FIFA 14 is the reassuring central-defensive midfielder of the series. Dependable, rather than revelatory. Physical, tenacious and tight on space. It does the job without fuss, but also lacks flair.

The bottom line here is that Pandora Tomorrow is a care taker game. A filler. The starters course before the main meal. If you go silly for sneaking or are hungry for hiding in shadows then by all means pick this up and have a quiet, tip toeing blast.

Rubbish controls, dull combat, and a general sense that it's not quite sure what it wants to be, let down an otherwise entertaining and regularly amusing world-saving romp.

A solid and enjoyable opening entry into a series that, thus far, is impossible to judge. The Wolf Among Us perhaps hews a little too closely to the first arc of the comic it's based on, but it does an admirable job of translating that world to a new medium.

The Football Manager formula is as complex and addictive as ever, but a compulsion to keep playing shouldn’t be mistaken for revelatory advances. 2014 is a marginal improvement for the series, but retains several of its shortcomings.

A highly polished and generally entertaining romp, but it's missing a vital spark to bring everything together.

Still, as a complete package it in no way lives up to the expectation. Only one of its three core elements (single player, co-op and multiplayer) is worth your time, the other two feeling as though they've been added merely to increase the number of potential bullet points on the back of the box. Depending on which elements you're interested in Battlefield 3 will either be your game of the year, or your letdown of… well, the year.

The series' domination of the management genre is not in question, but there are still areas where it could step up its game.

Solid enough, yes, but nowhere near as awe-inspiring as the original. To be fair, it could easily be summarised as an expansion pack for "Sands of Time," with new missions and costumes to unlock, and that’s not a bad thing, either.

Despite incongruous story points and sometimes clunky camera work, Silent Storm deserves the support of all right-thinking strategy fans. With its turn-based combat and destructible scenery it signals something fresh in the stale mound of World War Two games.

It's a title that will appeal to the adventurer, the explorer and the builder; not to mention those who appreciate a substantial amount of player freedom. If you happen to be all of those things, Terraria is a lightly tarnished treasure.

If it wasn't for that second act, Resistance 3 would be looking at a higher score. However, given its duration and the disappointment it heaps upon you, it's that middle third that prevent it from living up to the potential it clearly possesses. It's certainly worth playing but, equally, it's certainly not a classic.

When it comes down to it, Infamous 2 is not the game we were hoping it would be. It starts off fun but, due to a lack of personality, originality and complexity, soon feels tiresome and repetitive.

There simply will not be enough variety in this package to keep many players interested. For others, the difficulty level will prove frustrating.

While the gameplay is far from perfect, Dragon Age II is an absolute must for anyone interested in the world, the lore and a good story - but anyone hoping for something that feels and plays like Origins might want to adjust their expectations accordingly.

Superb faction design and twists on 4x genre conventions, combined with rather passive AI (even at higher difficulties,) mean Endless Legend is a strategy title that falls frustratingly short of being sublime.

FIFA 15 still plays decent football, but with the same (increasingly inexcusable) bugs and instabilities of the past few seasons.

Golden Realms provides plenty of hours of entertainment, but feature-wise there’s still some room to be filled in this Halfling’s stomach.

What Metro lacks in pitch-perfect game mechanics, it makes up for with an atmosphere that you can taste.

Another day, another PC launch riddled with bugs and issues. Battlefield 4 is a perfectly decent game with a crashing client, crashing servers, and a whole host of issues that cause lag, disconnections, graphic and sound glitches, and plenty more. When they get fixed it's easily worth a purchase; right now, it's a frustrating experience.

The AI is top notch on both the opponent’s team as well as providing support for your own side, the overall atmosphere of each game is immersing and the gameplay reeks of realism.

An episode of grim, despicable moments and further fascinating tests of Clementine’s morality, but one which persists with some of the weaker aspects of this second season.

A solid and surprising well-written shooter that should easily please fans of the genre. It doesn't do too much more than that, but that's not really a complaint.

TS:CW provides plenty of semi-mindless macho thrills, but, like a one-hit wonder, if you ever tire of the main hook it'll all fall down. Much like ... well, toy soldiers.

Relic’s attempt to create a more dynamic single player campaign is partially successful, but the systems of company permanence don’t entirely gel with the inflexibility of an Iron Man save system, and the map is light on grand strategy.

Clementine’s characterisation and her interactions with adults are strong as ever in this fraught episode. Two-fifths of the way through the story is still too early to judge how other themes, characters and plot strands will pay off, but the build-up suggests it’ll be worthwhile.

Conquest of Paradise adds colonial and indigenous mechanics which undoubtedly improve the main game, but does it in a way that introduces a new problem or two.

All is not perfect in the future, but Trials Fusion is another worthy entry in the series’ bizarre bike-bouncing world.

Despite the faults though, Revelations remains an intriguing proposition because of gaming's finest Italian hero after that plumber in dungarees. Seriously, if there was an Oscar for game characters Ezio would walk it more often than not. If you're less entranced by Mr Auditore then Revelations is a more difficult sale.

That being said, this is still an Uncharted game. Every Uncharted game comes with a certain base level of precision and execution, and that hasn't been lowered here. Golden Abyss gets a pass, but it doesn't come with honours.

Driver: San Francisco would be an easy game to recommend if the mission design of the single player campaign were on a par with the quality of its technical elements. As things stands though, it seems that some good gameplay ideas have been wasted on level designers that simply didn't know how to make best use of them.

Although the game is hampered by a collection of small problems (camera blur, imprecise controls and dubious AI pathfinding), there are enough moments of simulated natural wonder to submerge those doubts. It really feels good to be a divine dick again.

There's no doubting that The Darkness II is a fun game, but it could have been so much more than that. Improved pacing could have solved the second act woes and defining a more meaningful way of communicating the narrative would have made the plot and character development more engaging.

A "launch" build with some features still in infancy, Elite: Dangerous nonetheless offers terrific space flight ambiance and trading progression befitting of the once-revolutionary series. In a few months time, this title could be outstanding.

The inclusion of a teaching system, Kasparov videos (which I could only access via media player), etc, is a nice touch, but the interface is awkward at best. This is probably the best chess engine out there right now.

That being said, PES should still be top of your shopping list if you're after a game that takes the most exciting elements of the beautiful game and concentrates them into one package.

The overall presentation (although a little strange) works well and the animated menus are especially nifty. However, the redesign of the attribute system and the inclusion of the corny ‘Trick Stick’ that takes all the effort out of the Uber tricks mars the good reputation of an otherwise impeccable series of games.

Often frustrating and sometimes unfair, but the glorious flight mechanics, general compelling gameplay, and attention to detail mean Luftrausers is easily worth considering.

An acceptable game for the fans, though not a particularly good port in any way, shape, or form. If you have a 360 controller and love the series then you'll have a fairly good time, but you might want to consider waiting for a price drop.

It is addictive, and does have some brilliant and different features, but many RPG fans will feel that the flaws could easily have been ironed out with the extreme delays in this game’s production.

A series entry that puts pure stealth above silent slaying; afflicted by segmented levels and weak cinematic aspirations, but buoyed by an impressive Contracts mode.

It lacks depth, and could not be considered a truly involving challenge. Nor does Castlevania have the instant appeal and playability of other titles.

Not quite the sum of its parts thanks to awkward level design and a reliance on repetition. Technically sound, but the overall experience fails to hit the high notes.

If it were possible for Marmite to return from the grave, Dead Rising 2 would be that game.

The broad stylistic flourishes do a fair job of masking the underwhelming reality of much of the gameplay, but once Greaves’ tall tale is told you’re left with a pretty linear, whack-a-cowboy shooter in a no-horse town.

Driver: San Francisco would be an easy game to recommend if the mission design of the single player campaign were on a par with the quality of its technical elements. As things stands though, it seems that some good gameplay ideas have been wasted on level designers that simply didn't know how to make best use of them.

So it’s not the most challenging of games, nor does it extend the downhill racer genre much. Despite this, it’s mostly a pleasant diversion.

State of Decay holds together like a rusty, duct-taped piece of DIY weaponry, but offers an unusual, open-world survival exercise that few other zombie titles can match.

Perhaps more than any other long-running series that has featured on the current generation of hardware, Madden NFL 12 has that classic end-of-console-era feel to it. The team have seemingly stopped trying to improve the game in any major way and are waiting for the next generation to take things to the next level.

It’s far too early to crown this season as a successful follow-up to Telltale’s first foray with The Walking Dead, but there are enough threads of character intrigue to suggest that Clementine and her new crew have a promising (that is to say, heartbreaking and terrible) future.

Perhaps more than any other long-running series that has featured on the current generation of hardware, Madden NFL 12 has that classic end-of-console-era feel to it. The team have seemingly stopped trying to improve the game in any major way and are waiting for the next generation to take things to the next level.

Advanced Warfare might not be advanced enough for my liking, but it's a return to the typical fast-paced, explosive gameplay of CoD titles that aren't called Ghosts – and it works alright on PC, too.

Fraught firefights and desperate scavenging in an uncaring world.

Perfectly decent and enjoyable enough, but the lack of scares hurts it more than you might think.

Enjoyable, authentic, and oh-so-cool... when it doesn't break.

That being said, PES should still be top of your shopping list if you're after a game that takes the most exciting elements of the beautiful game and concentrates them into one package.

The truth is Farcry Instincts Predator is a great game for first time around players. For anyone else, it’s sadly more of the same.

Friendlier F1 handling in a Grid 2 wrapper, Grid Autosport is a tour through the Codemasters back catalogue. Single player is hampered by predictable AI, but tuning options and improved cornering elevates the multiplayer above Grid 2's.

Season Two's early promise has consolidated into sporadic flashes of greatness, but the consistent excellence of Clementine's character alone isn't enough to carry the series. It needs the lift of an outstanding final episode.

Tropico 4 is a fantastic game, there's no denying it, but its core audience is the one that's likely to be most disappointed with it.

Maybe the game should be renamed NBA Live Roster Update as it's basically the same game as NBA Live 05 with the up to date player transfers.

F1 2013 can make even the most naive neophyte feel like a legend. But if you’re already a legend of previous games, there may not be as much here to impress you.

A solid opening to what could be a genuinely interesting episodic adventure. The mystery seems compelling, the characters are largely likeable, and the presentation is impeccable - but the emphasis is on "could" and "seems". It's still just episode one.

Like almost all DLC it falls well short of mimicking the impact of the original game, but that's to be expected from a three hour/1200 MS Point experience.

Despite the spruced up graphics, hot swap and Xbox live features, there is quite honestly very little here to entice gamers who already have the Xbox or PS2 version.

It is the best Sonic game we've had in years - though that's hardly saying much. Flawed at times, Sonic Generations is an enjoyable game and one that's easy to like. The failings of Modern Sonic bring the quality down, yet some moments also show what can be done well with a 3D Sonic game.

Van Helsing 2 is a near-complete title that NeoCore are clearly racing to finish in time for release day. It’ll end up a better game than the first, but will almost certainly retain some deadline-crunch bugs until a couple of patches are out of the way.

The story is good, certainly, but if I wanted to watch a sci-fi tale I'd flick on Star Trek. Nexus is purely for the lover of slow paced space adventuring and combat, and those caught up in the Imperium Galactica series.

Child of Light perhaps doesn't shine as bright as it might, but it's nonetheless quite a dazzling sight.

An episode where plenty goes on, but neither story nor characters are actually advanced a great deal. The Ironrath Forresters are still miserable hostages, Asher still needs an army, and Gared is still doing Nights Watch duties. A few revelations, plus Mira’s dynamism, keep things from going stale.

Watch Dogs is decent, but as the first entry into the series it’s still trying to find its niche and its style, and as a result it’s a little bland and all too repetitive. It successfully apes a lot of other games without ever really finding a way to stand out on its own, and the hacking isn’t really enough to push it past “me too” status.

It looks like Sanctum and it sounds like Sanctum, but it plays totally differently. While the more devoted fans of the first game might take issue with a lot of the changes, and while it doesn't match up to that game's heights, there's still a lot to enjoy in Sanctum 2.

It’s not going to blow your mind, but if you’re happy with a total disregard for realism then Ace Combat: Assault Horizon will keep you happy and entertained for a good few hours.

Might & Magic: Heroes VI can still be fixed with adequate patching, because the bugs really are its biggest problem.

Despite flaws it's a cheap and extraordinarily satisfying way to scratch that racing itch – and if enough people do so, that multiplayer problem might cease to be a problem at all.

In sporadic bursts, Evolve can be outstanding. But its design depends upon uniting players of idealistically equivalent skill levels, and it struggles to consistently do so. The game’s gated progression system is superfluous and, at times, actively harmful to positive team-play.

It’s not a must-have purchase, but if you’ve dreamt of a Crusader Kings II scenario in which a devil-possessed ruler might have a chance to pick their own Pope, then this is the DLC for you.

All things considered, JLS is a good expansion. If you are new to Star Wars Galaxies, I am not sure that JLS is a good starting point.

As it stands though, this is a very accomplished fighter that offers well executed gameplay and some enjoyable modes.

Solid, enjoyable, and cheap. Duels 2013 gets Magic going on your computer with aplomb, although it lacks the flair to stand out.

Not a komplete katastrophe, but you should employ kaution when deciding if Mortal Kombat X is right for you on PC. It's a great game, but one that's krippled by bugs.

A well executed game lacking much in the way of original gameplay. Play it for the story, grind it for the interaction.

Crysis 3 is a decent set of free-form mechanics trapped, like the New York of its embarrassing sci-fi plot, within the bubble of an all-too-often constricting design.

While it had the potential to be the best console war FPS game out, it is nothing more than a competent, but mediocre shooter.

It's more Zuma, and little else.

There's not enough depth to justify long play sessions, but long sessions are not really the point here. What Everybody's Golf does is provide a great escape in short bursts and it packs just enough in to keep you coming back to it time and again.

A perfectly capable tactical RPG that's unfortunately light on both the tactics and the RPG. Not really bad in any way, but I suspect this won't really shine until the community get to grips with the editor.

The story mode is slightly worse than expected, but Arcade Action alone makes this a worthy purchase.

For a game packed with cold, mechanised artillery, this FPS-Roguelike mash-up has a surprising amount of warmth and humanity. Scale the Tower of Guns and you’ll find some pick-up-and-replay charm.

If Red Orchestra 2 appeals then I daresay you'll have a great deal of fun, but you might want to leave it a month to see if things improve.

A faithful recreation of the rapid-fire FPS’ of yesteryear, with Nadeo’s usual sturdy foundations for community development.

It suffers and revels in both gaming and horror-story clichés, but still succeeds in creating a sense of wonder and unease.

Even though Nightlife fits seamlessly into the Sims universe it just doesn’t seem like sufficient extra content has been included in the expansion. It feels as though Nightlife is more about expanding on what you already have instead of giving you more to work with.

Big Game Hunt is certainly worth a play if you've got the Season Pass, but if you're buying it by itself then its numerous weaknesses make it harder to recommend. It's not bad, but it's not Campaign of Carnage.

Tiny & Big is at its strongest when it focuses on this semi-freeform puzzling approach.

A decent effort at a difficult genre. More polish and more charm would have improved Dragon's Dogma enormously, but it's still worth a trip for genre fans.

Perfectly capable, and perfectly enjoyable. But... well, it's not quite Dishonored.

The building and base development aspects are fun but the more you play the more the global overview feature feels like an unwanted distraction.