In substance it's nothing new, merely a magnificent, beautiful monster of an FPS sequel. In concept and execution, though, Halo 3 is the future. [Nov 2007, p.80]

Yes, there's still the freedom to cause havoc, and inevitably you do; the difference is that you're no longer impelled to toy with GTA IV's world in quite the same sadistic way - you live in it. [June 2008, p.82]

Yes, there's still the freedom to cause havoc, and inevitably you do; the difference is that you're no longer impelled to toy with GTA IV's world in quite the same sadistic way - you live in it. [June 2008, p.82]

Since the end of the N64 era, as Nintendo has explored new pastures and methodically tended old ones, it's been easy to forget the times when every major release from the company felt like this. It's a bravura piece of design that pulls off stunts no one else has even thought of. [Christmast 2007, p.76]

As a whole it is almost overwhelming in its depth, irresistible in value and certainly, unreservedly, brilliant. [Dec 2007, p.82]

It's a multiplayer riot, a visual landmark, a feat of engineering, and one of the most charming games ever made. But even those accolades are dwarfed by its scope, its potential, and the apparent endlessness of them both. [Dec 2008, p.76]

As a whole it is almost overwhelming in its depth, irresistible in value and certainly, unreservedly, brilliant. [Dec 2007, p.82]

A beautiful and graceful fighting game that lets imagination loose, and winks before slapping Dante, Kratos and every other hero back to the drawing board. [Christmas 2009, p.90]

This isn't a game that redefines the genre: this is one that rolls it up and locks it away.

It all adds up to what is easily the best and most progressive rhythm-action game ever made, if that label even applies anymore. [Christmas 2010, p.76]

How apt that this ultimate tale of hero-making should see Nintendo's hardware become the console it was always meant to be.

The micromanagement is on a previously unimagined macro scale and yet is accessible and coherent enough to draw you in, making hours of concentrated playtime pass like minutes. [Dec 2003, p.101]

The freedom of movement requires a new level of spatial imagination. Before Prince of Persia, platform games were like playing Tetris with only the blocks and bars. [Christmas 2003, p.100]

To have been worth the wait for PC gamers it would have needed to considerably improve on the Xbox original. Put simply, it doesn't. [Dec 2003, p.109]

The freedom of movement requires a new level of spatial imagination. Before Prince of Persia, platform games were like playing Tetris with only the blocks and bars. [Christmas 2003, p.100]

No other beat 'em up developer is quite as willing to experiment with the form in a bid to stave off the moribundity that's gradually subsuming the genre. [Import - June 2003, p.88]

A fairytale comeback. Extravagance was one of the signatures of the graphic adventure: extravagance to bring them in, and a cracking story well told to keep them.Both tenets of the Broken Sword series remain intact here, and that's all the devoted fans could have wanted. [Christmas 2003, p.94]

It's a game designed to exhaust the world's supply of adjectives. It's a world littered with riches - tiny details sewn into a vast, varied and utterly spectacular canvas. [Sept 2005, p.90]

The action creeps up slowly, starting out like a gorgeous-looking but fairly standard shoot 'em up. However, by the middle of level two, it's pummelling you with a relentless parade of conceptual set pieces so audacious and inventive you'll laugh with delight as you gape in horror. [Sept 2004, p.94]

Rome: Total War is more compelling, more beautiful and more expansive than anything that has gone before. [Dec 2004, p.104]

It still possesses the series' trademark ability to deliver Tempest-like 'in the zone' moments of remarkable intensity unlike any of its contemporaries, but now comes with a confidently revised dynamic, marking this as Criterion Games' finest hour. [Oct 2004, p.100]

As with previous GTA games there's lots to criticise, but San Andreas survives, scathed but still walking tall, buoyed by the kind of ambition that sees most games crumble under the weight of it all. It's a multi-faceted, multi-achieving experience, a rough-edged but massively substantial landmark. [Christmas 2004, p.78]

A work of progressive genius that hauls its staid genre up by the bootstraps and takes its place alongside the WOWs and Oblivions of this world. It's altogether too good to be true. [Christmas 2006, p.74]

A much-needed statement of authority for PC - an online spectacle that eclipses the grand rhetoric volleyed back and forth between the manufacturers of tomorrow's super-powered consoles. A new level of multiplayer combat begins here and now, with shock and awe.

It may produce an experience which is as gruelling as it is compelling, but that's a badge of honour the game wears with pride. [Nov 2006, p.86]

Okami doesn't just successfully follow Zelda's structural template and tone – a rare feat – it makes it its own, toeing that line with grace, ingenuity and a strongly individual style. That's not only rare, it's unique. [Dec 2006, p.78]

PGR3 hasn't moved from its niche, not at all – at its core, it's still pure PGR, a savvy and standalone mixture of real form and hyper-real function – but it's been transformed into a wondrous and rewarding beauty spot. [Christmas 2005, p.88]

If "Far Cry" was a game of ambition, then here is one of power. Power which Crytek has channelled, with both passion and care, into superb freewheeling gunplay. [Christmas 2007, p.84]