Apart from the (sadly) expected Bethesda hiccups - erratic quest markers, odd spawn glitches - there's nothing really wrong with Dawnguard. At the same time, there's nothing here that demands 1600 Microsoft Points' worth of attention. If all you want is a solid side quest and some good loot, this will scratch that itch. If you were hoping for something more epic and ambitious, keep waiting.

It's a delightful nod to early eighties platforming, but one held back by an ill-suited input method.

Full of anomalies in more ways than one, Stalker 2 is a mess of bugs and jank that nonetheless stays faithful to the open world survival shooter of yesteryear.

If Assassin's Creed 3 saw the series gracefully soar back into full flight, Tyranny is where it lets you strap on a jet-pack for the next adventure.

Wrath of the Druids is a meaty expansion which succeeds in taking Valhalla to new shores, even if the path sometimes feels familiar.

Depending on the response, Minter reckons this won't be the last the iOS market will be seeing from him. With the prospect of more enjoyably warped re-imaginings like this, maybe his best work is yet to come.

Mafia continues to feel a tad dated in its design trappings, but there's a fascinating mix of beauty, efficiency and nuanced performances here that are well worth your time.

Bohemia, just for a change, how about giving us a character with a little flesh on his bones.

One of my biggest problems with Nocturne was its system requirements, which placed the game frankly rather ahead of its time.

Not essential by any means then, and it's probably not worth much more than a weekend's rental, but Kill.switch definitely proves that even a depressing list of rent-a-mechanic gaming clichés can keep us happy when administered in the right amounts.

If Pirates seems less ambitious than the last two Lego titles, lacking the cohesiveness of Potter's Hogwarts hub or the epic scale of Clone Wars', um, wars, then it makes up for it with an overall confidence borne from TT Games' experience with the licence.

Vanguard, I suspect, will do well - Call of Duty does well! Its in-game store will sell silly outfits for its World War 2 operators. Pricey weapon skins will keep the money rolling in. As the Call of Duty menu screen swells, adding a new front to fight on even as we head into what's sure to be a difficult winter, Vanguard will do its bit for the war effort. But unlike the source material, Vanguard won't live long in the memory.

While it's unlikely to make fans of those of you who've sampled the shooters that came before it and left unsatisfied, as a die-hard Guardian and card-carrying fangirl of the genre, Outriders tickles me in all the right places. Offering gunplay that feels solid and satisfying and an array of additional powers and abilities to keep combat fresh and exciting, I can only admit that Outriders has surprised me in all the right ways. Maybe it'll surprise you, too.

Expedition will satisfy those who've spent the past two months regenning, arc mining and "standing by", and is further proof (if any were needed) that Respawn is rather good at this whole first-person shooter thing.

This rock-solid Race 07 variant is a difficult game to wholeheartedly recommend, despite being superb in both single and multiplayer.

If you've already sampled the mesmeric magnificence of either of the PSP versions, or of the Xbox Live version, or of the mobile phone version, you won't be surprised, or challenged, by anything included here.

It's a slightly old-school adventure with a vibe reminiscent of Castlevania (especially the PlayStation 2 sequels). But while those games under-delivered on a compelling world with a consistent structure, Pandora's Tower will draw you in and make you care.

It's GUN on a handheld platform, but it doesn't work quite as well as it does on consoles.

Marrying some frightfully clever time-scrolling with a captivating look into its characters' lives, Eternal Threads is a nosy player's dream. [Eurogamer Recommended]

A curious mix. Some undeniably strong and distinctive pieces of game design, tarnished by some elementary errors, such as the lack of a decent training program or real in-game help.

Double Trouble is still undeniably a lot of fun - clever ideas, decent puzzles, and so on - but rather like the name, which seems to be struggling to fit the standard jokey Game Name: DS format, the end result isn't quite good enough.

Lengthy play of Urban Chaos is a double-edged sword, in fairness. You'll come to admire the arcade structure and the way it taps into gamers' motivations to unlock everything, but the longer you play it, the more you'll spot the cracks in the AI, the level design and some bloody weird bugs.

A slightly dated reintroduction to one of Capcom's hack-and-slash greats.

Kunai throws a grappling hook and a fair amount of style into the Metroidvania genre for a solid if not stellar example of the form.

The camera is crap, the scale is awkward, the story and characters are basic and cringe-worthy, the combat is tedious, the platforming and puzzling is too basic, and I was well bored of it by the time I conquered the final level with the first of the four Teams, which wasn't even that long after I first grabbed it out of the shrink-wrap.

If only its sedate beginning and dreary atmosphere didn't make it a throwaway extra, we'd probably recommend it. But we won't.

Ease of using the touch-screen aside, it's something we'd prefer to flick to on the mobile while on the bus rather than dedicate the DS slot to. Nevertheless, it fulfils its puzzling duties.

Despite throwing in a canine companion, button-tapping mini-games and retweaking difficulty levels and so on between NTSC and PAL, Dead to Rights is fundamentally underwhelming to look at, repetitive to play and riddled with more flaws than bullet holes, and this'll stick like rigour mortis after your fiftieth fistfight.