Unless you enjoy dressing-up games or cluster headaches, run for your life, and don't look back. [Dec 2012, p.117]

While it's entertaining at first, the lack of variety leaves a sour taste. [Christmas 2011, p.104]

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]

It works well and is reasonably enjoyable at first as cartoon underlings are crushed by your mighty powers. The difficulty eventually ramps up the challenge, and special characters like element-immune priests are there to shake things up. It only partially works though, and overly long missions and an objective that gets stale too quick stops this building anything impressive on its solid foundation.

It's on to combat and back into the repetitive rut that the series has ploughed for the last decade. [May 2007, p.114]

A good narrative could have saved Saint Seiya from bargain bin oblivion. [Feb 2014, p.94]

As awful as the 'big console' version is great. [Christmas 2009, p.116]

For a game that should be stacked to the crow's nest with exhilarating swordfights, having such a weak versus mode is an insult. [Aug 2007, p.104]

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

Though it’s one of best-looking titles on PS4, Anthem’s uninspired action and obsession with grindy tasks mean BioWare’s mechs aren’t on song. [Issue#160, p.83]

Mastering hard games can be supremely rewarding, but overcoming a punishing encounter in Knack more often draws a sigh of relief rather than a loud whoop and fist pumps.

Way superior to rival "Beijing 2008." [Oct 2008, p.103]

2Dark will not make you feel annoyed, it will make you feel sad, and that's definitely worse. [May 2017, p.96]

Horrible. [May 2007, p.114]

A minor multiplayer triumph. [July 2008, p.103]

There's much more exciting elevator action you could be having. [Nov 2011, p.117]

In a game build around multiplayer, it's baffling that the developer would undermine any gains made through Infinity being freely available by making it so difficult to play once you have it. [Aug 2014, p.91]

Crazy fighting wherever you like, personalised contestants and a knowing sense of humour make this far more fun than catching a fly with chopsticks.

In a game that's only two hours long, being this gnawingly repetitive is actually quite an achievement. [May 2009, p.103]

This revolution deserves to be mercilessly crushed. [Sept 2017, p.82]

Frustration is bad enough, but pain? Unacceptable. [Issue#186, p.82]

20% of Sonic Unleashed is brilliant. [Jan 2009, p.92]

An opportunity missed. [Christmas 2010]

It's more Golden Rasberry than red carpet. [Apr 2011, p.119]

For what it's worth, those dice animations really are the best we've ever seen. [Christmas 2008, p.119]

Sexually frustrated robots aside, the gimmick of captaining two spacecraft means this is worth a look. [July 2011, p.91]

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

A seemingly endless succession of chaotic, murky scraps in which it's a toss-up as to what will do you in first - wrestling the camera, the stabbing of grim-faced opponents off-screen or the growing feeling that this is a game that's missed its sweet-spot of public interest by a good six years. [Feb 2009, p.98]

A mobile freemium game in a poor disguise, then, Guns Up! feels soulless, with all the variety locked-up tight, early on, behind level gates and constant, nagging pleas for cash. [Feb 2016, p.90]

A one-note, ugly button masher. [Apr 2009, p.102]

You'll have had enough of the quirky humour in roughly 90 seconds. [July 2012, p.115]

It's homework dressed up as fun. [Apr 2008, p.96]

Given its focus on just one thing, Overpass doesn’t feel particularly realistic or weighty, and you can certainly get more excitement from conquering GTA V’s Mount Chiliad. Still, it does what it does without fuss, faffing, or frills, so take it or leave it. We’d probably leave it. [Issue#174, p.86]

Unfortunately what could've been a fun tie-in is held back by technical hiccups and an inefficient combat system. [March 2018, p.85]

While PS VR ought to be a natural medium for Space Channel 5, it’s hard to see Ulala as more than a nostalgic opening act for the rest of the competition. [Issue#174, p.87]

The on-foot sections provide passable, brain-numbing fun and fighting fans will enjoy collecting new combos and going up against familiar end-of-level bosses. But if you're expecting anything new or intellectually stimulating you're in for a bumpy ride. [Mar 2007, p.115]

The only guarantee this brings is tears before bedtime. And that's with two ADULTS playing. [Jan 2009, p.99]

It's all too simple, and a little basic, and aside from brief moments of arcade fun brings little new to PS VR. [June 2018, p.80]

Fun in bursts, especially when you’re able to rope in other people, Earthfall is a good choice if you’re desperate for a co-op shooting fix. The lack of polish, however, swarms over the experience. [Issue#153, p.90]

See past the low-budget looks, and you’ll find this is no shaggy dog tale. It’s a well-paced adventure that’s worth sinking your teeth (and claws) into. [Issue#185, p.85]

This, however, shamefully for a PS3 game, has all the grace of Honda's Asimo trying to climb a spiral staircase. [Sept 2007, p.104]

It is, very much, a game of two halves. The production values are low – like kicking a three-legged kitten low – but the combat system is a crazy, unique joy. If someone, er, liberally 'borrowed' it in a title with a triple-A budget we could be looking at something really special.

The combat system is leaden. [Aug 2007, p.114]

The biggest problem here is the minimal interaction on offer. [Jan 2012, p.113]

It's still low budget, esoteric and clunky as a rusted Raleigh, but so much better. [Sept 2014, p.110]

It's never enough to help you forget the game's warts. [June 2014, p.85]

RICO fancies itself as the sterotypical hard-bitten police officer who gets results but refuses to play by the rules. In reality, it’s more like Paul Blart: Mall Cop. [Issue#161, p.96]

The game is marked by a crippling inconsistency, and not just in its use of motion-sensitive controls. [Oct 2007, p.110]

The problem is it's not fun. [Christmas 2015, p.83]

The combat is still woeful. [Apr 2012, p.97]

It's sensory overload at first, but immerse yourself in the sometimes clumsily designed levels and there are solid laughs underneath. [June 2007, p.110]

Playing as different Magic Knights, many of whom are more interesting than Asta, spices things up but it isn’t tantamount to bacon bits, and fights never graduate to anything impressive, not even when the J-Pop theme song kicks in. Much like a baked potato, it’s all perfectly serviceable but not very interesting unless you’re a carb fiend. [Issue#155, p.82]

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]

Sure, it's no damp squib, but it's certainly not the firework display it should have been. [May 2011, p.110]

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

On a technical level, the game is simply a shambles, with amateurish animation and obtrusive texture pop-in accompanying your every step. [June 2016, p.87]

As arcadey as its races often are, there’s enough realism here to ground proceedings in a strangely compelling manner. Example? How about blowing out a tyre2 and the game forcing you to complete the race as you hobble along in eighth place like a six-tonne knackered shopping trolley. Fugly and frantic, this is a unique racer. [Issue#165, p.96]

Juddering. [July 2014, p.93]

Feels like an underwhelming adventure trying to piggyback on VR's inherent charms. [Dec 2016, p.89]

Today it carries far more historical worth than it does actual entertainment. [Sept 2014, p.110]

A shallow package that you might buy as a PSN download: there's fun here, but only the sort of amount you'd pay two pints'-worth of money for. [Oct 2008, p.102]

There are too many niggles here to make it a must-have. [Christmas 2016, p.96]

While the story at least tries to play on reality, the gameplay lurches back and forth between sim and arcade. [Feb 2012, p.107]

Sometimes infuriating, occasionally wonderful, VR Ping Pong has a sweet spot where it plays beautifully, but it's hard to find. A brave but flawed experiment. [Apr 2017, p.97]

It seems war does change things after all. If you’re expecting this release to be Fallout 5, then yes, you’ll be disappointed. Approach with an open mind, and you may be nicely surprised. [Issue#157, p.94]

Feels like the sort of shovelware your mate sneaked onto the school PCs in 1996. [Dec 2009, p.18]

Give me the option of a night in with the first season's Blu-ray boxset or this mostly shabby spin-off and I'd go HD Sean Bean chivalry every time.

An exercise in tedium. [Spring 2011, p.117]

If it was actually a budget game, rather than just feeling like one, it would be more strongly recommended. [July 2011, p.100]

Is it enough to make you forget you spent ten minutes trying to load a gun, or ignore the way the characters look like they were made in 1998, or forgive a story that delivers the emotional impact of Question Of Sport repeats? No. [Issue#176, p.74]

If you stripped away the beloved license and were left with the barebones mechanics on show here, this would be a [twenty]. It's only the appeal of the iconic leviathans and John Williams' wonderful score which push Jurassic Park ever so slightly above awful.

It just about beats sitting in an empty room, which is my new scoring standard for movie games. [Feb 2008, p.98]

A boring stealth game, made all the more annoying by Tom's bewilderingly poor fitness (four seconds of sprinting and he's knackered) and the worst gun in the history of games. It's rubbish. [Apr 2017, p.90]

If you're fully under Potter's spell, though, a few dodgy viewpoints won't ruin the magic. [Sept 2007, p.116]

Fun in parts, but Prime would destroy this for breakfast. [Feb 2012, p.115]

If you’re looking for a satisfying sneaky experience, then last year’s Sniper Elite delivers far more than Ghost Warrior 2, which is already destined to be filler for the pre-owned shelves at your local retailer. The odd joyful kill can’t make up for its appalling visuals, and this frustratingly hollow experience misses its target entirely.

Barge-like handing and joyless backgrounds. Pass. [Jan 2009, p.104]

For the large part, whether offline or on, Operation RC manages to successfully inject old skool Resi charm into an enjoyably frenetic shooter. If the idea of battling rooms full of stretchy-tongued monstrosities with athletic controls in iconic surroundings has your Umbrella sense tingling, this is well worth a look.

It really is like unicycling across a rope bridge made of ice. [Christmas 2010]

Those pay walls are simply too vast to ignore. [Oct 2014, p.92]

Weirdly passionless, with rough edges at all corners that leave you wondering where all that money went. Current sequel talk is bonkers. [Aug 2016, p.90]

In a word - Boo. [Jan 2008, p.114]

You can enjoy it without playing the other games first, but there's a good chance you wouldn't understand a thing. [Aug 2009, p.119]

The addition of a couch-play co-op mode with its own story is nice, but the procedurally generated maps lack the finesse of the main story. Rogue Corps is an odd release. It’s not Contra enough for fans but just about fun enough for the casual shooter crowd. [Issue@168, p86]

The game could learn from its pint-sized protagonist. [Dec 2015, p.91]

What Pixel Gear does is accomplished, but it isn't satisfying enough to make you hit reload. [Christmas 2016, p.91]

Trouble is, whichever character you pick, the game ends up largely the same. [Nov 2007, p.112]

There's crippling slowdown and the excruciating script. [May 2009, p.102]

Gameplay is sandwiched between terrible cut-scenes. [Feb 2013, p.104]

A severe lack of polish. [Oct 2016, p.94]

A smart, tough base game completely obscured by janky execution. [Christmas 2015, p.83]

A pleasant, if somewhat hairy, surprise. [Sept 2008, p.104]

The story is muddled and not engaging, which could be forgivable if the action was more involving. Using the monocle to see clues is a nice idea, but it’s underutilised and poorly implemented (though it’s possible some of this could be a porting error). The encounters with the Mother are successfully tense, and the (few) monster designs are good. It’s almost a shame you don’t see more of them. Silver Chains does achieve some solid jump scares and would be worth a run-through with friends if you can pick it up in a sale. Overall, though, it sadly lacks both substance and polish. [Issue#186, p.85]

You’ve played this before, 25 years ago on PS1. The ideas are ancient, the implementation poor, and when a dubiously named hero is the only fun you get from a shooter in 2020 it’s time to avoid. [Issue#182, p.160]

Making your men do what you want, when you want, is still clumsy and imprecise. [Apr 2009, p.101]

Dull puzzles. [Sept 2008, p.96]

Sweet, small, but imperfectly formed. [July 2016, p.90]

This isn't as cinematic or exciting as "Call of Duty 4," but for people who want to clear rooms instead of triggering events, there's a lot to enjoy. For bullet-junkies jonesing for a fix, it's a perfectly decent form of violent methadone. [Mar 2008, p.110]