Worse for the game's long term prospects, the ability to toss yourself round corners and into awkward spaces is too difficult to master, because even with the ability to change camera rotation speed, precision is difficult to attain.

A fairly unremarkable Sims expansion pack on the same disc as a new cut of the original game.

Puzzle solving is a gentlemanly pursuit, one that will perhaps never be better personified than in Professor Layton and his inquiring entourage.

Once you've scratched the surface and delved around beneath, that's when you'll realise that a game like PlanetSide needs constant development and a flow of new content to keep it fresh and interesting. And at the moment, that just isn't happening.

A worthwhile addition to the Company of Heroes war chest and one that rewards investment and exploration with a tactically satisfying campaign. That said, such is the obtuse nature of its presentation of key concepts and even basic controls that new recruits should deduct a whole mark from that number below.

What is really starting to take its toll on The Walking Dead is the way it burns off goodwill with too many false choices - or worse, moments when players are meant to share guilt in situations we had no real say in.

An entertaining package when it gets things right, but it's also riddled with design flaws, technical flaws and various minor irritations that conspire to detract from your overall enjoyment.

Trails into Reverie is a fine epilogue for Crossbell and Cold Steel arcs, offering necessary closure and clear hints about the series' future.

If EA wants people to buy these games year in, year out, then it has to fight for those high marks, and Tiger Woods doesn't know how to do that any more.

With the trademark sharp witticisms layered onto challenging and inventive puzzles, this is the best possible start to the new season.

Beneath the glorious tech, and once the writing relaxes a little, Sunset Overdrive's wonderfully lurid and heartfelt - a bit like playing an old 4AD album sleeve. If you get that reference, you'll probably get this, too.

It's exhausting, but when it all clicks it's amazing, too.

Critically, True Colors' story is well-rounded, with a satisfying and definitive ending for both its central mystery and for Alex's personal journey (and as all good thrillers should offer, there is a resolution you can deduce for yourself if you are paying enough attention). It's not a failing to me that True Colors tells a lean story which prioritises quality over quantity, feelings over finer details, and a sense the series, like Alex, has come back to its roots after a period of absence and change. [Recommended]

Borderlands is unusual, playable, and an artfully violent step in an interesting direction for Gearbox. The story aspect of the game could have been better - I'd love to have seen the role-playing influence extend beyond stats, levels and loot - and the ending is a disappointment. Even so, this should be a favourite game of the year for a huge number of people, since it plugs into gamer impulses at such a fundamental level.

Defense Grid 2 is, quite obviously about defence, but it's also about being passive, about observing morally grey conflicts play out in front of you - without your input.

Gory and exacting, Children of the Sun mixes the highs of tactical precision and cracking a killer puzzle.

Judged on game design and content, then, it's slightly anachronistic, but as a toy box full of things you can only do in games, Rage is warm-hearted and refreshing. It's not going to change the world, but it does serve as a timely reminder of that other thing id Software games always did besides smashing through some new technological barrier.

Multiplayer mysteries aside, Napoleon represents a healthy step forward for the Total War series.

More than the script (generally witty and sharp, if occasionally undercut by an iffy voice-actor) or the graphic design (a brother to Fable's faux-fantasy charm), the constant capering of your charges is what gives the game its personality. That is, they have a lot of personality and so does the game.

It's the sign of a great sports game when you can't think of anything you'd want to change in the next version. It doesn't need another version...This is brilliant, whichever way you spin it.

No series has been so willing to switch gameplay styles with such reckless abandon, and The Jak and Daxter Trilogy represents a shining example of what happens when a capable developer takes a huge risk. There's nothing else quite like it.

SNK's iconic series makes its return in this reboot that's short on features but rich in systems. [Eurogamer Recommended]

With its bite-sized premise, hugely compelling one-more-go appeal and negligible loading times, Everybody's Golf is without question one of our favourite PSP titles.

This is a well-made package that takes advantage of the handheld's capabilities as much as you could hope any interactive recipe guide would.

But as ultra hardcore as Flux remains, concessions have finally been introduced, such as checkpoints, and the ability to select each mission at your leisure.

A fairly unremarkable Sims expansion pack on the same disc as a new cut of the original game.

Scores feel entirely inadequate when it comes to rating a project like this, but if you feel like rewarding one man's six-year-long quest for creativity this week, Joost van Dongen's work truly deserves it.

This is a vast, generous offering: a true expansion from a developer that obviously cares deeply about its creation, rather than a corporate cash-grab mandated by the boardroom. More please.