The additional content of Brave New World ensures that, now more than ever, Civilization 5 feels like a complete package; a game to lose hundreds of hours to as you build an empire to stand the test of time, and one to which you'll sacrifice many a cup of tea along the way.

The two styles of play - high scoring or Pokemon catching - allow you to explore the tables twice over with different motives, while the immediate accessibility will suit players who are looking for some purely basic pinball fun. Only the most demanding of pinball wizards would be right to turn their nose up at Pokemon Pinball's charming slant on the genre.

"Riddick," "Halo," "Half-Life 2" - these are games you can play again and again and find new things. In Doom III it's hard to find anything fundamentally new on the second level.

There's probably enough here to satisfy fans whatever their inclination, but nobody should expect a quantum leap. Once again it's refinement over revolution.

Offers a smorgasbord of treats to delight and infuriate in almost equal measure. The mean, almost contemptuous difficulty curve is something that shouldn't be celebrated, but almost everything else is golden.

It's far from a revolution – much of the framework will be familiar to Fight Night fans – but as the best-looking and most technically accomplished game the series has yet produced, this evolution exceeds our expectations, without totally blowing us away.

It's basic stuff, its frame-rate can stutter, and it's got a handful of minor - ha! - bugs, but if you're looking for a source of guilt-free insect murder over the next few weeks, this is the best show in town. Just ask the ants.

This is not a game to play casually - it requires a major investment of time and effort to get anywhere. But if you're willing to give it the commitment it needs, it can soon develop into a rewarding relationship.

So few games display such effortless charm, and even fewer are rammed with as much warm humour.

More developed than a throwaway Flash game, yet less self-conscious and showy than a WiiWare or Xbox Live Arcade effort, it's a product that ignores the spectacle and bluster of gaming in order to more clearly celebrate the raw elegance of good design.

What's genuinely disappointing though is that it's all over so quickly... Jak 3 is much, much shorter than its epic predecessor. Indeed, it took us just 10 hours to achieve a 100 per cent rating.

There are hours of fun on offer here for serious solo players and groups of drunk idiots alike.

That's a testament to how beautifully Sprinkle Islands captures the childlike joy of splashing around, but it does tend to leave the puzzling element feeling progressively soggier as the levels progress.

The best PS2 wrestler there is, largely thanks to Yuke’s success in mimicking the cheese that oozes from every pore of the WWE.

So Arcade Edition is exactly what it appears to be: a tempered update that lacks the immediate wow factor of its predecessor, but offers an extra layer of refinement on an already winning formula.

It deilghts in the moment-by-moment empowerment of piloting a 1970s vintage mecha in battle, the medium-term enjoyment of turning the tide of a battle through strategic thinking, and the long-view 'gotta catch 'em all' collecting loops. If you have never tried a Musou game before, this is where you should start.

But if this is the sport you're dedicated to, Visual Concepts has made the game entirely for your pleasure. And it's not very often you can credit a game with giving you a year's worth of play. Go get it.

It's not just niggling repetition and control issues that detract from the overall package. There are many things that could have improved matters - being stuck in the same house feels somewhat stifling and claustrophobic, and for this reviewer was the main reason it shattered the dream possibility of The Sims 2 delivering a virtual personality simulation the way that classic Alter Ego did all those years ago.

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.

The selection is definitely more hit than miss, although there are a few stinkers.

Where it scores above other games is simply the emotions it inspires.

In addition to the core Chess games there's a huge range of different and enjoyable challenges to play through, as well as timed matches and online play.

It's charmingly designed from the ground up to be as fun and accessible as possible, yet despite its astonishing simplicity, it still managed to hold our interest well beyond our expectations.

It may not be licensed by George A. Romero, but it was certainly inspired by him, and it replicates a lot of the feelings he inspired in the viewer.

A commendable example of a last-gen game that's still willing to evolve and offer more for your money.

If you let the game draw you in, the fantasy world becomes much more real than you could imagine -and the game much more compelling.

A brisk and challenging chapter, Crown of the Old Iron King's strength is in its unique setting and the difference in tone and ambiance this brings.

At the start of the game you're not much more than a lowly Ranger, sneaking through camps and silently slitting Orcish throats in the night. By the end of the game you're boldly strolling through those same camps, as terrified uruks whisper tales of the Ranger-turned-Gravewalker over fortifying gulps of grog.

The game offers variety, excitement, thought and pace all in tiny bundle you can wolf down in a sandwich break. In fact, that's what this actually reminds me of - the gaming equivalent of a snackette.

The core strength of the experience ensures Virtua Tennis 4 is best in class where it matters, on the court. Likewise, a well-structured World Tour mode, while slightly anachronistic in its straight Japanese presentation, provides a sense of journey and progression that is wholly engaging. But the motion controls, core selling points for many buyers, are woefully implemented and provide little interest or value.

Bastion may have you tugging at its threads to decipher your role and meaning, even as you return for a second go-round - but you're unlikely to question the choice you made to buy it.

It's brilliant because it presents a slick and fast-paced management puzzle within firm boundaries and rules that manages to teach the player all of its lessons before he or she gets bored and moves on.

At its best SBD's blend of twitch-platforming and stealth puzzles produces little rat-runs with a nigh-on perfect balance of action and tension. Such quality isn't quite sustained across the whole, but this is still within touching distance of greatness, and certainly much classier than Tactical Espionage Arsehole suggests.

All That Remains does a great job of reintroducing the series, and switches things up in a way that could have tripped up harder than Lee over a tree branch yet feels like the only way the story could have been continued.

The core strength of the experience ensures Virtua Tennis 4 is best in class where it matters, on the court. Likewise, a well-structured World Tour mode, while slightly anachronistic in its straight Japanese presentation, provides a sense of journey and progression that is wholly engaging. But the motion controls, core selling points for many buyers, are woefully implemented and provide little interest or value.

MaXplosion might lack some of the depth of its rival, but given that it's less than a tenth of the price, it's entitled to. Buy both with the money you're not spending on beer tonight. Make everyone happy.

Cronos: The New Dawn is Bloober Team's best original game yet. An immersive romp through a suffocating portrayal of 80s Poland, where your journey is far from what it first seems.

An exceptionally fun game to play - the fight model is spot-on (entertainment wise), and the missions and storyline are both sufficiently interesting to keep the player involved in the action.

Perhaps the only downside about Lego Star Wars II is that the melee combat remains weak throughout, some of the latter puzzles can be wilfully obscure, and that Traveller's Tales neglected to allow co-op to be played online. Apart from that, it's one of the most instantly enjoyable games around.

Not a life-changing experience (if you discount the coming years of physiotherapy on my arms) but it is an astoundingly competent first-person shooter. While the multiplayer mode is a flimsy experience unless you have friends you can rely on, the single-player mode offers a worthy adventure even for players who don't ever expect to take the game online.

The game's concessions to traditional game design make No More Heroes 2 a more palatable, satisfying experience. But in doing so, you feel Suda 51 and his team have moved away from Grasshopper's boisterous 'Punk's Not Dead' slogan.

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.

As tired as the series can often seem, these games have a strong emotive core laced with pieces of refined mechanical slices that, while often repetitive, still accomplish far more than newer series with weaker creative underpinnings.

Nintendo's second-ever Peach game finally realises the character is destined for smart level design and center stage.

There's a deceptive depth to Zenless Zone Zero, even with its smaller scale, thanks to this dual focus on pleasing both casual players and those looking for a deeper challenge, mirroring its dedication to both chilled exploration and fast-paced combat. Instead of feeling like a game warring with itself, however, these wildly different vibes weave together to make Zenless Zone Zero what it really is: a successful fusion of ultracool action with slice-of-life goofiness.

If Abyss Odyssey stumbles, it at least does so while attempting a genuinely thrilling, high-wire juggling act of game design rather than simply milking obvious and proven gameplay features. For all its missteps, it remains utterly unique, absolutely gorgeous and delightfully eccentric.

As much as you might not be thrilled about the prospect of a 2D scrolling tank shooter, Heavy Weapon is far better than it initially appears to be. As an example of how to bring the past up to date, it's one of the best examples on Live to date.

Under the hood, Namco's designers have upgraded the series' engine and mechanics in effective and interesting ways, making this the strongest Ace Combat in a decade.

It's the closest many of us will likely get to genuinely exploring unknown territory.

The most innovative football title we've come across in many years.

When the offline experience is so rich, moaning about the fact that Simbin have capped multiplayer at sixteen is slightly uncharitable.

In terms of substance and style, the man himself delivers. But with just one or two surprises along the way, this could have been spectacular.

At its best, Red River surpasses Ubisoft's original Ghost Recons for squad-based tactical play. But it's the presentation of the story – not the broad-canvas story, but the story of four marines and their staff sergeant – that marks it out as something new.

As a Sony-published release, Ronin isn’t quite Team Ninja’s Elden Ring, even if it does evolve its Nioh-like formula, with the help of existing open world formulae. Still, while it’s been great to witness the renaissance of Japanese games these past few years, there’s something special about seeing a Japanese developer stepping up to reclaim the AAA open world samurai game for itself - especially one that cares more about being a video game than a Kurosawa film.

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

Volgarr the Viking is, beneath it all, a very lovely game. Just don't be surprised if it takes you a while to realise it.

The ideal alternative to Wii Sports. It's a highly enjoyable, well-designed game with simple appeal and real depth. It's the game the Wii's been waiting for - well, one of them, at least.

As culmination of three years in which we've gone from a scattered lineage of average UFC games to a genuine contender for the best sports fighter available today, Undisputed 3 is, on all counts, a round three technical knockout.

And tackling the huge amount of diverse RPG quests, picking up and evaluating items, advancing your character's skills to match your tactics is a thoroughly engrossing mix. SpellForce 2 is that rare beast - a thoroughly well executed hybrid game.

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.

Still, discarding relatively minor mechanics issues, Crimson Butterfly gets along by virtue of its intensely unnerving atmosphere, crafted by delicious graphics, decent storyline and even better-than-usual voiceovers.

While some players may find Doom a little too twitchy an experience for the iPhone, Classic succeeds because the basic formula is so beautifully uncomplicated: a series of rudimentary pleasures ranging from spotting something nasty, through to blowing it to pieces, and then stepping over the corpse.

After years in the wilderness, RTS is pretty cool again right now, and something as cheerfully straightforward as this is just what's needed to stop the big braininess of "Company of Heroes" and "Supreme Commander" leading to another plunge into an inaccessibility that turns more casual players off the whole genre.

A significant step up from Yakuza 3 in terms of visuals and story, Yakuza 4 still lags behind the genre's leaders, lacking the polish in interactions to make it a classic. But this is still a strong, mesmerising video game, an offer that none should refuse.

Ironically, what makes Surge Deluxe so instantly sensational is perhaps also what holds it back from being one of the greats. That riot of colour and sound, that constant positive reinforcement, can make it feel a little too eager to please. And yet each play session offers a very tangible surge, a rush of dopamine that will take some time to wear off.

You won't remember Dark Messiah's busty-woman character guide, but you will remember the sheer joy of mutilating the orcish, undead and assorted monstrous hordes in a variety of imaginative ways. When mass slaughter is as imaginative as this, it can't help but be memorable.

It’s silly, strange and possibly psychotic, but it’s our silly, strange and possibly psychotic. You’ll criticise it, maybe even question its validity as a complete game, but you damned well won’t put it down before you’ve finished it. It’s marvellous.

All told, you're getting an absurd amount of content for your 800 Points, but such is the incessant repetition at the core, you may question whether you really need it. If the answer is yes, then this is unquestionably an instant purchase, but over the long haul its infectious opening gambit doesn't quite sustain.

As much as I know I will play it all year, though, I would like to feel a greater sense of progression next time. Hopefully EA Sports will find the next-generation consoles inspiring.

The end results may be somewhat shallow for most serious gamers' liking, but it's a quirky, fun, amusing, and heart-warming addition to the PS2.

Halo 4 is authentic, and assures 343's role is more than a mere tribute act. Their delicate yet sprawling work may be more continuation than true expansion - and perhaps the true test comes in the next step - but for now, Halo returns with a bang, not a whimper.

Chocobo's Dungeon succeeds where the recent Pokémon Mystery Dungeon fails, by delivering a licensed dungeon crawler that is a credit to its franchise as well as its tradition.

This apparent desire to cut to the chase means that you'll blast through the 12 chapters in about four hours; short enough for the repetition not to set in, but long enough to satisfy. As a taste of what's to come, this is not to be missed.

For those who persist with The Dishwasher, however, there's a deep and interesting set of mechanics here, which ought to appeal to fans of Viewtiful Joe, God Hand and perhaps even those a little disappointed by MadWorld.

All in all, a bit of a must-have.

The combat scenarios escalate nicely as you battle your way out of Hock's fortress home, culminating in a robust boss battle that is predictable yet very satisfying.

Its not-so-fatal flaw is that in offering so much, both in terms of player choice and in going for peak-BioWare in every aspect of the game, those individual moments, characters, activities and plot beats often don't benefit from the focus and importance needed to unlock their full potential. Still, that's hardly a crime, and one more than made up for by the many high points

At times gorgeous, at other times frustrating, it's worth persevering with just to bask in its snug atmosphere.

Once on-track, few F1 games have managed to be as encouraging when it comes to pushing yourself to attack corners and better your lap time, and fewer still have proved as much fun. This may not be the revolution the Formula 1 sub-genre has been waiting for, but you're not likely to find many Wii owners complaining.

Wilmot's gentle and relaxing jigsaw puzzles won't tax you in the slightest, but this warm bubble bath of a game is very soothing, and it weaves a surprising tale of companionship and found friends around the edges.

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.

Anno's pastoral, languid style will undoubtedly frustrate some, and those seeking breakneck excitement or a complex military framework would do well to look elsewhere, but if a gentle and rewarding management sim with a hint of tropical sunshine is what you're after, then you won't go far wrong with this.

EA should take a page out of FIFA's book here: focus on the game. Every iteration - pre-alpha onwards - sit down and play a full game, 15-minute quarters. If it feels 'right', then you're on the right path.

Overlord II feels like a shining beacon of quality. Not only is it a distinct improvement on the original, but the new features add greatly to what was already a superbly entertaining game. It manages to strike an excellent balance between being challenging and rewarding, and does so throughout with a wicked smile on its face.

Natural Selection 2 is a fresh and wonderfully unique multiplayer game which simultaneously struggles with that very mantle. Because it's unfamiliar, players aren't able to just slip into it, and there is a significant knowledge gap between a new player and an old.

Sea of Stars' well-considered inspirations are shot through with smart, modern sensibilities, creating a more-than-welcome addition to the contemporary throwback RPG club.

Grown-ups will find it cute enough for a single playthrough, but kids will be wearing the disc out for weeks to come. Another hugely entertaining, carefully constructed gem of kiddy gaming.

It's hard to dwell on missed opportunities when a game gets the core gameplay so right, though. The emulation is superb, the physics are spot on and the prospect of more tables to come is downright tantalising. Between this and Pinball FX, flipper fans now have the best of both worlds.

As a short but sweet puzzle-adventure game, Lego Voyagers handles itself with an air of grace but no snootiness - a game so lovely it's hard not to feel sad when it's all over. Look deeper though, or simply from the privilege of age, and it'll leave a more lasting impression on those of us who know what proper friendship feels like. Sometimes a little "hello" is all you need.

A lovely-looking, unique and tightly designed rhythm-action game built of equal parts FreQuency and Rock Band. The track selection's good, it's far from a lazy port, and its similarity to Harmonix games past makes playing it an unexpectedly nostalgic pleasure.

As a developer that always seemed most interested in plain craftsmanship, it's a suitable capstone. As a return to one of the 360's most popular universe, it's about as good an RTS as a Halo fan could expect. And as a game, Halo Wars is a genuine pleasure.

Zero may have proved that it's hard to create a fitting sequel to a classic, but to see the original Perfect Dark slotting into place so well on XBLA is enough to suggest that, just sometimes, restoration might be a better solution than reinvention.

As the most original, admittedly surreal, take on the sport for years, Mario Strikers is a gem of a game and manages to flawlessly meet Nintendo's brief of appealing to absolutely everybody.

Untainted by the passing of time, and still as mindlessly entertaining as it was back in the day. Sure, Hyper Sports improved on the formula a little, and Epyx went off and took the idea to dizzy heights not long after that, but in essence this is one of those few occasions when a game concept emerged fully formed from the beginning.

It's true that Lone Survivor owes a lot to the atmosphere of early Silent Hill, and there are a few thematic nods to David Lynch's '90s weirdo drama, Twin Peaks. But beneath them lies an intricate and unique game that takes the best of old-style survival horror and warps it into something all of its own. It's brave, uncompromising, and a little bit knowing - and, crucially, it's got more than enough substance to back up its style.

Do your bit for this hugely underrated fighting series and pick up this reminder of why the franchise deserves a sequel. If enough people do just that, Capcom might even think about that third game after all these years.

More varied, colourful and refined than its predecessors, F.E.A.R. 3's single-player campaign would be enough to recommend on its own. Supplementing it with Fettel's brilliant body-swapping mechanic is a masterstroke. F.E.A.R. 3 is like a Siamese twin; two great games sharing the same campaign. Coupled with four unique multiplayer modes, there's a lot of lasting value here.

The choice is yours: wait for all six episodes to appear on one value-packed 15 (or so) hour game, or enjoy the cheap and cheerful drip-feed that we're getting now. Either way, Situation Comedy is another solid episode that bodes well for the next four - but let's have less of the recycled locations and more new characters next time, eh chaps?