Many set pieces simply do not work smoothly, and sacrifice fun for punishing perfection. Even replaying the tracks to memorise when to open the throttle or the best way to land can’t counteract this, and Urban Trial Freestyle ends up being not just unforgiving, but also plain unfair. [May 2013, p77]

Nice one, Clever Beans – this is how you do "casual". [January 2013, p74]

It would be foolish of us to pretend that Sine Mora is for everyone. The fact is most of us simply don't have the time or patience necessary to properly appreciate a game that demands so much from the player. But for those who do: buy it. Buy it now. [February 2013, p79]

Big Sky: Infinity manages to give the player a fun shooter that surprises each time they jump in, but have coupled these good times with utterly broken scoring systems. Why should our latest effort in Arcade mode be judged against the session that opened immediately with a score multiplier zone that severely boosted the points we got from those first enemies? Isn't it unfair that this boss fight occurred so early on? [February 2013, p81]

An affordable little gem that will merrily kill your time. [February 2013, p80]

It's unforgiving as all hell, too: After you've barely scraped through a particularly insane dungeon, you might run afoul of a boss. This boss will, without fail, instantly kick your ass until you memorise his wicked ways, just like the old days. Then it's back to the start of everything with you. [February 2013, p80]

Guardians of Middle Earth's early days are a bitch, and can be made bitchier by the fact it has no local matchmaking. Push through this brief difficult period, and you'll be hooked. It's almost loathsome how addictive this can be. You ever laugh at all those World of Warcraft Gollums? That's gonna be you. [February 2013, p78]

[O]nline modes can be great fun, but they have one glaring weakness – within a week of release, they were all but deserted online. Getting into a 2v2 competitive match – which is the only thing that anyone has been playing at all – has been a struggle since launch, which is never promising. If you've got friends who also bought the game, this won't be a problem, but if you're hoping for something to play against random folk online we wouldn't expect this one to have a sudden huge surge in players. [February 2013, p76]

By obliterating the worn exterior and souping up the interior, Ninja Theory has done the very difficult, and that is they've made Devil May Cry relevant again. Not only that, they've also made it accessible where previously it was definitely not, both aesthetically and mechanically, without ignoring the hardcore crowd who've been up most nights chewing their fingers into nubs ever since this surprise initiative was announced. [February 2013, p72]

Stressful platforming action made infuriating by a bad camera. [January 2013, p78]

It's anything but predictable, which is good, and there's lots to see, which is great, but it's also a bit sluggish, which isn't. [January 2013, p78]

You can see the improvements in the car models compared to the years before, and the hardcore audience of the sport – the handful that there are – will appreciate WRC 3's spirit to following the source material. Everyone else looking for slip n' slide action should load up DiRT 3. [January 2013, p77]

The game feels right at home here. While it may not exactly push the PS3 to its limits, seeing it run on the PS Vita's 5 inch OLED screen is still extremely impressive. The camera keeps track of the frantic action perfectly, and although a little impact is lost the fidelity of the whole package makes up for it. [January 2013, p77]

Declassified feels like a disappointing DLC bundle rather than a full release. In its best moments it proves that Call of Duty could work on the console, and it has some good ideas – earning XP across single-player for multiplayer unlocks is particularly neat – but it's exceptionally hard to justify how this ended up with a $70 price tag. The very best PS Vita games have proven that, in the portable market, size can still matter. This lesson has, ironically, been ignored by gaming's biggest franchise. [January 2013, p76]

It contains everything you'd expect of a middle-of-the-road puzzle game, and it's executed competently. But the creators of this game suffered from a paucity of ambition. There is a tsunami of innovation crashing through the worlds of online and interactive learning, Rocksmith being but one example. [January 2013, p74]

There are more immediate giggles to be had in the Story Mode, which is rib-tickling to wade through, although "wade" is definitely the word. It really just boils down to running around dodging either projectiles or up-close Family Guy caricatures, like angry college guys with deadly melee bongs. Then you either cap 'em or bash 'em, and maybe collect a few things while being funneled towards your next inane but comical goal. [January 2013, p72]

Unfortunately, there's just not a lot of meat to Spy Hunter: the campaign is a decent length, but rarely does it go anywhere new or interesting. This isn't the sort of game that requires strategy or nuance, and failing a mission – which happens often, as the difficulty tends to spike in places – means replaying the whole damn thing, which is a big turnoff. [January 2013, p71]

Amusing and inoffensive, it's a winning formula. The only problem here is that the PS Vita version has a serious case of port-itis. Symptoms include itty-bitty characters and platforming elements that have clearly been optimised for living room-sized flat-screens, and noticeable compression artifacts in the full-motion video and spoken dialogue. [January 2013, p71]

WayForward seems to have saved its 'A Game' for their own IP. Book of Memories feels odd, as though a Diablo has murdered a Silent Hill, and is traipsing about wearing its skin. [January 2013, p70]

While this PS Vita version does nothing wrong, the PS3 version's split-screen option makes that the one to get. [February 2013, p81]

As an interactive story it's one hell of a good piece of entertainment. Taking your first tentative steps into this seriously rich universe, planting the seeds for larger implications later in the series, and tangling with one of the best antagonists ever, Saren, is a trip well worth taking. There's a rich, colourful cast you'll want to meet for the first time (Urdnot Wrex in particular) and very poignant moments to be had (e.g. becoming a Spectre). These are watershed gaming moments that the ME2's 'introductory' comic book could never hope to encapsulate. [January 2013, p69]

Brilliant in concept, truly great in execution despite a few stumbles. A must own title. [January 2013, p68]

[T]here are people playing Anarchy Reigns – but there's not a lot of them, and they're all a million times better than you. The terrible shame of it – and the dilemma for us – is that it's pretty obvious Anarchy Reigns would be incredible if only it could only attract more players. Battling it out with the bots, we often saw glimpses of what could've been, and were always left wanting more. [January 2013, p66]

Killzone is only for the most curious of fans who want to see what the franchise was like before it got good (see: Killzone 2). Everybody else should dodge this draft and enlist elsewhere. [January 2013, p65]

Though the formula hasn't exactly been built from the green ground piece up, Telltale has gone above and beyond our expectations. Take, for example, the fact that Middle-earth is one gigantic, seamless hub world that can be be trodden across (or fast traveled through) from one end to the other. [January 2013, p64]

[Y]ou're looking at everything you could want in a game; a breathtaking world to get lost in, wonderful characters, a fun tactical combat system, hours and hours worth of quests, puzzles and more booty to grab than a live stage show of Magic Mike. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is gaming at its most magical and only the hardest of hearts will not be spirited away by it. [January 2013, p60]

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

Basic to look at, but totally delivers bite-sized sessions. Tough, too. [Christmas 2012, p.83]