War of the Roses still has the potential to become a real jewel of a game. Coming patches and updates will determine if it'll go under in the storming sea of middling arena action titles – or if it will become an exotic insiders' tip that'll win a devoted following apart from renaissance fair enthusiasts.

For such a monster of a game, some quibbles and problems are understandable. Still, it's about time EA started taking care of long known problems before integrating new (if really interesting and reasonable) features. If FIFA Manager is going to become a thoroughly recommendable product again, something really needs to happen.

Even today, NiGHTS into Dreams is one of the most interesting titles you can download onto your console. But in light of some of the fundamentally flawed design decisions the game has retained from it's 32-Bit days, 'interesting' alone just doesn't cut it anymore.

Minor troubles aside, for about ten bucks you get one of the best Sonic experiences, and one that can and will keep you busy for weeks, if you're really want to see everything. If you can get past the camera issues, some control quibbles and the rather boring search for crystals, this will hook you like in the olden days. This reunion might bring with it some surprises, as your memory seems to play tricks on you, but it's still a worthwhile get together.

Truth be told, Doom 3 has held up better than I expected. It's still a game with both its feet in the nineties, and one whose haunted house antics work best in small doses. But when it clicks, it does so with the resounding blast of a shotgun to the face. As a package, though, the BFG Edition is hardly the be all, end all in all things Doom most people might have expected. None of the games in this box comes in its best form, which basically tells you all you need to know.

By no means does Warfighter reinvent the wheel, but at the same time it doesn't dent it in any way, either. And while it's certainly not for the war-weary, most shooter fans will find a lot of solid entertainment in the well-paced, good-looking campaign and the all right, if a bit standard multiplayer modes.

It's totally okay that WRC 3 doesn't have the finely-tuned stylings of the bigger racing brands. Real rallying has become somewhat of an endangered species, so I'm fully prepared to even overlook the career mode that is all but completely absent here. Where a game like this absolutely cannot fail, though, is in the connection of car and road, which sadly is what WRC 3 does. Theoretically this could have been much, much worse, to be fair. And WRC 3 might even find some friends amongst the most starving of Rallye fans. But that's only because this is basically their only option right now.

Structurally, this is a really clever game. To get the most out of this remarkably liberal samurai-playground, though, you should be willing to make some compromises when it comes to the stiff and stuttering fighting engine and the colorful, but somewhat ancient-looking graphics.

In single player the game suffers from a huge lack of varied content and could do with a more flexible fighting-system. It's understandable perhaps that the developers didn't want to burden their central multiplayer mode with the complex combos of something like Bayonetta, for example. But in doing so, Anarchy's single- and multiplayer modes keep on holding each other back. Still, regardless of its problems, matches regularly end up being a ton of fun.

The last time I had this much fun with a similar racing set-up, I was playing Project Gotham Racing 2. Fans of the genre should definitely keep an eye on whatever Playground Games decides to invest their considerable talents in next.

Even though authenticity-wise Visual Concepts seems to have maxed out this console generation a couple of games ago and big new additions are scarce, NBA 2K13 sits firmly amongst my favorite games this year. I'm excited to see the makers shed the shackles of the old consoles and lead the way into the new generation next season.

Some of the old strengths are on display here, though. The characters are likeable, the world is still a sight to behold … But playing the stuff that normally gets visualized by a loading screen is hardly an exciting proposition. Fable: The Journey started out as a lie and now ends as an utter disappointment. What a waste of Lionhead's considerable talents.

This playable tale once again dares to discuss the more substantial implications of the survival-horror scenario, a setting that was once mostly defined by scarcity of ammunition. I'd lie if I professed that The Walking Dead had anything to do with "fun" in the traditional sense, but here for once, it's a glowing compliment. I'm not looking forward to accompany these Walking Dead on their last steps to the conclusion. But I wouldn't want to miss it for anything in the world.

It's a shame that in the end, it's quite apparent that this project started as a tech-demo. As much as the bitter-sweet music and the story of an orphaned boy, his dead mother and a king that never seems to finish what he started try to get an emotional reaction out of you, it always stays a mess of themes and symbolism. If it had something to say, the message somehow got lost under a heap of its own metaphors. If your heart burns mainly for artistic visuals, though, this graphically visionary little game has a lot to offer.

2D experts might not find quite enough challenge with Hell Yeah! and there's not the most replay value to be found here. Still, the game is absolutely great looking and lots highly enjoyable, just because of its overall level of insanity and its funny antics.

Every puzzle, every piece of dialogue, every punchline and every single one of the sprawlingly hand-drawn backgrounds is pervaded by the charming eccentricities we only got a glimpse at in the first game. Where other second games in a trilogy often fail, this middle-part manages to marry the obligatory cliffhanger-ending in the run-up to Episode three with a whole-heartedly satisfying conclusion of its own.

Is this the only shape a fresh new XCOM could have taken? Definitely not. What it is though, is a sincere and absolutely splendid tribute to one of the best games ever made; undyingly in love with the source material, but at the same time absolutely determined to be its own beast. 'On the shoulders of giants' one of the final achievements says. Firaxis just put another giant there.

Dishonored grants us a first look at the future of free-flowing gameplay in the triple A segment. Even though it stumbles over its own freedoms here and there, it still is an absolute winner of a game.

It ropes you in as a cute and simple game, only to show its true identity after just a couple of rounds. Only if you play clever and smartly plan your journey, you'll be able to ever finish FTL: Faster Than Light – only to turn around on a dime and start all over again.

For some this will definitely not be enough. RE 6 is an uneven game that plays some dirty tricks on you, holds some of its more debatable design-choices in the highest regard and is way too hell-bent on blowing up each of its separate campaigns to full game length. Funnily enough in the end it's the secret Ada Wong campaign that just barely manages to hold everything together.

Rocksmith's European version is an improvement over the original but the ingenious concept still leaves some things to be desired. The idea is there, the tech works. Now it's up to future versions to serve guitar prospects the freedoms to choose how they play the game and to ditch the automatically adjusting difficulty.

It's hardly really all that "new" and we've seen way better conversions of a compelling concept to the PS Vita. But nevertheless, this cross between Pikmin and world-building strategy is a good fit for the system. Not because of its scale, the game easily fills many enjoyable evening sessions, but just because its such a pleasant companion.

It's three games that are not coincidentally phenomenally successful, all rolled into one batch. And it really is a winner, as long as you enjoy the HD graphics and are willing ignore that it is a bit pricey and you always have to cram out the disc if you want to have a go. It doesn't take much away from the quality on offer, but it's up to you if you need the prettiest and most expensive version of this.

This is no revolution for the series, in whatever direction. And with me that's alright, this time at least - and mostly because I largely ignored part 4. It does signify the current struggle of the genre, though. All is well and good, but also a bit boring. Still, I did have quite a bit of fun with DOA 5, especially offline.

So, is Guild Wars 2 the MMO messiah everyone is waiting for? Maybe not. What it is, though, is the first MMO in years that really does the "massively multiplayer" part justice. This is a gigantic, sprawling world for explorers, with countless wonderful stories and characters, all backed by a gameplay concept that treats all players as equals. And that's just the basis of what Guild Wars 2 is.

Torchlight 2 is the distillate of everything I have always liked about Diablo as a series. People who came to love Blizzard's hack and slash with its second iteration, Torchlight 2 might well be a better choice than Blizzard's own sequel.

Gearbox has consistently built on the strengths of the first game and managed to capture the sort of gravitational pull that always sucks you in for another go. Sometimes it pays to not change a winning formula all too much.

I couldn't wish for more. The faster pace really does wonders for FIFA 13. It might take a while until you get used to it, but that's a couple of hours well invested as you get much more dynamic, tense and unpredictable game of football.