The real surprise was the final level against Underboss, where you chase him up an under construction building with crews of underlings coming out the woodwork, packing some nasty hand to hand weaponry, like wrenches, pipes, crowbars and baseball bats.

So while it’s a nice nostalgia trip and makes for an interesting twist on the Meier formula, it’s people who have either never played Civlization IV before (we’ve been told they do exist) or those who have played it to death and want a bit of a change who will get the most out of this title.

Best in multiplayer, it offers thrills, but lacks substance.

Arkanoid was a sensation when first released in ’86, but its flaws are inescapable. Being a faithful adaptation of the original arcade experience, this hand-held version tempers nostalgia with frustration.

Repetition is the biggest flaw in the game, but it doesn’t ruin the experience, by any means. As mentioned earlier the graphics are a lot crisper, the gunplay is a lot tighter, and the managerial side of the game isn’t without the odd moment of satisfaction. The Godfather ii is a decent enough sequel of a decent enough game, diehard fans of the movie should hit it up, to everyone else: this is an offer you can refuse, if you’d like to.

If you desperately want to know what being an unstoppable kick arse fighting machine is like then X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the Big Mac for which you have hungered. Sure it may not have the class and flavour of a $50 steak, but it tastes f..king awesome when you’re drunk.

If wading knee deep in the dead to get at a piece of armour that’s 5% better than what you’re currently wearing isn’t the kind of adventuring that excites you, then you’re in trouble, because Too Human is exactly this type of game. Kill, loot, compare, equip, repeat.

It’s one of those out-of-nowhere games that really does get cooler and cooler the more you play it. It’s so much fun in fact, that if you told us to pick a fun activity for the afternoon and our only choices were between: chucking a Dark Sector disc into the PS3 for a play, or chucking a metal Frisbee at our annoying neighbour’s greenhouse – we’d almost certainly choose both.

All the pieces are there, it’s just missing that magic spark that turns a good game into a great one.

A fun, cheeky, crash-tastic ride to the finish line.

It breaks our Rare-loving hearts to type it, but Banjo Kazooie is a game that is best rented and demoed extensively first, rather than bought on an impulse.

This last mode is particularly inspired, allowing Net-connected gamers to head online, identify the biggest game of the week, and then go about rewriting/confirming history.

The tracklist is epic. It’d want to be, because it’s really the only thing the game has going for it.

Fabby low-pressure gaming for kids or any lovers of all things bright.

It’s not about mastering strings worth of combinations or sussing out whether your right hook does more damage than your left, it’s about goofy fun – plain and simple.

If you’re into arcade TC4, you’ll really dig this.

RACE Pro may not have the content to hit the market like a wrecking ball but it has focused its resources on excelling on the road and adding variety.

There are a lot of creative ideas, and the look, as a whole, is dead sexy, but a bit more spit and polish and a tad more life in the non-combat areas could have really helped put this on the map.

The brilliant thing about these finishing animations is that they take advantage of the environment you’re in. These aren’t repetitive, pre-cooked animations. If you’re near a chair, Bourne might slam his enemy into it.

Another problem is with the measly amount of game modes on offer.

You get a lot of maths for your money in Maths Training. The randomised content across the dozens of different puzzle types should be enough to keep one busy (if not amused) for some time.

The platforming and combat are both pretty straightforward; the game’s main challenge is its puzzles, of which there are plenty.

While it may not have the staying power of a New Super Mario Bros or creative juices flowing out of every orifice, it’s enough to put a big smile on most gamers’ faces.

Guitar Hero 5 focus more on gameplay rather than new plastic features and that´s the right way to go. The career mode has never been better, the versus mode is great and the design is fantastic. Now what we lack is just a good setlist with more hits.

After ruthlessly playing the game without mercy, we’d say that it’s a worthy addition to the franchise. However, we think that it’s a shame that you’re not given greater rewards for skillful stealth kills as opposed to stumbling into fights and mashing your way to victory.

Exudes a certain endearing charm that makes it quite a playable game.

Generic space marines fighting upon a generic future landscape will be tough to sell, terrain deformation or otherwise. The proof will be in the pudding, we guess – but we’ll be surprised if this moves the Earth.

We really wanted to like Infinite Undiscovery, but it was too much of a case of been there, done that (or more the case of been there, done that, and done it better). It has some cool concepts, yet they never really felt fully hashed out.