A guilty and brutal pleasure with a rare sense of honour, humour and is perhaps the most quintessential Japanese title you'll ever play.

The biggest drawback in HG and SS is without a doubt the random encounters.

For an engine company, Unigine has displayed some solid design with Oil Rush. It plays just as good as it looks, and offers a less micro-intensive strategy alternative. At its heart, it's all about unit distribution, and gathering that critical mass of firepower to shift the momentum in your favour.

If you don't need mods and prefer to play on your Xbox 360, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is much better built than its PC partner. Long time fans will no doubt find some of the differences disappointing - for instance the world is limited to 1024x1024 - and while this is small compared to the PC version, with an 8 player multiplayer limit it's still massive. If you are looking to finally see what the fuss is about, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is an excellent purchase.

Once embraced and understood, I actually enjoyed the multiplayer more than SupCom 2, RUSE, and yes, even the Starcraft 2 beta. But singleplayer was like a tour of the worst parts of strategy games in the '90s, and hardly a fitting end to the Tiberium saga.

Unfortunately, if you’re waiting for the big gameplay twist that really sets this game apart from the rest, it isn’t coming. What we’ve got is a high definition, high budget, tinsel filled version of the last few games that ads more than enough for fans of the series, but will once again fail to convert the non believers.

Some of the design choices are incredibly confusing and you might not want to play it again for a couple of months, but it does an excellent job of bringing Geralt's world to life.

The gameplay itself is great, and a lot of fun, and I can see myself bringing it out to play when friends who have the game are over, and we'll have a ball with it, but the other areas just feel a bit lacking - online in particular.

At a time when Japanese developers seem to moving to more readily embrace "Westernised" gaming values, kudos to CyberConnect2 for sticking to its guns and providing a gaming experience quite unlike anything I've ever played before and one I look forward to revisiting in twenty minute blocks time and time again.

The graphics are fantastic, the gameplay is tight and - while lacking the customisation introduced in Wipeout Pulse - the soundtrack is good. It's let down by long loading times and a short-ish campaign, but Cross-Play gives it both a little added longevity and makes it into a bit of a 'feature highlight' game. It's a must-have Vita game - just make sure you set aside time to play it.

The story is engrossing and playing around with The Force powers is a treat.

The 3rd Birthday is one of the PSP's better games and it's just a shame they had to muck things up with its ridiculous plot and juvenile fan-service.

SimCity made me connect with the Sims in my world more than any Sims game ever could - and then it made me wilfully hurt them to further my own agenda. It simultaneously made me uncomfortable with my actions and impelled to win at the same time. That's an odd feeling to get out of a game where you can deliberately unleash a giant fire breathing lizard on an unsuspecting populace.

There is a thin line between telling the player a story and letting them experience it, and it's one the previous games parkoured along with only the occasional misstep. Assassin's Creed 3 however, falls flat on the side of telling you its story - and it would be unforgivable if it weren't for the billion other things you can do in the game.

Multiplayer successfully delivers everything I really want from a new God of War game. If only the singleplayer were as good.

Far from perfect, with a slightly unfair multi-player component for the cash or time impaired, Split Second is still tremendously fun and addictive.

It’s an extremely solid action game, a brutal, crazy ride that fits in nicely with the rest of Platinum’s oeuvre, but one that falls just short of being an instant classic thanks to some finicky controls and muted design choices.

The teammate AI is painfully bad and it will go down as one of the biggest mistakes in video gaming history. To take you back to the painful train analogy from before, Resident Evil 5 is a train where the engineer is retarded and steals all your god damned ammo. Replace that engineer with a human and you'll have fun with the game.

It's not a particularly great rhythm game, nor is it really a Final Fantasy one, but for some reason the two work together well.

If it were just the campaign with co-op, Judgment would seem difficult to justify for its triple A asking price, but with the addition of the excellent Overrun mode - and a couple of friends - it's a worthwhile purchase.

Absolutely get Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning if you're looking for a deep fantasy world - but if you can't handle the MMO flavour, you might want to give it a pass. KOA:R shines when it is being creative or original - when you get lost in the depth of the combat, or the wealth of backstory - and falters when it apes other games. And seriously - it's 2012... lose the invisible walls already.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet's biggest boon is that tries to do something different, and it does it well. It falters early on with unintuitive tutorial sections - at a time in the game where it needs to be as intuitive as possible - but this forces the player into the deep end, and it's probably not a terrible thing considering how the game plays out.

Apart from being set in the Warhammer 40k universe however, it doesn't really have its own voice - but Relic now have a basis to build on. If you like the Warhammer 40,000 universe, Space Marine is a must buy - but if you aren't familiar with it you might want to leave Space Marine aside.

The short length of the single player is a little disappointing, as it is a good time.

This departure from the franchise is an invigorating reboot that should satisfy both racing enthusiasts and action junkies alike while the decidedly robust track creation system should have the community upping the ante for months to come. Frag, destroy, create and decimate - it's all on the cards in Ridge Racer Unbounded.

The introduction of the antagonist Ghirahim and the relationship between Link and Zelda are excellently laid out and the story contains a few twists and turns you will never see coming. It makes the entire experience feel more worthwhile - especially after the bafflingly cliched beginning.

EndWar is probably the best attempt at a RTS on consoles, while it’s far from perfect Ubisoft has managed to find a way to allow you to command an army in short but explosive battles - which should suit most console owners. Even though the single-player is best left untouched and the graphics are not up to par with other new release titles like GOW 2, there’s still a lot of fun to be had here with EndWar if you’re a fan of online gaming.

I love the new "adult" tack Sega are taking with their current Wii line-up and I hope it continues. What MadWorld needs is more complexity, but a lot of what makes it great is the fact that it's so easy.

Roaming around a vast countryside in Dragon's Dogma is the sort of adventuring experience I imagined playing Dungeons & Dragons growing up. It's about hunting down great monsters, about charting areas on your own and about remembering what it's like to be afraid of the dark - and then conquering that fear.

A great game for both newcomers and old school players alike. It’s not the perfect Civ experience for either party, but the compromise is well worth your time.

No, F.E.A.R. 3 isn't scary - but considering the length of the singleplayer and the strength of the multiplayer, I don't think it really matters.

For your money you get about 15 hours worth of gameplay in a single playthrough, and while that seems a little light in comparison to Origins, it's a decent price for a stand alone expansion pack on a console.

Those of you expecting a return to the Prince's former glory may be disappointed, though this is definitely a step in the right direction.

It's still a little distressing that a game with all the potential in the world to be one of the most spectacular gaming experiences of the decade is instead... a middle-of-the-road title. It may not crash, and it may not really bore you, but it isn't polished, and doesn't fully engross you.

A little more spit and polish could have significantly elevated the title to the ranks of the FPS elite. The old school gameplay was a winner in my book; just don't expect to be wowed by the plot or anything else.

Action gamers who found their way to Uncharted via God of War and similar bombastic franchises will only have their itches scratched in the cutscenes. Whereas if your main enjoyment comes from the character interaction and cute dialogue these games seem to do better than so many others, you won't be disappointed at all.

If you're the kind that relishes a challenge and has understanding neighbours (for when you swear loudly), Dustforce is a low cost yet deep title that can keep you mercilessly addicted for hours.

If you're under 14, or some unfortunate pituitary disorder has rendered your hands miniscule, you can't really go wrong with Guitar Hero: On Tour. Just make sure that when you're touring, it's somewhere devoid of other people and their pitiless, judging eyes.

Though its fundamentals are starting to show their age, Earthworm Jim HD was really satisfying to knock out.

If you do have friends with the same console who are willing to pick up a copy of the game, it's a no-brainer. In terms of execution, Operation Flashpoint: Red River demolishes all comers - and thanks to a heavy dose of replayability, I'd even recommend it over Portal 2's coop.

Overall, excluding the jumping puzzles, there isn't anything particularly bad about WET. It's a fun shooter, it's clearly designed for adults, and it gives you a lot of options for looking cool while mercilessly slaughtering hundreds of people.

Nan Assault Neo successfully blends the biological with the mechanical into a twin stick shooter that just feels right.

Final Fantasy XIII wanted you to love it for who it was, but Final Fantasy XIII-2 wants you to love it for who it's like. And compared to Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XII and Chrono Trigger it falters significantly, with a ridiculous and convoluted story, some awful voice acting and the worst music I've heard in a video game. If you're a fan of JRPGs you'll probably enjoy it, but it's in no way the best game on the market - not by a long shot.

The more you play Need For Speed: Shift the more you find yourself forgiving the half-arsed attempt at vehicle damage.

A game unlike no other. Every minor failing in gameplay or plot was cancelled out by a graphical marvel or auditory explosion.

It requires a significant investment of time before players will begin to enjoy themselves. It has loading times which are pretty bad at best and unacceptable at worst. Oh and for a lot of the game the only thing you'll be racing is your own PB time.

The co-operative features are silky smooth with great voice chat and not a hint of lag and the inclusion of Daily Challenges keeps the content fresh and constantly evolving. It may not be perfect, but goddamn it's a hell of a lot of fun.

When it works it really works well and its attention to the canon and lore of the Lord of the Rings is phenomenal, but it does too many things poorly to put it in the same league as a game like Dark Souls or The Witcher 2.

The best reason to buy this is if you don't think you can hold out until God of War 3 - the other reason is if you're a huge fan of the character. You'll find that this is ultimately the definitive version of the Xmen Origins story.

An extremely fun action experience that is sure to induce Tourette's to the most levelheaded gamers. It's a blast for the most part, but on occasion it defies explanation by breaking its own conventions and using shoddy camera angles and unresponsive controls to artificially increase difficulty.

Very average in most respects - everything it does right has some element which drags it straight back down. The one thing which makes the game amazing is the attention to detail given to the characters, story and the world they live in.

It's a story-heavy sequel to a game with a pretty forgettable story and the story it has is almost laughably bad. It abandons the concept of being a supervillain, but never burdens you with the responsibility of being a good guy and ultimately, it brings almost nothing new to the franchise.

Regardless of my feelings for The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie, its levels were longer, set in interesting scenes, and did what the Lego games have been doing from the start - paying excellent tribute to one of my biggest heroes.

Each level looks so enormously different that aside from a very distinctive 2D style, it very rarely seems like the same game at all.

One of the biggest early appeals of Mortal Kombat was the forbidden factor, personified by that curtain that appeared around some of the earlier arcade cabinets to shield kiddies from the evisceration. In its quest for broader appeal, that element of MK is now dead and gone.

Quantum of Solace directly suffers at the hands of a strict movie release schedule - with more time the game could have been the Goldeneye replacement everyone has been dreaming of.

I've played 28 hours of Diablo 3 (according to the in-game measurement) - but this isn't the whole story. I've spent six hours not playing it - nearly a quarter of my time total. With no competitive multiplayer (except for the facile concept of a 'race to the finish line'), constant network related issues and what I feel is negative movement in terms of the 'loot' metagame, Diablo 3 in its current state isn't something I see myself playing any more.

While I had a better time than expected taking Warfighter online, its singleplayer remains a well-crafted imitator in a year of new ideas.

The single-player alone doesn't make Shank 2 a must buy, but if you enjoy horde modes with a spicy Mexican twist then Shank 2 is an unbelievably fun addition to your party game collection.

I'd recommend Tokyo Jungle to anyone looking for an utterly unique take on the post-apocalyptic theme. It's the sort of game that can get overwhelming if you play it all in one weekend, but if you jump into it every now and then you'll find yourself repeatedly enamoured with the world.

Compared to The Force Unleashed’s Duel Mode, Lightsaber Duels is too simplistic and shallow to warrant purchasing – while it would suit younger fans, the wait continues for the rest of us Star Wars fans for a game that lets us unleash our inner Jedi and use the Wii-mote like a lightsaber in a realistic manner.

It's unfortunate that the story is so incredibly mundane, with a bad case of structural repetition for each main area. Oliver's grief is a valid emotion to ride, but it takes a back seat to so many hours of grinding.

If you aren't familiar with the difficulty of the Castlevania games previous to SotN you will probably see Castlevania HD as nothing but an exercise in frustration. If you want to get into Castlevania you can pick up the excellent Symphony of the Night from the Xbox Live Marketplace - and while it doesn't have multiplayer you're much more likely to have a good time.

Bulletstorm's best gag is that it'd be light years better if it didn't attempt to have any story at all. The story it does have is so clichéd they could almost credit Home Brand, and a large portion of the humour is written for 14 year olds. The skillshot system, the leash and the core game though - it's a fresh and interesting take on the FPS genre. There's genuinely more fun to be had playing through the Echo mode than there is putting up with the half-baked story in singleplayer.

By walking the line between Sim and Arcade, H.A.W.X.2 manages to represent neither and alienate both.

Virtua Tennis 2009 isn't a bad game - it's more fun than most sports games with three other people at hand - but it certainly isn't a good game. Go and get Virtua Tennis 3 or Top Spin 3 if you desperately need a tennis game on your Xbox 360 though - they're both better.

The game doesn't have the depth to keep the average gamer interested, especially not for a second round - even with the branching storyline.

In a world where First Person Shooters come free with pizza (Pizza Hut gave away the Battlefield series for a while for those of you leading a healthier lifestyle than me.) The Conduit really doesn't stand out in the crowd. If anything; other, better games are sitting on its shoulders.

SoulCalibur V closely resembles the Modern Warfare of fighting games with an instantly forgettable story line in its single player campaign paling before a more robust multiplayer and online component. Ignore the story mode and delve deeper into the arcade, character creation and versus modes for the best experience. It's not even close to the finest incarnation of the series but it looks quite pretty and is still reasonably solid.

Even with the pet and the infinite dungeon, Torchlight is very much the definition of a Diablo clone. If you liked Diablo and you want to play it again, saddle up because you are going to love Torchlight.

Your 15th trip through the barren Hyrule countryside sums up not just dodging trains in Spirit Tracks, but basically the entirety of Spirit Tracks.

What it lacks in variety it makes up in sheer insanity.

If it was a Wii game it would be one of the best on the console - hell if they stripped out the awkward, pain in the ass Land Battles it would be a much better game. Still, is it so much to ask that one 3DS game not be portable, one 3DS game not follow the format of 'pick up and play anywhere'? With the 3DS' currently small catalogue, I think so - but maybe in the future, things will change. I really hope they do.

In all, the game seems to alternate between a wonderful, engrossing experience and a frustrating, incomplete one - and while we can hope that upcoming patches fix many of these (often niggling, sometimes major) problems, for the moment, Silent Hunter 5 remains a interesting but partially-broken game.

Our problem is where Polyphony Digital has focused their content here. 800 cars and 35+ tracks(which can be played in reverse) is super generous and no small feat to cram into a PSP. We'd trade half of them for a career mode – even if it was a cut-down version of past GT games – so we'd feel like picking the game up for a quick race was actually progressing something more than our track and car count.

If the shift powers had been less drip-fed, the puzzles more open to experimentation, the dimensions less generic and the general conceit more fully realised, Quantum Conundrum may well have blown us away as much as Portal did.

Singularity is a game which uses the concept of time travel less as a game mechanic, plot driver or interesting concept and more as a distraction. This philosophy carries across the entire title - graphics, story and puzzles all seem to simply serve as filler to keep your attention between shooting things.

The combat overall leaves much to be desired. Halo is so rigid in its linearity that the player is forced to learn gunfight sequences by rote - remember where the snipers are, make sure you find the Watcher quickly to put him down, memorise where extra ammo is.

As commendable as it is that 5th Cell have made a game that will likely encourage children to think outside the box, experiment with words, and unleash their imaginations on the screen, for those of us who have grown up and have been cultivating our love affair with words for years now, it's the most boring Scribblenauts entry ever.

The Line lacks a strong direction. There's a very powerful hint of an outstanding game sitting beneath what is ultimately a flawed experience. I can imagine it being easier to play on PC - not something you'd typically say about a third person shooter - and yet I can't see that making up for all of its faults.

There's not a lot to redeem Mirror's Edge beyond its immersive atmosphere. The clipping is probably the worst thing about the game - it's simply inexcusable to have a game rely on something so much only to have it not work when it should.

If you're after the definitive Bond adventure, Blood Stone 007 isn't it, stick to GoldenEye 007 instead.

Fans of Transformers - real fans, the people with the cartoon series and die-cast toys - will probably get a huge kick out of the story behind Transformers. They might even get enough out of it to overlook the insipid level design, borrowed gameplay elements and sloppy AI.

At the end of the day it may be trite and an unfunny pun, but unless you’re a massive fan of Battlestar Galactica and have the ability to put shonky gameplay to the side, I’ll offer this one piece of advice… Avoid the Void.

The weirdest thing about this game - I've never had so many gripes and still found myself so incredibly addicted. I played the game all the way through - around 25 hours - in two sittings.

The entire experience, virtually across the board, screamed of cool ideas and massive potential but Ubisoft may have bitten off more than it could chew. The final product was equal parts sloppy and magnificent. For every moment I set the Vita down to applaud there were similar moments the air turned blue as I cursed in frustration.

While its cover and suppression systems and tanks are outstanding, there are far too many bugs throughout the single and multiplayer game. While broken animation and even the bizarre leveling bugs can be ignored to an extent, the constant framerate and sound dropping - not to mention outright crashes - make RO2 too frustrating at the moment - and sadly it's only going to get worse as more people get fed up and move on to something else.

Die-hard fans of the anime can feel free to throw an extra [10 points] onto the final score, but with repetitive cannon fodder enemy types, a nonsensical plot and some of the blandest and most repeated ad nauseum backgrounds I've ever seen in a video game, it's hard to justify going any higher. A little more care could have really made a difference. Pity.

The AI makes playing on your own a pain in the arse and the netcode ruins the multiplayer. The story is actually pretty interesting but at the end of the day you don't play these sorts of games for the plot, and Brink doesn't deliver where it should.

The saddest thing is there’s still a lot of fun to be found in Colonial Marines. As much as I loathed it at times, this was mostly due to the fact that when the game gets it right, it really gets it right. Last-gen graphics, poor quality control and sloppy writing further taint an enjoyable co-op experience that otherwise goes a long way to making the player fe

Since we’re stuck with an unrefined and choppy experience, it’s better to dust off some classics and remind yourself what makes this genre so special. After that, give Square Enix a call and let them know.

The clichéd characters, the abysmal voice acting and the repetitive, unrewarding gameplay all reinforce this idea that you are playing a video game - a poorly written, poorly made one at that.

Operation Raccoon City gets fifty percent of the way there. It has some really cool ideas and core concepts that deserve acknowledgement and recognition counterbalanced by almost half-cocked development choices. I hoped that this would set a new benchmark for the series and usher in a new direction, but this isn't the title to do it.

The Amazing Spider-Man isn't a bad game outside of its ridiculous story - it's just pointless. It's very nice looking and it is very cathartic to swing about the streets of Manhattan, but without a good reason to do it, you might as well not bother.

As much as I loved powering around Ibiza and Hawaii in a Bugatti or Ferrari, it doesn't make up for the tedium of earning cars through repetitive, samey races against underwhelming (and teleporting) AI, the Z grade voice acting and the half-arsed attempt at injecting story into a game which very literally didn't need it. Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a wreck.

If fishing in your underpants is your idea of a cool way to kill some time, or you’re just trying to get your dad into playing the Wii you could do a lot worse than Sega Bass Fishing. Otherwise I’d kiss this one and throw it back.

The more I played it the less I wanted to as the story got sillier and the horror theme phased in and out. I wouldn't recommend F.E.A.R. 2 to anyone except the ultra hardcore fans of Monolith Productions - even then you'd be better off playing Condemned 2.

Maybe Platinum Games had deliberately pushed the game so far over the top it became ridiculous and stupid, not out of an attempt to circle on round from stupid back to awesome in that out-there-crazy-no-holds-barred-explosion way, but as a direct parody of all of the previous games which have tried to do that. Maybe Bayonetta isn't a terrible game, but is in fact the pure utilisation of irony to mock both the game manufacturers and its fans!