It has some redeeming features and won't be the most depressing footballing experience most of us endure in the next 30 days, but rather like most professional footballers, it would do better to focus more on its football than the surrounding pageantry - and on the pitch it can't even get the accents right.

With Robocalypse content to be barely average in every department, this is one for only the most undemanding Tower Defence addicts.

There have been quite a few really promising DSiWare titles of late, but none come even close to matching 3D Space Tank.

Adding to what has been an encouraging year so far for Live Arcade offerings, Voodoo Dice is another unexpectedly high quality puzzler.

This steroid-pumped sequel works well.

Handling, progress and rewards are as mature as you would anticipate from a developer that now has six similar arcade racers under its belt.

It would be too generous to suggest this is the best recreation of the sport imaginable, as the rough edges and clunky navigation pull the game back from contemporary sheen. But it's close. And in sports videogames, that's the only metaphorical distance that matters.

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

Like Craig David covering Marvin Gaye, Söldner X-2 makes you pine for the real deal.

If you've got an eye for twitch shooters and reckon you've got what it takes, then 500 points is a small price to pay.

Furious, wasp-in-a-jar electronica does little to diminish the pounding tension, while the restless minimalism of the visuals throws your perception into a blender, morphing seamlessly between 2D and 3D and back again, spinning you upside down before leaving you in a disorientated heap in the face of the next malevolent onslaught.

A simple extension of the Galaxy concept, Super Mario Galaxy 2 can't possibly have the same impact. But it does have the same spirit, throwing new ideas at you with gleeful and impulsive abandon, leaving you breathless, scrambling happily to keep up.

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.

It doesn't scale well on gigantic tellies, and you must endure nasty 4:3 borders, but for the committed, that's all part of the authentic retro fun.

Alan Wake is an accessible, undemanding game with a neat combat mechanic and decent visuals. It's just not a very original game, it's certainly not an exceptional one, and it's a shame it wasn't ready a few years ago.

Rockstar's skill in creating a believable, functioning world with a distinct, coherent and consistent atmosphere is peerless. The broad-brush vision is masterful.

Rockstar's skill in creating a believable, functioning world with a distinct, coherent and consistent atmosphere is peerless. The broad-brush vision is masterful.

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.

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.

What we get here feels like a place-holder, a nostalgic diversion that exists so there's product on the shelves to coincide with the movie, rather than something driven by a flash of inspiration as to where the series could go next.

The gameplay is solid, the visuals are pretty and there's just something brilliantly enjoyable about making the Prince skip gracefully around well-designed levels, just like in the old days.

It's hard to know how many people are really going to care about the return of Rocket Knight. Climax has done a decent job of giving it a modern sheen, but while it's mildly entertaining and completely inoffensive, it's also forgettable.

With the usual snappy dialogue, hilarious set-pieces and some genuinely brilliant puzzles to wrap your ailing brain around, it looks like Telltale has hit a rich vein of form.

Another hour that just offers the bare minimum of gaming, another shrug of disappointment.

With the usual snappy dialogue, hilarious set-pieces and some genuinely brilliant puzzles to wrap your ailing brain around, it looks like Telltale has hit a rich vein of form.

No matter how much you try to like it, the price of 'winning' will be spending the rest of your days gently rocking in the corner.

It's hard to know how many people are really going to care about the return of Rocket Knight. Climax has done a decent job of giving it a modern sheen, but while it's mildly entertaining and completely inoffensive, it's also forgettable.

The true narrative of this game is the journey of slow, dogged, satisfying improvement that you'll travel as you work the ineffable rhythms of the board into your fingers.

3D Dot Game Heroes does have its moments and fun features, like a cute little avatar editor (guess what I made), and the ability to take screenshots and save them to your PS3's photo gallery. But every one of the problems it suffers from elsewhere is something that Legend of Zelda, through its longevity and the massive expertise of its designers, has either long since overcome or never had to worry about anyway.

Almost equally fun and frustrating whether played in co-op or in single-player mode, it's a game you'll both love and hate in the same breath.

With well-considered new features, glorious artwork and fantastic music, it demonstrates Funcom's design and art teams firing on all cylinders, building on the work done by the technical team in bringing the game up to scratch over the past two years.

You'll need a hot bath and some strange dreams to get over this one, but then the same is true of Peggle.

A gaudy glimpse of the bad old days of mid-1990s 3D. And no-one wants that.

To put it bluntly, Dementium II represents one of the better survival horror experiences on a system not known for its support of the genre.

So, yes, there's definitely a decent game lurking somewhere in Iron Man, but we haven't seen it yet. This one isn't a disaster, but it can be a rather bleak experience.

Providing Fatshark can quickly patch the problems, then the player base may build. But that's a big if, and while its problems remain, it's difficult to see Lead And Gold making a big impression on players schooled in big-budget multiplayer thrills.

Zombie Panic's gleeful initial charm and quirky visual appeal wane once the frenzied, bullet-spraying repetition kicks in after a couple of stages. It's evidently one of those games best sampled in small doses.

Crazy Golf is hardly a revolution in handheld gaming, but sometimes all you want to do of a day is flick balls across pretend courses, if only to ward off the impending existential crisis.

Like most games from the Nippon Ichi stable, though, it's not one for the majority - obscured as it is by obtuse mechanics and a sometimes-vicious difficulty level. Hurrah for them all the same.

The jackhammer gameplay won't necessarily win over new converts, but for everyone else, this silky remake is a must buy.

Dead to Rights is a lot like its belligerent hero, getting the job done in the crudest manner possible, leaving behind nothing more memorable than a sticky adolescent mess of blood, bullets and profanity.

Nier is very difficult to dislike, even as you curse the quality control that lets the game oscillate wildly between the fiercely inventive and the utterly generic. Yet while it's hard not to admire a game that dementedly throws so much at the player in an attempt to make something stick, Nier's faults are too many and too severe to wholeheartedly recommend.

Nier is very difficult to dislike, even as you curse the quality control that lets the game oscillate wildly between the fiercely inventive and the utterly generic. Yet while it's hard not to admire a game that dementedly throws so much at the player in an attempt to make something stick, Nier's faults are too many and too severe to wholeheartedly recommend.

Super may lack the impact of its immediate forebear, which grabbed headlines with its heady combination of brilliance and novelty. But this is the very best sort of evolution, a perfection of detail, one that diminishes its faults and amplifies its successes.

There's undeniable satisfaction in combining to undo a tough defence and seeing those points totals totting up, and in some respects this is the best mode in the game, because playing together towards a long-term goal heightens the fun and drama.

There's undeniable satisfaction in combining to undo a tough defence and seeing those points totals totting up, and in some respects this is the best mode in the game, because playing together towards a long-term goal heightens the fun and drama.

Absolutely enormous, endlessly gorgeous, but maddening (especially in its final moment), The Whispered World is a muddled shame.

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

The new campaign's a solid enough addition, if a brief one.

Brimming with character and a knowing wit, Monsters is almost an essential purchase. With a focused appeal, and an immediate, addictive set of mechanics, this is (probably) the best PSP Mini game to date.

For all its speed and visual attraction, Climax lacks the tactile thrill of OutRun's drifting and can often feel more like a frantic scramble to paint the screen with your cursor than a measured challenge.

Tri is definitely the best way to introduce yourself to this incredibly involving and rewarding series.

Conceptually beautiful, it takes the basic mechanics of a twin stick, top-down shooter and then essentially procedurally generates enemies - and therefore entire levels - based on the ebb and flow of any given music track.

With the trademark sharp witticisms layered onto challenging and inventive puzzles, this is the best possible start to the new season.

With the trademark sharp witticisms layered onto challenging and inventive puzzles, this is the best possible start to the new season.

At its best, Conviction is played as a high-stakes puzzle game, taut and thrilling when everything is going your way. But when cover is broken, the floodlights go up to reveal a mediocre shooter. Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that Splinter Cell: Conviction appears brightest in the dark.

While it probably won't get the adrenaline pumping for long, AiRace is certainly high-octane fun while it lasts. (Am I fired yet?)

When it's firing on all cylinders, AlphaBounce can be a riotous diversion; full of inventive ideas and bold scope, the potential's clearly there. But rather than make a tight, focused design that continually entertains, MotionTwin waste far too much of your time.

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.

There's some room for improvement of course, and no doubt the customisation options will expand over time and the engine will get tweaked along the way, but as a signpost for the future of how sports games can fit into the new gaming landscape, Tiger's online debut is extremely promising.

Plain Sight sits simmering on the hob like a pot of genius soup that's lacking something, and I don't think even the developers could figure out what.

Playable over three levels of difficulty/irritation, Fishie Fishie is one of those games where it'll be about 20 minutes before you've had your fill and will want to hurt soft toys for their part in the conspiracy.

A plodding, tiresome game that is only able to frustrate.

Usually, spin-off games can fall back on their inherited audience of existing fans, but with a pointless story that adds nothing to a tale already completed, it's hard to see how even the most devoted follower could get more than an evening of mild amusement from such a scrawny experience.

Sakura Wars: So Long My Love might be one of the most unlikely western releases of recent years, but the very fact that an English language version of such a niche title exists at all is cause for some cheer.

Right now, the Samurai Shodown series is like a wandering ronin bereft of its former honour; with its sake-sodden stare and rusty katana, it doesn't stand a chance against the superlative Super Street Fighter IV or BlazBlue: Continuum Shift.

If it's erotic imagery you're after, just get some porn. The visuals will be more realistic, the acting will be better and the plot will make more sense.

For those who are investing scores of hours into the game every week, the Stimulus Package will live up to its name, revitalising the game once again by providing new scope to learn, master and dominate.

Still, if you fancy a means of enjoying the unhinged insanity of user-created microgames on the big screen, Showcase is a worthy purchase.

For a mere 500 points, this is well worth digging into.

If you can ignore the much cheaper, vastly better-looking iPhone version (Super Yum Yum 3), then this is undoubtedly one of the best puzzle titles on DSiWare.

Another effortless piece of cleverness, another modest marvel.

With its knowing sense of the absurd and finely honed frantic playability, Alien Zombie Death provides the PSP Minis scene a welcome shot in the arm.

With its unwisely generic title, Hamsterball doesn't inspire confidence that it's going to do anything more than roll over old ground, and so it proves.

One of the most technically accomplished games around, Just Cause 2 succeeds in delivering both the best-looking and most pleasant open world to explore and some of the most thrilling and diverse ways of moving through it. Its thrills are intense and, for the first few hours, come fast and dizzying, dulling only when you start to see the dry order that lies behind the chaos.

In the end, you'll likely forgive Ubisoft's game its shortcomings on the strength of its energy, obvious good will, and deep sense of craft.

In many ways it feels like an adult-themed Pokemon, complete with a cast of demons that, though not as adorable as Pikachu and company, nonetheless have their own dark charms. So, atrocious US boxart aside, this is one import worth the extra shipping.

If you're looking for the ultimate simulation experience then hold out to see whether Milestone does any better with SBK X. But if accurate racing physics isn't your thing - and you want an accessible racer that isn't one hundred per cent arcade - then 09/10 offers a solid and compelling MotoGP experience. Just be sure to turn the commentary off.

The presentation is so poor, with the board and tiles constricted to an area around half the size of one of the DS' screens, that it's almost impossible to see the detail on each tile.

If you're looking for a more sporty, addictive alternative to Anno 1404, or a just worthy continuation of the Settlers series, you've absolutely found it.

If this game had been released on the NES 20 years ago, it would be recalled by a generation of players as a high point of the 8-bit era. The fact that console gamers are only getting their first crack at Cave Story in 2010 doesn't make the experience any less memorable.

With 100 levels, and some cunning design that tests your brain as much as your reflexes, the only persistent issue with Breakquest is the initially annoyance of the sluggish stick control. Get past that, and you've got a solid pick-up-and-play game.

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.

At 60-80 hours in length, and given the fittingly near-infinite customisability of your fleet, Infinite Space offers a massive chunk of fun for those who can forgive its foibles, but many will find the barriers to real enjoyment too high due to poor usability. A solid game for many rainy afternoons, then, but be prepared to work for your reward.

It's nothing at all like Command & Conquer, but - eventually - it's a thoughtful and bombastic multiplayer RTS that's welcoming to everyone.

Metro 2033 is far busier and far more accomplished than I expected it to be, and it's also one of the best-looking games - at least in a few very special scenes - on the Xbox 360.

A technical marvel, but with all the clever stuff turned towards the aim of very basic gratification. There are no branching paths, no complex decisions, and no multiplayer modes, but this particular game is all the better for it, since the results are rich and focused rather than drawn-out and a little ragged. Ultimately, if you want to revel in old-school pleasures decked out in the very brightest new armour, this is about as good as it gets.

Somehow less than the sum of its parts, Fragile Dreams fails to match its ambition with its systems and imagination.

Perhaps most interestingly, the volume of choices you make leads to what might be an even more variable ending than the previous one. There are some incredibly tough choices to be made, some peculiar allegiances to form, and a region to save from the darkspawn. You're a Grey Warden, it's your duty.

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.

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.

They combine everything that was best about the older Pokemon games - namely, the more likeable monster designs and inventive spirit - with the much-improved looks and streamlined battle system of the fourth-generation ones.

They combine everything that was best about the older Pokemon games - namely, the more likeable monster designs and inventive spirit - with the much-improved looks and streamlined battle system of the fourth-generation ones.

Mega Man 10 doesn't quite perhaps have the sparkling feel of reinvention that its predecessor enjoyed, but if you were one of the many who considered MM9 a welcome return to form, then this is another must-buy. Everyone else is perfectly entitled to look confused.

If you're the kind of person who eats F-Zero for breakfast, Rocket Racing is a brutally enjoyable take on the top-down racer, but maybe a little too punishing for its own good on occasion.

Chaos Rising is about as generous an expansion as you could possibly want. The single-player mode could stand to be a lot bigger, but it's gone to incredible lengths to address the main complaints about Dawn of War II.

All that is good about Scrap Metal is contained in the simplicity of its premise. Cars and guns.

Final Fantasy XIII's is a superb system overall, easily making up what depth it has lost in speed, tactical cunning and moment-to-moment engagement. Some have bemoaned the apparent retreat from XII's daring reinvention - I did myself, at first - but in its way XIII is just as big a step for the party RPG, albeit a simpler and perhaps more palatable one.