There's no denying the dungeons are a minor addition, however, so anyone who owns the original 3DSWare release may not see the value in upgrading. Everyone else, you'll need to still have that childlike sense of play and a certain ability to make your own fun – or at least some children of your own – to get the most out of this.

Tequila Work's debut's confident craftsmanship and considered design more than compensates for its shortfalls with the narrative's impact and the intermittently niggling handling. It's by no means a smooth ride, but this dank and desolate landscape is worth braving.

We've sworn at the screen more times while playing Spelunky than practically any other game. So we wouldn't recommend this to anyone with anger management issues or a heart condition. But, by the same token, it's also afflicted us with chronic one-more-go syndrome. So we would recommend it to anyone who loves videogames. Which is surely all of you.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of Pokémon Conquest, however, is that it made us want to go back and play one of Koei's earlier, duller and more convoluted Nobunaga games. And any game that can make us feel that way is worthy of high praise indeed.

If seeing The Dark Knight Rises has inspired you to put the cape back on, do yourself a favour and go back to either of Rocksteady's games instead. Because this one is wearing hockey pads.

There's a mixture of novelty and intelligent ideas in Dream Drop Distance, that don't quite add up to an evolved form of what the series has shown us before. It's another sideways step for Kingdom Hearts, then, but undeniably a grandiose one.

But don't let all this talk of management fool you, there's a real thrill to Rebellions real time battles, especially when you zoom in to watch the often impressive visual cacophony of lasers as droves of spaceships broad side each other or master the intricacies of its RTS rock, paper, scissors mechanics – and can use them to whip other players right back to their home worlds and bombard them.

If only the gameplay was as well realised as the engine that runs it, Inversion would be far more recommendable. Regrettably, as it stands, Saber Interactive has created a mechanically robust game, but one that doesn't do enough with the ideas it can lay claim to as its own.

A very good rhythm-action game, and a confusing but compelling RPG. But, above all else, it is a nostalgic anniversary package that will be adored by Final Fantasy fans and sets a new benchmark for interactive celebrations.

There's room for much improvement in The Secret World, as there often is with any new MMO launch, but this has far more promise than anything Blizzard or EA have had to offer recently.

Conversations shared between Juliet and Nick are among the funniest videogames have to offer, and the range of pop-culture references Gunn weaves in (including an unexpected nod to Michael Bublé of all people) make this the most western-friendly game to come out of the studio without sacrificing its brand of lunacy. Which is something definitely worth cheering about.

It's not particularly new or innovative in its core mechanics, but it marries the dependable and familiar with the not-so to create one of the year's most interesting titles. At its heart it's still a shooter, but at least it's also one with the brains to ask you to shoot something different.

It highlights Kinect's flaws rather than showcases its strengths, sending out one, clear, reverberating message – Kinect simply isn't refined enough to unite the hardware with the hardcore.

Most disappointing of all, as hard as it tries (and it sure does try), it's just not funny.

The netcode is strong enough to encourage sustained online play. The title doesn't do enough to highlight the strides Final Showdown has taken for the series – particularly for PS3 owners, stuck with Ver.B of Virtua Fighter 5 as opposed to Xbox 360's later release of Version C – but it's a still complicated, technical beast of a fighting game, and more than ever worth the effort of learning.

Side missions and hidden blocks are suitably distracting, although the use of a difficult-to-read radar over a mini-map displays a certain level of open world naivety that should probably be expected from a developer that has just been going through the motions for so long.

The best way to enjoy Heroes Of Ruin is most definitely with three friends, but to highlight this as a selling point would be to assume there are going to be people out there with three friends who also own the game, and that will get together and plough hours at a time into it. Realistically, this will rarely happen, and as a single-player looter, Heroes Of Ruin, fairly enjoyable though it is, fails to show the invention necessary to justify its own existence.

That none of these extra-curricular activities can stack up to the base thrill of simply lobbing Kat into the abyss and seeing where she might end up a few gravity shifts down the line is no slight on the optional stuff on offer, though – it's simply testament to the captivating power of so novel a central mechanic.

By journey's end, it's only a passing interest in the increasingly intriguing story that holds attention. Indeed, this is a deeply flawed and overly ambitious attempt for a developer unable to grasp the genre basics. Its only real triumph is that it doesn't completely tarnish the licence's sterling reputation.

It not only becomes increasingly repetitive as it nears the climax but also puts a significant strain on players' patience as Nihilistic injects enemies with a higher HP and more powerful weapons, rather than finding a more engaging way to challenge players. It's a jarring difficulty spike that almost undermines everything the game has so far accomplished as it impressively leaps from one set-piece to the next.

There's no doubt that you'll find a lot of praise for Episode II out there, since it addresses the physics issues with the first episode so well, but games™ can't honestly recommend a game so under-developed on quality controls alone.

As positive as this all is, though, it won't have escaped veterans of the series' that this all sounds very familiar. That's because it is. Future Solider follows the foundations that made Ghost Recon the name it is rigidly, its main twist falling on the vision of what's to come in the military. In many ways, this has worked in Ubisoft's favour, tying in to all the franchise's underlying themes.

There will rightfully be criticism for the slender single-player modes here, but the true worth of Mario Tennis Open is in multiplayer, both as the game's biggest strength and a quiet indicator of Nintendo's online handheld revolution.

Blizzard deals best in the subtle, and there's never any doubt where the focus of Diablo III lies. Even after the final battle is completed and the credits roll, your warrior is still there, ready for the next difficulty level. As such, the balance between the classes, the skills, and the loot get the bulk of Blizzard's attention, which is for the best.

A thoroughly engaging title that easily satisfies any superficial desires. We were left wanting more. [Issue#122, p.114]

Despite its shortcomings, remains deep and complex. [Issue#122, p.111]

There are some laughs to be had at its expense, and everything here works, but that's absolutely all it does. [Issue#122, p.110]

Its overall challenge is both lasting and addictive. [Issue#122, p.109]