It’s refreshingly exacting about timing, though too forgiving when it comes to grading – you can miss several prompts, take plenty of damage and still earn gold.

Bright, colourful and mostly dismissive of current trends, it’s clear The Behemoth wants to delight players with every moment of its latest performance. That it succeeds in only most of those moments is still a remarkable achievement.

It may not take the genre into uncharted waters, and occasionally stumbles into cliche, but Gemini Rue is an accomplished homage that rivals the very titles that influenced it.

It may not be the game of stealth the blueprints and lingo of red exclamation marks suggest, but Monaco’s loot and scoot play has a winning personality that’s all its own.

This welcome focus on spectacle – and the highly recognisable cast – makes Injustice more accessible than most modern fighting games, but there’s plenty to appeal to seasoned players.

Few games are as initially opaque as Starseed Pilgrim, and few offer as rich a dawning sense of discovery in return.

Those expecting a tale on par with Atlus’ remarkable RPG may be disappointed, then, but Persona 4 Arena’s thoughtfully designed combat system has been well worth the wait.

Last Light’s pacing – switching as it does between tight tunnels and wide-open abandoned spaces, explosive gunfights and creeping horror, stealth and socialising – could have felt disconnected in the hands of a less-talented developer. Instead it lends its world uncommon depth. The trade-off for a distinctive personality, of course, is that Last Light is occasionally unyielding, but the desire to see what waits in its next tunnel remains a powerful draw throughout.

Allow the mood to feel its way into you and the sticky combat and occasional something's-missing-don't-know-what confusion become part of the experience. [June 2003, p.94]

Apart from minor graphical tweaks and two fresh characters, VF4E remains much the same game. [May 2003, p.102]

There's not as much depth as Tetris or Puyo Puyo, but there's not much that disappoints about Bombastic apart from a rather lacklustre platform game that's been bolted on. The deeply involving puzzle mechanics brilliantly build on the foundations laid down by Devil Dice. [Christmas 2003, p.124]

The extreme volatility of every moment carries a reward that overshadows the annoyances. [June 2005, p.85]

As a place, Los Angeles simply isn't as much fun as Liberty or Vice. Too much of this silicon LA exists simply because the designers wanted to show that it could be done rather than because it serves any gameplay purpose. [Christmas 2003, p.107]

We need more games like this - ones that are confident and individual - but we need them to be less roughly hewn. The core of the game is solid, but the way it's applied throughout the levels just isn't interesting enough. [Mar 2004, p.98]

Gran Turismo 4 is fundamentally unconcerned with furthering the art of the videogame. This titanic franchise, this critical, load-bearing pillar of PlayStation, is barely even a videogame at all. It’s a hobbyist software suite, a racetrack tutorial, an encyclopaedia you can get in and drive off. [March 2005, p.78]

Undersized and profoundly linear, but that cannot shake its solidity and the sheer intensity of the spectacle it creates. The most fun thing you'll get on the PC this side of Christmas. [Christmas 2003, p.108]

SimCity 4 might sit down among the many footnotes in the history of gaming, but it fills its remit with skill, creating a game that genuinely demands something of our oft-neglected intellect. [March 2003, p.101]

An efficient and well thought out expansion. Short, tight and intense, it's a considerably different experience from Medieval proper and well worth experiencing. [June 2003, p.105]

It's an 'experience' as much as a game, meaning that it will leave as many people cold as it grabs by the right half of the brain. Beyond good, then, but not quite excellent. [Christmas 2003, p.104]

It's an 'experience' as much as a game, meaning that it will leave as many people cold as it grabs by the right half of the brain. Beyond good, then, but not quite excellent. [Christmas 2003, p.104]

Seeing the game from beginning to end reveals its true artistic merit: it never gets stale; every episode has been drawn with minute care and attention. It would have been an incredible achievement if the gameplay had matched the outstanding art direction. [Dec 2003, p.94]

Seeing the game from beginning to end reveals its true artistic merit: it never gets stale; every episode has been drawn with minute care and attention. It would have been an incredible achievement if the gameplay had matched the outstanding art direction. [Dec 2003, p.94]

It's in traditional multiplayer (and to some degree singleplayer) where the game shines and attains that perfect shallowness of being both addictive and immediately forgettable - until the next go. [Apr 2004, p.109]

Over-familiarity and stagnation has bred a cancerous apathy among gaming's cognoscenti. FFX-2, like it or not, gives players a reason to take notice again. [Jan 2004, p.98]

Ultimately, Invisible War is a very fine game spread too thin. It's a game that's made the effort to name the cat in the secretary's desk photo but not to make jumping work properly, that bothers to script loving exchanges between insignificant NPCs but pits you against clumsy and stuttering AI. [Feb 2004, p.94]

Yes it is almost the same, but when it's brilliant fun, and no other publisher is releasing games like this, who cares? [June 2003, p.104]

If Desert Storm 2 has one flaw, it's that there are only ten maps and these usually channel the player down avenues rather than provide ample playgrounds for strategic experimentation. [Nov 2003, p.100]

If Desert Storm 2 has one flaw, it's that there are only ten maps and these usually channel the player down avenues rather than provide ample playgrounds for strategic experimentation. [Nov 2003, p.100]

The antithesis of the arcade fix and, despite the fact that this stance is unfashionable at the moment, comes highly recommended, not least because it offers a different view of gaming's future. [May 2003, p.97]

Despite what Naughty Dog's crack programmers might think, you can't encode fun-ness into a videogame. Yes, there's lots of 'fun' to be had here, but is it really more fun than the original? Probably not. [Nov 2003, p.96]

A victim of its own success. By creating a story and an atmosphere so far in advance of what we have come to expect from a videogame, it throws harsh light on the conventions we accept without question in lesser titles. It maps out just how far there is to go in marrying sophisticated narrative and meaningful interactivity. [Feb 2004, p.96]

Magic Pengel isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, a rounded and satisfying videogame. But it is, without question, a rounded and satisfying stretch of the imagination. [Nov 2003, p.92]

A limited, but well-honed, experience. There's craft evident everywhere, from the stylised environments and the vibrant characterisation to the well-rounded storyline. A beautiful, enchanting and unusual game. [March 2003, p.90]

If you can stomach the precarious ethical nature of a game that takes American intervention in the very serious political quagmire that is Somalia as its subject matter, then this game makes for a varied and engrossing piece of gun-action. [May 2003, p.101]

The open levels are fantastic and are complemented by a great storyline with dialogue that's immediately engaging, yet Tribes can feel slightly primitive and the indoor missions are a letdown.

What was once a pleasing console compromise now seems overly restrictive post-"Knights of the Old Republic." Despite hints of moral choices and a dusting of side-quests, it soon boils down to a straight slog, mashing the 'A' button as you wander through prettily rendered - if largely linear - dungeons. [Feb 2004, p.100]

Such bastard generic cross-pollination will be of keen interest to those who have pigeonholed the console RPG as yesterday's bread, as Dragon Quarter variously suceeds in its misfit marriage. [June 2003, p.98]

Ratchet & Clank 2 shows all the signs of a game that's been focus tested to death; at no point will you have to repeat a section more than three times. It's a frustration free journey but sometimes feels anodyne. [Dec 2003, p.97]

Beautifully detailed with impressive lighting, accurately modelled protagonists and a terrific sense of speed. A refreshing and captivating direction for the series. [Christmas 2003, p.115]

Beautifully detailed with impressive lighting, accurately modelled protagonists and a terrific sense of speed. A refreshing and captivating direction for the series. [Christmas 2003, p.115]

You come to Virtual-On to beat up big robots through a mix of opportune tactics and instinctive brawn, and throughout Marz the precise and articulated combat remains as demanding as ever. [Sept 2003]

Singleplayer is weak - despite well-worked tutorial and mission modes it always feels like target practice for combat with friends - and the lack of online support disappoints. But despite a potentially hazardous dimensional switch, it remains as appealing a way of antagonising your friends as ever. [Dec 2003, p.108]

Singleplayer is weak - despite well-worked tutorial and mission modes it always feels like target practice for combat with friends - and the lack of online support disappoints. But despite a potentially hazardous dimensional switch, it remains as appealing a way of antagonising your friends as ever. [Dec 2003, p.108]

As an RTS, Black & White 2 is less deep, but just as flexible and responsive – and when creatures, miracles, wonders and large armies are all in play it’s arguably the greatest show in gaming. [Nov 2005, p.94]

Siren's grand ideas are to be applauded, but savouring them takes effort. If you can invest the time, and look away in all the right places - such as the genre's trademarks of outrageously bad combat and dogsbody objectives - then there's a uniquely suffocating horror experience waiting to be survived. [Mar 2004, p.99]

It's impossible for your heart not to race as you sweat out the fright of its peerless audio design, chattering voices and muffled sobs endlessly scraping at your senses. [Oct 2004, p.98]

The picaresque form allows the levels to function as discreet puzzles rather than as parts of a story arc: the objective remains pure and always the same. The obstacles and methods open to you are what change, and it's in these areas that Contracts has both expanded and improved. [June 2004, p.103]

The picaresque form allows the levels to function as discreet puzzles rather than as parts of a story arc: the objective remains pure and always the same. The obstacles and methods open to you are what change, and it's in these areas that Contracts has both expanded and improved. [June 2004, p.103]

Groove works you harder than lots of rhythm action games, although that's often because players will find themselves waving unnecessarily, unsure whether their hits are going to register. This is where the game suffers most: It lacks the tactile response of its peers. [Jan 2004, p.103]

Right now, the online exchange that Trackmania needs doesn't exist, but the community is growing by word of mouth. This is clever gaming, and in six months time it could be enormous. [Feb 2004, p.110]

Deformable landscapes, multiple level routes, context sensitive controls, impeccable camera control, inventive boss level. Flipnic would be one hell of an adventure game. [Dec 2003, p.99]

That this is one decidedly average experience and one decidedly great one jammed together becomes clear long before you’re freed to fully enjoy yourself. [Jan 2005, p.86]

Series veterans may find there's no individual mission that can compare to past highlights like the nails-down-a-blackboard dread of Return To The Cathedral or the emergent possibilities of Life Of The Party, but they remain admirably clever pieces of level design. [July 2004, p.101]

As a reinvention it's a resounding success, and there are no pretenders to its comprehensiveness [May 2004, p.107]

It's easy to forget just how precious few of the genre's many exponents ever attain this level of competence, of course, but that said it's not unreasonable to have hoped for a little more innovation from Capcom. [July 2004, p.103]

It's almost as if Capcom has distilled its Onimusha series, extracting the two core components of the franchise ' epic, fierce confrontations, and puzzle-pocked exploration of lavish settings ' and given each more room to breathe, with their own character, style, atmosphere and pace... Fresher, but not better. [Jan 2005, p.82]

Ultimately, setting out to critique and parody so studiously such a hidebound genre has brought The Bard’s Tale too close to what it was trying to distance itself from. This is a conventional, likeable dungeon crawl whose flashes of brilliance distract you from its accomplishments by hinting at how much more it could have been. [Christmas 2004, p.93]

It's all about flamboyance, stylish swordplay against clusters of spawning enemies. Anyone expecting more than the chance to concoct dazzling high-score strategies will find it a flat and empty experience, though. [Mar 2004, p.110]

While there are awkward moments on this malignant management escapade, it’s never less than charming. The exaggerated ‘60’s spy-movie design is familiar and entertainingly fresh, and although flawed, it’s still far more appealing than Republic. [Nov 2004, p.104]

While there isn't the sense of playing something that opens up a new era for a genre long written off as dying, there is a simple freshness and a delightful accessibility which might endear it to an even wider market. [July 2004, p.106]

If you share director Ragnar Tornquist's view that being engaged in dialogue is a form of gameplay, then there's a richness here that few other titles have the ability or luxury to create. [June 2006, p.86]

Next Encounter is one of the grandest and busiest console battlefields yet created. This is a spiritual update to Space Invaders, a one-trick pony that kicks harder than most FPS thoroughbreds, making the "Medal of Honour" series seem like a vain diva by comparison. [June 2004, p.109]

The strongest MMO launch for a long while, and the genre’s deftest ever take on PVP – but its appeal may yet prove too narrow. [Christmas 2008, p.93]

With the FPS realm being crushingly overpopulated, and its upper class becoming so terrifyingly demanding and particular, Pariah’s solidity isn’t enough to allow it entry into the genre’s gentry. [June 2005, p.82]

Ignore the presentation, the much-talked-about comic book inspiration. Ignore the artwork, the ridiculous voiceovers and the magnificent origin stories. Pay it no attention. The really funny thing about Freedom Force is how little the funny stuff matters. [May 2005, p.89]

An incredibly solid universe with barely a technical glitch to be found, but it’s soulless and almost bereft of plot or character. This is a sandbox game that’s begging for a purpose. [March 2005, p.80]

The Unsung War doesn’t break any boundaries, but it perfectly fulfils expectations. What might look unambitious is in actuality an adventure that whisks you through brilliantly rendered backdrops with a touch more polish than previous iterations, always flying hard and successfully conveying the buzz of aerial combat. [Jan 2005, p.90]

It’s an introspective RPG not just in theme, but in the outlay of time and thought it asks of the player to make sense of what’s otherwise a cosmetically unfair challenge. It’s a work of art, but one on such a dauntingly high pillar that only the most dedicated will appreciate it to the full. [Christmas 2004, p.87]

At its best only when the structure is there to support it. Find eight people to play with regularly, and invest in voice communications to streamline tactical discussions, and Guild Wars offers an intelligent and demanding thrill - bringing the best of the skill and strategy of FPS deathmatches to the grandeur of a role-playing world. [Aug 2005, p.88]

Plenty of games have flourished around the slaughter, scale and destruction of war, but few have managed to realise a soldier’s role and worth - disposable, vulnerable, pivotal - as well as this. [Apr 2005, p.100]

Plenty of games have flourished around the slaughter, scale and destruction of war, but few have managed to realise a soldier’s role and worth - disposable, vulnerable, pivotal - as well as this. [Apr 2005, p.100]

The complaints that can be levelled at Superstars are real, but so is the magic it contains. When it works, Monkey Ball truly feels like you’re tilting the land, not moving the ball. When it works, Nights makes you think you can fly. [Dec 2005, p.112]

There’s just no accounting for an excruciating wipeout on the final lap when such possibilities are at the mercy of circumstances as much as they are at the player’s skill. But, played with a graceful, Zen-like acceptance – shit happens – Crash ‘n’ Burn is as enjoyable as it is easy to understand. [Jan 2005, p.97]

Nippon Ichi’s disregard for the cult of stagnated updates is at once exhilarating and unnerving. It’s exhilarating because it leaves the player wondering exactly where these craftsmen of the strategy minutiae will go next, and it’s unnerving because Phantom Brave’s reworking is a bridge too far for all but the most dedicated of videogame strategists. [Nov 2004, p.100]

Ubisoft has taken a flawed game of boundless promise, destroyed some (but not all) of its appeal, fixed some (but not enough) of its problems, and jeopardised the whole endeavour by making the same mistake twice and rushing it to market before it was steady on its feet. Prince of Persia is strong and supple enough to survive this with many of its immense virtues intact. But it deserved so much better. [Christmas 2004, p.80]

Ubisoft has taken a flawed game of boundless promise, destroyed some (but not all) of its appeal, fixed some (but not enough) of its problems, and jeopardised the whole endeavour by making the same mistake twice and rushing it to market before it was steady on its feet. Prince of Persia is strong and supple enough to survive this with many of its immense virtues intact. But it deserved so much better. [Christmas 2004, p.80]

Crisp of cut-scene, blessed with a refreshingly light touch and low-key compared to the po-faced chest-beating of its peers, Second Sight could well be a high water mark in storytelling through games (as opposed to storytelling around them). [Oct 2004, p.104]

It looks great, and the boosting system means that, as a time-trial game, it's fantastic. If your progress wasn't so easily sabotaged by a thoughtless collision, it would be a fantastic racer, too. [June 2004, p.104]

It’s wildly exhilarating, and it’s wildly exhilarating because it works, but that’s not to say it works perfectly... Persevere to perfect the right lighting conditions and learn the game’s slightly idiosyncratic perception of your movements, and it is an unparalleled experience, if a slightly shallow sports game. [Jan 2005, p.86]

Were it not for the rich, recognisable and beloved settings that fall over themselves to get to the player, this would be a desperately bland game. But the power of those settings simply cannot be brushed aside. [June 2006, p.88]

THUG2’s biggest step forward – it’s stripped-down Classic mode – is one it takes back. It’s as refreshing as it is nostalgic, taking on old-school Tony Hawk’s levels and goals with THUG’s improved trick set, and proves to be a necessary antidote to the mouthy fluster of the career mode, offering up pure, disciplined high-score play against the clock. [Dec 2005, p.117]

This is a game that’s as riotously entertaining as it is viciously random... It’s gleeful automobile slapstick, but not for anyone who values skill and achievement more than taking a wrecking ball to their opponents’ racing lines. [Dec 2005, p.114]

This is a game that’s as riotously entertaining as it is viciously random... It’s gleeful automobile slapstick, but not for anyone who values skill and achievement more than taking a wrecking ball to their opponents’ racing lines. [Dec 2005, p.114]

Alien Hominid is just about an essential title for anyone who’s caught themselves yearning for a forgotten past, or to any young blood wondering what people mean when they say they don’t make them like they used to. [Jan 2005, p.97]

Kids are often underestimated, but that doesn’t mean their games should be. Lego Star Wars has an appeal that goes beyond age, even if it’s one that rarely goes beyond 20 minutes at a time. [May 2005, p.84]

Kids are often underestimated, but that doesn’t mean their games should be. Lego Star Wars has an appeal that goes beyond age, even if it’s one that rarely goes beyond 20 minutes at a time. [May 2005, p.84]

While Snowblind never truly escapes the feeling of being a well-dressed, derivative run’n’gun shooter, it never fails to get the running and gunning right, and in that respect, at least, it’s a sound success. [March 2005, p.86]

While Snowblind never truly escapes the feeling of being a well-dressed, derivative run’n’gun shooter, it never fails to get the running and gunning right, and in that respect, at least, it’s a sound success. [March 2005, p.86]

This thirdperson actioner spikes the familiar with flavour, and a tired but reliable vocabulary of wall-hugs, circle-strafe, grenade lobs and headshots with an invigorating Nu-Earth twang. [June 2006, p.94]

This thirdperson actioner spikes the familiar with flavour, and a tired but reliable vocabulary of wall-hugs, circle-strafe, grenade lobs and headshots with an invigorating Nu-Earth twang. [June 2006, p.94]

Sunrise does nothing truly brilliant, but does it with such engaging raw excess that it’s hard not to be sucked in by its fairground attraction. [May 2005, p.88]

Some elements of story and gameplay are left disappointingly underdeveloped, and the grand environmental puzzles of the opening section become all but absent in the later locations - but when Belli's running for her life, you won't stop to notice.

Fortunately, the backbone of strategy means that behind every chaotic disaster lies the digestible conclusion that, with better planning, it could have been avoided. [May 2005, p.87]

Blood Money feels only slightly closer to the series’ ideal of a gameworld that’s both complex and cogent, and is more accessible and entertaining with it. [July 2006, p.80]

Blood Money feels only slightly closer to the series’ ideal of a gameworld that’s both complex and cogent, and is more accessible and entertaining with it. [July 2006, p.80]

THUG 2 Remix stand straight and tall, offering the series’ trademark open-ended combo blitzing in the form of a solid repackaging, albeit one that’s more a testament to the PSP’s potential rather than a true exploitation of it. [June 2005, p.94]

As smooth and exhilarating a ride as it ever was… MotoGP 3 remains a strong, solid outing for those who enjoy a thoroughly analogue play experience as well as fans of motorbike racing. [Oct 2005, p.98]

Core game play remains largely undeveloped from Symphony Of The Night, and, despite the additions, is aspirational rather than inspirational. It’s certainly the best handheld Castlevania game, but Igarashi’s team is too dedicated to the framework he masterminded for this to be anything innovatory. [Nov 2005, p.108]

The end result is a rather cold and uninvolving game. Too subtle to be a Tetris replacement, too plain to be an engaging puzzler, Chokkan Hitofude adds up to something a little greyer than its crisp black-and-white stylings might suggest. [JPN Import; Jan 2005, p.95]

As a portable title, Untold Legends knows that its payoff has to be immediate and frequent and it graciously complies, with even the briefest morning commute diversion yielding at least one quest completed, at least one level gained and frequently another full wardrobe change rounding off a constant feeling of accomplishment. [June 2005, p.86]

It too often asks for a mere nod in the right direction rather than a considered gambit, filling in the incriminating details itself and leaving the player yearning for more active involvement. [Christmas 2005, p.110]

Where most games are built out of wood, bullets and money, Darwinia has an unapologetically spiritual vision, its geeky god presiding over a world which dares to make an imagined religion into a ruleset. That in some places it falls short of its ambitions is not what makes this game important. [March 2005, p.82]

It only betrays itself completely once – in a dismally conventional boss battle around halfway through – though at times Spartan threatens to become routine, it never does, thanks to its strong character, handsome looks and sheer, irrepressible verve. [Nov 2005, p.96]

Trace Memory is a sound and striking dissection and rebuilding of the adventure game, one that wraps itself well around the specs and strengths of the DS, but one that isn’t the sum of its parts. But it is a worthy and touching whole, nonetheless. [Aug 2005, p.96]

For those who can tolerate having their brain beaten numb by it, the game entails often enthralling, occasionally awe-inspiring sights and sounds. But little is there that’s new compared to much that needs renewal. [Christmas 2005, p.96]

Gunplay is conveyed through some truly dazzling visual feedback and blare. But, once the smoke clears, it feels all too repetitive in terms of its deathmatch-style objectives. [Christmas 2005, p.109]

It's a game that feels like bits of lots of other games you've played before, but not in this order, rarely with such a sure-footed framework and never presented with such a crisp gloss of cartoon-quality presentation; and it's all bunched up together more tightly and enjoyably than in Sly 2. [Dec 2005, p.105]

Global Storm feels like the true heir to the Conflict: Desert Storm games in more than just surname, and remains a worthy war effort, despite there being other games that may do it grander or deeper. [Nov 2005, p.102]

Global Storm feels like the true heir to the Conflict: Desert Storm games in more than just surname, and remains a worthy war effort, despite there being other games that may do it grander or deeper. [Nov 2005, p.102]

Lacks the genuine desire for change that the genre so desperately needs. [Aug 2008, p.95]

Few other FPS titles can match the intensity of this nitrous-charged shooting gallery, but plenty of them offer the kind of less that feels like much, much more. [Nov 2005, p.104]

This is easily the better sequel, a firm improvement on "Warrior Within." So why the long face? For the simple and saddest reason of all: ennui. [Christmas 2005, p.100]

This is easily the better sequel, a firm improvement on "Warrior Within." So why the long face? For the simple and saddest reason of all: ennui. [Christmas 2005, p.100]

For all those who gun Reign down for toying with its own rules and essentially cheating on the player at times it feels are appropriate, there'll hopefully be as many who recognise that such times are appropriate and and that even the dirtiest of its tricks can be bested. [Dec 2005, p.104]

It’s on Live, though, that Ten Hammers truly explodes into life, the absolute requirement for tactics creating jumpy matches that outgun anything so far on Xbox or its baby brother. [Apr 2006, p.92]

It’s on Live, though, that Ten Hammers truly explodes into life, the absolute requirement for tactics creating jumpy matches that outgun anything so far on Xbox or its baby brother. [Apr 2006, p.92]

While it is a little hampered by it’s scale and scope, Kirby remains imaginative, detailed and demanding... It’s exactly the kind of game that Nintendo promised the DS would deliver. [June 2005, p.90]

There’s nothing here to keep you away from the bigger brother versions, unless you’re always playing away from home. In such environments, however, it’s a solid tribute to a storming series. [Nov 2005, p.111]

Though its stellar looks and innately satisfying play (especially in multiplayer) continue to serve aces, World Tour’s rallying skills leave something to be desired. [Oct 2005, p.96]

The game’s inimitable character bursts at the seams of what was clearly a limited budget. There is none of SquareSoft’s dull-eyed cinematic waste here, which will no doubt alienate swarms of both genre fans and critics. But the charm of the title coupled with its breathtaking breadth and depth will win over more discerning gamers. [Aug 2005, p.91]

Single- and multiplayer minigames – and, more interestingly, a fully self-contained production-quality construction kit supporting a viral and burgeoning custom-level trading community – round off an already complete package, making Gripshift one of the PSP's finest and full-featured games to date. [Dec 2005, p.110]

This wasn’t a game created to win any design awards. It was created to give any DS owner the power to turn a roomful of friends into squealing, scheming, cursing, laughing Bombermen, and as such, it’s hard to imagine why anybody would want to be without it. [Aug 2005, p.96]

Much to its credit, Backbone Vancouver has done a masterful job in taking the complexity of Ensemble’s original and stripping it to its bare essentials for portable play. [Apr 2006, p.95]

When so much work has gone into the game’s visuals and so much effort has been poured into the most insignificant cosmetic flourish, you find your patience for the hiccups that still plague many games is reduced to almost zero. [Christmas 2005, p.92]

Ultimately, Alan Wake is every bit as compulsive and satisfying as the fiction on which it riffs, but it also runs the risk of being equally forgettable. It’s a game that delivers the requisite number of twists, turns and thrills, but the only real revelations take place on those scattered manuscript pages.

The chemistry of control, animation, AI and environmental damage systems is absolutely spot on, both in finding Hard Boiled’s groove and providing coherent, rhythmic and unpredictable action. [Nov 2007, p.91]

Something as transcendent and overwhelming as the game we hoped for – the infinite, mind-boggling space odyssey suggested so early on – doesn’t sell expansion packs. It doesn’t fit on to iPhone. It doesn’t fill the vacuum left by The Sims. [Nov 2008, p.88]

There’s more to be got out of this new kind of play than Nintendo has found this time around, and some of it could be better implemented. But, for now, it offers an experience that can’t be matched. [July 2005, p.89]

There’s more to be got out of this new kind of play than Nintendo has found this time around, and some of it could be better implemented. But, for now, it offers an experience that can’t be matched. [July 2005, p.89]

There’s more to be got out of this new kind of play than Nintendo has found this time around, and some of it could be better implemented. But, for now, it offers an experience that can’t be matched. [July 2005, p.89]

Given the game’s marketing as one woman’s war against the corporations, the irony of Perfect Dark Zero is that the quality of the game experience it offers degrades in parallel with the number of people playing it. [Jan 2005, p.80]

Sareth’s adventure does tire, however, during later moments when the game leaves you with neither an objective nor waypoint, but instead an arduous hunt for the next NPC trigger or gateway. [Christmas 2006, p.84]

With it’s limited range of costumes (broadened with lazy palette swaps) and unambitious Tag and Team battles, DOA4 remains as familiar as the mild disappointment it delivers. [Feb 2006, p.84]

Maddening moments are far enough between to be only a minor blemish on an otherwise fantastic portable action game. [Jan 2005, p.90]

It instantly shares the same atmosphere and pleasure as the original Sonic classics did 15 years ago, even if it does little to move them forward. [Christmas 2005, p.111]

It delivers on its promise of realising pursuit scenarios in a fast-paced and energetic manner – it's a pleasing experience, but not exceptional. [Dec 2005, p.102]

Often, it can be enough for a sequel to deliver more of the same, but in Superstar Saga’s case, when what the first game delivered was such a powerful sense of freshness, more of the same – which Partners In Time certainly delivers – inevitably feels like less. [Feb 2006, p.86]

The Tormented may read more as a mystery than a truly frightening horror story but, if it’s to be a conclusion to this dark and lonely diversion from the beaten track, it will be a fitting and deserving one. [Jan 2005, p.87]

It’s an enormously likeable package, and one which sets perhaps a much more valuable next-gen agenda: one of games which place a higher emphasis on player enjoyment than they do their own ambitions. [Jan 2005, p.84]

For those who can tolerate having their brain beaten numb by it, the game entails often enthralling, occasionally awe-inspiring sights and sounds. But little is there that’s new compared to much that needs renewal. [Christmas 2005, p.96]

It’s a game built with focus and one that’s going in a truly worthwhile direction, but that falls short of greatness. [Apr 2006, p.7]

In short, it’s a game with its spirit, its satisfaction and its structure intact. [Jan 2005, p.88]

The frenetic, bite-sized missions are perfect for PSP, bursting with combat and highly detailed. Not before time, Sony has proved that PSP can run and gun with the big boys. [May 2006, p.96]

What it lacks in personality it makes up for in solid mechanics and slick execution, and should do any tactical fanatic proud. [July 2006, p.90]

By far the most slickly produced and gorgeously rendered version of the series, the pacing this time around is even more fluid than its predecessors – less an open-ended matter of hide and seek, and more focused on the stylish, dramatic pursuit and capture that its TV and silver-screen themes would seem to require. [Oct 2005, p.89]

Driver has escaped near-death with a captivating and colourful return, and one where everything from systems to cinematics is of a quality build. As surprises go, it’s a juggernaut. [Apr 2006, p.84]

Ready At Dawn has successfully maintained its focus, making its debut game a standout title on a platform lacking in must-haves. [May 2006, p.91]

Attempting to race beyond its own predetermined speed limits only results in frustration, but given the time to slow-burn and settle in at its own tempo the immensity of its offerings will rarely disappoint. [Aug 2006, p.87]

Levels lose the false drama of scripted sequences but take on something much more satisfying. Everything that happens in Airborne’s dropzones, from shameful deaths to GI Joe heroics, feels like it’s because of you, and it usually is. [Oct 2007, p.92]

A couple of murderous boss battles spike the difficulty level during the second half, but what occurs for the most part is a largely cyclical, if inspired and infectious routine. [Dec 2006, p.83]

Tetris DS should celebrate the game, but instead feels hollow with its shortfall of rewards and bonuses. [May 2006, p.97]

The series is so hemmed in by its own history - and the demands of fans - that it is largely unable to innovate. As such, the PSP version, while a solid iteration of an eminently playable formula, is able to grow only in width rather than concept. [Sept 2006, p.85]

Really, this is a game of strong, simple virtues: knockout action, beautiful character design, lovingly articulated models, crisp sound and overall polish. Every now and then it'll overstretch, at which point it falls. [Jan 2007, p.76]

What it lacks in tactical depth, it returns doubly so in its offbeat charm whether through the crackpot mutterings of its cast of characters or its increasingly nontraditional modern-day island locales. [Oct 2006, p.93]

Fans of the series are in the position of seeing a game that is an enhancement, rather than an exploitation, of its source material – and fans of the FPS have another good example of the genre to add to their busy schedules. [Aug 2007, p.86]

In no way the cheap plug for the market gap that some have suggested, it may point the way forward for a new model of next-gen development. [July 2006, p.83]

Rich with charm, ingenuity, artistry and genuine delight. [Jan 2007, p.77]

There’s little doubt that Sony has pulled out a plum – and given the PSP its first real mascot in the process. [Aug 2006, p.82]

Its biggest problem is its length, and that its formula can’t quite endure its sequel-dose duration. Whether or not it’s overlong in terms of play hours may be a matter of preference, but it feels slightly stretched during its final third, exposing its shallowness a little in the process. [Apr 2007, p.80]

For all its quirks, the overriding impression of Just Cause is favourable. There’s an almost childish enthusiasm at work here – and an unparalleled sense of freedom that can be enjoyed just as easily as it can be criticised. [Nov 2006, p.82]

Blood Money feels only slightly closer to the series’ ideal of a gameworld that’s both complex and cogent, and is more accessible and entertaining with it. [July 2006, p.80]

What's most frustrating about Tiberium Wars is that it chooses not to accentuate the breakneck battlefield thrills of C&C's arcade stylings, opting instead to preserve the old blueprint. [May 2007, p.86]

The rethink has inspired some of the most cunning, least arbitrary Monkey Ball level designs since the first game, and though Banana Blitz is the model of accessibility, it’s also plenty tough enough. [Christmas 2006, p.85]

Perhaps, in this fastest of genres, it’s simply six months too late...in a race with "Forza Motorsport 2," "PGR4," "Dirt" and even the likes of "MotoGP '07," there’s the unmistakeable feel that Sega Rally’s been superseded before it leaves the grid. [Nov 2007, p.89]

Stages are smaller and battles are often less intense but Size Matters makes up for the shortfall in calibre with a visual imagination that, for the first time, makes a Ratchet & Clank games feel like an actual adventure instead of a sequence of shootout-corridors threaded along a necklace of planets. [Apr 2007, p.88]

There may not be anything eye-catchingly bold about Rocket Slime, but there’s close to nothing to criticise: this is the work of masters of their craft. [Dec 2006, p.92]

Underneath the mundane masculinity and grimy gun-toting clichés lies a heavily structured and well-considered score-attack game – one that’s worth excavating for all the short-lived interest it holds. [Feb 2008, p.88]

Underneath the mundane masculinity and grimy gun-toting clichés lies a heavily structured and well-considered score-attack game – one that’s worth excavating for all the short-lived interest it holds. [Feb 2008, p.88]

This serves well as a third chapter, conscripting much of what has gone before while upping the testosterone and providing some glamorous distractions to pry your attention away from how little control you actually have over events. [Christmas 2006, p.81]

As a launch title, Resistance proves itself to be a crisp and powerful piece of software, but not quite as robust a videogame. [Jan 2007, p.68]

Masterful controls aside, Corruption sees Retro lost for a while, like Samus, down some mystifying and convoluted dead-end of its own making, populating a universe that should have stayed desolate and dead. [Nov 2007, p.84]

Ultimately, the tiny, intricate design just doesn't give Command enough elbow room to develop true depth or challenge, but it's thoroughly satisfying all the same, and a worthy side-show to the Star Fox circus. [Oct 2006, p.87]

It's the music that's important here, and Elite Beat Agents delivers. [Jan 2007, p.86]

Squeak Squad overall is a polished, impeccably designed pushover. [Feb 2007, p.84]

A Mario sports title that appeals beyond its ready-installed fanbase - strong, clean visuals and animation certainly help - but one that might not entrance them long enough to turn into major league love. [Oct 2006, p.95]

Smartly thought out, handsomely presented and perfectly showcasing the combination of quick thinking and quick reactions we so often claim videogames encourage. [June 2007, p.89]

Perfect? No. Indispensable? Yes. Wii Sports more than earns its bundled place as an essential component of the hardware. [Christmas 2006, p.76]

Everything is unabashedly cheerful... It's a shame that later levels begin to run out of steam, repeating tasks over and over as a contrivance for lengthening narrative. [Oct 2006, p.90]

While its appeal may have some age restrictions, some of those minigames are deceptively distracting, and doubly so. [Jan 2007, p.85]

Despite the charm, and despite the sophistication, there’s no disguising that Elebits is a slightly thin idea. Although the locations get grander and the destruction more alluring, there’s little evolution in the task at hand. [Feb 2007, p.76]

Fast, engrossing and perfectly attuned to the needs of a handheld, Lunar Knights addresses the previous games’ failings without feeling like a retreat, providing refinement without too much dilution. [Apr 2007, p.86]

Extravagant and uncompromising, with its head high in the clouds and feed deep in the mud, Portable Ops manages to be both a true original and quintessential Metal Gear. [Feb 2007, p.74]

Mass Effect is still enjoyable enough to warrant 24 hours of play (completion with sub-missions), and the stops it makes en route are visually stunning. It just doesn’t find what it goes looking for: the myth and exotica to accurately follow Star Wars. [Christmas 2007, p.86]

In terms of creating an atmosphere and playing with it, there’s nothing quite like it on a handheld system. [Christmas 2007, p.96]

Take it or leave it: just don’t ignore it, or you may miss the videogame equivalent of a daft night out with some of Capcom’s finest minds. [Dec 2006, p.88]

The breadth of Eden’s ambitions may have meant that there’s barely a feature that’s implemented more than satisfactorily, but there’s a generosity of vision here that few games can boast. [Aug 2008, p.88]

Turns out that Tekken's big new idea for online play is rather underwhelming: you can customise your outfit and fight with it on. [Dec 2009, p.103]

Titan Quest’s hyper-realism is, at least when above ground, dazzlingly picturesque, with lighting so natural you expect there to be an elemental resistance for sunburn. [Aug 2006, p.84]

When it comes to multiplayer options, Bleach kills 99 per cent of known beat ‘em up stars – even the excellent Jump Superstars – dead. [JPN Import; Apr 2006, p.94]

It's a whole that still offers an intricate series of diversions - some old, some new - but one that has lost some sparkle, despite its sharper, more colourful looks. Most players will get sick of Disgaea 2 long before Disgaea 2 gets sick of them. [Sept 2006, p.80]

For those who favour Vice City above all else from GTA's back catalogue, it's the perfect 80's revival: a chance to live in the past, and love it. [Christmas 2006, p.80]

Meltdown deserves its own unique place amongst rolling puzzlers and, eventually, to have its timelessness and solidity recognised as a benchmark. [Nov 2006, p.88]

For its dramatic and cinematic flair, its lovingly crafted chaotic destruction and above all its network of interconnected personalities, it's an adventure that shouldn't be missed. [JPN Import; June 2006, p.92]

Bad Company’s multiplayer happily checks off the expectations the series has created. [Aug 2008, p.90]

Bad Company’s multiplayer happily checks off the expectations the series has created. [Aug 2008, p.90]

Even on the least realistic setting, the game can be fearsomely complicated and the manual and tutorials are little help. [May 2007, p.91]

There is some enormous potential here, and for all its failings Assassin’s Creed deserves to be played, and its achievements savoured. [Christmas 2007, p.82]

The developer’s cleverest trick here, beyond creating a game that’s worth it for the presentation alone, has been to throw open so many of its rules to player customisation. [Nov 2006, p.90]

Charming, irrepressible and inventive, the fact that it never manages to blend its ingredients smoothly together doesn’t stop it being a toothsome pick ‘n’ mix of playful puzzles, familiar faces and unrestrained whimsy. [June 2007, p.84]

There’s nothing revolutionary in Eternal Sonata, but it’s a well-executed RPG with style in abundance. [Nov 2007, p.98]

It’s a feeling that never quite dissipates over the game’s core 15 missions, a sense of lean and focused game design which prizes the exhilarating tussle of conflict over long, drawn-out army building. [Mar 2009, p.86]

A Frankenstein’s monster that actually works. Its mind is sound, its looks beautiful, its sutures invisible and its stolen parts functional in all the intended ways. It has no soul, of course, nor distinct personality, but that’s the nature of the beast. [May 2008, p.88]

While it’s not the definitive culmination of the genre so far, Dominator remains a compelling reminder that, while slight in comparison to its older brothers, Burnout still knows how to be a mean racing game. [Apr 2007, p.83]

Blur will take you on a fantastic holiday, then, but perhaps not the most relaxing one. [May 2007, p.88]

For dedicated Ghosts GRAW 2 is a no-brainer. For the rest of us it's just the exact game "Advanced Warfighter" should have been and would have beeen if the clock wasn't watching; Ubisoft rewriting history and charging us twice for the privilege. [May 2007, p.89]

Hard-bitten graduates of "GTR2" and "GT Legends" would be smart to approach RACE with few expectations, or perhaps leave it to the newcomes it has clearly been designed to attract. [Jan 2007, p.81]

Games with distinct souls are rare things, but Persona 3 succeeds in displaying a mesmerising personality that touches the many well-crafted aspects of its curious and singular approach. [Nov 2007, p.94]

The game is full of charm, from the easily-distinguishable block types and hero in dressing gown, to the sequences that detail the game’s story and a delicate hint mode. [July 2007, p.93]