It's a third and final chapter, then, with all that implies. It's off-putting to new players, too busy tying up loose ends to dangle any threads of its own, and fails to stand up as its own game in the same manner as its predecessors. But it's also a spectacular, powerfully imagined and dramatically involving final act to one of gaming's richest sci-fi sagas.

It's not perfect, and even skilled players will struggle with some of the more demanding multitasking required for certain scenarios (the level-skip is an acknowledgement of the inconsistent difficulty), but it's clever, cunning and entertaining.

But with Tetsuya Mizuguchi's often bland musical experimentation replaced with some of electronica's finest moments, Electronic Symphony breathes new life into a series that had previously appeared stagnant.

With Delta, Super Stardust has found a pulse. Perhaps all that's missing now is the soul to go with it.

It's a generous package, and even more so given that a purchase of the Vita version nets you a PS3 copy as well, your progress persistent between the two versions. Other launch games may better sell Vita's touch, tilt or AR capabilities, but there is no better advertisement for its connectivity.

Balancing real-time action with tactical micro-management proves beyond Vanpool. With arbitrary limitations placed on an already meagre cash supply, and towers and fortifications proving equally flimsy, what little money is available is best poured into single-use items and permanent ability boosts for Dillon.

Journey's real issue, if it has one, goes much deeper than that. It's a resolutely linear game in which your range of interactions is minimal. For some, that will make it a pretty but hollow novelty; boring, perhaps. But for those who play games to explore strange lands, see beautiful sights and to immerse themselves – for however brief a time – in a new world, Journey is perfect. And what's more, they'll find someone like them to share it with.

Waking Mars is ultimately a game about ecological balance, but it's the balance of a different kind – of art, narrative, and puzzle mechanics - that makes it so very satisfying to play.

When the curtain drops on Binary Domain, you're left with the sense that, while accomplished, this game is largely a rote exercise in genre. It adequately, but not outstandingly, mimics the nuts and bolts of the western cover shooter, while bringing little new of worth to the table.


In looking outside itself for inspiration, SSX has found a worthy infrastructure to establish an online community and culture. But this same approach has found the brand veering away from some of the fun and fireworks of yesteryear, leaving its more seductive silly side out in the cold.

For all its inconsistencies, complexities, inadequacies and oddities, The Last Story offers an entrancing and seamless flow of interesting experiences. And surely that, in the final reckoning, is what counts.

For a game with a premise as simple as kill the aliens before they kill you, Ziggurat's stylishly retro visuals, gleeful arcade precision and deeply interlocking mechanics trigger a chain reaction that kicks off like some interstellar combustion. Not the sound of a world ending. But the sort of bang that would make Richard Dawkins lean back, fold his arms and grin like a chimp.

It's good shooting, of course, pulled off with the studio's signature style, but it's come at the cost of Syndicate's imagination and ambition.

There's a remarkable consistency to the design even as the levels gets steadily bolder until, after hovering vacuums, teleporters, and levers that freeze time, Simogo throws in a climactic boss battle that is as nerve-wracking as it is joyous. It's a compliment to say that Beat Sneak Bandit feels like a Rhythm Tengoku minigame taken to its logical extreme; it's constructed with a precision and a sense of mischief – and, in its final surprise, a generosity of spirit - that echoes the best work of the WarioWare team.

It's a pity that Remedy seems intent on making you eat your soggy story vegetables before tucking into American Nightmare's only real confection.

Packed with detail, both in terms of its environments and mechanics, this is a game that pays back investment in spades. [March 2012, p.122]

NeverDead's heart is in the right place: committed to entertaining you, no matter the cost - even if it means losing your head a few too many times along the way. [March 2012, p.120]

With both real-time and turn-based flavours of haphazard carnage on offer, Glitch Tank is willing to mess with your brain at a variety of speeds. Michael Brough's certainly given iPad owners something to think about, then – even if few will have the patience and foresight to feel truly comfortable on this strange new playing field.

A brave game in many ways, then, but above all, an enjoyable one.

AWESOME Land's harder across the board, actually, but its slightly naff virtual controls work better than expected, and the checkpoint placement isn't unduly sadistic. It's difficult, at times, to tell whether FreakZone's pitched this as parody or homage, but take it as the latter, and you'll have a fairly good couple of hours with it.

This is a freemium game, masquerading as a paid download.

As a proof of concept, Reality Fighters is convincing, but it's sub-par as a high-priced fighting game, trailing the competition and offering novelty in place of substance.

Unadventurous Everybody's Golf may be, but it's wonderfully executed, and its presence at Vita's launch is welcome. With their endlessly smiling characters, cheery J-tunes and bright skies, Everybody's Golf titles are the best Nintendo-esque games a Sony console has ever seen, and this latest iteration is no exception.

Little Deviants' real problem is simple: it's not moreish, and its challenges fail to reveal the kinds of nuance on the second and third tries that will have you refining strategies and aiming to better scores. Without that incentive to return, you're unlikely to.

Yes, Wipeout 2048 conjures a less fanciful racing grid than we've seen previously, and it's also a less immaculate, less finessed racer than the home console iterations of the series we've played down the years. Instead, it's an attempt to try something new on the newest of platforms. While it may not offer something for everyone, when it flies, it soars.

There's also the beauty of Uncharted's exotic locales, which act as a great showcase for Vita's astonishing display. And even if Golden Abyss starred a power-armoured space marine fighting his way across the cardboard-box planet, it would still be a robust thirdperson shooter, the likes of which we've simply never seen on a handheld. The core Uncharted experience is still here, in other words. It's stripped a little bare, but it's just about enough.

Gesture recognition is loose and forgiving, and it makes no attempt to suggest Kinect's genuinely interpreting every movement. Instead, each manoeuvre feels like the empty-handed equivalent of pushing a button – albeit a button that tends to idle a little before it triggers anything.

The first Flipper wasn't a great piece of work, necessarily, but it had its own agenda and was powered by some pleasantly esoteric coding. The sequel, wonky and compromised, can't even claim that honour.