As a shooter, you’ve been here a hundred times before. As an Aliens game it suffers the pressure of the legacy on which it’s built, and the story is diabolically woeful. Game over, man. [April 2013, p72]

If you’re a fan of the manga, maybe that’s enough to lure you towards Ken’s Rage 2. With a whole bunch of episodes (both based on the classic tale and new stories) to work through, you’ll certainly get a bang for your buck. The question is whether you’ll want to spend it in the first place. [April 2013, p75]

As a game based on a movie, Star Trek is ok. This is no rush job but it lacks either the expertise or imagination to make it passable as a game in its own right. And who the hell would bother with that. [July 2013, p77]

There are some neat ideas here, like the random modifiers that trigger in each area, and being able to turn on ‘oaths’ that increase the challenge while rewarding you with extra XP and coins. But these features aren’t original, and it’s hard for an unoriginal game to hold one’s interests after the 500th skeleton has had their head shot off. [July 2013, p79]

Mindless, shallow fun if you’ve never played one before but it really is the same as 6 and 5 and 4. [April 2013, p77]

An uninspired, inexpensive stocking filler. Nothing more. [December 2013, p83]

Along with an overreliance on stick waggling, Sixaxis tilting features frequently and it's shoehorned in at crucial points in the proceedings. As you can imagine, it's frustrating, inaccurate stuff and can only be avoided if you set the game to the easiest difficulty 'Instant Fun'. Which is a lie. [August 2012, p80]

Cross-buy, cross-play, cross-save: the three non-words every ‘PS3ita’ gamer hungers to hear. Zombie Tycoon 2 has all of these, and that’s what it does right. What it does wrong: its solo play is boring, and gets in the way of its rather decent multiplayer action. [July 2013, p80]

Think of every single sniping mission in Call of Duty all crammed together into four hours of nonsense terrorist stuff, but not nearly as good and you have Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2. It’s a beautiful display of third world foliage, but you won’t be exploring it in any detail, great or not. [May 2013, p74]

Sigma 2 Plus might still satisfy die-hard fans, but its best moments come at a price. The game’s uneven combat, frustrating camera and shoddy performance make it a task of perseverance over entertainment. [May 2013, p75]

Everything about EDF 2017 is a slog. Graphically atrocious and sonically awful, low-res buildings comically disappear after being grazed by heavy weaponry. While the bugs and bots twitch and spasm around their own character models, the bipedal robots are the worst offenders here, often getting caught up in their own limbs. [March 2013, p79]

A reboot for the God Of War generation, but one in which the combat sadly lacks the tight flow and impact required to keep up with Kratos and co. Still, it’s an interesting misfire. [August 2016, p73]

While not an outright disaster, this offshoot leans heavily on the past while misplacing all the elements that make Lee and Clem’s tale so compulsive. [August 2016, p74]

There’s simply not enough variety to the various insult chunks on offer to sustain more than a few rounds before the repetition sucks the fun dry. [September 2017, p73]

Sweet, small, but imperfectly formed. It’s the game that teaches you to be angry at leaves – but it’s this fish that needs to go back to school. [August 2016, p78]

Spiders has been ambitious here but the team’s budget restraints and questionable writing hold Mars: War Logs back. Even with one’s ‘go underdogs!’ hat on, this Martian sand-fest offers less true grit than it does constant chafing. [August 2013, p75]

It's true that there are plenty of superior overall shooters out there that'd murder for a character with a quarter of the charisma Duke Nukem oozes. He's a dinosaur; a two-dimensional mound of muscles with a gun. But that's the joke. Duke Nukem Forever really is a several-year old game masquerading as a new release. [August 2011 p67]

Only look into this one if you’re a big fan of the Sacred series and have similarly minded friends. [August2013, p76]

Dreadful presentation. [Feb 2010, p.74]

The lead’s voice actor is completely miscast with all of the depth and nuance of an English dubbed 1980s Jackie Chan movie, the story doesn’t engage you at all and its telling is plodding and laboured. Let this experience slip from your mind and… Fade to Black. [November 2013, p82]

The bargain basement price should entice fans into reliving their glory days but offers very little else. [Christmas 2012, p.80]

Insect Armageddon succeeds in one small regard. Good games should make you feel something. Unfortunately the emotion it frequently elicits is rage. While the price is about right, and measured against the games that came before it in the series Insect Armageddon doesn't look that bad. But that's a bung comparison in the wider tapestry of quality games out there that can be had for a few bucks more. [September 2011 p74]

Though this game can offer fleeting firefight fun it is constantly dragged down by questionable design and a severe lack of polish. Whichever way your eye meets it, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is out of this world ordinary and to expect anything better from it would be lunar-cy. [September 2011 p80]

And you thought visual novels were niche. [Feb 2015, p78]

Buggy as hell, and multiplayer is severely lacking. [Christmas 2012, p.83]

Like a demolition job, Dangerous Golf starts off with impressive explosions but clouds of dust soon obscure the chaos. [September 2016, p79]

Ugly to look at and tiring to play. The real thing is much better. [September 2012, p75]

It’s a shame Ace Banana can be so flustering, because there is a decent shooting gallery to unpeel here. [January 2016, p76]