On a basic level Hard Corps: Uprising is excellent, retaining the Contra spirit yet giving it a new lease of life. As such, series fans and old-school throwbacks will probably love every minute of it, regardless of cost. However, it does get bogged down a little by the strangely bad voice acting, downloadable content concerns and its meek attempt at catering for a broader, less experienced audience.

It has some nice features which make it better than an average FPS, but the things that are missing mean it’s never going to be great.

Mafia II is exactly the sequel Mafia fans have been waiting all these years for.

Raskulls is cute, fun and clever, but it won't be for everyone. A more casual player will most likely get a big kick out of racing around bashing bricks, but the more hardcore Xbox owner will long for a more beefy experience.

After the massive improvement of last year, we're glad to see the WWE brand is back on track.

Dying Light is a very impressive game that’s clearly had a lot of care and attention put into it.

The Night of the Rabbit, regardless of what it’s called and the few other minor complaints I had, is a triumph. It’s Daedalic once and for all proving that they are indeed capable of producing an adventure that can stand tall with the classics of the genre.

If the prospect of slowly picking apart the mechanics of giant stealth sandboxes is exciting for you, then Hitman should provide a wonderful experience. But if you’re a one-and-done type of player, then you should look elsewhere.

If you love the atmosphere of Eastern European survival games but hate the jank, Chernobylite is for you. Its cycle of scavenging and questing is addicting, and its characters are fun to meet. But that also means it becomes too easy once you get a feel for the controls and mechanics. Add that with a story that isn’t scary, and you have a flawed game with an engaging core. It held my attention during its full runtime, and I can’t say that for a lot of games.

With no online play, replay value is a reverse skyrocket, burrowing deep into the Earth's crust.

There’s fun, then, to be had with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, especially for those familiar with the original series, but in following a “see what sticks” approach to adding content rather than focusing on exploring and updating the franchise’s core mechanics, Sanzaru have ended up with a game that’s caught somewhere between the past and present and, no matter the nostalgia, that isn’t quite good enough in 2013.

Despite it's downfalls, El Shaddai is a memorable experience from start to finish. It offers a quirkiness and sense of style that is not only unique, it's surprisingly refreshing.

The Next Big Thing, then, is not exactly what it says on the tin - but we still got plenty of laughs out of it. If you're on the prowl for a point-and-click adventure, this will easily tide you over until the next Telltale title comes knocking. Never before has a game produced a character who was so... disconcerting.

Fans of classic adventure gaming should absolutely check out the Hector: Badge of Carnage series. The point and click formula is present and largely unchanged from the golden age of the genre but the unique well-realised setting and the excellent writing put this well above the mediocrity bar.

Despite the acting, music, and graphics teams doing their bang-up jobs, and the storyline taking some interesting turns toward an epic finale, Episode 4 of The Wolf Among Us was more than a little unsatisfying.

Green Day Rock Band is an enjoyable distraction but wholly unnecessary especially when you look at the features announced for Rock Band 3.

Road Not Taken might not always be successful in making players feel remorseful for paths avoided, but the game itself stands as one journey that at least everyone should attempt; if only to expose themselves to the game's frustrating, yet undeniably fresh idiosyncrasies.

Regardless of its technical shortcomings, CoS provides a superbly engaging story driven experience, that feels uniquely its own. When a story makes you care about its characters, it's a triumph, and in this, Chains of Satinav excels.

While only the first episode, Game of Thrones is off to a fine start with Iron From Ice.

Pour yourself a beverage, grab the controller and sit down for a great evening of stabby stabby.

Realmforge have finally got the formula right. Dungeons 3 is plain, straight, addictive fun from start to finish. Both Overworld and Dungeon sides are kept relatively simple so things never truly get frustrating, and every part of it remains satisfying, from smacking your minions to blasting dwarves in the face and watching their bodies fly across the floor. The developer have made sure both sides are supremely playable and compliment each other well, with loads of neat touches and details to make sure you always know what’s going on. That things can get a little repetitious is the only real downside, but with this formula I don’t think Realmforge can better it further. And Thalya’s great. Yes, fine, and the Narrator too. Don’t want him sulking on me.

Drenched in retro nostalgia, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a straightforward boomer shooter with a 40K skin. Its minimal story is as bog-standard as Warhammer gets, but is enough to justify the on-screen slaughter, while allowing for a pure focus on satisfying action. Crunchy weapon sounds and plenty of pixelated gore make turning enemies into giblets something that doesn’t get old. Its main drawbacks come in the shape of how easy it is to get lost in some of its levels, a handful of frustrating encounters, and its decision to introduce most enemy types during the first part of its campaign. Yet, even so, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun delivers enough awesome action to keep you engaged and eager to make sure the Emperor has a thousand or two fewer Chaos servants to worry about.

Total War: Troy makes some curious changes to the Total War formula, but the less streamlined resource system, extra micromanagement, and weird mix of reality and mythology work against its favour to create a less than entrancing experience.

I haven’t enjoyed an RTS game this much since Company of Heroes 2. Forget the comparisons and enjoy Iron Harvest for what it is: a squad-focused, narrative-driven, old-school real-time strategy game. If you enjoy your RTS games with a strong single-player element and a multiplayer scene that is seemingly well balanced and competitive, then there’s a lot to like here. I wish the production values were higher in both the cutscenes and the audio and voice-over elements, but if you can look past that as I did, Iron Harvest can be a lot of fun.

If you're looking for a fun arcade-style racer that you don't have to plop a disc into your machine to play, Hydro Thunder Hurricane is definitely a more than worthy candidate.

Alice: Madness Returns may not win awards for genre innovation, but it's the most darkly fun and gloriously batty game I've played since Psychonauts. I can't think of any higher praise.

Sorcerer King’s fatalistic themes are tied cleverly in to its mechanics, resulting in the first game in the Elemental series that really feels like it has a distinct identity.

There are a whole lot of things I want to try over the next few months playing Stronghold Kingdoms, and it's gotten its teeth into me such that I'm ploughing a little time into it at least three times a day and not feeling cheated for any of the money I've spent. For a free-to-play title at the very least, that has to be mission accomplished.