Play - UK

First off, the artwork and pictures and screenshots in here, are worth the price of admission alone. It's fantabolous, and really borders on art. The covers are like more than art. They could be framed. They work on a letter grading scale. That's A-F, including the plusses and minuses, but of course, not for the F's. Play is a very good title, because not only do they cover games, but also Anime, DVD's, and Music; all of which can be played. If you get gaming magazine ever, this has to be it. But like most everyone else, they can be a bit late in running reviews, and sometimes they get exclusives or first reviews too. I hope this review helped expose you to this work of art. But please, dont buy on here. You are sooooooooooooo getting ripped off. The price of a regular subscription is $20, so see if you can find a copy on the newstand somewhere, or even go to and subscribe there.

Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect game review magazine. To do that one would have to cover a myriad of platforms, review games with absolutely no bias, as well as be beautiful to behold. While Play magazine certainly isn't perfect, it goes quite a ways toward realizing this goal and has succeeded in supplanting my previous best of breed.

What attracted me to it initially was the visual and tactile quality of the magazine. It is quite untypical of the average US genre magazine heavy weight cover and paper, very careful attention to layout and presentation, and sharp, vivid printing. It's a rare thing nowadays when graphic designers are given such free reign.

Play covers the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, and the Game Boy Advance. There is additional coverage of anime and game related DVD's, film and music. Most reviews are 2 to 3 columns plus illustrations. They use an F through A+ grading system with the average grade being a B, so they are not completely unbiased. But the reviews, previews and in depth articles are written in a critical style that is very clear and evenhanded. These aren't just gushing blurbs.

I have no qualms about recommending the magazine it is both informative and a pleasure to peruse. The price listed is incorrect. I would advise contacting the publisher Play Magazine has a website if you are interested.

Buy Play - UK Now

Play Magazine is the last bastion of hope for the hardcore gamer.

Nobody loves their games as much as the guys who write Play. They live, eat, and breathe videogames. They probably sleep in videogame character sheets. These guys care about games and where the games industry is heading. This, in the end, is the greatest and worst aspect of the magazine.

Because of their undying love for games, the writers often come across as amateurish fanboys who would give five stars to anything with "Sega" or "Treasure" on the box. They also seem incapable of giving any game a bad grade, giving many poor games, accepted industry-wide as insults to the medium, average or even above average marks.

But if you take the time to sift through the reviews, you'll find the most passionate coverage of video games and the gamer lifestyle of any magazine.

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