Conflicted throughout, but still an undeniable 3DS achievement. Wait for it to get its act together and the game soars. Well, flutters.

If you're an Elder Scrolls veteran, you'll already know what you're in for. This is not the next evolutionary stage of the series: rather a loving refinement of what made Oblivion and the now-aged PC title Morrowind so special. It's those games with better voice acting, a slicker interface, a richer world and an improved story. It's also the most polished and user friendly games in the series, with smarter character progression and a gentler learning curve.

Modern Warfare has always relied on smoke and mirrors. What surprises us is how ably the conjurers perform despite the much publicised Infinity Ward departures. After many months of doom-mongering it's great to find a game as confident and capable as those that preceded it.

Putting aside N64 loyalty, GoldenEye is not a great game. Not, at least, in the context of the current 360/PS3 shooting scene.

Sonic Generations hits its target well - with the genuinely bruising qualification that it can frequently be difficult to look at.

Taken as individual pieces, only Battlefield 3's regular multiplayer is really strong. The co-op and story are both perfectly well executed, but lack true greatness. So, that third elephant: is Battlefield 3 really better than Call of Duty? It's a matter of personal taste, but for us Battlefield 3's incredible multiplayer edges this ahead of it's accomplished rival.

Business as usual for the Kinect Sports franchise. Season 2 packs fun new features but anyone who wasn't won over by the original will have little reason to love this.

All of which makes this a big step on from Uncharted 2 in terms of visuals, gameplay and performance - but its biggest achievement is that, barring minor lapses, the threads are brought together into a superbly cohesive whole.

Battlefield 3 then, from a campaign perspective, delivers the goods and then some. It's not perfect, but it's bloody close... infinitely more impressive than Bad Company 2 and irrefutable proof that DICE have now firmly stepped into the hallowed ranks of the absolute top-tier developers. COD or not, this deserves a place in your collection - not to mention a place in your heart.

This is the same Football Manager you know and love with a number of really good decisions running throughout to give more depth and more control.

As opening gambits in a DLC strategy go, The Missing Link is a hard act to follow.

It's a belief in the character and, most importantly, a belief in itself that has seen the studio deliver one of the greatest Batman interpretations of all time. And you know what? Maybe even one of the best games ever.

Adding some of Modern Warfare's gritty realism gives the Ace Combat series a shot in the arm, while its arcade accessibility and enjoyability remains intact.

A fabulously rewarding drive and the finest Forza yet, but one that comes with an Advisory Notice: more single-player focus and diversity will be needed next time out to prevent the franchise from suffering a potential misfire.

The house of Doom delivers a masterful single-player shooter with top notch gunplay, let down by a disappointing final third.

A lot of last year's elements remain but this is ultimately a move away from sim and closer to classic PES on PS2. It's something PES fans will welcome with open arms but FIFA players will have no reason to defect.

A more charismatic, tactical FIFA that's finally taking steps in a new direction.

There's no doubt the series has grown with every instalment, and number three sees Epic at its unsurprisingly best...Original or not, the solo campaign is solid in every department and brim with class, while the Versus, Co-Op, Horde, Beast and ambitious DLC plans should see Gears live on for years - even if this is the last time Epic has to use that chainsaw gun. For the record, we hope it isn't.

Kinect has confused the gaming cosmos. Rise of Nightmares certainly isn't a good game - but just about passes for a good Kinect game.

There's a greater feeling of depth, life and narrative to the tale and the gunplay is satisfying even if we do have to reserve some criticism for the AI, which still shows itself to be rough around the edges at times.

Missions generally consist of bludgeoning your way from A to B; sometimes you'll have to retrieve an item, sometimes you'll have to flick a switch. Take away the specifics though and it boils down to walking across an island of hungry corpses and back again nine times out of ten.

So the story will get in the way at first - Reflections is obviously a bit nervous about introducing its zany Shift concept without narrative explanation - but, once you're behind the wheel, you'll realise that San Francisco is definitely a long-overdue return to form for the Driver series.

Not an action RPG revolution, but a solid game set in a gorgeous world.

An interesting game that's too-often a dog-egg to actually play. Sorry Duke, take fourteen years and try again...

Shallow and simple design means that there's nothing to obstruct the fun of smashing demon skull. But it also means it's shallow and simple.

Breathlessly imaginative in everything but gameplay. Only die-hards need to journey down this particular rabbit hole.

Still a classic, still an explosion of nostalgia. Ocarina of Time 3D is a blissful rediscovery for veterans and an unmissable opportunity for newcomers.

Niche, but a true work of art and one that only a video game could achieve. It's marred by a lack of content, but what's there is like nothing else we've seen and will force you to come back at least a few times.