Blood Dragon succeeds because of its unhinged insanity and thoroughly executed style. Scratch those things away, and you’re left with a shooter that’s only slightly above average.

A wonderful experience for gamers of all ages, and a sure-fire Christmas present hit for fans of the film trilogy.

From Dust is a lovely acquaintance. It's elegant, relaxing and gets your gears grinding. It's a different but excellent twist on the puzzle and strategy genres, and one we'll happily recommend.

The many layers of mechanics are simply too obscure if you haven't played the predecessors to death. Possibly the most complex game in the tactical RPG genre to date, but we just wish the developers had spent as much energy on introducing and explaining the mechanics as they did tailoring the game to existing fans.

The first game had some interesting ideas, painted with delicate strokes, whereas the sequel throws the bucket of paint at the canvas and stands as a much more traditional game and comic book experience. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Neuroshima Hex mixes classic board gaming with Borderlands, and it works. This is an awesome board game conversion with excellent touch mechanics. But be prepared for a very steep learning curve in this Polish strategy title. The reward of learning the rules though is an absolute brilliant pass and play experience on iOS.

Ascension delivers on everything that has made the series great. Solid single-player and jaw dropping graphics. Kratos is as angry as ever and the mythological creatures are huge and impressive as we have come to expect. Add a fun multiplayer with tons a gameplay and we have another winner.

Feels like the ultimate Sly Cooper experience, and is among the best releases on the Vita. The games may be old, but they feel timeless.

Despite the paper thin story and the fact that the basic gameplay is still pretty much a carbon copy of the very first Pokémon game, Pokémon Black/White 2 is a feast of delicious new content for all fans of the series.

Once again, Hello Games takes the full-fledged console experience and brings it to mobile without compromising either controls or the level of challenge. Well worth getting.

Hopefully COH2 gets a ton of post-release support, as it really needs it. The technical aspects are lacking, and the graphics are nowhere close to justifying the hardware requirements. But if you turn down the bells and whistles and push through the opening tedium of the campaign, and you’ll find an engrossing and entertaining strategy game.

This is a Western done the Hollywood-way, that is if Hollywood was in Japan. Simple story, but really atmospheric settings coupled with great controls makes this everything the first game should have been.

We'd have liked a little more diversity in the environments, but as for content and quality, this is right on the mark.

Fable III offers many new improvements over its predecessor. At the center of the game stands a revolutionary new way to deal with equipment, magic, stats, inventory, outfits, pretty much everything. This makes for a seamless and engaging experience, but also one that feels more like an action game with RPG elements than vice versa. That doesn't change the fact that Fable III is a fine, fine game.

Skylanders Giants has a firm grip on all the qualities that make for a proper family friendly adventure.

Rivals offers thrilling arcade racing of the kind the kind that you can just pick up and play a few rounds of, and has enough graphical prowess for you to show off your new console for your friends. We could do with a little more innovation next time, though.

In some ways, Retribution feels like a step backward for the series, turning its back on some of the points that made Dawn of War 2 stand out from more traditional RTS games. It's not a bad game by any means, its just not as good as its predecessors.

Dead Rising 2 is everything the first game should have been. Even though the zombie motif may be overworn, the game hits a perfect blend of horror, gore, mystery and morbid humor – the essence of everything great about the zombie genre. Annoying and bad boss fights bring the final score down, but other than that, Dead Rising 2 gets almost everything right.

An excellent kid's game with oceans of entertainment.

Not the best action game to come from Platinum’s hands, and nowhere near the best Metal Gear game. Revengeance doesn’t live up to the franchise and the huge expectations placed upon its shoulders, but it remains solid enough to stand on its own. Just leave your expectations at the door.

If this is the quality expected of future fighting games, then the PS Vita is proving a heavyweight contender for the genre on the move.

It's impressive how inviting F1 2012 seems in comparison to last year's entry, but the addition of training races, fun new challenges, better car physics and vastly improved technical aspects make this the best game in the series yet.

Telltale delivers a great sandbox with a charming story. There is enough here to make adults giggle and kids run amok. It is truly amazing how much of a fan service this is to fans of LEGO. A lacking multiplayer is the worst omission, and even with this in mind, this is easily one of TT’s best LEGO games ever. There is tons of collectibles (with some great references and cross promotion of actual LEGO sets). A must have for Wii U owners and a great game on its own.

An interesting universe, a decent story and excellent action are the deciding factors when determining whether Reckoning is a game for you. For us, there is no doubt – we are itching to get back to the world of Amalur.

A freemium game that delivers a great arcade experience packed around a decent adventure. This is fighting as you remember it from classic 3D fighting games redone with the Unreal 3 engine. The freemium model isn’t intrusive after the first few weapons have been obtained (with in-game currency or real money) and the controls work like a charm. If you want a quick entertaining fighting fix for touch this is a good (and cheap) place to start.

One of the most inventive and enjoyable Kirby games in quite while, not because of the lackluster minigames, but because the main game keeps surprising you.

We do not miss Cole, even if Delsin is an annoying brat. When you finally climb up the Space Needle it gives you a brilliant view and shows of the amazing visuals of one of the best looking games on the PS4. A Worthy installment in a great sandbox series.

If you're in the market for a hard, oldschool and action-filled JRPG, look no further than the latest chapter of Ys.