A little good, a little bad, and an occasional flash of atmospheric design. [Mar 2008, p.106]

A feast of missed opportunities. [Jan 2008, p.98]

The same relatively deep two-wheel sim as ever, but with each passing year the geriatric graphics engine kills even more appeal. [July 2012, p.117]

Tactics makes the most of its medium with neat battle animations and a variety of view modes, but it’s no substitute for shouting at a friend across the table. [Issue#157, p.88]

On its own merit, The Sims 4 is enjoyable enough, particularly with its rich customization. Compared to its predecessor, though, it's a life simulator that...well, lacks life. [Jan 2017, p.86]

Satisfying. [Aug 2008, p.104]

A jarring experience that tries (and fails) to marry a wildly ambitious gameplay dynamic with some of the most disappointingly generic art design we've ever seen. [Nov 2008, p.106]

What Star Trek does well is to achieve a serviceable level of entertainment. However it never stands out thanks to derivative design and occasional shoddy corners. If this was a cheaper, downloadable title I’d score it more favorably but this is competing in price and scale with bigger and more impressive games with a well practiced bag of last year’s tricks.

With a light and airy story, a number of insubstantial game modes and a limited roster of characters, this is a package that has about as much substance as the twin protagonist’s battle suits. It’s one for Lady Satsuki’s Elite Four, assorted devotees and few others. We’d rather be watching the series. [Issue#166, p.84]

There's a Hollywood sheen spread over The Run that occasionally makes it sparkle, from the Frostbite 2 engine's environmental effects to the action-movie score. But peer beneath the gleaming veneer and you repeatedly encounter a stomach-lurchingly shallow experience – not unlike any movie you can name by the aforementioned Mr Bay, ironically.

It won't be dislodging your go-to online game from the play queue any time soon. [Feb 2016, p.90]

Everything a Burnout fan could want is here, but it’s let down by poor AI. If you have the patience, however, Dangerous Driving is a worthy addition to PS4’s bare racing roster. [Issue@162, p.96]

This game is best played up close – as you would with a computer monitor – and not half a room away on your sofa. While we don’t doubt that with its tight strategy gameplay and weekly challenges it’s a compelling title on its native platform, here it leaves much to be desired. [Issue#166, p.92]

While it looks and sounds great on an S-rank run, regular play is messy and unsatisfying. Mania's Classic Sonic must wonder what nightmare dimension he got sucked into. [Jan 2017, p.90]

Sadly, the best Sims game for a long time is almost crippled by tiresome loading times that hobble the action. [Christmas 2007, p.111]

Eventually, the game starts to drag as more drawn-out brawling dungeons get shoehorned into the plot, and the novelty of its rendition begins to wane as you realise how repetitive it all is. [Issue#166, p.92]

All you have to do is hold R2 to activate the sprint and easily glide past the opposition. It works <I>every single time</I>. Initially, it's fun - but you soon realise it completely unbalances what should have been a giant of a game. [Apr 2007, p.118]

It says a lot about Dust 514's quality when shooting through menu screens is more fun than shooting guns. [Aug 2013, p.88]

A thoughtful pick-you-own-post-apocalypse worth taking your time to mull over. However, meaty moments of drama are derailed by rouge banana peels. [Jan 2017, p.91]

In isolation, Reloaded is a serviceable Bond shooter – although there are better options out there. But when judged against its highly acclaimed ancestor, the kids are only just alright.

Falcon Age tells an admirable story in a careful and considerate way, but Ara’s virtual world is simply too sparse to engage you for long, no matter how hard you fall for that fabulous falcon. [Issue#162, p.94]

A hugely ambitious, immersive RPG that too often works against itself. Perhaps worth playing – just not at full price and not on PS4 without further patches. [Issue#184, p.82]

A rather mediocre adventure. [June 2010, p.111]

While there’s not much to Avalanche’s mechanical uprising, running-and-gunning bad robots with buds is a blast. The arresting Scandinavian vistas are worth visiting. [Issue@162, p.93]

It isn’t bad but we’re sad that there’s not more to it. Mutations are pretty gnarly and this VHS vision is pleasingly neon but unfortunately there’s little to this roguelike beyond its ’80s infatuation. [Issue#166, p.90]

A novel twist on traditional sports games, then, but one that's equal parts New York Giant and Jacksonville Jagu-arse. [Dec 2015, p.91]

It's surprising to see a game from a truly esteemed developer fall into such an indistinct art style, borrowing characters but none of the gripping visuals from Madworld – just as it's surprising that Platinum can botch a camera, deliver another stuttering framerate, and display so many rough edges. But most surprising is that for all these flaws, Anarchy Reigns is still a fulfilling online experience.

At least there's four-player multiplayer to alleviate the hollow AI racing. There's an even bigger spanner in the spokes than dim-witted drivers: it looks perplexingly terrible. The tarmac's shine and rubbering still pleases, but tracks themselves are super-low detail.

Most of the time this feels like a clutter of poorly executed ideas held together with little more than good intentions. [Aug 2007, p.96]

Less fun is how it plays. [Jan 2010, p.119]

Lollipop Chainsaw's core gameplay is distinctly second-tier, and for every endearing exchange between characters or LOL-worthy line, there's a crude sexual innuendo or lingering shot of Juliet's jiggling breasts. Maybe we haven't come a long way, baby.

MKII gives a fascinating insight into how far fighting games have come in the last decade and a half. [Sept 2007, p.114]

While the games vary from must-plays to weak curiosities, this collection lacks the *cough* options of newer retro collections like SNK 40th Anniversary Collection. While we get difficulty adjusts, mid-game saves, and a PDF book, there’s none of the playfulness of SNK’s release. Still, it’s enough to keep your mind off leaked Stranger Things season 3 spoilers. [Issue#163, p.86]

Not even the savvy touchscreen controls can gloss over the real problem: the uninspired world you're forced to inhabit - and for a 20+ hour commitment, that's a bit of an issue. [May 2014, p.83]

It’s rarely original, occasionally frustrating, and often clumsy in execution, but when it clicks there’s a meditative vein to Stranded Deep’s grind that will make time spent indoors sunnier. [Issue#176, p.74]

Wacky character models and environments can only distract you from the repetitive action for so long. Be prepared to submit. [Issue#181, p.97]

Broadens and enriches the racing sim landscape. [May 2014, p.93]

Sometimes ugly, often stupid and always unoriginal, but it still does 'shooting men with guns' well enough to be fun. [June 2013, p.100]

Good dumb fun, and if you expect nothing more it just about delivers. [Mar 2010, p.119]

Ni No Kuni has more charm, Resonance Of Fate’s combat is richer, and Persona tells a far better story. And even then, if you’re intrigued by the Tales series then Vesperia is a better starting point. Fast, fun combat let down by a so-so story and lifeless environments. We’ve seen worse – and weirder – JRPGs, but also a whole lot better.

For fans of the franchise, or anyone with an urge to battle robots, there's much to love here, but its technical flaws and stingy mode options may disappoint others. [Dec 2017, p.95]

Individual elements can delight and there's potential for greatness, but Steep suffers from not being able to make them work together. It's worth playing at least once just for the new effects, mind. [Feb 2017, p.94]

Easy there, space cadet. This platformer has high hopes and certainly looks the part but fails to stick the landing… much like we did over and over again while playing. [Issue#154, p.81]

Repetitive as all hell, but the only real option if you're looking for a little violence. [Dec 2009, p.18]

The faithful obsessives will love it, of course, but others will ask why they should persist with a game that does so little to help them - and isn't exactly easy on the eye. [Nov 2016, p.90]

Reasonably playable. [Dec 2011, p.103]

Stick with bigger bro. [Jan 2010, p.114]

The ground-play remains kinda naff. [March 2018, p.84]

Unfortunately, this is a 2D platformer that incorporates semi-realistic physics, and is an excellent case study in why those two things don’t always mix. While we enjoyed the puzzle design overall, one particular quandary really ground our gears. [Issue#163, p.86]

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

Traditional to a fault, 505 hits every target on the JRPG dartboard...except the bullseye. [Sept 2016, p.107]

Moments of horror glimmer among the frustration. [Dec 2011, p.108]

Unfortunately the system chokes as things get more frantic. Manoeuvring often means accidentally popping off cover, and performing tasks like reviving downed teammates whips the camera around wildly – minor complaints, but ones that are frustratingly at odds with the fragility of your character. Later stages see you downed by two or three hits, and it's impossible to keep a lock on foes or stay tucked safely away from bullety harm.

If Gearbox’s quality scale has Borderlands 2 at one end and Duke Nukem at the other, Colonial Marines sits somewhere in the middle.

Yes, the presentation is lacking in some areas, and the comic-aping cutscenes feel cheap, but this is one glitch in the system we’re happy not to fix. [Issue#167, p.92]

Its uneven handling of core mechanics muddles its messaging and obscures its vision. [March 2018, p.85]

A first-person experience that nails the experience part, but - despite flashes of brilliance - reminds you all too often that an astronaut's job can be...well, a bit dull. [Sept 2016, p.109]

The gameplay is too unforgiving for FF to be a timeless classic. [Dec 2007, p.108]

The mechanics are too loose to feel properly competitive in the style of a traditional footy game, which can get especially frustrating when you're defending. [Mar 2008, p.100]

The hot toddy of PSN games, if you will. [June 2013, p.107]

Too technically deficient to get a high score, but the over-the-top voiceovers, evolving combat and ripping yarn make this worth a look anyway. [Dec 2011, p.111]

Its party modes saves the day. [Issue#158, p.84]

Like an internet date reaching for your hand over a candlelit dinner this feels much older than it looks. [Christmas 2008, p.119]

Familiar thrills from this no-frills series. [Issue#158, p.85]

By far the biggest blot on WRC's copybook is the lack of variety on display. [Dec 2011, p.114]

Forward thinking but roughly executed. Lacklustre shooting and winning base-building aren't the best of bedfellows, but they make an interesting couple. [July 2016, p.86]

A competent if slightly unremarkable tactics game. [Issue#158, p.86]

Visceral chose to stay so close to what's gone before. [May 2011, p.112]

As stylish as it is, it's never quite as likeable. [May 2011, p.113]

A disappointment. [Jan 2010, p.109]

Has flashes of inspiration while magnifying its predecessor's flaws. [March 2018, p.90]

There's just an awkward charm in its klutziness, but Alpha Protocol is a tough one to love. [July 2010, p.112]

Lost Sphear buckles under the weight of its own ambition. [March 2018, p.92]

Far too serious and combat-heavy. [Jan 2008, p.114]

A PlayStation comeback that’s welcome yet undercooked, almost as though it was released three months too early. Keep track of patches and rejudge in August. [Issue#163, p.87]

Put yourself in the - presumably Velcro - shoes of someone in single digits and it's not nearly as bad as we feared. [Jan 2012, p.110]

Ultimately, this sweet treat is delightful at first but definitely won’t fill you up for long.

The decision to stick with the series' standard FPS format on PSP, rather than a clever perspective switch in the style of "Killzone Liberation," is a major tactical error. [May 2007, p.107]

The biggest puzzle of all is how this beautiful adventure all about the colours of the rainbow has resulted in an experience that's uniformly beige. [Nov 2016, p.94]

We say stick wtih Sony's smash hit. [June 2008, p.106]

There's no personality here, no verve or wit or energy. [Aug 2008, p.104]

Reasonably priced but with only glimmers of personality. A fairly standard selection of multiplayer modes are livened up by the horde and generally a lot more fun than a lacking story campaign. [IssueE163, p.60]

The potential for a huge payoff in the final episode is undeniable. Still, the choices in this first episode will rarely make you stop and think for long, and there’s too much downtime, until a thrilling final half-hour. It’s good, but more undead than determined survivor [Issue#154, p.90]

Decent, but no improvement on the (now cheaper) earlier games. [May 2011, p.117]

The flying is pleasant, if a little dull and the inverted world is fascinating to see in motion but it's no nearly enough. [March 2018, p.93]

There's no risk of failing the puzzles. [May 2011, p.117]

Despite the familiarity of its mechanics, it's definitely way more fun than stepping on one of the damn bricks. [Apr 2014, p.87]

Falls well short of the bar set by Everybody's Gone To The Rapture, but this mini-mystery is drowning in atmosphere. The final 20 minutes are great. [July 2016, p.95]

The mechanics are nothing new and the shooting's oddly twitchy. [Jan 2012, p.114]

The overbearing cartoon license does its best to gobble up all the fun. [Apr 2014, p.92]

Just a tad overpriced. [Jan 2012, p.114]

It's fun at first, but the difficulty quickly shifts from "enjoyably challenging" to "I hate and want to dismember you." [Sept 2013, p.88]

If you want fun, play Elefunk, but for a sterner challenge, Cuboid is your man. [Apr 2009, p.94]

Hours of carving out tiny chunks of land and cowering in corners. [Dec 2009, p.18]

This short ep is as close as we've come to filler. [Aug 2014, p.91]

A capable and involving massacre-'em-up shaped from a rusting cookie cutter, but one begging for modernisation via an engine overhaul and some good ideas. [Sept 2013, p.90]

Chuck in a selection of mini-games and you've got cheap childcare sorted for the next two weeks. [Dec 2007, p.114]

No more than a rusty, slightly warped clone of the Lego games. [Apr 2011, p.101]