It's a good world with a few flaws, and as long as you're okay with having to repeat certain bits and learn from your mistakes, then it's definitely worth your time.

Staggeringly beautiful and with a surprisingly gentle learning curve, Blazblue has much going for it, but its delayed release means it is unlikely to generate anywhere near the sales it arguably deserves.

It encompasses the audiovisual elements, the neon graphics and low-rez music, and the joyous bloodiness of early shooters. But at the same time it also encompasses how dehumanising and routine the old games were – how the violence was immature and gratuitous and just a way of dressing up limited gameplay mechanics with visceral feedback to actions.

It is a game heavily invested in gaming’s history and nature in its debts to retro graphics styles and the platform genre but also one which combines them with the medium’s new direction in its use of the auto-scrolling form.

The latter part of Resistance 2 is altogether more successful than its opening, with some diverting puzzles, nods to Valve's storytelling technique and a well-considered balance between checkpoints. But the fact that its levels are so sparse and the production values so surprisingly low suggests this isn't a game in which every action should be savoured, rather one to plough through at full pelt. Look for revolution in Resistance 2 and you'll be found wanting.

It’s in desperate need of some more variation, but Dawn of War II is luscious, visceral and fast-paced.

Sadly Guitar Hero is starting to succumb to its heritage of being Rock Band's old man, and slowly growing out of touch with the gaming generation. Guitar Hero: World Tour doesn't offer anything of any substance over Rock Band, especially with its less than stellar selection of tracks and a disturbing lack of atmosphere.

Get beyond the cynical positioning of Forza Horizon and you'll find a racer that is, ironically, as efficient and refined as it's older, more mature, siblings. Whether it can build a community as effectively as the Motorsport games is unlikely, but Horizon, for all its familiarity and reluctance to experiment, is still a fine addition to the Xbox 360's roster.

Volition’s Geo-Mod 2.0 tech is leagues ahead of anything that we’ve seen previously, but you can’t help but think that Guerrilla is ultimately little more than a glorified tech demo.

Hand of the Heavenly Bride is a solid, old-school adventure with the same problems and delights that any title from the period has. If you’re supporter of the series or just a sucker for this type of action, then you probably won’t be disappointed. But for the rest of you, HotHB does nothing that will change your stubborn opinions.

So, if you've already sat through an excruciating wait for your next fix of this hugely popular franchise then strap yourself in and prepare to play long into the coming year. For everyone else, there's always Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit.

If you are fine with crazy difficulty in your platformers then it’s a really rewarding game to play and so beautiful it puts the NSMB series to shame.

It turns out that EA, first with FIFA and now with Need For Speed, had the answer to beat the cynics all along: simply make a good game.

Overall Resistance 3 is a notable step up in the series and has a lot of offer; it is highly polished and c some enjoyable set-pieces and encounters.

With the step to next generation consoles it will be interesting to see what Travellers Tales can do to keep the Lego games feeling fresh going forwards. As a near-perfect mix of brands, Lego Marvel Super Heroes works as well as you would imagine, it’s just a shame that the framework the game is built on is starting to show its age.

Sadly, the biggest advancement of Football Manager 2009 - the 3D match engine - is also the most underwhelming. Without eye-massaging graphical capabilities, it's hard to see why any FM veteran would choose the 3D option, relegating the much-hyped addition to an intriguing novelty, yet a novelty which will surely be slowly improved upon year after year.

Overall the latest entry in the Professor Layton series in unlikely to convert those who haven't enjoyed the other games in the series, but if you are a fan then this is a great entry with a good variety of puzzles and an intriguing and involving story that gets better as the game goes on.

The game's smooth-as-butter movement is a great hook which deserves to be paired with a more engaging game, as the end result feels far too sparse and underused in the greater context of everything it has going for it.

When playing to its strengths, Hitman: Absolution is a genuinely great game. Overall, though, it feels slightly disappointing, simply because it doesn't spend enough time playing to those strengths.

Brutal Legend has clearly been a labour of love for Double Fine Productions, and this is reflected in the degree of ambition demonstrated on nearly every level. Unfortunately, like the LOVE and HATE tattoos emblazoned on the knuckles of many a Hell’s Angel, with one you must have the other, and Brutal Legend is no exception.

A must for all Dead Space fans, then, but what it lacks in scares and scale it makes up for in visceral heart-pounding action.

While Darksiders is an undeniably confident package, it’s a shame the developers have fallen back on a succession of barely disguised facsimiles from proven classics to fill in the mechanics of their game.

Despite the raising of the level cap, we find it difficult to recommend Broken Steel – its shockingly unimaginative lean towards near constant shooting is remarkably unlike what we’ve come to know and love about the game.

If sociable gaming is your thing, then prepare to put the pedal to the metal for a quirky experience that encourages a creative hand and patient mind. Everyone else should take it for a test drive first.

De Blob's wickedly funny story gives the game a wonderful charm. It may have its flaws, but De Blob is exactly the kind of game we’d like to see more of on Wii - bright, playful and gosh darn fun.

Saints Row 2 is as unremarkable as it is entertaining, but if you’re willing to forgive it for its myriad of flaws and technical vulgarities, there’s a fairly meaty game at the heart of it all that should, if nothing more, satisfy your criminal cravings until Rockstar's first wave of downloadable content.

With the game sporting high production values and an encouraging learning curve, it’s easy to recommend Toy Soldiers.

Bean's Quest isn't perfect, but it provides a spirited and slickly presented slice of platforming action for iOS gamers, with six challenging worlds that offer good value for the £1.99 asking price.

With a toe-tapping soundtrack, glitzy presentation and obvious accessibility, Sonic 4 Episode 1 has much to be proud of. Gamers who recall the early nineties and yearn for a simpler time when true 3d was restricted to bad sci-fi movies should lap this title up, but there's definitely a sense that it could, or indeed should have been more.

There is a deep and rewarding combat system in place likely to please fans and newcomers alike but the series is fraying at the edges due to technical limitations both online and off.

There's a lot of depth for a downloadable title game, and Mutant Mudds contrasts strikingly with the first wave of DSiWare games, showing how the service is evolving.

Sadly, there are weaknesses here that are exclusively down to the new additions to the game, and this makes it tough to call Ascension a particularly great game in its own right.

As a primer for Walking Dead’s upcoming sophomore season, 400 Days is absolutely a worthwhile stop-gap. More importantly, it is a great reminder that Telltale can continue to deliver on a quality of writing and characterisation far beyond many of its contemporaries, even when placed into a single chapter so fleeting compared to a full season’s worth of escalated drama.

For better and for worse Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a game as crazy and nonsensical as its title, but because of that strong core, it’s one that just about makes the cut.

Overall, these four tables form a good spread of pinball styles; they vary in complexity and skills needed and do not feel like duplicates of each other.

Sucker Punch have managed to boil down the essence of the series whilst retaining the most enjoyable elements, all topped off with a level of polish and detail that, for now at least, helps justify this new generation of hardware.

Though all the usual punches, grapples and reversals are present, the already weak SmackDown system crumbles under even the gentlest of nudges, a situation not helped after being treated to TNA Impact's impressive mechanics earlier in the year.

Like Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, this is short, and is going for 400 points, which is barely anything. It's not so long that you get bored, and it's not so short that you feel robbed with the cost, unlike a full retail game which can outstay its welcome. The Walking Dead Episode One is a great experience which makes an overused genre interesting once more and tells a nice tale along the way. Hopefully the next episodes can keep the momentum going.

Fans will still find a few surprises this time around, including a form of multiplayer support available from a single DS card, but it's in the colour-based wisp abilities that the game tries to stand out from the crowd.

Take Ultimate Collection for what it is – an inexpensive assortment of classic SEGA titles – and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better deal on the market.

Like all the Lego games, the build/collect/smash em up nature is still just as addictive and the design is both brilliant and awful in equal measures. It's heart-warming and fun, two things which most comic games (and indeed comics) lose out on when they ham-fistedly attempt to be 'mature'. It's a grind though, so I think I'll sit the next few Lego games out while I regain the stamina to go through it all again. And I will go through it again.

While Ghost Recon Future Soldier is enjoyable enough, in a genre as heavily populated as modern tactical shooters 'enjoyable enough' no longer cuts it.

All told, its peculiarities make for a fun and well-paced trip into cartoon weirdness with just enough of a Tim Schafer tint to pass the grade.

Whilst not raising bars and lacking the ability to set new standards, F.E.A.R. 2 is nevertheless a great example of a ‘typical’ genre piece that we can recommend to shooter fans, without doubt.

Overall, Zen Pinball 3D is a successful entry-level debut for the series on the 3DS. It contains few surprises and the re-use of old assets is disappointing, but such is the quality of the experience that these are easier to overlook.

It’s by no means a bad game, in parts it’s still devastatingly delightful and for 800MSP you could do far worse, but if you haven’t been on board before just don’t expect any fireworks.

In refusing to slap a number 4 in the title, Epic Games itself is admitting that Judgement categorically isn’t the next great leap for the series, and we’re assuming that will come with the next generation. But as a reminder of why Gears of War became one of the most influential shooters of its generation, Judgement is a welcome curtain call, even if it isn’t the grand finale that some would have wanted.

For those with fond memories of whittling time and money away in the arcades, Final Fight Double Impact is well worth a look.

Were its opening acts more strongly defined, and the characters presented initially as less one-note, then it would be a far better game.

Hugely enjoyable for the most part, Toy Story 3 can certainly be considered amongst the best of film to videogame tie-ins.

Despite all its shortcomings, Dragon's Dogma if an often enjoyable and interesting experience.

To conclude, were there even the slightest concessions to moderation in Skullgirls' aesthetics, and a few small but fundamental UI changes, it would be a superb entry-level fighting game which allows a player new to the genre to leap in and through practice become a master. But as it stands, the relentless sexuality on display is ineffective as parody and serves only to reinforce the belief that games are designed for young men who read FHM.

Niggles aside, Sonic Colours is a step in the right direction, albeit a well overdue one and is for the most part an entertaining ride. It's just a shame that the domineering conclusion from the final product is promise, still leaving us waiting for the definitive 3D Sonic title.

You’ll march through a campaign with an imagination as wide as its corridors, but be enthralled by a lavish if largely familiar multiplayer suite.

Through its boldly chosen subject matter, ravishing good looks and slick mechanics El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is without question a title that deserves to be played – the big question mark that hangs over it is whether you'll engage with it enough to care or to want to come back for second helpings.

Many will be put off by Yakuza 2's lengthy cutscenes, or bored by the lack of variety in the gameplay; but for those for which the game clicks, it is a title that will be hard to forget. The boldness of its narrative and the confidence of its mechanics make Yakuza 2 a slice of Japanese gaming that is well worth experiencing.

Although Kirby's Adventure Wii lacks the dazzling visual inventiveness of Epic Yarn, its chunky, vibrant look is never less than charming, and is complimented by a style of play that eschews challenge for a subtly enveloping comfort blanket of Nintendo delight.

Played in the right spirit Doom II is still a cracking action game. This XBLA re-release, at 800 points, represents good value for money.

When put up against the competition PES feels outdated and crude, crumbling under the weight of expectation that each annual iteration brings. The additional modes may make it the best PES on the current crop of consoles, but the rigid animations, pathetic commentary system and shoddy online component all add up to a game that just hasn’t progressed since the PS2-era as much as it deserved to.

Frustrating, taxing – Metro 2033 is also a curiously compelling refuge from the mundane.

It actually pains us to be so negative about De Blob 2, as there is plenty here to love or even adore. The visuals are sumptuous; the characterisation of Blob, his friends and the gloriously dastardly Inkies is nothing short of sublime. It is also consistently diverting, the problem being that it only rarely feels essential.

Should you find yourself with an abundance of MS points this summer and not much to play, you could still do worse than give this a whirl.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a challenge. It will challenge your perceptions of today’s shooters, challenge your ingrained behaviour but also challenge your patience.

There's no denying the core concept remains fun, frantic and often enjoyable, but it feels slight and the game's long ingrained mean streak and occasionally sneering tone only serves to highlight how far the industry has come in the last decade. Peek closely enough under that shiny new coat of paint and you'll soon find evidence of rust.

On one hand, MAG is an ambitious experiment that has delivered on many of its promises – it genuinely offers lag-free 256 player online battles with a huge potential for team work. On the other hand, it is a game that struggles to find a sense of purpose beyond this, or a real sense of identity.

Chocobo's Dungeon does what it does best in one area only, the Mystery Dungeon area, and people unfamiliar to the formula will more than likely struggle to get into things. Having said that, it's the only game of its kind on Wii right now and by giving it a lot of time, Mystery Dungeon fans will get a lot out of it - given they don't mind the cruddy presentation.

Although simplistic on the surface, Burn Zombie Burn does have hidden depth that’ll keep players engaged.

Hugely enjoyable for the most part, Toy Story 3 can certainly be considered amongst the best of film to videogame tie-ins.

There are definitely better roguelikes and FPS’, but this combines them both well enough to provide an entertaining experience to dip in and out of.

Aliens: Infestation is slickly produced and generally fairly engaging, but it's not quite an essential experience.

It’s an interesting, and occasionally incredibly entertaining middle-ground, but one that ultimately requires a bucket load of patience.

But for all that it still stands head and shoulders above a lot of the equivalent open world action games out there, and for those happy to go back to the well one more time in this generation, there will be lots to enjoy here. For everyone else Arkham Origins is exactly the game you thought it would be, for better and for worse.

In Diggs Nightcrawler Sony have definitely hit on something, even if whatever it is doesn’t fit comfortably within any particular art-form and it will be interesting to see whether or not the high production values on show here can be sustained for future Wonderbook releases.

Misfires and all, it’s at least commendable that Dead Space 3 makes an effort to exhibit some fresh experimentation into what has become a truly bloated media franchise; plus the combat still shines for the most part. Sadly though, better elements like the crafting system are lamentably set against a mundane and lifeless backdrop that rarely excites, let alone spooks, on the grand level of previous games in the series.

Ultimately, Who's That Flying? is a spirited, enjoyable and interesting release that, while not quite managing to mine its central concept to its fullest, is nevertheless worthy of a place in your collection.

The excellent qualities of Second Evolution are always at war with its meandering, trifling aspects.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is in many ways a very unassuming title; it slinked onto the scene with relatively little fanfare and has had few expectations placed on it by gaming fans, many of whom will likely dismiss it as 'just another Prince of Persia' or (at worst) a shoddy movie tie-in.

As a full-priced title, we simply can't recommend WWE All Stars at this point in time, though anyone that wants to throw caution to the wind and revel in the undeniable appeal of WWE's past and present colliding will still find plenty to justify their decision.

Overall, Def Jam Rapstar is an excellent entry to the rap karaoke genre and goes some way to achieving what fans would have been wanting from the game. With a little bit more fine tuning here and there, Def Jam Rapstar has the potential to be a very serious contender within the music game market.

AYIM is a novel, fun and incredibly infuriating game that will pass the time, just don’t expect it to turn your world upside-down.

There’s no escaping that it feels like something of a throwback to the PS2, but there’s also an undeniable charm in the story and characters that might just have you playing to the end. Sly and the gang haven’t quite brought their A-game, but for fans of the series and lovers of the long-forgotten platformer, Thieves in Time is a steal.

Through its boldly chosen subject matter, ravishing good looks and slick mechanics El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is without question a title that deserves to be played – the big question mark that hangs over it is whether you'll engage with it enough to care or to want to come back for second helpings.

With a toe-tapping soundtrack, glitzy presentation and obvious accessibility, Sonic 4 Episode 1 has much to be proud of. Gamers who recall the early nineties and yearn for a simpler time when true 3d was restricted to bad sci-fi movies should lap this title up, but there's definitely a sense that it could, or indeed should have been more.

Thus, while it may be difficult to call Ivy The Kiwi? an innovative title, particularly because so much of the gameplay harks back to a five-year-old Nintendo DS near-launch title, Ivy's exploits are a breath of fresh air in today's gaming landscape.

So there you have it – Move Mind Benders; three games, one disk and a small financial saving. The justification for the creation of the Move Mind Benders package may be a little flimsy- and it might not be the most exciting compilation of all time – but all three games included have plenty to offer and are all good reasons to dust off your Move motion controllers if you've not used them for a while.

Overall, Def Jam Rapstar is an excellent entry to the rap karaoke genre and goes some way to achieving what fans would have been wanting from the game. With a little bit more fine tuning here and there, Def Jam Rapstar has the potential to be a very serious contender within the music game market.

Really, the only thing that makes Resident Evil: Revelations notable is the apparent lack of knowledge of what makes a game scary. That’s a charge that couldn’t even be fairly levelled at the current-generation entries into the series but, sadly, it’s one that’s fair to level at Resident Evil: Revelations.

Ultimately there is every likelihood that UFC fans will be able to put up with these frustrations and in turn find the portable UFC title they had hoped for. The more casual audience however, might not be quite so patient.

Fast and frenetic, Nano Assault Ex is a game that will test your reflexes in a series of short bursts perfect for that bus ride home.

So, SingStar Queen does exactly what it says on the tin. And with SingStar’s recently released wireless microphones, there’s never been a better time to unleash our inner Freddie Mercury.

BioWare has created a rare beast with Sonic Chronicles; a beginner's RPG that is pitched perfectly for the hedgehog and handheld’s younger followers to identify with, while still possessing its developer’s unmistakable sheen of quality.

The iconic series has always been first and foremost about the driving, and Polyphony Digital has managed to encapsulate that perfectly. It’s just a shame that some of the more endearing bells and whistles have had to be removed.

It actually pains us to be so negative about De Blob 2, as there is plenty here to love or even adore. The visuals are sumptuous; the characterisation of Blob, his friends and the gloriously dastardly Inkies is nothing short of sublime. It is also consistently diverting, the problem being that it only rarely feels essential.

If you like Marvel, it's one of the less egregious Marvel Comics tie-ins and the 3D does make a pretty game prettier. There are certainly better experiences in the current selection of 3DSware, but for the budget price, you get a lot of mileage. Now if only I could keep Iron Man in that suit and blasting his enemies for more than five seconds. That's what happens when you trust a drunk superhero.

Tumble is, on the whole, what is expected from a launch title; that is, it demonstrates the technical nuance of the product, allowing users to get to grips with the new piece of kit while enjoying a decent puzzle game. The problem is, it lacks any sense of appeal in its muted visual style and cold, hard exterior, and the game never truly tests for long enough to be satisfying.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is in many ways a very unassuming title; it slinked onto the scene with relatively little fanfare and has had few expectations placed on it by gaming fans, many of whom will likely dismiss it as 'just another Prince of Persia' or (at worst) a shoddy movie tie-in.

Astroslugs is a cute, playable, but sadly forgettable game.

There remains nothing truly revolutionary about Killzone, its story and characters are still unfortunately bland, its fiction hints at greatness that has never quite emerged. Yet Shadow Fall emerges as the best in the series, approaching that ideal single player balance between the weighty, war-torn shooter of old and the more nimble and varied globe-trotting adventures found in Call of Duty, paired with the most refined, and in-depth multiplayer the series has featured yet.