In many ways, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is the biggest and most confident game Kojima has ever made, but you can’t escape the fact that while it’s certainly an immaculate world that has been created, it’s just a small fragment of something much larger we’ve yet to explore.

Legacy doesn't convey the greatest of first impressions, but the more you explore of the game's venerable interior the more you find yourself falling under its spell. [Issue#145, p.129]

Dustforce does itself no favours for having such a grim outlook, but when a game offers this much challenge it's easy to brush such criticisms under the carpet. [Issue#145, p.123]

Even without the new weapon parts, characters and maps that will be joining the roster, it's a worthy side-dish to whatever passes for your multiplayer main course. [Issue#145, p.121]

A tactical game this good deserves better. [Issue#145, p.120]

It's an outstanding start for a trilogy, and one that we can't wait to see to its end. [Issue#145, p.116]

If you're after value, Surge Deluxe delivers: it's pretty, it's cheap and it's a good quick game to play. Just don't expect anything game-changing. [Issue#145, p.115]

Once you crest its steep learning curve, it becomes subtly addictive. [Issue#145, p.114]

Fable Anniversary's structure is reasonably competent. [Issue#145, p.112]

A hugely frustrating experience, then. Lords Of Shadow 2 is a game with flair and gusto that constantly bogs itself down with design choices that should have never made it past the first week of studio meetings. Dracula deserves better.

Despite so many slight changes here and there, the solid combat, janky platforming, overwhelming odds and brutal bosses all conspire to remind you that this is very much a Souls game, and yet another excellent one at that.

Titanfall is not the most strategically demanding multiplayer game out there, nor is it the most complex. It’s certainly not revolutionary, as some might have you believe, given that many of its ideas have been cribbed from other games and genres. What it is, though, is a consistently exciting, accessible and expertly crafted shooter that repeatedly generates highlight reel moments that make you want to keep coming back.

It needs work in terms of visuals and could do with some more maps and game types, but World Of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition ticks all the boxes that it needs to. Add in the free-to-play aspect and you’re left with a game that’s more than worth a spin – just don’t expect to use your brain too much.

Once you’ve been playing for a while, everything starts to get a bit formulaic.

The cut and paste character models, with their misshapen limbs and dead eyes, together with the inconsistently sampled audio, combine to provide a experience that frequently feels cheap and in places is just downright nasty – a VHS knock off when, in this day and age, you would at least have expected a DVD remaster.

It can’t hide the repetitiveness of its template but in the simple act of silently snooping and investigating every corner of the world, while circumventing every enemy, there’s a brilliantly tense, gratifying experience that Eidos Montreal sadly struggles to sustain over the eight hours of gameplay – resorting to cheap enemy types and crushing linearity.

While the set pieces set within the present day offer an intense gameplay experience and an interesting twist on The Last Of Us’ combat, there’s a sense of obligation rather than the cohesiveness we’ve come to expect from the developer.

If Tropical Freeze is your first Donkey Kong Country game, you’ll probably hate it from the start, especially if your idea of a 2D platformer is based on New Super Mario Bros. U or Rayman Legends. Enemies and obstacles are not lined up neatly along your path of destruction; they’re meant to inconvenience you and continually break your momentum.

Remains an entertaining and refreshing action RPG. Not bad when you consider its venerable age. [Issue#144, p.119]

This lack of angling variation feels like a missed opportunity. [Issue#144, p.116]

A fun game. [Issue#144, p.115]

With a control scheme that can hamper the enjoyment, it creates an unfortunate barrier between the world and the player that's hard to overcome. [Issue#144, p.113]

Another thoughtfully crafted series of impressive setpieces.[Issue#144, p.109]

There's enough good will and thoughtful design to spur players through all 204 challenges therein. [Issue#144, p.108]

Even those brought up with more hardcore 2D platformers of the 8-bit and 16-bit era will find their skills tested. [Issue#144, p.106]

This is indie done right; a title that makes the most of its limited resources to create something unique and engaging. [Issue#144, p.104]

A missed opportunity. [Issue#144, p.102]

Good quality writing and voice acting help things along, but this is a game best experienced as a whole and does nothing to claim any but the most enthusiastic of point-and-click experts. [Issue#144, p.100]