If you're a gamer that embraces the open-ended trial-and-error gameplay, and don't mind that it's neither the best example of stealth nor action gameplay, then this will serve you well.

Pandemic failed to make the core gameplay as compelling as it should have been and we're left reflecting on a game where no one play component really stands out as being good enough, and the missions just lack the spark that more solid core mechanics would have leant them.

Sonic Chronicles is undeniably a nice-looking game, and its slick presentation makes for an enticing experience to begin with. The longer you play, however, the more the cracks start to show, and what seemed like a potential minor classic is soon reduced to just "pretty good".

As it stands, it hasn't re-ignited much other than a vague feeling that we should pull the PC version out of the cupboard and play it again.

At full price it's hard to justify a purchase in our view as it's simply not all that essential or different from anything that's gone before, but if you ever fancy a quality party game that you can slip out when the time is right for some multiplayer action and see this game knocking around for a more realistic price then you won't be disappointed.

As a single-player game, Sonic Rivals 2 is brilliant fun. It's fast and exciting and pretty and happy, just like the old games. And like the old games, it's a bit hard. It could have done without the silly battles but the races are so good they're worth putting up with.

The dojo is amazing. All fighting games from now on need to step up.

World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition is limited in features right now, but is rich in potential. It's not a well-oiled machine yet, but it's still fun to take for a spin. Given that it costs absolutely nothing to climb aboard, it's hard not to recommend.

"Clumsy stew" is a good description for Uprising in general. The multiplayer maps are decent but a little too interested in goofy novelty over core mechanics, and Zombies mode continues its slow and awkward evolution towards something interesting. Everything contained in this package has its moments, but in the long term I suspect players will gravitate back towards the maps that play to COD's inherent strengths, rather than its reputation for high-concept bombast.

Had Namco spent a bit less time on the forgettable Scenario Campaign and more on sorting out the netcode, however, this could have gone higher. A miracle patch would be very helpful.

With the full complement of players, NBA Jam is great fun in short bursts, but it's impossible not to feel that EA has swamped a simple game with extraneous modes desperately to try and justify a retail release.

Basically What's Cooking? With Jamie ****ing Oliver is great if you're after an interactive cookbook. There's an extensive selection of excellent recipes, the instructions are easy to follow, the step-by-step system works well and the shopping list feature is useful. If you're after an actual ****ing game, though, **** this ****. Jamie should have put his *******s on and ripped off an existing classic, like me.

As it is, for all the added beauty and inherited class, I don't think there's enough freshness or sophistication here for that to happen.

If you're willing to put the hours in, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is a highly entertaining party game.

Fun, yes, but not exhilarating in the way that the best games should be. It also lacks the painterly detail of Battlefield 2's levels, which seem so natural in the density of their trash-strewn details.

Sadly, just as your monster hunting hero is prone to do, it comes within striking distance of greatness, but then swings hopelessly wide and just misses the mark.

Seen through adult eyes, it's a sweet but slender surfing game that's consistently amusing.

Despite dodgy localisation issues - which actually serve to limit the game’s appeal - Devil Kings remains an entertaining battlefield game that marries its wild, over the top style with enough substance to keep you plugging away.

It's deceptively tricky, hiding a razor-sharp puzzle game beneath its cutesy exterior, but it's the sort of intuitive and methodical difficulty that won't scare your mum.

What impressed in 2007 is no longer enough, and while Starhawk is a perfectly fine entry in the third-person multiplayer shooter genre, it's unlikely to inspire much long-term passion in its current state.

As with the first Puzzle Quest, then, the concept is what's truly brilliant - the one-more-go aspect of spatial challenges threaded into the reward schedule of an RPG. While the middling implementation's been somewhat improved this time around, the result is still a game that's supremely effective rather than genuinely brilliant.

Where the game falls down is its length; at around eight hours it's going to take you less than a good weekend session to plough through it, and for £40, frankly that's not good enough. It's "Luigi's Mansion" all over again.

EA Sports UFC is a game capable of brilliance. It's let down by some curious design decisions, signs of a team perhaps too interested in capturing non-essential moves seen on YouTube rather than nailing the essence of the sport. But when it flows against human competition, it offers beautiful destruction and glorious drama. Landing a picture-perfect head kick in the final minute of the fifth round of a title fight? Well, it doesn't get much better.

Ms. 'Splosion Man may lack the impact of its predecessor and the taut focus of rival Super Meat Boy, but it nevertheless offers an explosive start to the summer season of Xbox Live Arcade releases, a game surprisingly freshened by lipstick and a bow.

The game quickly gets repetitive, and becomes one of those retro games you'll dip into now and then rather than have extensive score-beating sessions on like the best games on Xbox Live Arcade.

A game that a small number of people will rightly love and cherish, but overall it's an uneven experience - one that feels like it knows what it wants to be, but has resigned itself to existing in a world where it can't quite get away with it.

It's revealing that Warriors' most famous track, Bohemian Rhapsody, is the one that most clearly highlights its limitations.

With its delightful liquid physics, Liqua Pop could be the most salubrious casual distraction since Osmos.