I like WarGroove but I don't love it. Generous as this game is - and it is absurdly generous - love is reserved for the real thing.

As downloads go, this is generous and imaginative, then, and the richness of the world is more than enough to make up for an occasionally tricksy camera, a fair amount of backtracking and a tendency to pad things out as it heads towards the final act.

Strip away the new lick of paint and it's tough to tell F1 2011 apart from its predecessor, and though it's certainly tighter, smarter and more technically accomplished, some of the old faults remain. A marginally better outing than last year, then, and that's enough to ensure that, as F1 games go, this is still quite comfortably the best.

Sure, Capcom has completely over-compensated by making the game initially too hard, but once you get over this frightful difficulty hump, one of 2005's most accomplished and enjoyable games emerges from the fug.

Professor Layton and Pandora's Box is superbly charming (aside from its creepy moments), and Layton's constant reprimanding of Luke for not being gentlemanly enough is hilarious.

In truth, despite giving the gamer a huge arsenal, pleasant gameplay diversions and dressing it up in shiny new clobber, RFII doesn’t take us anywhere we haven’t been before, and plays by the FPS rulebook for the most part.

£6.99 is unbelievably good value for a near-perfect refinement of what many of us want from a football management game. It has more or less all the leagues you could conceivably wish for, a simple, uncluttered interface, all the transfer and strategic depth you need, and just enough media, player, staff and board interaction.

A 2D run and gunner that's as in your face as an 80s Troma classic, Huntdown matches its excess with brilliant detail. [Eurogamer Recommended]

A thrilling but thin survival twist on the city builder genre, oozing dark charisma and political dilemmas. [Recommended]

Housemarque has just made the game of its career. [Essential]

Polybius, for all its ranginess, its generosity, is a game about tight confines. And it is magical. [Recommended]

The original Crysis may have given you the basic tools, but Warhead allows you to really use them, and while its previous titles made it clear that Crytek knew technology like few others, it's this strange off-shoot Warhead that proves it's no slouch when it comes to level design and set-pieces either.

When we finished "DMC3," we wondered what Capcom would do with new hardware. The answer is not an awful lot. The visuals are better, the combat's more accessible, the upgrade system's pleasingly flexible, but in practically every other sense Capcom has passed up the opportunity to do something new and exciting.

Its sense of character may be not be as forceful as Criterion's other games - but the sense of competition that informs it, the joy of discovery and the plain pleasure of driving haven't been dimmed in the slightest. This isn't quite paradise, but it comes very close.

A brisk running time and lower stakes do the Uncharted formula no harm at all - even if this spin-off sticks a bit too close to the script. [Recommended]

For Rainbow Six 3 fans, Black Arrow may be a repeat prescription, but it's just what the doctor ordered.

Snappy and responsive weapon-based fighting let down by a boring new story mode and loading issues.

For b-ball heads, it's one of the deepest, most well-rounded and entertaining simulations of the sport on the shelves. You can lose months of your life to it.

But for the vast majority of players there will be a challenge hurdle at some point that is just too high to overcome. It's no accident: the game has been designed that way. It's testament to the strength of the surrounding package that Skate 2 continues to be compelling place to inhabit even after its primary purpose is gone and all that's left is the playground.

So yes, Turtles single-player has been an absolute delight. I can't wait for my first six-player match.

We couldn't have asked for much more than has been delivered, and I doubt Maxis could have done much more with a formula that they've improved upon time and again.

Provides just about enough to be worthy of the price of entry if you're an Age of Mythology fan. The new single-player campaign is slickly presented and a lot of fun, while the addition of the new race and the Titans themselves should give a fair bit of extra longevity to the multiplayer aspect of the game.

There are some nice stretches of track to travel on and plenty of things to do along the way, but several of the activities are downright dull, while others are marred by questionable design decisions such as lengthy stops and the excessive use of temporary speed limits in the most boring parts of a track.

The lack of multiplayer and a few soundtrack changes may irk some, but overall this is a surprisingly enjoyable conversion that old hands will get a lot out of.

Bottomless wit and some inspired design choices make this genre mash-up a joy to play. [Eurogamer Recommended]

With 60 levels offering hours of patient probing, it's another impossibly good-value offering.

ElecHead is an ingenious, compact, and elegant puzzle-platformer of wordless brilliance. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Sackable offences? Of course not. And for all these flaws, Resident Evil Village was a thrilling adventure that kept me hooked from beginning to end, despite its jarring twists and turns. But the delightful level design isn't enough to mitigate a strange, unsatisfying, plothole-ridden story, and that bizarre final act ultimately sullies what is an otherwise terrifyingly good horror romp.

Weak multiplayer and control issues prevent it from being the instant classic Guitar Hero was four year ago, but FreeStyleGames has nevertheless created a slick and enormously enjoyable music game that deserves to succeed and evolve.

Finally complete after fourteen years, Crowbar Collective's remake is more than faithful to Valve's masterpiece. [Eurogamer Essential]

I need to stress that even when it abstractly fails - like the campaign mode - it falls comfortably above the vast majority of its peers. When it excels it excels in the same way as an aged whiskey or a finely made leather sofa does: it exudes quality and craftsmanship. Rise of Legends is an extremely-good-to-great game. Give it time and you'll love it.

This is a game that wants you to laugh so hard that you sneeze on yourself, but it's also a game that wants you to experiment as much as possible with the tools you've been given. Its cleverness is as lightly worn as it is unexpected. It's the best kind of guilty pleasure.

A really solid rendition of what made those early Tony Hawk games great, but on your faithful friend, the DS. It's smart and sassy, and it looks far better than you could possibly expect.

If they can keep updating FTL with new scenarios, new spaceships and new stories with the same intelligence and restraint, we could well be seeing the birth of a future classic.

Obsidian has created a totally compelling world and its frustrations pale into insignificance compared to the immersive, obsessive experience on offer. Just like the scorched scenery that provides its epic backdrop, New Vegas is huge and sprawling, sometimes gaudy, even downright ugly at times – but always effortlessly, shamelessly entertaining.

A polished, bewitching upgrade that sinks its claws into you - featuring perhaps the best character class in Diablo's history.

It's a game that boasts an indisputable wider significance - but today, it's worthwhile primarily because it's a joyfully innocent fable, albeit one whose impact lies in the telling more than in the tale.

It's not a bad game to any degree, is technically very polished with beautifully rendered craft bursting with technical detail and slick in almost every sense - but it lacks soul.

It's a gaping chasm of Comic Book joy, filled to brimming with great characters, unlockables, collectibles and some top-notch mutant-oriented RPG action. It is, in short, one of the best comic book adaptations in quite some while.

Resogun really is that rare kind of arcade game that feels like an entirely different beast when played on the toughest setting. It's also the closest the PS4 launch line-up gets to offering a genuine next-gen thrill.

Defcon is as pure and direct a game as its inspiration, and its limitations are ones of the game's basic scope.

While there's perhaps not the verve and variety of peers like Spelunky or The Binding of Isaac, what Teleglitch does do is sell you on the atmosphere and the minutiae of combat.

The Division 2 manages to improve upon the original formula in almost every way, but its tale and tone are frequently awful.

There are traces of that excess here, but they arrive too late and change the formula too little to really make a meaningful difference. It's still a cynical slice of dirty fun, but the most damning aspect of Saints Row: The Third is that where the all-important lulz are concerned, there's precious little here that you couldn't already do in Saints Row 2.

It's an off-kilter vision of the future, a cumbersome game with odd priorities, certainly. But it's equally a game that heads off in unexpected and exciting directions, makes a few notable improvements, and overflows with love – for cars, for games technology and for its own mad pursuit.

It's stylish, fun, challenging and you really do feel as if you're playing a part in a sequel to a cult classic. That's all we were after.

EiB feels grittier - closer to its fascinating yet fearful inspiration - than any other military shooter out there. Much of that feel comes from the credible mission design and AI already mentioned but a significant portion stems from fundamentals like the way the weapons look, sound and perform.

Pokémon returns for a 3DS victory lap in this generous, definitive retelling of the Alolan story. [Recommended]

With 200 of the blessed things to face (of which 140 are evil user-created levels), public transport delays will be positively welcome.

There's a sense throughout of a development team in love with their work: a team that's gleefully committed to over-delivering. Why else would Vigil opt for two dungeons where one would have been enough for most developers, or throw in boss after boss after gigantic boss when others might have tied things up with a simple cut-scene and the odd quick-time event?

Probably the most enjoyable, forward-looking and thoughtful piece of videogaming we've played in this or in any year. We never thought we'd say this, but it's a real step forward for the adventure game genre.

While Half-Minute Hero will be best appreciated by gamers familiar with its surface inspirations, it can nevertheless be savoured by anyone.

Madden NFL 11 plays a good game of football. Unfortunately, about 80 per cent of the game has not been given any attention, and the question is whether or not this version is worth it for those who need their Madden fix - especially when it essentially amounts to paying a yearly subscription fee.

Even when it stumbles, it stands as a fine reminder of why LucasArts at its prime was seen as the industry at its best, and few other adventures have deservedly gathered so much affection. It was an instant classic back in 1998. It's still very much a journey worth taking today, albeit ideally with a walkthrough.

By marrying metroidvania, management sim and a good dose of kindness, Spiritfarer manages to feel simultaneously familiar and refreshing. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Undoubtedly a highly enjoyable action romp with a clutch of deal clincher ideas that are well-realised and far from being mere gimmicks to brag about on the box.

Thimbleweed Park is what would happen if you moved Nightvale into Monkey Island, and gave everyone too much rum. [Recommended]

There's really nothing here that truly deserves great reward. But I had legions of fun. And, for this game at least, that counts for, oooh, pretty much everything.

The introduction of F2 and a suite of small improvements elsewhere make for a thrillingly authentic take on motorsport's top-flight. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Crack a handful of languages and then wield them in this mesmering adventure game.

The second game from Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM, this text-heavy, dice-driven RPG is an exquisitely constructed take on consumerism, empire, nostalgia and beyond.

The lack of any new multiplayer options is a bit disappointing, but it's priced as an expansion pack and there's certainly enough here to keep any fan of Medieval engaged for quite a large number of hours.

Considering Summit Strike is only pitched as a budget-priced expansion pack to last year's 'full-blown' version, Ubisoft has done an exceptional job of providing nigh-on top draw entertainment with literally no compromises.

Sokoban and coding collide in this clever puzzler. [Eurogamer Recommended]

as adventures go Nightfall feels much more open than previous Guild Wars modules. While many of the quests had been tied to tightly linear the maps, the missions of Nightfall are far more open-ended.

A soulful and gorgeous Metroidvania with exquisite hack and slash action.

Simogo shuffles through a stacked deck of rhythm-action delights, mastering yet another genre. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Nippon Ichi's games are good but Disgaea is undeniably the best. While some might begrudge the ostensible dumbing down with the return to grids and more tightly controlled play (there's no chucking enemies off the maps into oblivion or picking up map furniture as impromptu weaponry here) in reality this makes the game more accessible, more easily understood and ultimately more fun.

More than anything, what really stands out about Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! is the sheer coherency of the original design. It was startling back in 1997 on the PlayStation when games did not often turn up with proper themes to think about, and it's still just as startling in 2014, to be honest, where the grace with which the plot unfolds and the relevance it still has for the real world remain something of an anomaly.

Single-player fans need not apply - but for online players, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a title which stacks up surprisingly well with Valve's "Team Fortress 2." It can't quite match the polish, presentation and beautifully conceived design of Valve's latest, but Quake Wars sets out to provide a totally different experience, and does so very well - with a set of well-designed, expansive levels and great vehicles being the stand-out factors.

The potent mixture of action with the high-level statistical balancing will quickly seduce the right-minded player.

Incognito has taken the DNA of Battlefield and crafted a sublime online console game - a virtual battlezone that serves up more than its fair share of wonderful audio-visuals, but more than that, plays beautifully, with every game you play supplying a key gameplay moment that only online gaming provides.

With Binding, McMillen and Himsl created the rules of the world and then set it in motion. Yet this game is nearly as much fun as Super Meat Boy, and more profound. It proves that there's more than one way to make a masterpiece.

Beneath Patrick's Parabox's minimalist surface are layers upon layers - a masterclass of simplicity and puzzling challenge. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Lorenzo Redaelli follows up 2020's uncompromising The Milky Way Prince: The Vampire Star with a pulverising, shape-shifting visual novel of friendship, post-COVID trauma, and horror in the blistering Italian sun that's as artistically dazzling as it is emotionally raw.

Is the plumber's Wii U debut as good as his recent 3D outings? Not quite, but for the New Super Mario Bros. series, it's a real step forward in detailing, imagination and character.

It offers highly refined gameplay married with a rich art style, and by acknowledging fan feedback in an effort to make a well-rounded game even more polished, Ultra feels like the work of a developer that's content to please its core audience rather than trying to grab everyone else's attention. That's rare, especially from a studio that was responsible for Resident Evil 6.

A gorgeous fantasy journey enlivened by some thrilling rock-climbing.

If you hanker for a new world – one that feels familiar yet fresh, with an atmosphere of discovery and experimentation – then Rift stands proudly, ready to greet you with open arms.

A strange, frustrating and incredibly smart game, then.

The creator of Her Story explores its ideas further in a broader, deeper, more unruly video mystery. [Eurogamer Recommended]

As with PopCap's best titles, Swords and Soldiers reworks the weary conventions of its tradition to compelling effect. Its deliberately restricted perspective is unlikely to sate the appetites of hardcore RTS fans, but the move to 2D acts as a concentration of the genre's charms, not a dilution, and is perfectly suited to WiiWare.

With a depth and longevity that humbles most full-price releases – including five single-player campaigns and online multiplayer – Clash Of Heroes HD demands your immediate and undivided attention.

It leaves you with a peculiar sense of power: it feels as though you have the influence of a redemptive god, restoring a fallen world back to its Eden state after a corrupting virus.

While The Silent Age may not stretch your mental prowess, it's never less than engaging thanks to some great writing.

Ape Out is a beautiful and bloody game that's given surprising depth by a tremendous soundtrack. [Eurogamer Recommended]

A worthwhile, if familiar, successor to Super Meat Boy. [Recommended]

In short, there's a lot of game here but none of it immediately demands you buy it, unless you just need a few new things to insert into Civ 4 to justify returning to it. In which case, hey - go do it. Civ 4's awesome.

More than just its nostalgic visuals, Crow Country is funny, self-aware, and extremely hard to put down.

If this Hitman has a design limitation, it's that maps don't evolve as much in response to assassinations as they could - it strains credibility that you can bump off three of four targets in Colorado without plunging the fourth into a panic. That aside, this is among the most expertly-made, engrossing stealth simulations of recent years, and a tale of A-listers meeting their comeuppance to give any Fortune 500 member the shivers. Agent 47 is back with a vengeance, and vengeance has seldom tasted sweeter. [Recommended]

It’s a shame EA feel the need to charge their swelling community for the privilege of getting their hands on a smattering of new missions and models which should have been in the game in the first place.

A fantastic port - and unquestionably best on Xbox - but it suffers in part thanks to last century's tech and in part because pathetic team killing gits thrive in the current Live community.

Apart from the fact that it's a largely seamless gameplay mechanic, sensibly balanced and gloriously fresh and interesting to play, it's also an ingenious premise that deserves further exploration - indeed, this is one of the few times you'll see us crying out for a sequel.

The game itself continues to justify its enduring popularity, thanks to sharp writing, narrative intrigue, quality voiceovers and concise puzzles that challenge but rarely frustrate. Maybe if enough of you buy this one, we can persuade Cecil and co. to finally deliver us an all-new game.

High-scoring fun from EA Sports, but FIFA 18 is an unspectacular upgrade. [Recommended]

Doubtless the best third-person shooter ever to come out of Japan, Vanquish builds on Western developers' triumphs to push the genre in new, interesting directions, shifting the balance of power, and cementing Shinji Mikami's position as one of the best directors working in videogames today.

Like the equally awesome Dark Nebula, Gears pitches the challenge perfectly, and gives you that one-more-go feeling without also instilling the need to lie down in a darkened room afterwards. When developers make games this good, it's only right and proper to reward them with cold, hard cash.

If you're looking for something that improves or builds upon the astonishing work of Moon Studios or Team Cherry, you're unlikely to find it here. That said? Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is a surprising and compelling adventure that's been crafted with care and oodles of charm. Yes, it requires patience. Yes, it requires a natural curiosity, and a willingness to overlook its occasionally clumsy control scheme. But I spent many a night wandering around Land's End, staying up way later than I'd anticipated, keen to unravel more of the story and expand Lily's impressive skillset. If you enjoy Metroidvanias and have been looking for a new challenge that's not too punishing, I suspect you might, too.