Ikaruga isn't tough our unfair, and is always kind enough to encourage perfect play without ever demanding it. [June 2008, p.94]

Guybrush and gang get the gaming equivalent of a knighthood, a Ferrari and a bonk with Megan Fox. [Oct 2009, p.102]

If you'd had enough of ogling at "Calibur 4," cop a feel of SC Arcade. It's still a handful. [Oct 2008, p.100]

A haunting puzzler brimming with ideas, Limbo is easily the platform's greatest successor to Braid. [Oct 2010, p.118]

The best Worms ever. [Sept 2009, p.103]

One of the best adventures ever for the price of a paperback? [Oct 2010, p.121]

An incredible piece of tech and an even better piece of design, From Dust is a place to lose yourself in. [Oct 2011, p.104]

Peggle is a drug. But a good one. And with no special "after effects." [June 2009, p.94]

It's GTA IV - only perfected. [Christmas 2009, p.116]

The best value DLC your MS points can buy an a new benchmark for additional content. Own it. [May 2009, p.98]

Even with the barest bones of a Battlefield game it's utterly complete. [Sept 2009, p.102]

Some of the best DLC ever. [Feb 2011, p.119]

There's almost too much game in there. [Feb 2011, p.121]

Rez was good on a 32-inch CRT; in the world of 48-inch plasma screens, it's spectacular. [Mar 2008, p.92]

Consistently slick in almost every regard: animation, level design, and combat. Stylish and memorable. [July 2011, p.119]

Amazing ideas, achievement, logic, pride, beauty, and a game so good it makes every other Xbox World five-star game look a little silly. In a world without Mario and Valve and the Bethesda hit factory Braid is indeed the best game ever made; in this world, it's among the best games of the generation, and is unquestionably and immediately the best game ever to have been released on Xbox Live Arcade.

A ridiculously generous standalone game, bursting with unique content. [Nov 2010, p.116]

The best. Only better. A 2D game of this quality, lushly redesigned, is worth a hundred 3D romps. [Sept 2007, p.94]

A fascinating multiplayer experiment, but also a really solid, streamlined single player 'vania. [Nov 2010, p.120]

A flawless two hours of fun, made all the better by the extra challenge stages. [Jan 2009, p.102]

The best new puzzle game since 2005's Lumines and one of the best puzzle 'toys' on Xbox 360. [Apr 2010, p.121]

Behold - the finest score attack arcade game on Live Arcade since "Geometry Wars." [Sept 2007, p.96]

Trials feels so good when you nail it, you forgive teh 300 attempts it took to get there. [Oct 2009, p.104]

Rockstar have surpassed themselves, delivering unquestionably the definitive GTA and perhaps the greatest videogame of all time. [June 2008]

Five of the very best games you will ever, ever play - all in a forty quid box. [Christmas 2007, p.64]

Predictably and brilliantly mind-blowing. In every way that matters, this really is "The Dark Knight" to Arkham Asylum's "Batman Begins." [Christmas 2011, p.92]

The best racing game on any platform and a game that works for young children, arcade racers, and the most dedicated sim enthusiasts. A masterly release. [Christmas 2011, p.98]

It captures you imagination like few other worlds in games. [Christmas 2011, p.100]

Not just for car nerds now, it's a huge game where every element works. [Christmas 2009, p.68]

For scrubs, for masters, for everyone: SFIV is the best beat-'em-up you'll play. [Apr 2009, p.72]

It's consistent, it's measurable, and it's the best fighting game ever - but now even more awesome.

Halo was remarkable in the ambition and innovation that made it so fresh, but the mighty number three doesn't have quite that same freshness - instead, it has a reassuring maturity to it, crafted as it is by a team who have learned from every mistake they've made and every word of feedback the community has offered over the years. Halo 3 is the best Halo has ever been, and you won't find a greater accolade than that.

Everything you ever wanted from a music title, and so much more besides. It doesn't matter how you want to play Rock Band 3, just know that you really do need to play it.

A massively impressive licensed game. Without a license holding it all together Arkham Asylum would have been a stunning game with striking features. That it's all wrapped up in Batman's world makes the experience so much more appealing, and it works both as an extension of lore for Batman enthusiasts and an entry point for those less familiar with the DC universe. [Oct 2009, p.84]

Everything that we loved about GTA IV but with its own voice. A gaming goldmine. [Aug 2010, p.81]

Massive, ambitious and thoroughly brilliant, Deus Ex Human Revolution turns out to be three different games at once, and all of them are outstanding.

Bioshock leaves you to figure things out for yourself. It's a gruelling game of resource management, and as the ammunition dries up, you end up having to improvise. And more often than not, Bioshock will reward you heavily for thinking outside the box.

A sandbox with unparalleled scale, this comes close to even topping GTA IV. [Jan 2010, p.80]

Doesn't change the record but pumps up the volume. The last essential FPS of the decade. [Jan 2010, p.64]

More than just a gimmick, this may be the best open-world action game on 360. [Aug 2009, p.86]

In almost all respects, Fallout 3 is a staggering, genre-defining achievement - marrying an utterly immersive world, memorable characters, incredible production values, some of the most inspired RPG mechanics ever devised and so much heart. It might not steamroll the epic "Oblivion" in the manner we all hoped, but maybe that was simply asking too much. Instead, Fallout 3 stands as the perfect companion piece - a near unparalleled RPG that stands so far ahead of the majority of the games on 360 that it would be a crime against gaming not to laud this title as anything other than a masterpiece.

A masterpiece of co-op gaming that's endlessly replayable and genuinely scary. [Jan 2010, p.76]

Visceral Games has managed to create a stunning single-player adventure and has made an encouraging, if imperfect, first step into the realm of multiplayer. Buy it. Fear it. Love it. Dead Space 2 is the undisputed king of action horror.

An essential rhythm action game. [Jan 2009, p.80]

Water Castlevania's roots and a rollicking adventure sprouts forth. Brilliant, bloody fun.

This year's game plays ultra-slick. [Dec 2011, p.104]

A huge and stunning sequel, as witty as it is brain-bendingly challenging. [July 2011, p.98]

Even with its faults, PES 2008 is still unquestionably a better game than its predecessors. It may be lacking in a couple of areas (hell, they needed to justify making next year's PES 2009 after all...), but PES 2008 remains far more than a yearly update; it's the first true next gen iteration of Xbox World's most played game. [Dec 2007, p.64]

Looks like a straight run and gun horror shooter, but it's filled with ideas which will be copied for years. [Feb 2009, p.68]

The latest installment provides rallying that's almost as thrilling as the real thing. Special stuff. [Nov 2009, p.82]

The very fact that we wish Dead Space included more of its original features and less content pulled from the last generation's greatest game speaks volumes for the quality on show. [Issue # 71]

Gears does what it does flawlessly. It's not the best shooter ever, but it's definitely the best Gears. [Christmas 2008, p.50]

The first hack-'n'-slash game which genuinely belongs to this gen, Bayonetta also sets a new standard. [Jan 2010, p.94]

They've surpassed themselves - intense, exhilarating, hugely accomplished racing. [Aug 2011, p.94]

No one does war like Clancy does, and this could be his finest hour yet... if it wasn't just a little bit too short.

Never before has storytelling been so competently ingrained into a videogame, and never before has a player had so much freedom to dictate the course of a linear storyline. Mass Effect isn't the laser-spewing monolith of a game we expected it to be, but it is far, far, far from a disappointment. [Christmas 2007, p.56]

Does for Spitfires what Forza does for Ferraris. The best combat flight sim ever made.

Swallow the shame of buying this and you'll own one of the 360's finest. [Dec 2008, p.94]

Paradise cherry-picks the best features from the past games - cars which have both the one-bar Burnout 3 boost bar, cars which have multiplying Burnout 2 boost bars, cars which can traffic check and cars which can't, the best of the events and the best ramps and shortcuts. It's not quite so gleefully mindless as the previous games, but with loading times stripped out and the best online modes we've yet seen in any racer on any system, it feels like a truly next generation Burnout game.

Fast, brutal action that shines in single-player and co-op. A terrific series reboot. [June 2010, p.81]

A revolution. The controls alone render the competition obsolete. [Aug 2008, p.82]

It's smoke and mirrors and a host of cheap tricks...but it's wonderful. [Jan 2008, p.56]

A leap up from PGR3 in all departments, this is the racer fans deserved. [Dec 2007, p.78]

This is hardcore fighting perfection, given a light polish. One for Fighter fans bored of SFIV. [Issue#98, p.88]

An unmissable, unbeatable offering. [Dec 2011, p.95]

A so-so campaign isn't the send-off that Halo deserved. Incredible online options are. [Dec 2010, p.71]

Still the best football game in the world, bar none. [Dec 2010, p.84]

The definitive football game, packed with so much content it'll last all year.

An astonishingly ambitious adventure that's, largely, beautifully executed. [Jan 2008, p.72]

Mass Effect 2 may not have quite the depth and consequences of Dragon Age - although it's impossible to tell, as both games contain so many variables - but it's the more polished and confident of the two. It is arguably the best RPG of recent years, and as a standalone game, a sequel, and a lead-in to the final part of the trilogy, it's an unqualified success.

The fight of your life. This latest Round lives up to the hype - and then some. [Sept 2009, p.78]

Essential for nubies - not for historical purposes, but because it's still an exemplary shooter, even now. [Christmas 2011, p.109]

A rollicking good adventure. [Christmas 2008, p.56]

An intuitive port of two excellent games. Without doubt, one of the best things you'll find on XBLA.

Endwar is a lesson to all, then. You can make a strategy game work on a console; you just have to speed it up, dumb it down, and somehow keep it smart.

The best Need for Speed in many years, and the best Burnout ever/never made. [Jan 2011, p.74]

A truly great fighter that's hurt by being so inaccessible for all but the most dedicated. [Apr 2010, p.94]

A brilliantly atmospheric shooter with forgivably imperfect gunplay. Stick with it.

A bold experiment in storytelling that shines all the brighter for its many imperfections. [Jan 2011, p.93]

Ballsier, brassier and better than anyone could have expected - including Obsidian. [Issue#98, p.82]

Packs a fancy new jet that can take off vertically. [Feb 2012, p.112]

HG's victory is an academic one. [Jan 2009, p.81]

The best Fallout DLC to date. [Nov 2011, p.112]

Disappointing only because of how high it sets the bar in its early stages. [Dec 2009, p.74]

It's dumb enough for anyone to play, smart enough for anyone to master, and broken enough to keep the frame-counting Virtua nerds out - which is pretty much the whole package, really.

A stunning music game. [Jan 2010, p.72]

Tighter, playable and surprisingly deep, only the stilted visuals and ability to explain its intricacies prevent it from becoming the XBW favorite again. [Dec 2011, p.106]

A better game than Assassin's Creed II, albeit one with extra niggles to contend with. [Jan 2011, p.]

The best bits will match any adrenaline high a game's ever given you. [Mar 2008, p.62]

With solid platforming and tricky puzzles it's a long-awaited return to form for the Prince. [Aug 2010, p.92]

The best game to carry the name since '95, but more than that - it's the best straight racing game you'll find on this console and indeed one of the best pure racers you'll have played in years...Every second is a second you'll spend on the edge of your seat. Thrilling. [Nov 2007, p.74]

A monster adventure at a stunner of a price. People who don't buy this shouldn't call themselves gamers.

There's no denying the quality of these maps. The Firefight level is superb and the multiplayer levels are design classics. The only downside is the cost, which is as much as some full games.

Like its predecessors, GRID is a bewitchingly addictive racer, astounding in how much content it has to offer.

A purer football game than FIFA 10 and the perfect companion to this year's World Cup. [June 2010, p.86]

A super-comprehensive racer...Impressive. [Dec 2010, p.90]

Not quite the perfect sequel we envisioned, but still pretty close to it. [Mar 2009, p.76]

I never expected Modern Warfare 3 to go toe-to-toe with EA's juggernaut this year, but it came out of the gates with a tour de force campaign and co-op mode. It loses points with a perhaps too-familiar multiplayer that caters to the juvenile on Xbox Live; though don't be mistaken, Modern Warfare 3 is one hell of a shooter and a highlight for a series that just won't die – no matter how much we wish it bloody would, at times.