An incredible technical achievement in visuals, depth and realism. CFS2 is a technically excellent game, though somewhat lacking in heart.

If you haven't already played "Corkscrew Follies," there are definitely enough attractive new features and interesting scenarios in Loopy Landscapes to provide hours of additional coaster building enjoyment to your theme park empire.

A game which is wholly unsatisfying and verging on unplayable.

The parts alone don't suggest a great game, but as a whole, it works really well, and I expect to be playing Starlancer for a while longer yet, especially with the incredibly fun cooperative mode available.

Unless you're really really into the game, you can live without this add-on.

The most impressive aspect of Thief 2 is its massive and varied levels. The levels are truly huge and require hours to fully explore.

It does become kind of mesmerising, but like watching waves on a beach, chances are that pretty soon you'll tire of the lack of variety on offer.

A game that is jack of all trades, but master of none. It's fun to play at first, but tends to get fairly tedious when you realise it's rather limited - when you realise you can't change your ship, actually take on any missions, or do anything of any real interest.

Even those desperate for a fix of "Elite"-style freelancing will end up disappointed and unsatisfied.

The gameplay itself is fascinating and not mindlessly repetitve.

The dated graphics and the lack of a campaign turned me off. SMA may have been successful if it was an add-on pack that came out last year, but this year it just seems dated.

The combination of several dozen professionally designed levels, competitive bots, and entertaining game modes will be hard for DM enthusiasts to resist.

The enemy AI isn't really what it should be. This is a minor criticism, but when a game reaches this level things like this tend to stand out.

To sum up my feelings about Flanker 2.0, consider this. "Flanker 1" has been on my hard drive for getting on for 4 years. I doubt very much whether Flanker 2.0 will remain on my system for 4 months.

While those of you with hypercritical eyes will argue there's room for improvement, AoE 2 is the best RTS game of the year to date, and as such is worthy of our GDR Gold Award.

A solid and compelling title, that can keep you riveted to the very end, even when play starts to border on frustration blowout. Sure, Homeworld has some warts, but these are generally hidden by the game being fresh and innovative, instead of a regurgitated old rehash.

Even with the amazing achievements in other areas of the game, one of the most under-appreciated, but ultimately useful, components of SS2 is its interface.

Provides the player with as much tension, graphical realism, and all-round superb gameplay as one could wish for. The minor bugs and the tricky control system can defintely annoy you at times, but they shouldn't totally put you off, as the game really is a classy bit of programming.

I have no doubts about TA:K's entertainment value. Yes, it is a reincarnation of a two-year old game system (with radically different gameplay, I must emphasize) with various problems, and the innovation may no longer be there, but the fun certainly is.

Fans of the first two games will either love or hate the new plot-based objectives, although combat remains the beautiful, almost artful experience it always has been.

Ridiculously addictive. A hallmark of a good game is that it makes what would be mundane interesting. In EQ you can happily play for hours just trying to gain enough experience to get to the next level.

While it's not the groundbreaking game that Civilization was, it's a very worthy successor and it'll probably stay on your hard drive a long, long time.

Offers an amazing amount of control over how the game is played in a game session. It is very easy to set up a multiplayer game, and just as easy to join one in progress over the Internet or LAN.

Simply the most immersive, addictive game I have played in a long time.

As it is I hereby award this game a Silver award for taking risks, partly delivering them and for being a game with plenty of scope and depth that takes a lot of getting to grips with.

Everything about Half-Life smacks of quality: the storyline, the gameplay, the graphics, the sound effects and last, but not least, the obvious level of committment Sierra and Valve have invested in it. Half-Life is, without doubt, the best PC game I have ever played. Ever.

An engrossing game. It's strength lies in its portrayal of a cut-throat business environment, with the "train set" element of the game playing second fiddle, albeit a gloriously rendered second fiddle.

Nothing short of superb - it takes "Fallout," expands upon it, enriches it, enhances it in so many ways that it makes one feel as if the original was immature.