Lacking both a challenge and soul, and failing to even engage on a narrative level, what you're left with is an overly forgiving shooter with weak strategy elements, which only serve to make it even easier for you. Having played right to the end, I wish there was something I could point to in its defence, but all I'm left with is the empty realisation that they've managed to somehow make this even less entertaining than the flawed original.

The starkness of the choice - RTS or RPG - is quite arresting. Sadly, it was also plainly a balancing nightmare.

An exceptionally generic platformer shaped around quick trial and error design and limp enemies, and built around a tired looking cel-shaded engine that does little justice to the visuals of the arcade original.

Gotham City Impostors offers a minimum of substantive content - maps, in particular - and a maximum of unlockables that put unrealistic demands for grinding next to a 'buy now' button. It is possible, apparently, to reach character level 1000 in this. I cannot imagine it. The gadget-enabled shooter at the heart of Gotham City Impostors is fun, smart, and hard to dislike. But it's impossible to recommend.

The people behind Grow Home return with an ingenious multiplayer battler. [Recommended]

Despite Capcom's protestations of Chaos Legion being some 'intense gothic opera' fusion of action, RPG and strategy, it's still an essentially simple game at its heart, and might not be as involving as many would like.

Baja is a fussy racer, held back by twitchy control and incredibly dull design. Truly dedicated fans of the real race, or hardcore racing nuts with vast reserves of patience, may well get something out of it. Most people looking for a grimy, gnarly rock-hopping racer will be quite happy with something like "Pure."

I love Fallout 3. I love it to an almost indecent extent. It was far and away my game of 2008, and doesn't look like being knocked out of my personal top spot for a good while yet. But when you sift out its role-play, the ammo-box inspection and the exploration and draft in a fleet of health and ammo regeneration points to compensate... well, affairs just feel shallow and somewhat naked.

Factor in an exceptionally short single-player campaign, an undercooked tactical squad element and a distinct lack of gameplay variety and it's impossible not to see this as a very big missed opportunity.

For most of us, though, Opoona is a curiosity - it's charming, strange and often fun, but too shallow and stretched out to make for a genuinely engrossing RPG experience. [JPN Import]

This unforgiving approach may well please dedicated tennis enthusiasts but it will only frustrate those just looking for a fun experience.

TV Show King is a quiz game, and it features questions. That basic level of expectance is all it manages to meet, and it's horribly clear that this is simply a "make do" release, put out there to mop up an existing market with the minimum of effort.

Like all the best games, there's a whole world of subtle strategy beneath this simple concept and the Street Fighter branding is cleverly used.

At its core, this is the most entertaining Resident Evil game we've ever played, and easily the best use of a light gun ever. With a bigger and more focused game attached to it, this could have been a must buy classic, but instead has all the hallmarks of a classic weekend rental.

There's a bit more up and down, certainly, but all that really distinguishes it is the sharp, cartoony look, smooth framerate (even if we couldn't find a 60Hz option) and web-like interface for loading each level.

It's impossible to hold that shallowness against it. This isn't meant to be a game you plug away at for hours on end, trying to beat your high scores or to unlock additional stages. It's supposed to be a daft bit of throwaway entertainment for a gathering of family or friends, a game that anyone can pick up and play and have a good time with.

While never terrible, Darkspore feels like it's had its heart surgically removed. All the components for a giddily stupid, aesthetically imaginative action RPG are here. Somehow, however, they combine into a shambling golem that knows its basic purpose, but not a whole lot else.

There's definitely potential here to build something more robust, with multiple power-ups and numerous enemy types, but Defend Your Castle becomes a mindless slog far too quickly to warrant repeat plays.

Black Knight Sword is a stylish anachronism, but an anachronism nonetheless. Its richest ideas are to be found in the presentation, the aesthetic, the art direction and stage direction. Elsewhere, this is a rather rote production, its substance plainly enjoyable, but mostly forgettable.

It's casual to the core, designed to be playable by everyone from little kids to open-minded grandparents, and that's no bad thing. In those terms, Feeding Frenzy 2 is a decent package that improves on the original in terms of size, if not gameplay.

SuperCar Challenge sadly makes the same mistake, focusing so much attention on the minutiae of car physics that the actual gameplay feels like an afterthought.

It's just a shame that such a fundamental feature as combat takes the shine off what could have been the sequel to make Risen popular beyond its small audience of devotees.

As is seemingly the law with platform games, new abilities get bolted on, the challenge becomes more multi-faceted, you go blue in the face, forget to breathe, and pass out in front of your PS3 from platformitis. It's a common condition. Look it up.

It's easy to see Dr Luigi as a symptom of the current malaise affecting its home console business. It features a strange gimmick no one's really that interested in, it highlights an increasing reliance on past glories, and most will find it somewhat overpriced.

It might look a little like Yoshi's Island, then, but it's a worse game in every regard. 19 years on from the original, its design has been denuded of almost everything that made it great: a series once fecund with ideas is now coasting on past glories.

A fiercely likeable time-waster. But with console download services delivering increasingly brilliant games these days, DeathSpank has yet to make the transition from an entertaining diversion to something that's truly essential.

In a world of compromised visions, The Falconeer is dazzlingly original. An aerial combat game unlike any other. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Minecraft's blocky charm is present and correct, but the rest of Minecraft Legends is only as deep as the skins it wants to sell you.