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.

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

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.

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

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

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]

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

There's plenty of diversity here, but not so much in the songs. If you like heavy rock, you're well catered for. Otherwise you won't recognise half the tracks.

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

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

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]

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

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

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

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]

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]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

The ultimate racing game for fans of slowburning, ultra detailed motoring... a bit joyless for everyone else. [Aug 2007, p.78]

It's another sound update but just lacking the fluidity and polish to mark it as one of the great sports sims. [Christmas 2011, p.103]

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

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

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

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

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]

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

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

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]

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

A must-have for any Fabs fan. [Dec 2009, p.86]

Presents an insanely detailed world and a game unlike any you've played before. [Aug 2011, p.96]

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

Virtua Fighter 5 runs effortlessly on Xbox. But it's definitely an acquired taste. [Christmas 2007, p.74]

Incredible graphics. [Jan 2011, p.82]

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.

Exactly what you'd want from a modern Metroid - pretty, well-paced, and as grey as a squirrel. [Nov 2009, p.104]

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.

An only slightly disappointing update of a superb title. [Dec 2009, p.92]

One of the best fighting games ever, but it's a series that's been even better since. [Feb 2009, p.102]

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

The cliche 'game of two halves' normally conjures up images of classic football comebacks, but after staggering through the glaringly uneven single-player campaign in Bad Company 2, twenty-four hours after spending a whole day solidly playing the superb multiplayer component, there's hardly a more apt description of DICE's wannabe CoD-killer. This is all about the online game.

It's a stonking sports game, but even the commentary repeats lines from old version. [Issue#98, p.90]

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

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

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

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

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

Riotously good value for the money. [Jan 2011, p.112]

A short campaign which is never spectacular and never very clever, but always solid enough. [Feb 2011, p.99]

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

2D platforming is back. [Feb 2012, p.98]

A bit pricey for a game so close to "Bejeweled," but the RPG element genuinely adds to the package. [Christmas 2007, p.98]

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

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

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

Eventually great and undeniably epic, but it looks terrible and takes too long to begin. [Jan 2010, p.88]

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

The best shooter ever...simply isn't. But it's still bloody brilliant fun, even if it's beyond the skills of most gamers. [Christmas 2011, p.111]

Unremarkable, but it's puerile charm makes it more than the sum of its (body) parts. [July 2011, p.87]

Still good, still unbalanced like a fat bloke on a see-saw, and Remy is still a crap Guile replacement. [Dec 2011, p.111]

Gorgeous on the surface but less stellar on the inside, Bastion's appeal hinges largely on its dreamy visuals and those dulcet Nattator's tones. [Nov 2011, p.108]

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.

Very much its own game, Skate is a great start to what should be a stellar series. [Dec 2007, p.62]

Matches now have a more combative feel. [Dec 2011, p.102]

Very solid, if slightly unspectacular. [Jan 2011, p.81]

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

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

NHL is easily the best ice hockey game available - a must for fans. [Dec 2007, p.85]

Our wireless guitar kept losing connection with the 360 when the neck wobbled, and it happened an awful lot. [Jan 2008, p.76]

Liberal sprinklings of stardust outside the ring complement solid improvements within. [May 2011, p.92]

Not what you wanted but better than you'd hoped. [Nov 2010, p.118]

Not the madden of old but a sober replicant. [Dec 2009, p.89]

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

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

A stunning extreme sports title that nicely fills the void left by EA Big. [Dec 2008, p.80]

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.

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

An absurdly bombastic beat-'em-up that's built for rock-hard stick-ninjas and casuals only. [Apr 2011, p.91]

Still, this is a definite step forward for a genre in which the idea pool must be running dry. The Beatles: Rock Band has the style and the songs, but GH5 boasts the greatest features for get-togethers.

Rich sim blessed with amazing graphics and animation. Just what we expect. [Nov 2007, p.80]

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

The retroest modern game you'll play and not nearly as updated as it could be. [Oct 2008, p.101]

Far Cry 2 is a resounding success. It looks incredible, and the attention to detail is staggering. All it really needed was the added spart and thrill of a really, really good shooter underneath it all. But if you can live with the game's start/stop gunplay you're going to have some real fun playing with fire. [Jan 2009, p.78]