The additional content of Brave New World ensures that, now more than ever, Civilization 5 feels like a complete package; a game to lose hundreds of hours to as you build an empire to stand the test of time, and one to which you'll sacrifice many a cup of tea along the way.

The two styles of play - high scoring or Pokemon catching - allow you to explore the tables twice over with different motives, while the immediate accessibility will suit players who are looking for some purely basic pinball fun. Only the most demanding of pinball wizards would be right to turn their nose up at Pokemon Pinball's charming slant on the genre.

"Riddick," "Halo," "Half-Life 2" - these are games you can play again and again and find new things. In Doom III it's hard to find anything fundamentally new on the second level.

There's probably enough here to satisfy fans whatever their inclination, but nobody should expect a quantum leap. Once again it's refinement over revolution.

Offers a smorgasbord of treats to delight and infuriate in almost equal measure. The mean, almost contemptuous difficulty curve is something that shouldn't be celebrated, but almost everything else is golden.

It's far from a revolution – much of the framework will be familiar to Fight Night fans – but as the best-looking and most technically accomplished game the series has yet produced, this evolution exceeds our expectations, without totally blowing us away.

It's basic stuff, its frame-rate can stutter, and it's got a handful of minor - ha! - bugs, but if you're looking for a source of guilt-free insect murder over the next few weeks, this is the best show in town. Just ask the ants.

This is not a game to play casually - it requires a major investment of time and effort to get anywhere. But if you're willing to give it the commitment it needs, it can soon develop into a rewarding relationship.

So few games display such effortless charm, and even fewer are rammed with as much warm humour.

More developed than a throwaway Flash game, yet less self-conscious and showy than a WiiWare or Xbox Live Arcade effort, it's a product that ignores the spectacle and bluster of gaming in order to more clearly celebrate the raw elegance of good design.

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.

There are hours of fun on offer here for serious solo players and groups of drunk idiots alike.

That's a testament to how beautifully Sprinkle Islands captures the childlike joy of splashing around, but it does tend to leave the puzzling element feeling progressively soggier as the levels progress.

The best PS2 wrestler there is, largely thanks to Yuke’s success in mimicking the cheese that oozes from every pore of the WWE.

So Arcade Edition is exactly what it appears to be: a tempered update that lacks the immediate wow factor of its predecessor, but offers an extra layer of refinement on an already winning formula.

It deilghts in the moment-by-moment empowerment of piloting a 1970s vintage mecha in battle, the medium-term enjoyment of turning the tide of a battle through strategic thinking, and the long-view 'gotta catch 'em all' collecting loops. If you have never tried a Musou game before, this is where you should start.

But if this is the sport you're dedicated to, Visual Concepts has made the game entirely for your pleasure. And it's not very often you can credit a game with giving you a year's worth of play. Go get it.

It's not just niggling repetition and control issues that detract from the overall package. There are many things that could have improved matters - being stuck in the same house feels somewhat stifling and claustrophobic, and for this reviewer was the main reason it shattered the dream possibility of The Sims 2 delivering a virtual personality simulation the way that classic Alter Ego did all those years ago.

It's a warped behemoth from the Ukraine, and one of the scariest games on the PC. Stalker will remind you of all kinds of prior games, and yet it will also defy your expectations. Like the mythological Chernobyl zone it is based upon, this game is a treacherous, darkly beautiful terrain. Not everyone is going to enjoy venturing into the zone, but some of those who do will find what they've been looking for.

The selection is definitely more hit than miss, although there are a few stinkers.

Where it scores above other games is simply the emotions it inspires.

In addition to the core Chess games there's a huge range of different and enjoyable challenges to play through, as well as timed matches and online play.

It's charmingly designed from the ground up to be as fun and accessible as possible, yet despite its astonishing simplicity, it still managed to hold our interest well beyond our expectations.

It may not be licensed by George A. Romero, but it was certainly inspired by him, and it replicates a lot of the feelings he inspired in the viewer.

A commendable example of a last-gen game that's still willing to evolve and offer more for your money.

If you let the game draw you in, the fantasy world becomes much more real than you could imagine -and the game much more compelling.

A brisk and challenging chapter, Crown of the Old Iron King's strength is in its unique setting and the difference in tone and ambiance this brings.

At the start of the game you're not much more than a lowly Ranger, sneaking through camps and silently slitting Orcish throats in the night. By the end of the game you're boldly strolling through those same camps, as terrified uruks whisper tales of the Ranger-turned-Gravewalker over fortifying gulps of grog.