Silent Hill: Downpour frustrates and irritates, it confuses and confounds. It doesn't scare as much as it should and it doesn't impress as much as we wanted. But there's no denying its ability to keep you playing; to push through to the end.

When it comes to quality Sine Mora has practically zero peers this generation. If you've been craving a true modern classic since the days of Gradius V and R-Type Final then Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality have provided the best possible reason we can imagine to return.

A triumph in artistry and gameplay, overcoming the frequently problematic process of reviving an old franchise. So many studios get it dead wrong, but Project Sora has shown that it has respect for the IP, as well as the talent to deliver the world of Kid Icarus to a modern audience and make it relevant to a new generation.

Disappointing after such a long wait then, even if Twisted Metal is still immensely good fun at its core.

It's such a tough sell, as it's so short and so little of its running time can actually be defined as 'gameplay'. It's such a maverick, though, and such a bananas way to spend eight hours, that it's almost certainly something everyone should experience. Just don't go expecting the Earth. Asura's already smashed it to pieces.

While not without its problems and questionable design decisions, Street Fighter X Tekken is miraculous in that it even works at all. It simply shouldn't.

While it's not a total triumph, the core of what Mass Effect 3 achieves is an engrossing, fabulously put together piece of work, regardless of an ending that will delight as many as it dumbfounds.

Where Journey truly excels is in its top-of-the-range visuals, inventive world and its tonal breadth. One moment you will find yourself avoiding the spotlights of menacing, sentient war machines 20 times your size in a barely lit dungeon, and the next plodding through the harsh mountain peaks with almost no visibility, all accompanied by a genuine sense of dread as your character visibly starts to die and can barely walk anymore.

After all those years of lamentation, the gamers, who truly remember finally get their dose of neat virtual snowboarding. Meanwhile, the series' newcomers will finally get why there was this legend status of "winter Tony Hawk" in the olden days - in a few hours of playing they are going to spread those legends too.

You'd have to have a hell of a lot of spare time and cash to make room in your life for this. [Issue#119, p.119]

Like the best iPhone puzzlers, this is a collection of original challenges, uncluttered by unnecessary extras. [Issue#119, p.119]

Charming and engaging. [Issue#119, p.118]

There's little doubt that The Old Republic could have been a groundbreaking release, but it instead chooses to hew closely to the MMO formula, relying too much on the grind and outdated mechanics that don't gel with the Star Wars license. [Issue#119, p.110]

That Pride mode is a doozy. [Issue#119, p.108]

An anemic release, even for a budget title. [Issue#119, p.100]

Not a bad game, but it is a polarising one. [Issue#119, p.99]

Delivers a quality experience on par with, if not better than previous iterations. [Issue#119, p.98]

Outside of novelty value, there's little reason why anyone should pick this up with their Vita over the vastly superior WipEout 2048. [Issue#119, p.97]

Little more than a mediocre effort. [Issue#119, p.96]

It's repetitive, monotonous, and just plain boring. [Issue#119, p.94]

Everything about 2048 oozes class, screams quality and does more than enough to force the hardcore to take a serious look at Vita. [Issue#119, p.92]

It has a tight, well-written and well-acted script. [Issue#119, p.90]

It's tight, focused and despite its flaws is easily the best shooter to arrive so far this year. In this sense, we can't help but wonder why EA has not made a bigger deal out of Syndicate.

If The Darkness III were to combine the best of the first and second games, we'd have ourselves a winner for the ages – as it stands, we have a game definitely worth a playthrough, but probably not worth tripping over yourself to slap down the cash for.

Despite being made of patchwork parts, it is never less than good fun to play and, at its best, a surprisingly intense experience – all credit due there to the twitchy and intelligently designed combat system. Reckoning is a big, meaty game that will thoroughly satisfy both RPG and action fans, and if you are a Skyrim player, then you should definitely make room for this too. You'll love it.

The animation is clunky and below par, but the art direction is quite good, in a lowbrow, pulp comic book kind of a way. The script is trite, and music and voice acting both well below par, but you still couldn't accuse it of being a technical shambles. Design wise, though, it's formulaic, tedious and messy.

On a straight fighting level, SoulCalibur has never been better and although it might be a little anorexic for lone warriors, the multiplayer side offers more than any Soul title since the original Calibur made the Dreamcast a must-have. Which, in and of itself, provides irrefutable proof that Namco Bandai has given SoulCalibur a clearly defined genre once more. Welcome back, Stage Of History.

It's a unique and interesting way of handling time travel in games too, and while XIII-2 might fall foul of all the usual time-hopping pitfalls (read: it's really rather stupid at times) it's hard to recall a sequel that makes such major changes to a great game and still manages to get things so right. If XIII was making a case for the quickest route from A to B being a straight line, XIII-2 instead argues that a time gate directly to your destination is both more practical and more interesting. We're inclined to agree.