"Warcraft III" is very innovative and has production values higher than just about any game ever released on the PC, while Age of Mythology is simply a worthy successor to an excellent series.

The most exhilarating and refined Monster Hunter yet, even if its attempts to balance the old and new don't always quite coalesce in its ongoing quest to please all audiences.

The Emperor's Treasure doesn't just have rhythm: it also has soul.

The Club is brilliantly immediate, logical and rewarding in ways that the "PGR" games always were and are, and it does for the third-person shooter what no one else has even bothered trying to do: moving it closer to the 2D shoot-'em-ups of old in a manner that appeals anew.

But however much positive energy we lavish on FIFA all the areas that EA beats Konami on - bar online - are simply gloss. In a straight tussle between the games, we just don't enjoy playing FIFA as much as we do "PES3," and, for most of you, that's what matters.

But these are small things to get annoyed about in a game that's filled with so many other small things that have been included just to make you laugh, or to surprise you, or to make you think back to a comic book story you haven't thought about in 30 years.

But beneath the scream and riot there's a mathematical reality that simply makes for really good videogame levels.

An exceptionally accessible package that fools you into thinking you're doing well - until you observe your pitiful online ranking.

It's the first game I've played in ages that realises first-person shooters can bundle in as much philosophy and as many moral dilemmas as they like, but fundamentally they're still about shooting monsters in the face, and so what it lacks in originality it makes up for in variety, pacing and exuberance.

Sure, there are flaws and the lack of any soloing capability, the occasional difficulty in finding groups, as well as the apparent slowness of levelling get irritating, but they're nothing in the face of what it does properly.

This heartwarming gestalt is a lovely and joy-bringing piece of our history, and anybody who ever popped a shiny round coin in any one of these machines' welcoming slots owes themselves a copy, today.

With Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Sayonara Wild Hearts developer Simogo weaves together interlocking puzzles, infinite timelines, and supernatural mischief with only minimal clumsiness.

It's also rather obvious that the developers realised towards the end of the game that it was going to be far too short, resorting to the old trick of forcing you to backtrack across large portions of the game world (no less than three times!) to make it seem longer.

Although it's ostensibly simple, Naked War is a game with enormous and entertaining hidden depth...It's fun and addictive, and you'll willingly give it more than eight-odd hours.

A fairly competent shooter with quite a bit of life in it - just not quite the leap forward we had hoped for.

The inability to upload high-scores is a minor disappointment, but otherwise Bit.Trip Void is an unqualified success, and for 600 Points from the Wii Shop it's well worth investigating.

If you hanker for a new world – one that feels familiar yet fresh, with an atmosphere of discovery and experimentation – then Rift stands proudly, ready to greet you with open arms.

It starts with a bump, but played the right way, V Rising offers riches few other crafting survival games can match.

An excellent strategy game which is sadly somewhat marred by its overly difficult campaigns and unimpressive enemy AI.

It would be too generous to suggest this is the best recreation of the sport imaginable, as the rough edges and clunky navigation pull the game back from contemporary sheen. But it's close. And in sports videogames, that's the only metaphorical distance that matters.

Top notch side-scrolling brawler from 1993, and, in many respects almost as much fun now as it was then.

A great card battling game, and only a few niggly details hold it back from being even better: the lousy locked decks, the half-baked multiplayer tournaments, the quick and dirty iPad port. Nevertheless, it offers something fresh and creates battles that feel like two massed armies clashing across their ranks.

Despite - or possibly because of - its simple premise, Critical Mass is a game that's hard to put down once you get into a groove, and its a game we're likely to see a lot more of on handheld platforms once word gets around.

A delightful, playful, occasionally exhilarating platformer. But while this is a game whose visuals point to a bright, alternative future, its systems too often rely on the dusty past. Half of a classic, then.

Mastering the game's in-body platforming is an urgent thrill, beaten down less violently here under the auspices of our old friends keyboard and mouse, and stands out from the homogenised interfaces of modern first-person and platform games.

Chasing scores is always an exercise in masochism, and in giving you potentially infinite second chances, Time Surfer risked taking away the sense of achievement. Instead, it adds a whole other dimension.

Driver: San Francisco isn't quite the jolt that the arcade driving genre needs to stir it from its own particular coma, then, but it's an endearing and eccentric experience in itself. In Reflection's best work since the Driver series began, it's managed to tame the ridiculous and conjure something quite sublime.

It's a beautiful piece of design and one that puts PomPom right up there with Canabalt creator Adam Saltsman at the very forefront of the genre... whatever genre this actually is, of course.