What balance there is in Tactical Intervention is precarious at best. Mechanics have been piled on mechanics - ideas the game's creator always envisaged adding to his first game before Counter-Strike was firmly thrust into the hands of its community.

Limited is really the word that sums up Foul Play. It's a difficult game to dislike, thanks to its whimsical tone, but it doesn't do much in gameplay terms to win your affections.

If a few joints can be tightened, a few rough edges filed down, Ironclad Tactics could hum along nicely. For now, however, I wouldn't recommend you climb aboard this one. It's a rickety ride.

As it stands, however, Verdict Day is more than just a marked improvement over Armored Core 5. It offers more parts, more maps and new missions while expanding the already tight mechanics with an AI crafting system and an overhauled online mode that encapsulate what Armored Core does best: options, creativity, strategy and teamwork. It's unashamedly hardcore - and all the better for it.

There's precious little depth lurking in Hammerwatch, then, but if you've got a few friends handy or are willing to wait around online for the worryingly small community to make itself known, this is genuine old-fashioned skeleton-bashing with a gloriously tidal approach to chucking in the enemies.

As much as I know I will play it all year, though, I would like to feel a greater sense of progression next time. Hopefully EA Sports will find the next-generation consoles inspiring.

Coolson's Artisanal Chocolate Alphabet is a beautifully crafted, fun to play game. It's perfect for anyone who enjoys wordplay, has fastidious organisational tendencies or was disappointed to discover that high-paying jobs in publishing do not magically apparate after three years spent reading one Thomas Hardy novel and watching Loose Women.

Aarklash: Legacy takes the player back to the world of the tabletop RPG known as Confrontation in a second attempt to propose its fantasy universe to PC gamers. The game in itself is a good, party-based RPG, with a nice combat system and many interesting ideas. Unfortunately it’s not a masterpiece and, after a while, the hybrid turn mechanics become a little boring. Dedicated to the fan of the genre who are in search of a fantasy game at a budget price.

The primal joys of a perfect parry followed by a killing blow against a hulking monster mean that Infinity Blade 3 was always going to be good fun where it counts. But between distracting feature creep and the inclusion of in-app purchases just because everyone else is using them, it feels like a game that exists more to serve a publishing agenda than an essential closing chapter in a coherent trilogy.

Like the very best ghost town, it can be surprisingly hard to leave.

In many ways it's the same message as last year, then, despite sea-change in a lot of areas: PES 2014 is a methodical sports game with deep systems that reward practice and experimentation; the sort of game that will appeal to people who read Zonal Marking rather than Sun Sport.

Just like its young hero, The Wind Waker is crisp and energetic, spirited and soulful, just a little bit wayward - and it hasn't aged a day.

GTA5 may not be the Hollywood-beating crime story it wants to be, then, but it's the best video game it's ever been, and I'll take that.

It just about passes muster as a stopgap release to tide fans over until the long-awaited Kingdom Hearts 3, but those looking to rekindle fond memories may find nostalgia's bubble all too easily pricked.

It's a decent drive that wears its iOS clothing unconvincingly, perhaps a symptom of 2K's inexperience in the area. 2K Drive could have been something special, but it's missing the guiding hand Lucid needed to take it beyond half-heartedly evoking memories of old.

All it had to do was actually simulate farming. That, apparently, is too much to ask from a game called Farming Simulator. In its own weird way, the complete lack of ambition shown by this underdog has disappointed me more than any lacklustre blockbuster ever will.

It has a lot of potential and I'm interested to see how it grows, because it's a game that's all about trying new things: new tricks, new combinations, new possibilities.

By successfully tapping into parental instincts rarely solicited by video games, and offering a parable about nurture and sacrifice, it's a beautiful game within, too.

As usual, Love's eye for a scandalous and knowing wink at gender relations forms an enjoyable, coherent journey through well-rounded characters' lives. If Hate Plus has a downside, it's that you will have to put aside time to read things for three days. But the upside is that you get to read Christine Love's stories for three days, have your cake, and eat it as well.

A Machine for Pigs performs the not inconsequential achievement of maintaining the soul of Amnesia. This is still a game that understands that real horror comes from disempowerment, and from the unseen, unknown and unexplained.

It comes frustratingly close to delivering something special. But despite multiple gameplay avenues bursting with potential, it leaves them largely unexplored, showing more interest in wowing you with surface sizzle.

With each word you correct, you're rebelling against the system, raising a middle finger to oppression. It's a good feeling, and it's prompted by nothing more than black text on a white background. That's the power of the written word, all right.

Stop and peer too long into Outlast's gloom and you'll see the zips on the monster costumes. Take it at at speed and you'll find a haunted house worth visiting.

Ultima's character has been corrupted and trammelled into a grotesque parody of itself in Ultima Forever. This game is a desecration.

A solid and visually impressive shooter, it never manages to feel essential - and clearly exists mostly because all first-party franchises are obliged to put in an appearance on a new console - but even as a relatively minor entry in its own series, it still sets a new benchmark for portable shooters.

An enjoyable, polished, satisfying game. It may only be a few hours long, but it's worth a tenner. It's perfect for those afternoons when all you want to do is close the curtains and collect rainbow gems while listening to some nice music. Just don't expect to remember the experience in 23 years. Or indeed next Tuesday.

For all that the game may have promised, it isn't such a big step forward for the series. It's Total War done a bit bigger, a bit better and a bit different. Its borders hold firm.

Space Hulk could have - and should have - been better than this.