You can't really fault it for value, because, for GBP 1.99, the few hours of brilliant entertainment you get here are well worth it. A big, warming, chain reaction of delight that you'll want to revisit again and again.

The usually reliable Pandemic has produced a game that not only fails to compete with any current-generation openworld, but somehow takes a backward step from the original. With uninspiring combat contributing to a succession of desperately poor missions, the only remaining question is whether the developer will get a third chance to rectify matters.

Its rough edges may have been sanded down, but in the process some of its unique personality has been lost. At a time where games like Dark Souls aren't afraid to put players through the wringer, it's disappointing that a title from Capcom of all publishers should feel, much like its doughy protagonist, a little soft around the middle.

Endless Ocean is simple to the point of being quite dull, and certainly no masterpiece. But sometimes all a game needs to do is offer you something different, and it's an honest relief to play something that doesn't shout in your ear, set any time limits, or feature a single explosion; a game whose raison d'être is just beauty and peace.

The casual gamer should steer well clear. It just isn’t very friendly and not the type of game you can drop into for a quick burn.

The meagre number of maps means repetition soon kicks in, but the gorgeous visuals, frenetic carnage and demanding teamwork make for the tightest Horde variant since Mass Effect 3's. A surprisingly good time for all.

Housemarque widens its lens with a take on 90s run and gunners, resulting in an enjoyably chaotic if overly slight adventure.

While the Budokai series may not have enjoyed the universal appeal of more traditional brawlers, it did at least give the games their own unique identity. In sacrificing that, Super Dragon Ball Z becomes just another paint-by-numbers 3D fighter, sitting alongside the likes of "Battle Arena Toshinden" and "Star Gladiator" in the ranks of the also-rans.

Even its cleverest ideas are generally just amalgamations of things we've seen before - like a puzzle where you have to replicate a five-tone tune by touching five symbols on the ground in the right order. It fails to take advantage of so many breaks - the technology, the voice actors at its disposal, the potential for the synchronicity of the two worlds, the use of four characters in designing dungeons.

Amped 3 certainly isn't awful, and will keep you entertained for a long time if you can get past the hideous presentation and get used to its stop-starty nature, but the most recent SSX was enormous too, and treated the sorts of tasks that Amped considers its core as a second string to its traditional racing and tricking.

GreedFall has more than its fair share of faults, and its curious mix of the sweet and the sour is far from a roleplaying revelation. But the elements that matter have been imbued with such love and care - so much so that I quickly forgave this ambitious RPG its shortcomings. [Eurogamer Recommended]

In its newly 'remastered' form, Dementium is easily one of the most interesting games to appear on the DS in some time, and certainly should have a great appeal to anyone looking for a decent horror offering.

This collect-'em-all compulsion will see a certain type of gamer through, as will the charm and comedy of the Nippon Ichi fanboy. But for many gamers the infuriating platforming and a combat system that rewards pattern-learning and slow progression over fast, reaction-based advancement of Nippon Ichi's off-kilter design decisions will be insurmountable obstacles to true enjoyment.

Not half as bad as the limp first few hours suggest. It's perhaps not the greatest company epitaph in the world but, as Devlin might say, while throwing himself out of a speeding car, knocking back a slug o' the good stuff and mashing a Nazi's head in with one punch: "It coulda been a lot worse."

The thing is, weird as all this is, I suspect that nothing in Mile 0 is as weird as totalitarianism in the first place. I'm tempted to say that Mile 0 can get away with any flights of fancy in a world that has seen a president's attorney give a press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, an establishment which is located, inevitably, next to a sex shop and a crematorium. Is Mile 0's stranger elements a reaction to that, and to the strange shapes that authoritarianism contorts people into? I don't know. But I will keep puzzling away at what I've experienced, I think, and trying to make sense of what I've witnessed here.

A game best-enjoyed in short sharp bursts. That way you can appreciate the views, have some fun creating an offensive strategy on paper before briefly hammering it out on the field.

Being able to swap profiles using Wi-Fi is a nice touch, but we don't need to be touched, we need to be manhandled.

If you're one of those who has enjoyed the series on console, you'll enjoy it on DS. Otherwise, steer clear.

Despite having wings, your Unpleasant Horse's flying abilities are poor to say the least, so getting around requires leaping from cloud to cloud while stealing passing birds.

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.

Nintendo returns to motion controls with a suite of sports that offer true delight. [Eurogamer Recommended]

A solid fighter for dabblers.

It's only really the brevity and ease of Boing! Docomodake that prevents it from scoring more highly.

Cloudbuilt succeeds remarkably in proving that how a game feels and what you do within it can tell stories all on their own.

The best science-fiction pays equal attention to the direction of its fiction as to its detail but Star Ocean: The Last Hope succeeds only in the latter area, and even there, only in part.

Hardcore devotees of Sir Arthur's previous adventures will whoop like pandas at the news that the game's legendary toughness has not been completely castrated for today's lily-livered gamers, though it's sometimes hard to shake the feeling that the relentless challenge comes from clunky controls and respawning monsters just as often as smart level design.

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.

It's tolerable enough and will certainly last you a long time, but it seems a shame that what used to be one of EA's better, more reserved racing games has become quite so loud, desperate and mediocre in an attempt to distinguish itself, and that what it does get right in this year's iteration is almost completely divorced from the track where so many of its contemporaries excel.