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.

Dimensions is a consummate example of the handheld fighting game. It's packed with content (the highlight of which is a Chronicle mode which recaps stories from past DOA games), and brings back fond memories spent playing the Dead Or Alive games across previous generations.

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.

The shorter experience and low asking price is traded in for a more accessible game than its predecessor; and whilst that may not be something neither Capcom nor Blue Castle had intended to encourage, it's certainly puts a positive spin on a concept that undoubtedly holds its fair share of entertaining sway.

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.

By not changing too much from the original template Blue Castle Games have ensured that Dead Rising 2 will likely elicit as divisive a response as its predecessor. Which is fine because Dead Rising 2, a bundle of contradictions with a neat line in bespoke weaponry, isn't an easy game to love at all. Take the plunge though, and you'll find one of 2010's most singular, bloody-minded, and fascinating videogames.

CastleStorm represents the best of its muses’ ideals – namely those belonging to the tower defense genre and Angry Birds – and fuses them into something specially made and distinctly enjoyable. Minor quirks don’t leave a damaging impression, either, which can’t be said for every joyously destroyed playhouse castle you’ll come into contact with along the way.

By the simple virtue of being a more cleverly designed game than those from recent history combined with the clear love and appreciation for the source material, Lego Harry Potter firmly stands out as the most accomplished title in the Lego series yet.

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.

Although not the complete overhaul that some may have desired, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a surprisingly bold and distinctive sequel.

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.

By the simple virtue of being a more cleverly designed game than those from recent history combined with the clear love and appreciation for the source material, Lego Harry Potter firmly stands out as the most accomplished title in the Lego series yet.

That Big BIg Studios have managed to squeeze an experience previously only available on the Playstation 3 into your pocket is a genuine marvel – Motorstorm: Arctic Edge is feature rich, beautifully polished, graphically ambitious and, above all else, retains the oil, smoke and tears that fans know and love.

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.

All in all, it's well worth a purchase if you're yet to get into the series, and a worthy addition to the mounting pile for fans.

So despite its promise of fast cars and buxom blondes suggesting otherwise, OutRun Online Arcade isn’t quite the game our dreams are made of, but it’s damn near close.

The cynic in me leads me to believe a combination of RPG and farming simulator will have little appeal to the fans of both genres, but Rune Factory: Frontier, like peanut butter and Marmite on toast, is an unlikely combination that works in ways better than I could have possibly imagined.

Mighty Switch Force screws with your noodle while forcing you to try and speed through the levels to meet the ungodly fast 'par', always taunting you with your slowness.

Despite DICE's uneasy underhandedness to force players into more conventional situations that the game simply isn't built for, Mirror's Edge is an impressive experiment and a compelling title that revels in its unique mechanics.

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

All in all, it's well worth a purchase if you're yet to get into the series, and a worthy addition to the mounting pile for fans.

With Overkill, Headstrong has delivered an inspired resurrection of both SEGA's decaying franchise and the light gun shooter genre as a whole.

By not changing too much from the original template Blue Castle Games have ensured that Dead Rising 2 will likely elicit as divisive a response as its predecessor. Which is fine because Dead Rising 2, a bundle of contradictions with a neat line in bespoke weaponry, isn't an easy game to love at all. Take the plunge though, and you'll find one of 2010's most singular, bloody-minded, and fascinating videogames.

Watching the cute little characters cutting down cute little enemies, using familiar abilities and items, exploring old themes… It's done something I never thought possible. It's made me nostalgic for Final Fantasy games. Even Final Fantasy XIII. Again, I love the idea of the Final Fantasy saga, and this allows me to explore it and remember all the things that made it great, all while having a great rhythm game, to boot. There are enough unlockables to keep you going back for 'just one more song'.

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