The major problem with the game is that you have to learn how to use it. The beauty of the likes of "Virtua Tennis" and, to a lesser degree, "Top Spin," is that you don’t.

This game would clearly benefit from a more rigid and thought-out structure for a start: focus for some of the better ideas found within.

Dull warfare mars a fascinating battle for supremacy during the late Bronze Age collapse.

An addictive mix of combat and commerce. [Recommended]

This is a puzzling masterclass with a heart as well as a brain. [Eurogamer Recommended]

This is a fresh-feeling game, full of drama, atmosphere and surprises. If you like your tactics titles realistic and don't mind having your Manassas whipped by a bayonet-sharp AI now and again, it's likely to be the best £20 you spend this year.

Fans of the previous games and lovers of Marvel's dynamic universe will find plenty to enjoy without having to spend anything.

A cynical and frustratingly abrupt ending that quite deliberately leaves too many unanswered questions and story threads dangling is about the only real sour note struck by another accomplished downloadable release from Capcom.

As much as novelty value can be a good thing during the launch of a new console, the unavoidable conclusion is that Super Monkey Ball is more fun on a joypad on the GameCube than in this flawed experiment.

UsTwo's slightly airless prettiness benefits from a few new ideas.

Cassia and co's deep-seated issues and baggage make them an entertaining bunch and while they won't set your world alight, they eventually prove capable of providing many hours of surprisingly amiable companionship.

State of Decay's imagination and ambition do not excuse the presentational shortcomings, but it's easier to celebrate an interesting yet crude game than one that's beautiful and dull.

Ghost Games strips back the recent excess to deliver a simple, satisfying take on the Need for Speed formula, even if some problems persist.

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.

It doesn't contain any real surprises and it does exactly what you'd expect a Formula One game to do. It's a faithful simulation of the sport: just like the real thing, it's mildly diverting, good for soaking up a hangover at the weekend but goes on far too long.

The story, for all its daftness, is a charming one that pulls you in, and this being Level-5 the characters are superbly drawn and animated.

It takes a while for Space Pirates And Zombies to really play its hand, but that's the trouble with something so wilfully creative - it takes time to peel away the layers. But if you make the effort, it's worth the effort.

Grip doesn't do anything for me.

It's absolutely fantastic to see something like this given a worldwide release on PS2 and GameCube in such a risk-averse climate, and Capcom deserves kudos for giving the game its support.

But with a little perseverance, you start to learn the formations, and begin to improve your performance with every passing attempt. Success comes from meeting the rigid points target, with bonuses awarded from getting to the end of the level alive.

A new classic of narrative and strategy, and a game with plenty of space for the player to enjoy themselves. [Eurogamer Recommended]

A game a few degrees short of greatness, an intense and hectic romp that needs that final level of polish to compete with the very best.

As a package it's excellent to have two timeless games to dip back into whenever you feel like it, but there's still the niggling feeling that Nintendo's pricing strategy for such things is bordering on insane.

Pandemic failed to make the core gameplay as compelling as it should have been and we're left reflecting on a game where no one play component really stands out as being good enough, and the missions just lack the spark that more solid core mechanics would have leant them.

An ingenious combo-driven challenge that's speedy and fun.

Dungeon Siege starts out exceptionally well but really does fail to build in its promising foundations as the game progresses, and this lack of development means that as you approach the eight hour mark (the whole game works out at somewhere between 12 and 15 hours), you'll really feel like you've seen everything on offer.

Despite the problems, it's such a huge amount of fun. However, at free, and near-as-dammit for the membership, we throw caution to the wind. It pokes excellent fun at a pompous genre (although WoW does an occasionally decent job of this too), and remains very playable.

A terminally average hackandslasher.

What's here at the moment more than justifies the pocket money impulse purchase price, and the few hours it will take you to bash your way through to the end.

A continent-sized anthology of American campfire tales that will keep pulling you in deeper, once you acclimatise to its slow pace. [Recommended]

It's certainly good to look at, the visual gags work well enough, and most of the brainteasers are intuitive. Yet, in a genre that advances as quickly as the pyramids, the few knobs and whistles that modern technology brings really don't drag Ankh up to the level of its glorious forebears, and the linguistic difficulties and its brevity knock it down.

Another well-conceived and well-executed update, with enough new gameplay features that Rugby 06 owners should warrant investing in an upgrade (we'll conveniently forget the lack of career mode) and enough gameplay concessions that fair-weather rugby fans caught up in World Cup fever can confidently purchase without fear of overly complex control set-ups or endless technical rules vagaries.

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

One criticism is perhaps that some of the Disney icons are difficult to distinguish. Another is that the unlockables aren't marshalled into such a sophisticated structure as in the original. But apart from those minor gripes, Disney Magic is every bit as good as the original.

Big Brain Academy's certainly fun in an innocent kind of way, but it's probably a better bet for your offspring than for you - although you won't regret joining in for a bit of multiplayer.

For some, the game will be a chance to get a bit drunk and mess about singing Gold Digger while pretending to be the wiry-haired teacher off of Glee. And to that end, the game satisfies rather than dazzles.

It's long, it's tough, it's huge fun, and it's cheap. But it will never be perfect.

An exceptionally accessible package that fools you into thinking you're doing well - until you observe your pitiful online ranking.

Despite the criticisms, Team 17 has still managed to pull off an impressive evolution of a much-loved series. The core game has remained barely unchanged, but the 3D engine introduces a lot of unexpected elements to get used to, both good and bad.

Too big for DLC yet not different enough for a sequel, think of it as a familiar snack served up too soon after an enormous buffet.

While Infinity is adequate in basic gameplay terms, and will certainly amuse Disney-fixated youngsters for a while, it falls short of the games whose ideas it borrows.

Playing Phoenix Point has been a powerful propulsion back through my past, pinballing me through 25 years of alien-fighting nostalgia. And if I still find myself returning to it again, keen to blow the floor out from under another tentacled terror the moment I finish this review, then you know it's got much more right than wrong. Even if I never reach the end, I will still have enjoyed the journey, and the friends (soldiers) I met (renamed as my friends) along the way.

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

Nevertheless, the sum of these parts makes this a fun place and all the raw materials provided to put together your own unique adventure are imaginative and enjoyable - all you can really ask for in a sandbox.

An enjoyable title, just not one that will last you very long or give you good value for money.

By bringing nothing particularly new to either genre that it borrows from, Gatling Gears fails to justify its inflated price of 1200 Microsoft Points, and is far from an essential purchase.

The result is a game that doesn't really offer motorbike enthusiasts the same attention to detail that petrolheaded car nuts get out of GT, and takes hours and hours for the rest of us to warm to.

A huge, varied and utterly addictive game. Acting and dialogue is a bit hit and miss at times, and the voice acknowledgements when you give your characters orders soon get rather repetitive, but overall the storyline is strong enough to keep you involved in the game.

We can safely say that the combat and trading aspects of the game contain enough depth to be good examples of each genre. Not benchmark, but good. Put them together though and you do have a game that deserves to be called great.

There's more excellent-game here than there is tedious-game, but even when you get past the opening stages it still takes a little while to settle down.

Yes, some of the enemies don't seem particularly interested in your existence. Yes, some of the characters' weapons are so brutally overpowered to turn bosses into braggart-mush with worrying haste. But the game doesn't really care, and neither do you. It's a run-and-gun that chooses to step back from the difficulty cliff and just show all the gleeful nonsense its managed to think up to anyone who cares to persist.

Other than the disappointing lack of a spruce up for the sound and cut-scenes, only the lazy racial stereotyping of much of the cast and the occasional interloping of slightly crass sexual humour into an otherwise very family-friendly script (despite the murders, obviously) mar an otherwise-excellent adaptation of a genre classic.

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.

There are two sides to SBK X, really. The Arcade mode is probably too laid back - if you just want to dabble with bikes without putting much thought in, MotoGP 09/10 is a more gratifying game - but the Simulation is extremely flexible.

With 24 levels to work through, and a entire Winter Assault campaign thrown in as an added bonus, Crap Of Defense boasts untold hours of palpitating fun for its paltry asking price.

Despite throwing around more polygons than any other Xbox racer we've seen, Racing Evoluzione rarely if ever skips a frame. And that includes our appraisal of the two-player split-screen, which was examined at jaw-to-the-floor inducing length.

But while it does output a far greater degree of detail than the open spaces of GTA can afford, at no stage does it get anywhere near matching the accomplished environments of, say, "Splinter Cell," and its almost complete lack of narrative gives the proceedings a completely hollow feel to them.

Despite the plethora of fanny packs, The Big Con works, and it's all down to Ali. She's a muddled teenager, concocting plans in her bedroom the same way Kenan & Kel would get up to mischief while wanting to, ultimately, do the right thing, even if it means being continually led astray on her quest. The teenage angst is mixed perfectly with grumpiness and snarkiness in equal measure, and the game is relatable to many teens (or even adults!) who've felt confused about life, have had FOMO, and want to do anything possible to make it all make sense again. The Big Con's an endearing adventure worth experiencing. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Dawn of Ragnarök is a generous new course for Valhalla's already enormous feast - but one which earns its place at the table. [Eurogamer Recommended]

With spectacular landscapes and soothing music, Europa is a deeply zen experience - yet is also capable of delivering some hard-hitting messages.

Of all the Kinect launch titles, this is perhaps the one with the most actual substance. Hopefully it's but a hint of things to come.

Its value for money is significant: there is a lot of bulk here, much of it excellent. But its wider value to gaming, to Takahashi's message and to the series it celebrates, is diminished. Like a balloon deflating, Katamari Forever feels like the series' final exhale, all puff and energy now gone from the idea. Metaphor!

It's just a shame that, much like its moping hero, it never ventures far enough from its comfort zone to become truly memorable.

Sure, there are flaws and the lack of any soloing capability, the occasional difficulty in finding groups, as well as the apparent slowness of levelling get irritating, but they're nothing in the face of what it does properly.

It's definitely a superior example of turn-based strategy, and certainly the best insect-based example of the genre. And, in a slightly tenuous attempt to tie the end of this review back in to our opening trivia, it's definitely more fun than counting to 10 quintillion.

Despite its initially playful and "relaxing" charm, where you mainly focus on conserving your air, about four levels in Dive decides that the gloves are off and proceeds to slap you around like a cat toying with a barely-alive mouse.

There are about five games out of the 20 that we'd ever want to spend time with again, and another half-dozen modern day fillers that have been usurped massively since, while the rest are just truly awful reminders of why things are better just the way they are.

Back 4 Blood is a strange mix of old and new, but it works. The result is a delightfully scrappy hang-out shooter.

A pretty good game in its own right, if you try to forget that it’s pig-ugly and meant to be a sequel.

An excellent strategy game which is sadly somewhat marred by its overly difficult campaigns and unimpressive enemy AI.

Leviathan is a rich adventure for those who are willing to reopen the door on Commander Shepard's story, and a worthwhile chapter of lore within the Mass Effect canon. But for those who have already moved on it is perhaps reassuring that, at the end of it all, those goalposts lie largely unmoved.

Once successful, surrounded tiles flip to the colour they're surrounded by, while any surrounding tiles disappear entirely. Got it? Good. That's the entire game.

In the initial stages, it's fairly simple stuff, with straightforward circular layouts and a modicum of train-style junction point switching involved. As long as you're diligent enough to switch to the appropriate branch at the right time, it's usually an easy task to qualify for at least two of the available three performance stars.

To me, Nostalgia mode feels like Pix the Cat at its best. Unlike the main mode it's played out on a single screen with no combo considerations, but unlike the forgettable Laboratory mode there's still a time concern. The thing that really makes it work, though, is the puzzle design, which is wonderfully inventive.

Gentle anarchy reigns in this brilliantly humourous adventure. [Eurogamer Recommended]

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.

By limiting it to repetitive and limiting challenges, the game is condemned to that of pretty distraction.

Fear the Spotlight is the least scary horror game you'll likely ever play, but there's a tenderness to its storytelling that cannot be overstated here, even if some of it's a bit muddled.

Just Dance 2 is impossible to play with a furious frown of concentration on your face, and just as impossible to play without a wide grin. It doesn't reduce music and dancing to precision beatmatching or button-pressing: it's about surrendering to the free-spirited, glorious silliness of it.

There is a real MMO in there - a secret world within The Secret World - but it's estranged from the player, clouded by obfuscating systems and smothered in charismatic but stolidly single-player adventuring. Tornquist is a writer, the man behind adventure games The Longest Journey and Dreamfall, and it seems like he's more interested in telling stories than building adventure playgrounds, never mind emergent worlds.

Sonic Chronicles is undeniably a nice-looking game, and its slick presentation makes for an enticing experience to begin with. The longer you play, however, the more the cracks start to show, and what seemed like a potential minor classic is soon reduced to just "pretty good".

There's a good day or so's simple, colourful fun in there for those who can stomach Bomberman's sugar-coated world.

Coupled with archaic AI and the isolating absence of PlayStation Network support, this makes for a game that feels unfocused and regressive, despite its considerable technical and mechanical accomplishments.

Familiarity stalks you at every turn in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, a competent, cool and pretty soulslike with a nice twist on death but few true surprises.

Much like its endless enemies, Darktide's many small issues add up to a real nuisance - but stupendous atmosphere and vicious action just about prevails.

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

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

The main coup of the PC version over the PS2, however, is that it that the on-track visuals have been given a massive overhaul.

The sense of scale is also slightly lacking, with cars and tanks actually looking like teeny tiny cars and tanks instead of making your mech look huge.

A reasonably clinical package with a decent though not spectacular footy game somewhere under the glitz and licensing efforts, but you'd still be better off scouting around on the transfer lists for a better value signing. Not everyone's as much of donkey as Heskey.

Like its own hero's dabbling with time travel, Life is Strange: Double Exposure highlights the troubles of trying to revisit old memories, while raising unanswered questions about the future.

It almost feels awkward to play something this understated, but once you get over that you realise that all you need to have fun is a few squares of track snapped together creatively - and that you don't need in-game radio stations, real-time reflections or modern cityscapes to make your case.

a horribly clichéd plot and a fairly tedious single player mode, but it does have a nice online mode and asks you to rub your robot's crotch to make sure it's working properly.

A handful of improvements and overhauled physics make this audaciously exciting bike sim easy to recommend.

An essential purchase for anyone interested in war simulation or tired of the contrived drama that fills mainstream military shooters.

It's a brilliantly pitched game that, while will inevitably turn many players off either by its reliance on random battles or by the generally low technical standard, is far more accessible than it sounds in synopsis.

With goofy stupidity and smart one-liners pepping up the otherwise simple gameplay, it's the kind of game you'll happily trudge through just to see what nonsense Twisted Pixel can throw at you next. Frankly, it's worth it for the stat screen song alone.

The saddest thing about Sakura Samurai is that the foundation is there for a much better game.