amble across the African wilderness at a fraction of the cost of the real thing. [Oct 2006, p.82]

Ultimately, though, it's more of the same, albeit with a new storyline and exotic new setting. [July 2006, p.82]

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

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.

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

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

There's little content on offer here, with only three islands and four new miracles making this hardly an essential purchase. [July 2006, p.86]

It's deep, if you like repetitively killing things. [Sept 2006, p.77]

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]

The fundamental problem is that it all feels a little detached - for an MMO, solo play feels far more natural, as the speed turns most of the battles into one-on-ones dotted around the map. [July 2006, p.88]

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]

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.

This is a marketing bullet, heading straight for the impressionable brains of your child/wife/mother/effeminate brother (delete as applicable) - and possibly even your own pocket. Avoid it. [Aug 2006, p.77]

Sadly, once the script stops, the game quickly becomes a joyless chore. [May 2006, p.90]

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

With patience, it can be an engrossing experience, as you tentatively eke your way through a foreign town, with deadly threats lurking round every corner. It's dramatic, it's tense, it's infuriating, but is it fun? No. It's not fun, it's war.

If you absolutely must play this game, and the wretched commercial system that chugged out this idiot child hasn't put you off the whole sorry shebang, then get a console version. Please don't buy this. [Oct 2006, p.74]

Typography aside, Battle of Europe is an enjoyable game that simply fails to distinguish itself as a particularly great one. [Oct 2006, p.65]

I wanted so badly to be enjoying myself, with all the effort that had gone into the characters and likenesses, but I wasn't allowed to. And now I am cross.

If you love gaming - if you love leaving your identity at the door and embarking on red-blooded adventure that's previously only been the domain of high literature and childhood imagination, I can give no higher recommendation. Make no mistake, this is more than the best role-playing game of our times. It's the best one we've ever seen.

Unfortunately, the conversion to PC is a sloppy affair, leaving it with a number of issues, such as a frame-rate that's at times slower than a bed-ridden sloth, a bizarre lack of sound effects, an option to change resolution that doesn't work and the fact that the game defaults to running in a small window.

You can download content of similar or even better quality for free off the internet. Sorry guys, but we don't appreciate the thought.

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

If you'd like to know what it's like to keep check on every bullet you have left, or how easy it is to parallel park a Panzer, then Red Orchestra is the war game for you. [June 2006, p.78]

The Battle For Middle-Earth II may look impressive, and its basic, by-the-numbers RTS approach is fun in a mindless sort of way. However, in no way is it anywhere near the game we hoped for. What a waste.

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

The whole routine of coming to a doorway, deploying your Optiwand, storming the room, arresting the suspects, cuffing them, picking up the weapons, reporting it all to dispatch - it all just becomes a bit of a chore after the hundredth room or so.

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

It's still ploddingly adequate in an unsurprising way, but the faults are just too many. [Sept 2006, p.72]

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, this kind of last-generation gameplay would relieve the daily tedium. Now it's in danger of adding to it.

Unfortunately, an hour's excitement out of eight is poor going, so RF Online is best played only if you enjoy continual grind with minimal reward. Most of us get enough of that at work.

It's designed for console, so the mouse and keyboard controls are horrendous and the disparate gameplay elements don't add up to a whole hill of black-eyed beans.

Part Age Of Empires and a dollop of Civ, what's missing is a memorable game experience. And as for the visuals - line it up against Total War or Rise Of Nations and it's almost laughable.

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.

The bottom line is that these events, while fairly dreary in reality, simply have no place in a game. For all its production values and official licence, ultimately you'd have a more interactive experience playing with a yoyo while watching the Winter Olympics on the telly.

The track editor...is fantastic. [July 2006, p.84]

The problem is that déjà vu quickly sets in as there are only a handful of map templates. What's more, without a proper Skirmish or multiplayer option, if you're adverse to such hardships it won't be long before you're pining for something more upbeat.

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.

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

A very lacklustre package. [Sept 2006, p.72]

Easy to pick up and strangely compelling. [Feb 2008, p.91]

And even though the game is rich with tension (certainly enough to offset the mediocre graphics), unless you're at her majesty's pleasure, you probably won't have the time.