Here, simple things work together to conjure up surprising consequences - and, more often than not, thrilling ones too. It's rare to play something so pure, a multiplayer game with modern sensibilities and yet one that feels like it was forged in the fire of older arcade classics. If there's any justice, Laser League is a game that'll find its place among those greats. [Essential]

2XKO is a tag fighter like no other, with a bold aesthetic and superbly crafted core gameplay experience. Beloved League of Legends characters are revitalised in a new light in a truly stunning free-to-play experience.

LostWinds is a great example of what can be achieved on WiiWare. By combining a few simple gesture-based controls within a tightly focused platform-puzzling framework, Frontier has created a mini-masterpiece at the first attempt.

This is a rare PSP game that's not a poor translation of a PS2 flop from four years ago, or a disappointingly crippled version for the handheld. It's a spot-on, virtually perfect miniature version of the PS2 smash.

For fans of Final Fantasy XII, it is a wonderful continuation of the story - a welcome chance to revisit well-loved locations and characters.

Indeed, with its comic visuals and light-hearted touches at every step, Swords And Soldiers wants to be this year's Plants vs. Zombies, and damn near succeeds.

Just when it seemed there was no hope of Midway's ancient arcade classic ever being dusted down for the mobile generation, up pops this bright and breezy tribute to insatiable alcoholism.

A brutal but graceful and comprehensible mix of ideas from Warhammer, XCOM and Gears Tactics. [Eurogamer Recommended]

5th Cell's puzzler was always astonishing, then, but now it's enjoyable to play, too. That's nice.

You can see with Skyward Sword that something has to change. See it in the way it tentatively messes with the formula, but ultimately retains one of the most rigid central paths of any Zelda. In the way it introduces stuff like the stamina gauge, which will make much more sense in the game that follows it. It's clear now that Skyward Sword is straining against its own rules and rituals. That makes it fascinating to play, and it means that this strangest and most compromised of Zeldas is also amongst the most human. [Eurogamer Recommended]

It isn't the perfect game, and the anal attention to detail may reduce the appeal it has to the general game playing populous.

It won't come as anything new or inspiring to anybody who's tackled a DK title before, but it engages the brain in ways that we enjoy being probed, and for all its age the formula is still as sound as ever.

Deception throws in an extremely polished Konquest mode, the fun Chess and Tetris modes, plus online play.

The new generation of F1 gets a video game run-out that's at times overly familiar, but one that's nevertheless fully-featured. [Eurogamer Recommended]

The story is pure pulp and the big picture is not that exciting, but as usual, the charm of Wasteland is in the stops along the way: location after location full of crazy characters and moral choices, and a writing team gleefully embracing the ability to do pretty much whatever they want.

Oboromuramasa is shallow, rather simple and relatively short-lived, but nonetheless wonderful in its way. As a piece of visual videogame art it's at the very peak of the medium's achievements, along with Okami and Odin Sphere, and it's crafted with such obvious, loving care and attention to detail that it's impossible not to like. If only its combat were as precise and considered as the faultless presentation, this might be an enduring love rather than a fleeting but indisputably beautiful affair. [JPN Import]

Despite the monochrome palette and simple, wholesome story, Minit's world is stuffed with charm and character that belies its lo-fi presentation - and it's a lovely way to while away a few spare minutes of your own. [Recommended]

Yes, there are a lot of improvements here, and yes, the game is heaps of fun to play, but the core experience doesn't feel incredibly different from last year's iteration. In comparison to the gameplay changes that are made between each update of FIFA, Madden feels like its wheels are stuck in the mud.

Poker Smash doesn't really work. Borrowing familiar poker hands is a nice idea on paper, but the need to include colours, winking icons and bombs ought to have been clue enough to leave it there alongside the spider-web doodles.

Jamestown certainly isn't the biggest shooter you'll ever see, but given the amount of replayability built into the structure, you'll play it far more than you might imagine.

"Solid" is one of those terrible damning-with-faint-praise words which will have anyone cringing but it's the one that applies. It's a well-built, well-made, well-designed well-solid RTS, and of its type, one of the finest of the year.

This is a saga that has clearly been tugged and squeezed, compromised and spoiled by many, many cooks.

If, however, Konami plans to turn this into an ongoing spin-off with commercial potential then it needs serious work to either shape it into something outlandish that could only be done online with the Metal Gear series, or to better blend the Metal Gear elements into the established tropes of the multiplayer action genre.

A beautifully realised old school JRPG whose only downfall is its story of all things. [Eurogamer Recommended]

A sapphic, sci-fi fever dream that finds horror and beauty among the stars, Signalis is dense and alluring to the last. [Eurogamer Essential]

Psychonauts studio Double Fine returns with a surprising, shapeshifting adventure of captivating wonder and beauty.

That's Ultros: a green-fingered Metroidvania that wants you to experiment. Experiment with nature, with the environment, and even, ultimately, with not killing everything you come across. I'm on board.

As fanciful as the game can be, the technology feels unnervingly true to its period - right down to the inherent awkwardness of microfilm readers. [Recommended]