China's overall simplicity and blandness means you won't be returning soon. [Issue#257, p.68]

Conan's lack of original ideas and last-gen gameplay, clips the wings of an otherwise thoroughly entertaining action/fantasy romp. [Issue#160, p.95]

Still a fantastic multiplayer game. [Issue#205, p.88]

A decent effort, but once again it is belittled by the shadow of its console counterpart. [Issue#193, p.98]

Fan service galore can't save this one from mediocrity. [Issue#255, p.70]

You may find the whole thing a little too tough, especially if you're out and about. [Issue#146, p.93]

Bland atmosphere. [Issue#186, p.82]

The commentary gets repetitive pretty quickly. [Issue 141, p.110]

It's boring enough feeding real pets. [Issue#146, p.83]

Not being able to punch people off their bikes is something of an oversight we feel. Punching makes everything better. Always. [Issue#154, p.87]

A feature-rich racer hamstrung by inaccurate controls. [Issue#187, p.75]

A commendable departure from the well-beaten track. [Issue#212, p.102]

Fans of the series will be pleasantly surprised. [Issue#234, p.78]

Nier spends hours being impressively boring as you plod through the drab overworld, but the smart progression saves its blushes. [Issue#192, p.86]

Despite being a solid and entertaining puzzle game, Aqua Panic! is let down somewhat by fiddly controls and some frustratingly tough levels. [Issue#193, p.103]

Feels like an unfulfilled promise, a game that could have been great but quite happily settled for being good. It's a real shame when you consider how much fun the opening hours are and multiplayer is. [Issue #151, p.88]

An instantly tiresome game free from anything genuinely new or interesting. [Issue#139, p.71]

Despite some technical issues and minor frustrations, this parody of American patriotism and action hero stereotypes offers a hell of a lot of destructive fun. [Issue#268, p.74]

Unpretentious in the extreme, comical by accident, irritating when it wants to be. [Issue#229, p.80]

Better than the original, but it has many failings of its own. In single-player it can become a slog to battle through, with questionable AI and design choices. [Issue#192, p.73]

This is a game of skill. It won’t get boring as long as you’ve got a worthy human opponent.

Dreary to look at, grating on the ears and no better than MotoGP 09/10. [Issue#204, p.91]

Blessed with slick visuals and exceptionally polished physics, Switchball is let down by empty multiplayer lobbies and ridiculously lengthy load times. [Issue#191, p.93]

A missed opportunity, with Dead Money focusing on mostly the worst aspects of New Vegas. [Issue#203, p.98]

All credit to FromSoftware for cramming Acquire’s Wii version onto the PSP, but the slowdown can be a real drag in intense situations, and sometimes the conversion just feels a little sloppy.

An entertaining puzzle game. [Issue#186, p.87]

The combat system is cool, the alchemy is cool, the voice acting is cool; unfortunately the fetching and errand running is so archaic, you can hear it dying. [Issue 144, p.87]

Clunky, jerky, boring and tiresome in equal amounts. [Issue#153, p.90]

Annoying lag. [Issue#193, p.103]

The story is dull, the locations sparse and empty, and the camera is extremely annoying most of the time. [Issue #147, p.80]

A poorly created tennis sim that just doesn't hold up to repeated play. [Issue#154, p.74]

A breath of fresh air in the world of licensed movie tie-ins. [Issue#183, p.77]

One of BioWare's weaker DLC efforts. [Issue#205, p.94]

Not so good offline, but for those after an MMORPG, this is essential. [Issue #147, p.79]

It's online, it's smooth to control, it's cheap, and it's worth a blast. [Issue #152, p.72]

You're still better off importing the Japanese version of the "Street Fighter Anniversary Collection". "SFIII"'s on that. [Issue#172, p.89]

You’ll enjoy Mytran Wars, given time and an understanding of the battle mechanics. It’s got something others in the genre don’t – a feeling you’re playing a game of skill.

There is enough of a draw to keep you playing, but the package is just a bit too flaky to really recommend. [Issue#198, p.98]

A solid, if unspectacular title. [Issue#197, p.95]

Lords is a solid and enjoyable action RPG, but suffers a little at the hands of over-ambition. [Issue#251, p.74]

The laziness of the Playstation 3 port prevents it from being essential. [Issue#163, p.80]

Good fun in short measures, this is ultimately geared for multiplayer, so unless you have a willing team on standby then it's probably best avoided. [Issue#213, p.96]

It's a joyous trip down memory lane for the most part but the closer you look, the more grey hairs you see. [Issue#223, p.85]

The lack of multiplayer is disappointing. [Issue#210, p.92]

It looks fairly simplistic, but the challenging pace will certainly have you returning for one more go. [Issue#202, p.96]

If you're a Grasshopper or Suda51 fan, add about 18% to this score. From an objective viewpoint, it's a fun but flawed hack-and-slash game with a quirky setting. From a subjective viewpoint, it's bloody brilliant – so much so you can overlook its clunkier elements.

This won't win any new converts to the Dragon Age cause, but fans of the series will be more than happy with this latest DLC. [Issue#195, p.102]

Still feels like a smaller game struggling to fill the space on larger hardware. [Issue#205, p.95]

The campaign is short and pretty uneventful, with a completely ignorable story. [Issue#205, p.84]

Deception IV is a gloriously silly celebration of the exhibition combo, those impractical yet impressive strings of attacks fighting experts throw together in combo videos paraphrased here with bonkers chain reactions of spikes, boulders, rakes, bombs, blades and banana peels.

Brutally tough...As stylish and robust an indie debut as we've seen in a long time. [Issue#234, p.84]

While initially there seems to be quite a lot of fun to be had with Web Of Shadows, ultimately you discover its fluid combat and intriguing story quickly become overshadowed by a web of lazy missions.

It's not only a fun game, but shows off the Move brilliantly. [Issue#201, p.99]

It's simple, throwaway fun. [Issue#188, p.87]

It's challenging, brutal and rewarding, so self-professed hardcore gamers should be all over this noise. [Issue#231, p.84]

Retains all the charm it had ten years ago. [Issue#155, p.84]

But this is progress, all the same. Sure, Sniper Elite III is rough around the edges, but it offers just enough that it makes up for all that. It succeeds as a shooter thanks in large part to that crunchiness, yet as a sequel it is improved in clearly defined, tangible ways.

It's a shame that the main attraction - Doom 3 in HD with its add-ons - is (still) such a let-down. [Issue#225, p.79]

Manhunt 2 offers heaps of grisly and depraved action, and we would have heartily recommended it to fans of the franchise. [Issue#155, p.76]

Still compelling, although its age is indicative in the duller hours of its constant battles. [Issue#164, p.95]

There might be loads of courses, events and vehicles, but most of them aren't that entertaining, while some are downright frustrating. [Issue#164, p.89]

There is no music, no pithy one-liners, just the sombre sound of the wind. [Issue#205, p.86]

Distinctly ordinary. [Issue #151, p.79]

A far more generic title that is sure to disappoint fans. [Issue#154, p.80]

It's packed with content, fairly cheap and, hey, it's Lemmings! With Guns! [Issue#217, p.83]

It’s a more than passable title, but far too similar to (and not as good as) Street Fighter. The story mode is a joke, and the array of options serve little purpose but to decorate the main menu.

It all feels like a brilliant framework held back by a few unsavoury elements. The hub-based world and other problems would’ve been less apparent if there was actually a decent narrative to prop the game up, but instead we’re left with a half-baked tale that feels shallow and dissatisfying by the time you reach the end. Still, there is still plenty to be happy about here, with a wealth of great gameplay flares and a strong aesthetic.

The replay value ain't up to much, either. [Issue#182, p.77]

It offers very little that hasn't been seen elsewhere. [Feb 2012, p.81]

The strength of Bonfire of the Vanities is that all the assassinations are highly challenging. [Issue#191, p.93]

Does a good job of encapsulating the unique feel of Japanese horror, but only the most dedicated fans of the genre will persevere through the excessive description and dull mechanics in order to unlock every ending here. [Issue#229, p.83]

As card games go, this is actually not too bad. [Issue#227, p.77]

As good a reason to subscribe as we've seen in an MMORPG. [Issue#202, p.84]

Hampered by inconsistency and a lack of depth, CounterSpy ends up being painfully average, though it does at least have some good ideas, particularly its player-controlled campaign pacing. [Issue#248, p.70]

Don't expect a Fifties GTA and you'll come out much happier. [Issue#196, p.84]

Ugly in every sense of the word. There’s almost nothing remotely likeable about Godfather II, and it’s glitchy and scruffy. One of the poorest EA games in a long time.

Whilst it's not what we imagined for the console, it's enough fun to justify its existence. [Issue # 149, p.64]

Stop living in the past, these games aren't good, they're just old. Old and tedious and simplistic. Grr! [Issue#139, p.93]

Fuel is just too ugly, unpolished and lacking in focus to have any impact on the genre, crossing the finish line on just the wrong side of average.

Squad Command does have its flaws but cloaks them with a mix of short missions and streamlined gameplay, making good use of the Warhammer license. [Issue#161, p.99]

Sega Superstars Tennis makes banal use of Sega's heritage, and abandons the explosive creativity that Sumo was once associated with. [Issue#165, p.92]

It's a boring, sad affair that'll just turn kids off the books. Rubbish. [Issue#155, p.86]

A hollow, morbidly generic, barely functional game. [Issue#163, p.84]

It's simply not worth 7.99. [Issue#88, p.89]

The real-time mechanic just descends into button hammering. [Issue#158, p.94]

An entertaining puzzle game. [Issue#186, p.87]

It's a solid enough action title, but there's little variety on offer, which was also true of the arcade original. [Aug 2008, p.104]

Wheelman is a dark horse; way more fun than we’d anticipated, but nevertheless lacking in the final layer of sheen that we expect for the increasingly meaningful financial layout.

The automatic combat is a mixed blessing with all the easy random battles going on, but linearity of the story holds it back. [Issue 142, p.96]

Not only is it boring, but it's dodgy as hell. [Issue#221, p.81]

An insufferably boring platformer unworthy of attention. [Issue #150, p.91]

Ubisoft could have put more effort in than this if it wanted to pay a real fitting tribute. [Issue#205, p.90]

It's often repetitive, it's customisation mechanic feels tacked on, and it takes a good few hours to come out of its shell, but nail'd eventually emerges as a fun racer. [Issue#201, p.95]

As a game for XIII’s downtrodden fans, Lightning Returns is excellent. It fleshes out the interesting world, gives each of the cast a little more screen time without singling any out as more or less important (well, except Lightning) and brings an extremely stupid story to an extremely stupid conclusion in style. And the haters? They’re gonna hate, clearly. That’s kind of their thing. But this isn’t a game for them. No, it’s a reward for those bold enough to be of the apparently controversial opinion that Final Fantasy XIII wasn’t awful. And a fine reward it is too, so long as you don’t go into it expecting a traditional Final Fantasy experience.

A waste of time once you've mastered the strike technique. [Issue#163, p.86]

Perfectly decent. [Issue#186, p.80]

It's improved since the last Potter game, though it's still a bland, plodding adaptation of a beloved series. [Issue#182, p.77]

This does lack the longevity that other PlayStation Network games have and it's likely to be pretty forgettable. [Issue#88, p.89]