Some of DMC HD's content is far from classic, and there are undeniably rough edges. But as a package it offers two fighting games of exceptional quality, with Devil May Cry slick and stylish enough to overshadow its creaky camera, and Devil May Cry 3 still one of the genre's highpoints.

As an example of how Xbox Live can be put to use in the racing genre, it's unmatched. Were it not for inconsistent handling, it'd score higher - and even at that it still deserves a lot of credit.

Regardless of whether you've played these games before or not, trawling through the Oddbox is a rare pleasure. Such unfettered creativity has been sorely missed.

While this particular GTA game wouldn't inspire me to sit in my bedroom at night trying to make animated squish graphics to put on the top of my website, it's still happily one of the best games on the PSP, and well worth looking into if you still haven't hit your GTA ceiling.

With each word you correct, you're rebelling against the system, raising a middle finger to oppression. It's a good feeling, and it's prompted by nothing more than black text on a white background. That's the power of the written word, all right.

May not be the best-looking tactical shooter ever made, nor does it bring anything to the genre in terms of progress, but there's little else on Xbox worth looking at in the genre until "Rainbow Six 3" shows up.

No other RTS provokes the feeling that you're inventing rather than enduring to defeat your foe to this extent. It's complicated and exhausting with it, and while that's exactly what an established COH player will want, I fear it ever so slightly undermines the achievements the original game made in making historical wargames appeal to a mass audience again.

With the added bonus of Captain Your Country, and a host of welcome tweaks and additions, it's a Russian linesman away from being given 9/10, and only the inevitable absence of club teams and other FIFA-level content get in the way.

Make no mistake, Valkyria Chronicles is a really, really, really good tactical RPG, and fans of the genre should pick it up without delay, but beneath the inviting exterior and thoughtfully designed battle system lies a game with a few too many clunky inconsistencies which directly impact the strategic heart of the experience.

Child of Light stands as a wonderfully realised venture into unfamiliar territory for Ubisoft - and a welcome reminder that the industry's major players still have the creative flair to push beyond the lucrative safe ground that they so often favour to create well-crafted, highly-polished gems such as this.

Given Blizzard's determination to make us wait as long as possible for Diablo III, you may as well sink it into a game that eats time for breakfast.

A fun and frenetic reality TV sim, The Crush House delivers thoughtful commentary on virtual voyeurism.

It's absorbing and challenging without being irritating, and you should give it a crack.

It has managed to genuinely take the series forward in technology terms, offering up much more engaging firefights than ever before, which are far less forgiving and require a hell of a lot more thought and skill than simply charging in like you're immortal.

Cheerful, perfectly pitched and instantly addictive, Mr Driller is the sort of thing that makes you want to grab those tiresome moaners and say "Look! This is casual gaming! It's what games are all about! And it's brilliant!"

Dark Forces emerges from Nightdive's bacta tank refreshed and ready for action, combining classic FPS mayhem with thrilling espionage-themed missions.

Levels come thick and fast, but what starts off as a charming, casual diversion soon bares its teeth and has you utterly absorbed in its gorgeous and inventive platform puzzle madness.

But however much positive energy we lavish on FIFA all the areas that EA beats Konami on - bar online - are simply gloss. In a straight tussle between the games, we just don't enjoy playing FIFA as much as we do "PES3," and, for most of you, that's what matters.

If you can overlook the niggles with the island's economy, Tropico is one of the best city building sims of recent years and certainly the most amusing.

Demake visuals are the perfect match for a game that's both direct and gloriously weird.

Whether you're simply racing to top your friends' scores, as you would in any Xbox Live Arcade games, or you're racing for the very top, this is an unbelievably addictive physics puzzle game with its roots in TrackMania, Mercury and games of their ilk and arguably the beating of most of them.

Fans of Killzone 2 will love the improved multiplayer, but may find that the single-player side of things has lost a lot of its identity. It's always polished and breathlessly paced, but it no longer offers a distinct change of pace from the rest of the shooter herd.

It is weakness in the basic concept of the franchise, and some excessively similar events, which prevent this from climbing any higher in our scoring system - but as an execution of an admittedly simple concept, this is genuinely brilliant.

Poker goes into the blender and emerges in fine form.

Fundamentally, it's about having FUN – because FUN is important.

If you can persuade your friends list to join in the time-shifting fun, Zeit² threatens to become another score-chasing obsession.

Mother Base, co-op and Extra Ops are great additions to the Metal Gear formula and luxuriously comfortable fits for handheld play. The subdued campaign is not Kojima at his histrionic and surprising best, but it arguably offers the tightest stealth gameplay since Snake Eater or even the first Metal Gear Solid.

For many, most of the titles on show will be obscure, but if you want to dip your toes into the bewildering waters of the '80s arcade, this is probably the best introduction released to date.

A finicky combat system, a lack of challenge and few reasons to remain in South Park once the story is done - these minor disappointments hold The Stick of Truth back from greatness, but they don't detract from the sheer audacious hilarity it delivers. In gameplay terms it may be soon forgotten, but there's unlikely to be a funnier - or filthier - game any time soon.

In terms of scale, it barely comes up to Battlefield's ankles, and in terms of tactics and tension it can't beat Counter-Strike, but once you've spent a few hours on a server of 20 or so people, you'd have to want not to enjoy it to fail to - and your own war stories are an inevitable byproduct.

Battleheart's also far deeper than you might give it credit for, and horribly addictive. It truly is the Pringles of gaming.

Inkle mixes archive-surfing and audio drama to create a surprisingly powerful story of obsession and a machine.

It's a 9-flavoured 8, but again the mechanics of the court sequences are often so stupidly frustrating that it would be wrong to mark any higher.

Still, nitpicky design and technical limitations aside, the 12 hours or so that you'll be playing the single-player game are almost always enjoyable, challenging, and entertaining.

It never hits the heights of Battlefield in its pomp, Call of Duty at its slickest or Titanfall in its explosive beta, but at its best Garden Warfare stirs the same emotions; the panic, the triumph, the tension and the elation.

A powerful, memorable story told not with dialogue but with interaction, movement, and art.

The long road through the game, winding its way towards Central Park, lacks variation, but then it was never intended to be a Bond-style rollercoaster ride around diverse global tourist locations. Rather, this was always intended to be a game about a suit, and what that represents. In almost every way that matters then, Crysis 2 is dressed for success.

At once accessible and complex, kid-friendly and adult-pleasing, and full of personality, MySims is an excellent and original idea that's well-suited to the console, even if it won't be an essential purchase for everybody.

More than anything else, we're just happy to have another Ace Combat game we can genuinely say we really like, rather than just saying we don't dislike it. The series has rated a categorical "meh" for some time now; but no longer. Ace Combat 6 can be our wingman any time.

An excellent package. Honestly, Flatout is a hairbreadth away from a 9, and legendary status.

It's a quick loader, too, with minimum turnaround between holes.

The game is a gradual reconnaissance into your capabilities as a leader. The smaller battles hone your self-awareness and prepare you for those glorious life-or-death crucibles – there's at least one per stage – where the screen bursts into a Technicolor fog of war, with glowing power-ups layered on top of energy bars on top of exploding missiles.

Boasts such good combat that it doesn't matter if the loot, traditionally the heart of these games, is disappointing. In fact, it's so good that I think I'm going to go back and play it right now.

It may not have the production values of Final Fantasy III, but Magical Starsign combines a superb and intriguing battle system with a genuinely fresh look at how to control this kind of game on the DS.

2XKO is a tag fighter like no other, with a bold aesthetic and superbly crafted core gameplay experience. Beloved League of Legends characters are revitalised in a new light in a truly stunning free-to-play experience.

As good as "Enemy Territory: Quake Wars," "Frontlines: Fuel of War" and "Team Fortress 2" are, Unreal Tournament III is the most intense and ridiculous of the bunch. What it lacks in terms of bold innovation, it more than makes up for in terms of raw playability and refined execution, and Epic has come up trumps with a fine conversion.

The best way to view the Enhanced Edition is as a particular flavour of this game - one which may or may not appeal to your personal taste. I certainly can't claim that this is the definitive version of Baldur's Gate and I have to judge this game I love with that in mind. It's not better - it's just different.

Tumble's never quite as outright fun as something like Boom Blox, but along with Sports Champions' table tennis mode it's a terrific showcase for Move, and another reason to get excited about the possibilities of motion control.

From the cartoon sketchiness of the art to the breezy gallicisms that litter the text, there's a wonderful sense that, for all its elegance, the core of Poof vs. the Cursed Kitty came together in a mad rush. And although it's a pretty simple affair at heart, it will drink in your free time with surprising ease.

If you have the speedrunning bug, be warned: Mighty Switch Force's taunting clockwork worlds are going to be a dangerous, and possibly fairly maddening, compulsion. Even if you don't, this is still clever, personable, and beautifully made.

For once, it's nice to find a retro revival that does true justice to an old classic, and for only 800 points you can't even moan about the price. Credit where it's due: Rush N' Attack: Ex Patriot surpasses every expectation we could have had of it.

It's a slightly old-school adventure with a vibe reminiscent of Castlevania (especially the PlayStation 2 sequels). But while those games under-delivered on a compelling world with a consistent structure, Pandora's Tower will draw you in and make you care.

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.

With sharp writing paired with a charming if amateurish cast, Puzzle Agent's appeal is rough-hewn, but improbably cohesive. Were it not so instantly likeable, you might not care so much about the fairly standard logic puzzles.

The controls are silky smooth, the visual style is adorable, and it doesn't involve shooting men in the face. All this for less than the price of a Spectrum game.

Far from cribbing Overboard's homework, Expelled! is a tighter, more focused detective story that really makes the most of its replayable timeloop structure.

It's an absurd bargain. With online multiplayer, it would be a miniature classic. As it is, it's recommended for PS3 owners, all but essential if you have a Vita - and for lovers of RC cars or top-down racing, it's a rare treat.

An intense, heart-rattling experience that gets more rewarding the more time you invest in learning the nuances. With incredible attention to detail, technical achievements are more than mere eye candy and a deeper, more rewarding fighting system than ever before, it's an essential purchase for boxing fans and fighting game aficionados.

The line between heroic acts of rescue, and hapless mass murder is wafer thin, and so begins a mini-obsession with blowing up little chunks of rock against the clock.

Vanillaware's beautiful art brings to life a staggeringly deep strategy RPG where building units is just as fun as orchestrating battles.

Vengeance offers one great map, two really good maps, one decent map and more Zombies stuff for the players who still understand what Zombies is about. That's enough to call it a win, but it'll be interesting to see if the formula holds once Ghosts is out.

A game clearly put together with care and passion, built around a core of delightful feedback and quite simply fun at a very deep and instinctive level. It still feels great. There's just a sense that there remains a bolder and more ambitious, game lurking just under the surface and only occasionally showing itself.

The online play is a very welcome addition (although not really the full monty), the campaign is enormous and there's no doubt at all that in isolation the game is a solid, enjoyable experience with immense longevity, but some may correctly observe that this is the game "CMR3" should have been in the first place.

£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.

Coolson's Artisanal Chocolate Alphabet is a beautifully crafted, fun to play game. It's perfect for anyone who enjoys wordplay, has fastidious organisational tendencies or was disappointed to discover that high-paying jobs in publishing do not magically apparate after three years spent reading one Thomas Hardy novel and watching Loose Women.

Race Pro is a great driving experience, striking a rare balance between the immediate enjoyment of an arcade racer and the deeper, more nuanced long-term satisfaction of a hardcore sim.

This is the most joyfully daft fun imaginable, bursting with in-jokes and hilarious set-pieces. [JPN Import]

It's odd and slightly throwaway, much like Attack of the Friday Monsters itself, yet it also captures the inquisitive naivety of childhood, and of a world where young imaginations blossom to fill the long hours of hot summer afternoons.

A hugely interesting game, as fascinating as it is frequently frustrating, as engaging as it is eccentric and, for those who are hooked by its quirky charms, it will provide one of the most inspired approaches to the JRPG seen in a decade.

Some people have nightmares about taking out their zombie wife with a sniper rifle. Me? I'm spinning through 3D space at high speed fretting about getting shapes to fit through narrow gaps. Horses for courses.

Sure, it's not going to win awards for its longevity, but its instant playability and rampantly addictive qualities make is damned near irresistible. A fitting update to an enduring classic.

While Company of Heroes 2 sometimes makes you feel like you're fighting the game as well as the enemy, if you take time to understand the systems at work beneath the carnage and pick and choose your battles wisely, you will ultimately be rewarded by a deep and enjoyable RTS.

Perhaps the best thing about Serious Sam though is just how pristine it is. It’s a very, very polished game.

Most importantly, it's got that utterly absorbing hypnotic je ne sais quois that all the best games have, and it's that which will keep you coming back for more and more, checking out all the characters and all the play modes, and devoting an unhealthy amount of time in the quest for dominating other players, both online and off.

It's one of the freshest, most original and genuinely funny games to hit the DS since a certain lawyer raised his first objection.

With its nugget-sized level design, intuitive mechanics and impressively lavish production values, Perfect Cell is one of those perfect on-the-road games to savour one tasty chunk at a time.

Closure may stop short of delivering the sort of swashbuckling adventure one might hope for from a journey through this shadowy netherworld, but it remains thoroughly enjoyable puzzle game that twists your brain in all sorts of maddening directions while keeping the answers just out of reach.

It's crazy how much effort has gone into the foundations of this tiny piece of Technicolor idiocy.

A balanced game, at once idiosyncratic, infuriating, funny and ultimately compelling. In both its story and its systems, it holds life and undeath in delicate tension; and as a result, all the loud-mouth college humour and violence fail to mask its tender heart.

In the unlikely event that you're a newcomer, this is as good an example of the series (or indeed the genre) as any other, and not only well stocked but also the only thing like it on the PSP at the moment.

There are cuts and alterations, but this remains a properly glorious collection of two classic games.

A wonderfully idiosyncratic creation that, despite its smorgasbord of influences, feels like nothing else.

For now, enjoy what is still one of the best and most undervalued puzzle games around.

What the game lacks in size, it makes up for in polish and poise.

It's an adventure built of other adventures, then, and its originality comes from the manner in which everything comes together. If you love old games - and old movies and all that other old jazz - there's a good chance you're going to love this, too. It has an ancient heart, shot full of bullets and criss-crossed with tyre treads.

It's a generous game, broad and long and, while it's principally aimed at the series' fans, the mesh of interlocking systems ensures that its appeal runs deeper than cash-grab fan service.

In most ways that matter, this is a fine conversion of an enduring classic, and is exactly the sort of game that makes Xbox Live Arcade one of the most exciting gaming platforms around.

It's a weird game, yes, but a quietly brilliant one if you put a little effort in and are prepared to grapple with the physical concepts at its heart. It's certainly the most interesting and rewarding of the three Art Style games on WiiWare, so far.

It might look cuter than a kitten, but Rotating Octopus can be just as savage when it wants to be. And we still love it, fools that we are.

The change in tone and tempo may well come as a jolt to long time fans, just as the lumpen opening sections may deter newcomers, but it's rare to see a decade-old franchise reinvent itself with this much vigour.

One of the most innovative real-time strategy games we have come across in recent years, reinvigorating the genre with features more usually found in turn-based titles.

To pull out an old but fitting cliché, "Amplitude rocks". It's easy to pick up (with two suitably patronising tutorials) and surprisingly addictive, despite a lot of songs we don't even like.

It starts off brilliant, then erodes your enthusiasm over time.

Baby Steps walks a fine line between frustration and accomplishment to provide a walking simulator and climbing experience quite unlike anything else.

It’s one of the most detailed, old-school RTS titles we’ve come across since "StarCraft."

It doesn't seem to be slowing down, either, meaning the game you can buy today wonít be the same game you can buy in six months time. So that twenty hours can easily turn into forty, sixty, a hundred. If you let it.

Only the slight sensation of datedness prevents this from scoring higher, and no doubt once the mods start flowing the value for money will get even better. But there's plenty here to keep the faithful feeling extremely optimistic about the prospect of a proper sequel. And there's still nothing out there quite like STALKER.

Consider this the last gasp of the old multiplayer model then. It's a fine swansong, especially when played on the most powerful platforms, and in particular if you treat the campaign as a free bonus feature. It's hard not to wonder just what DICE will be able to do when it no longer has to hobble its designs to suit ageing hardware, though.