Imperfect, unkind, and rough round the edges, Session captures more of real skateboarding than almost any game that has come before.

If it was ten solid levels of proper Star Fox space combat delivered with the same degree of glorious detail and a challenge that rose from the promising double boss-fight climax of the second section to the kind of crescendo Star Fox reached at its peak then they would fit like silk gloves.

These issues with pacing and balancing are compensated by the manic euphoria of the action, so if you have three reliable friends with a penchant for manic gunplay and surreal RPGs then Shoot Many Robots can be an enjoyably unpretentious distraction. Those who prefer to play solo should steer well clear, however.

Daniel Fortesque's tale is retold with style, but the fundamentals frustrate.

Obviously the game is targeted with a marketing sniper's precision to appeal to a certain type of young girl, but it's well crafted enough to interest a wider, inquisitive audience.

Still, this is Cave we're talking about - the masters of Stress Gaming. What did you expect?

All of which combines to make Open Roads an experience that's pleasant to drift along to. The moment-to-moment uncovering of the mystery and your family history is gently absorbing, and provides the catalyst Opal and Tess need - mother and daughter - to come to some realisations of their own. Those thorny familial realisations are handled maturely and end up in a nice place of understanding, which I appreciate, and likely you'll end up with a warm glow from the game, as I did. It's a nice day out. It's just that as soon as it seems to get going, it's over and you're on your way home.

If you can adapt to the control eccentricities, there's plenty to recommend, but you might find it too much like hard work at times.

So if you're new to the series and want to see what all the fuss is about, Splinter Cell Trilogy HD is still a decent stealth package. It should be much better, though - and that's why it's hard to recommend it as strongly as the games themselves deserve.

A game that has a great little concept, a wonky campaign, AI bots that aren't quite up to the challenge of challenging you and somewhat dodgy netcode. It's incredibly frustrating, because the core concept works, and it works well. It's just all the rest that's falling apart at the seams.

There's still an argument for considering other mini-game collections with better ratios of good-to-poor games. The ratio in Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 isn't even as good as it was in the first game. And overall the game isn't as entertaining as a rabbit doing a poo on a stage, which should tell you something.

Being a blatant clone doesn't preclude I Must Run from being enjoyable, though, especially now you can pick it up for free.

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

The PSP version may not have the zip of the others, and you certainly wouldn't choose it over and above them, but Tomb Raider: Legend is a good game, and if you can put up with the initial awkwardness you'll find it was worth the wait.

I've been walking around all week thinking about east and west and how to tell the difference between the two when I haven't got a compass to hand. I have been thinking about reckoning. This allows the game's fiction to create compelling moments - I have been genuinely lost in Sea of Thieves at times. But it also allows it to do what every game like this truly hopes to do - to cross over, to seep into your everyday life.

An escape from alien invasion, with beautiful art direction.

If you're willing to put the hours in, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is a highly entertaining party game.

Grasshopper's latest really is a bit of a lollipop: it's sugary, colourful, insubstantial - and perhaps a bit sickly with it.

Just as it did with Modern Combat: Domination, Gameloft has provided another high-quality, no-frills alternative that might just surprise you.

There's remarkably little puzzle-solving, and on the occasions when you do need to find a power-up to get through an area, you'll generally find it right next to it. The plodding pace of the game also makes combat incredibly dull, as you might expect.

An eerie, hypnotic sleuther - and a cracking first effort from a miniature team. [Eurogamer Recommended]

The fact is that wandering through the plot of Long Live the Queen, blithely making mistakes on the assumption you'll do better the second or third time, is wonderful. Trying to actually do better is a byzantine process involving either heavy use of a guide or incredible persistence.

An enjoyable, polished, satisfying game. It may only be a few hours long, but it's worth a tenner. It's perfect for those afternoons when all you want to do is close the curtains and collect rainbow gems while listening to some nice music. Just don't expect to remember the experience in 23 years. Or indeed next Tuesday.

Special Forces is not without its moments of drama and excitement, but ultimately there is an overriding sense that you are simply going through the motions – Move or no Move.

If Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands and Arkanoid had a saucy three-way, Space Ark would be the love child.

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.

It doesn't always succeed in finding a balance between its chilled-out exploration and OCD completist tendencies, but when the formula clicks, the result is both charming and visually stunning.

Fantasy Wars will be most appreciated by those armchair generals who are thirsty for a dose of meticulous planning, not to mention those with comfy chairs, as it will be a long sitting before the day is done.