Dark Arisen is indisputably in Dark Souls' thrall. But this tribute is both thoughtful and creative, building upon Miyazaki's work with some individuality rather than merely mimicking its - arguably unrepeatable - wonders.

Tales of Graces f never fully abandons the slight clunkiness of its first few hours, but players who bow out early because of its linear design and apparently limited scope will be missing out on what may well be one of the last great traditional Japanese role-playing games. It may have taken three years for it to reach European shores, but it's well worth the wait.

Absolutely up there with the best of the series so far. It's as good as the game has ever been.

A cynical and frustratingly abrupt ending that quite deliberately leaves too many unanswered questions and story threads dangling is about the only real sour note struck by another accomplished downloadable release from Capcom.

It's rare that you come across a game that dares to blend two such disparate genres, let alone one that does so expertly.

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.

There's some room for improvement of course, and no doubt the customisation options will expand over time and the engine will get tweaked along the way, but as a signpost for the future of how sports games can fit into the new gaming landscape, Tiger's online debut is extremely promising.

The game that kicked off Mario's RPG adventures retains its charm in this cheerful remake.

A chilled-out and peaceful challenge, quite unlike anything else around, Finger Hoola is just lovely.

The game has an elegant simplicity when set against the intrinsic fussiness of the Guitar Heroes and Rock Bands of the world.

The reboot is an excellent example of how old-school gameplay can be brought to life on today's hardware.

The blend of emotions and puzzle mechanics in Lucidity invites more than a few comparisons with Braid. But while the melancholic tone and understated delivery suggests a good match, in truth, Lucasart's game is neither as complex or as original.

Weaving Terry Pratchett, Terry Gilliam and more, Esoteric Ebb is a comedic D&D adventure where a waylaid Cleric is tasked with solving a crime, days before the world's first election.

Condemned 2 deserves hearty praise for improving on everything it did first time around. The melee combat is brutally intense, the investigations play a bigger part, the visuals are top-notch, and the whole thing's wrapped up with engaging narrative.

For a mere 500 points, this is well worth digging into.

But you also suspect BioWare's on the right track, and until it pulls it off - and the initial noises about the sequel seem promising - Mass Effect offers us a singular universe of excitement and drama to lose ourselves in.

It plays a rockin' good round of golf, and looks simply stunning into the bargain.

KeelWork’s strikingly opulent shooter dares to do new things with its genre in an effort to unite players of every level. This is what a blockbuster shooter should look like.

It's another carefully crafted package in the manner of Ocarina 3D, then, yet the ancient quality that Star Fox 64 3D exudes only makes you wish that Nintendo was releasing a few more, you know, entirely new games. Luigi, Mario and Kid Icarus are still a few months off, for the time being. Until then, I'll be hanging out with Slippy, Peppy, and Falco - that jerk.

There are two sides to SBK X, really. The Arcade mode is probably too laid back - if you just want to dabble with bikes without putting much thought in, MotoGP 09/10 is a more gratifying game - but the Simulation is extremely flexible.

Sure, some of Codies tactics in 'going mainstream' are a tad irksome, but in the main the game succeeds by not only being exceptionally good fun to play, but being unquestionably one of the finest looking racing games on the market too.

It's a systematically refined game, with superlative combat and intriguing progression that plays the long game. It's beautiful. It's a slow burner, perhaps dangerously so for the skittish console audience, although the prevailing winds in gaming - where social, persistent metagaming is king - are on its side.

Ninja Theory has absolutely nailed the leading man and the combat system - by far the most important things - and DmC is clearly a labour of love, a tribute as well as a new beginning.

The cliché regarding this sort of game is that it changes the way you view your own world: I know for sure that I'll be seeing those last few Orbs in my dreams for months to come. If you need any indication of Crackdown's brilliance, that's surely it, right? If you seek its monument, look around you.

Despite its initially playful and "relaxing" charm, where you mainly focus on conserving your air, about four levels in Dive decides that the gloves are off and proceeds to slap you around like a cat toying with a barely-alive mouse.

For all its frustrations, you'll spend much longer in the sweet spot than you spend getting there. Elite: Dangerous demands much, but repays your devotion many times over.

Click into its leftfield groove and Multiwinia provides a quirky but devilishly compelling distillation of all that strategy games can be - rich, deep and compressed into intense digestible chunks. Yummy.

With five excellent campaign missions to master, and local or online play for up to five players, it's hard to think of a single reason why you wouldn't enjoy battling it out with malicious cats, malfunctioning robots, slavering zombies and hairy yetis.