When the game does slip into heavy narrative - which is infuriatingly often, creating a horrible stop/start pace - the story is a mess. [Nov 2015, p.107]

A rewarding entry in the series. [Nov 2015, p.107]

Clunky car and melee combat, an often visually stunning wasteland, and a funny sidekick make this a solid open-world, albeit one that runs out of gas mid-journey. [Nov 2015, p.103]

Only minor control issues hamper this deceptively clever and immensely entertaining game. [Nov 2015, p.100]

Below-par visuals and production obscure, but don't fully diminish, vibrant design and fresh ideas. [Nov 2015, p.99]

A charming, if insubstantial freeform exploration game that feels refreshingly open thanks to your intuitive climbing skills. It's almost guaranteed to, ahem, grow on you. [Nov 2015, p.98]

Works as both an arcade kickabout and a tactically broad sim. PS4's best footy game yet. [Nov 2015, p.96]

Bigger and more beautiful than its handheld form, with only a few concessions made along the way to make it fit. [Nov 2015, p.93]

A little threadbare and not as revolutionary as it appears, but poignant and breathtakingly realised. [Oct 2015, p.95]

It doesn't have to make sense - just go with it. [Oct 2015, p.94]

Dark Room's shadow is so long the series' conclusion may struggle to step out from under it. [Oct 2015, p.94]

For the most part the game is either unwilling or unable to leave you stumped for long. [Oct 2015, p.94]

A slow, soaring game with real heart, set in an often stunning realised setting. [Oct 2015, p.91]

Its first chapter hasn't quite connected. [Oct 2015, p.91]

Something entirely different. [Oct 2015, p.91]

It's just a shame it's taken so long to get there. [Oct 2015, p.91]

Just beware a few sharp edges. [Oct 2015, p.91]

Stale gameplay, unevocative level design and a control scheme that's about as responsive as a cave troll on Ketamine. [Oct 2015, p.89]

It's just a pity the engine is a little bit of a shambles. [Oct 2015, p.89]

It looks lovely and the frantic combat is delightfully nuanced. [Oct 2015, p.89]

Don't expect a transformative HD remaster. [Oct 2015, p.88]

A starry cast, gorgeous visuals and great performance capture makes it burn brightly during the short running time. [Oct 2015, p.86]

Strong on-ice gameplay and terrific multiplayer are offset by a lack of innovative modes. While this is a solid rebound from a shaky next-gen debut, NHL 16 still has work to do to regain greatness.

While the game feels padded and the animation creaky, DMC4's crisp combat wins through. [Sept 2015, p.95]

Sometimes mechanics aren't enough. [Sept 2015, p.95]

Draws out deserved enthusiasm from you through its first half, followed by increasing frustration as the wheels start to fall off the wagon. [Sept 2015, p.94]

When it goes the way you want, though, Victory VS is a bold, enjoyable mess. [Sept 2015, p.94]

Full of instant gratification. Its novelty value does fade, though. [Sept 2015, p.93]

A confident first expansion. [Sept 2015, p.92]

A totally fresh proposition. [Sept 2015, p.89]

In spite of itself, it conveys and rewards a love for the sport. [Sept 2015, p.89]

It's been a hell of a ride so far. [Sept 2015, p.89]

A stripped-down sneak-fest. [Sept 2015, p.88]

A solid bedrock for PS4 iterations, if lacking long-term appeal. [Sept 2015, p.87]

Wonderful visuals mask a messy, unnecessarily frustrating stomp. [Sept 2015, p.86]

More game than you can shake a stickman at. [Sept 2015, p.84]

Pulsating. [Sept 2015, p.82]

There's little reason to buy Ultra Street Fighter IV if you have any version of Street Fighter IV on PS3, but post-patch it remains great despite a rather crusty conversion. [Apr 2015, p.95]

Looking past the glitches, Wander's environment fails to reward your curiosity. [Aug 2015, p.94]

I genuinely don't know what's going to happen next, but I can't wait to find out. [Aug 2015, p.94]

It seems kinder on everyone to stand there and let the bull impale you. [Aug 2015, p.94]

It's sense of adventure and sheer generosity of scale mean it's an essential purchase for fans of brick and beast alike. [Aug 2015, p.93]

There's enough tactical depth. [Aug 2015, p.92]

A breath of fresh air, full of smart thinking and new ideas - and it looks incredible. [Aug 2015, p.91]

Those plot threads need weaving together soon, lest our interest run out before winter arrives. [Aug 2015, p.90]

You realise that you've been driving across the same square of virtual earth for half of a real-life hour, and you feel empty inside. [Aug 2015, p.90]

The pad controls are something of a compromise, but a good one for the most part. [Aug 2015, p.90]

Its simplistic design means TESO feels like little more than an Elder Scrolls-themed amusement park. [Aug 2015, p.88]

A technically brilliant superhero sandbox that empowers players like little else on PlayStation 4. [Aug 2015, p.85]

Tropico 5 is like taking a holiday from standard strategy games: warm, amusing and, just like packing a mankini instead of your board shorts, revealing and stressful. [July 2015, p.96]

There are moments of brilliance to be had, but it's hard to appreciate them. [July 2015, p.95]

Always manages to pull you back in for a spoonful more. [July 2015, p.95]

A beautifully judged, moving tale with puzzles cleverly entrenched in the story's take on mental illness. [July 2015, p.93]

Irresistible concept. [July 2015, p.92]

Bugs aside, a tremendous and uncompromising simulation of a kind we may not have seen previously on consoles. [July 2015, p.89]

A glorious, funny, occasionally touching and often maddening tribute to the 8-bit platformer. [July 2015, p.87]

The brutal pacing soon exhausts. [July 2015, p.86]

It's very similar to last year's game and still lacks a little magic, but the more organic-looking visuals, team creation feature and superb handling make this the best bike racer on PS4 so far.

A true lesson in smart game design. [June 2015, p.95]

Borked. [June 2015, p.94]

Right now we're in a mid-season lull. [June 2015, p.94]

Crucially, it's a story you'll want to see through. [June 2015, p.94]

If you can look past its flaw you'll find a bundle with more charisma and creativity than most on PS4. [June 2015, p.91]

Its total dominance over all contemporaries is beginning to feel routine. [June 2015, p.90]

No mere spinoff, this is a beautiful addition to the series. [June 2015, p.89]

Falls slightly short in substance. [June 2015, p.88]

As sure as I am that Infinity Runner is a bad game, it's certainly not a game I dislike. [June 2015, p.88]

For all its strides in pacing and character development, the same pitfalls that dogged its predecessor still lurk within. [June 2015, p.88]

It's also a meaningful exploration of the frustration and release of boss battling. [June 2015, p.86]

Fall[s] just a tad short of greatness. [June 2015, p.82]

A punishing, defiantly old-school adventure. [May 2015, p.94]

Be afraid, be very afraid (and a little infuriated, too). [May 2015, p.94]

Without any upgrade path and thus little reason to invest in a character, your fun with Zombie Army Trilogy will ultimately be short-lived. [May 2015, p.94]

The upgrade paths and gear-gating lend genuine longevity. [May 2015, p.94]

Combat itself is a stuttering fit of clipping, incorrigible AI an dropped frames. [May 2015, p.93]

And to think it was given away free on PS Plus. [May 2015, p.93]

Its linearity is a happy tradeoff for the sharp characterisation and dialogue on offer here. [May 2015, p.93]

Never played Dark Souls II? This is essential, even with Bloodborne out. [May 2015, p.92]

Its new modes offer a lot, but certain elements feel marginalised. [May 2015, p.89]

Always brilliant. [May 2015, p.87]

If you're a brave soul hunting a hard game to treasure, you'll find what you seek in La-Mulana. [May 2015, p.87]

Too technically flabby to be called vintage, but you'll find yourself immersed in a satisfyingly grim story with a varied cast of characters. [May 2015, p.86]

The unravelling of a tightly focused classic. [May 2015, p.84]

It offers unparalleled player agency when dealing with From's wonderful third-person combat. [May 2015, p.79]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a surprising failure as an open-world video game, but within its beautifully lit world of monsters lies a much more traditional story-driven RPG of immense quality.

I don’t want to hear that you don’t like point-and-clicks. You like beautiful things, and Broken Age is truly beautiful. And that’s all you really need to know.

Strikingly handsome and fun for a while, Apotheon's scrappy combat and awkward controls spoil its atmosphere, costing in a place among the action-platformer elite. [Apr 2015, p.94]

A lot of fussy distraction from the one-note combat. [Apr 2015, p.94]

Judged purely on its mechanical merits, Last Round can be considered a narrow success. [Apr 2015, p.94]

There's no extremely bloody climax as there was in ep one. [Apr 2015, p.94]

Lingering problems from the old PS3 games remain, but this is a return to form for the legendary spookster. [Apr 2015, p.92]

An online experience of wildly fluctuating highs and lows that demands a lot but explains little. [Apr 2015, p.89]

An undeniably great shooter, but don't expect a profound update from the original. [Apr 2015, p.87]

A rather lovely reminder of how satisfying a good old fashioned puzzle game can be without squeezing your brain dry of every drop of spurious logic. [Apr 2015, p.87]

A confident reimagining of a reimagining. [Apr 2015, p.86]

A slightly better version of Dead Island in everything but name. [Apr 2015, p.84]

Visually it's everything you could have hoped for, but the compromises required to reach that fidelity, and moments of narcissism as a result of it, are hugely damaging. [Apr 2015, p.81]

Pleasant to play and easy to pick up. However, the last-gen feeling and lack of atmosphere mean Ride is only a mid-pack racer.