Daytona USA sits in the unique position where it suffers not from its faults, but from the perfection of its original design. There was nothing better than being enveloped in those speaker laden seats, inches away from a ridiculously bright CRT screen, friends or strangers seated either side of you.

If you're a dedicated fan and want more of the series, you'll have fun despite being disappointed at the lack of exposition. As for the casual players, there are unfortunately very few reasons to check this out.

It's just a shame that it didn't have some more time behind it, as it seems that the pressures of a 10-year game anniversary were more important than finessing certain areas. My treasured memories haven't been completely destroyed, but the technical woes make this Halo remake more for the fans than anyone else.

If you can only buy one game this holiday season and want your absolute money's worth, there's no looking past what is arguable the industry benchmark for sandbox and emergent gameplay with player-choice at its helm, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. A work of sheer genius.

May be a little short in length at about 3-4 hours to complete the story and grab all collectibles and trophies, but the pacing and story feels just right.

Familiar-yet-new territory comes in the form of AC-130 missions, only these are far more robust, and desperate. You're clearing a path on-the-fly for teams on the ground, but equally switching between the two. And it's not just decimating ground forces, either. There's no arguing Infinity Ward make a chopper crash look the best in the biz, and you'll be swatting enemy helicopters from the sky like so many flies under your fly-swatter.

The major flaw is not only that it removes the most exciting possibilities of playing Spider-Man, it doesn't offer anything in replacement. The arcade element of upgrading attacks gives you nothing of consequence, and how can it when Spider-Man already has his skill set locked in? It's a dead concept.

The swift and graphically violent gameplay makes you feel incredibly powerful, but maintains a consistent challenge. Despite taking itself a little too seriously than it needs to, this is a fun adventure worth experiencing. For the Emperor!

It offers a different kind of multiplayer and a robust smattering of solo missions to keep any international man of mystery occupied for hours on end.

The biggest praise that All 4 One garners is the constant diversity of the level design and, even more impressively, the gameplay. The beautiful environments are a visual treat that tend to distract from the task at hand, while the little additions to gameplay throughout the campaign -- mini-games, water skiing, jet packing, rail grinding, and the list goes on-stop All 4 One from avoiding the pitfall of losing appeal after a few hours.

Drake's Deception is driven -- like previous Uncharted games -- by the compelling and flawlessly executed story which is matched perfectly by the stunning visuals. Without doubt it's at the pinnacle of storytelling in video games. The puzzle solving is also a boon, intricate in detail with enough leeway to let you do all the thinking. It's a little disappointing then, that the shooting mechanics have the same shortcomings as Uncharted 2 and that it takes too long to get going.

There's certainly room for improvement, but there's no denying that so many different aspects of the first person shooter experience being dished out here are best-in-class. The multiplayer component alone is more than worth the price of admission and the solo campaign and cooperative offerings thankfully bring more to the table than they detract. With Battlefield 3, DICE have at long last raised the bar of PC gaming above the long-held bottleneck of console-parity, to bring us a game that's finally worth upgrading for and I dare say it carries with it a potential for a renaissance of the PC first person shooter.

Cities XL 2012 is even less of a complete title than its predecessor was. When the removal of a core gameplay feature isn't replaced with an effective replacement, what you're left with is a broken game. No effort has been taken to bring C:XL to "2012" standards in the way of a graphics overhaul, and it still runs like a dog with 3 legs to boot.

An incredibly great looking game that is just as much fun to play.

With the inclusion of all the NBA legends, as well as the exceptionally deep and addictive My Player mode, NBA 2K12 is a great game to play and an improvement on last year's version. It is an able substitute until the NBA lockout ends, and the real basketball games begin.

A perfect sequel, and a near-perfect action game. It's stunning to look at (seriously, just watch the snow flakes hit his suit for a minute), plays as smooth as they come, offers an unprecedented sense of player-choice in an open-world, despite being caged in a makeshift prison, and harbors among the best voice-acting and scripting the Batman universe, and games, have ever seen. It's dark, brooding and relentless in adult themes, yet requires no gore to relay any of this.

Even the visuals seem disinterested with everything looking lifeless and devoid of any real colour or identifiable landmarks, outside of a few fan service cameos. Bland is probably the only word to describe how the game looks.

It's certainly one of the most difficult games I have ever played, but it's clear that every single element of it has been designed meticulously to reward the cautious and clever participant.

Genuinely a fun game to play, and includes some nice features like the Active AI and Off the Ball controls. Most importantly, it is a step forward from last year's game, but is still not up to the standard that the FIFA games have set.

Bugs are aplenty. The voice system barely works, crashes happen regularly and pings fluctuate from game to game.

It's well worth the hefty XBLA asking price, and if you don't already own this on any of its other platforms, or just want to relive the experience in glorious HD, Resident Evil 4 should be high on your "must play" list.

At its core though, RAGE is a triumph for id Software. The game's strengths far outweigh its shortcomings and for shooter fans looking for a challenging, visceral experience that isn't akin to shooting fish in a barrel, you're going to find it here.

Despite some art direction issues and the lack of a tutorial system, dedicated players will have some fun here.

The single player campaign is an exercise in banging your head against brick walls until they break. Depending on the quality of your friends list, the long-term value of Rock of Ages probably lies in the chaotically level playing field of human-versus-human multi-player.

A fantastic game which showcases why this series is at the top at the moment. It includes several great additions but no major overhauls from last year, which isn't a bad thing as FIFA 11 was a superb game.

Ultimately this is a solid, although quick, flight down memory lane. If you're new, then welcome to the world of Lylat Wars 64 (Sorry, Star Fox 64), and if you're an Arwing veteran, it's time to relive the experience again. Definitely well worth the purchase.

Beyond mere roster updates, Madden 12 features better tackling animations and visual effects, and gone are any new gimmicky additions; developer EA Tiburon instead focused on improved AI and crafting a more involved franchise mode.

Gears 3 is filled with plenty of wow moments not just visually but also in how the story is driven to its climatic conclusion.