A vast, almost encyclopaedic look at the united nations of rally, Dirt 3 doesn't feel definitive despite America – it wouldn't feel definitive without it.

The extra depth is arresting – combatants plunge from one part of a stage to the next, crashing through glass and tumbling down stairs. While its 3D arenas arguably make for a more fitting showcase of 3DS's capabilities than launch title Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, the two share a further thrill as you turn the 3D off and watch the framerate double.

Nonetheless, LA Noire is a success story. Over its 20-hour-plus length, it cuts a cross-section through the moral, social and geographical landscape of a city that carefully treads the line between a plausible '40s LA and the morally bankrupt City of Angels found in hardboiled fiction.

Nonetheless, LA Noire is a success story. Over its 20-hour-plus length, it cuts a cross-section through the moral, social and geographical landscape of a city that carefully treads the line between a plausible '40s LA and the morally bankrupt City of Angels found in hardboiled fiction.

But if you can ignore the plain looking game world and suspect AI and buy into the mercenary fantasy, there's enough fortune and glory here to give a warlord reason to make it a home.

Brink is not revolution. It might not even be evolution of the kind the FPS needs. If anything, it's an ideas board: a fun enough game in the short-term, but more valuable in the long run to better and brighter thieves.

A great and progressive return to gaming's adventuring roots.

If, like us, you're the kind of nerd who gets worked up by good interface design, Anomaly's swiftly accessed tactical map and upgrade overlays may just leave you misting up your monitor or touchscreen. [June 2011, p.103]

Darkspore remains a humdrum deep-space Diablo, but one doomed to be defined more by what it's missing than what it offers. [June 2011, p.98]

Builds on the gothy charm of its predecessor, refining its hit-chaining combat and dialling up the scope of its artistic ambition. [June 2011, p.102]

As a follow-up to Section 8, it delivers much the same experience as its predecessor, albeit repackaged in a more wallet-friendly, downloadable form. [June 2011, p.94]

The engagements of Red River are a nuanced and precise art, one entirely at odds with the hollow cockiness of the cast and one that underscores the real war going on between Operation Flashpoint's essence and its new macho attitude. [June 2011, p.90]

While fans will revel in the HD sheen of its signature gore, long-standing cynics and newcomers alike will find a game that, just as it did 19 years ago, pales in comparison to its more fluid, graceful peers. [June 2011, p.95]

After some hit-and-miss experimentation, SOCOM needs refreshing, and this more aggressive approach is aiming in the right direction, even if it isn't a direct hit. [June 2011, p.93]

Whether there truly is a demand for the high-fidelity thrills found on other formats among shooter-starved Wii owners is largely academic, because Conduit 2 - like its predecessor - just isn't up to the task of providing them. [June 2011, p.92]

With your monster ally at your side, it offers glimpses of something more intriguing, but its most interesting idea is the one that feels frustratingly underexplored. [June 2011, p.101]

It's essentially the slowest side-scrolling shoot 'em up you'll ever play, demanding you laboriously guide a submarine to the end of each level while avoiding damage and destroying evil submarines whose perfidy knows no bounds and warrants no backstory. [June 2011, p.97]

The choice to bring six armies to the pretend tabletop leaves Retribution short on one playthrough, but overflowing with things to do in comparison with its predecessors. [May 2011, p.95]

Swapping a picture-perfect landscape for New York's urban sprawl could have been disastrous, but Crytek has found variety in the setting, guiding the player through blue-grey skyscrapers, leafy green parks, rooftops at sunset and industrial harbours. [May 2011, p.90]

A cycle of challenges that never transcend routine. If this is what new technology does to old heroes, perhaps they're best left in the past. [May 2011, p.97]

It's a reminder that 'accessible' - along with 'Project', 'Gotham', 'Grid' and 'arcade' - isn't such a dirty word after all. [May 2011, p.92]

Though still unique, Patapon's crisp, minimalist art design and central mechanic is no longer a strong enough draw to excuse its repetitiveness and price tag. [May 2011, p.99]

With its extravagant art direction, Samurai Warriors was the obvious franchise for Koei to debut on Nintendo's new platform. The surprise is how well the simple combat and new ideas work as a portable experience. [May 2011, p.105]

It's almost a relief that the game struggling to break free from these severe technical shortcomings is mundane. [May 2011, p.104]

RR3D is the most convincing handheld iteration of the series to date, and an encouraging illustration of how 3DS's flagship feature can be more than a pretty visual twist. [May 2011, p.104]

3DS was the perfect opportunity to take Super Monkey Ball back to its GameCube glory days. Instead we find a game that has spent so many years honouring various types of hardware, it has forgotten its own original aim. [May 2011, p.102]

Housemarque's adventure wears its ambitions so openly that the comparison is inevitable. By no means a classic on those terms, Outland is nonetheless a well-executed game that - hopefully - lays the groundwork for future iteration upon its central ideas.

By no means a classic on those terms, Outland is nonetheless a well-executed game that - hopefully - lays the groundwork for future iteration upon its central ideas.

Portal 2 delivers, and it does it in style, creating one of the most meticulously designed, thrilling and delightful playgrounds we've ever seen. It's a game with a magical take on momentum, where single bounds over tall buildings are business as usual, where every surface is a potential launchpad, and the entire experience is a belly laugh.

At worst, the game's deliberate openness means theme and gameplay have a tenuous relationship.

Whereas Super Meat Boy accounted for its punishing difficulty by creating micro levels, most of which could be traversed successfully in just a minute or two, Wakfu frequently commits the cardinal sin of using extended sections of grind to raise the stakes during its seismic and vaguely arbitrary difficulty spikes.

The synthesis of all The Sims Medieval's many personalities and inspirations creates something genuinely unique and compulsively entertaining. It's a funny and sweet time sink, and something that any Sims fan can wholeheartedly enjoy.

The gloriously beautiful landscapes; the vital Jim Guthrie soundtrack; the pounding desire to see, explore and accomplish more of this ambient quest: these save the game from itself. It may be uneven in tone, but S:S&S is a triumphant experience nonetheless. It's a brand new page in the dusty book of adventure games, and an inarguable statement as to how much art and music can give to gaming.

An enthralling title on its own terms, and, given the bombastic direction of its Clancy-game brethren, probably the closest fans will get to true tactics for some time.

The 3DS' first fighting game happens to be a version of one of the genre's best, and it's lost little in the conversion to a portable system. Token additions, such as the cute-but-unworkable Dynamic (3D) View, bulk out the package, but it's what's stayed the same that's the real triumph here. SSFIV is just as vibrant, fluid and confident as ever – and it's just been unshackled from your TV.

Swarm will provide a stern test of both skill and patience.

Swarm will provide a stern test of both skill and patience.

Nintendogs + Cats is a near match for the DS original. Were it not for the visual pampering it would be entirely possible to replace the old game with the new without the kids noticing. [Apr 2011, p.91]

Nintendogs + Cats is a near match for the DS original. Were it not for the visual pampering it would be entirely possible to replace the old game with the new without the kids noticing. [Apr 2011, p.91]

Nintendogs + Cats is a near match for the DS original. Were it not for the visual pampering it would be entirely possible to replace the old game with the new without the kids noticing. [Apr 2011, p.91]

One of the 3DS launch line-up's visual standouts: colourful, crisp and with horizons that have never looked so distant. It's disappointing, then, that you'll discover its limits so quickly. [Apr 2011, p.90]

The triumph of SpaceChem is that overcoming these situations is more a case of inventing a solution than discovering one - creating a technique on your own terms that, once learned, you find yourself reusing in later stages. [Apr 2011, p.101]

A shrewd and often brilliant game that reaches its destination with most of its goals realised, not discarded and left in the dust like the forced march of its predecessors. [Apr 2011, p.94]

You can take the massively multiplayer game out of the PC, then, but perhaps not the PC out of the game. The endless beta testing, the freewheeling project management, and the agonies and ecstasies of the results. [Apr 2011, p.88]

With such a focus, People Can Fly has made the best game possible: one which is smart enough to make a case for looking dumb. [Apr 2011, p.86]

Fight Night has tirelessly rebuilt itself when many expected retirement. Cautious improvements from Round 4 - the removal of the cut-man game and automation of recovery - have been confidently reinforced, while ring physics, ragdolls and cloth dynamics are in a different class to the chaotic Round 3. [Apr 2011, p.103]

Yakuza 4 is ultimately too set in its ways to welcome anyone new to the family, and too laden with cutscenes to let its nuances. [Apr 2011, p.99]

While PixelJunk Shooter 2 may seem more like an expansion than a standalone game, there's no shortage of new ingredients to enrich what was already a lively concoction. [Apr 2011, p.97]

Motorstorm has a special relationship with chaos, and if you can keep your head when all about you are throwing their controllers, you're just as likely to lose. Less battle than survival racing, it's happy to let fairness be a stain on the tarmac. [Apr 2011, p.95]

Despite deep customisation (right down to the trajectories of your bullets) and some truly striking monster designs, it's impossible to shake the feeling that you're playing an inferior imitation of a better game. [Apr 2011, p.103]

The 3rd Birthday remains a strong proposition, marrying eastern and western design sensibilities to produce a strong and relevant update to a latent, outmoded series. [Apr 2011, p.92]

Its faults are many, but they're magnified by the obvious comparison: this isn't an alternative to COD, but a game in thrall to it. [Apr 2011, p.84]

The claustrophobic setting is the game's most glaring weakness: you can't have an epic adventure in a single city any more than a child will be content to endlessly explore his own back garden. [Apr 2011, p.82]

A pretty but vapid experience. [Sept 2010, p.98]

A short, budget shot of old-school gaming. [Sept 2010, p.100]

Magicka delivers splashy nonsense of a gleeful kind, and somehow its delight in chaos and willful stupidity buoys it some way above its faults. [Mar 2011, p.95]

Given the state of Knights Contract, the famously hellish result of Dr Faust's own little deal seems comparatively sweet. [Mar 2011, p.101]

Not sensing the damage you're imparting and receiving makes skirmishes seem arbitrary (you'll rely on the HUD reporting your XP wins to know you've taken out enemies at long range), while explosions - in a game based on destruction - pack no punch. [Mar 2011, p.97]

Its idea of merging solo, co-op and deathmatch combat into a single mode is as noncommittal as its story, which merges decades-old cyberpunk cliches into one appalling mess. [Mar 2011, p.92]

The irony is that in mining some unforgettable games, Curve has delivered a forgettable hodgepodge. [Mar 2011, p.105]

Jumping damages the delicate balance of mechanics that makes the series so distinctive and pushes Rearmed 2 into the wider genre bracket of run-and-gun platforming. [Mar 2011, p.105]

This sequel isn't the leap forward the concept deserves, but it's a testament to the original that it remains a standout personality over two years on, at a point when quality platform games have become thin on the ground. [Mar 2011, p.99]

There's a great deal of satisfaction in finding the right combination of fighters and feeling the curve of a battle until you hit the tagging sweet spot. [Mar 2011, p.88]

Access Games' take on the Monster Hunter formula attempts little beyond a straightforward recreation of that series' structure. [Mar 2011, p.107]

Where next for Pokemon? Black and White don't suggest any answers, but they do remind us why we'd care in the first place. [Mar 2011, p.103]

Where next for Pokemon? Black and White don't suggest any answers, but they do remind us why we'd care in the first place. [Mar 2011, p.103]

Whereas a more comprehensive reimagining of how Okami would work on DS could have resulted in a less ambitious, more polished game, Okamiden succeeds in preserving both the spirit and form of its forebear, and that makes in rather special indeed. [Mar 2011, p.90]

Vivid, smart and perhaps a little mocking, then, Infinity Gene, like Extreme, has exchanged the cold depths of space for the trippy vortex of some strange digital migraine: this classic isn't growing old with grace, but it's certainly continuing to evolve.

A strangely admirable bore: smart enough to take direct movement out of your hands, but not quite smart enough to find anything suitably enjoyable to replace it with. Never less than earnest, Doom Resurrection ignores the central lesson of much horror fiction: there are certain things you probably shouldn't do, even if you can.

Fun concepts brought low by crummy execution. Hand-to-hand combat can benefit from skill-based flourishes, but rarely goes beyond crude whomping. Large plains hide crannies galore, though you navigate them atop a horse with the handling of a bus.

Uprising may not break any new ground in a genre that is arguably an endangered species, but it does a good job of breathing life into the dying breed. It's a reminder that an artist's eye, when met by a designer's understanding of modern tastes, can revitalise a struggling brand and make the old feel new again.

Uprising may not break any new ground in a genre that is arguably an endangered species, but it does a good job of breathing life into the dying breed. It's a reminder that an artist's eye, when met by a designer's understanding of modern tastes, can revitalise a struggling brand and make the old feel new again.

This is a game you'll complete, chuckle at and show off. [Sept 2010, p.98]

The game requires very little of what its title suggests. (…) If you make a leap of deduction, the game won't proceed until your character, through exhaustive dialogue choices and object examinations, has caught up. [Feb 2011, p.98]

Stacking's best qualities are its eccentricity and ingenuity. The puzzles lack the tortured bite of Double Fine's early work, but in broadening the narrative-led puzzle game's scope and carefully choosing which elements of tradition to keep and which to discard, Stacking is a bold and charming reinvention.

Stacking's best qualities are its eccentricity and ingenuity. The puzzles lack the tortured bite of Double Fine's early work, but in broadening the narrative-led puzzle game's scope and carefully choosing which elements of tradition to keep and which to discard, Stacking is a bold and charming reinvention.

Previous instalments in this technically strong but creatively lacking series have been one-note, papering over a lack of originality with a hefty dose of shock and awe. Killzone 3, by contrast, attempts to wage a more varied war. It succeeds, just, by offering a tour of locations both more visually interesting and diverse than its forebears, but it all still depends heavily on the brutal impact of the shooting at its core.

A rewarding stopgap for anyone after something old on something new. [July 2010, p.102]

As we wait for the first of the promised updates, then, there's plenty of reason to hope that this is the beginning, after all –the beginning of something rather special.

The best platformer on iPhone just got better, and there's still no sign of any meaningful competition. [Sept 2009, p.93]

But what GDS ends up proving about game development is this: making simple, fun and, yes, casual games that can keep rewarding players after that first flush of fun is so much harder than it looks.

Techland has played fast and loose with a genre that need refining in to truly let pulses soar. The result is a game that's daft, sloppy fun begging for an injection of refinement. [Feb 2011, p.97]

The core idea of Eat Them is sound, and when it works it's undeniable fun; there's a definite pleasure in starting with a pristine, ordered city and methodically reducing it to rubble. [Feb 2011, p.102]

It's engaging and, if the controls can be forgiven, a satisfying sampler of RTS thrills for the uninitiated. [Feb 2011, p.100]

Its stripped-back beat-matching will leave you tapping your foot - but out of impatience as much as approval of its grimy dubstep. [Feb 2011, p.103]

How apt that interactivity and fiction should finally merge in a fiction about interactions. The dead are restored, and the genre with them. [Feb 2011, p.103]

There's a solid adventure title here, but it's spread thin over a densely written airport thriller. [Feb 2011, p.102]

The game's excellent controls and stream of grisly scares make it the current standard for survival horror, and it now boasts eruptions of blockbusting action that rival this generation's biggest games. [Feb 2011, p.94]

It's clever without being intimidating, delicate without being volatile, and immediate without a sense of panic. [Feb 2011, p.99]

MicroBot is a technically accomplished but sterile experience. As the game settles into a rut, its stylistic strengths lose more and more ground to the sluggish combat, uninspiring upgrades and repetitive stages.

MicroBot is a technically accomplished but sterile experience. As the game settles into a rut, its stylistic strengths lose more and more ground to the sluggish combat, uninspiring upgrades and repetitive stages.

It provides a revolution, but only inside its own idiosyncratic attitude and aesthetic. Sackboy remains Sackboy, and he won't convert those who didn't like the way he behaved in LBP. And for all the fascinating flexibility of its toolset, clearly this is still a framework: you can stamp a creation with your own style, but the overall vibe will ultimately be Media Molecule's. For those who are happy to embrace it, though, LBP2 represents a dazzling new opportunity for creating deep, diverse and ingenious play.

Raskulls is many things – racer, puzzler, platformer – but it struggles to be all these things at once, or to do them equally well. Beneath the charming, brightly coloured exterior, there's a fascinating twist on the block-based puzzler at Halfbrick's game's heart – but you might just miss it when blasting through at high speed.

Southend's spatial puzzler is clever enough to survive such a heavy-handed dose of focus-grouped fancy: you won't need to love it in order to appreciate some of its better tricks. [Jan 2011, p.103]

It's hard to come away from this without a sense of persecution. It isn't just that it's a poor game, it's that it thinks it's good enough to survive on the coat-tails of its license - and that you won't have the wherewithal to discriminate. [Jan 2011, p.99]

Housemarque has certainly put in the effort, but the twin-stick shooter might simply be more rewarding when you're skidding over the smooth-scrolling surface of one of Super Stardust's wraparound arenas than stumbling through darkened alleyways with a tangle of undead shambling after you. [Jan 2011, p.100]

What we're left with is an update that is out of date, a reimagining without enough imagination. To be this simplistic, the game needed a masterful melee system and a range of inspiring enemies; it tries, but it doesn't fully deliver on either count. [Jan 2011, p.98]

What we're left with is an update that is out of date, a reimagining without enough imagination. To be this simplistic, the game needed a masterful melee system and a range of inspiring enemies; it tries, but it doesn't fully deliver on either count. [Jan 2011, p.98]