It's still a bit too complex to work as a kids' game (for that you might be better with the 360 sequel's co-op mode, where you can pick up a second pad and offer a helping hand), but for everybody else it comes highly recommended.

Being a cult leader in this funny old game, then, is a little bit like being a game designer, I imagine. It's complex on certain levels, and to use the lovely vivid cliche, you're herding cats quite a lot. But really you're trying to arrange happiness for people. The only difference is that as a cult leader, if they don't become happy on cue, you can cook them and eat them. [Eurogamer Recommended]

But while this multiplayer mode is one of the game's most successful additions, it's curious that a series known for rejecting convention seems to be embracing the 'bigger, better, more' mentality here.

Two of Nintendo's finest, and one of its most interesting, come together in a compilation that isn't worthy of their greatness.

With discoveries around every corner, Dragonborn just gave Skyrim fans the perfect excuse to lose themselves in the wild for another winter.

Sportsfriends is a celebration of the social side of games, their ability to bring a room together in one loud, raucous moment and how they're so much more fun when enjoyed with company. Alongside like-minded titles such as Towerfall and Nidhogg, this compilation is a pleasant reminder of that power - and, just like its companions, Sportsfriends represents video games at their very, very best.

Space Marine 2's campaign is a spectacular and mostly thrilling follow-up to the original, but the game's grisly combat shines best in its cooperative Operations mode.

A wargame that only hardcore wargamers could love. Historically accurate to a fault, vast in scale, unnecessarily complex and poorly presented, it isn't going to win any new fans for the genre.

If SOCOM is to remain Sony's flagship online war title, it needs a complete overhaul in time for its PS3 outing.

Doom is the rarest of retro games, in that you can enjoy it just as much as you did when it was first released. Better still, you can appreciate it with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, and see not only how enormously influential it is, but how perfect its design was from the very beginning.

While the platformer and the puzzler in Henry Hatsworth are perfectly competent, they're nothing special. Neither could be described as classic examples of their genre, and neither offer anything new. The switching mechanic does add interest, but not quite enough to make Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure a great game.

With a super-easy Intern difficulty, the accessibility of the controls and the brilliance of the presentation, there's probably no better time for newcomers to jump in.

That so much fits inside an iPhone, and that so much can be streamed over 3G and Edge, is unquestionably impressive. Pocket Legends is a multiplayer hackandslash RPG on a phone: that is pretty bloody cool. Unfortunately, it's revealed as just the dry-boned skeleton of an interesting game once you're past the initial wonder of how much is happening on your tiny screen.

Who cares if it's no longer free? Slap your money down and feel the warm glow of supporting Raptisoft's sterling efforts.

Stately, vivid and tragic, this brooding epic finally reaches its climax. [Recommended]

More Hitman: Season 2 than an experience in its own right, but a couple of great maps plus a fun competitive mode make for a solid fan pick.

An unforgettable story of desperation and hope in beautiful, gruesome, plague-ridden 14th Century France. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Hideo Kojma's first post-Metal Gear game is a messy, indulgent vanity project - but also a true original. [Eurogamer Recommended]

It's a warped behemoth from the Ukraine, and one of the scariest games on the PC. Stalker will remind you of all kinds of prior games, and yet it will also defy your expectations. Like the mythological Chernobyl zone it is based upon, this game is a treacherous, darkly beautiful terrain. Not everyone is going to enjoy venturing into the zone, but some of those who do will find what they've been looking for.

Capcom has crafted a love letter to its own past, and its own fans, that is both effective and generous in satisfying its peculiar niche audience.

It might not be quite the game its predecessor was, but you can't help but hope that this charming follow-up sells well enough for its publisher to keep the wolf from the lore.

Space Invaders Extreme 2 is more balanced and involving than its predecessor. Its intricate combo scoring is more accessible, deeper and more addictive than the first game's, and it has plenty of longevity.

If the impressive visual enhancements, tighter controls, more coherent narrative and bigger production values don't draw you in, the thoughtful level design and degree of freedom will keep you coming back for more. Best yet? Bloody right.

Schafer, Double Fine, and Black haven't just created a story about roadies: they've become them, scuttling about energetically, heads down and minds focused, as they pull a handful of simple props together in order to put on an amazing show.

A weird, wry and wholesome underground puzzler with spellbinding art direction and music. [Eurogamer Recommended]

While research shows that the majority of games remain unfinished by their players, Kero Blaster draws you steadily through to its conclusion, a three-hour trip that demands to be finished. Amaya's singular vision is beguiling and, while this game is a more straightforward proposition than the enchanting crisscross complexity of Cave Story, it's no less delightful.

It's a big, bright and bold dollop of irreverent fun, and it could have been truly phenomenal with a little more attention to the finer details. As it is, it's brushing against greatness but falls frustratingly short of its true potential.

The grind is an ever-present frustration, but it is also something I am willing to power through - like Shao Khan's hammer to my opponent's head. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Wake up, everyone! With PES 2013, Konami has finally pulled off the excellent game it's been threatening to release for the last couple of years. On the scale of dramatic football comebacks it's not quite up there with That Night in Barcelona (© Clive Tyldesley) or The Miracle of Istanbul, but it surely comes close.

A splendid, moody elaboration of what makes Outer Wilds so special. [Eurogamer Essential]

Fine game that it is, though, Flight Control is still better suited to filling time waiting for public transport. Out of context, it just doesn't have the same allure.

Legends has features coming out of its ears - in keeping with the general mutant theme - but you'll need to be a RPG/mutant/comic fan to truly care. That's no bad thing, but this is pretty niche, if sometimes highly enjoyable and surprisingly complex stuff, with some niggling glitches.

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.

As much as I might admire the precise way everything's been put together, and enjoy compulsively dispatching Zone after Zone, I still can't abide the way it builds you up and then runs you straight into someone's swinging baseball bat without warning.

Toys for Bob delivers another beautifully restored slice of 90s nostalgia, although the mechanics could have also done with a polish.

There's something so pleasingly honed about the overall structure of Deadly Shadows and how that integrates with the gameplay mechanic - and in terms of getting your money's worth, there are few games that suck you in quite as much.

An inventive platformer with an unforgettable sense of style and wit. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Middle-aged role-players should need no encouragement to plunge into Grimrock's depths, but for new players discovering the genre through sprawling epics like Skyrim, its robust reliance on the strength of squares will make it a refreshing experience.

A worthy follow-up to a modern classic, Dirt Rally 2.0 offers marked improvements and a driving experience like no other. [Eurogamer Essential]

In practice, it's a sticky platform-puzzler, tenuously reminiscent of System 3's ancient Amiga classic, Putty. The big difference with To-Fu is your inability to walk around. You can stretch yourself in any direction, but all you're really doing is setting yourself up to be launched onto another surface.

Giddy action and astonishing art design combine in one of the great locations of modern video games. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Tarsier returns with another slice of horror that's just about glorious enough to make up for the frustrations. [Eurogamer Recommended]

A seamless Star Wars storyline spread across a scattershot open galaxy.

This really is the fighting game evolved to the level of artform, and while mastery can be a long, tough slog, it's also its own reward. There are few fighting games better.

It's the biggest Mario Party game yet, but fails to find the fun at almost every step.

It’s lovely, and if there’s any criticism to be made, it’s that while NyxQuest effortlessly builds into something delightful, it never quite manages that little extra twist that distinguishes a truly memorable title. Even so, that’s still enough to make it stand out from its WiiWare peers.

PES 2020 is a patch or three away from being a very good game. As it stands, it's a weird mix of brilliant and broken.

A morbid, potent epilogue for Dishonored 2 equipped with new powers, some great locations and some overdue tweaks. [Recommended]

Survival mode is where it's at in terms of ultra-difficulty - completing all levels without a single death requires a superhuman level of dedication.

Glorious artwork and a fan's eye for detail combine for a sequel that manages to best its forebears. [Eurogamer Essential]

It lacks tension (combat is totally one-sided), set pieces (there are two whole bosses in the entire game), a gripping story (Krystal's kidnapped, you rescue Spirits, you fight General Scales), and any of the myriad different things that the game it principally tries to emulate (Zelda) was so famous for.

SteamWorld Dig is the best kind of surprise, then: a game with substance, challenge and no little charm that seems to have come out of nowhere.

An essential upgrade to Fallout 3 that any committed fan will want to grab immediately. If you've held out buying any DLC for the game so far, we'd advise you start with this before getting the others, because the process of acquiring new perks and skills will enrich the game no end.

If you spend a lot of your time online, then it's far more than a consolation 'bonus mode' to make up for the lacklustre single player offering - it's without doubt one of the better online games that console gaming has offered us all year.

Battlefield 6 delivers a thrilling multiplayer reset and a decent, if derivative single-player. But it still displays nagging doubts about what makes Battlefield special.

Much still depends on how funny you find the Homestar Runner web cartoons, but Strong Bad remains an episodic experience well worth making time for each month.

Ultimately, the sheer sensory pleasure of playing Mario Kart Wii - from the charming animations, to the bopping tunes, to the sugar-rush boosting, to the exquisite steering - far overcomes the few concerns we have about it. It still has to be docked a mark for the awkward structure and compromised multiplayer modes - but it's still unreservedly recommended to anyone for whom Mario Kart is a gaming cornerstone.

Compact and playful and ingenious in the lightest, and least overbearing of ways, Arranger is just lovely.

Split/Second requires exactly the right combination of skill, memory and reflexes from you while maintaining a permanent high of tactile feedback, sensory assault and knife-edge excitement. If that's Black Rock's elevator pitch for a modern arcade racer: sold.

Instead of a full-blooded reminder of a genre of games sadly departed, it's more often a reminder of why they died away in the first place.

In these days of paying over the odds to download crippled Virtual Console games, and pretending not to notice how many Microsoft points are on your credit card, this latest compilation takes on an even greater value and may even - whisper it - encourage a few of us to finally take the original boxes out from under the bed, and consider putting them lovingly in the attic.

But if you have battled your way through "Warcraft II" and still lust for more real time swords and sorcery, then Warlords Battlecry will provide you with hours of quality entertainment.

Everything that an excellent sequel should be. It takes on board criticisms levelled at the former game and addresses them all in a way which should delight any fan of the series; not only that, it picks up the story and characters of the original title and develops them in such a fascinating way that it actually throws fresh light on the original, which now seems like a much better piece of storytelling in the context of its part in the series as a whole.

As a game in isolation, it's hard to get away from the fact that finding the right object to give to the right person or thing isn't the most fun you'll ever have with a game.

On its initial release, this wonderful piece of work was all but ditched at retail by a publisher that didn't seem to understand what it was dealing with. Now Stranger's Wrath has finally received the lavish treatment it deserves, and the gaming world has a chance to reclaim one of its brightest treasures.

It's an awkward reinvention that manages to be at once faithful and a little wide of the mark. But such is the strength of Combat Evolved, this is still an Anniversary that's worth celebrating.

In isolation, all would be entertaining if rather sterile. But in the context of the heist and the pretend phone-calls from the lovely Sophia, The Heist proves greater than the sum of its parts.

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.

SOCOM PSP is a simple, varied, and well put together game that works very well on Sony's handheld.

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.

Developments to the battle system ensure that this is the most enjoyable Kingdom Hearts title in terms of its raw systems, but the storytelling and structure fail to delight in the same way.

A wonder of animation and AI smoke-and-mirrors, the beast in The Last Guardian is primarily a masterpiece of observation. [Essential]

If you've got the stamina - and the space - then Sprint Vector is an awful lot of fun. [Recommended]

On one hand, the game is an incredibly unique and original departure from the normal conventions of this genre, offering the kind of dark stylish twist that RPGs have lacked for so long and building onto it some very solid gameplay. Balanced against that, however, is the somewhat unforgiving battle system and, most crucially, the whole random battle issue.

For all its stumbles - and there are an awkward handful - Mists of Pandaria nevertheless represents a WOW participating in the massively multiplayer genre rather than revelling in the cult of its own personality.

Nintendo's trickiest game in years is also one of its most joyful. [Recommended]

It's unashamedly one of the PSP's brightest, most endearing, beguiling and long-lasting games, and its protracted residency in our PSP slot this month speaks as a louder recommendation than any number of orthodox, adulatory adjectives.

Recettear is one of the best indie games to arrive this year.

Developer Balloon Studios cultivates a beautiful puzzle game with the timeless allure of a summer's day stroll.

Another handsome, well built and entertaining Forza rolls off the production line - though there are controversial changes under the hood. [Recommended]

Chasing scores is always an exercise in masochism, and in giving you potentially infinite second chances, Time Surfer risked taking away the sense of achievement. Instead, it adds a whole other dimension.

All of this would have been acceptable in the nineties, but expectations change. Sure, it's only a few quid, but for once it feels like you're getting what you pay for.

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.

From time to time, it will get the better of you, and at that point it's not about difficulty so much as accumulated failure, a burden Midnight Club: Los Angeles forces you to carry, and one that's tough to bear for all the game's other successes. Tolerate the lashing of agony that accompanies every one of these moments, though, and this is fast, brutal, ingenious racing drama, dragging you into the screen every bit as thoroughly as Burnout Paradise, and delivered in a manner that befits the publisher that financed GTA IV.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter leaves you with several amazing memories; moments that you will want to talk to your friends about for hours and will take great pains not to spoil for other people. The fact it packs those so painlessly into a three-hour game while other developers create empty works that take ten times as long to complete speaks volumes.

The bottom line is you won't find a better value, more generous or more diverse FSX add-on than this one.

If nothing else, it's entirely fitting that a game that's always been brilliantly brainless is now genuinely brain-dead as well. Oh, and I finally got that bloody Mario-themed Achievement. SCORE.

When an RTS is as unpredictable as this it becomes less about scheming and resource management and even more about simply reacting, and that's not going to be to everyone's taste. That said, everyone loves the sweet taste of co-op, so if you've got a friend who's a fan of either RTS games or cleavage (or both!), Red Alert 3 can and will show you a very good time indeed.

A frighteningly moreish game that represents ludicrous value for money, and is highly recommended to anyone taken to competitive twin-stick shooters.

For all its foibles though, I have confidence that Valve is at least pushing the game in the right direction. After all, both CS: Source and CS:GO evolved considerably after their initial launch and became classics in their own right, and all the building blocks are here for Counter-Strike 2 to follow the same trajectory - and from a much better starting position. The bottom line? This is already an incredible game that's well worth playing - after all, it is Counter-Strike, too.

But, story-wise, I'm hooked. The characters are fascinating, the plot heavy with potential, and my faith in Telltale's skill is high. Consider this score a work in progress then, with the expectation that it will rise over the coming months as Mr Wolf's investigation deepens.

An all-time great.

Simply put it borrows a hatful of ideas, implements them well but never truly wows you as a landmark gaming experience.

FIFA 08 is, on the whole, a triumph. Had the Be A Pro features been more fleshed out and the lower difficulty settings somewhat more forgiving, then it would undoubtedly have scored a 9 rather than an 8. However, thanks to the promise of the former feature, multiplayer games that are little short of superb (due to the lack of AI defenders thwarting your every attack), the usual exhaustive array of official league and cup competitions and some stunning visuals and animations that milk next gen power for all it's worth, it very much feels that the FIFA franchise is genuinely teetering on the cusp of greatness.

Want a challenging, tactical experience with long-term rewards? Then PES 2010 is the game for you, though if you bought last year's version you may want to give the outlay some serious thought as this year's nuances are few and far between.

It's just a shame that that success had to be tempered by a somewhat overenthusiastic approach to the unpredictability inherent in the genre.

If you're going to play a King's Bounty game for the first time, make it The Legend - and I'd say that whether or not it was available so cheaply. If you're all done with that and crave more, then Armored Princess will not do you wrong.

A fun arcade karting experience is often too chaotic for its own good, but a tight handling model with a high skill ceiling offers surprising depth.