As with PopCap's best titles, Swords and Soldiers reworks the weary conventions of its tradition to compelling effect. Its deliberately restricted perspective is unlikely to sate the appetites of hardcore RTS fans, but the move to 2D acts as a concentration of the genre's charms, not a dilution, and is perfectly suited to WiiWare.

With a depth and longevity that humbles most full-price releases – including five single-player campaigns and online multiplayer – Clash Of Heroes HD demands your immediate and undivided attention.

It leaves you with a peculiar sense of power: it feels as though you have the influence of a redemptive god, restoring a fallen world back to its Eden state after a corrupting virus.

While The Silent Age may not stretch your mental prowess, it's never less than engaging thanks to some great writing.

Ape Out is a beautiful and bloody game that's given surprising depth by a tremendous soundtrack. [Eurogamer Recommended]

A worthwhile, if familiar, successor to Super Meat Boy. [Recommended]

In short, there's a lot of game here but none of it immediately demands you buy it, unless you just need a few new things to insert into Civ 4 to justify returning to it. In which case, hey - go do it. Civ 4's awesome.

More than just its nostalgic visuals, Crow Country is funny, self-aware, and extremely hard to put down.

If this Hitman has a design limitation, it's that maps don't evolve as much in response to assassinations as they could - it strains credibility that you can bump off three of four targets in Colorado without plunging the fourth into a panic. That aside, this is among the most expertly-made, engrossing stealth simulations of recent years, and a tale of A-listers meeting their comeuppance to give any Fortune 500 member the shivers. Agent 47 is back with a vengeance, and vengeance has seldom tasted sweeter. [Recommended]

It’s a shame EA feel the need to charge their swelling community for the privilege of getting their hands on a smattering of new missions and models which should have been in the game in the first place.

A fantastic port - and unquestionably best on Xbox - but it suffers in part thanks to last century's tech and in part because pathetic team killing gits thrive in the current Live community.

Apart from the fact that it's a largely seamless gameplay mechanic, sensibly balanced and gloriously fresh and interesting to play, it's also an ingenious premise that deserves further exploration - indeed, this is one of the few times you'll see us crying out for a sequel.

The game itself continues to justify its enduring popularity, thanks to sharp writing, narrative intrigue, quality voiceovers and concise puzzles that challenge but rarely frustrate. Maybe if enough of you buy this one, we can persuade Cecil and co. to finally deliver us an all-new game.

High-scoring fun from EA Sports, but FIFA 18 is an unspectacular upgrade. [Recommended]

Doubtless the best third-person shooter ever to come out of Japan, Vanquish builds on Western developers' triumphs to push the genre in new, interesting directions, shifting the balance of power, and cementing Shinji Mikami's position as one of the best directors working in videogames today.

Like the equally awesome Dark Nebula, Gears pitches the challenge perfectly, and gives you that one-more-go feeling without also instilling the need to lie down in a darkened room afterwards. When developers make games this good, it's only right and proper to reward them with cold, hard cash.

If you're looking for something that improves or builds upon the astonishing work of Moon Studios or Team Cherry, you're unlikely to find it here. That said? Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights is a surprising and compelling adventure that's been crafted with care and oodles of charm. Yes, it requires patience. Yes, it requires a natural curiosity, and a willingness to overlook its occasionally clumsy control scheme. But I spent many a night wandering around Land's End, staying up way later than I'd anticipated, keen to unravel more of the story and expand Lily's impressive skillset. If you enjoy Metroidvanias and have been looking for a new challenge that's not too punishing, I suspect you might, too.

This is yet another solid improvement over its predecessor that nudges the series back into "must buy" status, even if it sometimes feels more like the game is taking steps forward rather then leaps.

The game that kicked off Mario's RPG adventures retains its charm in this cheerful remake.

The second game from Disco Elysium studio ZA/UM, this text-heavy, dice-driven RPG is an exquisitely constructed take on consumerism, empire, nostalgia and beyond.

Forget games with real-time physics. This is one has real-time metaphysics. It's this year's underground classic, this year's "Rez," this year's "Ico," this year's... well, this year's Darwinia. It's a game that justifies your sense of your brilliance and gaming' sense of brilliance.

What should be a transitional year for Football Manager feels like a quietly revolutionary one, thanks to a handful of little changes with big impacts.

If the SmackDown! series doesn’t start making proper innovations instead of these minor cosmetic tweaks year after year, there’s every chance we’ll get a little bored of it. For now, though, SmackDown! is still as good as wrestling games can get.

The best F1 season in years deserves the best F1 game in years – thankfully, that's exactly what it's got.

It has excellent local wireless multiplayer.

Everything or Nothing represents progress, and proves that the abysmal "Nightfire" was a genuine blip rather than a sign of things to come, but the more discerning gamer will still come away nonplussed.

What's genuinely disappointing though is that it's all over so quickly... Jak 3 is much, much shorter than its epic predecessor. Indeed, it took us just 10 hours to achieve a 100 per cent rating.

Bounding Box delivers an anachronistic high-wire act, and the perhaps the best shooter outright since Doom Eternal. [Eurogamer Recommended]