Unfortunately the reality is something that harks back to the darker days of open world games, its individual elements uninspiring and its story a poor patchwork of clichés sewn together with juvenile smut and swearing - and it's a melancholy swansong for the once brilliant Pandemic.

Even if you've worked your way through previous iterations, it's as compulsively addictive as always although its easy to resent the familiarity of it all.

Yet, in spite of its obvious flaws during 3D platform sections, there're still moments of genuine bliss to be had as you stumble through lovingly-recreated cartoon classics and muck around in Junction Point's wonderfully warped world.

Ultimately, our issue is simple - if you’re going to shamelessly riff on a formula popularised and pretty much perfected by another massive game title - yes, God of War in this instance - you better be damn sure you do it better. And, sadly, aside from its excellent combat system, Dante’s Inferno misses the mark in almost every way.

No other game has managed to capture the thrill of going bumper to bumper in pure-bred machinery quite so brilliantly as this, and if you can see through its shortcomings it's one of the very best available on the 360.

Unfortunately the reality is something that harks back to the darker days of open world games, its individual elements uninspiring and its story a poor patchwork of clichés sewn together with juvenile smut and swearing - and it's a melancholy swansong for the once brilliant Pandemic.

It’s a one-off that mostly succeeds, but by concentrating only on function and never on form, it denies itself greatness. If the Club 2, should there be one, can stop to laugh at itself occasionally, it’ll be a far finer game.

A near-perfect popcorn game. Its gunplay is solid and backed up by a plethora of neat ideas, its co-op is strong and there's an undercurrent of savvy humour that helps to negate the heavy posturing and more dubious elements of the paper thin plot.

Taken on its own merits it is a solid if unspectacular third-person action game, and about the unkindest thing you could say about it is that it is bland and inoffensive.

System 3 has managed to produce a thoroughbred racing experience that manages to retain so much of the charisma of its source material - and for those so inclined its one of the best racers available on the PlayStation 3.

Scary it mightn’t be, but it’s compelling, unsettling and engaging in its own familiar, anachronistic way.

A near-perfect popcorn game. Its gunplay is solid and backed up by a plethora of neat ideas, its co-op is strong and there's an undercurrent of savvy humour that helps to negate the heavy posturing and more dubious elements of the paper thin plot.

There are some occasional technical quirks and the game's never going to blow you away with big innovations you haven't already seen in a Rockstar game, but overall this is a capable clone that's well worth its price of just eight bucks.

Taken on its own merits it is a solid if unspectacular third-person action game, and about the unkindest thing you could say about it is that it is bland and inoffensive.

Scary it mightn’t be, but it’s compelling, unsettling and engaging in its own familiar, anachronistic way.

A slavishly accurate conversion of a classic racer thought lost to the smoky arcade mists of time, Sumo Digital has retained the joy of the 1996 original while bolstering the game with a handsome offering of online modes and an attractive high definition overhaul.

It might seem slight, if not slightly ridiculous, but there's something utterly joyous about Let's Tap – from its deliriously captivating aesthetic (frankly worth the asking price alone) and stripped down arcade fundamentals to its immediately accessible, and surprisingly robust, control scheme.

Delicious handling and a palpable sense of speed combine to make a game that's unique on the Wii, and while there's a feeling of an opportunity missed with the licence, for fans of the sport deprived of an F1 game for so many years this does just enough to satiate the thirst.

While Invizimals' technology can't quite deliver on its ambition, it works enough of the time avoid condemnation. The real issue is the restrictiveness of the mission structure and ultimate lack of real depth to the critter combat.

Like the disaster movies it takes inspiration from though, Day of Crisis is ultimately more than the sum of its parts. When it works, it’s a relentless, thrilling assault on your senses; a huge grin of game. And when it doesn’t, when it starts to wobble precariously on its own flimsy parts, it’s still compulsive in its creativity, inexplicable in its uniqueness and, most importantly, one thoroughly fun ride.

It's soothing, compulsive and peculiarly thrilling all at once: a perfect little world where working hard brings its own tangible rewards and cows have huge happy faces. Even in this slightly butchered state, it's good to see Magical Melody finally on these shores.

It's The Conduit’s beautifully tactile control set-up that proves to be the star of the show here. Take it away and you’re left with a single-player game that’s consistently bland but, more damningly, consistently boring.

Such problems are not enough to detract from MotoGP 09/10’s successes, and there are enough of these to make it just about worthwhile for anyone desperately itching for some authentic action.

It’s short on features and lacking looks, but it nails the fundamentals well enough, with the F1 license served with an engaging handling model and an impressive sense of speed.

Succumb to its infectiously deliberate pace and there's plenty to uncover in Doodle Hex. However, if it's immediate gratification you're after, with the minimum of endeavour, then there's perhaps just a bit too much here to suit your fancy.

At its core it's a potentially great action game and it's very good-looking, but it explains itself so incredibly poorly and has such an awkward structure and poor checkpointing that a lot of the fun is ruined by interminable frustration – not to mention the fact that it's basically unplayable as a single-player game.

At its core it's a potentially great action game and it's very good-looking, but it explains itself so incredibly poorly and has such an awkward structure and poor checkpointing that a lot of the fun is ruined by interminable frustration – not to mention the fact that it's basically unplayable as a single-player game.

It's one of the most exciting series in motorsport, and this year it's got a game to do it justice.