When the game starts giving you the opportunity to play as Kong, it's like Spinal Tap dropped by Ubisoft's studios and cranked it up to eleven.

As magnificent an example of the add-on pack as Rome is, it doesn't redefine the game completely in order to make it an absolute essential buy for anyone who was interested in the mother-game. It's an imaginative more-of-the-same, but still – at its core – a more of the same.

It's hard to dwell on missed opportunities when a game gets the core gameplay so right, though. The emulation is superb, the physics are spot on and the prospect of more tables to come is downright tantalising. Between this and Pinball FX, flipper fans now have the best of both worlds.

Serving up a reheated portion of old school retro gaming might satisfy a few hardy souls, but it's hard to see its appeal extending much beyond that. If stupendously hardcore shooters that require the skills of other worldly beings are your thing, then the chances are you'll be in some sort of perverted masochistic heaven. [JPN Import]

With an excellent atmosphere, diverse set of characters, intriguing storyline and endless unlockables it's the sort of game that's essential for comic book obsessives, and great fun for everyone else.

By putting accessibility and instant enjoyment at the forefront, 2K Czech has cast all the old frustrations aside at a stroke, and the fact the developer has eased passage into the game without sacrificing any of its depth is also remarkable. It feels as though a balance has been struck, which should suit players of all skill levels.

Despite sharing the exact same innards as Guitar Hero II, Legends of Rock is, in every conceivable way, a better product than its predecessors. It's better presented, better put together, more professional, more complete.

The thing that really marks The Darkness out, we'll repeat, is its "minute-to-minute gameplay". You can't argue with that. It's a game which offers thrills arguably as intense as anything the genre has to offer. It is, for the most part, an extraordinarily entertaining game with precious little fat around the edges,and often technically stunning.

A strong love for storytelling and the feel of games like Earthbound makes Eastward shine even where the gameplay flags. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Lunar Knights is a plain idea wrapped in an ornate cloak; peek underneath and its fleshy action adventure innards look a little bony. Crucially, without the sunlight gimmick it's lost the ability to truly stand out from the crowd.

As an example of how Xbox Live can be put to use in the racing genre, it's unmatched. Were it not for inconsistent handling, it'd score higher - and even at that it still deserves a lot of credit.

Handling, progress and rewards are as mature as you would anticipate from a developer that now has six similar arcade racers under its belt.

It really isn't for anyone other than the devoted western-RPG head. Which is fine; the devoted western-RPG head has had a particularly weak year, and will lap this up. As they should. But if you're not in their ranks there's little here for you.

If you're adept with the Medal of Honor/Halo style control scheme then by all means prove us wrong and shake your weary fists at us in combat, but if you're uncertain then we recommend you try it out before committing, or simply wait for SOCOM 2.

There's no question that Order & Chaos Online is a remarkable – albeit cheeky - achievement for the mobile gaming scene. You shouldn't buy it because it's an outstanding game (it's not - at least not yet), or because you'll receive an experience on a par with it's clear inspiration (you won't). While it's certainly a thrilling ride in the short-term, longer-term it will simply leave you pining for WOW itself.

Sports Interactive has massive experience in creating single-player management games, but this is the developer's first stab at an MMO - and for the most part, it's a genuine success. While it never quite scales the heady heights of the single-player games, it's still an experience that every Football Manager fan should try, while budding managers intimidated by the demands of Football Manager 2009 are likely to find this a much more enjoyable and accessible entry point to the world of management.

While on the surface of it Darksiders feels like a game with a lot of good ideas but only a few of its own, where even a brief flying section on an angelic mount owes rather a lot to Panzer Dragoon, overall the silly old story and wonderful art style give terrific heft to the universe, and the clockwork of the puzzles and game systems are precision-engineered in a manner that you come to trust implicitly.

Aquaria's certainly prone to leaving you disorientated, some of its puzzles are quite oblique and it's in no hurry to tell you what to do, and its mechanics lack the inventiveness of a game like Zelda, but then the fact it's two friends coding together over the Internet shouldn't be overlooked when taking note of the fact that they come surprisingly close.

Compared to its predecessor, it looks better, moves faster, throws you further and loves you more. The track design is more extraordinary than ever and full of flourishes that I can barely begin to emulate with my own creations, the new gameplay modes fit right in, and indeed Platform is arguably more addictive than anything in the first game all by itself.

Sony has at least attempted to approach the genre from a quirky and strategic angle, but our lasting impression of the game is one that mostly entertains, but rarely inspires.

It's still a bit too complex to work as a kids' game (for that you might be better with the 360 sequel's co-op mode, where you can pick up a second pad and offer a helping hand), but for everybody else it comes highly recommended.

Being a cult leader in this funny old game, then, is a little bit like being a game designer, I imagine. It's complex on certain levels, and to use the lovely vivid cliche, you're herding cats quite a lot. But really you're trying to arrange happiness for people. The only difference is that as a cult leader, if they don't become happy on cue, you can cook them and eat them. [Eurogamer Recommended]

But while this multiplayer mode is one of the game's most successful additions, it's curious that a series known for rejecting convention seems to be embracing the 'bigger, better, more' mentality here.

Two of Nintendo's finest, and one of its most interesting, come together in a compilation that isn't worthy of their greatness.

With discoveries around every corner, Dragonborn just gave Skyrim fans the perfect excuse to lose themselves in the wild for another winter.

Sportsfriends is a celebration of the social side of games, their ability to bring a room together in one loud, raucous moment and how they're so much more fun when enjoyed with company. Alongside like-minded titles such as Towerfall and Nidhogg, this compilation is a pleasant reminder of that power - and, just like its companions, Sportsfriends represents video games at their very, very best.

Space Marine 2's campaign is a spectacular and mostly thrilling follow-up to the original, but the game's grisly combat shines best in its cooperative Operations mode.

A wargame that only hardcore wargamers could love. Historically accurate to a fault, vast in scale, unnecessarily complex and poorly presented, it isn't going to win any new fans for the genre.