Bolder souls, as interested in commerce as they are in combat, can buy with much greater confidence.

Dedicated followers of the brand will obviously find much to enjoy, as will those who like their racing dry and technical. It's just a shame the game doesn't do more to win over everyone else.

A competent, atmospheric adventure and truly a new direction for the characters, but at this length it simply isn’t worth the £35, let alone the cost of the console.

It's this basic lack of thrill or challenge which limits Tycoon City's appeal, at least to the gamer audience. It's entirely possible that Tycoon City will find an audience for the more casual player with its less stressful lifestyle, but that's the sort of design decision which gains sales not marks.

One of the most compelling purchases on the fledgling system - IF you haven't had to contend with the wandering hands of Spectral Doku before. But even if you have gone the full distance with Ryu Hayabusa, this is one shinobi saga that's worth reliving.

Honestly, the question isn't whether you should play Bejeweled or not. It's more of a question of how much you covet the glory of fast-paced simultaneous competition.

As always, all you're paying for here are some minor updates, a couple of simplistic new modes, and that new season / franchise data. Unless you're an absolute addict, there's no need for this game. If you are an absolute addict, there are better games out there.

Cross Edge feels like a gift aimed squarely at the hardcore JRPG crowd. Its best features are its rewardingly complex battle system and its clean and equally nostalgic 2D presentation. But these virtues will make it about as appealing as pulling teeth to anyone who doesn't know the difference between Makai Kingdom and Odin Sphere.

While I can understand the financial reasoning behind milking the Capcom back catalogue for two volumes, as a fan I'd much rather have had one all killer, no filler compilation with Street Fighter II, Ghost 'n Goblins, Commando, 1941 and Strider all in one place.

It's the same game you've already played in its more advanced form, making this more of an academic exercise in gaming genealogy.

It's surprising how much fun the simple joys of bat and ball remain, and it's surprising how nothing more than a varied selection of power-ups, some cunning level design and uncluttered gameplay can still produce something so enjoyable. I downloaded it out of duty, but have kept returning to it for fun.

At its worst, Tomb Raider: Underworld is everything that's wrong with videogames - clichéd, predictable, frustrating, inconsistent, repetitive and derivative. Legend was supposed to be the game that marked the series' return to form, and it achieved that. Underworld is better than Legend; meatier, more challenging, more atmospheric and with less silly nonsense like quick-time events. But Underworld was supposed to be the first real next-gen Tomb Raider game, and it isn't...At its best, however, Tomb Raider: Underworld is everything that's great about videogames. It's beautiful, exciting, challenging, rewarding and absorbing. Many of the locations are stunning, and so's Lara.

It's still splendid - it's just infuriating that so much of what makes it such a delight has been lost in translation.

No lie, you'll finish the lot in a day. You can try and collect all the extras (Japanese radish and Chinese cabbage are all there for the taking), but there's no getting away from the fact that there's not enough in here to warrant shelling out full whack, no matter how perfect a slice of arcade action it may be.

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.

If you're not already invested in the 'brand', then there's an equally good chance that it will come across as fairly unremarkable. Innovation is largely absent, the stylised visuals are good without ever being great, and the stripped-down gameplay is disappointingly undemanding.

A Machine for Pigs performs the not inconsequential achievement of maintaining the soul of Amnesia. This is still a game that understands that real horror comes from disempowerment, and from the unseen, unknown and unexplained.

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.

Look beyond the famous name, however, and Ivy the Kiwi? is a fresh, if limited, spin on the 2D platformer. If you're a leaderboard junkie, there's plenty of replay pleasure to be had as you chase down the best times for each level and find all the secrets.

A cutesy bridge-building game with a surprisingly moreish appeal.

Unexpectedly original.

For the most part, you're left plodding and prodding around a series of mildly engaging scenarios, wishing that a spark of wry creative genius could just kick it up a notch.

Although the new toys fail to entirely justify themselves - and if you can forgive the absence of online options, and look past what many perceive as the heresy of playing the game on anything other than a handheld - Lumines Supernova is probably the fullest incarnation of the game yet available.

It's a huge game, in other words, and it's tough enough to ensure that you'll move through it fairly carefully. Throw in a scrappy kind of handicraft charm, ignore a selection of little annoyances, and Rainbow Moon becomes a bit of a blast.

Despite a rather forgettable supporting cast, Telltale makes up for it with consistently excellent puzzle design, and occasional flourishes of comedy genius.

Stranger's Wrath simply isn't a better game for having first-person mode, and many of us would have maybe preferred the choice.

It isn't as good at the core Assassin's Creed loop of picking an icon on the map and then getting diverted by entertaining side content on the way there, but where it does make a play for your attention it generally does so by asking you to, you know, be an assassin, creeping up on people and taking them down without them or anyone else noticing. That's fun.

If dabbling in the Sims 2 appealed, but you desired something with a bit more structure, an application to the Sims 2 University is well worth filling in.

Kung Fu Panda won't be winning any awards, and it won't be gracing any end-of-year lists, but that's not to say it doesn't deserve carefully measured praise.

When you've battled through all 14 single player levels, played it on co-op and worked your way through some solid multiplayer action, you won’t feel like you've played a next generation title; heck, you won't even feel like you've played the best shooter out this Christmas.

It's an often clumsy and over-ambitious enterprise, one that can wow you with a pirouette and then slip over on a banana skin in the same mission, but the pleasures it does offer are enhanced by the knowledge that it's still the only game offering them.

Jewel Quest is about planning ahead rather than reacting; the pace is deliberate rather than manic. It's Chess next to Zoo Keeper's Operation.

With tactile controls, Shadow Runner would be an excellent, original platform puzzler, but it doesn't quite come off on touch-screen devices. Nice try, though.

EA can quite fairly claim to have again delivered the best football game ever made. But every year the developers seem to have less of an idea what that means.

Abe Lincoln Must Die is by no means a 'bad' episode, but it feels like the series is stuck in something of a rut already. I just hope it's not too late for the talented people at the studio to get it firmly back on track for the last two episodes and end this bold episodic experiment in style.

Northern Strike is a polished offering, a lot more than the token handful of stuff draped around the glinting trophy of new unlocks it could have been.

Primordia is delightful, smart and packed with personality, but it also comes to a close just as you're ready to explore more of its engrossing world.

Red Faction is the very definition of a solid 7/10 - a game that should have been better, but offers more than enough to warrant a purchase during the quiet months.

As it stands now, it's a fun time-waster for retro game and horror fans. With a little more balance and polish, however, it could be something quite special.

The series has always ridden in the wake of its own spectacle, but after years of unfocused deviation, we finally have an evolution that demonstrates clear progress. It's the best 3D game in the series by a long way, and that's because it embraces the 2D heritage which always made Mortal Kombat its own kind of game.

It's approximately 47 times more appealing than it looks.

It's a game that does things a little differently from its peers, and has the rare distinction of being a game that stands out in its own right. But the very fact that it's an action game with a strategic bent also makes it quite tough to appreciate at first.

It extends the series in intelligent and welcome ways.

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.

It's certainly a decent enough block-dropping puzzler, even if most people probably would've preferred Tetris. Or a Virtual Console release for the SNES Dr Mario and Tetris compilation. Either way, 1000 Points feels a bit steep.

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.

With its joyfully evil brand of warm humour enlivening every encounter, it's a game that makes you feel good about being bad. And with slick controls and a satisfying blend of action and strategy, it's a game that's never less than enjoyable to play. But while it provides superior controls and less frustration than Overlord II, it regrettably falls down by failing to offer enough of a concerted challenge.

I can't see anyone who enjoyed Oblivion enough to get through the main quest <I>not</I> buying this. There's lashings of new fighting and exploring, and it's more gorgeous than ever before.

It's one thing staying true to the beloved gameplay that we all still cherish, but that heady whiff of nostalgia only gets you so far - especially when the limiting episodic structure itself makes the actual puzzle solving such a horribly basic part of the game.

Don't buy this expecting an epic RPG, and consider keeping someone under the age of 12 at hand to help you justify the twee nature of the game as a whole. But there's something here which is notably absent in any number of lushly produced and scintillatingly scripted games: a real sense of fun and discovery.

With so many games promising the Earth and only serving up dirt, it's reassuring to know that good old-fashioned balls-out action, when produced with such care and skill, is still as reliable and thrilling as it should be.

Anybody with an actual Sims fetish will love it to bits. Granted it can be fiddly and confusing to start with (why hide so much of the critical new stuff in the depths of the catalogue?), but once you're up and running there's a definite attraction to it.

It's only masquerading as its own game - really, coming straight to this without having played its predecessors will be frustrating and bewildering, and the inability to play as Space Marines, Orks et al online a real slap in the face.

If however, you're after a management game that's highly accessible, requires only a modicum of tactical tinkering, allows you to buy the players that you really want and enables you to enjoy instant success and thrilling match highlights, then you should certainly consider opting for CM2008.

A World of Keflings feels more like an enhanced remake rather than a true sequel, and anyone who played through the original will quickly get déjà vu from the identical journey from basic houses up to an ornate game-winning castle.

As a single-player experience, Age of Booty is frustrating and poorly balanced. Take it online, however, and you've got something that's almost worth the 800-Point asking price.

With an excellent atmosphere, diverse set of characters, intriguing storyline and endless unlockables it's the sort of game that's essential for comic book obsessives, and great fun for everyone else.

It's never as tense as its console sibling, and it suffers from a few frustrating flaws, but the core sneak 'em up gameplay - evading enemies and cameras, silencing alarms, collecting data and using your spy tools - is well represented.

"The Sands of Time" set such a high standard in virtually every area that anything less was always going to be disappointing, and discovering that many of the bits that were nigh on flawless are less taxing, less focused, or are just the same with a scar across the face, is deeply upsetting.

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

There are some surprising omissions. The main one being the complete lack of any ability to speed up time - especially since that once a park has stabilised there can be a lot of waiting around while you amass enough cash to buy a Gorilla or whatever.

Its old-fashioned mentality won me over: while other sims can seem to favour a rather coldly analytical approach to management, here you feel as much a fan as a manager, cheering your team on from the sidelines. It might take away much of what makes a truly authentic sim, but in doing so it gives back plenty besides.

Watch Dogs doesn't have that promising kernel. It certainly entertains, but mostly through borrowed concepts, and the central notion that could have made it stand out - the hacking - is the most undercooked of all. It doesn't get anything horribly wrong, but nor does it excel at any of the genre beats it so faithfully bangs out. It's good, and yet that always feels like a criticism when a game comes weighed down by this much hype.

The pack does inject some honestly good, fun and creative features into what is still one of our favourite multiplayer games to date. It alters it to the point that it feels like a slightly different game, and it's a commendable effort by DICE to refresh and revive the BF1942 experience.

But as tools for improving your language skills, whether you're starting from scratch or have some basic knowledge, they're great.

Ghost Recon is undoubtedly a chunky, enjoyable addition to the 3DS line-up, and a slick if unspectacular strategy blast.

Overall, it's a very entertaining low-tech drive and demolish racer, but with one caveat for veterans of the series - they'll have seen much of the game already in FlatOut 2.

Lacks the polish of Mikami's Capcom work, showing a rough edge that its creators no doubt hope communicates their punk attitude to game development, but really just comes across as a bit shoddy. But at a time when few publishers of EA's stature are willing to take genuine risks, its uniqueness is welcome and interesting. And as a celebration of the puerile, it leaves Duke Nukem Forever standing, staring longingly at its tit bridge.

The meagre character list is among the few real drawbacks in what is a surprisingly accomplished fighting game, sporting just fourteen selectable fighters (two of which are stronger, slightly broken versions of existing ones).

This is an enjoyable but rarely essential entry to the Mario & Luigi suite, then. AlphaDream is to be commended for its willingness to build each new game around a different kernel of an idea, but, perhaps inevitably, some of those ideas will be smaller than others.

"Solid" is one of those terrible damning-with-faint-praise words which will have anyone cringing but it's the one that applies. It's a well-built, well-made, well-designed well-solid RTS, and of its type, one of the finest of the year.

It can't reach the heights of SSX or the first and second Amped, but what it lacks in precision, it makes up for in slightly mindless fun.

A streamlined, structured, gorgeous grind, an addictive and even rewarding grind if you're that way inclined, but a grind nonetheless. An ultimately grim and unvarying pursuit.

It's turned my head, even if it's not quite the 'trip' that it might have been.

But like a train journey with a friend, a few hours can be lots of fun, but then you've arrived at your destination, the conversations are put back in your bag, and the rest of your life is ready for the living.

Puzzle games often sound complicated when you try to explain them to people in text, but Spin Six quickly becomes one of the ones that gets under your skin.

If you're prepared to expend the requisite effort, there's a decent game of golf to be had here, but there's substantial room for improvement.

If you can track down Singstar Rocks on the cheap, though, you're pretty much guaranteed a few memorable drunken nights in. It's still as compelling and fatally flawed as it has ever been, where the ratio of good to bad songs is as frustrating as we've come to expect.

The sheer unabashed evil that Eko Software has managed to cram into a seemingly cute puzzler is something to behold.

It's certainly not a bad game, at least in terms of core mechanics and functionality, but in terms of praise it only ever feels "good enough" rather than just "good".

Fresh, but slightly sanitised, Rock Legend isn't a game you're going to play intensively for months. However, note the price (GBP 12.50), and purchase anticipating two or three weeks of quirky, leather-trousered amusement, and you shouldn't be disappointed.

A dilution, not a distillation of Puzzle Quest's relentlessly compelling formula. It's a game that drives the franchise too deep into niche territory, where it loses sight of the elegance and simplicity which turned the match-three genre into an everyman phenomenon.

Sounds Shapes is not a brilliant game, but it is a bold, often beautiful experiment that stands and sounds apart. And in one of the driest, dreariest periods for console gaming in memory, that's music to my ears.

The award for best/only recent IndyCar sim that manages to be strangely absorbing while faithfully reproducing the sport, albeit in an aesthetically displeasing way, goes to... IndyCar Series!

It's a package that knows exactly why people want to buy it and lives up to their expectations; that it uses a little imagination along the way is a bonus. You'll either want it or have no use for it, so the number down there doesn't matter a great deal.

In short, it takes having fun extremely seriously. As long as you've got the patience to handle it, you'll find that's no bad thing.

Guacamelee has real heart and a blazing desire to put on a good show.

Both the unwieldy control scheme and the bafflingly forgiving nature of the game count against it, which is a shame because for the most part it's a thoroughly satisfying and meaty shooter, blessed with some stunning backdrops and a blistering frame-rate.

Dust does many things well, but it doesn't do anything brilliantly. The combat's decent, the structure invites the revisiting of old areas, and the narrative stays interesting. Taken together, these things are enough to keep you plugging away till the end.

Disposable entertainment designed to be enjoyed unashamedly and uncritically. It's a game to pull out at parties, not obsess over: trashy, garish, stupid and - if all that appeals to your inner 13-year-old girl - terrific fun.

Bit.Trip's carefully poised fusion of old-school difficulty and retro-futuristic aesthetics won't be to everyone's taste, but anyone with an interest in distilled arcade design owes it to themselves to at least have a go.

Just like the Wii U game, The Chase Begins has big ambitions - but it suffers for being crammed into a smaller footprint. Compared to its partner, it's undeniably compromised. Taken on its own merits, however, there's still enough charm and fun to be found in this smaller toybox to make it a worthy second best choice.

Artful and warmly considered (even the menu options are caught up in it - the "Options" menu is the "Engine Room", and the "Quit" button reads "Abandon Ship"), it's a well-formed idea that will almost certainly grow as it builds up a head of Steam.

If you played through Tales of Xillia, this is an interesting but rather lumpy postscript to that adventure. If you've never played a Tales game, this isn't the one to start with.

A lack of depth doesn't stop Chime from quietly turning its own genre on its head either. Zoë Mode's game shows what can happen when you give up destruction in favour of creation, and exchange tension for a kind of dreamy calm.

With a rewarding upgrade structure and lightweight strategic elements allowing Game Distillery to distance itself from its obvious influences, Aqua develops a personality of its own which, while not exactly breaking much new ground, shapes the shooter landscape in an appealing manner.

Pirates is a game of lots of little pieces that combine to form a patchy but largely coherent slice of pirate life. Could it stand to be a little more in-depth, a little less piecemeal in the way it hands out tasks? Certainly. But if you just want a solidly entertaining pirate game that you can dip in and out of, safe in the knowledge that there are hours of gameplay ahead with no paywalls, this is definitely worth downloading.

Warp is a pleasant enough diversion, but with patchwork design that remixes gameplay ideas and stylistic elements from sources as diverse as Splosion Man, Metal Gear Solid and Portal, it never gels into anything particularly memorable.